Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 549: Purge Military Discipline
So far, the Northeast Army has almost captured the entire outer area north of Pyongyang, and drove the Japanese and Korean troops into the inner area of ​​​​the city. The line starts from Shangyuan River, along the Pinghan Railway Line until Busan Seaport.The key question now is how the Northeast Army will break through the inner circle of this fortress.It is clear that the enemy will continue to resist, especially the North Koreans, who will not give up their capital easily.On the other hand, although the enemy's reserves may have been mostly exhausted, at this time, the offensive capabilities of the Northeast Army were also at the end of their strength.After many days of continuous brutal fighting, while the enemy was severely damaged, the Northeast Army also suffered heavy losses. Some regiments had less than 1000 people left, and some companies even added all the auxiliary troops and troops when they withdrew from the front line. The wounded couldn't even make up an infantry platoon.Thinking of this, Zhang Zuolin would frown. He knew that the next battle would be extremely tragic, but he hoped to reduce the casualties of the army as much as possible. One of the effective methods is to maintain iron-like military discipline. Military discipline, no matter how brave the army is, it will be vulnerable.

"Come on, follow me to each battalion to have a look." Zhang Zuolin went back to his room and changed into a general's uniform, wearing a cloak, and brought along Chief of Staff Yang Yuting, Chief of Operations Zhang Kai, Deputy Chief Zhang Sifei, Chief of Law Enforcement Chang Yinhuai, etc. Senior military officers are going to inspect the defense of each battalion.At this time, Zhang Zuolin had developed the habit of fighting for many years. Whenever there was a key battle, he would make surprise inspections of the barracks to ensure that the generals and soldiers were at their respective posts.

Zhang Zuolin was striding along the bank of the Datong River, looking at the tents that could not be seen to the side, he felt a surge of pride in his heart. Outside each row of tents, there were patrol soldiers on duty at night. The soldiers stood at attention when they saw the commander training the camp in person. , to salute Zhang Zuolin.Zhang Zuolin waved his hands at most, his expression was very serious, but he was very satisfied in his heart.When the group of people walked along the river bank for about three miles, Zhang Zuolin looked at the camp tent to the west, and suddenly changed his color, and asked Zhang Kai, "What's going on?"

Zhang Kai turned his head and took a look, only to see the brightly lit tents in the west, which were very eye-catching in the dark night, and there were faint voices of soldiers laughing, cursing and shouting, and there was no patrolling soldier outside the tents.Zhang Kai broke out in sweat immediately, and said to Zhang Zuolin, "I want to tell you, Commander, that should be the camp of the 30th Division."

"The 30th division, isn't it the division of that kid Zhang Zongchang?"

"Yes."

"Damn it, Zhang Zongchang is tired of living. I have repeatedly ordered the battalions not to light lights at night, especially not to make loud noises. If the ghosts on the other side find out about this, it's not obvious to others. Does the cannon provide a target?" Zhang Zuolin was so angry that the veins on his neck popped.

"Calm down, commander, I'll go over and arrest those soldiers who violated discipline, and deal with them according to military law." Zhang Kai was about to go, but was stopped by Zhang Zuolin, "Slow down, don't disturb them, Chang Yinhuai, send someone to arrest Zhang That kid Zongchang sneaks over here, I want to lecture you."

"Yes." Chang Yinhuai agreed, and quickly disappeared into the night with two guards.

Not long enough, Zhang Zongchang, the commander of the 30th Division, was brought over. When Zhang Zongchang saw that it was Zhang Zuolin, his face immediately changed, "Marshal, I don't know that you are patrolling late at night. It's really true."

"Don't be so fucking wordy, is that your teacher's tent over there?"

Zhang Zongchang looked in the direction of Zhang Zuolin's finger, shrank his neck in fright, and cursed in his heart, these bastards are usually fine, why did they hit the muzzle of the gun at this juncture, this time I was also implicated . "Marshal, it's all because of the lax supervision of the humble staff, so I will teach them a lesson!"

"Wait, let's go over and have a look. If you don't sleep so late, what kind of tricks are you playing?" Zhang Zuolin strode forward without waiting for Zhang Zongchang's answer.

Zhang Zongchang didn't dare to stop him, so he followed Zhang Zuolin with his head down.

As soon as he came outside the tent, he heard loud noises and jokes from many people inside. Zhang Zuolin paused for a moment, raised his nose and smelled it, and a strong smell of alcohol pierced his nostrils. He couldn't help feeling angry, and walked into the tent quickly.

There are several gas lamps hanging high in the tent, shining brightly in all directions. There are 30 to [-] people inside. gamble.There were a few other people sitting at the corner of the tent, one of them was holding a wine bottle, his face was flushed from drinking, and his eyes were blurred.There is also a group of people who are having fun with a few disheveled women.It may be that they are more involved in playing, so a few people suddenly broke into the tent, and they didn't notice it.

"The commander-in-chief is here, are all you bastards blind?" Chang Yinhuai shouted loudly.

Those soldiers who were laughing and having fun rubbed their eyes to see the situation clearly, they were all dumbfounded, even those soldiers who were drunk suddenly woke up, those soldiers who were hanging out with women hurriedly got up to find clothes Put it on, then knelt on the ground trembling with his head down.

"Where did those women come from?" Yang Yuting asked, frowning.

A soldier tremblingly said: "It is a North Korean woman we snatched from a nearby village."

Zhang Zuolin turned livid and said to Zhang Zongchang: "This is the good soldier you brought out?"

Zhang Zongchang was also stunned for a while. Originally, he was really lax in restraining the army, but he didn't expect his subordinates to be so presumptuous. He rushed over and slapped the soldiers' ears while cursing, "You guys want to die! , The army has issued repeated orders and repeated orders, gambling, drinking and whoring are strictly prohibited, you will take all of them this time, and I will beat you to death."

Those soldiers saw that even the commander was coming, they had never seen such a formation before, they knelt there and did not dare to move, allowing Zhang Zongchang to beat and scold them.

"Enough, don't fucking act in front of me, Zhang Zongchang, let me ask you how to deal with a soldier like this?" Zhang Zuolin asked in a deep voice.

Zhang Zongchang was startled. According to the military law, he should be shot immediately if he made such a major mistake during the war, but these soldiers have followed him through life and death for many years. .

Zhang Zuolin snorted, "Chang Yinhuai, what do you think should be done?"

Chang Yinhuai is the head of the Law Enforcement Department, he has always been stern and impartial, never asked about personal affairs, and immediately replied: "Back to Commander, according to the military law, he should be shot immediately!"

Those soldiers were startled and exclaimed when they heard this, and shouted: "Commander, spare your life, Commander, spare your life, we won't dare to do it again next time!"

"Next time? Do you want to have another time like this? Chang Yinhuai!"

"exist."

"Execute now!"

"Yes!"

Chang Yinhuai gave an order, and the law enforcement soldiers rushed forward and dragged the soldiers out of the tent. With little effort, they only heard "bang, bang, bang, bang" gunshots, and the law enforcement soldiers reported that 26 soldiers had been taken away. All the soldiers were shot.

Zhang Zongchang grinned, but he didn't dare to say that he felt bitter.

Zhang Zuolin turned to Chang Yinhuai and asked, "What punishment should be imposed if the supervisor is not strict?"

Chang Yinhuai said without hesitation: "Thirty army sticks were hit on the spot."

"Okay, Zhang Zongchang's supervision of his subordinates is not strict, so that the subordinate soldiers have seriously violated military discipline. Now I order Zhang Zongchang to be punished with [-] military sticks, and there will be no mercy!"

"Yes."

Several law enforcement officers could not help but push Zhang Zongchang to the ground, stripped off his pants, and beat him with sticks. Zhang Zongchang was sweating profusely from the beating, grinning in pain, and his flesh jumped out after a few blows blood flower.

"Report to the commander-in-chief that the execution of the twenty army sticks has been completed."

Zhang Zongchang put on his trousers, stood up with great difficulty under the support of the soldiers, lowered his head and said, "This time I know my mistake."

Zhang Zuolin stared at Zhang Zongchang and said, "Your brat is brave in battle and has repeatedly made military exploits. The whole army can see this, and my old Zhang is also very clear-eyed, but military exploits are military exploits, and military discipline is military discipline. I have heard about you a long time ago." The 30th Division's military discipline is the worst, and you will have to strictly supervise it in the future, and if you make such mistakes again, don't blame me, old Zhang, for turning your face and denying others!"

"Yes! I must obey the Commander-in-Chief's orders and strictly supervise. If you make this mistake again, you will kill me."

Zhang Zuolin nodded, and said to Chang Yinhuai: "Send a few people, those North Korean women who snatched them somewhere, and send them back somewhere, and give them 500 yuan each as a comfort. The Northeast Army kills as many enemies as possible." Yes, but we must not do things like ruining women, if that happens, we are no different from children."

"Yes!"

After returning to the headquarters, Zhang Zuolin immediately convened a military meeting above the division commander, focusing on discussing the combat plan against Pyongyang.At the meeting, Chang Yinhuai conveyed the disciplinary incident that happened tonight, and Zhang Zongchang also made a self-criticism in front of everyone.Then the meeting will get down to business.

"How can we end the battle in Pyongyang now?" Zhang Zuolin first asked the question.

The generals present began to chatter, some said to use super heavy artillery to directly attack the city, some said to adopt large-scale armored force assault tactics, some said to adopt trench warfare and advance to the center step by step, some Some people say that it is simply like the Singapore counter-insurgency campaign, using psychological warfare or aircraft bombing cluster tactics, but these views seem to be relatively one-sided, and it has been difficult to reach a consensus.

"This is our current situation!" Chief of Staff Yang Yuting spoke, and the conference room suddenly fell silent. People have always admired the Chief of Staff's battle plan, so they all listened quietly to what kind of shocking words he would make.Yang Yuting pointed to the map hanging on the wall and said: "Now the Northeast Army is in front of the Datong River. After passing through the Datong River, it is the Xuanwu Gate at the entrance of Pyongyang. It is a place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack. At this time, I think the most The ideal solution seems to be to shift the focus of the entire offensive to the 5th Army on the southern flank, bypassing the frontal entrance to Pyongyang and crossing the Taedong River from the side to launch an attack. But this may cause a lot of trouble That means that we have to mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops to the south, which will take at least a few days, and within this time, the enemy will have a chance to restore his strength, perhaps The enemy will come. And it will take at least a few weeks to detour that much artillery and ammunition to the south. But the War Office gave us only one week, which means we have to In the next week, we will not only take down Pyongyang, but also take down this North Korea, and completely wipe out the Japanese and North Korean mercenaries in the North." He glanced at everyone with sharp eyes: "Everyone, leave us the Northeast. Time is running out for the military. So, we now need a plan, a complete plan, a plan that actually works."

(End of this chapter)