The Fourth Outstanding Person of Huangpu Military Academy

Wang Jingwei: "You are afraid, he is afraid too, and neither of them wants to fight the first wave. So why not just give up the battle?"

Li Zongren: "The 7th Army can fight the first wave, but if the 7th Army suffers too many casualties after the battle and can no longer continue fighting, who will fight the next round? You? Or Wang Tianpei? Ye Ting's 4th Army is rushing from southern Jiangxi to Changsha. When Ye Ting's troops arrive, your Changsha City will have the 1st Army and the 4th Army. In addition, the Communist Army is also forming troops in Hunan. The Communist Party has formed an army in the mountains on the border between Hunan and Jiangxi. We have received intelligence a long time ago and used it when they attacked Changsha. Maybe the Communist Party has formed other armies, but they have not yet deployed them."

Tang Shengzhi: "The 35th Army and the 8th Army are now damaged, and I need to spend time rebuilding them.

Li Zongren: "Commander Tang, I want to remind you that Chen Tianheng is a master at military management and training. The more time you give him, the stronger his troops will become. If you wait for half a year, the First Army, the Fourth Army, He Long's troops, and all the newly formed armies in Changsha will be strong troops trained by Chen Tianheng. You will never be able to recapture Changsha."

Tang Shengzhi frowned and said nothing.

Wang Jingwei: "That's it, Wang Tianpei, and you will each send some troops as the vanguard.

Usurpation

Between the Miluo River and Wuhan, there are now six army numbers of the National Army. Although two of the armies are in a damaged state, the National Army also has four independent divisions with a total strength of 6 to 4 people.

Now, these troops of more than 100,000 are trying to be polite to each other over who will be the first to charge (to die).

Although the First Army "rebelled" and had no backup, in Jiangxi and Hunan, it still performed like the sword of revolution.

After leaving Nanchang, they turned around and attacked, and the two divisions of the 30th Army suffered heavy losses and fled. The two division commanders brought back less than 3,000 remnants. The attack on Changsha was unexpectedly fast. This First Army is not to be messed with!

Even though the commander of the Fourth Army, Tang Shengzhi, did not have to lead the charge in person, he was reluctant to send away the troops he had mobilized.

After some overt and covert debates, the Wuhan Summit Conference finally decided that Tang Shengzhi would send two divisions and Wang Tianpei's 10th Army would send one division to jointly launch the battle to cross the Miluo River.

Boats are needed to cross rivers, but the large and small boats that the National Army has collected are only enough to ferry three divisions.

"Hello, hello, He Jian?

Tang Shengzhi called the 35th Army and asked, "Has the fleet reached your location from Dongting Lake?"

"A boat? There's not even a boat in sight.

Tang Shengzhi frowned, hung up the phone, and then drew lots again: "Didn't your logistics department say they had a fleet of boats going up the Miluo River from Dongting Lake to the Quzi Temple fork? Where are the boats? How can we force our way across the Miluo River without boats? Are we supposed to swim across?"

"Yes, I'm sorry, Commander. The fleet was ambushed by flat-fire artillery at the mouth of Dongting Lake where it meets the Miluo River. We lost a lot of ships. To avoid total destruction, the fleet turned back to Dongting Lake. It may take a day or two before we can deploy the ships.

The logistics officer of the General Staff was sweating profusely as he reviewed his mistakes on the phone, but Tang Shengzhi's expression relaxed: "Oh, a day or two late is a day or two late, but you must gather the number of ships I want."

Chapter 111: Su Yu, the Overlord

"Director Deng.

Deng Yanda came to visit the Changsha headquarters.

The current Nanchang Uprising Army is called the "Chen Deng Rebel Army", Chen refers to Chen Duxiu and Deng refers to Deng Yanda.

Among the seven members of the Revolutionary Committee, Soong Ching Ling was unable to reach the location of the uprising army, and Deng Yanda was now the supreme leader of the Kuomintang's left wing.

Moreover, Deng Yanda was also one of the founders of the Whampoa Military Academy and the director of the General Political Department of the Northern Expedition Army.

"Comrade Commander-in-Chief Chen, I just came to take a look," Deng Yanda said. "Back at the Junshui River meeting, it was held day after day. Why do you Communists love holding meetings so much?

Chen Tianheng: "I attended the meeting for two days. It wasn't a particularly long meeting, and Director Deng only attended the meeting for one day.

"Isn't it just that the land reform policy went too far? Why not kill both good and bad landlords? Why not treat them differently in the future?" Deng Yanda said. "For such a small matter, the landlords should be killed. I don't understand why Comrade Chen Duxiu and Comrade Mao Runzhi have discussed this matter to the level of philosophy. I really don't understand this philosophy.

Chen Tianheng smiled and didn't continue.

Deng Yanda: "When will the attack from the north begin?"

Chen Tianheng: "Six hours ago, a large-scale attack began this morning."

"What?!"

Deng Yanda was surprised: "Why is it so quiet?

Chen Tianheng took Deng Yanda from the reception room to the General Staff Headquarters: "The operations of the two armies and six divisions in the Changsha direction will be commanded and coordinated here.

Deng Yanda looked around and saw that the General Staff Headquarters was crowded with people. There were maps on the tables and walls. From time to time, staff officers came in and out of the telegraph room next door, marking the latest situation on the map, but the atmosphere did not seem particularly tense.

At the General Staff Headquarters, Liu Bocheng saluted Deng Yanda and said, "Hello, Director Deng.

Deng Yanda: "Where have Wang Jingwei's troops reached?"

"At 8:00 this morning, the Nanjing troops crossed the Miluo River simultaneously from two crossing points, east and west of Miluo Station. Simultaneously, the enemy concentrated their mountain and field artillery to bombard Miluo Station and Miluo Town. It is believed that the enemy's intention is to force a crossing from both flanks and seize the Miluo Iron Bridge, thereby facilitating the passage of their large forces across the Miluo River. Our Second and Third Divisions have already driven the enemy down the river at the east and west sections, respectively."

“It is expected that the Nanjing army will launch another attack tomorrow.

Chen Tianheng: "Today, the 7th and 8th Regiments of the 3rd Division each conducted a counterattack and were victorious. However, it seems that the 9th Regiment will not have the opportunity to fight in the Miluo River. Tomorrow, we will withdraw from the Miluo River defense line and instead meet the enemy on the battlefield north of Changsha and south of Miluo Town.

Deng Yanda looked at the map on the wall. There were already four enemy armies in the north, lurking at the Miluo Railway Bridge, while the revolutionary army south of the bridge had a total of three divisions.

"First Army, Second Army, Changsha only has so few troops left. We can't afford to destroy them." Deng Yanda still hadn't forgotten the meeting. "We should evacuate Changsha as soon as possible, instead of holding meetings here day after day. We don't know when the enemy will arrive from Jiangxi to the east. Wang Jingwei also has four armies in Jiangxi."

Chen Tianheng: "It will be beneficial to future revolutionary work to fundamentally solve the problems that have emerged now. If these problems are not solved, southern Hunan and northern Guangdong, or in other words, the entire rural base area will be unstable."

In the Jiangxi direction, the Nanjing Nationalist Government did have four armies, not counting the 30th Army that had been crippled earlier.

The 30th Army consisted of three divisions and one cavalry brigade, but only two were deployed to "suppress the communists," leaving one division and the cavalry brigade in Henan. After the two divisions were annihilated by Chen Tianheng, Nanjing headquarters ordered the 30th Army to reduce the two divisions to a single one, given that the combined forces only numbered over 1. Seeing his own personnel cut, Wei Yisan simply launched his forces in Nanchang.

The rest of the Nationalist army advanced slowly, with one group halting at Tonggu and the other, the 14th Army, also halting after occupying Yichun, which had been abandoned by the rebels. Further ahead was Pingxiang, where the famous Fourth Army of the Iron Army was stationed.

The Fourth Army was certainly not here. The garrison in Pingxiang was the Fourth Division of the Second Army, plus a reconnaissance company from the 25th Division's reconnaissance battalion brought by Chen Geng, that is, they were using the name of the Iron Army to attack Hu.

The Nanjing Nationalist Government could have attacked Changsha from the south, exposing Changsha to enemies on three sides. However, the Guangdong faction led by Li Jishen and Hu Hanmin in the south refused to obey Wang Jingwei's orders and remained in Guangdong, with their forces only reaching Shaoguan in the north.

Let’s talk about the 14th Army, which was frightened by the name of the Fourth Army.

The 14th Army had fought on the same battlefield as Chen Tianheng's 1st Division in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The 14th Army also participated in the Battle of Jinpu Road. It could be said that it had been a teammate with the 1st Army and the 4th Army, so the army commander Lai Shihuang was aware of the combat effectiveness of these two armies.

“Pingxiang is not easy to fight.

Lai Shihuang frowned, feeling very unhappy: "Although the Fourth Army has been reduced to the mountains and wilderness, it is still a unit under Ye Ting's command. Pingxiang has the Pingzhu Railway behind it. If we attack Pingxiang, the Communist reinforcements from Changsha will arrive at any time. But the higher-ups insist on us attacking Pingxiang and Zhuzhou. There is really no other way."

“So, our division, are we only going to conduct exploratory attacks?

Yi Jian, commander of the 1st Provisional Division of the 14th Army, asked.

Lai Shihuang: "Originally, I didn't want to even try a test attack. But I just received news that Tang Shengzhi and Wang Tianpei's troops were badly defeated on the Miluo River defense line. More than 2,000 of them each crossed the river, and within an hour of reaching land, they were all wiped out. Their bodies were thrown into the Miluo River, and all the fish in the river were full and floating on the surface to digest their food! Oh!"

Yi Jian: "Ah?! Commander, are we still going to attack Pingxiang?"

"Yes, it's because Tang Shengzhi and Wang Tianpei were badly beaten. This means that the First Army is in the direction of Miluo River and will not support Pingxiang for the time being. We can try to attack Pingxiang. Remember, just fight a little bit, don't get bogged down!

Pingxiang, 5 kilometers east of Anyuan Coal Mine, Luxi Defense Line.

Chen Yi, commander of the Second Army, and Xiao Jinguang, commander of the Fourth Division, strode up the hillside near Luxi to inspect the defense line built there.

"Commander's call! Divisional commander's call!"

Su Yu, commander of the 10th Regiment, saluted.

Chen Yi replied: "Comrade Su Yu is incredible. In just one month, he has turned the 10th Regiment into the first division. It's not exactly the same, but it's about five or six points similar.

Su Yu shook his head and said, "Thank you for the compliment, Commander. I will continue to work hard.

Xiao Jinguang: "I've said it before, a company commander from the First Division can easily lead an entire regiment. Commander-in-Chief Chen has trained a large group of demons, both large and small.

Chen Yi: "The ones attacking us are the Provisional 1st Division of the 14th Army of the Nationalist Army, commanded by Yi Jian. Behind Yi Jian is the 2nd Division of the 14th Army, commanded by Xie Jie. What do you think, Commander Xiao, do you have the confidence to hold on?"

Xiao Jinguang: "There's also the Fifth Division behind the Fourth Division. I think there won't be any problems."

Su Yu: "Division Commander, can we take the initiative to attack while we are defending?"

Xiao Jinguang: "Captain Su,...what is your purpose in asking this?

Miluo River.

On July 19, Tang Shengzhi and Wang Tianpei launched the first attack on the Miluo River defense line, resulting in a wave of casualties.

On July 20, the second wave of attack expected by the General Staff did not come.

On July 21st, the north finally took action. At the 36th Army's departure point, Division Commander Liao Lei was personally distributing bounties to the death squads, each receiving 30 yuan. After the money was distributed, the death squads, howling, boarded their boats and rushed towards the other side of the Miluo River.

However, there was no one on the south bank of the Miluo River today.

The suicide squad howled to give themselves courage, jumped onto the shore from the side of the ship, and rushed dozens of meters howling. Some officers and soldiers began to realize the seriousness of this problem.

..is a very serious problem.

"Bang!" A quick-thinking soldier reacted first and fired a random shot in the front and above. As soon as he fired, the others understood instantly and the sound of "bang bang bang bang" filled the air.

This is worthy of the 30 dollars I just gave you.

Changsha Command Center.

"The enemy's left and right wings have already crossed the river and are encircling Miluo Town."

Chen Tianheng: "Very good, wait for their entire division to come over from the Miluo River Iron Bridge, and then launch a counterattack according to the predetermined plan.

In the General Staff, Liu Bocheng, Chen Mingren and others all breathed a sigh of relief.

The blocking at the Miluo River defense line did not cause "irreversible" losses to Tang Shengzhi and Wang Tianpei's army, because only one regiment came over, the baggage was behind, and the division headquarters and commanders were also behind and would not cross the river.

Only by releasing Miluo Town and allowing them to occupy the railway bridge, a whole group of enemy troops would come over the bridge, and then the First Army would have a chance.

"Report! Telegram from Pingxiang!"

There is no need for wireless telegraph from Pingxiang to Changsha, there is wired telegraph.

Yesterday afternoon, a large number of troops from the 14th Army's Provisional 1st Division gathered at the Luxi defense line. Our army anticipated that the 14th Army would launch an attack on our Luxi defense line today. After analyzing the situation, Su Yu, commander of the 10th Regiment of the 4th Division, believed that a proactive attack could be used to defeat the enemy, and the 4th Division adopted this plan. Early this morning, three regiments of our division launched an offensive, defeating the enemy directly in front of the Luxi defense line. The 14th Regiment of the 5th Division also arrived on the battlefield, isolating the Provisional 1st Division from the subsequent enemy forces.

"As of the time of this message, the 1st Provisional Division has been completely defeated, and the division commander, Yi Jian, has been captured. The work of clearing out the remaining enemy forces and counting the prisoners is underway.

Liu Bocheng: "On both the northern and eastern fronts, we have managed to cut off one finger. The Second Army on the eastern front actually fought a decisive battle. It seems that the Fourth Division is making rapid progress.

Chen Tianheng: "Telegram back to Chen Yi. First, ask how many casualties we suffered. Second, ask how much ammunition we consumed in this annihilation campaign, and have them quickly count the ammunition captured."

"Yes!"

Chen Tianheng: "Also, commend the commanders of the 4th Division and the 10th Regiment of the 4th Division.

Thank you

The Second Army defeated a division with the strength of one division and one regiment. This might be quite common for the First Army, but it was different for the Second Army.

This was a new unit, established just over two months ago, originally from Xiao Jinguang's training battalion. Expanding a battalion into an army was a massive undertaking, almost like frying a glutinous rice ball. The expansion process also encountered challenges, such as soldiers recruited from rural bases feeling homesick and reluctant to embark on an expedition, and difficulties communicating in Hunan-Jiangxi and Cantonese dialects. Therefore, the Second Army's political work and the ideological work of its soldiers were particularly demanding.

Moreover, the Second Army had no barreled artillery, only mortars.

After much difficulty in organizing the Second Army, Chen Tianheng was well aware of the combat effectiveness of each of its divisions and regiments. His original plan was simply to train the Second Army in the Hunan battlefield, so that it would be more effective in the next phase of guerrilla warfare against the Hunan-Jiangxi border. However, the Pingdong battle presented a surprise.

This can be considered... perhaps it can be considered as the role played by Su Yu?

Chapter 112: The Path of Advancement for Front Commanders

In the battle east of Pingxiang, the 4th Division of the 2nd Army suffered 672 casualties, and the 14th Regiment of the 5th Division suffered 50 casualties. The 1st Provisional Division of the 14th Army was basically wiped out, and 4400 people were killed, wounded, or captured.

However, if we exclude the enemy troops who surrendered directly due to the collapse of the battle, the casualty ratio between the two sides in the battle was 1:1.5. More than 1100 people of the Provisional First Division were killed or wounded on the battlefield, and the remaining more than 3,000 people surrendered.

In their summary, Xiao Jinguang and Su Yu also acknowledged that, if the First Division were used as a benchmark, the technical and tactical qualities of the Second Army's junior officers, NCOs, and enlisted personnel still needed improvement. After all, Su Yu had trained in the First Division, and Xiao Jinguang had trained with the First Division at the Jiujiang Training Center. Both knew what the benchmark should be.

A preliminary statistics of battlefield spoils was also made.

"We seized 2770 horses and rifles, including the French Lebel 1886 rifle, the British Lee-Enfield No. 0.4 rifle, the Norwegian Krag Jorgensen M1896 rifle, and the Hanyang rifle.

“There are 23 heavy machine guns, including French Hotchkiss, British Maxim, and Chinese Maxim.

"27 rounds of ammunition were seized, with calibers ranging from..."

Logistics Minister Huang Wei smiled bitterly and Chen Tianheng shook his head.

I seem to have forgotten to explain one very important thing: if you are fighting a war of annihilation, it is best to choose an enemy force whose guns and ammunition match ours.

What should we do with this pile of seized weapons? Hand them over to the armed forces of the peasant association in the Hunan-Jiangxi border base.

Although the battle was a battle whose outcome was unclear, the complete annihilation of the Provisional 1st Division clearly benefited the overall campaign. Following this battle, the remaining troops of the 14th Army quickly retreated back to Yichun County, where they held the city to the bitter end. Army Commander Lai Shihuang telegraphed back to headquarters from Yichun, declaring, "Although the Iron Army is away, my subordinates also possess unwavering resolve... We swear to uphold the cause of literature and history and live and die with Yichun."

In reality, there was no Iron Army outside. It was the Second Army, a group of peasants three months earlier. Furthermore, they hadn't taken the initiative to attack and encircle Yichun; the Second Army's Fourth Division was still defending Anyuan.

However, a reconnaissance company of the Fourth Army was operating in this area, and this reconnaissance company was the main reason why Lai Shihuang and the entire National Army misjudged that "the Fourth Army was nearby."

The difference in combat effectiveness between reconnaissance companies is too obvious. As soon as they appear, they can clear out your scouts and reset your vision; it seems that there are spies everywhere around you but you just can't catch a single person. This kind of reconnaissance unit is either from the First Army or the Fourth Army.

"The threat in the east has been completely resolved. Now it's time to head towards Miluo.

The.

Chen Tianheng instructed the staff to change the map.

Chen Mingren: "Yesterday, the enemy forced a crossing from both sides, attacking Leiluo Town, leaving the town and railway station empty. From yesterday afternoon until noon today, enemy personnel and supplies have been arriving in Miluo Town across the Miluo Iron Bridge. Currently, most of the 36th Army and some of the 10th Army have arrived. Interestingly, the 10th Army seems very reluctant to cross the Leiluo River.

Lu Deming: "The 10th Army has been under attack since Ye Ting's uprising. Although it received reinforcements once, it lost over 1,700 men at the Miluo River on the 19th. Now the entire army is down to two divisions with a total of 11,000 men. I think Wang Tianpei is afraid."