The Fourth Outstanding Person of Huangpu Military Academy

As a villa, Tengwang Pavilion was once built very high, with the original intention of allowing people to overlook Poyang Lake from the top floor and watch the setting sun and the soaring wild geese fly together. But now, when Chen Tianheng climbed to the top floor, Poyang Lake in the distance was still just an indistinguishable water-sky line.

"Commander, we've only been resting in Nanchang for less than a week?"

Xu Xiangqian, commander of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Division, asked.

The people Chen Tianheng brought to visit the Tengwang Pavilion were the current team of the First Division of the First Army:

The division commander was Chen Tianheng, the division chief of staff was Chen Mingren, the director of the political department was Yuan Zhongxian, the commander of the first regiment was Xu Xiangqian, the commander of the second regiment was Wei Lihuang, and the commander of the third regiment was Du Yuming.

Like Xue Yue who was transferred to become the commander of the 22nd Division, Jiang Dingwen (transferred), the former commander of the 3rd Regiment, was promoted to deputy commander of the 21st Division and took office immediately in the 21st Division.

Wei Lihuang remained the regimental commander. The original commander of the Second Regiment was Qian Dajun, and Wei Lihuang was transferred from another unit after Qian Dajun was transferred. He had not been in the position of regimental commander for long, and he did not move during the major officer reshuffle of the First Army.

Chen Tianheng: "Because of the existence of the Nanxun Railway, Nanchang-Jiujiang is a whole. Now that Nanchang has been captured, the battle for Jiujiang will begin immediately. In another combat direction, the Fourth Army and the Seventh Army are also approaching Jiujiang. When it comes to the siege, our First and Second Divisions will have to be transferred there."

Chen Mingren: "Fortunately, there is the Nanxun Railway. It only takes a few hours to get from Nanchang to the outskirts of Deyang."

Chen Tianheng: "Yes, the Nanxun Railway gives us two extra days to rest and recuperate. Otherwise, we would only have less than five days."

Xu Xiangqian: "Jiujiang City is now a place that Sun Chuanfang must defend. Whether Jiujiang can be held is related to the security of his territory in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. This is expected to be another fierce battle."

Chen Tianheng: "Zheng Junyan's 10th Division originally had a strength of 12,000 men, but 8,000 fled from Nanchang. Jiujiang City now houses two of Sun Chuanfang's three main forces, totaling 40,000 men. However, according to intelligence reports, a cargo ship capsized in Poyang Lake during their withdrawal, resulting in the loss of 15 of their 30 mountain guns. This could impact the defense of the 10th Division and even the entire Jiujiang region. The Northern Expedition can mobilize over 60,000 men to participate in the attack on Jiujiang. Furthermore, two of the Beiyang Navy's Yangtze River gunboats revolted and joined the Northern Expedition. In terms of manpower and combat power, we have the advantage."

Wei Lihuang: "Commander Chen, the Second Division has been frantically replenishing its forces these past few days to restore the 5th and 6th Regiments. Isn't it time for our First Division to make some adjustments as well?"

Chen Tianheng: "The Divisional Training Headquarters will make arrangements. The tactical principles and tactics of the three infantry regiments in the division must be roughly unified, but we don't have much time to adjust them now. We can only deploy the backbone forces needed by the 2nd and 3rd Regiments first. Xu Shilin of your 2nd Regiment seems to be a member of the War Research Association. He actually knows these tactics. However, training will have to wait until after the Jiujiang Campaign. The 1st Division will probably have a relatively long period of rest and recuperation."

Wei Lihuang: "Xu Shilin is now the commander of my first battalion."

Chen Tianheng: "If we want to refine the tactics of the entire regiment, Xu Shilin would be best appointed as the regiment's chief of staff, and the Second Regiment should also establish a staff like the First Regiment."

Wei Lihuang: "That would be the best. The First Regiment can provide more core forces to the Second Regiment, which will promote tactical training."

Chen Mingren: "However, there is one thing that must be changed immediately. Each regiment will be equipped with a mortar company with 6 Stokes rifles. From now on, each regiment's infantry attack and defense must be carried out under the support of firepower projection."

Wei Lihuang: "Just use mortars to bombard them a few times before the infantry charges."

Chen Mingren: "If we want to fully utilize the efficiency of artillery fire, then the tactical organization is more complicated than this."

Wei Lihuang: "Besides the officers and NCOs, the backbone of combat tactics, does Commander Chen have any plans to restructure the political cadres?"

Chen Tianheng: "Political cadres of your Second Regiment, how do you think your work is going?"

Wei Lihuang: "In battle, he knew how to lead by example, always shouting, 'Follow me,' and charge forward together. But in normal times, he wasn't very thorough in understanding the soldiers' thoughts and doing ideological work. Actually, the former Party representative of the Second Regiment, Li, was quite capable and had a very good relationship with me. But after reorganizing Party affairs, he was transferred and is now reportedly serving in the Seventh Army."

Chen Tianheng: "I actually know Li. He used to be a member of the Qingjun Association."

Wei Lihuang: "So I'm thinking, Commander Chen, since you're so easy to talk to Commander-in-Chief Chiang, could you please make a suggestion to him? Is it possible to bring back some of those Communist officers who were previously assigned? The army is expanding rapidly now, and the First Army is short of manpower in many positions."

Chen Tianheng: "This is a bit difficult. There can't be any Communists in the First Army. This is President Jiang's red line. We'd better not cross this red line."

Wei Lihuang: "Sorting out party affairs and dividing the party is such a mess. It's totally unnecessary."

"Since it's the principal's decision, we'll just execute it," Chen Tianheng pursed his lips. "Let's assume for now that these Communist Party members can't come back, and then we'll find a way to resolve these issues. I believe as long as we use our brains, we can always find a solution."

……

After visiting the slightly disappointing Tengwang Pavilion, the group went downstairs, walked into the streets, strolled half a street, and sat down in a rice restaurant to eat noodles.

Xu Xiangqian still wanted vinegar, while Chen Tianheng, Chen Mingren, and Yuan Zhongxian requested chili peppers. Du Yuming felt the default chili pepper setting was sufficient. Wei Lihuang wanted both chili peppers and vinegar.

"How badly did the Second Division suffer during the Battle of Nanchang?" Chen Mingren asked. "Chairman Wang almost dismissed Principal Chiang."

Chen Tianheng: "The 5th and 6th Regiments have all but vanished, even their commanders are gone. Looking at the newly formed 5th and 6th Regiments, there are hardly any familiar faces. It's difficult for a unit rebuilt after such a devastating blow to return to its previous level, and of course the 5th and 6th Regiments were only at that level before."

Wei Lihuang: "In my opinion, that battle was mainly the fault of Wang Bailing and Cheng Qian. The principal didn't expect to be defeated so quickly and so miserably."

Chen Tianheng looked up and saw several Northern Expedition soldiers walking towards the restaurant street. They were from the First Division, including Ma Buyi, the party representative of the artillery battalion, and several officers and soldiers.

The group walked to the door of a restaurant. Ma Buyi was talking to the owner. Standing next to him was an officer with the rank of lieutenant. The officer lowered his head and looked so embarrassed that he could dig out a two-bedroom apartment from the ground with his toes.

Yuan Zhongxian: "Ma Buyi! What are you doing here?"

Ma Buyi: "Come and pay the bill! Pay for this Guo Rongmen's meal! There are eight restaurants in total!"

Guo Rongmen was originally a subordinate of Deng Ruzhuo of the Gan Army and a company commander of a mountain artillery battalion. After the Nanchang defenders raised the white flag of surrender, these more than 4,000 prisoners were temporarily taken in. Later, after being mobilized, Guo Rongmen was willing to join the Northern Expedition. The First Division, seeing that he was an artillery company commander and had good skills, accepted him.

When the Five Provinces Allied Forces were stationed in Nanchang, Guo Rongmen, an officer of the Gan Army, naturally followed the same pattern as his colleagues: he would eat at restaurants without paying. After eating his fill, he would wipe his mouth and leave, with the owner nodding and bowing behind him, saying, "Sir, take care, take care."

After Guo Rongmen and his group of captives joined the First Division, the division's political department's first task was to clean up the mess. They began by visiting shops on the streets of Nanchang and then interviewing the captives. They compiled a list of outstanding debts, and then Party representatives, accompanied by the individuals involved, visited each household to pay off the outstanding debts.

This is a necessary process. To transform captured officers and soldiers, if the target is the veteran soldiers of a warlord's army, it is far from being as simple as holding grievance meetings, struggle meetings and ideological mobilization.

In fact, Guo Rongmen didn't eat much for free. He had about 20 meals in 8 restaurants, and the meal cost about 11 or 12 yuan.

"It's not that I can't afford it, it's just... my colleagues are all like this, so I do the same." Guo Rongmen explained.

Ma Buyi: "We are the Northern Expedition Army, a revolutionary army. Not only do we not allow officers and soldiers to do such things, but we must also erase those who joined the Northern Expedition Army like you and have done such shameful things in history. Otherwise, when our troops go in and out of the city, people on the street will point at us and say, 'Look, that officer from the revolutionary army still owes us three dollars for food.' We will be so embarrassed to have people pointing at us."

Guo Rongmen: "The party representative is right."

Ma Buyi urged the restaurant to pay off its outstanding bill, took out his notebook, made a note, and prepared to leave.

"Ma Buyi, it's dinner time now. Why don't you have some tender pork noodles on this street before going home?"

“No! Not halal!”

Ma Buyi led the team away, shouting as he walked: "Walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk until September 9th, only then will we have freedom at home, only then will we have September 9th..."

Wei Lihuang: “…”

Yuan Zhongxian: "As for Old Ma, he has no taboos when he's fighting, but when he's not fighting, he still observes some of the rules."

Wei Lihuang: "Do Hui people still have this tradition?"

Yuan Zhongxian: "People who are dying, soldiers, or those who are threatened by the enemy can use non-halal food. This is written in the Quran."

……

This day is October 15th, the ninth day of the ninth month in the lunar calendar, the Double Ninth Festival.

The First Division, which raced against time to adjust its personnel and reorganize its troops, also gave all officers and soldiers a half-day holiday.

On the Double Ninth Festival, Sun Chuanfang at the Five Provinces Allied Forces Headquarters in Jiujiang also received a special gift.

A simple coffin made of carriage planks was transported from Yongxiu to Deyang, and then sent back to Jiujiang from Deyang.

When the coffin was opened, Xie Hongxun, commander of the 4th Division of the Soviet Army, was inside.

"Bingnan, Bingnan! My good general! I never thought that he would..."

Sun Chuanfang wept bitterly. He saw the cold body of Xie Hongxun, and when he recognized his face, he thought of Xie Hongxun lying in coarse salt for seven days without rice wine or fennel, and he felt even more heartbroken.

Xie Hongxun was killed on the battlefield, but Sun Chuanfang paid a ransom of 8,000 yuan to retrieve his body. To help Sun Chuanfang recognize Xie Hongxun's face after receiving the coffin, the First Regiment poured two sacks of sea salt into the coffin.

"Marshal, the puppet government in Guangzhou is receiving gold rubles, weapons and ammunition from the Soviet Union, and they have a strong army and ammunition. If they continue like this, they will sooner or later turn all of China into a communist."

Deng Ruzhuo, commander-in-chief of the Gan Army who fled from Nanchang to Jiujiang, was worried about the future prospects.

Sun Chuanfang: "With the enemy at our doorstep, the Zhili and Fengtian armies must abandon their differences and unite to resist. I have sent a special envoy to Beijing to contact Zhang Zuolin. We must put aside our past grudges and unite to respond to the Guangzhou Red Army's attack. If an agreement can be reached, the Fengtian Army can move south within a month to join forces with the Five Provinces Allied Forces to resist the enemy."

Lu Xiangting, commander of the Second Central Division of the Zhejiang Army, said: "But Zhang Zuolin's appetite..."

Sun Chuanfang: "Even if Zhang Zuolin takes away some of our territory, it is better than being completely swallowed up by Guangzhou."

Chapter 112

"Six, seven, eight, nine, ten, ten bundles, just right."

Hanyang rifle (old sleeve), the standard rifle of Sun Chuanfang's Soviet army, ten rifles were tied into a bundle with ropes, and a carriage could carry 10 bundles.

There were 6 carriages in total.

In the darkness of the night, Chen Tianheng and Yuan Zhongxian watched the scene with flashlights as the Nanmao caravan's staff laboriously loaded bundles of rifles onto the truck. After the 600 rifles were properly arranged, the staff began moving the ammunition boxes.

"Guo Liang, Xia Minghan, it's been a long time since I saw you two." Chen Tianheng said with a smile.

Guo Liang: "Yes, from the end of 1923 to now, it has been three years."

Xia Minghan: "I met earlier. We met once at Mao Runzhijia in early 23, and we haven't met together since then. It's been three and a half years."

Chen Tianheng: "According to Xia Xi's arrangement, one of you is in southern Hunan, and the other is on the Hunan-Jiangxi border?"

Guo Liang: "Yes, two rural policy experimental zones. I have seven farmers' cooperatives here, covering 10 counties, and Xia Minghan's southern Hunan has eight farmers' cooperatives and 9 counties. The farmers' cooperative armed forces now serve as guards, rural police, rural detectives, and civil mediation officers, and they are very busy. However, the farmers' cooperative armed forces only have a few dozen guns in total, and each farmers' cooperative armed team has dozens of people and about 10 guns. If you send this batch of arms, wow, our farmers' cooperative armed forces will be invincible."

Chen Tianheng looked at Xia Minghan and said, "We met Xiangqi when we were marching through southern Hunan. It turns out that you are in charge of Xiangqi's farmers' cooperative."

Xia Minghan: "Yes. Uncle Seven is quite famous now, known as the Great Hero of Southern Hunan. By the way, Chen Tianheng, I saw it in the newspaper. Your regiment annihilated a main division of Sun Chuanfang's army!?"

"Yes. Although one of Sun Chuanfang's regiments hadn't arrived yet, the three that did arrive were all wiped out, including their divisional commander. It was basically a battle of annihilation. The batch of rifles you're here to collect today was sent by Sun Chuanfang. We captured 4,000 guns on the battlefield, and when we were counting the spoils, we fiddled a little with the accounts and found 600 guns left. Unfortunately, machine guns are difficult to account for."

Yuan Zhongxian: "Commander Chen, ah, now Commander Chen, made a temporary adjustment to the plan before the battle. He said that it would be no problem to annihilate this main division, but the First Regiment must not suffer too many casualties during the battle."

Xia Minghan: "..."

Chen Tianheng: "In short, the workers' and peasants' revolution in Hunan has a powerful workers' and peasants' armed force as its backing."

Xia Minghan and Guo Liang arrived from their respective areas of responsibility to receive the weapons and escort them. Three hundred Hanyang rifles were delivered to each district by caravans under the banner of "Military Supplies Transport" to the vicinity of Pingxiang and Chenzhou. Once all the bullets were loaded onto the trucks, the team was ready to leave.

"Shopkeeper Luo, thank you for your hard work."

Luo Tianmao, who was working with his fellow Nanmao caravan drivers, had just finished his work and came back to Chen Tianheng, saying, "This trip will take us to two places, both of which are rural areas. I'll talk to Boss Chen later and give you a performance bonus."

Luo Tianmao: "Thank you very much, thank you, Boss Chen. Actually, it would be a waste to return with an empty car. My caravan also purchased 10 cars of Jing porcelain in Jiangxi and are preparing to ship them back to Guangzhou."

Xia Minghan: "Ah? Isn't this Boss Mao's business?"

Chen Tianheng: "It's not Mao Runmin's. This is a business I opened in Guangzhou with my relatives."

Guo Liang: "Wait a minute, so, if your convoy unloads a few truckloads of ammunition and guns at my place, you can load them with tung oil. Does tung oil sell well in Guangzhou?"

Luo Tianmao: "Yes, that's right. Tung oil will sell well once it's shipped to Guangzhou. Plenty of foreigners are waiting for it with real money."

Guo Liang: "Then it's a deal. I'll have the farmers' association get tung oil. You go to Pingxiang, unload the guns, and load the oil. What's the purchase price?"

……

Hunan’s current farmers’ association is not only involved in farmers’ movements, but if it continues to develop, it will become an agricultural, industrial, commercial and trade complex.

The current Guangzhou National Government, because Wang Jingwei himself was a left-wing member of the Kuomintang, after the Northern Expedition began, the Kuomintang Central Committee also passed a resolution to "promote rural revolution with the purpose of equalizing land rights."

However, the KMT's provincial branches mostly ignored the matter. It was too difficult, and since it seemed like just a resolution—not legislation, and not included in the provincial party committee's KPI assessments—why bother with it?

Only Hunan and the Chaoshan, Hailufeng, and Hailufeng regions of eastern Guangdong were carrying out this movement. Hunan had already begun implementing this movement before the KMT Central Committee passed this resolution, and the leader of the peasant movement in eastern Guangdong was Peng Pai.

On the third day of rest in Nanchang, the artillery battalion of the 1st Division was reorganized.

一共四个炮兵连，三个山炮连共装备14门俄制1904型76.2毫米山炮，这个是苏联援助的；一个野炮连装备4门75毫米克虏伯1903野炮，这个是在歼灭苏四师的时候缴获的。

Why are there 14 mountain cannons, 2 more than the original standard establishment? It is because the First Division moved the 2 mountain cannons from the Second Division.

Why did the Second Division only have two Soviet-supplied mountain guns? This was because during the First Battle of Nanchang, when the Second Division was driven out of Nanchang by Sun Chuanfang, 10 of the 12 mountain guns were lost...

The rebuilt Second Division Artillery Battalion used 11 Hu-made K-75 mountain guns captured by Chen Tianheng from the Soviet Fourth Division on the battlefield. The two Soviet guns were not logistically compatible with the Hu-made K-75, so they were all given to the First Division.

Yuan Yelie was also promoted from artillery company commander to artillery battalion commander, and upgraded from mortars to barreled artillery.

"Everyone has—" "Beep—"

In the wasteland outside Nanchang, at the 1st Division's temporary training ground, at the whistle of Yu Chengwan, Director of the Division's Training and Operations Department, all the soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Regiment began practicing their attack on the grass.

The light machine gun fire team provided cover, the combat team advanced, followed up by clearing obstacles, and the fire team moved forward. After taking the first trench, they defended it while the follow-up troops passed through, continuing to alternately cover the advance.

After practicing a set of combined tactics, Yu Chengwan was a little surprised: "Hey, Captain Du, the Third Regiment's infantry tactics are quite basic. Why did the Third Regiment not only fail in the first day of the attack at the Battle of Wuchang, but also suffer heavy casualties?"

Du Yuming, commander of the Third Regiment, said, "I'm also very curious about this question."

Lan Yundong, commander of the first battalion of the third regiment, said: "We have practiced some of the infantry tactics tutorials from the War Research Association, but not much. All we practiced today was the field infantry squad breakthrough tactics. During the Battle of Nanchang, we attacked the city walls, which we didn't practice."

Yu Chengwan: "Is this the first volume of infantry tactics summarized by the War Research Association?"

"Yes."

Du Yuming: "I see. But we're leaving for Jiujiang in three days, so I'm afraid we won't have enough time to learn all the details of infantry combat doctrine. Mountain warfare, plains warfare, field breakthroughs, field defense, and the divisions into permanent, semi-permanent, and temporary fortifications. Now we'll have a lot to keep us busy."

Yu Chengwan: "I didn't expect to raise the Second and Third Regiments to the level of the First Regiment in these six days. Today, I came to the Third Regiment to find out the bottom line. I want to find out how strong the Third Regiment is, what it can do and what it can't do. After I go back, I will compile the data and use it as a reference for the staff to formulate combat plans."

"Bang! Phew——"

"boom!"

West of Nanchang, across the Ganjiang River.

Amidst a resounding explosion, the shell flew out of the muzzle. Chen Tianheng peered through his telescope at the hillside two or three kilometers away. After a dozen seconds, a cloud of gunpowder rose from the hillside. Ten seconds after that, the resounding boom of the cannon echoed back.

The Russian-made 1904 model is backed by Soviet aid and has enough shells, so the artillery battalion used live ammunition during training today.

This gun, a legacy from the Imperial Russian era, was withdrawn from the Soviet Red Army in 1926. Its performance was similar to that of other 75mm mountain guns of the same era: a weight of 456 kg, a 13-caliber barrel, a muzzle velocity of 290 m/s, and a maximum range of 4267 m. The Shanghai-made K-75 mountain gun had a range of 4300 m.