The Fourth Outstanding Person of Huangpu Military Academy

"Report! A letter from the headquarters!" Chen Mingren had just finished speaking when a messenger arrived outside the division headquarters.

"Let me remind you that if you have the opportunity to lead the troops alone in the future, please use telegrams if possible. Don't use this kind of classical style. I really don't like it." Chen Tianheng signed the letter and said something to several people in the staff department.

The headquarters now often did not send telegrams. Instead, they wrote letters and gave them to the messengers, who would ride fast horses and chase after the troops to deliver the letters.

The First Division had only been on the move for one day, so the messenger could reach Jinxian County from Nanchang in about two hours and deliver the letter to Chen Tianheng. However, if the First Division continued to move, the delay in information transmission would increase, and even with the assistance of the post station, the messenger might not be able to deliver the message on the same day.

Chen Tianheng: "Headquarters reports that the 26th Army has entered Zhejiang from Shangrao. They passed through Changshan County today without encountering resistance. The Changshan militia and police surrendered. The 26th Army continues to advance deeper into Zhejiang. Given the time lag in information transmission, the 26th Army should have reached Quzhou by now. If the Quzhou police station and militia also surrendered, the 26th Army may have already camped in Quzhou."

Chen Mingren: "This isn't right. The Zhejiang-Jiangxi border is mountainous and easy to defend but difficult to attack. How could the 26th Army just pass through?"

The division staff had an open map. Chen Tianheng and Chen Mingren looked at the map and found that the terrain of Changshan and Quzhou was obviously much more complicated. Even the road was winding after entering Zhejiang.

Chen Tianheng: "The terrain on the Zhejiang-Jiangxi border and in western Zhejiang is easy to defend but difficult to attack. However, it's far from major cities like Hangzhou and Ningbo, making it difficult to obtain logistical supplies locally and posing a high transportation risk. Furthermore, the people in smaller areas of western Zhejiang may not necessarily support Sun Chuanfang. This prevented the Five Provinces Coalition from straying too far from their base. It seems the pre-war General Staff's assessment was correct. Sun Chuanfang's army will not attempt to stop the Northern Expedition in the mountainous terrain; they will retreat to densely populated cities."

……

The First Division continued to march forward, and news from the front line was passed through several channels to reach the First Division.

The 26th Army indeed passed through the Zhejiang-Jiangxi border smoothly. There was no fighting in Changshan County, and Quzhou City peacefully changed its flag. Next, there was no fighting in Longyou either.

The 26th Army commander, Chen Chao, was greatly encouraged. In Longyou, his troops turned north and marched towards Jiande. The 19th Army, which was behind the 26th Army, arrived in Longyou a day later. According to the arrangement of the headquarters, the 19th Army moved northeast from Longyou and marched towards Jinhua.

If you look at the map alone, you can see that the Northern Expedition Army divided itself into two groups and attacked in concert, sending the 26th Army and the 19th Army on the left and right to launch a pincer attack, heading straight for Hangzhou.

But in fact, the combat effectiveness of these two armies was not enough to capture Hangzhou.

The 19th and 26th Armies were both Zhejiang troops that defected to the Northern Expedition. The 19th Army was the former 10st Division of the Zhejiang Army. It only revolted on October 22nd and was reorganized into the 19th Army of the National Revolutionary Army. Shi Duo was the acting commander of the army, which was under the command of two infantry divisions.

The 26th Army was reorganized from the 5th and 6th Mixed Brigades of the Zhejiang Army and the Zhejiang Artillery Brigade, with Zhou Fengqi as its commander. However, Zhou Fengqi actually telegraphed an uprising from within Sun Chuanfang's territory (intending to return home to take his concubines and foreign currency with him). He was detained shortly after sending the telegram. Chen Chao is now the acting commander of the army, commanding three infantry divisions, commanded by Wu Chongren, Si Lie, and Zhang Guowei.

The division numbers of these two armies did not even have time to be unified with the Northern Expedition Army. They were called the 1st Division of the 19th Army, the 2nd Division of the 19th Army, the 1st Division of the 26th Army, the 2nd Division of the 26th Army, etc.

Due to the loss of personnel, chaotic organization, weak military control and very mixed logistics, Bai Chongxi did not have high expectations for the 19th and 26th Armies. It was clearly stated in the military order that these two armies should stop when they arrived near Hangzhou and switch to defense on the spot. The attack on Hangzhou and Ningbo would be handled by the First Army behind them.

However, Chiang Kai-shek highly praised the 19th and 26th Armies, sending them a telegram daily, praising them, saying that the 19th Army was a model for Zhejiang people and the 26th Army was a pioneer of the Zhejiang revolution, playing the hometown card with these two Zhejiang troops. In addition, he also made a rosy promise to the two armies, saying that after the Zhejiang war ended, the 19th and 26th Armies would be supplemented locally and become regular National Revolutionary Armies with guns and artillery.

But in reality, Chiang Kai-shek wanted to get rid of these two armies. Who says Zhejiang people must recognize their fellow townspeople? If Chiang Kai-shek did recognize them, he would recognize his fellow townspeople from the Whampoa clique.

In order to ensure that the 19th and 26th Armies were defeated on the battlefield, Chiang Kai-shek even stopped his micromanagement of these two armies. (……)

12 month 28 day.

The 1st Division arrived west of Shangrao.

On December 29, the 12st Division crossed Shangrao and camped in Yushan County, east of Shangrao City.

"Telegram, telegram! Here comes a telegram! From the headquarters staff!"

For several days, after the First Division's daily march, Chen Tianheng had assigned the communications team to install the radio and set up the antenna for duty. As a result, the communications soldiers sat by the telegraph machine until midnight and then went to bed. Today, at around 8:00 a.m., the telegraph machine suddenly beeped, indicating a radio call within the frequency band.

The telegram from the headquarters was signed by Bai Chongxi.

Now the good news is: the base camp will finally use wireless telegraphy.

The bad news is: the 19th and 26th Armies at the front have begun to use manpower to transmit messages.

Chen Tianheng: If I were your superior, I would have fired you long ago.

"Please note that the information we received is about the movements of the 19th and 26th Armies yesterday. These two armies left their radios in the city behind them, and every day they relayed the messages back by horseback, which were then telegraphed back to headquarters. After noting yesterday's movements, we need to speculate on what they did today."

Chen Mingren received the order and used dotted lines to mark what the two armies "should" have done today.

The two pincers of the pincer attack ahead, the 26th Army to the north, attacking from Jiande toward Tonglu, finally found a ferry yesterday to cross the Fuchun River (Qiantang River). On the 29th, they should begin their attack on Tonglu City on the east bank of the Fuchun River. The 19th Army to the south, having previously set out from Jinhua to capture Yiwu, encountered little resistance, and then marched from Yiwu to Zhuji, where they camped on the 28th.

Tonglu is no longer in western Zhejiang. It is 75 kilometers away from Hangzhou (Hangzhou County) in a straight line and 110 kilometers by road.

Will Sun Chuanfang's army engage in a major battle with the 26th Army in Tonglu? According to the report of Wu Chongren, the vanguard of the 26th Army, there is no sign of large-scale activities of Sun Chuanfang's army near Tonglu.

Chen Mingren: "But is the 26th Army's reconnaissance unit reliable?"

Chen Tianheng knew that according to OTL history, the 26th Army encountered little resistance when it captured Tonglu. However, as they continued to approach Hangzhou, they encountered a counterattack by two divisions of Sun Chuanfang's army between Tonglu and Fuyang, which effectively routed the 26th Army. However, this was OTL history after all, and it might not happen again.

If the 26th Army encountered a strong attack from Sun Chuanfang's army, the 1st Division would move in behind them and deal a fatal blow to Sun Chuanfang's army. This would be the best battle scenario. But the 26th Army is now like an uncontrollable battlefield NPC...

Chen Tianheng: "Further east from Yushan, we will enter Zhejiang Province. Within Zhejiang Province, the First Division will accelerate its march and strive to reach a point 40 to 50 kilometers behind the 26th Army within five days."

Lu Deming: "We will become the 'shadow assassins' behind the 26th Army."

Chapter 135

Zhejiang's terrain can be summarized as "seven mountains, one water, and two parts farmland", while some say it is "seven mountains, two waters, and one part farmland". The mountainous and hilly area of ​​Zhejiang accounts for 70% of the province's area, the water area accounts for 9%, and the plain area is only a little over 20%.

However, when Chen Tianheng entered Zhejiang, he did not feel any impact from the continuous mountains in Zhejiang.

Because in Jiangxi Province, where the First Division had just left, mountains and hills accounted for 78% of the province's area...

Zhejiang's mountains have a lower average elevation than Jiangxi's, making it easier to build roads to connect with the plains. While there are few plains, they are concentrated along the coast, forming the Hangzhou-Jiaxing-Huzhou Plain and the Ningshao Plain. Therefore, "Jiangsu and Zhejiang" have always been mentioned side by side, meaning that Zhejiang, like Jiangsu, is a prosperous region south of the Yangtze River.

On the road from Changshan to Quzhou, Chen Tianheng visually estimated the distance to the unknown mountains on either side of the road. They were all within 1000 meters. The hillside, suitable for defense, was only 1200 meters from the main road. A simple Maxim heavy machine gun could block the road. Anti-aircraft machine guns or even 20-37mm flat-fire cannons would make blocking the highway even easier.

Lu Deming: "If the attacking side wanted to open this road, they would have had to climb two hills with a gradient of 30-40% and a relative height difference of over 100 meters to capture the position. Forget about semi-permanent or permanent fortifications. A simple row of foxholes could have held off the Northern Expedition for one or two days. Sun Chuanfang simply abandoned the mountainous area of ​​western Zhejiang, saving the Northern Expedition a lot of effort."

Chen Tianheng: "The mountainous areas of western Zhejiang are not only making life difficult for us, but also for Sun Chuanfang's army. He will also face logistical pressure. Aside from Hangzhou, Ningbo, and Shaoxing, other parts of Zhejiang are not his home turf. He will have to transport military supplies and fodder from Hangzhou. Furthermore, there is another serious problem: the five-province coalition forces defending the mountains are far away from Sun Chuanfang's core areas and are likely to revolt."

Lu Deming and Chen Mingren both laughed: "That's how the 26th Army in front of us came."

……

January 1, Quzhou, Zhejiang.

Quzhou is a famous historical city. It was founded in the third year of Chuping in the Eastern Han Dynasty and has a history of more than 1800 years.

After the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, Confucius' 48th-generation grandson, Kong Duanyou, took some members of his clan south and settled in Quzhou. During the Southern Song Dynasty, Quzhou was the site of the ancestral temple of "Southern Confucius".

Unfortunately, with the demise of the Southern Song Dynasty, the "Southern Kong" ancestral temple was also destroyed. The Kong family of Qufu that continues to this day is actually mainly the "Northern Kong" that squatted in the original place of Qufu during the Jin and Yuan Dynasties.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Zhou. However, we will only stay here for one night."

There were numerous houses in Quzhou City and the surrounding towns, and with a little effort, the advance team from the First Division's logistics department found accommodation for the entire division. Divisional headquarters was housed in Mr. Zhou's Zhou Family Courtyard, a large compound adjacent to the Qujiang River. Mr. Zhou had given Chen Tianheng and his staff several large rooms from his eldest son's house, and had meticulously renovated the master bedroom, making it resemble a star-rated hotel.

"Staying for one night is still staying. The commander is the division commander and the leader of thousands of people. How can I neglect him?" Old Zhou bowed.

Chen Tianheng: "When another Northern Expeditionary Army passed by a while ago, did they stay at your house?"

"It's Chen Zhuo and Wu Chongren's troops. They've been here for two days. The one living in my house is a regimental commander, while their division commanders and army commanders live directly in the provincial capital."

The Quzhou Prefecture was naturally more imposing than this riverside residence, but Chen Tianheng wanted to live by the river.

"Guan Linzheng."

"To!"

In the evening, the 1st, 2nd and 5th Battalions of the 1st Division Reconnaissance Battalion gathered at the river port outside Zhoujiayuan.

Chen Tianheng: "This is the first campaign reconnaissance operation of the 1st Division's reconnaissance battalion. The 1st, 2nd, and 5th Battalions will each carry a radio and establish forward reconnaissance stations on the left and right sides of the Qiantang River. The specific operational tasks and objectives have been issued to the battalions by the General Staff, so I will not repeat them. You must ensure that the radios are intact. If you lose contact with division headquarters, your trip will be in vain. Do you understand?"

"understand!"

Chen Tianheng looked at the captain of the Second Battalion, Lian Guoliang. "The Second Battalion is serving as a communications relay station. Our portable radios have limited range. Since the First Battalion is the furthest along, telegrams must be relayed through you before they can reach division headquarters. Therefore, your radios must not only be kept safe from damage, but also remain operational for the longest time."

Lian Guoliang: "No problem, the Second Brigade will have people running the generator 24 hours a day!"

Lu Deming: "Hey, what are you pedaling for? We use batteries to receive telegrams, and we need a generator to send them."

The reconnaissance battalion set off.

More than 100 people from three teams boarded 14 boats of various types and sailed downstream along the Fuchun River, Lan River and Qiantang River.

"Thud, tug, tug, tug, tug..."

A dozen soldiers from the Fifth Battalion jumped onto the boat, and the large wooden boat began to shake violently, and the cabin was filled with the pungent smell of diesel.

A wooden boat, but emitting black smoke.

"They're surprised by what they see," Guan Linzheng said, looking at some soldiers who were surprised and even a little terrified. "These are motorboats. They have engines and can go fast. Our Fifth Battalion has traveled the farthest, so we've assigned three of the fastest motorboats."

"Captain, how fast can it run?"

Guan Linzheng: "We can drive over a hundred kilometers in one night. Right, Captain?"

The captain, who was maneuvering his motorboat, replied, "As long as the boat doesn't capsize, even two hundred kilometers is fine."

Guan Linzheng: "That's great, let's drive 200 kilometers tonight."

"Hey, sir, it's pitch dark here. My boat capsized and ran aground, so you can't move..."

……

On the shore, Chen Tianheng watched the dozen or so boats drift down the river and gradually go away.

Unfortunately, there were only so many boats available in Quzhou and the nearby river ports. If there were enough boats, the entire First Division could travel by boat, and their marching speed would be 2 to 3 times faster than on foot.

Mr. Zhou: "Sir, those who just set out...are they the Northern Expedition Army?"

Chen Tianheng: "Yes, they are all my elite."

"Yes, yes, you can tell they are elite at first glance."

Within 24 hours, the three reconnaissance groups would each sail 100 to 200 kilometers and then gradually come ashore. After the radio stations were set up, teams from each reconnaissance group would go out to collect intelligence, which would be sent to the reconnaissance stations and then transmitted back to division headquarters by radio.

In this way, the 1st Division had three outpost reconnaissance stations and its own means of collecting intelligence on the entire battlefield.

The only drawback was that the encryption methods currently available to the First Division were very crude, based on the simplest code table encryption. However, Sun Chuanfang had no code-breaking organization, and perhaps not even a radio interception organization.

On January 2, the 1st Division set out from Quzhou and arrived in Longyou, then marched another 15 kilometers before entering camp.

On January 3, arrived in Jiande.

Qiandao Lake does not exist at all now. Only the Xin'an River flows out from between a small mountain range, flows through Jiande County, and merges into the Fuchun River (Qiantang River).

"Received a telegram forwarded by the 2nd Battalion!"

Intelligence Chief Qian Deng Ruoxian walked into the General Staff Headquarters, waving a telegram: "From noon to afternoon today, the 1st Battalion discovered that Sun's troops were mobilizing in large numbers!"

Chen Tianheng took the telegram.

"Received a direct telegram from the 1st Battalion!!"

There was another shout of surprise from the communications office next door.

The 1st Battalion ran the farthest. The radio station was set up on Goutou Mountain, which is the Lingshan area north of Fuyang, that is, sandwiched between Hangzhou and Fuyang, and 90 kilometers away from Jiande in a straight line. Surprisingly, this portable radio with a theoretical communication distance of 80 kilometers could transmit so far. It may be that the 1st Battalion set up the antenna on the top of the mountain.

At noon today, a large number of Sun Chuanfang's troops appeared in Fuyang, all of whom were marched from the military camp in Hangzhou.

The 1st Battalion failed to capture the tongue because Sun Chuanfang's troops thought it was their own territory and sent no scouts. However, this did not faze the 1st Battalion. They soon learned the unit numbers of Sun Chuanfang's troops from shops in towns along the way: Zheng Junyan's unit of the 10th Allied Forces Division (formerly the 10th Soviet Division); and Wang Miao's unit of the 11th Allied Forces Division.

The vanguard of the 26th Army of the Northern Expedition had already arrived south of Fuyang City. Three days earlier, the 26th Army had arrived in Tonglu. Chen Chao had set up his headquarters in Tonglu and ordered his division commanders Wu Chongren and Si Lie to advance towards Fuyang.

Wu Chongren's division had arrived at Tangjiabu, and Si Lie's division had reached Xiaojing Village. This intelligence was confirmed by the 1st Battalion, not headquarters. The positions of these two divisions were good, serving as the starting points for the attack on Fuyang. If the 1st and 2nd Divisions arrived later, attacking the city from these two directions would be ideal.

The only problem was the two divisions of the 26th Army were not very effective. They were originally a mixed brigade of 3,000 Zhejiang troops. After they revolted and joined the Northern Expedition, Chiang Kai-shek had them recruit from captured Sun Chuanfang's troops, expanding the brigade to 6,000 to 7,000 men. However, such troops had no tactical skills and their internal management was a mess.

陈天衡：“向1、2大队发报。孙传芳军可能要夜袭26军。从现在开始，1、2大队密集派出搜侦队，两部电台24小时待命，随时传递情报。通知1、2、3团和炮兵营的团长营长来师部开会。”

……

The evening of July 1.

This night was the Waterloo of the 26th Army.

On the evening of the 3rd, Wu Chongren's divisional commander clamored for dinner. Almost no one noticed that a company commander from the 1st Regiment hadn't come for dinner. Even those in the 1st Regiment who knew the officer thought it was normal—the large riverside town where they were stationed had many restaurants, and the officers had been eating out frequently over the past couple of days.

In fact, the company commander had already fled to Sun Chuanfang's side. This young officer of the Zhejiang Army, who had been captured in Nanchang some time ago, established contact with Sun Chuanfang's army, reported the current situation of Wu Chongren's division and the deployment positions of various units, and took away 500 oceans.

A similar situation unfolded within the Si Lie Division, eight kilometers from Wu Chongren. Over forty soldiers and officers deserted the division in a single day. Some of them returned home on their own (having finally made it back to their hometowns after a long march), while others were bribed by Sun Chuanfang's forces. Thus, the Si Lie Division's true identity was revealed to the enemy.

Late in the night of January 3rd, the Allied 10th Division launched a surprise attack on Wu Chongren's division. Artillery from the 10th Division pounded the 1st Regiment, which was on guard duty. Infantrymen took shortcuts, bypassing the cordon and charging into Wu Chongren's division camp. Thousands of soldiers from the 2nd and 3rd Regiments, half asleep in their quarters, were instantly devastated and fled in all directions. The division held out for just two hours before being defeated. One of its three commanders was killed, and two were missing. Wu Chongren retreated to Tonglu with just over 600 troops.

At Xiaojing Village, Si Lie's division was attacked by the 11th Allied Division in the early morning hours. Si Lie's situation was better than Wu Chongren's. The defensive line he had deployed had no obvious loopholes. The 11th Allied Division had to break through the night defense line before attacking from both sides. When the defense line was finally broken, Si Lie's men had already put on their clothes and grabbed their guns. The entire division barely maintained its formation and gradually retreated.

At the First Division’s headquarters in Jiande, at dawn on January 4, Chief of Staff Chen Mingren, with dark circles under his eyes, blew out the oil lamp.

"My soldiers were all fast asleep that night, and I stayed up all night. What should I do?" Second Regiment Commander Wei Lihuang said painfully.

Xu Xiangqian: "Not only did we pull an all-nighter last night, but we also have to march quickly during the day today."

"Not only do we have to march 40 kilometers today, but the troops may also need to be deployed into combat positions tonight and into the early hours of tomorrow morning," Chen Tianheng said. "Dear night wanderers, the carriages are prepared for you. Each regiment has been allocated an empty carriage, so you can take a nap in them during the day."

During the Liberation War, our army's normal routine was to march at breakneck speed during the day. At night, while the soldiers slept, each unit's headquarters would set up radio stations. The field army headquarters would contact the columns and divisions, the divisions and columns would contact the field headquarters, and the field headquarters would contact Yan'an/Xibaipo. Each unit would receive intelligence, receive orders, and formulate combat plans. At dawn, the march would resume.

Otherwise, why is it that after the end of the Liberation War, our army's generals and commanders fell ill in large numbers? It was all because they had seriously overdrawn their energy and physical strength in the previous few years.

Chen Tianheng: "Based on the battle situation this evening, the two divisions of the 26th Army that advanced were in very poor condition, with Wu Chongren's division at Tangjiabu in particularly poor condition."

"We arrived in Tonglu this afternoon. The remnants of the Allied Forces' 10th Division and Wu Chongren's Division should be on the road between Tonglu and Fuyang. One is chasing, and the other is fleeing."

"Our division's first battle in Zhejiang was between Tonglu and Fuyang, where we used mobile warfare to eliminate the only remaining ace force of Sun Chuanfang's army, the Allied 10th Division."