Chapter 111 A hail of bullets casts the soul of the army
Chapter 11: A hail of bullets forges the soul of the army
At dawn on the 30th, more than 300 artillery pieces from various units of the Northern Expeditionary Army suddenly opened fire in unison. The non-stop bombardment lasted for 20 minutes, shaking the mountains and the ground. The fire was blazing, and the thick smoke completely destroyed the little light brought by the morning sun.
Covered, the battlefield with a radius of more than ten kilometers returned to the frightening darkness.
The sound of artillery did not stop, and the Fourth and Seventh Northern Expeditionary Armies, which had been replenished after a brief rest, launched a fierce attack on the enemy again. This time, the somewhat desperate full-line attack was larger, more decisive, and more direct than yesterday's operation.
The number of troops is almost double that of yesterday.
Such a swift and powerful offensive force caught the defenders off guard. The commander-in-chief Wu Peifu hurriedly launched superior artillery fire and violently counterattacked, mobilizing more than 20,000 troops to rush for reinforcements. Only then could the entire front be able to stabilize its position. However, the entire long front was under crazy attack by the revolutionary army.
As a result, the entire army moved 250 meters north, and the two lines of defense that the enemy had worked so hard to build fell into the hands of the revolutionary army.
Wu Peifu was extremely angry and ordered his generals Liu Yuchun, Chen Jiamo, Ma Ji, Sun Jianye, Zhang Zhan'ao and more than ten generals to go to the front line in person and lead a full-scale counterattack with superior forces, determined to push the revolutionary army back to the starting point and defeat it across the board. Wu Peifu himself personally led the troops
The elite Guards Brigade rushed to the front line of Heshengqiao to rush to the rescue, and urgently ordered three powerful armored trains that had just returned from Wuhan to replenish ammunition to speed south and enter the battlefield.
A huge and decisive battle that affects both the old and new groups and the fate of millions of people has inevitably entered a feverish state.
Guns and artillery fired, and the smoke-filled battlefield was like a sea of fire. More than 80,000 people from both sides began fierce fighting and repeated battles on a ten-kilometer front. The fierce battle lasted for more than five hours. Both sides suffered heavy losses, but no one retreated.
Cherish life.
Both sides invested more and more troops, and the fighting became more and more intense. The fighting positions were littered with corpses, fires were everywhere, flaming mud and rocks mixed with hot blood were flying all over the sky, and the stench of burnt corpses was mixed with the spicy smoke and gunpowder smoke.
The billowing dust swirled and filled the air, covering the sky and blocking out the sun.
More than 100,000 officers and soldiers on both sides and their generals have all become red-eyed gamblers at this moment. They are struggling in this desperate fight and risking their lives to move forward. The generals on both sides know that as long as a slight retreat, it may lead to death.
The whole line will be shaken, and then completely collapse. From then on, it will sink into sinking and never recover.
In the frontline headquarters of the Northern Expeditionary Army at Henggou Bridge, the thirty-six-year-old campaign commander Li Zongren lowered his head slightly and walked slowly. The deputy commander of the Fourth Army Chen Keyu, who was sitting majestically, looked at the battle reports from the front line with a solemn expression.
Zhang Fakui, Chen Shuming and other seven or eight generals gathered around the map nervously looking for a breakthrough.
Li Zongren's captain of the bodyguard stood far away at the table next to the door, looking at the lunch that had turned cold on the table. He didn't dare to breathe. The atmosphere in the entire headquarters was so solemn and suffocating that everyone was like a string that was getting tighter and tighter.
The string, quietly approaching the limit of tension little by little.
The birth year is a hurdle. Li Zongren clearly knows that the battle in front of him is the biggest hurdle he has encountered in his life. If he crosses it, the sea and the sky will be brighter. If he falls, he may even lose the capital he has accumulated over the years, including hard-won reputation, fame, etc.
All will be shattered accordingly.
Crossing this hurdle is far more difficult than when he resolutely held high the banner of justice and relied on the Guangzhou National Government to fight against his former separatist allies. What he faced today was the most prestigious army in the country and the most powerful. A prominent warlord leader with strength and fame, the step he is about to take is far more difficult and bumpy than all the efforts he made to unify the Eight Guangxi!
He succeeded that year. After a long dormancy in the troubled times, he sized up the situation and raised the flag of justice. He united with the still weak emerging forces Huang Shaohong and Bai Chongxi, broke out of the narrow five vassals of southern Guangxi, and went on a non-stop conquest. Finally, he defeated all the powerful people in Guangxi and put the people of Xishan to the end. Lu Rongting, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, was beaten to a pulp, thus ending his decades-long rule. He then beat Shen Hongying, who was capricious but had a heavy army and had dominated Guangdong and Guangxi for many years, to the point where he was beaten to pieces and fled. Finally, he fled alone, disguised as a businessman and took a small car. The fishing boat fled to Xiangjiang, and he became a villain and was instantly forgotten.
The calm, magnanimous, persevering and wise Li Zongren ended the chaotic separatist rule in Guangxi for decades in just two years, and became the leader of a rapidly rising military group that attracted the attention of the world. He then vigorously advocated the Northern Expedition to take the lead in entering the country. In Hunan, he helped Tang Shengzhi's troops, who had been defeated all the way, to gain a foothold, and commanded his elite to assist the desperate Tang Shengzhi's troops. Within three months, they fought back at Hengyang, captured Changsha, and rose again, shocking Kyushu and making all the forces in the north and south look at each other with admiration. From then on, Li Zongren A local power gradually spreads across the country, entering another leap and sublimation in life.
However, the obstacle before Li Zongren at this moment has become the biggest touchstone in his life. It seems that he is destined by God that he cannot avoid it. One step forward or one step back will determine his future destiny. At this moment, he suddenly thought of his hometown. There is a saying that adults in the countryside of Lingui often teach their children: Jackie Chan goes up to the sky and becomes a snake and burrows into a hole! I feel like a koi carp that swims under the dragon gate, leaps hard and turns into a dragon with golden scales. After falling down, I am drowned in the vast mediocrity. and in humility.
Li Zongren stopped, walked to a group of generals again, stared at the large map on the table with his calm eyes, and focused his eyes on the northern end of Hesheng Bridge between Huangtang Lake and Liangzi Lake. He paused briefly and looked at He moved to the broad and gentle area northeast of Liangzi Lake, nodded slightly, and said calmly: "Everyone, move your headquarters five kilometers forward immediately. It's time for a decisive victory."
The generals were shocked, but after seeing the strong confidence in Li Zongren's eyes, no one spoke against it. Although it was extremely dangerous to move the headquarters five kilometers forward and completely exposed to the enemy's artillery fire, none of the generals flinched. I think this is the best way to deal with it. At least it can greatly relieve the heavy psychological pressure. It is a hundred times better to bear everything in the hail of bullets than to be suffocating and helpless. Moreover, all the generals and commanders are all people who have experienced hundreds of battles. The pride of the military Li Zongren's relaxed words greatly inspired him.
At one o'clock in the afternoon, Li Zongren stood on the mountainside of Wangxian Mountain on the left side of the railway, slowly looking at the long front line. He vaguely saw Wu Peifu's high-flying flag and the mobile camp like a canopy at the north end of Hesheng Bridge.
Li Zongren gently ordered the chief of staff beside him: "Order that all divisions of the Fourth Army immediately deploy all their reserves and launch an all-out attack on the front battlefield of He Shengqiao. The harder the attack, the better."
"yes!"
"Slow down! Another order: Yu Zuoyu's regiment on the right wing of our Seventh Army breaks away from the enemy in front and attacks in the northeast direction. It rushes all the way and runs as far as it can. It is not allowed to stop unless there is a strong enemy to stop it!"
"yes!"
With Li Zongren's sudden adjustment, the entire balance of power battlefield immediately changed.
An Yi, who returned to yesterday's observation point again and overlooked the battlefield, found that the left wing troops suddenly increased their attack intensity, and immediately paid full attention to it.
Through the telescope, the tough and tough two divisions of the Fourth Army suddenly exerted their strength after the arrival of the army's four reserve regiments. They charged regardless of their own safety and faced the rain of bullets. The shouts of killing spread for ten miles, and they suddenly became the focus of the entire front.
.
"Ye Ting Independent Regiment! Look, brother, look at the flag of the commando team moving north quickly. It must be Senior Xu Jishen's commando battalion that successfully broke through the enemy's first line of defense. That's great!"
Yin Jinan, who was beside An Yi, couldn't help shouting.
An Yi held the high-power telescope motionless: "I saw it, it must be him. Brother Huang Qixiang's 36th Regiment has rushed to the hills about a hundred meters to the left of the south of the bridge. The enemy's firepower is too fierce and they can't advance any further.
It's a pity that they don't have enough machine guns... What's the sound? Oh my God! Brother Xiang, please get out of the mountain..."
Under An Yi's futile cry, three large-caliber artillery shells fired by the enemy's armored train made a heart-rending scream and landed in the hilly area where the 36th Regiment was located.
, the fifty-meter-wide hillock had been exploded into blazing flames, thick smoke towered into the sky, raining mud and rocks splashed hundreds of meters, the smoke soared upward, and the entire green hilltop disappeared in the blink of an eye, turning into a huge round piece of scorched earth.
The vegetation within ten meters was shattered by the powerful shock wave, like withered leaves hovering in the sky. More than 300 officers and soldiers around the mountainous area disappeared. An Yi's heart was twisted like a knife when he saw it, and he closed his eyes in pain. Ten people nearby
Many of his subordinates were also frightened and dumbfounded, looking at the mushroom-shaped smoke clouds hundreds of meters into the sky like idiots.
On the hillside of Wangxian Mountain, Li Zongren put down his telescope and turned to Chen Keyu: "The Thirty-sixth Regiment cannot retreat. It is recommended that the officers and soldiers of the Twelfth Division not stay and immediately launch an all-out charge. As long as the troops are in close contact, the enemy's artillery advantage will be lost. If it is delayed for another five minutes,
, the Ye Ting Independent Regiment that broke the bloody path may be in vain. The enemy has been shaken, and now everyone will fight to the last breath. "
Chen Keyu nodded painfully and turned to Zhang Fakui, the commander of the 12th Division, but Zhang Fakui had already thrown down his hat and rushed down the mountainside with his gun in hand.
Li Zongren looked at Zhang Fakui's stocky back and nodded with satisfaction. He raised his telescope and looked at the right wing of the Seventh Army in the northeast. He saw that Yu Zuoyu's regiment had been intercepted by twice the enemy's strength. He nodded with satisfaction and said to the chief of staff beside him again:
"Wu Peifu has seen our motive, but he actually used two regiments to intercept Yu Zuoyu's regiment, and then used Zhang Zhan'ao's division, which had been silent, to cut into the joint between our army and the Fourth Army with all its strength. From this, we can see that he has panicked. We in the Northeast
The pressure on the front has been reduced exponentially, and it is time. Order Hu Zongduo: The Lu Yanxin Regiment of the Second Brigade moves to the left to stabilize the flank battlefield of the Fourth Army, and the Yang Tenghui Regiment moves to the right to break the enemy's attempt to encircle Yu Zuoyu Regiment. Order again: Xia Wei leads the
The two brigades under my command immediately launched, breaking through the northeastern defense line at all costs, and then drove straight into Hubei City regardless of the cost!"
"yes!"
As soon as this order came out, the battlefield changed drastically. After receiving the order, Xia Wei led 14,000 soldiers from two brigades, shouting and charging like crazy. The soldiers who were beaten into darkness rushed towards the machine guns on the enemy formation in front.
The enemy fell down in the dense rain of bullets, and more officers and soldiers stepped on the corpses to attack madly. When had the machine gunners on the enemy's battlefield seen such desperate tactics? They were beaten until their hands were weak, their hearts were beating with fear, and they were in the dark.
Under the soul-stirring momentum of the Gui army soldiers who rushed like crazy wolves, several enemy machine gunners who had no time to change their ammunition belts could no longer bear the fear in their hearts. They whined and turned around and ran wildly. Their morale was taken away.
In the blink of an eye, thousands of enemy troops dropped their weapons and fled in panic. The entire enemy formation four kilometers to the east collapsed.
Enemy general Song Dapei followed Wu Peifu's urgent order and led 5,000 officers and soldiers to come to support the battle. However, as soon as he arrived, his formation was disrupted by the retreating troops from the front.
The fear of wailing all over the place instantly infected the five thousand reinforcements. Nearly ten thousand people, including Song Dapei, were defeated and fled for their lives. Under the crazy pursuit of Xiawei's soldiers, they rushed straight to Echeng in the northeast.
How could the ecstatic Xia Wei let go of this God-given opportunity? He immediately ordered each regiment to widen the gap and pursue them hard. He followed the nearly 10,000 defeated enemy like a duck and fired calmly. He chased all the way to Echeng and killed all of them.
Disarmed and captured more than ten enemy generals including Song Dapei.
This battle not only wiped out countless enemies and captured a lot of goods, but also successfully occupied the city of Hubei, blocked the eastward escape route of the Wuhan defenders, cut off Wu Peifu's line connecting Sun Chuanfang in one fell swoop, and had a huge deterrent effect on the enemy.
The series of changes in the battle situation made An Yi thrilling and fascinated. He greatly admired Li Zongren's tenacious spirit and superb commanding skills. He was full of respect for the brave and fearless soldiers of the Fourth Army and the Seventh Army, and repeatedly called out the word "Iron Army".
, the brothers around him were also extremely impressed, and they all thought that the gap between themselves and the two steel armies on the battlefield was really huge!
Shi Junren got up, wiped the sweat from his head, and murmured as if to himself: "It's over! There's no hope, it's over now..."
An Yi turned to him in surprise: "Old Shi, what did you say? Who is finished?"
Shi Junren was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and pointed to He Shengqiao in the north: "Commander Wu is finished! I have been in Zhili for seven years, and I have never seen such a tragic battle. Even this subordinate was called the least afraid of death by his former brothers.
Everyone is scared, and I believe that the brothers across from me can’t stand it anymore... It will collapse in an hour at most, maybe less than half an hour. I know, I don’t know how to say it, but I know, I know it clearly in my heart.
of."
"Are you sure?" An Yi asked excitedly.
"Sure! Battalion Commander, my subordinates dare to put their heads on the line, they are hopeless..." When Shi Junren said this, he couldn't help but shudder.
An Yi was overjoyed: "Brothers, all the regiments of our division have gone up. Let's go back immediately and lead the brothers from the first company and the second company to catch up together! I feel that after the main force crosses the bridge, they will definitely pursue non-stop to the bottom of Wuchang City.
General Li Zongren's style will never give the enemy a chance to breathe, so we have to clean up the battlefield before the gangsters of the Eighth Army. We can get as much as we can. We all have to keep our eyes open and be smart. No.
If we get back eighteen thousand in loot, we’ll be unlucky!”
As soon as the brothers heard the excitement of the group, even Lao Shi, who was weak in rake-footing, suddenly became full of strength and followed closely behind the brothers who rushed down the hill without losing a step.
In the fierce fighting position, when Xia Wei's troops succeeded, the three main regiments of the Second Division of the First Army under the skillful command of Li Zongren all devoted themselves to counter-siege the enemy. Hu Zongduo's troops, with the assistance of nearly 10,000 brothers in the First Army, broke through in one fell swoop.
The enemy's attempt to separate and encircle them drove the defeated Zhang Zhan'ao troops all the way to the Hesheng Bridge. He quickly adjusted his formation and combined with his brothers from the Second Division to form a powerful offensive of 20,000 officers and soldiers, squeezing the remnants of the enemy into the crumbling main body of the enemy's army bit by bit.
In the camp.
Ye Ting, who was the vanguard of the main attack, saw the chaos in the enemy's formation. He couldn't help but feel heroic. He raised his arms and rushed into the smoke. He led his troops to launch a fierce charge against the enemy with no return. After a bloody battle, he finally broke the enemy's last line at the south bridge.
At the defense line, tens of thousands of officers and soldiers from other ministries were greatly boosted in morale, shouting to kill like thunder. They followed closely behind the Ye Ting Independent Regiment, followed by layers of enemy corpses, and poured onto the bloody bridge. More brothers from various ministries came from under the bridge on both sides.
Wide shallow lakes and swamps for wading and racing.
How could the three thousand defenders on the bridge hold back this brave army like a torrent of steel? In the blink of an eye, they were either shot dead or ran away screaming and howling for their lives, smashing the position north of the bridge guarded by Wu Peifu's heavy troops to pieces and leaving their souls scattered.
Tens of thousands of Qiaobei defenders abandoned their positions and turned around to flee. After escaping for a hundred meters, they discovered that Marshal Wu's dozens of black machine guns were pointing at them, and more than a hundred officers and soldiers of the supervisory team lined up on both sides were holding weapons.
The sharp sword looked at him with eager eyes, his sinister eyes and murderous intent were like the hell of Yama.
Tens of thousands of defeated soldiers finally stopped amidst the deafening roar of "Kill without mercy" and crowded in panic on the wide second line of the north bank. What was fatal was the gunshots and dense bullets of the revolutionary army rushing across the bridge.
It flew towards the rear of the defeated troops like a heavy rain.
The desperate desire to survive finally burst out in the hearts of the defeated soldiers, who desperately rushed towards their supervisory team in an attempt to escape. However, the oncoming machine gun rain in the blink of an eye cut into pieces the hundreds of defeated soldiers who were fleeing in front.
He was swept down like grass, and the swords in the hands of the officers and soldiers of the supervising team were waved up and down. Suddenly, blood was everywhere, and heads were flying everywhere.
Countless frightened troops jumped into the Liangzi Lake, which was a vast expanse of blue water. The water was ups and downs, tugging at each other and struggling. In the end, the good swimmers and the landlubbers were entangled together and could not be separated. The lake surface was crowded with people, one on top of another, and countless people drowned.
Marshal Wu, who had more than 200,000 soldiers in his life, was furious. He ordered his subordinates to pull up 20 feet of iron wire between the telephone poles and the big trees on both sides. He pulled out his sword and killed the twelve escaping generals with his own hands. He ordered his subordinates to
All the heads were hung on the iron wires to serve as a warning, forcing more and more defeated generals to retreat and turn around to fight.
At this time, Wu Peifu also knew that the defeat was inevitable, but he did not want to lose his dignity, and could not lose the military power and reputation that he had regarded as his life.
However, the rapid pace of the revolutionary army with high morale broke Wu Peifu's last extravagant hope. Under the violent attack of the revolutionary army, the entire Zhili army lost all morale and lost control completely.
The trees rippled, shocking the heart to pieces.
The intensive gunshots were getting closer and closer, and the whistling bullets broke the treetops, causing the surrounding iron houses to tremble and shake. Tens of thousands of defeated soldiers were beaten to death, and they rushed madly towards the supervising team and the superiors.
Hundreds of machine gunners seized their machetes and machine guns, slashing and shooting blindly. The entire position was in chaos, wailing like thunder, and the black flow of people fleeing north was like an overwhelming rushing flood, breaking through all the obstacles and sweeping away those in front.
Nothing can stop it.
Forced to escort by dozens of his cronies, Wu Peifu boarded the train, leaving behind tens of thousands of terrified officers and soldiers who were the first to flee for their lives.
The gradually accelerating train knocked away the ants-like broken soldiers on the railway and crushed them. The guards on the train raised their swords and cut off pairs of hands that were clinging to the train. The train spattered blood all the way, and among the broken limbs and arms
It gradually accelerated under the impact, and only the forty heads of generals hanging at the rear were still swinging in the blazing wind...