Chapter 531 The Iron Army that is no longer glorious
Chapter 531: The Iron Army is no longer in glory
In the next two days, the Fourth Division was attacked several times in a row and lost a lot of baggage and two field guns. Zhang Fakui was furious, but he was helpless against the elusive He Long Red Army. In the vast mountains, there were lush forests and complex terrain.
Streams criss-crossed the road and the road was rugged, and the marching formation of 20,000 horses was eight kilometers long.
Starting at dawn the next day after moving south, the Fourth Division encountered cold shots fired from the wild forests on the mountainside on both sides one after another. Often one or two cold shots consumed a large amount of machine gun and rifle bullets from the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Division, sending the trees and weeds in the mountain forests flying everywhere.
Splashing, but no Red Army figure was found.
Along the way, the seemingly crystal clear creek that was five or six meters wide had its wooden bridge demolished. Thousands of officers and soldiers could only wait on the winding mountain road, becoming a living target for the Red Army Red Guards.
Teams that were behind the team or were too far ahead were twice defeated by hundreds of red troops who suddenly appeared.
Under the fierce attack, the tired and hungry officers and soldiers of the Fourth Division could not resist, so they could only retreat and organize fire counterattacks. However, the Red Army who succeeded in the attack quickly picked up the guns and ammunition on the battlefield, and even took off the clothes and pants of the captured soldiers, leaving only
The next pair of pants disappeared completely before the main force of the Fourth Division arrived.
The Red Army's continuous small-scale attacks killed and wounded more than 200 officers and soldiers of the Fourth Division. Although the losses were not too great, the officers and soldiers of the entire division were frightened. Whenever there was an abnormal sound in the woods on both sides, a large number of soldiers would pour in.
The bullets made the birds in the mountains scream and wild beasts rush. The officers and soldiers were in panic all day long, almost to the point where
The situation was tense, and everyone was at the limit of his psychological endurance. Fortunately, the fierce general Wu Qiwei quickly organized three companies of Guangxi veterans under his command to suddenly explore the road and take the lead. Zhang Fakui, who had awakened, once again sent a regiment of Guangxi veterans to break up the rear, and promised heavy rewards on the spot and continued
Unusually, eight veterans with higher prestige were promoted to captains.
This move worked immediately. These Guangxi soldiers, who had been away from home for several years and spent hundreds of battles, finally gave full play to their own advantages. Having grown up in the mountains since childhood, they were extremely experienced. They discovered the Red Army's ambush several times in advance and mobilized mortars.
A fierce bombardment from field artillery made the Red Army, which was in the right place but poorly equipped, helpless. It had no choice but to withdraw from its position and watched Zhang Fakui's army leave.
After four consecutive days of arduous and urgent marching, the Fourth Division finally entered Shimen, only to find that a brigade of Wu Shang's 52nd Division had already occupied the county seat.
Zhang Fakui was startled, remembering Chiang Kai-shek's telegram condemnation and the hard and soft tactics used against his headquarters in the past few days. His generals also concluded that Wu Shangbu was following Chiang Kai-shek's order to surround him, and immediately ordered to prepare for an attack. But at this moment, the city
It was not Wu Shang who led the Yan Zhongru Brigade of the 52nd Division, but Xiong Zhen, the deputy division commander who had broken up with Wu Shang.
When Xiong Zhen saw Zhang Fakui's troops approaching the border and taking up a posture, he quickly rode out of the city to negotiate urgently, shouting "Don't shoot your own people" all the way. He finally found Zhang Fakui behind the main position, dismounted and saluted to clarify the misunderstanding, and told Zhang Fakui that he and Yan Zhongru's five thousand brothers in the brigade
They were also forced to go south.
Zhang Fakui was shocked, and the generals gathered around him. Wu Qiwei asked loudly: "Brother Xiong, what is going on?"
Xiong Zhen sighed and said eloquently: "After your troops moved south, the two brigades of our division obtained An Yi's permission to withdraw eastward to the Changyang line. Brother, I was ordered to rush to Yichang immediately to attend an emergency meeting. The theme of the meeting was to contain you.
I'm from the Fourth Division, but An Yi seems unwilling to embarrass you under Lao Jiang's order.
We, after discussing with our commander Wu and General Fan Xiaoquan, he decided that each of the two ministries would send a brigade south to northern Hunan as a demonstration. Once you cross northern Hunan, there will be no need to camp in Yichang. But in the middle of the meeting, something suddenly happened
Something happened that scared all of us at that time.”
"What's the matter?" Zhang Fakui asked quickly.
Xiong Zhen shook his head and sighed: "Cao Wanshun's New First Division was ordered to go to Yichang with the purpose of keeping you. But the first regiment of the New First Division didn't understand An Yi very well. As soon as they landed, Yin Jinan, the commander of the Sixteenth Division, led a group
The general received him ceremoniously, but one of the vanguard members
The battalion commander acted stupidly and started to do something to a girl selling cigarettes on the pier when he saw her appearance. Several dock workers were unwilling and went forward to argue that the battalion commander surnamed Zhou might have been threatening her when he drew his gun.
Let's go off fire and blow out the forty-year-old dock worker's head with one shot.
This was a serious situation. There were screams and chaos on the pier. A captain from the Anyi Gendarmerie rushed down to the pier and without any explanation, he disarmed and tied up the battalion commander named Zhou. Dock workers also came from nearby places and gathered at the scene.
They killed five or six thousand people, and they all carried sticks and wanted revenge. If the commander of the new first division named Zhang had known better at this time, it would have been fine.
, at worst, let the military police escort the battalion commander back, pay some money to appease the public anger, and that would be the end of the matter. But Commander Zhang showed off his talent and ordered his brothers to set up machine guns and point them at thousands of dock workers. When he saw the two main brigades behind him,
The troop transport fleet was about to arrive at the dock, and they became more courageous. They were so bold that they ordered the guards to snatch back their battalion commander from the military police.
An Yi's gendarmerie definitely refused to do it, but more than a hundred officers and soldiers of the New First Division rushed forward, and the gendarmerie squad leader was severely beaten."
"It's over! It's over! This regiment leader is dead!" Zhu Huiri sighed loudly on the side.
"No."
Xiong Zhen continued: "An Yi interrupted the meeting and rushed to the pier. We also followed to watch the excitement. Just when he saw the military police being beaten, An Yi became furious. He waved his hand and the thirty-six guards behind him rushed down to the pier. Within a few minutes,
When we got to the pier, we lay down for more than a hundred people
A brother of the New First Division, the secret service battalion quietly mobilized by Yin Jinan also rushed in. More than 500 new machine guns pressed against the heads of the machine gunners and battalion commanders. Captain Zhang was finally frightened. Unexpectedly, An Yi
He was not given a chance to speak and defend himself.
With an order, the entire regiment was disarmed. An Yi's gendarmerie leader walked up to Captain Zhang, who was so frightened that his legs were weak, pulled out his pistol and immediately shot Zhang in the head. The beaten gendarmerie captain also followed An Yi's orders.
, immediately took a gun and shot the troublesome battalion
In the blink of an eye, more than a thousand officers and soldiers of the New First Division were escorted ashore to wait for processing. If they resisted at all, they would be shot immediately. Killing an individual is like killing a dog. The scene was bloody! It immediately frightened those of us and thousands of people on the dock.
I’m so angry that I don’t even dare to breathe…”
Everyone sighed, and Zhang Fakui asked strangely: "Didn't it mean that the follow-up fleet of the New First Division was about to dock? How could they just watch their brothers and sisters suffer?"
"We've arrived, but no one dares to get off the boat. What do you think is going on?"
Xiong Zhen gave up, glanced at the concerned people, and then said: "Because I don't know when Yin Jinan gave the order, the two mortar battalions of the security force have occupied both sides of the strait and are ready to launch, with more than a hundred light and heavy machine guns
Aimed at the middle of the river
In the fleet, four anti-smuggling gunboats also slowly approached from upstream and downstream. The twin guns and light and heavy machine guns on the gunboats were already aimed at Cao Wanshun's boat. Cao Wanshun was probably angry or scared, so he immediately ordered the fleet
Turn around and go!
Returning to the meeting place of the office, the younger brother immediately discussed with Master Wu and suggested that the team should be quietly pulled to northern Hunan. If it was not possible to defect to He Yunqiao, it would be better than going to western Hubei and fighting the Red Army! But Master Wu was stubborn and thought that as long as he did not make mistakes, everything would be fine.
Following An Yi, military pay and supplies would be more secure. As a result, Zhang Jingxi’s brother and his teacher had a quarrel, saying that they would follow An Yi.
Sooner or later, Yi would be swallowed up by him. Even if he survived, he would not be able to develop under his strict military laws. He asked his troops to leave western Hubei. In the end, they broke up on bad terms. Zhang Jingxi led a brigade to go downstream to join the old army.
Brother Li Yunyan has joined the army. After the meeting, I saw that the situation was not good and I had no choice but to leave, so I immediately led my troops south to Shimen, preparing to join Brother He Yunqiao."
Zhang Fakui and his generals looked at each other in confusion, and couldn't help but secretly sigh, thinking that if they returned to Yichang, their fourth division might be worse than Cao Wanshun's new division, so they understood Xiong Zhen's concerns and the decision to leave western Hubei.
reasons.
"Didn't Brother Xiong say that your troops and Fan Shisheng's troops are going south to Shimen to surround us? Why are you still here? Aren't you afraid that they will hold you accountable for leading your troops to leave without saying goodbye?" Zhang Fakui asked with a smile.
Xiong Zhen quickly explained: "Brother Xiang Hua came just as I was about to leave. To avoid misunderstanding, I had to come and explain. Otherwise, if my departure was misunderstood as an escape, wouldn't I be misunderstood and pursued by your iron army?
"
Everyone smiled knowingly and the atmosphere was extremely harmonious.
When Xiong Zhen saw that the matter was settled, he politely left Shimen and let Zhang Fakui lead his troops to move in. He led thousands of his brothers eastward to Tianjin City and rushed to Yueyang to defect to He Jian.
Shortly after the Fourth Division entered the city, the security force quickly reported that Fan Shisheng's brigade had arrived at Yijiadu in the north and was slowly approaching.
All the generals looked at Zhang Fakui. Zhang Fakui thought for a moment and gave a decisive order: Huang Zhenqiu led the 11th brigade to circle to the northwest of the city, Wu Qiwei led the 12th brigade to circle to the northeast of the city, and arranged pockets to wait for Fan Shisheng's troops to get in.
The rest of the troops immediately went south to Cili!
Zhu Rihui quickly suggested: "Cili is the territory of the 44th Army in Western Hunan. How about we go there like this? And the 44th Army has a very good relationship with An Yi. If we enter rashly, will it cause any trouble?"
Zhang Fakui waved his hand nonchalantly: "No, An Yi is still smart. Since he did not carry out Chiang Kai-shek's containment order, he will not embarrass us again. Brother Yu and General Zhang Hongluan met at the last meeting, and they met each other.
You're very polite, just send out the vanguard team to say hello in advance. The 44th Army is not the Central Army, and will not work for Chiang Kai-shek so easily. The person we need to guard against is He Jian. Okay, time is urgent, go and execute it
Bar!"
"As you command!"
All the generals agreed in unison and left one after another.
Two hours later, under An Yi's order, more than 4,000 brothers from Fan Shisheng's first brigade, who were following Zhang Fakui's bumbling troops, slowly entered the encirclement in the north of the city. The two brigades of the fourth division shouted in unison and fired loudly. In the blink of an eye, Fan Shisheng's troops were beaten.
In the end, only more than 1,600 people were left to escape.
Went out. The brothers of the Fourth Division quickly cleaned the battlefield, carrying more than 2,000 long and short rifles, more than 70 light and heavy machine guns, several hundred kilograms of opium and a batch of ammunition, and happily drove to Cili. They were laughing and laughing along the way without any fatigue.
One by one, Fan Shisheng's double spearmen were severely damaged.
Zhang Fakui didn't know that this move was exactly what Chiang Kai -shek was looking forward to it. As long as Zhang Fakui started to friendly army, he would become the target of the military and civilians across the country. Chiang Kai -shek could mobilize He Jian and Zhang Hong Luan Jun.