Back to the Republic of China as a commander

Many years later, we can see from the letter Shi Congbin, then chief of staff of the Zhishan coalition army and commander of the second army, wrote to his daughter how fast the youth army's offensive in Shandong was.

"Daughter Gu Lan, see the words like face, for the father at the moment in the Tai'an front line command operations, the southern army is coming fiercely, Kun Commander was caught off guard. In just three days, the main force of the southern army divided into three groups and went straight to the Lu territory. The army's actions It was swift and powerful, and the nearly [-] officers and soldiers of the [-] patrol battalions deployed by our army on the border were all wiped out without warning. Yesterday, the troops commanding the second brigade of the Second Army tried to The advance speed of the army was slowed down. Unexpectedly, the battle lasted less than two hours, and more than [-] officers and soldiers of the Second Brigade were beaten back by the enemy's superior firepower. Then the enemy launched tactical interludes, and our army's rear was cut off, and we lost ground. , can only be defeated and surrendered. The father was surprised and ordered the rest of the troops to retreat from Zoucheng. To be safe, the father retreated to Tai'an to avoid the front. In addition, I wrote to you because you know letters even though you are young Please tell your mother that Kun Shuai has decided to abandon Shandong and retreat to Zhili. Jinan is no longer a place to live, and it seems that it is not safe to retreat to Beijing. My father has sent Adjutant Xu to bring a battalion back to Jinan to escort you and others. Temporarily taking refuge in the Tianjin Concession, hope to pack up the things immediately, leave as soon as you see the letter, don't stay..."

In fact, Shi Jianqiao, who was only 13 years old at the time, escaped from Jinan. On October 15, in just seven days, Gu Pinzhen, the main force of the No. [-] Division of the Youth Army marching along the railway line, rushed into Jinan at a rapid pace. Jinan City.

Gu Pinzhen's actions shocked both sides of the war. You must know how chaotic the situation was at that time. In order to cover the retreat of the main force, Zhang Zongchang dispatched two troops to delay the youth army in the Tai'an area.In addition to Gu Pinzhen, the four divisions responsible for breaking through and taking Jinan from the front, Yu Zuobai of the Fifth Division, Dai Yue of the Sixth Division, and Tao Jun of the No. 20 First Division were still fighting with the Zhilu coalition forces in the Tai'an area. . .

At this time, Gu Pinzhen obviously grasped the core point of the entire battlefield, and led the officers and soldiers of the No.15 Division directly to Jinan.

It's a trivial matter that Bai Chongxi was shocked, after all, it happened more than once that the people below did not follow his orders.The one who was really surprised was Zhang Zongchang. It is said that Zhang Zongchang was still in Jinan city when Gu Pinzhen's vanguard force stormed the city gate.However, due to the unknown situation of the enemy, Zhang Zongchang chose to leave his remnants to cover himself (all front-line officers will be promoted to three ranks, if they don't die), and he himself escaped from Jinan under the escort of the White Russian cavalry.The puppet Jinan provincial government and other institutions were not so lucky. All senior officials of the former provincial government, including the eleven senior generals under Zhang Zongchang, were all captured because they did not retreat in time!This was a huge blow to the morale of the entire Zhishan coalition.

It should be said that Zhang Zongchang is not a careless person. In July, he ordered the officers and soldiers of his troops to "tighten the last string" and "take strict precautions."But the string is broken if it is too tight for too long, so after a long time, many of the bad habits of the Zhilu coalition forces themselves returned, eating, drinking, whoring, gambling, and negligence of duties became active.Fortunately, Zhang Zongchang's military deployment in the entire Shandong is top-heavy, and most of them rely on Zhili, so at least half of the 50 Zhili-Shandong coalition forces ran away. .

Another thing happened at this time. The Zhilu coalition army near Qingdao has about three armies. The commanders are Fang Yongchang, Wang Dong, and Xu Kun. No matter how fast these three troops deployed in the eastern Shandong area, they would not be able to retreat back to Zhili.It is obviously impossible for them to muster up the courage to fight a bloody road with the youth army, and it is impossible to stand still, because they are blocking the way for the Japanese to advance westward.And the Japanese have made it clear that they must either be disarmed or fight with the imperial army, there is no other way. . .

In desperation, Fang Yongchang chose to resign and fled to Tianjin to work as an apartment.Wang Dong and Xu Kun commanded 4 people from the three armies to participate in the Japanese military operations. In this war known as the "Shandong Incident", the first traitor army was born.

In order to express punishment, Sun Wen, chairman of the Nationalist Government, issued an order that all officers and soldiers of the Ministry should be regarded as traitors and would not accept surrender. . .

As for Japan's Shandong Dispatched Army, Commander Yuheng Kasunari had an audience with His Majesty the Emperor before the expedition, and he was promoted to general of the army as usual.Major General Nakajima Masaobu, Lieutenant General Matsuura Kanwei, and Lieutenant General Honjo Shigeru, who were incorporated into the Shandong Dispatch Army, followed the troops to Shandong very early.And the Honzhuang Fanshi Regiment Commander, whose equipment arrived first, attacked first, and first successfully landed three Chinese armies, opening the door for the imperial army to advance to Jinan. . .

But now these are obviously in vain, because the first thing Commander Yuheng Kassei did after he arrived in Qingdao was not to win the war immediately, but to inspect the [-] Japanese troops under his command in Qingdao. Who said Japan has no bureaucracy?

The neatly lined Japanese army showed their majestic appearance to the citizens of Qingdao and reporters from various countries. If the neatly lined up army is considered strong, the Japanese army is indeed invincible. . .

On the one hand, the Japanese Shandong dispatched army is still intoxicated there, on the other hand, the Northern Expeditionary Army has already begun to prepare for the Jinan Campaign.

After Zhang Zongchang's remnants were driven across the Yellow River, the youth army stopped pursuing. In addition to leaving three brigades to basically guard the north bank of the Yellow River, more troops were required to concentrate towards Jinan.

Bai Chongxi also arrived in Jinan on October 10, but he did not come by plane, but by train.The Jinan Military Airport is currently under construction by three engineering units dispatched by the Ministry of Engineering and Military Affairs and the Ministry of Air Force. It will change to here, and the air supremacy in the Shandong area will fall into the hands of the Northern Expeditionary Army.This is precisely what Bai Chongxi valued the most. Although air supremacy is a new term and the power of aircraft is generally underestimated in this era, Bai Chongxi included air supremacy as a key factor in the decisive victory of the Northern Expedition and the Japanese Army in the battle plan.This is something that Wang Zhenyu appreciates very much, because Jiang Fangzhen, who is known as a master strategist, has not realized this. . .

The battle situation in Shanxi is also taking a turn for the worse. Although Feng Jun is like a good boy in front of the youth army, no matter how docile the Siberian tiger is, it is still a tiger.Since it is a tiger, it naturally wants to eat people. Feng Jun finally swept away the bad luck of Xuzhou's defeat in Shanxi and showed his prestige. . .

Although Chu Xiongfei's troops fought very well and defeated a regiment of the Feng army with a battalion, Chu Xiongfei was only a battalion commander of the Jin army after all.Commanding the two armies, Shang Zhen and Xu Yongchang, one is a well-known and often defeated general in the Republic of China, and the other is a model soldier of this era.Using such two people to command the Jin army, which itself lacks combat effectiveness, against the wolf-like Feng army, we can only lament that Comrade Yan Xishan is indeed a political giant and a military dwarf.

Although the officers and soldiers of the Jin army knew that they were defending their hometown, they all had tenacious fighting spirits, but their fighting skills were too trendy.

The battle had only lasted less than a week, Yan Xishan's hair was half gray, and there was no good news from the Jin army on either front.Fortunately, the eastern front, relying on the favorable terrain to resist steadily, the entire front is still controlled in key areas.The northern line was not so lucky. The Jin army was repelled by the Feng army for [-] kilometers from the entire front. It is estimated that in two days, the Feng army will appear in Jinzhong. This is a worry for our classmate Yan Xishan up. . .

The whole of Shanxi was mobilized, and Yan Xishan was still fantasizing about defeating the Feng army by himself.Therefore, for the five divisions under the command of Cheng Qian, the Left Army of the Northern Expedition Army, which had already driven to the Yellow River, Yan Xishan did not send an invitation letter to invite them to enter for a long time.And Cheng Qian's subordinates seem to be really a teacher of benevolence and righteousness, a teacher of might and might, and they really won't enter Shanxi.

This situation gave Zhang Zuolin a sense of smell, and he immediately ordered Zhang Jinghui and Sun Liechen to speed up their attack and take down the entire territory of Shanxi before the southern army entered Shanxi.

At the same time, Zhang Zongchang's life became difficult. After the Zhi-Shandong Allied Forces under his name fled to East Shandong in fright, there were only 30 people after counting.You must know that before the war, the Zhilu coalition forces claimed to be 50, but the actual number was about 40.As a result, in just one week, nearly [-] troops were lost, and what's more terrible was that they didn't fight a single battle.Thinking of this, Zhang Zongchang himself felt ashamed, and really didn't know what to tell veteran Zhang.

Zhang Zuolin was very pregnant, not only didn't blame him, but also sent Yang Yuting to the south to work hard, not only paid back the military salary, but also allocated a batch of arms to Zhang Zongchang from the arsenal in Tianjin, Zhang Zongchang was almost moved. I sold my life to Zhang Zuolin.

As a result, a very strange scene appeared on the battlefield in Shandong. On the north bank of the Yellow River, Zhang Zongchang's 30 army was eyeing, while in the east of Shandong, [-] Japanese troops and [-] puppet troops invaded.Bai Chongxi is making final adjustments and deployments in Jinan, and a battle to determine the fate and direction of China in this time and space is about to start. . .

But in Wuhan, Wang Zhenyu couldn't restrain his excitement. He didn't even feel thirsty after drinking three cups of herbal tea.Now it's like I have reviewed my homework for a long time, and I am about to face the college entrance examination. How can you make him not excited?

Although it is already autumn, the sun is still slowly rising, shining on the top of the majestic Mount Tai. . .