The Fourth Outstanding Person of Huangpu Military Academy

"Snapped--"

A red flare was fired from the base of the city wall, signaling that the explosives were ignited and about to explode.

Chen Tianheng: "How is the independent regiment progressing now?"

Zheng Dongguo: "I spoke on the phone five minutes ago, and they are still attacking the city."

"Huh——" Chen Tianheng breathed a sigh of relief.

20 seconds later, the explosives detonated.

Flames and smoke instantly engulfed the seven-meter-high city wall. A deafening roar and shockwave reached the command post two or three seconds later. Even though it was eight hundred meters away, Chen Tianheng could still feel the powerful blast.

The smoke cleared.

The Wuchang city wall is still largely intact, and it's still too difficult to blow a section of the wall up to the sky with 2.6 tons of explosives. However, the wall at the explosion site has become a gap, and the slope of the gap is wide enough for people to walk up and down.

Amid the whistle sounds, the first regiment's charge was sounded.

The mortars, which had been firing slowly one after another, resumed their maximum rate of fire, thumping shells into the area 100 to 200 meters behind the city wall. At the sound of the charge, the 200-plus soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, which had already reached the base of the city wall, were the first to charge, shouting and charging towards the gap. Behind them, the 300-plus soldiers of the 1st Battalion, the most fully equipped with automatic weapons, were rapidly crossing the open area in front of the city wall.

The fierce battle at the gap began with both sides throwing grenades at each other. The defenders, who were shocked by the two explosions, had no intention of fighting to the death. The grenades thrown out from the city wall were less than one-third of the grenades thrown in by the second battalion.

Chen Tianheng: "Report to headquarters. The First Regiment has broken through Zhongxiao Gate. Wuchang has fallen!"

……

In the direction of Tongxiang Gate, Ye Ting's Independent Regiment also climbed the city wall 20 minutes later than the First Regiment. After a fierce battle on the city wall and occupying the Tongxiang Gate tower, the engineers of the Independent Regiment blasted the gate and opened it.

The First Regiment opened a breach and rushed into the city with all its members, followed by the Second and Third Regiments of the First Division. However, by the time the Second Regiment entered the city through the breach, the First Regiment had already been chasing and destroying the fleeing Wu troops throughout Wuchang.

"The third and second battalions will be deployed to the city to drive the Wu army out of the northeast corner. The third battalion will capture the city gate," Chen Tianheng said. "I will enter the city through the Zhongxiao Gate!"

Tongxiang Gate.

"Move those sacks out of the way! Open that rotten door!"

Zuo Quan, chief of staff of the independent regiment, was at Tongxiang Gate. The two heavy city gates were tilted on both sides, and the doorways were filled with sacks of sand and soil. When defending the city, the city gates could not be closed, and the doorways had to be blocked with sacks of soil. In some sieges, the defenders simply used bricks and lime mortar to build the city gates tightly, and scouts and messengers were lifted from the city walls in baskets to enter and leave the city.

The gate, blown off its axis, was finally cleared of the way thanks to the combined efforts of a dozen soldiers. Soldiers carried the sacks one by one, loaded them onto carts, and carried them away. In front of the gate, Ye Ting rode atop a tall horse, whip in hand, waiting for the debris inside the gate to be cleared.

——Ye Ting wanted to ride a horse into Wuchang City.

On the morning of September 5, the Northern Expeditionary Army divided into three groups to attack the city. At 9:9 AM, the First Regiment successfully blasted down the city wall. By noon, Wuchang had fallen, with the 1st Regiment of the 1st Division of the Northern Expeditionary Army and Ye Ting's Independent Regiment leading the charge into the city.

By the evening of September 5, more than 9 Northern Expedition troops had poured into Wuchang City, advancing through various urban areas to clear out Wu Peifu's troops. Ye Ting's Independent Regiment and the First Regiment split into two routes and advanced towards the brains of the defenders - the Hubei Governor's Office/Wuchang Garrison Headquarters where the defending generals Liu Yuchun and Chen Jiamo were located.

Wuchang, the fortified city that was besieged for more than 40 days during the OTL Northern Expedition and finally opened its gates to surrender after running out of ammunition and food, was now captured in the second siege of the Northern Expedition Army.

Chapter 100

Although the defenses of Wuchang were breached and the Northern Expedition Army poured in through a gap and two city gates, more than 9 Northern Expedition Army soldiers fought until dark on September 5, and about 2/5 of the city area was still not occupied.

Wuchang City is really too big, it cannot be compared with Danshui and Huizhou.

But before dark, the First Regiment rushed into the defenders' headquarters - the Hubei Governor's Office.

Liu Yuchun, commander-in-chief of the Wuchang garrison, dressed in his uniform and adorned with medals, sat in the lobby of the Governor's Office. Seeing the soldiers of the First Regiment rushing in, Liu Yuchun gave a wry smile.

"Your servant Liu Yuchun has repaid the Marshal's kindness."

He raised his revolver and aimed it at his temple. Song Xilian, commander of the 1st Company of the 1st Battalion, rushed forward to grab the gun. However, the lobby of the Governor's Mansion was so large that even at full speed, it would take Song Xilian a while to reach Liu Yuchun. Liu Yuchun held his revolver still, the scene frozen.

After waiting for a few seconds, Song Xilian finally took the gun away.

……

Chen Jiamo, the commander of the 25th Division and the commander of the Wuhan Defense, was the deputy commander of the Wuchang defenders. He was much more flexible than Liu Yuchun. After the city wall was breached, he changed into civilian clothes and fled for his life. At this time, he had already boarded a boat to cross the river to Hankou.

At 5 p.m., before dark, the commander of the first battalion, Zheng Dongguo, climbed up the occupied western wall of Wuchang, threw away the original five-color flag on the flagpole, and raised a huge blue sky and white sun flag.

The Beiyang warships on the Yangtze were horrified, but none fired at Wuchang. To prevent the Northern Expedition from pushing their mountain artillery into the bushes on the shore, three warships slowly shifted their positions from the Yangtze River to the Han River, the Yangtze River's estuary.

On September 6, the remaining enemy troops in Wuchang City were cleared out and the Northern Expedition Army captured Wuchang.

"Head count! Head count!"

The battle wasn't entirely over, but it was certainly over. Chen Tianheng moved among the First Regiment's troops within the city, tallying casualties and losses.

"Report to the regiment commander, the 1st regiment has 3 casualties and 11 injuries today."

"Zheng Dongguo, you're still alive, right? Where are the others?"

Chen Tianheng looked around. The commander of the First Battalion, Zheng Dongguo, was fine. The Party representative, Li Hanfan, was fine. Song Xilian, Fan Hanjie, Qiu Qingquan... all were fine.

"What are the casualties of the Second Battalion today?"

Xu Jishen: "Nineteen people died and 55 were injured."

"Where's the Third Battalion?"

"Four people were killed and ten were injured."

Chen Tianheng questioned them one by one. Besides the three infantry battalions, the engineering company also suffered two casualties and four injuries today, totaling 29 casualties and 80 injuries, which was within Chen Tianheng's expectations.

The Second Battalion suffered the most casualties. Today, they were responsible for the first and second waves of the assault on the city wall and for transporting explosives. Fortunately, the commander of the 4th Company of the Second Battalion, Wang Erzhuo, was safe and sound, though he was a little dizzy from the high yield of the explosives.

Hou Jingru, the commander of the 6th Company of the 2nd Battalion, was carried down on a stretcher. This was Chen Tianheng's biggest loss today.

"Monkey!! You have to hold on!"

A stretcher was pushed out of the operating room of the field hospital. The party representative of the Second Battalion, Ma Buyi, held Hou Jingru's hand, and the Second Battalion Commander Xu Jishen also stood next to the stretcher.

"It's okay. I'm awake now and I'm in the hospital. I won't die." Hou Jingru said weakly, "I just feel a little weird. I can't feel my left leg."

Xu Jishen: "Yes, your left leg is next to it."

Hou Jingru fainted again.

Hou Jingru was temporarily out of commission. His left leg was severely injured, with the bones shattered into bizarre shapes. With current medical technology, the field hospital was unable to repair it, and had to resort to sawing. The 5th Company's successor commanders, Chen Tianheng and Yuan Zhongxian, convened a meeting with the 2nd Battalion personnel to solicit their opinions, and subsequently appointed Dai Anlan as the new commander of the 5th Company.

This is also the first company commander to emerge from the third-term students in the regiment.

The Northern Expedition Army captured Wuchang in two attacks, which shocked Wu Peifu and the entire Beiyang government beyond measure.

The newspaper report also summarized the situation: The Northern Expedition captured Yuezhou on August 15, pushing through Hunan into Hubei. Then, on August 18, they captured Tongcheng. On August 26, they broke through the defenses of Tingsi Bridge and Hesheng Bridge. Both of these were locations Wu Peifu had intended to defend based on the terrain, but the Northern Expedition easily overran them. On August 31, they reached the gates of Wuchang, launched their first assault on September 3, their second on September 5, and Wuchang changed hands on September 6.

This speed is too fast!

In the Battle of Wuchang, the 1st Division of the 1st Army, known as the "Party Army", made its debut in the Northern Expedition.

Although the First Division, like the Fourth Army and the Seventh Army, suffered setbacks in the joint attack of the three armies on September 3, in the second attack on September 5, the First Regiment of the First Division was the first to break into the city, rush to the Wu Army Command Headquarters and capture Liu Yuchun alive, which was undoubtedly the first meritorious service in the siege.

……

After capturing Wuchang, the Northern Expedition Army had to rest for a while.

The Fourth and Seventh Armies were now quite tired. From rescuing the battered Tang Shengzhi and his Eighth Army in Hengyang in June, to attacking Zhuzhou, Changsha, Yuezhou, Tingsi Bridge, Hesheng Bridge, and Wuchang, they had been fighting non-stop.

The 1st Division of the 1st Army...also needs rest.

While the 9st Regiment suffered few casualties, the 2nd and 3rd Regiments suffered significant losses during the initial siege on September 3. Each regiment launched two separate attacks that day, one battalion each, but both failed, meaning two battalions from each regiment were crippled.

Meanwhile, reinforcements from Wu Peifu's army on the other side of the Yangtze River finally arrived. Thirty thousand troops were stationed in Hankou and Hanyang, staring at the Northern Expedition Army across the Yangtze River.

In the original historical dimension, the Northern Expedition attempted to quickly advance through Wuchang, but two attempts failed. This allowed Wu Peifu to send a large number of reinforcements into the city, leading to a protracted siege. Bai Chongxi responded by circumventing the upper and lower reaches of the river, encircling and capturing Hankou and Hanyang, completely isolating Wuchang.

Now, the reinforcements that should have been sent to Wuchang City were not sent in, but were gathering on the other side of the Yangtze River, which increased the defensive strength of Hankou and Hanyang.

Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi also needed some time to figure out how to capture the remaining two of the three towns of Wuhan.

The 1st Regiment also needed some time to collect the captured weapons and ammunition, especially the shells for the Stokes mortars.

Unfortunately, no such shells were found. This is quite normal. If the Wu army had Stokes mortars, they would have used them in the battle of Wuchang.

Can we produce it ourselves? ... The conditions exist on the other side of the Yangtze River: the Hanyang Arsenal.

"Reporting from Changsha Headquarters, the Second Division and the Sixth Army are jointly attacking Nanchang." Xue Yue and Chen Tianheng met and discussed the battles in other directions. "General Wang is personally leading the charge. Commander-in-Chief Chiang has authorized him to lead the Second Division and the Sixth Army."

Chen Tianheng: "Calculating the time they set out from Changsha, the Second Division should be almost in Nanchang by now."

Xue Yue: "Yes. It seems that Liu Zhi can also gain some military merits."

Chen Tianheng: "Hmm..."

While continuing to advance along the Hunan-Hubei-Henan line, the battle also began in the Jiangxi direction.

This was not the Northern Expedition Army's first move.

At the end of August and the beginning of September, before the Northern Expedition Army captured Wuchang, Sun Chuanfang was frightened by the Northern Expedition Army's combat power in successively conquering Tingsi Bridge and Hesheng Bridge.

Before, Sun Chuanfang was still negotiating and bargaining with the National Government, but now he found that this Northern Expedition Army really wanted to beat all the warlords to death, beat them to death!

There's nothing more to talk about. Get ready for battle.

Sun Chuanfang was now the commander-in-chief of the Five Provinces Allied Forces. In reality, he didn't command a five-province coalition army; it was just a name. But that was in the past. To counter the Northern Expedition, Sun Chuanfang began to assemble the Five Provinces Allied Forces: the Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Anhui armies. By September, the divisions each province had expressed its willingness to form had totaled 100,000 men.

The Soviet army, the first to join the Five Provinces Allied Forces, had already begun to move, saying they would march towards Nanchang, join forces with the Gan army, and attack Changsha. Fortunately, the Five Provinces Allied Forces were relatively slow to move, while more and more Northern Expedition troops were entering Hunan and Hubei. In Changsha, in addition to the Second Division of the First Army, there was also Cheng Qian's Sixth Army.

Inspired by the successive victories in Hubei, Chiang Kai-shek ordered an advance eastward to seize Nanchang. He appointed Wang Bo-ling, acting commander of the First Army, as the commander-in-chief of the eastward advance, with the Sixth Army and the Second Division under his command. On September 7, the army set out from Changsha to attack Nanchang.

……

"Captain Chen! Hello, Captain Chen! I'm a reporter from the Guangzhou Daily..."

During these days of rest, reporters from Guangzhou and Changsha searched everywhere for Chen Tianheng.

Newspaper reporters have been following the Northern Expedition Army since it started. In the previous battles, Ye Ting's Independent Regiment had made great achievements, so the reporters frantically looked for Ye Ting for interviews and reported everything from inside to outside. Now that Chen Tianheng has emerged, they naturally cannot let him go.

After searching for a long time, they finally found Chen Tianheng outside the Northern Expedition Army's field hospital.

"I'm here to visit the wounded in the First Regiment," Chen Tianheng said. "One of my company commanders was injured and had his leg amputated during the battle of Wuchang. His wound has become infected and he has a fever these days, so I'm worried."

"Captain Chen, Captain Ye of the Fourth Army has also been victorious in battles. Which one is more powerful, your First Regiment or Captain Ye's Independent Regiment?"

"The First Regiment and the Independent Regiment are both revolutionary armies, and it is impossible to compare which one is stronger," said Chen Tianheng.

"Captain Chen, Captain Ye's troops are from Guangdong Province. Is your regiment considered Guangdong or Hunan?"

"Just because I'm from Hunan doesn't mean this is the Hunan Regiment," Chen Tianheng said. "The officers of the First Regiment came from all over the country, but most of the soldiers were from Guangdong. Reporter, you probably don't know the slogans the First Regiment's officers and soldiers shouted as they charged."

"what is it then?"

Chen Tianheng: "During the charge, whether they were from Guangdong or other provinces, the soldiers all shouted 'Fuck your mother!' Many of the officers and soldiers in our regiment who were from other provinces only knew one Cantonese phrase, and that was it."

Dealing with reporters was a piece of cake for Chen Tianheng. He answered all the reporters' questions perfectly, but also cracked jokes from time to time, giving the reporters plenty of interesting stories to write about even when they didn't get the answers they expected.

"Ding ding ding ding ding..."

The phone number of the First Regiment Headquarters.

"I'm Captain Chen Tianheng! Please speak."

"I'm at the division headquarters! The division commander invites all regiment commanders to a meeting at the division headquarters! Come now."

Xue Yue frowned at division headquarters. After the three regimental commanders arrived, he began, "The Nanchang front suffered a crushing defeat. Commander Wang fled the city, the Second Division and the Sixth Army were completely routed, the Second Division commander, Liu Zhi, is missing, and Sun Chuanfang has reoccupied Nanchang."

"Commander-in-Chief Chiang was on his way from Changsha to Nanchang when he was met by Commander Wang, his troops fleeing Nanchang. The officers and soldiers were disheveled and in a state of disarray. The commander-in-chief was furious and demanded to reassemble his troops to retake Nanchang."

"Our division may have to return to Changsha and prepare to launch a second attack on Nanchang from Changsha."

Chapter 101

Chen Tianheng's heart sank when he heard the news of the Second Division's defeat in Nanchang. He wasn't worried about Liu Zhi, who was missing, but about the Fourth Regiment of the Second Division. This was the unit with the largest number of members in the War Research Association besides the First Regiment.

But news came in later that confirmed that the 4th Regiment of the 2nd Division was fine. Liu Zhi was also fine.

Not only did the Fourth Regiment and Liu Zhi not suffer any major consequences, Liu Zhi was even the only bright spot in the Battle of Nanchang.

As the Second Division and Sixth Army set out from Changsha to attack Nanchang, Zhu Peide's Third Army, after a long journey, was nearing Changsha. However, Chiang Kai-shek was eager to capture Nanchang and prove his military prowess was no less impressive than Bai Chongxi's. Wang Bo-ling shared Chiang's sentiments. Sixth Army Commander Cheng Qian and Zhu Peide had long been at odds (the Yunnan and Hunan armies were the founding forces). Therefore, Wang Bo-ling set out without waiting for the Third Army.

However, taking Nanchang was indeed easy. Approximately half of the Gan army's forces were stationed in Ganzhou, southwest Jiangxi, defending against the revolutionary forces from Guangdong. When Wang Bailing led his troops to attack, the Soviet and Anhui armies of the Five Provinces Allied Forces threatened to send reinforcements. However, these reinforcements were slow to arrive. To preserve his strength, the Gan army's commander-in-chief, Deng Ruzhuo, withdrew his main force defending Nanchang toward Jiujiang.

When Wang Boling's army arrived in Nanchang, there were less than a thousand defenders in the city, including the Nanchang police. The Northern Expedition Army easily captured Nanchang.

After capturing Nanchang, Wang Bo-ling was incredibly proud. No wonder the Hubei-Hubei region was so victorious, it turned out the Beiyang warlords were so vulnerable! He captured Nanchang on September 19th, and on the 20th, he telegraphed back to Changsha to announce his victory and invited Chiang Kai-shek to inspect Nanchang. Before Chiang Kai-shek arrived, Wang Bo-ling and Cheng Qian, commander of the Sixth Army, enjoyed a few drinks and some music in Nanchang, enjoying the moment.

Liu Zhi was very annoyed by Wang Bo Ling's decadent life and tried to persuade him once, but Wang Bo Ling refused to listen. So Liu Zhi simply left Nanchang and went to Niuxing Station outside the city to live with the 4th Regiment of the 2nd Division.

Hu Zongnan, commander of the 4th Regiment of the 2nd Division, was also very dissatisfied with Wang Bailing's corruption and depravity, so the 4th Regiment was the only regimental-level unit stationed outside the city of Nanchang.

On Sun Chuanfang's side, Deng Ruzhuo led 5,000 troops from Nanchang in a retreat northward, only to encounter reinforcements from the Jiangsu-Anhui Army, which was advancing from Jiujiang along the Nanxun Railway. The two armies' trains accidentally collided... No, they were actually combined forces, totaling over 20,000 men. Sun Chuanfang, stationed in Jiujiang, immediately ordered a counterattack to recapture Nanchang!

On the night of September 22, Deng Ruzhuo's troops of the Five Provinces Allied Forces detoured to the southwest of Nanchang City. Zheng Junyan led the 9th Division and Yang Geng's independent brigade from the north of Nanchang City. The two armies, one from the south and the other from the north, launched an attack on Nanchang at the same time.

The unprepared Northern Expedition Army was instantly stunned. The Fourth Regiment, outside the city, was also attacked fiercely by the Soviet army at night, but due to the proper deployment of defensive positions, the Fourth Regiment was able to withstand the attack.

By dawn on September 23, Liu Zhi and Hu Zongnan discovered that although the 9th Regiment had held its position, the city of Nanchang had been breached. The Soviet and Anhui armies had broken through the city defenses and were chasing the Northern Expedition Army all over the streets.