The Fourth Outstanding Person of Huangpu Military Academy

"Who isn't?" Xu Xiangqian, who was lying in the corner, replied, "Forget it, let's get up. We have to wash our feet too..."

"The kitchen staff are taking turns boiling water, and we're in the back," Chen Tianheng stood up. "Comrades, senior advisors, please get up. We need to plan tomorrow's march. Today, the entire regiment has marched 41 kilometers, and tomorrow's plan is 47 kilometers. Judging from your condition, this shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Xu Xiangqian, Huang Wei, Chen Mingren, Lu Deming, Qian Dengruoxian: ...

Chen Tianheng: "That long slope this afternoon really screwed up the supply train. All the time we saved in the morning was spent in the afternoon. Xu Xiangqian, find out which slopes on the road we'll pass tomorrow are considered steep. I remember National Geographic maps show road slopes."

Xu Xiangqian struggled to get up, opened his map bag, and spread it out: "Let me see... there's a slope here, there's a slope here... This slope is a big slope, the slope must exceed the standard."

Huang Wei: "Tomorrow the whole regiment will march. When the first battalion passes by here, leave one company behind to push the carts for the baggage trains 1, 2, and 3."

Chen Tianheng: "Okay. Chen Mingren, you go to the first battalion later and inform them now, don't forget by tomorrow."

Outside the barracks, there was the sound of horse hooves. Intelligence officer Qian Deng Ruoxian went out and returned a moment later. "Reconnaissance report: 10 kilometers ahead, the wooden bridge outside Meirong Town is rotting in places. Our carriages are heavier than those of ordinary caravans, so we're afraid it will be difficult to pass. We need to reinforce it."

Chen Tianheng: "The engineering company will send 30 people with materials to repair the bridge first. It's 10 kilometers away... They'll stay there tonight. Has the kitchen team prepared the meal yet?"

Huang Wei: "Some of the people who work quickly should have finished their work. Let them eat before they leave?"

Chen Tianheng: "No, pack two buckets of food and send them over. They can eat when they get to the bridge. It's late at night. If they are fed and then have to run 10 kilometers, I don't know how many more cases of appendicitis will result."

Chen Tianheng and the staff department checked the marching arrangements for tomorrow again. The regiment’s kitchen team prepared the meal and brought it over, with a jar for each person.

The cooking process of marching rice is as simple as possible. A large pot of rice is used to cook dozens of kilograms of rice. The bacon is boiled in water to soften it, then cut and a few slices are placed on each pot of rice. Each person is then given a spoonful of pickled radish.

If it wasn't a meat day, bacon would be replaced by dried tofu, but since we were on a forced march the whole time, we would have bacon every day.

It is high in salt, oil, calories, and protein. It is not friendly to homebodies, but very friendly to soldiers marching long distances.

Xu Xiangqian: "We've tried our best, and this is all we can do. How far can the second and third regiments go every day?"

Chapter 103

Xu Xiangqian's worries were not unfounded. The marching speed of the Second and Third Regiments obviously did not meet Galen's requirements.

Similar to the orders given to the First Regiment, Galen ordered the Second Regiment to march 35-40 kilometers per day, aiming to reach the Nanxun Railway in 10 days to initiate a battle to cut off the line of communication. However, the Second Regiment only marched 30 kilometers on the first day, and the daily march distance thereafter remained around 30 kilometers. At this rate, it would take approximately 12 days for the Second Regiment to emerge and engage.

On the Jiangxi battlefield, after the number of defenders in Nanchang reached 2.5, Sun Chuanfang temporarily stopped sending reinforcements from Jiujiang to Nanchang. He tried to deploy the five-province coalition forces concentrated in Jiujiang towards Hubei to see if there was any opportunity to occupy Wuhan.

The Northern Expeditionary Army in Wuhan certainly wouldn't give Sun Chuanfang any chance. The day after Chen Tianheng and the 1st Division of the 1st Army left Wuhan, the 7th Army forced a crossing of the Yangtze River upstream of Wuchang, threatening Hankou from the flank. When Sun Chuanfang sent a unit up the river to gain advantage, news arrived of Hankou's fall and the abandonment of Wu Peifu's troops in Hanyang. Sun Chuanfang's troops retreated back to Jiujiang.

Having completely captured the three towns of Wuhan, the Northern Expedition troops in the Hunan and Hubei regions began expanding their forces. Chen Kejue, acting commander of the Fourth Army, left his post due to illness. Consequently, the Fourth Army, which had reached Wuhan, was split and multiplied into two armies: Zhang Fakui's unit remained the Fourth Army, while Chen Shuming's unit became the 11th Army. Ye Ting assumed command of the 25th Division of the Fourth Army, and his independent regiment now expanded to become a division.

Among the Guangdong Army after its split and reproduction, the 25th Division was basically controlled by Ye Ting. In addition, there were also many Communists in the 10th Division and the 24th Division of the 11th Army. The Communists in these two divisions were familiar with Ye Ting, and were under Ye Ting's semi-control.

Chen Tianheng, who was marching quickly, did not know about what was happening outside, or could not find out about it in the first place.

The first group seemed to have entered an information island.

On the night of September 30, the First Regiment crossed the Hunan-Jiangxi border and camped in Xiushui County. After everything was packed up, the regimental communications team set up the antenna and the telegraph operator stood guard at the transmitter and receiver.

The wireless telegraph was a high-tech gadget newly equipped to the First Army before the Northern Expedition. Previous battles and marches had been conducted along the railway line, without the use of radio. This time, leaving the railway line and marching independently as a regiment, the wireless telegraph was the most convenient and fastest way to communicate with the First Army and headquarters.

However, from 8pm to 9:30pm, the radio channel was still silent.

"Did we remember the channel frequency incorrectly?" Chen Tianheng asked the communications team.

"That's right, this is the frequency band we agreed on with the 1st Army Headquarters," the communications team telegraph operator said. "We also tried tuning to other commonly used frequency bands, but there was no response either."

Using a wireless telegraph wasn't as convenient as using a cell phone or walkie-talkie. After turning on the telegraph machine, you first sent a short, repeated message consisting of a few letters for identification. At another location, the radio station you had agreed to communicate with received this "identification code" and sent a corresponding identification code. Receiving the other station's identification code indicated that the telegraph machine was turned on, and you could then begin sending the actual message.

Because long-distance radio communication signals are very weak, the main text is usually repeated three times.

If the other party receives the signal and copies the text of the telegram, they will send a short code indicating "I received it". If the other party does not say "I received it", you are in trouble. If the three times are not enough, you may have to send and receive it three more times.

But today, the First Regiment called the First Army for more than an hour, but there was no response.

Logically speaking, the First Regiment was on the move, the First Army's headquarters had been stationed in the same place, and the telegraph machines had not been packed up. It should be that as soon as the First Regiment's telegraph was turned on at the agreed time, it would receive the "identification code" continuously sent by the First Army's telegraph machine that had been waiting on the channel, waiting for the First Regiment to respond and match, rather than the other way around.

Chen Tianheng, Xu Xiangqian and Yuan Zhongxian all frowned.

Yuan Zhongxian: "Could it be that the military has forgotten about wireless telegraphy?"

Xu Xiangqian: "They could do it. The First Army not only expelled the Communists, but also sent away the Soviet advisers. So they used express delivery of 300 miles... Perhaps the messenger sent by the First Army is galloping along our road with a letter."

Chen Tianheng: "We also sent a letter back, but even if it was expedited for 300 miles, it would take two days to reach the First Army headquarters. They would then reply, and the total return would take four days. It would be too late for anything. We will continue our march as planned tomorrow."

……

The regiment's communications team took turns monitoring and remained on duty until midnight, but there was still no response on the agreed communication channel.

October 1st, the third march day.

"Brothers! Comrades!"

"They say the 1st Regiment of the 1st Division of the 1st Army is the tiger of the revolutionary army. Our tiger not only has iron teeth and steel fangs, but also iron feet!"

"Our First Regiment is a good fighter. Everyone says it's amazing. Does being able to march quickly count as an advantage? Yes! And it's just as important as being able to fight!"

"We can march faster than any enemy. We can appear in unexpected places and attack them at their most uncomfortable position. The enemy can't react and is thrown into chaos. Isn't that amazing?"

"Over the past two days, the First Regiment has marched 88 kilometers, or 152 miles. Today, we must continue our efforts, reach a higher level, and achieve our goal of '100 miles a day'!"

In the morning, the First Regiment packed up its barracks and the entire regiment formed into seven columns of marching formations, waiting to set off. The regiment's party representative, Yuan Zhongxian, mobilized the entire regiment.

The First Regiment has to march 60 kilometers today. According to the old Chinese li of 576 meters per li used by people today, it is 104 li.

【Old】【Fan】【Push】【Cart】

After the first rest stop, less than half an hour later, they came to another slope with an extremely steep slope. Chen Tianheng saw these four crooked words written with a brush on an old newspaper posted on the roadside.

Fan Hanjie, the second company commander of the first battalion, led the entire company to the roadside. When the baggage team 3 passed the slope, more than 100 soldiers of the second company shouted "Hey yo hey yo" and helped the draft horses push the heavy four-wheeled carriage over the more than 200-meter slope.

"Old Fan!" Chen Tianheng said, "All three baggage teams have passed. You can join the supply battalion!"

Fan Hanjie: "Following the replacement battalion? You underestimate us. The whole company is here! Run—run!"

Behind the sixth section of the baggage team, the third section, was the seventh section, the supply battalion. Fan Hanjie helped the third section of the baggage team push up the hill, but did not join the supply battalion team on the spot. Instead, he ran a few hundred meters and caught up with the fifth section, the third battalion team.

By the way, Chen Tianheng also moved the regimental headquarters from the first section of the marching column to the end of the fifth section. Based on experience from the previous two days, when messages were delivered by human or horseback, running from the rear to the front of the column was easier because the entire column was also moving at a fairly fast pace, and the messenger's relative speed was slower. If the regimental headquarters was located at the end of the column, the messenger's message to the regimental headquarters would be moving in opposite directions, shortening the time it took for the regimental headquarters to receive the information.

(Of course, the messenger ran faster to the regiment headquarters, but the speed would be slower when running back to the original position. The total time required for the round trip is the same.)

This was the experience gained by the First Regiment's long-distance forced march. Some of this experience was directly shared by Chen Tianheng, while some small experiences were unknown to Chen Tianheng in advance and were discovered as the march progressed.

All of these were recorded by Huang Wei and will be added to the combat regulations or logistics regulations of the First Regiment in the future.

The second rest point is a 30-minute "big break" point.

More than a hundred farmers from the Xiushui Farmers’ Association were already waiting here to welcome the Northern Expedition Army.

After the regiment stopped, farmers on the roadside had already prepared boiled water for the soldiers to fill their canteens. After a half-hour rest to recover, the First Regiment set out again.

"Captain, are you sure the Wuning Farmers' Association is ready to receive us?" Huang Wei asked. "We'll be traveling in five sessions today, starting at 8 a.m. and stopping around 7 p.m. If the local farmers' association isn't ready to receive us, we'll have to set up tents and cook our own meals. That would be disastrous!"

Chen Tianheng: "Our vanguard team has contacted the Wuning County Farmers' Association and sent information back to the regiment headquarters. We also have someone there to guide them. I believe in the Wuning Farmers' Association!"

The first group will walk for two sessions in the morning with a long break, and then walk for three sessions in the afternoon with two short breaks.

At around 7:00 p.m., the entire regiment, sweating profusely, entered the territory of Wuning County. In the twilight, a group of people holding torches greeted the first regiment on the roadside.

Yuan Zhongxian: "Old Feng!"

"Deputy Yuan!" Old Feng from the vanguard team waved to Yuan Zhongxian, "My guide and I are here! Where is your first section of the team?"

Yuan Zhongxian: "The first and second sections will be taken to Pingtang Village. I will follow this group!"

Lao Feng: "Okay! Come on, let's go! We'll turn left about 200 meters ahead!"

……

Tonight, the First Regiment camped in three villages: Pingtang Village, Shangyi Village, and Xiayi Village. Shangyi Village and Xiayi Village were relatively close, less than a mile apart, while Pingtang Village was a little further away.

Because a single village could not provide accommodation for nearly 2,000 people, the local farmers' association provided reception services in a dispersed manner.

Led by the guide's torches, the first group split into three groups and entered three villages.

In every village, the farmers' association prepared a big pot of delicious rice, put it in wooden barrels, and took it to the first house where the group stayed overnight.

In addition to the big pot of rice, there is also a big pot of stewed pork, also in a wooden barrel.

"Wow, wow... slurp slurp..."

Xu Jishen's eyes widened, "The meat smells so good!"

Huang Wei: "Each village slaughtered a pig, and they were all big fat pigs weighing 300 kilograms. This meal gave each person in our group an average of 4 ounces of meat."

Chen Tianheng: "We don't kill pigs easily. Locally, they're called New Year pigs, and they're only killed during the Lunar New Year. Even after we kill the pigs, we make most of them into bacon and sausages, and sell the rest. The rest is for the whole family to eat all year round. We have to pay the farmers' association, and even if they don't want to take it, we force it on them."

Xu Xiangqian: "Yes. And we have to pay in cash, not those dollar notes."

The ocean notes that Xu Xiangqian mentioned were issued by the Central Bank in Guangzhou. Their full name was "Central Bank Ocean Notes for Hubei, Hunan and Jiangxi Provinces". They were something between paper money and military notes.

In fact, the credibility of the ocean notes was quite good. If you took them back to the Central Bank in Guangzhou, the bank would redeem them in full and give you ocean notes in exchange. However, outsiders outside Guangzhou were still a little skeptical about this kind of paper.

After dinner, everyone in the first group, including Chen Tianheng, burped, and the farmers' association prepared water for foot washing.

In addition, the accommodation was in houses in three villages, so the first group did not have to set up tents. If we set up the tents ourselves, it would take another 40 minutes.

When Chen Tianheng and several staff officers lit the oil lamps and opened the maps to study tomorrow's march, they looked at their watches and found that they had finished all their work today even earlier than yesterday, when they had only walked four periods.

Chen Tianheng: "Well, Huang Wei, with the help of the Farmers' Association, the First Regiment's capabilities can be further improved."

Huang Wei: "Yes. If all processes are optimized, we can have six work periods a day."

"Report! A letter from headquarters!"

Outside the door, a post horse, sweating and panting, dismounted a panting messenger sent by headquarters.

"I am Captain Chen Tianheng."

"Captain Chen, your expedited letters. There are three in total."

The messenger rode away on horseback, and Chen Tianheng returned to the house to open the letter.

As expected, the order was delivered 300 miles in an expedited manner...

The first letter was a military order, instructing the First Regiment to overcome difficulties, march as planned, and cut off the Nanxun Railway.

The second letter was also a military order, not from the First Army, but from the General Headquarters, ordering the First Regiment to overcome difficulties and cut off the Nanxun Railway on time without any mistakes.

The two letters actually talk about the same thing, but the second letter has a stronger tone.

Chen Tianheng was a little surprised and opened the third letter.

"My brother Tianheng:..."

Chen Tianheng: "Oh, a handwritten letter from the principal!"

Xu Xiangqian: "What?"

Chen Mingren: “Huh?”

After reading the third letter, Chen Tianheng looked up. "The principal is deeply saddened and indignant because Chairman Wang Jingwei is trying to impeach him in Guangzhou. He has issued an order that this time, in the battle of Nanchang, only success is allowed, not failure."

Chapter 104

Criticism and impeachment of Chiang Kai-shek began after the first defeat in Nanchang.

Wang Jingwei had long been dissatisfied with Chiang Kai-shek. After the Northern Expedition began, military affairs became the overriding priority of the Guangzhou Nationalist Government. As Chairman of the KMT Military Commission and Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Expedition, Chiang Kai-shek wielded increasing power, threatening to overtake Wang Jingwei as the party's top figure.

Soviet advisers, however, were very fond of Chiang Kai-shek. General Galen and Borodin were both quite satisfied with Chiang's performance during the Northern Expedition (before the defeat at Nanchang). Chiang was more adept than Wang Jingwei at balancing the various provincial factions of the Northern Expedition, deploying military aid and financial resources, and mobilizing Party talent.

The power that Wang Jingwei relied on and the power that Chiang Kai-shek relied on both had the Soviet Union, which was an overlap.

In addition to the Soviet Union, Wang Jingwei could also get support from the Communist Party of China (mainly the Guangdong District Committee of the Communist Party of China) in the form of dry food, while Chiang Kai-shek's base was the army, especially the Whampoa First Army.

In such a delicate situation, the Northern Expedition Army first occupied Nanchang and then was driven out. Two divisions of the Sixth Army and two regiments of the Second Division of the First Army were almost annihilated, which became a heavy blow to Chiang Kai-shek.

If the main culprits for the failure of this battle had not been the two funny guys Wang Bailing and Cheng Qian, Chiang Kai-shek would still be in Changsha when he captured Nanchang, and he might have been dismissed from office by now.

Of course, the current situation is not much better. Wang Jingwei has joined forces with the left wing of the Kuomintang to remove Chiang Kai-shek from his position as commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition.

Because Wang Jingwei did not go abroad for inspection, the left wing of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party do not need to shout slogans of "welcome Wang to resume his post". Wang is in the position of Chairman of the Kuomintang, and all they need to do is remove Chiang Kai-shek.

Borodin, Jia, and Lun objected to this, arguing that if Chiang Kai-shek were removed from office, the Northern Expedition would revert to a fragmented, uncoordinated army of forces, including the Guangxi, Guangdong, Hunan, and Yunnan armies. Furthermore, if Chiang Kai-shek were removed from office, the three most powerful factions—Li Zongren of the Guangxi clique, Tang Shengzhi of the Hunan clique, and Li Jishen of the Guangdong clique—would immediately clash over who would succeed him as commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition.

Wang Jingwei, however, resisted this by claiming, "This is an internal Kuomintang affair." The Northern Expedition's commander-in-chief could only be Chiang Kai-shek, right? Wang Jingwei began the process of impeaching Chiang Kai-shek from his positions as a member of the Central Executive Committee and Chairman of the Military Commission.

Under tremendous pressure, Chiang Kai-shek decided:

Launch an attack on Nanchang quickly and fight again.

General Galen's plan for the Nanchang Campaign was to attack the city and block reinforcements. On October 7th and 8th, the 1st Division would cut off the Nanxun Railway from two directions. The Northern Expeditionary Army outside Nanchang would then attack the city, first eliminating the outlying strongholds. Around October 10th, two more divisions would be added to the 2nd and 3rd Armies outside Nanchang, allowing the Northern Expeditionary Army to launch a general offensive.

Chiang Kai-shek felt that if he stayed outside Nanchang until October 10, he would definitely be impeached, so he decided to attack the city on October 5.

Of course, he knew that Sun Chuanfang's five-province coalition army had 30,000 soldiers in Jiujiang. Once the city was attacked, the five-province coalition army would rush to the rescue along the Nanxun Railway, and it would only take a few hours to arrive if the railway time was taken into account.