bookrebus Chapter 168: Army Formation in Progress
Chapter 168: Army Formation in Progress
Zhang Wenwu immediately threw away the cigarette in his hand, stood at attention and saluted Ouyang Heng, and reported with emotion: "Reporting to Senior Ouyang Heng, I am Zhang Wenwu, a junior from the 10th Corps of the Central Army School, reporting to you." This is also an unwritten rule of the military academy. When later graduates see their seniors, they must salute and greet them respectfully. It does not matter who has a higher military rank, but only who is senior or junior.
After hearing Zhang Wenwu's report, Ouyang Heng immediately threw away the cigarette in his hand, stood at attention and saluted, saying: "Nice to meet you, junior Zhang Wenwu." Although he guessed that Zhang Wenwu might also be a graduate of the Central Army School, he couldn't ask Zhang Wenwu to say hello to him before he was sure.
"Senior Ouyang, you are too polite. I am very happy to meet you here. However, Senior Ouyang, why didn't you join the Central Army after graduation, but went to the Third Army instead? And why do you still have the rank of lieutenant?" After Zhang Wenwu knew that Ouyang Heng was his senior, the natural closeness between them immediately increased by several levels. However, he still had some questions that he was not clear about, so he asked directly.
Ouyang Heng seemed to know that Zhang Wenwu would ask these questions. He smiled bitterly and started to tell Zhang Wenwu.
It turned out that Ouyang Heng studied in Jinan when he was young. Later, the Northern Expedition Army reached Shandong Province. After Jinan was conquered by the Northern Expedition Army, the Japanese subsequently created the horrific May 3rd Massacre. The Japanese army massacred more than 17,000 Chinese civilians in Jinan City. Ouyang Heng's parents were brutally killed by the Japanese army at that time. He was determined to avenge his parents that year, so he sold his house and ran to Nanjing with money to apply for the Central Army School.
He had excellent grades in school and many troops wanted to join him at that time, but he was thinking about returning to the army in his hometown. He wanted to avenge his parents at home, so he resolutely chose to return to Han Paopao's team, which was not called the Third Army at that time.
Since he graduated from the Central Military Academy and had no one in the Third Army, and seeing that he had strong professional abilities, he was made a staff officer in the army headquarters, but his rank was never promoted.
Later, when the Japanese army marched south, he thought he could have a good fight with the Japanese army and avenge his parents. Unexpectedly, Han Paopao led the Third Army to flee, which made him very angry. Once he directly accused Han Paopao of cowardice in the headquarters, which made Han Paopao so angry that he wanted to shoot him. Fortunately, the chief of the training section of the headquarters pleaded for him and demoted him to the company. After Han Paopao was captured, the Third Army was ordered to launch an attack on the Japanese flank. Then he was wounded in the attack and sent to Xuzhou for recuperation.
After hearing Ouyang Heng's introduction, Zhang Wenwu also felt that the Third Army was too bullying. It was really infuriating that such a good talent was not used. He wanted to find a few nice words to comfort Ouyang Heng, but after thinking for a long time, he couldn't think of any words to comfort this senior who was determined to kill the Japanese. In the end, he could only say sincerely: "Senior Ouyang, I don't want to say more. You can come to our side now, which means you are going home. Let's join hands and fight the Japanese in the future."
After hearing what Zhang Wenwu said, Ouyang Heng nodded with satisfaction and said, "Okay, there is no need to say anything else. As long as we can beat the Japanese, I will follow you wholeheartedly."
When Zhang Wenwu heard what Ouyang Heng said, he quickly said, "Senior Ouyang, how can this be called following me? I..."
"Junior brother Wenwu, you ordered everyone to gather in the resettlement place. How could I not know what you were thinking? Haha, I think you did a good job. If you don't have power and military authority, you can't fight the Japanese army happily. I understand this point very well. Since you want to do it, I will fully support you." Ouyang Heng said to Zhang Wenwu with a smile, but his smile moved the scar on his face, and his smile looked a little creepy.
Zhang Wenwu also said with a smile: "Senior Ouyang is really a god, and his observation is really careful. Yes, I am not talented, but I just want to lead the troops to fight the Japanese army happily. Senior Ouyang, you must help me more in the future."
Ouyang Heng nodded and said, "No problem. The current method of recruiting soldiers is good. There are many experienced veterans in the hospital. As long as these people are equipped with weapons, they can exert strong combat power. However, we should send more people to various hospitals in Xuzhou to promote recruitment. In this way, we can gather a large number of officers and soldiers in the shortest time."
After hearing Ouyang Heng's idea, Zhang Wenwu deeply agreed with it, but he also said with a wry smile: "Senior Ouyang, I want to do it too, but I have limited manpower at the moment and I really can't spare anyone." Zhang Wenwu only had Cao Huaguo, his helper, in Xuzhou, so he had no choice.
Ouyang Heng smiled and pointed at himself and said, "Am I not the perfect candidate? In addition, I will persuade a few more officers to join me. They are all in the same ward as me, but from different units. Then, they can go to various hospitals to show their support."
Zhang Wenwu was overjoyed when he heard what Ouyang Heng said, and said quickly: "Then I'll have to trouble you, Senior Ouyang. The resettlement camp I found is next to the war zone military supply department next to the station. It is large enough to accommodate two to three thousand people. I have asked people to light a fire and cook there tomorrow. When everyone arrives, they can have hot meals and hot dishes."
After hearing about Zhang Wenwu's arrangements, Ouyang Heng also felt that Zhang Wenwu's arrangements were very good. These days, it is a very rare thing for those people in the miscellaneous troops to be able to feed the officers and soldiers and get enough military pay. This is conducive to the recruitment work this time.
After Ouyang Heng finished talking with Zhang Wenwu, they returned to the ward to persuade the officers who had basically recovered. Zhang Wenwu told Cao Huaguo about the resettlement location and then rushed back to the war zone quartermaster department. He needed to find Liang Kejian to buy 3,000 sets of new military uniforms and bedding, as well as other daily necessities from the quartermaster warehouse, and ask him to send someone to transport them to the resettlement camp nearby.
That night, the officers and soldiers of the remaining regiment of the 102nd Division's Supplementary Brigade crossed the canal from the south bank via a pontoon bridge under the cover of darkness. This night attack was commanded by Brigade Commander Cai of the 210th Brigade. The brigade commander of the Supplementary Brigade was originally concurrently held by Division Commander Huang. Now all the officers and soldiers of the Supplementary Brigade were thrown into the manor, and the Supplementary Brigade was in name only.
At 102 o'clock in the evening, the troops of the 210nd Division in Zhuangzi, under the command of Brigade Commander Cai of the th Brigade, launched a counterattack against the Japanese army across the board. Only at night could the officers and soldiers of the Chinese troops use their numerical advantage to use bayonets and rifles to retake some of the courtyards and streets lost during the day. However, the troops suffered heavy casualties in the night attack. The Japanese light and heavy machine guns would indiscriminately shoot at the areas set during the day, but the brave Chinese officers and soldiers would use the cover of darkness to quietly approach the positions set up by the Japanese army, launch a sudden attack with grenades, and then take advantage of the brief panic of the Japanese army to jump up from the ground, quickly rush into the Japanese bunkers and engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese army.
As the Japanese machine guns fell silent, more and more officers and soldiers of the 102nd Division rushed up and joined the hand-to-hand combat. The Japanese army soon could not hold on and began to retreat to the rear. The officers and soldiers of the 102nd Division did not stop their counterattack, but chased after the Japanese army's retreat. If they could recapture more territories at night, the Japanese army would have to spend more time to reoccupy them during the day. Now the 102nd Division was wasting time with the Japanese army, using all their lives to buy time.
On the fifth day of the Battle of Taierzhuang, Zhang Wenwu was waiting in the temporary camp in Xuzhou city early in the morning. At around 8:30, Cao Huaguo led a team of soldiers wearing uniforms of various colors and walked in through the big iron gate of the camp. Looking at this group of soldiers in tattered uniforms, Zhang Wenwu felt that if this team was released individually, they would definitely be mistaken for beggars begging on the street.
This time, Cao Huaguo abducted a total of 369 officers and soldiers from various troops from the hospital where he was yesterday. Zhang Wenwu first asked Cao Huaguo to give each person a brand new Central Army uniform, and then asked everyone to receive bedding and other daily necessities, and then find a place to rest in the warehouse. Hot meals would be provided at noon. At the same time, he gathered the officers in the team and temporarily assigned them some positions to facilitate the management of the team.
After instructing Cao Huaguo to manage the camp, Zhang Wenwu went to the platform of the station and waited for Li Houcai's arrival. At ten o'clock in the morning, Li Houcai arrived at Xuzhou Station on the train transporting the wounded. Zhang Wenwu asked him to escort all the weapons and ammunition on the platform back. He took a bulging briefcase from Li Houcai and walked out of the station.
In the afternoon, Ouyang Heng also brought the officers and soldiers who were abducted from another hospital into the temporary camp. After Zhang Wenwu counted the number of people, he found that Ouyang Heng had brought back more than 450 officers and soldiers. Zhang Wenwu was very happy. He called all the officers together for a meeting. At the meeting, he appointed Ouyang Heng as the chief of staff of this temporary force. Ouyang Heng was responsible for all the organization and establishment of the troops.
Ouyang Heng did not say anything more and started the new appointment work according to the resumes of these officers in a swift and decisive manner. He had previously asked Zhang Wenwu what the size of this force would be. Zhang Wenwu told him that it would be organized according to the size of a main brigade of the Central Army's adjustment division.
Ouyang Heng felt that if a brigade-level military structure was built, there should be no problem. There were quite a few middle and lower-level officers and soldiers in the hospital, which could fully meet the personnel needs of a brigade-level combat unit.
In the afternoon, the officers in the same ward who were persuaded by Ouyang Heng also brought back some officers and soldiers from various hospitals one after another. They all said that some officers and soldiers in the hospital were still considering it, and they would go to the hospital again tomorrow, and they would definitely be able to bring back a lot of people.
At night, there was laughter and joy in the temporary resettlement camp. Zhang Wenwu had just exchanged a large amount of money from the money house. As promised before, he gave resettlement money to every officer and soldier who came. He also bought two big fat pigs from Xuzhou City to satisfy the cravings of all the officers and soldiers. This made all the officers and soldiers feel that their choice was right.
Zhang Wenwu and Ouyang Heng were now each holding a bowl, eating a delicious dinner while looking at the troop roster happily. Today, Zhang Wenwu had brought over more than 1,400 people. He estimated that if he worked harder tomorrow, he would have the honor of becoming a brigade commander.
(Thanks to Princess Wuyang of Guoan Temple, Luo Degui who likes two-headed fish, the past. Unbearable to look back, Tianle, Shen Suqing who likes white bee cake, Duke Weiguo who likes beef jerky, Piao Yi Lu Sui Feng, Xiang Cangtian who likes to watch peppers, Lu Yilin who likes to cut melons, KING children, for their gifts! Thank you all for your support!)
(In addition, today is the Little New Year in Taiwan Province. I wish all my friends in Taiwan Province a happy Little New Year!)