The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 179 Well-equipped Cantonese Army

In the historical battle to defend Nanjing, on the evening of December [-], Ye Zhao and his subordinate Huang Zhinan, who had escaped from the army, rushed through the fork in the road and then looked at the mountains in the distance and groped their way forward.

When daybreak came, the two men went around looking for civilian clothes and prepared to run to Songhu.

But they were not familiar with the place, so they lurked in the mountains for a day. They were so hungry that they ventured down the mountain to look for food. When they arrived at an unknown place, gunfire suddenly broke out, and the two hid in a fortress. At dusk, there was silence. Knowing that the enemy was far away, Ye Zhao and Huang Zhinan staggered away from the fortress along the path.

That night, the two men entered a small village in search of food. They explored several houses but found no one there. Finally, they met an old woman who was about sixty or seventy years old, but they didn't get anything to satisfy their hunger. .

While Ye Huang and the two were feeling depressed, gunshots suddenly rang out and Japanese troops swarmed into the village. They crawled under the bed among the hay to take shelter.

The next day, the two set out again and saw many refugees coming and going in groups on the Beijing-Shanghai Highway. They blended in among the refugees and headed east. Not far away, they met a group of Japanese soldiers heading west. They had no choice but to bravely go up to them, hoping to get through with luck. Unexpectedly, they met on a narrow road. The Japanese soldiers took a fancy to them and asked them to shoulder the burden.

Therefore, Ye Zhao's subordinate Huang Zhinan took the lead and walked six or seven miles reluctantly, pretending that his feet were so painful that he could not walk. After being kicked a few times by the Japanese soldiers, he simply pretended to be dead, while the luggage of a Japanese superior soldier fell into the country. On the shoulders of Army Commander Ye Zhao.

Ye Zhao had never experienced the pain of carrying a load in his life. Suddenly, he was burdened with dozens of kilograms of things. After walking for a while, he couldn't bear it any more. Ye Zhao was old and frail, so he had to find another strong man to take his place, and he was freed.

The dignified lieutenant general of the national army had been a porter for the Japanese for a long time. Of course, he was lucky. The Japanese army always killed the Chinese coolies they captured as soon as they lost their use value. Death, Ye Zhao actually met a Japanese soldier who was relatively humane, and he was not killed, so he was lucky enough to survive.

After learning this lesson, Ye Zhao took the method of staying away from the traffic thoroughfares to avoid the limelight before making plans. He hid in a small village on the Beijing-Shanghai Highway for a few days. After he found out the enemy's situation, he ran all the way to Songhu. In the last two days, he The man ran back to Guangdong by boat.

He Wei looked at Ye Zhao with a very special look at this time. After all, he was the military commander who worked as a porter and coolie for the Japanese. He, Ye Zhao, was the only one among the scorpions. Ye Zhao did not put on any pretense of being a military commander. On the contrary, he was the commander of the army before He Wei. Wei opened his mouth.

"Are you He Wei, the company commander who stole the Carrot-Tou chariot?"

"Yes, hello, sir."

He Wei quickly saluted and replied.

Ye Zhao nodded, immediately called for someone to bring a chair, and stretched out his hand to motion for He Wei to sit down.

"Please sit down quickly, please sit down quickly, Director Guo, please boil water for tea and bring out the good tea I brought."

Ye Zhao entertained He Wei very warmly. He took He Wei's arm and personally took the marching chair from the orderly and placed it on He Wei. The orderly also served him hot strong tea. Although He Wei did not know the tea ceremony, But looking at the color of the tea soup and the fragrant aroma, you can tell that it is definitely not ordinary tea.

Ye Zhao's enthusiastic attitude was obviously flattering and cautious, which confused He Wei. He knew that he was already famous all over the world for his military exploits in Shanxi, and Ye Zhao also recognized him, but his attitude Why is this so?

After all, he is just a minor major. In terms of military rank, Ye Zhao is a lieutenant general, much higher than himself. In terms of age, Ye Zhao is more than [-] years older than He Wei. Why should he treat him with such a humble attitude? Own?

"Sir, you are too polite. I have only achieved some military exploits, but I dare not let you do this to me. The reason I came here this time is to contact friendly forces. I and my city defense agent battalion are stationed at the Tangshan Artillery School, away from the Tangshan Artillery School. Your headquarters is not far away, and when the Japanese come over, we will fight side by side."

He Wei said.

Ye Zhao heard the hidden meaning in He Wei's words and said: "After all, you are a hero of the Anti-Japanese War and should be respected by everyone. However, I really have a lot of difficulties here."

Seeing the sad look on Ye Zhao's face, He Wei immediately asked: "Sir, what difficulties did you encounter?"

"Battle Commander He, we are from the Guangdong Army. We have just come back from the bloody battle in Songhu and have been thrown into Nanjing again. Now almost all the troops in Nanjing are your Central Army. It is not easy for us due to the divisions between factions and overt and covert attacks. We traveled thousands of miles from Guangdong to Songhu to fight, and now we are driving to Nanjing. What’s more terrible is that we are alone, and we are afraid that someone will attack us from Guangdong behind our back. "

The person who spoke was not Ye Zhao, but the Chief of Staff of the Sixty-sixth Army named Guo. Hearing this, He Wei understood that now the Nanjing Garrison has been fully formed, and most of the troops in the Nanjing Garrison's battle sequence are It is the Central Army. The only non-Central Army troops are Xu Yuanquan's Second Army and the [-]th and [-]rd Army of the Guangdong Army.

Among them, Xu Yuanquan's Second Army Corps, which was once allocated to He Wei's new recruits, was not a direct line unit of Chiang Kai-shek, but Xu Yuanquan had defected to Chiang Kai-shek, and could be considered a semi-line line unit awaiting centralization. The Sixty-sixth Army and the Eighth Army were The three armies are actually the Guangdong local troops. Their establishment and personnel are almost completely independent. Struggles between different factions of the Chinese army are commonplace. Although there is a great cause of the Anti-Japanese War ahead, these Guangdong troops How could the officer be completely relieved?

You must know that Guangdong has been at odds with Chiang Kai-shek's Central Committee for a long time, and now it is in the capital, the core area of ​​Guofu Central Committee's rule. It is understandable that Guangdong officers have such concerns.

He Wei felt that what these Guangdong officers were worried about was that their troops would be disarmed or eaten by the central army, or be divided and disintegrated in other ways. In fact, this idea is really unnecessary. Although local troops will be eaten up, centralization is a consistent policy of the government. But now the enemy is facing us, and the Japanese will attack soon. No matter how stupid the central officials are, they will never do such a thing on the spot.

Therefore, their worries are definitely unnecessary. However, in the original history, the Guangdong unit of the Sixty-sixth Army was indeed canceled its designation two years later. But that is not the fault of others. It is actually the Sixty-sixth Army themselves. pot. In the historical Battle of Guinan, Ye Zhao, the commander of the Sixty-sixth Army sitting next to He Wei, was so proud that he acted slowly in the Battle of Guinan, delaying the opportunity to fight. Binyang was captured by the Japanese army, and the defenders of Kunlun Pass were deprived of their retreat. After the war, the Sixty-sixth Army was disbanded.

However, the central government's measures were not complete. Although the military designation of the [-]th Army was cancelled, the two subordinate infantry divisions were retained. Among them, the [-]th Division was assigned to the [-]th Army, and the [-]th Army was assigned to the [-]th Infantry Division. The [-] division was assigned to the [-]th Army.

As for Ye Zhao himself, he was detained and released. Later, after his colleagues pleaded for mercy, he went to join Xue Yue in the Ninth War Zone. He lost his military power and went to the Cadre Training Group of the Ninth War Zone to become the director of education.

Seeing the anxious looks of Ye Zhao and Director Guo, He Wei knew that if he wanted to join forces with them to fight, he must first give them peace of mind.

"I understand the concerns of the two officers. After all, factional strife has been a long-standing problem in our army. It is reasonable for you to have such concerns. However, although I am a major with a low profile, after all, I have made meritorious deeds and have served many times. I have contacted Minister He of the Ministry of Military Affairs. Minister He once awarded me a medal, and Minister He personally issued my appointment order and the formation order of my troops. I can guarantee that the central government will never stab the friendly forces in Guangdong in the back. It is an act of disarmament that undermines the great cause of the war of resistance."

"Actually, the worries of the two officers are really unnecessary. You might as well think about it. The Japanese are about to attack. Besides, your department is within the battle order of the Nanjing Garrison. What is about to be fought is a battle to encircle the capital. At this time, who can If you have evil intentions, I’m afraid even three heads won’t be enough to cut him off, so don’t worry, sir.”

Ye Zhao and Director Guo looked at each other. He Wei's words did make some sense, and the worries in their hearts disappeared a little. At this time, He Wei also changed the topic elsewhere. What was his intention in coming here? The first was to keep in touch and communicate their feelings so that they could cooperate with each other during the war. However, seeing Ye Zhao's humble appearance, He Wei suddenly had the idea of ​​"excessing the limit".

If this contact and communication continues further, then he may be able to intervene in the command of the Sixty-sixth Army, which is a field infantry army with two infantry divisions. If He Wei can intervene in the command of the Sixty-sixth Army, then he can It can have a certain impact on the strategic level of the Nanjing Defense War. No matter how powerful your own spy battalion is, it can only make a difference at the tactical level. The influence at the tactical level is always limited. In comparison, at the strategic level The temptation to show off one's advantages as a time traveler was too great.

But He Wei knew that his behavior must not be exposed too obviously at present. He still needed to take it slow and figure it out slowly. It was best to gain the favor of Ye Zhao and others first, and then slowly express his thoughts.

He Wei then opened his mouth and said: "Two sirs, as I just said, because of my military exploits, I am a little bit shy in front of Minister He. The brothers from Guangdong came all the way to defend the capital. I don't know if there is any shortage of soldiers, equipment, and supplies. If If there is a shortage, within my ability, I will fight for it for the brothers in Guangdong."

Seeing that He Wei's words were extremely sincere, the Chief of Staff named Guo smiled and said: "This is not a worry for the labor brothers. To be honest, my family background in Guangdong is relatively solid. Although our army suffered heavy casualties in the Songhu Battle, But in October, ten supplementary regiments came from Guangdong to supplement our army. Our army's strength is still very strong, and weapons and equipment have also been shipped from Guangdong to supplement it."

"The only thing that is lacking here, to be honest, is winter clothing. It's already winter. The troops didn't bring any winter clothing when they retreated from Songhu. Although we have money on hand, it's so chaotic around Nanjing that we can't find any at all. In a place where winter clothing can be ordered in large quantities, after many efforts, there are still more than [-] soldiers who have no winter clothing to wear, and even if they buy it now and order it, I am afraid it will be too late. I wonder if I can think of some way to help raise money? "

"Leave it to me. I will try my best to raise funds for the brothers. I will never let the Guangdong brothers wear single clothes and fight against the Japanese."

He Wei patted his chest and said, and agreed to the matter without hesitation. In fact, He Wei had no idea how many military coats were in stock in Nanjing City, and he had no channels to get a large number of winter clothes, but he and the military police The guys have been hooking up with each other for a long time. Those guys dare to do any business and get anything. I think there is no problem in getting thousands of sets of winter clothes from the military police.

Seeing He Wei like this, Director Guo's eyes lit up, and he said excitedly: "Brother, if you really have a way, our army is willing to pay twice the market purchase price, and my brother's reward will be indispensable."

He Wei was shocked and thought that Guangdong's economically developed country was indeed well-deserved, which could be seen from the generous actions of the Cantonese director in front of him.

"Easy to say, easy to say."

He Wei muttered a few words and saw both Ye Zhao and Director Guo smiling. They were obviously in a good mood, and his favorability in their hearts also increased a lot. So, He Wei struck while the iron was hot and continued: : "My department and your department will definitely cooperate in fighting in the future. I wonder what the equipment and firepower of your army are now? Since we are going to fight in advance, I want to know about it in advance, which will also be conducive to wartime cooperation."

Director Guo, who was in a good mood, did not directly answer He Wei's question. Instead, he called a staff officer and obtained a thick document and handed it to He Wei.

After He Wei opened it, he found that the document was actually an organization and equipment list. It was the organization list of the [-]th Army. He Wei started reading page by page.

The Sixty-sixth Army is indeed the elite of the Guangdong army, and its equipment is quite sophisticated. Of course, half of this is due to Guangdong's developed economy, and the other half is due to the military management of the retired Cantonese leader Chen Jitang. The units directly under the military headquarters of the Sixty-sixth Army include communications battalions, engineering battalions, artillery battalions, and special agent companies.

These troops directly under the army may seem ordinary, but in fact they are extraordinary, especially the artillery battalion directly under the army. The organization list clearly states that this battalion is equipped with twelve [-]mm light guns manufactured by the French Schneider Company. Mountain artillery, this battalion's well-equipped artillery can be said to be proud of the rest of the Nanjing garrison.

The equipment and firepower of the subordinate infantry divisions are not bad at all. The Sixty-sixth Army has two infantry divisions, the [-]th and [-]th. The infantry divisions of the Guangdong Army are not organized according to the infantry division organization table issued by the central government. , still follows the traditional establishment of the Guangdong Army. It is comparable to the elite adjustment divisions of the Central Army, but it is not inferior at all, and even exceeds the elite troops of the Central Army.

The two infantry divisions of the [-]th Army are both infantry divisions with two brigades and four regiments. Each infantry regiment is composed of three infantry battalions and a mortar company equipped with six [-]mm mortars and other units directly under the regiment. .

Each infantry battalion is composed of three infantry companies and a heavy machine gun company. Each heavy machine gun company is equipped with six French-made Hotchkiss heavy machine guns. Each squad of the infantry company is equipped with a Czech light machine gun. The entire The infantry division is equipped with a total of [-] barge guns, [-] Cantonese-made Type [-] rifles, [-] Czech-style light machine guns, and [-] French-made Hotchkiss heavy machine guns. He and Jinling built [-] [-] mortars, with a total force of more than [-] people. Its strength can be said to be quite powerful.

(End of this chapter)