The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 231: Hawks and Dogs Look Back

Just as He Wei frowned and stared at the battle map, General Xiao and the young lieutenant general also came to He Wei. The young lieutenant general scanned He Wei carefully with an inquiring gaze.

He seemed to be quite interested in this major officer who was so highly regarded by General Xiao and who was somewhat casual in his work. Seeing that He Wei was fascinated, General Xiao said to the lieutenant general beside him: "Yin Guo, this person is the He Wei I mentioned to you before."

He Wei's thoughts were interrupted by General Xiao. He looked up and saw the young lieutenant general he had just seen standing side by side with General Xiao behind him. He Wei quickly stood at attention and saluted the two of them: "Hello, sirs." .”

General Xiao patted He Wei on the shoulder, pointed at the young lieutenant general and said, "This is Commander Song Xilian of the 78th Army. He is considered your Huangpu senior."

When He Wei heard this name, he thought that this person was the famous Eagle Dog General Song Xilian.

This person is a graduate of the first batch of Whampoa Military Academy. His courtesy name is Yin Guo. He is currently a leading figure in the national army. He is also a young man who achieved success. He became a regiment commander at the age of 23, a brigade commander at the age of 24, and a brigade commander at the age of 26. Being a division commander can be regarded as an instant choice among the generals of the national army. He is only thirty years old this year and has already served as the lieutenant general of the 78th Army and the commander of the 36th Division.

Even Wang Yaowu, whom he had met before, did not dare to confidently say the words "young and promising" in front of this person.

The 36th Division was actually born out of the elite 88th and 87th Divisions of the Central Army, which came from the famous Guard Army system. They were also elites in the army. On later network platforms, the 36th Division and the 36th Division were The Eighty-eighth Division and the Eighty-seventh Division are both known as the so-called three great German weapon divisions. Although this title is basically the product of a collection of Internet jokes, the Thirty-sixth Division is indeed a powerful force in the national army.

In the original Jinling Defense Battle, although the 36th Division was included in the Jinling Garrison, it was not drawn to participate in the battle. The order it received was: the main force of the division was deployed near the Dragon King Temple to serve as the Xuanwu Gate. , Hongshan, Mufu Mountain to Yijiangmen, and coordinate operations with the Mufu Mountain Fortress. All ships acquired by each army are handed over to the Transportation Command for safekeeping and are not allowed to be detained privately. Song Xilian, commander of the 78th Army, is assigned to take charge. command. The constitution and police along the river strictly prohibit troops from crossing the river privately by boat. Violators will be arrested and severely punished. If you dare to resist, you will be stopped by force.

In other words, the 36th Division played the role of the current military police force in the original Battle of Jinling.

Responsible for guarding the ferry wharf, collecting ships, and blocking retreating soldiers. However, in the original defense battle of Jinling, even the 36th Division that performed such a relatively safe task and took control of the ferry did not have any good results in the end. They clashed with the retreating troops everywhere, and even killed each other. In the end, nearly half of the troops were wiped out in the battle to defend Jinling.

However, due to the presence of He Wei, the tasks that should have been undertaken by the 36th Division have now been undertaken by the military police. However, the 36th Division has not been pulled up and is still deployed on the front line of Xiaguan to assist the military police. The back road of the dock can be said to be the inertia of history to some extent.

"Hello, sir."

He Wei saluted Song Xilian again, and Song Xilian just nodded, and then said with a smile: "So you are the junior Huangpu student who robbed the Japanese tank and captured the regiment flag. I heard that Instructor He returned it to you I personally awarded the honor, and it turns out that since ancient times, heroes have emerged from youth, and the waves behind the Yangtze River push the waves ahead. Those who are younger are to be feared, and those who are younger are to be feared."

Song Xilian just smiled faintly and did not overreact. He Wei was also secretly sizing up this famous general. This man could be said to be a young man who had achieved success and had rich qualifications. He was completely different from the Wang Yaowu he had met before.

If Wang Yaowu has a simple Shandong fellow's atmosphere, the first impression given to people is that of simplicity and down-to-earth, and at the same time he will approach you with incomparable enthusiasm, while Song Xilian gives people the opposite feeling, quite a The energy and arrogance of young people.

Also knowing He Wei's achievements, Wang Yaowu enthusiastically attracted and extended an olive branch, recruiting talents without any secret, but Song Xilian just laughed it off, and at the same time unceremoniously classified He Wei as a junior. .

He Wei didn't say anything, but he was murmuring in his heart. He, Song Xilian, was indeed a student of Huangpu's first batch, and I, He Wei, was indeed a junior of Huangpu's eleventh batch. But after all, He Wei was only eight years younger than Song Xilian. He This is both a junior and a younger generation. Inexplicably, He Wei feels like he has become his nephew, and he feels a bit disadvantaged.

General Xiao added from the side: "Not only that, he has done another shocking thing recently."

Of course, He Wei knew what General Xiao said about breaking the sky. It must be the fact that he killed King Jiuyan of Chaoxiang Palace.

Song Xilian obviously didn't know about this yet, so he cast a curious look at General Xiao. However, General Xiao didn't want to expose this major matter that was under confidentiality and verification, so he changed the subject and said, "Also, what's the use of this?" The ferry boats that took people across the river, the preliminary conceptual plan for this defensive circle and the basic sketches of some of the fortifications were also his handiwork.”

Song Xilian still just nodded slightly. General Xiao then said to He Wei: "The fortifications have been repaired, but the planned garrison positions of each unit after retreat were drawn up by the staff officers of the garrison headquarters. He Wei, you What do you think of the deployment planned by the Garrison Command?"

"Sir, as far as the deployment is concerned, it is quite reasonable. Basically, the central troops with stronger combat effectiveness are in the front, and the troops with less combat effectiveness are deployed at the rear. There is no problem with this, but what I am worried about is that the troops Whether the troops can retreat to the defensive circle in an orderly manner, if the troops cannot maintain an orderly retreat, then it will be impossible to deploy defenses in an orderly manner in the defensive circle."

"Although the troops of a total of twelve divisions have experienced bloody battles, the problem of not collapsing after retreating is not big. Moreover, the garrison headquarters should also have arrangements for the retreat of the troops. Once it is decided to withdraw across the entire line, it will definitely make arrangements for the retreat. I think the garrison headquarters will make corresponding decisions to make arrangements, who will cover, and who will retreat first, so that it won’t be a mess, and Commander Tang will never sit idly by."

General Xiao said seriously.

Obviously, He Wei has no opinion on the defensive deployment of the defensive circle, but what he is worried about is whether the troops relying on the city wall and the Japanese army can enter the predetermined positions safely and orderly. General Xiao is obviously much more optimistic about this than he is. I think the garrison headquarters will make arrangements for this, even careful arrangements.

Even when facing Commander Tang of the garrison who once had conflicts with the gendarmerie, the sincere General Xiao still judged others by himself, believing that he would fulfill his due responsibilities.

When discussing the situation of the Jinling Defense War with Commander Xiao before the war, He Wei vaguely reminded General Xiao many times of the shortcomings and shortcomings of Commander Tang's role as garrison commander.

With General Xiao's character, how could he judge Chief Tang from a dark perspective? His starting point is his own way of doing things and the traditional concept of soldiers having the responsibility to defend the territory. In his view, as the garrison commander, Commander Tang has the right and the responsibility to organize the retreat of the troops.

In the original Battle of Jinling, General Xiao, who was the deputy commander of the National Military Police, had a great sense of responsibility and patriotism and insisted on organizing his troops to retreat despite the fierce Japanese attack, and eventually died in Jinling. He realized his ambition of being loyal to the country and the nation.

If He Wei was not a time traveler but a native, he might have the same view of the garrison commander Tang as General Xiao. How could the Jinling garrison commander, a senior officer in charge of hundreds of thousands of troops, not do anything about the retreat of hundreds of thousands of troops? Make proper arrangements?

It's a pity that as a time traveler, he really knows how chaotic and hasty the original Jinling defense retreat was. The commander-in-chief of the Tang Dynasty came from a rich second generation family. As a veteran of the Hunan Army, his fighting style was innate. Sexual Bao has crazy wolfishness and courage, but at the same time, he rarely has the mentality to face setbacks and chaos.

It is precisely because of this that in the original defense battle of Jinling, the retreat order issued by the Tang commander in a hurry was simply hasty. The first echelon to retreat was actually his garrison commander's headquarters, and the second echelon was The echelon is the artillery, tank troops, military police and other special military units under the jurisdiction of the garrison. The third echelon is the 36th Division guarding Xiaguan. As for the troops fighting in the city, they are ignored and left to their own devices. self-destruction.

The nickname "One Reed Crossing the River" given to this Tang general on the Internet in later generations is by no means groundless.

This is what He Wei is afraid of. The fortifications near Xiaguan are now ready, and this dish is ready, but what the hell, what if Commander Tang returns to his old ways, causing extreme chaos among the troops fighting bloody battles at the front? If the retreat is chaotic, and the troops lose order or even disintegrate during the retreat, then the food on the table will be in vain.

So, He Wei continued to speak euphemistically: "Sir, in fact, the life and death of our garrison and the success or failure of the retreat are all tied to Commander Tang. We can take into account the combat style of Commander Tang during the Central Plains War and the Gui-Tang War. , I’m afraid we need to make some preparations in advance.”

"Otherwise, our army's retreat will be in danger."

He Wei's meaning is actually very clear, that is, General Tang, the commander of the Jinling garrison, is completely unreliable. Of course, it is impossible for him to explain this clearly. Firstly, it is also a crime to presumptuously talk about officers. Secondly, there are many people in this command post. It seems that there are some officers from the garrison headquarters wearing garrison armbands. With this group of people around, He Wei does not dare to mess around behind easily. Chewing Chief Tang's tongue will definitely bring a lot of unnecessary trouble.

General Xiao was still hesitating, but Song Xilian's gaze at He Wei suddenly changed. Then, he burst out laughing, and then Song Xilian looked at General Xiao again.

"General Xiao, what this guy said makes a lot of sense. Let's talk about the troops first. With the current quality and strength of our garrison troops, it is indeed very likely that chaos will occur and even collapse during the retreat. The retreat of the field troops will be very difficult. For those of you who know it, most of the troops in our garrison are newly defeated troops in Songhu. The troops have been supplemented by a large number of new soldiers, and their organizational strength is at its lowest point. As for our army, with the designation of the Seventy-Eighth Army, in fact The following troops consist of a Thirty-sixth Division and a supplementary brigade, and I am still the division commander."

"The Thirty-sixth Division is at least well organized. The supplementary brigade is nominally composed of two regiments, but in fact there is only one regiment. There are more than 10,000 people in the army, and the total number of combat soldiers that can be pulled up is more than 7,000. These more than 7,000 Among the combat soldiers, there are only 3,000 that I brought down from Songhu. The remaining 4,000-odd people are all new recruits that were just recruited in Jinling last month. At least half of them are captured strong men. Their combat effectiveness is very questionable. As far as I know, other troops are also like a bird. Such a lack of training troops is extremely easy to collapse during the retreat in front of the enemy."

"Once organized improperly, the retreat will turn into a rout, and the rout may even turn into a military disaster. If the various units at the front of our garrison undergo a large-scale rout, they may collapse on their own before retreating to the defense circle near Xiaguan. The birds and beasts dispersed.”

After saying that, Song Xilian looked at He Wei with a half-smile, and said with a smile: "This boy is really smart, teasing the commander behind his back, haha, I am also a descendant of Sanxiang, he can give examples, during the battle between Gui and Tang, Chief Tang and Chief Li, his neighbor, fought over territory in Hunan Province. After Chief Tang was defeated, he abandoned hundreds of thousands of troops and ran to Japan. It was really disgraceful."

"During the Great War in the Central Plains, Chief Tang opposed the principal. After the defeat, he abandoned his 90,000-strong army and ran away with a few followers. In fact, with the strength of his troops, if he fought again, he would not be defeated. It’s so ugly, Commander Tang’s combat style does lack some toughness.”

He Wei curled his lips. His cryptic expressions were all exposed by Song Xilian. The key was that this man was really arrogant and arrogant. He exposed Commander Tang's shortcomings and said them loudly. However, Song Xilian had no need to conceal anything. After all, He Wei is just a major. No matter how much Commander Tang pulls his crotch, it is not something he can say nonsense at the moment.

But it was different for Song Xilian. To him, Chief Tang was just a lost local boss who had repeatedly opposed Chang Kaishen and suffered repeated defeats, even though he was the commander-in-chief of the Jinling defense battle this time. The officer was just temporarily pulled out to top the tank. Song Xilian might not dare to say anything to a boss like Chief Tang in person, but he really didn't care if he was teased behind his back.

In the final analysis, He Wei still lacked some skills, his military rank and position were not enough, and there were many people around him, so he could only express his concerns about General Tang to General Xiao tactfully.

The officers from the garrison headquarters in the command post naturally heard Song Xilian's words, and the expressions on their faces all turned the color of pig liver, which was very exciting.

Now everyone in the command post understood what He Wei had just said about Commander Tang's so-called combat style in the Gui-Tang War and the Central Plains War, which was to abandon the team and run away after defeating the battle. After everyone understood the meaning , the expressions became extremely wonderful.

After Song Xilian's blunt teasing, only He Wei felt slightly embarrassed.

At this time, General Xiao also understood what He Wei meant. The implicit meaning behind He Wei and Song Xilian's chanting and fighting was that when the garrison troops fully retreated, they would probably not be able to arrange command. It is best for the troops to retreat in an orderly manner, and it is even possible to abandon the troops and run away as deserters.

General Xiao thought about the possible consequences if He Wei's words were true, and his expression suddenly changed slightly. He frowned and asked worriedly: "If this is really the case, wouldn't our Jinling garrison be in danger? He Wei, do you have any What do you think?"

He Wei said: "It would be best if we can retreat in an orderly manner. If the troops are out of order, they must be in order. This is the strength of the military police brothers, and it depends on the military police brothers."

General Xiao thought for a moment and then said: "It seems that we must prepare early. Restoring order is indeed the strength of our military police, but it also requires the cooperation of the field troops. Commander Song, I have to rely on you in this regard."

Song Xilian also changed his original smile at this time, and instead saluted General Xiao with a serious face: "Understood, our 78th Army has a duty to do so."

After He Wei warned General Xiao of the possible large-scale defeat of the garrison and the high possibility of the garrison commander Tang Chief escaping, he immediately made a request to transport wounded soldiers and a batch of supplies across the river. Needless to say, that batch of supplies was naturally a huge sum of money.

General Xiao immediately agreed to He Wei's request and said that He Wei's wounded soldiers and supplies would be sent across the river by boat as soon as it got dark. At the same time, General Xiao also transferred a liaison officer from the 17th Army in the south of Hu Zong. The officer personally wrote a letter of warrant, and the liaison officer of the Seventeenth Army Corps took the people accompanying He Wei across the river, and stated that after He Wei's wounded soldiers crossed the river, the Seventeenth Army Corps would be responsible for receiving treatment. , He Wei immediately learned the key from General Xiao.

It turned out that after Hu Zongnan's First Army withdrew from the Songhu battlefield, it was not incorporated into the battle order of the Jinling Garrison due to excessive losses. Instead, it was placed on the Pukou line on the other side of Xiaguan, responsible for Pukou's river defense. The First Army was also expanded into the Seventeenth Army.

For more than a month, the gendarmerie troops carried out ferries to ferry people across the river, which was a good and moral policy. At the same time, the business was extremely prosperous, so it was naturally impossible not to be discovered by others.

The Seventeenth Legion didn't take it seriously at first, but after more than a month, they also discovered the hidden profits, so they also thought of getting involved. Recently, the Seventeenth Legion specially sent people to Contact General Xiao, hoping to participate and use their own channels to get some boats to help transport people across the river. At the same time, they also ensure that necessary support is provided to the people who disembark at Pukou. The purpose is naturally to make money.

General Xiao naturally agreed. After all, the current commander of the 17th Army is Hu Zongnan. He is a popular figure next to the bald principal. He is also the first general, the first army commander, and the first army commander among Huangpu students. , it is not an exaggeration to say that he is the first disciple of the Emperor among the Huangpu military academy students. If he refuses firmly, it will obviously offend others.

Of course, in the dimension before He Wei traveled through, this disciple of the First Emperor would continue to win many firsts in the next few years, including the first group army commander among Huangpu students, and the first among Huangpu students. The first and only theater commander.

At the same time, although they want to get involved to earn some money for ferry tickets, they can also transport more people away and let more people survive. General Xiao is naturally happy to do so.

However, General Xiao also said that the money would not allow them to earn too easily. After He Wei's wounded soldiers and supplies crossed the river, the 17th Army should be responsible for taking care of them.

He Wei was naturally overjoyed after learning the inside story. He was not only worried about his windfall, but also worried about the dozens of injured soldiers in the secret service camp. The injuries of these brothers were not minor injuries. Although it would be much safer to send them to the other side, medical treatment But there was no place to start the treatment, but now, with the help of the 17th Army Corps on the other side, these brothers could get treatment after crossing the river, which solved a problem that He Wei had.

So, that night, in the huge fleet transporting tens of thousands of people across the river, He Wei also sent his brothers on a large ferry. Not only the military supplies Li Youcai and the baggage platoon leader Ge Guicai were crossing the river. The platoon, along with property and wounded soldiers, and the 3rd Company of Infantry from the Special Agent Battalion.

Humph, this batch of property and wounded soldiers can cross the river. It would be good to have someone to support them, but He Wei is also afraid that this will become a sheep in the tiger's mouth, especially the property, once it is exposed to the Seventeenth Army, what will happen? He Wei can't be sure. After all, you can't have the intention to harm others, and you can't have the intention to guard against others.

So He Wei completely pulled out Hu Zhaowu's third infantry company, and transferred a radio station from the communications platoon to follow him across the river. In this way, one baggage platoon and one infantry company were enough to provide enough supplies and wounded brothers. For protection, the radio station can ensure that He Wei can keep in touch with the troops crossing the river anytime and anywhere, ensuring that they are under He Wei's control.

After they crossed the river, He Wei finally solved his worries.

Next, he can lead the remaining two infantry companies, artillery company, communications platoon and special agent platoon to prepare wholeheartedly for the final and most critical final battle in the defense of Jinling in the defense circle near Xiaguan.

However, the changes in the battle situation in the next few days were completely beyond He Wei's expectations.

(End of this chapter)