Chapter 661: Sacrifice (II)

Zhang Guodong is a native of Anhui. Many of the officers and soldiers in the 105th Division of the National Defense Force, which is a "tradition" handed down from the Beiyang era, and its origin can be traced back to the Hunan Army of the Qing Dynasty, when the Manchu Eight Banners were corrupt and degenerate, and the Green Battalion soldiers were also vulnerable to a war.

In order to ensure the combat effectiveness of the troops, as well as to maintain the command system of the troops, Zeng Guofan, the founder of the Hunan Army, formally established the system of "soldiers for generals" in the Hunan Army, all the battalion officers recruit soldiers from their respective hometowns, these soldiers and officers are fellow villagers, relying on this level of township relationship, the battalion officers can do it when commanding the troops to fight, which is very effective in maintaining the morale and combat effectiveness of the troops, but at the same time, it also makes the armed forces' In order to avoid making it difficult for the warlords to control it, Zeng Guofan also formulated a corresponding exit mechanism, and if a battalion officer was killed or retired, the original troops under the command of the battalion officer would be immediately dismissed. The new battalion officers recruited new soldiers from their hometowns on their own and trained everything from scratch.

This method of preventing the power of warlords will of course affect the combat effectiveness of the troops, and it has also made some contributions to the improvement of the military quality of the party.

Starting from the Hunan Army, the local troops of the late Qing Dynasty gradually took on more and more warlord colors, and the exit mechanism formulated by Zeng Guofan in order to prevent the warlords from sitting on the throne gradually disintegrated, and many officers had already planned to transfer the command of the troops before retiring handing over to one's cronies or nephews, and once the officer retires, the troops under his command will not be disbanded, which can certainly maintain combat effectiveness, but at the same time, it also makes the warlord style of the troops increasingly serious, this atmosphere can not be suppressed in the period of the Beiyang New Army, Beiyang officers are all in the army to 'insert' 'private' people, all over the cronies, which is why Yuan Shikai can easily launch a "military admonition" to the Manchu Qing court.

After Yuan Shikai's death, Beiyang was immediately divided, and officers at all levels did not want to take this opportunity to expand their power in the army.

With the United Front coming to power, the danger of warlord warfare was quickly lifted, and in the reform of the military system, the United Front government has always been clever and unshakable, and after several years of rectification and retrenchment, those officers with unsatisfactory military qualities and those ruffians who relied on nepotism to enter the troops were gradually eliminated. A large number of low-ranking officers with excellent military qualities and loyalty and reliability were quickly promoted; in this "storm of military rectification," no officer dared to brazenly oppose the center, and even a "veteran of Beiyang" like Duan Qirui could only keep a low profile in the face of the strong center, and at most reluctantly stuffed a few cronies in the army who decorated the 'door' face.

As a low-level officer from a small peasant, Zhang Guodong was able to rise to the position of company commander precisely because of the "military rectification storm", he replaced the former Beiyang ruffian, and proved his ability with his own actions.

Mastering the grass-roots officers is equivalent to mastering the grass-roots troops, and it is precisely for this reason that the center is not in a hurry to adjust the composition of the 105th Division, and in other troops, it is impossible for soldiers from the same province to occupy half of the total strength of the entire army, but in the 105th Division, more than half of the soldiers are from Anhui and Zhang Guodong's fellow villagers.

Even in Zhang Guodong's sharp knife troops, there were more than 100 Anhui soldiers, most of whom were fellow villagers, and even the "cultural instructor" assigned to the army by political propaganda was also from Anhui. And he is Zhang Guodong's little fellow countryman.

As a company commander, Zhang Guodong did not care about how the center rectified the military, he only knew that as long as he fought well, this position and rank would be promoted quickly, but after the "cultural instructor" came, Zhang Guodong gradually realized what is called "the honor of a soldier" and "the vocation of a soldier" under the guidance of this little fellow, and he also gradually understood the meaning of "country", what is a "nation-state", and what is a "modern army".

It is not possible to become a "modern army" just by having modern weapons, and an army without the power of the "spirit" is at most a mercenary, and this truth is also taught to Zhang Guodong by the "cultural instructor", just like he taught Zhang Guodong to study, as a cultural instructor, the officer is very competent, and as a professional soldier, he is also competent, in the battle just now, he has been fighting side by side with Zhang Guodong until he was shot and fell.

The "cultural teacher" died by Zhang Guodong's side, which made Zhang Guodong very sad, and he only heard the last words of his comrades-in-arms clearly, that is, "hold the position".

Yes, holding the position, this is not only the task of Zhang Guodong, but also the task of all officers and soldiers.

At present, Zhang Guodong's troops occupy several houses and barricades on the same street, and are engaged in fierce rifle 'shooting' with the Japanese troops who are close at hand. In the case of sparse gunfire throughout the city, only their position was particularly dense.

"How many bullets are left?"

Zhang Guodong braved the rain of bullets and rushed into a civilian house and asked the officers and soldiers stationed there about the ammunition and medicine.

"Not much, there are more than twenty per person, and there are only two grenades left." A platoon commander in charge of directing here said loudly.

Zhang Guodong patted the platoon commander on the shoulder, pointed to the two grenades in the platoon commander's hand, and said, "This thing, save it for the last moment." It seems that we can't break through. ”

The platoon commander didn't say anything, just nodded, and then 'touched' the identification tag hanging around his neck.

This action fell in Zhang Guodong's eyes, and he also subconsciously 'touched' the identification card around his neck, and smiled a little self-deprecatingly.

"Don't worry, even if we die here, someone will collect our corpses, our troops will definitely occupy the whole city, and when the time comes, even if we are blown to pieces, as long as these identity cards are still there, we will not be lonely ghosts, and someone will send us home."

Zhang Guodong put his hand in the pocket of his military uniform and 'touched' out half of the identification tag, which he broke off from the neck of the "cultural teacher". An entire piece of identification plate is oval-shaped, with a rib in the middle, with a hole in the top, and once killed, the commander will break off half of it, leaving the other half on the neck of the fallen man.

Now, the half of the identification card in Zhang Guodong's hand is stained with blood, and before his comrades-in-arms breathe, Zhang Guodong shouted the other party's name loudly, and also store his throat to promise that as long as he can kill him alive. Then, he must come back to look for the remains of his comrades-in-arms, and after cremation, he will personally send them back to his comrades-in-arms' hometown, so that his comrades-in-arms will be buried in a grand manner, and the souls of his comrades-in-arms will return to their hometowns.

He firmly believed that the First Army would eventually conquer Xiuyan, as long as the troops conquered Xiuyan, his comrades-in-arms would be able to return to their hometowns, even if he was killed, but as long as these identification cards were there, then the troops would be able to send them all back to their hometowns.

However, after all, the troops are not as safe as the villagers, Zhang Guodong wants to personally send his comrades back to his hometown, but now it seems that this extravagant hope is a little unrealistic.

Just when Zhang Guodong was sighing, he suddenly heard a burst of Japanese shouting from the street, and he hurriedly rushed to the window with a submachine gun, pushed away a rifleman, and looked into the street.

Over there, a group of Japanese soldiers were being driven out of a house, but as soon as they rushed onto the street, they were swept to the ground by bullets from a barricade, and then a ball of flames rushed through the windows and 'doors' of the house into the street, and then the whole house collapsed, and in a burst of smoke, a behemoth "rumbled" through the ruins of the house and turned onto the street.

"Armored vehicles! Our armored vehicles! ”

A soldier rushed to shout, and Zhang Guodong also laughed, that's right, it was a Chinese Army "Yellow Dog" armored car that drove the group of Japanese soldiers out of the house, and judging from the flame just now, the armored car was obviously equipped with a flamethrower.

"Good fellows! Wave the flag! Let's rush out with the armored car! ”

Zhang Guodong made a quick decision and gave the order to break out, so the soldiers quickly lifted the wounded. Waving the battle flag, he moved closer to the armored car.

When Zhang Guodong rushed to the side of the "Yellow Dog" armored car, he found that the 'door' on one side of the car had been opened by the occupants, and an officer was looking this way.

"What kind of place is this? Is this it? ”

The commander of the armored car held a map, pointed to a place above, and asked Zhang Guodong loudly.

Only then did Zhang Guodong understand why this armored car rushed here, it turned out that the officer was 'lost' and lost his way and rushed into the encirclement by mistake.

"It should be here."

Zhang Guodong pointed to another place on the map, and then pointed to the subordinates behind him.

"We're trapped here, but thanks to you, we'd better retreat right away."

"Okay, you follow us, cover the armored vehicles, and we'll rush out with you."

The commander of the armored car did not dare to stay here longer, and after discussing the coordinated tactics with Zhang Guodong, he immediately closed the 'door' of the car, commanded the armored car to play in a circle, turned around and walked back, and at this time, the Japanese troops had surrounded from all sides, and the Chinese infantry had to lie on the ground and 'shoot' with rifles to cover their retreat, and at the same time cover the armored car to turn around.

Under the cover of these machine guns, the Chinese infantry quickly evacuated this neighborhood that was almost in ruins, and followed the armored vehicles to fight and retreat, casualties were inevitable, but whenever someone fell, as long as there was still a breath, Zhang Guodong would never give up his comrades.

Courage, unity, confidence, and cooperation are indispensable, and it is precisely under the effect of this 'spirit' divine power that Zhang Guodong's sharp knife company finally retreated to a safe area with the armored vehicle, and at this time, there were less than 20 officers and soldiers left in his troops, and all of them were wounded, even Zhang Guodong ate a bullet in his shoulder, and he was sent to the field hospital lying on the steel plate on the top of the armored car.

In order to complete the combat mission assigned by the superiors, the Chinese soldiers did pay great sacrifices, and there would be no victory without sacrifice, this truth, the soldiers understand, for the rejuvenation of this country, they are willing to make sacrifices, and their sacrifices are destined to go down in history.