In order to conquer the Tingsi Bridge, Tang Shengzhi, the former enemy commander of the Northern Expeditionary Army, held a combat meeting in Yangloudong, at which it was decided that the Fourth Army would attack the Tingsi Bridge by Tongshan and Chongyang, the Seventh Army would be assisted by Puqi (later renamed Chibi, the famous Ding) would attack the Tingsi Bridge, the Eighth Army would cooperate with the Seventh Army, and the main force would be outflanked by Jiayu.

This was a mid-route assault on the left flank of the outflank, and Tang Shengzhi was ambitious to encircle and annihilate Wu Peifu's main force in southern Hunan.

After the battle plan was determined, the Fourth Army immediately launched an operation, and the acting commander Chen Keyu divided the troops into two routes, with Ye Ting's Reading Regiment and Miao Peinan's 35th Regiment of Zhang Fakui's 12th Division as the left flank, attacking along the railway from the front; The 28th Regiment of Cai Tingkai, the 29th Regiment of Fan Hanjie, the 30th Regiment of Dai Ji, and the 36th Regiment of Huang Qixiang of the 12th Division of Chen Mingshu's 10th Division attacked the high ground east of Zhendong from southwest to northeast on the right flank.

Chen Keyu's order, Zhang Fakui immediately launched an attack on Tingsi Bridge with Miao Peinan's regiment as the vanguard, and Miao's regiment acted quickly, and the next morning's advance captured Gaozhu Mountain south of Tingsi Bridge, and two companies of Wu's army stationed in Gaozhu Mountain hastily withdrew across the iron bridge.

After Miao Peinan led the follow-up troops to the Tingsi Bridge, he immediately ordered a battalion to charge the iron bridge, from Gaozhu Mountain to the iron bridge is an open field, Wu Jun blocked this area with four machine guns, and the first battalion was in front of the fire net composed of four machine guns, it was difficult to move an inch, and several consecutive charges were retreated halfway, and the casualties were heavy. Miao Peinan was furious, took off his shirt, pulled out his command knife, and was about to lead the charge in person.

The people on the left and right tried hard to dissuade him, but Miao Peinan turned a deaf ear, and just when he gathered his troops to attack, Zhang Fakui arrived with Ye Ting's reading group, and immediately stopped Miao Peinan's reckless behavior when he saw this. After Zhang Fakui checked the terrain, he felt tricky.

"This terrain is really bad, Jingcheng (Miao Peinan), Xiyi (Ye Ting), tell me, how to fight?"

Ye Ting is burly, handsome, in his early years, he and Zhang Fakui were the battalion commanders of the Generalissimo Sun Yat-sen's guard regiment, and later studied in Soviet Russia, joined [***] in Soviet Russia, and after returning to China in 25 years, he formed a reading group on the basis of the ironclad team.

"I asked the local villagers, and they said that there is a small road in the mountains to the east that can bypass the iron bridge and reach Gutangjiao in the northeast." Ye Ting said as he found the location of Gutangjiao from the map, and crossed an arc from their position, this arc passed through Pengbei and Jianshan until Gutangjiao, which was located behind the enemy's position on the Tingsi Bridge.

Zhang Fakui looked at it carefully and asked suspiciously: "The enemy doesn't know about this road?" ”

"It's a road that is rarely walked, and no one else knows about it except for locals." Ye Ting replied.

Zhang Fakui pondered for a moment: "Okay, let's take a gamble." Xiyi, this task is given to you, I and Jingcheng are attacking head-on, and you stab him in the back. However, you should be careful to get in touch with the 30th Regiment and act after dark. ”

"Yes."

Subsequently, Zhang Fakui ordered to set up an artillery position on the side of Gaozhu Mountain and bombard the iron bridge, while the troops withdrew to Gaozhu Mountain to rest.

The 10th Division heard the rumbling sound of artillery coming from the direction of Tingsi Bridge on the march, and knew that the 12th Division had started a battle with the enemy, Chen Mingshu urgently ordered all regiments to quickly launch an attack, the 36th Regiment launched an attack on the enemy at Chigangting near Guanjiawo, and the 28th Regiment stayed behind in Luojiawan as a reserve.

As the regiments engaged the enemy one after another, the Tingsi Bridge was launched on the whole line, and the battle was very fierce at the beginning; Song Dapei organized several teams to guard each pass, and those who retreated were beheaded for public display; Under the cruel military law, the soldiers of the Wu army had to fight to the death and not retreat; The Northern Expeditionary Army fought successively, and the morale of the officers and men was high, regardless of the unfavorable terrain, braving the enemy's artillery fire, and struggling to attack on the back, the comrades in front fell, and the back pushed away the corpses and climbed up.

In terms of equipment comparison, the Wu army was stronger than the Northern Expeditionary Army, with at least twelve artillery pieces in one division of the Wu army, and one machine gun in each company; The Northern Expeditionary Army had only four or five artillery pieces per corps, and one company could not even spread a single machine gun, and each regiment had a machine gun company with six machine guns of various kinds. It's just that the equipment of the First Army is better, each company can have one machine gun, and the artillery is about the same.

In less than two hours, the first battalion of the 30th Regiment lost two company commanders, the battalion commander was wounded, and Dai Ji could not hold his breath at the regiment headquarters, so he took the guards and went to the front to supervise the battle.

Dai halberd went to the front, but Fan Hanjie, the commander of the 29th Regiment, had already waved his command knife and led the team to charge, the 29th Regiment's attack direction was Agate Mountain, and the 29th Regiment launched seven consecutive charges, all of which failed, and the commander of the third battalion of the main attack was killed, three company commanders were killed, and two were seriously wounded.

Several regiment commanders of the 10th Division were red-eyed, the Wu army was a little shaken under the attack of the Northern Expeditionary Army, Song Dapei personally rushed over from the headquarters with the guards, and as soon as he got on the position, he cut off the heads of the two company commanders who lost the front line to show the public, and then ordered the battalion commander to personally lead the counterattack, the battalion commander stared at the blood-red eyes, raised the big knife and shouted to rush down the mountain, the Northern Expeditionary Army did not retreat at all, and the two sides fought in a melee.

In order to alleviate the offensive of the Northern Expeditionary Army, Song Dapei ordered Wang Xianchen to detour the 10th Division from the left flank, and Chen Mingshu discovered Song Dapei's actions in time and mobilized the reserve Cai Tingkai's 28th Regiment to meet the attack.

Cai Tingkai was already impatient, facing Wang Xianchen is a hard beating, the Wu army without geographical advantages was not the opponent of the Northern Expeditionary Army at all, Wang Xianchen was defeated and retreated, Cai Tingkai took advantage of the victory to pursue and occupy Zhang Xingguo.

But in the evening, Chen Mingshu took stock of the battle situation on the whole front, the Northern Expeditionary Army gained very little, except for Cai Tingkai's progress was slightly greater, the rest of the regiments made little progress, but the casualties of the troops were very large, only among the officers, there were regiment commanders Dai Ji, Cai Tingkai, Fan Hanjie were wounded, seven company commanders were killed, two battalion commanders were killed, and the rest of the officers and soldiers were innumerable.

Whether to continue the attack, Chen Mingshu was a little hesitant, and when he was discussing with his adviser Ni Jijin, Huang Qixiang rushed to the headquarters and suggested to Chen Mingshu to continue the offensive and start a night battle.

"Our army is poorly equipped, but the morale is high, the courage to attack, not good at defense, the enemy is the opposite of our army, if it is said that the enemy reinforcements gather and morale is restored, then our army will be in danger, not to mention that we still have the threat of Sun Chuanfang behind us, so I suggest that regardless of any sacrifices, attack on all fronts tonight and completely break the enemy army in front of you."

"Attack tonight, how to fight?" Chen Mingshu knew that Wu Peifu's reinforcements were rushing to Tingsi Bridge day and night, and the situation was changing in a bad direction.

"Cross the river at night with a regiment of troops, do not fire a shot along the way, and after approaching the main position of the enemy's Ta Nao Mountain, all of them put on bayonets and charge with white blades. After conquering Ta Nao Mountain, our army lurked in front of it and then launched an attack on all fronts. Huang Qixiang's expression was firm and decisive.

Night attack, white-bladed charge, can advance but not retreat, either life or death.

Chen Mingshu stood up and stared at Huang Qixiang: "This is too dangerous." ”

This was a very risky and daring plan, and the most dangerous thing was not to cross the river at night and charge with white knives, but to drill through a gap for more than ten miles, and in the process, if only one person was exposed, the whole regiment would be annihilated under the enemy's crossfire.

"I am willing to lead the ministry to carry out this plan." Huang Qixiang did not flinch and said earnestly in front of Chen Mingshu's eyes: "Commander, there is no time, give an order!" ”

After a long time, Chen Mingshu nodded slowly, Huang Qixiang didn't speak, saluted him and turned around to leave. Returning to the 36th Regiment, Huang Qixiang immediately sent people to reconnoiter the crossing point, and under the guidance of the local villagers, he found a shallow place, where the river water only reached the chest, and he could wade in vain.

It was night, the moon was dark and the stars were scarce, and the whole regiment of the 36th regiment quietly crossed the river in a dark darkness, and after crossing the river, all the soldiers of the regiment rushed forward with a drill gap, and those who fell down got up without a sound, and were washed away by the river, and disappeared on the surface of the water silently. The sound of gunfire was sparse, and the Wu troops on the mountain fired their guns from time to time to strengthen their courage, and occasionally bullets passed through the ranks, and the wounded soldiers gritted their teeth and endured the pain without saying a word.

Just when Huang Qixiang was interspersed, the Reading Force Group was led by Ye Ting to Gutangjiao, and their road was even more dangerous, in the dark night, along the rugged path over the mountains and mountains, from time to time soldiers fell off the hanging rock and disappeared silently in the darkness, and their regiment commander Ye Ting always walked in the forefront.

The 28th, 29th, 30th, and 35th regiments quietly lurked at the starting position of the attack only 500 meters away from the enemy's position, waiting only for the signal from the Ta Nao Mountain.

In the dark night, the whole army of the Fourth Army was lying silently on the cold and damp ground, including the wounded Cai Tingkai, Dai Ji, and Fan Hanjie, including the division commanders Chen Mingshu and Zhang Fakui.

At 3:20 a.m., Huang Qixiang finally interspersed in place, and the whole regiment quietly lurked at a place of 300 meters from the main peak of the Ta Nao Mountain.

At 3:50, Huang Qixiang waved his hand, and more than a thousand men and cats touched their waists towards the peak, and in their hands were more than a thousand bayonets that were full of cold air.

The enemy soldiers on the main peak of Ta Nao Mountain did not expect that there was an army in ambush in front of the deep position, and the sentry was dozing off on the sandbag, and suddenly felt that the situation was wrong, and when he looked up, he found a bayonet shining with cold light, and then he heard a gunshot from a sentry post next to him, which was the last sound he heard in this world.

The gunfire on Ta Nao Mountain was sparse and sparse, and there was no big difference between the brazen gunfire of the Wu army's various positions, but when you walked up to the position, you could find that a group of silent people were chasing and killing the soldiers on the position with red light in their eyes.

Silent fighting, silent fighting, and finally someone let out a sharp scream, the cry was sad and miserable.

The Wu army on Ta Nao Mountain was finally awakened by all, it was too late, in the face of more than a thousand indifferent and terrifying killing gods, the only thing they thought of was to escape, go down the mountain, to the rear, escape!

Run, flee to the bottom of the mountain; Escape to Xianning!

Song Dapei was like falling into an ice cave when he learned that Ta Nao Mountain was lost, and it took a while to react, and he stared at his blood-red eyes and shouted: "Take it back immediately!" Take it back! Chop that bastard for me! ”

Song Dapei personally commanded the 13th mixed brigade to launch a counterattack on Ta Nao Mountain, but the Wu officers and soldiers in front of the Tingsi Bridge were often defeated, and it was undoubtedly a fool's dream to ask them to attack Ta Nao Mountain at this moment, Huang Qixiang held the position effortlessly, and actually had the spare strength to send a battalion to seize the Wu army's artillery position.

The four officers and soldiers who were lurking in the middle of the night in the front launched an attack on the whole line at the same time as the signal rose on Ta Nao Mountain, and the whole army did not fire a single shot, charging with white blades, and in the early morning, the forward positions of the Wu army were all lost, and the two most important support points, Ta Nao Mountain and Shigu Ling, fell into the hands of the Northern Expeditionary Army.

Faced with the front that was about to be completely torn apart, Song Dapei had no choice but to order a retreat and retreat to Xianning. He wanted to retreat, but Ye Ting didn't agree, and after a night of detours, the reading group finally returned to its position in the early morning.

Through the mist, Ye Ting saw through the telescope that the enemy was running towards Xianning along the railway, and the gunfire in front of him was loud, Ye Ting suddenly understood that the frontal attack was successful, and the enemy was going to run. He immediately lined up three battalions and attacked the enemy.

Wu Jun never dreamed that another Northern Expeditionary Army would be killed from here, and they looked at the Jiao Jian figures who rushed out of the mist in amazement, not knowing where they came from, and even forgetting to resist.

"It's over, brethren! Run! There was a scream from the crowd.

With this sound, the soldiers of the Wu Army, who were already in a chaotic commotion, were completely confused, they ran away with their legs, ran forward with all their might, and chased after the reading group.

It was a long marathon, from Tingsi Bridge to Xianning, the Reading Regiment took Cao Yuan's first battalion as the vanguard and bit the Wu army, and Zhang Fakui's fifteen-mile pursuit distance was exceeded. Ye Ting pursued until the Xianning Southwest Railway Bridge before stopping the pursuit.

Cao Yuan, who served as the vanguard, reported to him that the enemy army in Xianning was very chaotic, and when Ye Ting heard this, he ran to the front to see that a large number of Wu troops were passing through the railway bridge, and the various heights in the east, south, and north of Xianning City were being dug by the enemy.

"Commander, as long as the machine gun company can give us cover, we can rush through." Cao Yuan's sleeves rolled up to his arm and pointed ahead, his eyes full of eagerness. The terrain of Xianning City is also dangerous, not losing the Tingsi Bridge at all, there are lakes on the left and right sides, and there is only one railway in the middle that can be passed, under normal circumstances, it is normal to conquer such a city, and it is normal to have tens of thousands of casualties.

Ye Ting nodded: "Okay!" Take Xianning. ”

The six heavy machine guns of the machine gun company swept across the opposite side, and Cao Yuan yelled at the soldiers of the first battalion: "The target is Xianning, only advance and not retreat." Come on!!!! ”

A huge dragon rushed forward, and the Wu army at the north end of the iron bridge did not expect the Northern Expeditionary Army to come so quickly, and resisted on the spot in a panic, and a battalion of soldiers went forward and braved the rain of bullets to continuously attack.

The Wu army was indeed frightened, and the first battalion was still fifty or sixty meters away from the north bridgehead, and the Wu soldiers began to flee. Cao Yuan struggled to approach Xianning City, and Ye Ting led the second and third battalions to also rush into Xianning, all the way to Song Dapei's headquarters.

There was chaos in the headquarters, guns and ammunition were everywhere, but in fact, it was not because they had escaped and abandoned them indiscriminately, but they had not had time to clean up at all.

Ye Ting looked at a basin of water on the table, a white towel was placed on the basin, half in the water and half outside the basin, obviously the owner ran away in a hurry before he had time to wash his face.

"I'm sorry, I just washed my face." Ye Ting laughed twice, wrung out the face towel and wiped it on his face twice, then casually threw the towel into the basin, turned around and was about to leave, but the phone rang suddenly.

"Hey, Master Song? How's the battle going on the front? The marshal has arrived at Hesheng Bridge, and he wants you there in the afternoon, how is the battle situation on the front line? ”

After Ye Ting heard this, he didn't speak, threw down the phone, turned around and ordered: "The first battalion stays in the city, and the second and third battalions will immediately go out of the city and build fortifications on Wenbi Mountain." Send someone to report to Division Commander Zhang and ask him to send troops as soon as possible. ”

Zhang Fakui was angry, and after receiving Ye Ting's report, he was immediately surprised and delighted, and immediately sent Miao Peinan to lead the 35th Regiment to Xianning. In the evening, the Fourth Army was stationed in Xianning, and the Seventh Army was stationed at Tingsi Bridge.

The Battle of Tingsi Bridge opened the first gate to Wuhan, and the second gate was the more dangerous Hesheng Bridge, and this time the Northern Expeditionary Army had to face no longer the remnants of the defeated generals like Song Dapei, but the general Wu Peifu of Fuwei in Zhongzhou.

(To be continued)