In another time and space, it is said that Comrade Mao ZD, an outstanding military strategist who is about the same as the Napoleonic Emperor of France, has finally commanded the troops to go to the battlefield for the first time!

On February 3, 1919, the third day of the Lunar New Year, he commanded the party army of the Central G, and the newly formed Eighth Division (division commander Peng Dehua, chief of staff Huang Gongluo, political committee member Cai Hsen, and Mao ZD was a special commissioner of the Central Committee) set off from Xuzhou and marched west along the Longhai Railway. Judging from the troop establishment table, the new Eighth Division is a little weaker than the current standard infantry division of the National Revolutionary Army, and there is no brigade-level establishment, and below the division headquarters are three infantry regiments, plus an artillery battalion, a cavalry battalion, an engineer battalion, a baggage battalion, and a teaching brigade, with a total strength of about 12,000. However, the artillery battalion had no guns, and the cavalry battalion had no horses, and the 233rd rout begged for a monthly ticket to subscribe to the engineer battalion, but there were a lot of shovels and steel shovels, all of which came from the Anyuan coal mine. In addition to the lack of weapons and equipment, the officers and men of this division are not very good. Officers are almost always self-taught, and soldiers have not undergone much rigorous training, that is, they are said to be very good at politics. There are political commissioners at the division and regimental levels, instructors in the battalion, instructors in the company, and branches of the GCD are also set up at the company level, and every day there are political cadres who give revolutionary lectures to the soldiers below...... Although the political situation is excellent, the strength of the division is still limited, so it can only fight steadily and steadily, and does not seek to advance.

On the afternoon of 3 February, the New Eighth Division arrived at Dangshan, which was occupied by the vanguard of the Seventh Army, got off at the Dangshan Railway Station, and then advanced slowly on foot. It took three days to reach Yucheng along Longhai Road, and another day to advance to Zhangge Town, east of Shangqiu County. Along the way, they did not encounter the regular army of Beiyang, but only made contact with the local armed forces in Henan, and most of the local militias did not have much will to fight, except to flee or surrender. It's a bit overwhelming.

However, the easy days of Commissar Mao's use of soldiers like gods ended in Zhangge Town. Shangqiu County, 10 kilometers away from Zhangge Town, has been defeated by the 233rd of the main force of the Northern Army. According to the report of the comrades of the Longhai Railway Federation of Trade Unions, Shangqiu County. It is a detachment of the 3rd Division, which is known as the first elite of Beiyang. It consisted of the 6th Brigade, plus an artillery battalion with artillery and a cavalry battalion with horses. With nearly 5,000 officers and soldiers! The commander-in-chief is Zhang Fulai, the commander of the Third Division (in this era, when the Beiyang Army was fighting, it liked to write the name of the main general, the number of the unit and everything on the flag, so it was easier for the underground personnel in China to inquire).

After discovering the opponent, Mao Zd immediately ordered the troops to build fortifications in the areas of Yucheng County, Zhangge Town, Zhoujiaji, and Wangjiaji, and put out a formation ready to be beaten. However, before the new Eighth Division was fully deployed, Shangqiu's Beiyang Army began to attack! Comrade Mao ZD also went to Zhang Gezhen on the front line to supervise the battle.

"Boom! Rumble! Boom ......"

The shells smashed black bomb spots on the snow outside Zhangge Town. In February of this era, the temperature in the Central Plains was still very cold, and the land was frozen hard, so it was not easy to build fortifications. Therefore, the First Regiment of the New Eighth Division, which was guarding here, temporarily built a thin defensive line with door panels, trees, and some miscellaneous items and other things outside Zhangge Town. Mao Zd and Cai Hesen, a member of the political committee of the New Eighth Division, stood on the roof of the Zhangge Town Railway Station to watch the battle.

Looking out of the binoculars in Mao Zd's hand, the gray figures of the Beiyang Army were forming a stormtroop formation in front of the positions of the first regiment of the New Eighth Division. There were about two battalions! It seems that the general of the Northern Army named Zhang Fulai probably wants to take down Zhang Gezhen in one go, right?

At this time, a staff officer craned his neck under the room and shouted: "Commissar Mao." Commissar Mao! Division Commander Peng said that the enemy was about to attack. He asked you and Political Commissar Cai to transfer to Yucheng County first......"

Mao ZD didn't put down the binoculars: "Sue sù Peng Dehua, Zhang Gezhen must be guarded at least until tonight!" I'll nail it here, and then withdraw to Yucheng with the big army after dark! ”

As soon as his words fell, the artillery bombardment of the Northern Army suddenly began to intensify, and the accuracy was greatly enhanced (just now it was a test firing). Seeing that the field fortifications of the 1st Regiment of the New Eighth Division were blown up in all directions, smoke and dust were chaotic, and from time to time broken limbs were thrown high and flew in all directions.

Before the smoke of the shelling had dissipated, the gray infantry cluster of the Beiyang Army began to attack. This unit is probably the best trained and most experienced in actual combat at the moment! Their charge is so disciplined that it can almost be used in textbooks. They rushed forward in waves, and when they charged, they would not waste bullets by placing guns indiscriminately, only a dozen heavy machine guns were moving up. Support with side-fire fire. And the people who took the lead in the charge were all junior officers holding Western command swords.

Peng Dehua, the commander of the new Eighth Division, is commanding on the front line, and the Mao commissioners have all come to Zhangge Town to supervise the battle, and he, the division commander, can only press to the forward position! As soon as the shelling of the Beiyang Army stopped, he immediately came out of a hastily constructed shelter. He looked up the position, and saw corpses everywhere! There were also quite a few wounded who were moaning. The shelling of the Beiyang Army apparently achieved unimaginable results! Since the officers and men of the new Eighth Division did not have time to build strong fortifications, nor did they have the experience to deal with artillery bombardment...... When the Northern Army shelled. There were more than 1,000 officers and soldiers stationed on the front-line positions without cover and bombed! After a bombardment, at least more than 200 people were killed and wounded!

However, such huge casualties did not make the New Eighth Division collapse! The political cadres played a huge role at this time, shouting revolutionary slogans to boost morale while pointing pistols at those who were not determined......

Thanks to the efforts of these political cadres and officers at all levels, the soldiers who were still able to move on the positions took up arms and began to fight, and the machine guns that had not been damaged were also connected to the cartridge belts and began to fire with a clatter. Machine rifle fire from the positions opened fire at the same time, and the gunfire was like a strong wind blowing on the battlefield. Those Beiyang officers and soldiers who rushed to the front were immediately swept down. However, their stormtroopers were very scattered, and as soon as the front was knocked down, those behind immediately lay down and fought back, while taking advantage of the terrain to move forward.

The Northern Army's return fire was also extremely sharp, their infantry did not shoot blindly, but concentrated their firepower on the machine gun positions on the positions of the New Eighth Division, and a dense rain of bullets fell on each machine gun position, and the machine gunners were constantly knocked down, and there were constantly substitutes! The Beiyang Army took advantage of this time to get up and rush a few steps, and then lay down and fired, and after a few rounds, it had already rushed to the position of the New Eighth Division!

"Grenade! Throw grenades! "I don't know who took the lead in shouting like that. Only then did the officers and men of the New Eighth Division remember that they were still carrying a few things called "grenades" on their backs!

Hundreds of wooden-handled grenades, modeled after German grenades, flew out of their hands almost simultaneously...... But about a third of them didn't pull the strings! The rest were cast as soon as the string was pulled. Fortunately, in this era, grenades have just appeared in the Chinese Civil War. Only the National Revolutionary Army is equipped with this kind of weapon, and the Beiyang soldiers have not touched this thing much, they only know that this is a bomb, and they don't know that they can pick it up and throw it back! Therefore, they fell down one after another screaming in the explosion in front of the position, and almost all the officers and soldiers of the North who rushed to the front were blown down! However, the Beiyang officers and soldiers behind shouted and launched the final assault, and before the officers and soldiers of the New Eighth Division threw the second grenade, they poured into their positions in groups!

A hand-to-hand fight with bayonets then ensued in the thin line of defense. In this regard, of course, the officers and men of the 3rd Beiyang Division have an absolute advantage, and they have all received strict training in stabbing and stabbing, and many of them have also used bayonets to kill in all civil wars since the Republic of China! And their opponents, except for a few officers with actual combat experience, most of them are on the battlefield for the first time! No matter how hard the political work cadres, GCD members, and young G party members agitate, they only maintain a hand-to-hand fighting situation, and there is no way to beat the opponent out.

Peng Dehua has now also picked up his rifle and joined the hand-to-hand combat. Compared to his soldiers, his stabbing skills were excellent, and he picked several opponents in a short time, but it was still difficult to recover the decline.

Seeing that the shape of the front line was close to collapse, Mao ZD was so anxious that he stood on the roof of the Zhangge Town Railway Station and walked: "Why is this happening? I can't resist a single attack! Why is this happening? ”

Cai Hesen, a member of the division and political committee who had just gone to the front line to supervise the war, retreated from the front with a few guards at this time, he seemed to have been wiped by a stray bullet in the battle just now, and he had a color on his arm, and now he was wrapped in a white cloth and ran to Mao Zd: "Runzhi, these reactionaries are hard stubble!" The front couldn't stand it, and Master Peng asked us to move towards Yucheng immediately! ”

Mao ZD looked at the front line that was collapsing, and snorted: "The Third Division of Beiyang...... We'll see, it won't be long before we can wipe them out! With that, he turned around and strode downstairs, and then withdrew from the battlefield under the protection of the guards.

At this time, in the rear of the Beiyang Army front, Xiao Yaonan, who looked slightly weak, and Zhang Fulai, who had two big mustaches, both looked at the retreating opponent opposite with contemptuous eyes. Zhang Fulai sneered and said to Xiao Yaonan beside him: "Damn, what kind of elite did I think of these Southern Barbarians before, but now it looks like a group of rabble!" ”

Xiao Yaonan shook his head slightly, showing a hesitant expression: "This is too weak, right?" Ziheng, are you looking at them to be cheating? ”

"What kind of fraud?" Zhang Fulai laughed, touched his beard and said with a smile: "Although my old Zhang is not very literate (illiterate), but I have been rolling on the battlefield for half my life, and I can't see the real defeat?" They're simply in rout now! This kind of broken troops, not to mention 400,000, is 1 million, and our third division can cover it! (Your support is my biggest motivation.) )rv！！！