In August of the first year of the Republic of China, it was dog weather, the dog was so sunny that he stuck out his tongue, and people were sweating while sitting still. But as the saying goes: "Practice three nines in winter, practice three dogs in summer." Therefore, the troops did not rest, but took advantage of the summer heat to carry out large-scale military training activities.

After the recovery of Xi'an, the 3rd Battalion of the 87th Standard of the 44th Mixed Association where we were located was expanded to the 88th Standard, and the standard commander was the original battalion commander, General Jiang Yuyan. Because of my outstanding performance, I was promoted to the head of the 2nd team, 2 rows and 1 shed.

The newly recruited soldiers are all natives of Shaanxi, and some of them are soldiers of the 39th Mixed Association of the former Army, who were incorporated into our Association because of the reduction of the troops; Some are students of the Shaanxi Army Middle School and were assigned here after graduation; More often than not, school students and children of peasant families came to join the army for various purposes. Generally speaking, the quality of these people is not as good as that of the students of the school affiliated to Jingshi University, and there are many military camp habits that have been soldiers in the past, and the password actions are very different from ours; Those who have just joined the army do not have much education, and some people can't even understand the "School Military Training and Drill Code". I think being a captain is more tiring than being a private before.

Within a few days of the expansion of the troops, our 88th Bid was ordered by Zhao Xingzhi to go to Shangzhou at the junction of Hubei, Henan and Shaanxi provinces, and was responsible for leveling the remnants of the former Qing Dynasty and local bandits in the area, and defending against the enemy attacking Henan Province on the opposite side. The local forces are not difficult to deal with, and the key is the Yi army stationed in the Lu clan and the inner countryside. The Yi army of the department is led by Zhao Qi, a famous place in Beiyang, with a strength of nearly 10,000 troops, and has been in battle for a long time, since the formation of the army, it has participated in the pacification of the bandits, the battle of the First Sino-Japanese War, the Gengzi National Revolution and other famous battles, and its strength should not be underestimated.

General Jiang Yuyan after arriving in Shangzhou. On the one hand, defensive positions were built in important military places such as Luling Pass, Daling Pass, and Fushui Fort, and at the same time, all units were ordered to actively recruit new recruits while stepping up training. Because of the good treatment of our troops, Mr. Sun's exemption from the field has made many people grateful to Dade. In addition, Shaanxi has been burdened with taxes and floods and droughts in recent years, and many people cannot survive, so joining the army is a way to survive; During the liberation, many soldiers became governors and commanders, which also stimulated many young people. Therefore, there are many people who have signed up to join the army, which has led to a serious overstaffing of the army. For example, our shed was originally equipped with 12 people as standard, but in fact there were 25 people, which was more than doubled.

On the afternoon of August 5th. Hundreds of brothers of our 2nd team were training between Daling Pass and Wuguan when they suddenly received an urgent telegram from the Standard Department, ordering us to return to the station and stand by before 12 in the evening of the same day. We immediately realized that something big had happened. What exactly happened, the telegram didn't say, and we don't know. Many people speculated that there was some big move by the opposing Yi Army, and we increased the combat readiness level accordingly. to prevent emergencies.

Anyway. The situation has become tense, and at any time there may be a misfire, and then a large-scale war will break out, so the atmosphere is a little heavy. Even the recruits, who had hoped to make a name for themselves by joining the army, became silent at this time. Everyone hurried with their heads bored, and returned to the Dalingguan camp at about half in the evening. There was a solemn silence inside and outside the camp, and we returned to the barracks to rest quietly, while the platoon commander and captain went to the camp headquarters for a meeting. Although I traveled nearly 100 miles back and forth in a day. Everyone was sleepy, but many of the recruits lost sleep that night.

Five o'clock the next morning. The camp sounded the wake-up call. After washing and eating, each platoon held a full platoon meeting and succinctly announced the order of the standard department: "Order! Each shed chief left 10 people in accordance with the proportion of recruits and veterans, and designated the acting shed chief, and the rest of the staff packed their luggage, carried a base ammunition, and drove on time at nine today! What questions do you have? ”

2. Sun Liangcheng, the head of the shed, raised his hand and said: "Report, may I ask where is the destination of this opening?" ”

The platoon commander looked serious: "Confidential!" You'll know where you go. ”

3. Shi Yousan, the head of the shed, asked, "Then will we come back?" ”

The platoon commander replied: "I can't come back, it's also a secret." ”

What does it mean to leave the standard number of troops, carry a base ammunition, and not tell where to go or whether to come back? It shows that this is definitely a major task to carry out with no return! In addition to finding a job to support my family, I joined the army to repay my kindness, and the big deal was to lose my life, so I was not too nervous, but I was a little worried about my parents at home, so I raised my hand and said: "Report, can you write a letter before you start and bring your savings home by the way?" ”

Platoon Leader: "Yes!" However, the letter must not involve military secrets, and after it is written, it will be handed over to the platoon for paperwork, and he will be responsible for checking and mailing it. Once it is found that there is any leakage of military secrets, it will be punished by military law! ”

The other soldiers asked a few more questions, and the platoon commander stood up: "This time, the battalion headquarters will pay an extra month's salary." According to the order of the battalion headquarters, I have another task, so I will not participate in this march, and the post of platoon commander will be temporarily taken care of by Liu Ruming, the commander of the 1st shed. If there are no problems, everyone go back and allocate their places, pack their bags, and get ready to go! ”

By the time it was nine, everyone had packed their backpacks and carried their rifles and lined up at the camp gate. At this time, I saw our standard commander, General Jiang Yuyan, standing at the front of the line, inspecting the readiness of each platoon one by one. When I passed by our platoon, he recognized me: "Yo, Liu Ziliang!" I became a platoon commander less than a year after enlisting in the army, which is very good! ”

I hurriedly stood up and saluted: "The report standard, I am only temporarily nursing the position of platoon leader, and I am actually the head of the 2nd team, 2nd platoon and 1st shed." ”

General Jiang Yuyan smiled and encouraged: "Then work hard and strive to become a formal platoon commander as soon as possible!" ”

Inspecting the complete battalion, General Jiang Yuyan waved his hand vigorously, and our 3rd battalion began to march under the leadership of the staff officer of the standard department. The team first drove towards Jingzi Pass, where the Yi army was stationed opposite Daling Pass, and the closer they got to the enemy, the more nervous they became. Everyone thought that they were going to fight with Yijun, and many people pinched the steel guns in their hands, showing panic on their faces. While I was nervous, my eyes kept looking around, ready to deploy my troops as soon as I heard the gunshots, and seize the surrounding favorable terrain.

Who knew that when there were still five or six kilometers away from Jingzi Pass, the direction of travel turned around, deviated from the main road, and walked south along the mountain path. While everyone felt confused, they were also secretly relieved. In this way, I opened roads and bridges, climbed mountains and crossed mountains and walked for four or five days, and finally came to a place called Dalangtan. A force of more than 2,000 people was already stationed there, and then we learned that it was the Hubei General Regiment and the Military Command Division.

In such dog days, we climbed mountains and waded through the water for so many days with our blankets on our backs and full armament, and at first we were worried about war, and everyone did not feel hot and tired. Now that they knew that there were friendly forces on the other side, and there was no need to fight, everyone suddenly softened into a mess of mud.

The day after the two armies met, my temporary platoon commander ended my mission because the battalion headquarters sent a new platoon commander to our platoon.

The new platoon commander is called Bai Chongxi, the word Jiansheng, a native of Guilin, Guangxi, graduated from the second phase of Guangxi Army Primary School, and then entered the Guangxi Mixed Association to serve. After the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, he accompanied Shen Bingkun, the governor of Guangxi, and Zhao Hengti, the governor of the mixed association, to the north to aid Wuchang, and stationed in Xiaogan to confront the Qing army in the south. After the success of the revolution, most of the troops in various provinces supporting Hubei returned to their hometowns, and the few who remained in Hubei were reorganized and dismantled by Li Yuanhong under various names. Shen Bingkun and Zhao Hengti did not deal with Lu Rongting, who was the governor of Guangxi at the time, so they had to stay in Hubei to accept the reorganization, and Bai Chongxi was incorporated into the general school regiment by Zhang Zhenwu. Not long ago, he withdrew with General Fang Wei to the junction of Xiangyang and Yunyang.

Of course, none of us knew where we were at first. After handing over the platoon affairs with Bai Jiansheng, I asked this question while chatting with him: "Platoon commander, do you know where we are now?" ”

Bai Jiansheng was a little surprised, but he still replied seriously: "This is the boundary of Junzhou in Xiangyang Mansion, next to Yunyang Mansion and Nanyang Mansion in Henan, not far from your Shaanxi. ”

Xiangyang Mansion? Isn't that a place in Hubei Province? How did we get to Hubei Province? I was a little surprised, and then asked, "What is the platoon commander going to do when he knows that we are meeting here?" ”

"What else can you do? Fight! Bai Jiansheng replied succinctly, "Why don't you know anything?" ”

I replied, "I'm just a small shed chief, so naturally I can't know the military secrets of Shangfeng. ”

Bai Jiansheng said: "Then I'll tell you casually, don't talk nonsense to others." Then he started with the feud between Li Yuanhong and Zhang Zhenwu, the first righteous of Wuchang, and continued to talk about the recent murder of Zhang Zhenwu and Li Yuanhong's suppression. In the end, he said disdainfully: "That Zhang Guoquan didn't know the height of the sky, and he actually didn't listen to the advice of Commander Fang, and wanted to rely on the three associations that were cobbled together to fight against the two towns of the Hubei army. The result? It collapsed at the first touch, so he had to withdraw from Xiangyang City in embarrassment. At this time, he remembered the advice of Commander Fang, and while asking for help from Chief Sun, Zhao Dudu, and Jiang Dudu, he moved closer to us.

"In Li Yuanhong's eyes, our head Fang is a big problem and must be cut off as soon as possible. Zhang Guoquan's troops and the Hubei army were two days before they received fire outside Xiangyang City, and they thought that once they dealt with the miscellaneous affairs in Xiangyang City, they would march in the direction of Yunyang Mansion. It only took three or four days to reach the boundary of Junzhou where we were from Xiangyang, and war was imminent, so the first major event after we converged was to fight. ”

"Just two or three thousand of us?" I couldn't help but be surprised, "According to what you just said, the other party is more than 10,000 people in two towns!" ”

Bai Jiansheng said: "It is said that you Shaanxi and Sichuan will send 4,000 people to join us. But for now, the news is mixed. ”

"The good news?"

"The good news is that the 13th Association that participated in the attack on the 7th Town of Xiangyang will return to Yichang and Jingmen under the leadership of the commander Tang Xizhi to prevent us from taking advantage of the weakness; The eighth town will leave the 16th Association to guard Xiangyang and other places to prevent Zhang Guoquan from making trouble. In other words, the Hubei army that came to attack this time was 8,000 people from the two associations, which was only half of what we expected. ”

"And what about the bad news?"

"The bad news is that the 4,000 people sent by the Sichuan army will not be able to come before the outbreak of the war, and even you in Shaanxi are estimated to be only 3,000 people. In other words, we will use 5,000 men against the 8,000 men of the Hubei army. ”

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The above excerpt is from the third chapter of "Memories of a Marching Soldier" (also known as "Liu Ruming's Memoirs") "Attacking Hubei". (To be continued.) )

ps: Keep coding words!!