The reputation of the "Iron Army" of the Independent Regiment is well known, and Ye Ting is well-deserved as the "Famous General of the Northern Expedition".

Avoid cowardice in war, and avoid fear after war. This kind of principle of avoiding the cowardice of the troops in fighting a war and tabooing the troops to compete for merit and reward after the war has been discussed in many ancient books.

Ye Ting, who is familiar with military books, knows the reason very well.

"Be self-contained, mourn the work."

Therefore, after the three towns of Wuhan were captured by the Northern Expeditionary Army, Ye Ting stationed his troops and ordered each battalion to summarize the battle by company, and pay attention to sorting out the deeds of the martyrs who died under the city of Wuchang in the summary, and collecting the relics of the martyrs; Some of the relics were sent to the relatives of the martyrs, and some were unclear whose ones were left to be handled by the regiment headquarters.

At this moment, what made Ye Ting most concerned was the burial of 191 martyrs of the 18 officers above the platoon level and 173 soldiers of the Independent Regiment in Wuchang City, including Cao Yuan, the commander of the first battalion.

At this time, many other troops were evaluating their merits, rewarding them according to their merits, and celebrating each other.

Ye Ting, who deeply cherishes the sacrificed martyrs, feels that the bones of these respectable and admirable martyrs are not cold, and they have not fallen into the ground, how can they be reassured?

Many of them are the top students of the Whampoa Military Academy, and they are determined to be thousands of miles, and if they are not sacrificed here, many of them will become the pillars of the country and the heroes of the nation in the future. However, when the revolution required them to sacrifice their young and precious lives, they did not blink their eyes and their hearts did not beat, and they stood up for righteousness, and they did not give up as if they were dead. If you want to say that there are merits, they are the greatest heroes; When it comes to celebrating, holding a grand burial for the martyrs is the biggest celebration ceremony.

Comfort the ancients, and show the comings.

Therefore, Ye Ting found Liao Qianwu, the representative of the Fourth Army Party, and proposed to build a permanent martyrs' cemetery at the southern foot of the beautiful eastern section of Hongshan Mountain, and bury the martyrs there to remember the martyrs and pay tribute to future generations.

Hongshan, formerly known as Dongshan, is located outside the east gate of Wuchang City. This mountain is majestic and beautiful, the strange stones are stacked, the ancient trees are uneven, the flowing water is quiet, and the scenery is extremely beautiful.

The martyrs are buried here, doesn't it add to the realm and immortality of Hongshan.

As soon as Liao Qianwu heard this, he immediately agreed, and obtained the approval of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China and the Military Department of the Fourth Army.

Soon, a large-scale Hongshan Martyrs Cemetery was built.

This martyr's cemetery sits in the north and faces south, in front of the martyr's cemetery is a tall archway, the memorial arch is a towering stone tablet made of high-quality granite, the stone tablet is engraved with a very eye-catching "martyr's tomb of the officers and soldiers of the Northern Expedition of the Fourth Army Independent Regiment of the National Revolutionary Army", shining in the sun. The cemetery where Cao Yuan and 19 other martyrs are buried is rectangular and made of bricks and stones. The stele of a stone tablet in front of the tomb is engraved with four majestic italics of "spirit immortality", and the names of the martyrs are engraved on the left side; On the right side, the words "the blood of the martyrs", "the flower of ism", "the sacrifice of the proletariat" and "the blood of the martyrs have forged the honor of the iron army" are engraved, which shine for thousands of years; The cemetery is surrounded by walls, and the pines and cypresses in the walls are tall and verdant, symbolizing the immortality of the martyrs.

At the first and solemn funeral ceremony, Ye Ting led all the officers and soldiers of the independent regiment to stand solemnly, and as the representatives of the officers and soldiers read the oath, the pine waves whimpered, the river led to the voice, and everyone burst into tears.

The tears in Ye Ting's eyes were a little different, first the amount of convergence, and gradually formed the tears the size of broad beans, like a huge meteorite landing, tragic and strong.

However, the problem that worried Ye Ting happened soon.

Amid the joyful sound of gongs and drums of the Wuhan people enthusiastically celebrating the great victory of the Northern Expeditionary Army in Wuchang, some Guangdong people living in Wuhan, taking the reputation of Ye Ting's Independent Regiment as the "Iron Army," cast a giant iron shield one meter high and half a meter wide at the Hanyang Arsenal, beat gongs and drums, and sent it to the headquarters of the Fourth Army. On the front of the iron shield, there are two strong characters of "Iron Army", the upper paragraph is "All the comrades of the Fourth Army of the National Revolutionary Army", and the inscription is "Presented by the colleagues of the Wuhan Cantonese Overseas Chinese Friendship Society on January 15, 16th year of the Republic of China". On the back is a poem:

The blood of martyrs, the flower of doctrine,

The great achievements of the four armies are mighty.

Be disciplined, be able to boast,

can love the people and save the country.

Destroying the front, like the strength of iron,

Revolutionary ambitions are like iron shoulders.

The function is like iron, and the people rely on it,

May life be like iron, and remember it for thousands of years.

At the shield dedication ceremony, Chen Keyu, deputy commander of the army, and Liao Qianwu, a party representative, unanimously agreed that Ye Ting's acceptance of the "Iron Army card" on behalf of the Fourth Army was the most typical and symbolic, and the representatives sent by other troops were not convincing, because everyone knew that the independent regiment had participated in the Northern Expedition for the longest time, won the most battles, suffered the greatest casualties, had the strictest discipline, and had the most tenacious fighting spirit.

Ye Ting naturally accepted the decision of the military department. Because this is not only his personal honor, but more importantly, the honor of all the officers and soldiers of the Independent Regiment, especially the martyrs who died heroically in the battles of the Northern Expedition!

Who knows, not long after Ye Ting accepted the shield of the "Iron Army" on behalf of the Fourth Army, rumors spread like a plague in other troops.

What "Ye is very good to be in the limelight", what "the independent group is so happy", and so on, and so on.

Ye Ting listened to these short and long, but laughed. Anyone who has worked with Ye Ting knows who he is. He is upright, treats people with sincerity, has no city in his chest, has no ravines in his heart, does not admire vanity, does not covet fame, does not gain authority, does not know how to be false, does not know how to deceit, sweeps thousands of troops on the battlefield, and on weekdays he is "sitting quietly and thinking about his own faults, and gossiping about others". When Ye Ting was four years old, his brother taught him to read "Zhu Zi's Aphorisms", and his father also asked him to recite the "Cui Family Motto" when he had time, "Don't talk about people's shortcomings, don't boast about your own strengths, don't expect to repay your kindness, be cautious when you receive benefits, hide your heart and then move, discuss what hurts, vanity is not enough to admire, and don't disobey the ancient commandments." These ancient precepts of enlightenment are like golden tripod engravings, which are remembered in my heart. Later, as he grew up, Ye Ting agreed with Confucius's spiritual realm of "hearing the Tao in the morning, and dying at night". As a person, he also advocated the generosity of "the general can run a horse on his forehead, and the prime minister can sail in his belly". He advocated that a person who wants to "revive the world and weaken" and make great achievements should not indulge in human desires and material desires and cannot extricate himself. For the cause of benefiting the country and the people, and for the pursuit of truth, we must not care about fame and fortune, not afraid of risks, and remain persistent. As for the wrongs of people, we must be able to eliminate interference and do our own thing, and only by "not being tired of things and lusts", going to things outside and people desires, can we "do nothing" and "do something" in the great cause of saving the country and the people. Therefore, he calmly ignored the rumors that he was disrespectful to him and to the Independent Regiment.

However, when you don't want to pay attention to right and wrong, right and wrong just haunt you.

It didn't take long for the question of who would be the first contributor to the Northern Expedition to the point of a public showdown.

Not long after Chen Keyu, deputy commander of the Fourth Army, went to Shanghai for treatment of hemorrhoids, he entrusted Chen Mingshu, commander of the 10th Division of the Fourth Army, who was pro-Chiang Kai-shek, to preside over a military conference attended by senior officers at and above the regimental level.

At the beginning of the meeting, the "second" became "its master". Because the "second" is related to the immediate issue of promotion and coronation, naturally everyone's attention and excitement are much higher than the "master's" unsure whether he can use the battle technique in the future.

Originally, at the military meeting attended by senior officers at and above the regimental level, except for Ye Ting of the Independent Regiment and a very small number of Communist Party members, almost all of them were pro-Chiang Kai-shek figures, and Ye Ting was determined to avoid this sensitive topic of "making meritorious contributions" from the beginning, so the speaker should be "one-sided."

The problem is not in the confrontation between Ye Ting and others, but in the "family who doesn't know the family" who is standing on that side.

Chen Mingshu, who was the commander of the 10th Division, did not have a high prestige in the Fourth Army in peacetime, and his ability to command operations was mediocre; since the Northern Expedition, the 10th Division had not made much achievements, and the military discipline of the troops was sloppy, and there were many problems of internal fights and brawls and violations of mass discipline; moreover, Chen Mingshu himself was narrow-minded, and he was good at playing right and wrong, and he would go to his boss at every turn to "step on" other troops, and he was good at showing off and was keen to sell his reputation and reputation, so the commanders of other divisions sneered at him.

Chen Mingshu, as the host of the meeting, should have been a little more generous and a little more styled, but he was hard to change, and his old attitude relapsed.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Chen Junzuo must know that he went to Shanghai to recuperate, and before leaving, he entrusted me to preside over this important meeting related to the promotion of my colleagues here. Although we are not talented, we do not dare to exhaust ourselves when it comes to the needs of the revolution. However, I still have to rely on you to support you, and I am very grateful. When Chen Mingshu made the opening remarks, he glanced at everyone's expressions with a pair of goldfish eyes, and saw that the faces of the participants did not appear his expected compliments, flattery, and even applause. Then, he began to count the treasures, "Ladies and gentlemen, since the beginning of this division from Guangdong to Hunan, it has tackled key problems and broken the bases, driven straight in, and has made many achievements, which is well known to everyone, and there is no need to repeat it." Today, I will only talk about the achievements of the 28th Regiment of our division in rushing into Wuchang City first." After that, he made a big show about how his 28th Regiment launched a street battle against Liu Yuchun's enemy in Wuchang City, and how he smashed Liu Yuchun's headquarters with life and death, etc., in a word, the head of the Northern Expedition was none other than his 10th Division, and it should be him and his 10th Division who should be promoted and sealed, and the undisguised momentum can be described as aggressive.

At this time, Zhang Fakui, the commander of the 12th Division, who was sitting opposite Chen Mingshu, couldn't sit still. In terms of qualifications, Zhang Fakui is not more tender than Chen Mingshu; In terms of official rank, two people are half a catty and eight taels; In terms of participating in the Northern Expedition, although only two regiments of the 12th Division, the 35th Regiment and the 36th Regiment, Ye Ting's Independent Regiment has been under his command since the Battle of Liling. Besides, in the major decisive battles of Liling, Tingsi Bridge and Hesheng Bridge, the Independent Regiment and the 35th Regiment served as the vanguard troops, and the price paid was greater than that of other troops. At this time, Zhang Fakui "disliked" Chen Mingshu's fangs and claws, his competitive and brave martial arts appearance, and the politicians' faces of praising and praising and criticizing the subordinates. Therefore, he thought that Chen Mingshu's snatching of merit was a provocation to him, a merit of greed for heaven, a "on his neck", and a "clip" of his master seat with a straight eye, so he was angry for a while, and his stomach hit his head with anger, forgetting for a while that he and Chen Mingshu belonged to "a mouse in a nest", and he couldn't help but say justice to Ye Ting's independent group, who had always been regarded as a "dissident" by him.

"Bang! Boom! Boom! Zhang Fakui poked the table in front of him with his fingers: "Everyone, we didn't have a meeting in the middle of the night, why do I think it's night or day?" At first, Zhang Fakui didn't look at Chen Mingshu, and his words were prickly, spicy and mean. Probably he thought that he couldn't make the division commanders and regiment commanders present feel that he lacked self-cultivation, so he changed his tense posture and said in a soothing tone, "Originally, this meeting was mainly to study the tactics of tackling tough battles, but since Senior Commander Chen led the topic to who attacked Wuchang City first, then I had to follow the canal." With that, he lit a cigarette and took a leisurely puff, his words becoming softer and softer, "Just now Senior Commander Chen said that it was the 28th Regiment of your division that attacked Wuchang City first, why haven't I heard about it?" However, Ye Ting's independent regiment rushed into the city first, but I heard Deputy Chen Junzuo and Liao Qianwu's party representatives say it, and the people of Wuchang City also said so, is this a word of mouth? Although Zhang Fakui's words were not as sharp as at the beginning, they were hidden needles, which made Chen Mingshu feel even more uncomfortable when he heard it.

"Hey, Master Zhang, don't you generalize?" Chen Mingshu and Zhang Fakui are also old "old friends", and they usually express their "political opinions" in private, but they didn't expect that today he would sing a duet with himself, and even help the Communist Party speak, and he was so angry for a while, so he came to retaliate.

"Hey, Master Chen, did you use the wrong word? It should not be called 'generalizing from partiality', but 'closing the coffin'. Isn't it? Not to mention whether Ye Ting's Independent Regiment was the first to attack Wuchang City, the Independent Regiment alone took the enemy fort in Snake Mountain in one fell swoop, which played a decisive role in completely annihilating the enemy Liu Yuchun's troops, and this will not be on the head of any other regiment, right? "Zhang Fakui came to the forefront.

For a moment, the air in the huge conference room froze.

"Division Commander Zhang, it is true that the Independent Regiment occupied the enemy fort in Snake Mountain, but the annihilation of the stubborn enemy in Wuchang City within a radius of dozens of miles cannot all be attributed to the Independent Regiment family? Ladies and gentlemen," Chen Mingshu said, pointing his finger at the surrounding attendees, "You all say, is this reasonable?" ”

The participants looked at each other, feeling that Chen Mingshu and Zhang Fakui were their bosses, and they couldn't afford to offend, so they all came to "Xu Shu enters Cao Ying - without saying a word".

According to the original intention of Chen Mingshu's speech, it was to remind Zhang Fakui not to faint. Why did you become a volunteer propagandist of the Communist Party today? Didn't you often slander Ye Ting and the Independent Group in front of me in the past? said that Ye Ting only knew how to fight to the death, and he was gambling with the lives of his subordinates, grabbing the first credit for himself and building a ladder for promotion; accusing the Independent League of being a Communist Party and a Communist Party in the future; What else is Commander-in-Chief Chiang who is not satisfied with the Communist Party in his bones, that the "Zhongshan Ship Incident" is to purge the Communist Party in the National Revolutionary Army, and that he will be incompatible with the Communist Party in the future, and so on. But...... No wonder Chen Mingshu's chest fell together after speaking, and his expression was quite like an air toad.

However, Zhang Fakui, who is already in the "confusion of people in things", will no longer calmly come to "listen to the gong and listen to the sound, obey and listen to the sound", so he simply came to do nothing and endlessly, and talked endlessly about the independent regiment since the battle of Anyu, the attack on Liling, the Keping River, the surprise attack on Tingsi Bridge, the vicious fight against Hesheng Bridge, the blood sprinkled on Wuchang City, and the good stories of leaving a book and so on, and so on, all the bamboo tubes poured beans, and finally came to the sentence with high spirits: "Just ask who is the leader of the Northern Expedition, and the independent regiment is the first!" ”

"Horn!" Chen Mingshu saw that Zhang Fakui had become obsessed to the point of incorrigibility, and felt that it would be more difficult to clean up the situation if it didn't end, so he slapped the table angrily: "Today's meeting will not be opened, and the meeting will be dismissed!" ”

The ridiculous farce staged by Chen Mingshu and Zhang Fakui immediately became a joke for the officers and men of the Fourth Army after dinner, and also justified the name of the Independent Regiment for the "Iron Army" and Ye Ting, and for the "Famous General of the Northern Expedition".

Someone asked Ye Ting afterwards: Why did he not say a word at the meeting on issues related to the independence regiment and his personal reputation?

Ye Ting smiled faintly: "No matter how much credit the Independent League has, the people have their own public opinion, and history has their own public opinion." Standing up and saying it yourself, on the contrary, it is Wang Po who sells melons, and it is easy to breed arrogance in the army. ”

Soon another strange thing happened.

In the expansion of the Northern Expeditionary Army, the 12th Division of the Fourth Army was upgraded to the Fourth Army, the 10th Division was upgraded to the 11th Army, and Chen Mingshu and Zhang Fakui were both promoted to two levels and became army commanders; The 28th and 30th Regiments of the 10th Division, and the 36th Regiment of the 12th Division were upgraded to the 10th Division of the 11th Army, the 24th Division of the 11th Army, and the 12th Division of the Fourth Army respectively. Although Ye Ting's Independent Regiment was also upgraded to the 25th Division of the Fourth Army, Ye Ting only became the deputy commander of this division. The independent regiment originally belonged to the deputy division level, and Ye Ting was changed from regiment commander to deputy division commander in honor, but the official rank was just standing still.

"It's so unfair!"

"No! In my opinion, it is not only unfair, but simply hostile to the Communist Party! ”

The battalion and company-level officer of the independent regiment angrily gave Ye Ting a grunch: "Regiment commander, you should be told to make it clear from above, in terms of combat merits, you are the greatest; In terms of talent, you are the strongest, why do they treat you like this? ”

Ye Ting comfortingly asked everyone to sit down, poured a cup of tea for everyone, smiled slightly, and said humorously: "Drink a cup of tea first, defeat the fire, and save the prickly heat in the autumn." Seeing that everyone turned into laughter, he thought for a while and said, "You forget, I am a 'double party member'." It is very rare for someone like me, who is both a member of the Kuomintang and a member of the Communist Party, to be able to serve as a deputy division commander in the National Revolutionary Army in which the Communist Party does not have actual leadership. Besides, so many revolutionary martyrs are sleeping underground, what are they fighting for for office? You say, when we became members of the Communist Party, who came here to compete to be officials? Therefore, those who can be content at any time will be happy, and they will not be shocked when they are humiliated. However, Ye Ting said and looked at everyone solemnly, "It is imperative to match the soldiers of the expanded 25th Division as soon as possible and train them to be like soldiers of the independent regiment!" ”

The battalion and company officers present listened to Ye Ting's heart-to-heart words, and they appreciated the striking demeanor of this "famous general of the Northern Expedition" from his extraordinary consciousness, and at the same time, they also vaguely saw the gathering war clouds and the sound of sharpening knives from the last words of this "famous general of the Northern Expedition" with the unique sense of smell of soldiers.