Bloody Wuchang City, the iron-blooded man played the first role in the Northern Expedition.

Wu Peifu, the leader of the Beiyang warlords, He Shengqiao, was defeated, lost his armor and retreated to his old nest, Wuhan Three Towns.

"Both Shengyu, He Shengliang!" Wu Peifu remembered Zhou Yu's desperate lament in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", and irritably didn't wait for the guard to take the hat for him, he angrily threw his hat on the tiger skin sofa and shouted to the adjutant: "Get Liu Yuchun for me." ”

"Commander-in-Chief, Liu Yuchun, commander of the Eighth Army, listens to the instructions!" After a while, Liu Yuchun stood straight in front of Wu Peifu.

"I appoint you as the commander-in-chief of Wuchang City, commanding Chen Jiamo and other troops of Hubei Overseer, and I must hold Wuchang City for me, and I can't afford to lose!" Wu Peifu issued the order sharply, and immediately said in a tone, "Yuchun, you are my favorite general, this time Wuchang's safety is all about you, and your responsibility is heavy!" Wu Peifu knew that the method of buying people's hearts at this moment would be more effective than issuing any sanctions.

Sure enough, Liu Yuchun gratefully "clicked" a straight upright, stood tall and swore with his chest: "Yuchun is not talented, thanks to the love of the commander-in-chief, Yuchun is deeply grateful." Yuchun is the liver and brain, and we must also try to ensure that Wuchang is not lost! ”

Liu Yuchun's oath of "trying to ensure that Wuchang is not lost" was not entirely impulsive and boasted about Haikou. This Wuchang city is located on the south bank of the Yangtze River, surrounded by strong city walls, with a total length of about 60 miles. The height of the city is more than two zhang, the moat outside the city is two or three meters deep, and there are nine large and small city gates. The snake mountain in the city runs through it, overlooking the whole city from a high position. The north of the city is bordered by the Yangtze River, with Sand Lake in the east, Hongshan Mountain in the south, and South Lake in the west. The outskirts of the city are flat all around. The terrain is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack. In addition, Liu Yuchun tried his best to prepare for a decisive battle with the Northern Expeditionary Army, and transported all the troops and military equipment that could be mobilized to the surrounding cities and battlements, and it was indeed even more difficult for the Northern Expeditionary Army to break through the city. In addition, Wu Peifu sat in the "General Headquarters of the Allied Forces" in Hankou, and attached to Gao Rutong's division to defend it, and transferred the second division of Liu Zuolong's division to guard Hanyang, forming a situation of standing across the river with Wuchang; Wu Peifu hurriedly contacted Sun Chuanfang's troops to send troops to Hunan and Hubei, in a vain attempt to cut off the rear route of the Northern Expeditionary Army. Therefore, Liu Yuchun was determined to swear to live and die with Wuchang City, in order to repay Wu Peifu for his "great kindness".

The autumn rain in Wuhan in September was falling, and a gust of wind blew, which was quite cool.

After the Fourth Army of the Northern Expeditionary Army captured Hesheng Bridge, it rested for a while and immediately approached the outskirts of Wuchang.

Ye Ting's independent regiment occupied a sparse farmhouse hundreds of meters away from the city in the area of Wuchang Tongxiangmen.

The Northern Expeditionary Army arrived in Wuchang with the Fourth Army, the Seventh Army and the Second Division of the First Army.

Tang Shengzhi served as the siege commander, and Chen Keyu served as the deputy commander.

The siege headquarters decided: Taking advantage of Wu Peifu's retreat to Wuchang, the 10th Division of the Fourth Army, the 1st Division of the 7th Army and the 2nd Division of the 1st Army immediately launched an attack on Wuchang City.

The troops besieging the city knew that the breakthrough of Wuchang City might be the last battle to completely defeat Wu Peifu, and the first attack on Wuchang City was a special merit in the Northern Expedition. Therefore, all of them behaved very heroically.

However, because the city of Wuchang was too high, the enemy's firepower was too fierce, and the besieging troops lacked material preparations, they did not even have the least ladder to climb the city, so they were forced to retreat after suffering heavy casualties.

Haste makes waste.

The next day, Li Zongren was appointed commander-in-chief of the siege, and Chen Keyu was appointed deputy commander-in-chief. It was decided to take the city a second time.

In this siege, in view of the reasons for the failure of the first siege, it was decided that each regiment responsible for the siege selected three or four hundred stout officers and soldiers to form a brave team (that is, a death squad), carrying long ladders and ropes to climb the city wall, as well as short weapons such as pistols and hand **, and fought hard to kill the city, and the rest of the siege team followed the attack and took Wuchang City in one fell swoop. In order to achieve each breakthrough, the siege area was clearly divided: the Fourth Army and the Second Division of the First Army attacked the south gate and east gate area of the line from Tongxiang Gate to Wusheng Gate, and the Seventh Army attacked the west gate area of the line from Zhonghe Gate to Wangshan Gate. The siege areas of each division and regiment were clearly delineated.

Ye Ting's Independent Regiment attacked Tongxiangmen.

"In the first siege of the city, our independent regiment served as a reserve and did not engage the enemy. In this siege, the command ordered each regiment to disrupt the formation and form a brave team, what should our regiment do? Ye Ting solicited everyone's opinions at the expanded party branch officer meeting. He knows that whoever joins the Brave Team means sacrifice!

"In my opinion, every battalion of our regiment is a sharp knife, and the officers and men are brave and dare to fight tough battles, so there is no need to disrupt the structure." Cao Yuan, commander of the 1st Battalion, was the first to express his opinion.

"I agree with Cao Yuan." Xu Jishen, commander of the second battalion, immediately expressed his support. But after he finished speaking, he paused slightly, and immediately said, "Regiment commander, this brave team is served by our second battalion, right?" We promise to get the job done! ”

"No, no!" Cao Yuan, the commander of the first battalion, was anxious after hearing this, and stood up, "Regiment commander, the second battalion has always served as an avant-garde mission in the attack on Tingsi Bridge and Hesheng Bridge, and the casualties and attrition are more than that of our first battalion, and this time it is also the turn of our first battalion to take on an avant-garde mission." Camp Commander Xu, you said that you want to settle down, is that reasonable? His words are soft and hard, making it difficult to refute.

"No, it's still our second battalion." Although Xu Jishen, the commander of the second battalion, was very resolute, he lacked a reason to match Cao Yuan.

"You two battalion commanders don't fight. Whoever is a brave team is ready to sacrifice his life for the revolution, and his character is a model for others, and it is deeply moving! Ye Ting looked at his two venerable battalion commanders emotionally, and after finishing speaking, he blinked his sour eyes, "I think the reason that Battalion Commander Cao said about striving to be the pioneer of the siege is very sufficient, so let the first battalion take the responsibility." Ye Ting said that he hit a ton here, "However, Comrade Cao Yuan, after going back, we must do a good job of political work for the comrades in the whole battalion, so that the comrades are fully ideologically prepared, pay everything for the preparation of the revolution, and play the military prestige of our communist independent regiment!" ”

"Yes!" Cao Yuan saluted Ye Ting and the battalion captains present, and his passionate demeanor could only be shown from the soldiers who looked at death as home.

Cao Yuan, who had won over the task of being the pioneer of the siege of the independent regiment, returned to Hongshan Xiannongtan, where the first battalion was stationed, and immediately held a meeting of the company and platoon cadres, conveyed the decision of the branch and Ye Ting's requirements, and told everyone to do a good job in political mobilization row by row and shift by class, and to fully prepare the ideological and equipment for the siege. I'm the battalion commander, don't fight, I'll be the first to attack! ”

"Hey, battalion commander, this is not going to work! No matter how clear the siege means are, you can't do without command! You are the commander of a battalion, you go up first, what do you want us to do as company commanders? Several company commanders shouted in unison.

"That's right, people don't go without heads, birds don't fly without heads, you say that the battalion commander can't go first, then you are also the commander of a company! You go up first, and you want us platoon commanders to eat dry rice! Right?! "Several platoon commanders were louder than the company commanders.

"Don't fight anymore, there is always a priority in everything, no matter who is the first or the second to rush, you have to rush anyway. I've written all the letters here, and I don't believe you, I'm the first to rush it. It's not going to change. Battalion commander, believe it or not. "It was the commander of the third company who was not tall but very capable, and the Communist Party member was superb.

"How?" Cao Yuan took the letter handed over by Gao Chao and looked at it, and sure enough, it was written by Gao Chao to his wife. In the letter, he said that our family was in the city of Wuchang, and that he had been bullied by the warlords, and that since he had come to Guangdong to engage in revolutionary work, especially since he became the defender of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, he had the ambition to dedicate himself to the revolution at any time. This attack on Wuchang was the National Revolutionary Army's attempt to defeat Wu Peifu and rescue the suffering people in the city, he was likely to die in the siege, this sacrifice was worth it, I hope his wife will not be too sad, and she will take care of her health. In the letter, he also said that he would entrust his comrades to hand over the few dozen yuan and a few pieces of clothing along with the letter to her as a souvenir.

"Third Company Commander, my good comrade!" Cao Yuan stepped forward excitedly and shook Gao Chao's hand, his eyes full of tears. He was extremely proud and excited to have such outstanding Communist Party members and military cadres.

After reading the superb family letter, the other company and platoon cadres no longer fought over who would be the first to climb the city, their noses fluttered, and they left silently.

However, an hour later, several company platoon commanders took dozens of letters from their families that looked like the commanders of the third company and handed them over to Cao Yuan.

"Okay, take it all, take it all." Cao Yuan clenched his teeth and helped his bones, forcibly restraining himself from bursting into tears due to being too excited.

The boy has tears and doesn't flick. Moreover, when he was in his prime.

However, when Cao Yuan handed over the letter written by the officers and soldiers of the battalion to Ye Ting, the tough guy Ye Ting was also so excited that his lips trembled again and again.

As a commander, what could be more touching and proud than seeing that his subordinates were willing to sacrifice their blood for the revolution?

Ye Ting immediately handed over the letters from the officers and men of the First Battalion to Chen Keyu, deputy commander of the Fourth Army, and Liao Qianwu, a party representative.

Chen Keyu and Liao Qianwu praised the generosity and sorrow of the officers and men of the Independent Regiment.

The good story of the independent regiment's "leaving a book to attack the city" immediately spread among friendly troops and the local people.

Someone praised it like this: "The ancients carried the coffin out of the battle, and today people leave books to attack the city." The revolutionary army regards death as home, and is loyal and brave! ”

According to the specified date, the second attack began at dawn.

Cao Yuan's brave team, without an order to "advance", nor a word of "keep up" urging, the three companies marched together, divided into left, center and right, and quickly arrived at the boarding area of Tongxiang Gate.

Although it was dawn, it was still dark outside the city, but the lights at the head of the city were bright, and the city was as bright as day.

As soon as Cao Yuan's brave team approached the moat, they were discovered by the enemy troops guarding the city day and night, and the bullets of locusts' rifles and machine guns immediately whizzed towards the brave team.

At first, a few soldiers fell, and gradually a dozen soldiers and two platoon commanders also fell, some with blood flowing from their chests, and some with flowers on their legs, but in addition to being unconscious, they all crawled forward and rushed forward. Although the water in the moat is neckless deep and they will drown if they climb any further, they would rather crawl into the moat and die than stay where they are.

Originally, Ye Ting led the officers and soldiers of other battalions to shoot fiercely at the head of the city from a distance to cover Cao Yuan's brave team. Unexpectedly, the enemy troops defending the city set up a number of mountain guns and field artillery on the high ground such as Guishan, Snake Mountain, and Chuwangtai, plus the artillery on the enemy ships in the Yangtze River, and bombarded the troops outside the city who could respond to the siege. In order to reduce the casualties of the troops, Ye Ting hurriedly transferred the response troops.

Although Cao Yuan's brave team lost the support of the follow-up troops, they still reached the foot of the city wall with a ladder in hand. Suddenly, more than a dozen ladders made of bamboo poles as high as two feet high stood on the wall. The officers and soldiers climbed up, and it can be said that everyone was brave, all of them rushed to be the first, and when one fell, everyone rushed up. Among the officers and men who climbed up, the commander of the third company was Gao Chao, who was at the forefront of the ladder.

However, the enemy was not only condescending, but also threatened by the shining broadswords of the overseers behind them, and the bullets and hands poured down, and the athletes of the independent regiment on the ladder were hit one by one and fell down.

The brave and mighty man probably climbed too quickly and leaped to the battlements, but unfortunately, just as he was about to fly to the city wall, several red guns of the enemy were aimed at him at the same time, and the unrewarded Communist Gao Chao immediately gave his young life for the revolution.

"Avenge the company commander, rush ——!" When the officers and men of the second company saw the heroic sacrifice of their company commander, everyone was so angry that they gritted their teeth and rattled their teeth, and rushed up desperately under the silent order issued by Gao with great dedication.

The ladders are trembling, the warriors are flying, the roar will shake the universe, the fire will burn the sky red, the blood will burn the earth, the six platoon commanders of the second company, except for one person who was seriously injured, the remaining five people all donated their lives; As for the soldiers, it is even more difficult to describe the heroic sacrifices.

After several hours of bloody struggle, Cao Yuan counted the number of people in the whole battalion, and it was still less than a full platoon.

Seeing the lovely comrades who used to get along day and night die at the hands of the enemy, Cao Yuan took out a pen and wrote a short letter to Ye Ting in grief and anger: "The status quo is critical, but the revolutionary army has advanced and retreated. I vow to lead my lovely comrades to accomplish the task of erecting the blue sky and white sun flag on the city......" He finally signed his name, ordered the orderlies to quickly find the regiment headquarters and handed it to Ye Ting, jumped on the ladder, and despite being shot several times, he still insisted on holding the battlements with both hands, shouting "Long live the revolutionary army", and the blood all over his body stained the head of Wuchang City.

Ye Ting read the letter sent by Cao Yuan's orderlies, and immediately understood their situation, and immediately organized a team to skillfully carry the bodies of Cao Yuan and other martyrs to safety.

The entire Second Siege of the Northern Expeditionary Army was thus lost.

At this point, in view of the reality of the first two sieges, the Northern Expeditionary Army decided to change the siege to a siege. For a time, the head of Wuchang City took refuge in peace.

"You can't attack from above, can you attack from below?" Ye Ting, who was enraged by the death of Cao Yuan and other martyrs, couldn't wait to immediately set foot on Wuchang City to avenge his comrades. In the more than ten days after the siege stopped, the food was unpleasant, the night was sleepless, and he meditated to find a plan to break the city. He, a top student of the engineering department of the Baoding Military Academy in the past, had long thought of digging a tunnel leading to the city, sending troops into the city secretly, and then working together to pay tribute to the martyrs with the blood of the enemy chieftain.

Ye Ting, who was paying attention to the terrain outside the city, suddenly learned that there was an ironclad car at Xujiapeng Station in the northeast of the city, and he didn't know if he could still drive it.

"Let's go, let's go!" Ye Ting was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately brought the escort to Xujiapeng Station. After some inspection, he found that the armored car was only slightly damaged, and with a little refurbishment, it was still usable.

Ye Ting immediately informed the military department of his idea and received the support of the Hubei District Committee of the Communist Party of China. They immediately organized a part of the railway workers, risked the shelling of the enemy, repaired a section of the railway destroyed by artillery fire, and then pulled out the ironclad cars under the cover of the separate regiment.

Then, the officers and men of the Independent Regiment built the ironclad car into a movable fortress that could be shot, and covered the armed operation team composed of a group of advanced workers drawn from the Anyuan Coal Mine and began to dig tunnels at the location not far from Tongxiangmen selected by Ye Ting.

On the day of the start of the operation, Ye Ting insisted on going to the scene to command.

"Regiment commander, there are heavy enemy troops ambushed in the city, it is too dangerous for you to go!" Xie Xuanqu, the new commander of the special brigade of the Independent Regiment, who served as the commander-in-chief of the operation, tried to dissuade him.

"The workers are not afraid, the soldiers are not afraid, what am I afraid of?" Ye Ting's eyes widened, he roared at Xie Xuanqu, and jumped onto the ironclad car of the active fortress. He believes that in battle, the odd and the dangerous are always linked. Wise and brave generals should wade into danger in the midst of surprise, surprise in danger, turn danger into relief, and change the situation. Therefore, he came to the work position without fear of danger, and after directing the workers to start breaking ground, he took the locomotive back to the regimental headquarters.

The excavation of the pit is progressing rapidly. Although there was interference from the enemy from time to time, because the intention of digging the tunnel was not discovered by the enemy, although there were few casualties among the workers, it was generally safe and smooth.

Ye Ting's initiative immediately spread among several friendly troops who were responsible for the siege. They followed suit and began to dig tunnels in secluded places away from the city gates.

However, as the saying goes, "there is no such thing as an impermeable wall". What's more, there were intelligence agents of the American and British imperialist invading forces who were the backstage bosses of the Beiyang warlords lurking in Wuchang, and they immediately told Wu Peifu and Liu Yuchun, the commander-in-chief of the Wuchang Expeditionary Army, that they had found the news of the Northern Expeditionary Army's excavation of the tunnels, and gave Liu Yuchun advice, telling him to send troops to raid the tunnel operation team and blow up the excavation equipment to stop the Northern Expeditionary Army's new measures to attack the city.

Liu Yuchun hurriedly used a heavy reward to form a "death squad" of 3,000 people, opened the Tongxiang Gate, and raided the tunnel operation team.

Although the special brigade of the independent regiment, which served as the escort operation team, fought back, due to the huge disparity between the enemy and us, it had to withdraw from the operation site on the premise of protecting the safety of the construction workers. Upon hearing the news, Ye Ting led the officers and men of the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Independent Regiment to snipe at the enemy, and the troops of the 12th Division took the initiative to support them, killing and capturing hundreds of Liu Yuchun's "death squads," but the operation site of the tunnel was destroyed in one fell swoop.

Just as Ye Ting was about to organize forces to re-select the location to dig the pit and ditch, the defenders in Wuchang City were divided internally.

Wu Junqing, the commander of the third division of Liu Yuchun, the commander-in-chief of the city, saw that the defenders in the city were in panic, Wuchang City was besieged by the Northern Expeditionary Army like an iron bucket, and there was no hope of breaking out of the city, and the people in the city were hungry and cold, so he was dissatisfied with Liu Yuchun's stubborn resistance, feeling that he was too ignorant of current affairs, too disregarding the suffering of the common people, holding on to Wu Peifu's thick legs, and desperately working for Wu Peifu, who had slipped from Hankou to Henan, so that he did not cry when he saw the coffin. Therefore, he privately sent his chief of staff to mingle with the starving people allowed by the Northern Expeditionary Army to leave the city, to contact the Fourth Army alone, express the intention of the Third Division to surrender, and secretly agreed to open the three gates of Baoan, Zhonghe, and Tongxiang under the jurisdiction of the Third Division on a certain day, and receive the Fourth Army into the city.

The Independent Regiment was responsible for waiting for the 3rd Division to break through the Tongxiang Gate after opening the city gate, and interspersed attacks with the troops of the 10th and 12th Divisions to eliminate the enemy resisted by Liu Yuchun in the city.

The sky was just dawning, and there was still silence in Wuchang City. The humid air seemed to be drizzling, and the breeze blew on their faces, making the faces of the officers and men who were waiting for the battle steam. At this time, the third division opened the three gates on time.

The officers and men of the Independent Regiment were like sharp arrows that whizzed straight at the enemy's artillery battery on Snake Mountain, which was located in the center of Wuchang City.

This is Ye Ting's astuteness.

This is Ye Ting's strategy.

The enemy defending troops had to resist, and the enemy batteries on Snake Hill could pose the greatest constraint and threat to the attacking Fourth Army. It can overlook every corner of the city, and can support every part of the enemy's battle, and at the same time, it can also bombard every part of the Northern Expeditionary Army. If the Snake Mountain Fort is taken down, the initiative that restricts the overall situation of the battle in the city will be turned into us.

It's a brilliant move.

However, when Ye Ting led the independent regiment to approach the enemy battery position in Snake Mountain, the enemy frantically sniped at me with strong fortifications.

"The heavy machine gun company is all aimed at the enemy battery and hits hard!" Ye Ting seemed to vent all his anger for avenging Cao Yuan and other martyrs on the blow to the enemy's fort. He roared loudly, and the bruised tendons on his forehead and his fiery gaze resembled that of an angry lion.

Suddenly, I saw that the enemy fort on Snake Mountain was densely covered by intertwined tracer bullets, like a fire burning, burning, and showing the power of fire.

When the defenders in the city saw that the Snake Mountain Fort was occupied, they immediately became depressed, stopped resisting, and surrendered.

Liu Yuchun, the commander-in-chief of Wu Peifu's defense of the city, mixed in with the refugees who poured out of the city and tried to escape, but was captured by the Northern Expeditionary Army.

Since Hanyang and Hankou had been conquered by other Northern Expeditionary Forces, so far, Wu Peifu's old nest, the three towns of Wuhan, were all occupied by the Northern Expeditionary Army.

Ye Ting will "drink the Yangtze River"!

The iron-blooded man of the independent regiment plays the first role!