Chapter 46: Stormy Weather
The dark sky was shrouded in layers of dark clouds, with black clouds one after another. The scorching sun that had been present every day had long since disappeared without a trace, but it left behind a sultry weather to prove that the old man Sun still existed. The mountainous terrain of the southwest was lush with green trees everywhere, and the flying birds and beasts that should have existed were nowhere to be seen at this time, leaving behind a vast and desolate land that made humans feel lonely and isolated.
"As soon as the battle starts, you must take out the enemy's firepower with the fastest speed! You are carefully trained snipers, this is a task that you must complete."
Inside the green field tent, the company commander gathered all ten snipers from his own company and the reinforcement sniper. He knew that in Yunnan Province, where mountains and forests were dense and ravines crisscrossed, the artillery firepower of the People's Army could not be fully utilized, but snipers could provide accurate firepower strikes at any time and place, with a great advantage in eliminating enemy officers and firepower points.
"Our troops entered Yunnan with light equipment, and the troops often could not get effective firepower support. We relied solely on our own firepower to attack, but the intensity was limited. When should we play out our precise advantages? You know better than me!"
One division has no more than 10,000 people, while Tang Jiyao's troops have nearly 40,000 people. In the history of war, it is not unprecedented to fight with a ratio of one against four, but for the First Division of the People's Army, this is still the first time. Of course, the First Division is not afraid of anything, but due to the poor transportation conditions in Yunnan and the strange weather at the end of summer and early autumn, it is difficult for the People's Army to play its due advantages.
The mountains are high and the forests are dense, with poor roads. The First Division had to abandon motorized marching and switch to foot marching towards Kunming. As a result, all heavy artillery were left at the starting point, except for carrying more mortars and several emergency 75mm field guns. The Liuzhou side also sent many top-notch snipers to assist in the battle. By then, Ma's troops had already transformed into a pure mountain infantry division.
For this reason, each of the grassroots tactical troops must have received some reinforcement, especially at the company level, which is more likely to be the main tactical unit in the war. However, considering the strength of their opponents, they only received reinforcements with one mortar and a designated sniper.
Three infantry platoons, each consisting of twelve soldiers including a squad leader and deputy squad leader, were armed with Type 81 semi-automatic rifles, four fragmentation hand grenades, and four magazines containing 100 rounds of ammunition. Five members of each platoon, including the squad leaders, also carried Type 81 pistols. The sniper in each platoon was equipped with a semi-automatic sniper rifle and a pistol.
Equipped with a firepower platoon, carrying two machine gun squads and one mortar squad. A machine gun squad is equipped with three machine guns, each with a main and deputy shooter, the deputy shooter carries most of the ammunition and important parts of the machine gun, such as a spare barrel. A mortar squad has twelve people with three 60mm mortars, the squad leader and deputy squad leader and one special soldier serve as the mortar commander. Thus, the firepower platoon has a total of 24 people.
Adding the 10-man cooking class, the six-person company department, that is, a regular company of 148 people, plus a sniper sent by special appointment and a temporary soldier who came to serve as the artillery commander, just enough for 150 people, slightly enhanced infantry combat power is strong enough, of course, from their growth, it can be seen that the autonomous region has indeed made sufficient efforts and invested enough capital for this opportunity.
On September 13, 1917, Duan Qirui's trusted aide Fu Liangzuo led the Beiyang Army to Xiang, and immediately ordered the removal of Liu Jianfan, the original Tongmenghui member and commander of Lingling, and Lin Xiuyi, the commander of the Hunan army stationed in Hengyang. On the 18th, Liu and Lin jointly issued a telegram announcing their "independence" and joining the Guangdong military government.
The Guangdong military government regarded the change of Hunan governor as a signal for the Northern Warlords to march into southwestern Guangdong. On October 3, Sun Yat-sen formally ordered the suppression of Duan Qirui and other Republican rebels. The Hunan Provincial Protection Army formed the Southern Hunan General Command with Chen Mingshu as its head, and after receiving large amounts of material assistance from the autonomous region, the troops of the three armies that had just been expanded set out for Changsha.
At the same time, Duan Qirui also issued an order to the Beiyang Army to attack Hunan. Fu Liangzuo appointed Wang Ruxian, commander of the 8th Division, as commander-in-chief of southern Hunan and Fan Guozhang, commander of the 20th Division, as deputy commander-in-chief, dividing his forces into three routes to attack southern Hunan. In fact, before both sides declared war, there had already been clashes between them. In late September, the Beiyang Army encountered the Protect-the-Constitution Army at Qilidian in Hengshan County, resulting in most of the Beiyang Army soldiers responding to the Protect-the-Constitution Army's call and defecting. The first clash between the two armies ended with a complete victory for the Protect-the-Constitution Army, but it cannot be said that this battle marked the start of hostilities or the outbreak of war, as the Beiyang Army had surrendered voluntarily and could not be considered to have engaged in formal combat or fighting.
However, this "accident" gave the Protection Army a certain strategic advantage. As a result, the Protection Army successively entered Hunan, and its commander-in-chief Cheng Qian, Tan Haoming and others all wanted to command the main force of the Xiang-Yue Protection Alliance Army to fight a decisive battle with the Beiyang Army.
On October 8, 1917, the People's Army clashed with Tang Jiyao's Yunnan Army in Malizhai, Yunnan Province. The Yunnan Army was quickly defeated due to its outdated equipment and lack of machine guns, losing ground and retreating within two hours. Almost simultaneously, the Second Division also engaged in fierce combat with Liu Xianshi's troops in Dushan, Guizhou Province. The outcome of the battle was never in doubt. However, the Third Division stationed in Yongzhou remained inactive. War clouds were gathering over Hunan Province, but before the conflict between the Protection Army and the Beiyang Army began, the People's Army would not take any action.
The powerful offensive displayed by the People's Army and the Law Enforcement Army completely stunned Duan Qirui, who was wondering who was on the offensive and who was suppressing the rebellion. In order to reverse this trend, under the manipulation of Duan Qirui and his trusted aide Xu Shuzheng, representatives of thirteen provinces' military governors held two consecutive Tianjin conferences, strongly demanding that Feng Guozhang, who had already been in a state of divided loyalty, attack the People's Army and the Guangdong Military Government.
The largest melee of the warlord war broke out prematurely under Duan Qirui's crazy stimulation. In November, Tang Jiyao personally commanded his main army to launch a pre-emptive attack on the First Division, while Liu Xianshi was also stimulated and launched an attack on the Second Division with less than 20,000 troops.
This is not the case, at the end of October, Mo Rongyu, the guardian of Chaozhou Town in Guangdong Province, declared independence under the teachings of Duan Qirui and opposed the protection of the law to support the Beiyang government. The Chaozhou Army and Pingchao Army of the Guangzhou Revolutionary Government immediately launched a campaign against Mo Rongyu's forces and quickly captured Shantou and Wuhua in Guangdong Province. Li Houji, the governor of Fujian Province, sent Zang Zhiming, the guardian of Tingchang Town, to lead his troops to support Mo Rongyu. The Guangzhou Military Government ordered Chen Jiongming, the commander-in-chief of the Fujian-Guangdong Support Army, to immediately lead his troops into Fujian for battle.
But the worst situation was that Long Jiguang, who did not gain enough status in the Beiyang Army, stopped his troops from advancing and quickly retreated back to Guangzhou after receiving some benefits from Duan Qirui, disregarding the orders of the commander-in-chief of the Beiyang Army, Cheng Biguang, and the Grand Marshal of the Military Government, Sun Yat-sen.
At the critical moment, the Fifth Division of the People's Army had to rush from Wuzhou to Zhaoqing to prepare for Long Jiguang's rebellion at any time. The Fourth Division stationed in Hainan also entered a third-level combat readiness state, ready to cross the sea and attack Guangzhou at any time. Faced with this situation, Long Jiguang's troops quickly stopped their advance, claiming that they needed to open up military funds and equipment, otherwise they would not move forward, let alone go out to support the Constitutional Protection Army, which was about to fight against Duan Qirui in Hunan Province.
Duan Qirui took advantage of Long Jiguang's performance and quickly withdrew a large number of Hubei military forces from the Hunan border. While the Guangdong Military Government was still negotiating with Long Jiguang, he seized this rare opportunity. On November 3rd, Duan Qirui ordered the Third Division led by Wu Peifu, the Eleventh Division led by Li Kuiyuan and other units to launch an attack on the Hubei military forces of Shi Xingchuan and Li Tiancai in the Jingzhou-Xiangyang area. The Hubei military was isolated and unsupported, and they successively suffered defeats.
At the end of the year, Acting President and Beiyang leader Feng Guozhang, under pressure from Duan Qirui and others, ordered the commanders of the First and Second Routes of the Hunan Relief Army, Cao Kun and Zhang Huizhi, to lead their troops to attack Hunan again. Subsequently, Wu Peifu's troops counterattacked towards Yueyang, occupying the place at the beginning of 1918. The Constitutional Protection Army was forced to retreat southward. However, Feng Guozhang, who had been repeatedly pressured by others, was already very angry and his desire for peace grew stronger. Moreover, the Constitutional Protection Army, which had suffered consecutive defeats, was in a very dangerous situation, but Long Jiguang hesitated and did not respond to send troops to support the front line.
At the critical moment, the Third Division of the People's Army marched to Qidong, Hunan Province, showing a gesture of supporting Cheng Qian. However, at the critical moment, it was still up to the Protection Army itself to turn the situation around. Cheng Qian and other commanders of the Allied Forces decided to appoint Zhao Hengyi as the commander-in-chief of the Xiangdong front line, leading a force to block the enemy in Hengyang, while concentrating their main forces to annihilate Shi's division.
Soon, Zhao's troops secretly arrived at Xiashui City and Qingshan Chong area in the northeast of Hengyang, and formed a siege against Shi's troops on the next day. After two days of fierce fighting, the Beiyang Army suffered heavy casualties under the strong firepower attack of the Protection Law Army, and the remaining forces fled to Chaling. The Protection Law Army took advantage of the victory to pursue and attack, and captured Liling and other places in mid-January.
Zhang Jingyao and Wu Peifu each dispatched a division of troops to reinforce. The exhausted soldiers of the Constitutional Protection League army suffered consecutive defeats, constantly retreating, until the Third Division of the People's Army finally launched its own military action. With reinforcements from the Constitutional Protection League army, they counterattacked in Hengyang, inflicting heavy casualties on the Beiyang Army, which suffered a series of major defeats.
At this time, Long Jiguang was finally persuaded, and his army of more than 20,000 people slowly started to move. Under the command of Mo Rongxin, the governor of Guangdong, the rebels in Swatow were quickly cleared out, but Chen Jiongming's troops were reluctant to set out for Jiangxi and Fujian, although they were not defeated by Duan Qirui, it was clear that he knew something.
When the fierce battle was raging within Hunan, discordant voices emerged from the Beiyang government. The reason is simple: the defeat of the Beiyang army in Hunan was like a spark that quickly ignited the powder keg of discord between the Zhili and Anhui factions, further intensifying the traditional contradictions between the two factions. This time, what was ignited was precisely the package of explosives that had been piled up in Feng Guozhang's heart for a long time.
Direct leader, acting president Feng Guozhang, has been competing with Anhui faction leader Duan Qirui for the orthodox position of the Beiyang clique and the central power of the Beijing government. After the outbreak of the War for Protection of the Constitution, Feng attempted to use the forces of the protection of the constitution to weaken the Anhui faction, and after achieving his goal, he secretly advocated for peace. Duan Qirui was different, however; being eager for quick success and gain, he needed to thoroughly eliminate Guangdong and Guangxi, two places that were most disobedient to control.
So, Feng Guozhang was deeply dissatisfied with the Anhui clique's deployment of using the Beiyang Army as the vanguard. Therefore, Wang Ruxian and Feng Guozhang, the two generals on the front line, stopped fighting and withdrew their troops without authorization, disrupting the Anhui clique's strategic deployment to seize Hunan. But wasn't it that the Beiyang Army retreated only after suffering heavy losses? When did this become considered an unauthorized withdrawal?
At this time, Tang Jiyao and Liu Xianshi's troops were taken down by two divisions of the People's Army like cutting vegetables, so it was called a takeover. The implication is that the war did not result in many casualties. Under the arrangement and incitement of underground organizations, many surrendered voluntarily, while their leaders were killed. Before the contradictions within Beijing city had dissipated, the First Division and Second Division had already occupied Kunming and Guiyang respectively.
After the main cities of the two provinces were captured, the political work teams and people's militia reserve units that followed up quickly replaced the First Division and Second Division. As soon as the military control was lifted, it was announced that the two provinces would be independent from Beijing's jurisdiction and enter the People's Autonomous Region government system. At the same time, the First Division departed from Kunming and advanced to Sichuan through Yunnan Shuotong and Sichuan Yibin, while the Second Division also left Guiyang and marched towards Chongqing, an important city along the Yangtze River.
Even if the two southwestern provinces, including Sichuan, were lost, it would not have made Duan Qirui angry. What could make him furious was Feng Guozhang's aggressive behavior in Beijing's political circle, especially when he learned that Feng Guozhang had secretly suggested to Wang Zhaoyuan, Chen Guangyuan and Li Chun to issue a joint telegram, advocating for the cessation of hostilities between the north and south and a peaceful resolution to the north-south issue. This major event was not even known to Duan Qirui as the Premier, which almost made him so angry that he wanted to resign from his position.
January 28, 1918, when the First Division and part of the Second Division officially took Chengdu, and the remaining forces of the Second Division firmly controlled Chongqing, the Hufa Army within Hunan Province clashed with the Beiyang Army on a large scale again. This time, Long Jiguang performed exceptionally well, and the strong participation of the Shengli Army gave him the strength to make trouble. The Beiyang Army was quickly driven out of Hunan and retreated to Hubei.
This event soon made the Beijing side thoroughly "compromise", Duan Qirui could not withstand the pressure and finally resigned as Premier, while Feng Guozhang went further, Duan Qirui had just left and appointed Wang Shizhen as Premier. Of course, Duan Qirui's departure marked the downfall of his cabinet again, and the Zhili and Anhui factions formally split openly.
On February 3, Feng Guozhang issued a ceasefire order for the north and south, hoping that both sides would sit down to negotiate and discuss solutions rather than resorting to armed conflict.
After the ceasefire order was issued, it quickly made the hard-won and harmonious protection camp lively, with many different reactions inside immediately. Sun Yat-sen, who had no troops or power, remained resolute and insisted on continuing to protect the law, while the military leaders of the protection army who held actual military power at the front line had different views. In the era of warlord separatism, which commander did not have a private heart? Among them, the most extreme was Long Jiguang, and he did not stop his offensive pace.
After the ceasefire order was issued, Long Jiguang's troops were still fighting, but surprisingly, his direction of attack changed to Chen Yuanliang's unit in Jiangxi, and he attacked Wuhan directly from Changsha. Almost at the same time, Chen Jiongming, who had been dormant in the southeastern part of Guangdong, also sent troops to Fuzhou, Fujian.
Their moves were just like the People's Army, with the First and Second Divisions of the People's Army each dispatching a certain number of troops to "support" the Protection Army within Shaanxi Province. If it weren't for the Qinling Mountains blocking their path and greatly reducing the speed of their march, they would have likely taken down the ancient capital of Xi'an before the ceasefire between north and south had even begun. Moreover, after the Second Division took down the important port city of Chongqing on the Yangtze River, the autonomous region's steamships could travel upstream, providing them with a steady supply of materials through massive water transport capabilities.
On February 27, Cheng Qian, in the name of the commander-in-chief of the Hunan-Guangdong Allied Army, issued a public notice responding to Feng Guozhang's ceasefire order, ordering the Protection Army to cease fire immediately and start "reorganizing" troops. It was clear that he was satisfied with controlling Hunan, a super grain-producing area. Guangdong Governor Mo Rongxin originally did not like having several brigades stationed on his own turf. After the 5th Division of the autonomous region withdrew back to Wuzhou, only his troops were left within Guangdong's borders, so he soon declared a corresponding ceasefire order as well.
On March 1, Beijing received responses from the People's Army and Long Jiguang and Chen Jiongming. The People's Army had gained control of Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou provinces, making it the biggest beneficiary. Although the land was poor and barren, the autonomous region's acceptance of the ceasefire order was also significant. Long Jiguang occupied Jiangxi, while Chen Jiongming took Fujian, each having gained something before expressing support for the ceasefire order.
For the various factions of the Beiyang Army, they had always been at the forefront of the battlefield, and their casualties were all their own brothers. The losses were all their own strength, and they were also called upon by Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang. They no longer wanted to cut their own clothes to make wedding dresses for others. The frontline warlords led by Wu Peifu soon also sent telegrams expressing their support for peace talks.
Such an ending can only make the staunch pro-legalization faction shake their heads and sigh, a grand-scale legalization war has turned into a scramble for territory, a struggle for democracy and legal dignity has turned into a crazy land grab and despicable population resources.
The failure to establish the law led to the emergence of more private warlords in China, which made Sun Yat-sen so angry that he resigned and left Guangzhou for Shanghai. As soon as Sun Yat-sen left, the Guangdong military government collapsed, and the politicians from the Political Study Group and the moderate faction of the Kuomintang began to show their true nature. After Sun Yat-sen's departure, the moderates of the Kuomintang came forward with a proposal to reorganize the military government in order to hold peace talks between the north and south, but Mo Rongxin soon showed them what it means to be a warlord, and everyone had to leave Guangzhou for Shanghai.
The warlords who were in cahoots with each other personally directed the entire course of this "war for justice", except that the masters of many areas in China changed, and nearly 100,000 people lost their lives. In essence, it was no different from the situation before the law enforcement. But while others may feel the same way, for the autonomous region, after expanding its territory, many things are not the same.
No matter what, a chaotic war is a chaotic mess. Even after a stormy rain, the sky will always show some good weather, and there must be many places where the clouds are cleared to see the sun!
