Chapter 51 Fifty, the king of the Northeast is ready to fight again

After experiencing the tragic defeat in the first Zhifeng War, Zhang Zuolin learned from the painful experience. He asked a calligrapher to inscribe four words on his folding fan: "Don't forget Wu Shame" to show Goujian's ambition.Afterwards, Zhang Zuolin began to think: his team was obviously strong and strong, how could this "Wu kid" be cleaned up in a few days?what's the problem? After thinking about it, Zhang Zuolin believes that the main reason for this failure is that the military personnel are too old, especially some senior generals, such as Zhang Jinghui, Wu Junsheng and others. Changing and alive, these old brothers did not receive formal military education when they were young. They were fine in small-scale wars, but on a large scale, their knowledge and ability could not keep up with the situation.

In contrast, those young and middle-aged generals who graduated from military academies performed outstandingly, even though they were defeated, such as Yang Yuting, Jiang Dengxuan, Guo Songling, and his own son Zhang Xueliang. Big loss.It seems that the back waves of the Yangtze River push the front waves, and the back waves die on the beach. As a result, Zhang Zuolin decided to carry out a major exchange of new and old generals. He transferred Feng Delin, Zhang Jinghui and other heavyweight old school officers to the Security Command to act as senior advisers. Give generous treatment.Afterwards, Zhang Zuolin eliminated soldiers in the army based on the principle of "not being more skilled than many", and then recruited a group of new recruits for training. The total number of soldiers was smaller than before, but their combat effectiveness was improved.

In addition, discipline rectification is also very important. For those who retreated on the battlefield, delayed the opportunity of the battle, or robbed and harmed the people, Zhang Zuolin would shoot them all after finding out. Was hit as a target.As for those generals who performed poorly and lacked ability, Zhang Zuolin also gave them dismissals, such as Ji Jinchun, the commander of the 28th Division, Zheng Diansheng, the commander of the Second Mixed Brigade, and Niu Yongfu, the commander of the Ninth Mixed Brigade. 1 division commanders, 13 brigade commanders, and 3 regimental commanders were dismissed.

After a period of reorganization, Fengjun has 3 divisions, 27 mixed brigades and 5 cavalry brigades. Below the brigade, the three-three system is adopted, that is, three regiments per brigade, three battalions per regiment, and three companies per battalion. Each company has 150 soldiers, with a total strength of 170,000.In order to improve Fengjun's three-dimensional combat capability, Zhang Zuolin established the Air Force in line with the trend of the times, and appointed Zhang Xueliang as the general office of the Aviation Department of the three eastern provinces.Fengjun's aircraft were mainly purchased from foreign countries, and most of the pilots were graduated from foreign aviation schools, which was far ahead of the warlords at the time.In the heyday of the Fengjun Air Force, the number of aircraft once reached nearly 300.

In the case of development in all aspects, Zhang Zuolin also pays attention to the cultivation of fist strength, which is the troops of Zhang Xueliang and Guo Songling who are mainly supported.Because the troops of Zhang and Guo performed well in the first Zhifeng War, Zhang Zuolin placed high hopes on these two new forces, hoping that they could become a model for the Fengjun. Equipment, treatment, etc. are much better than the brother troops, and they can be called the trump card army in the Feng army. Zhang Xueliang is the eldest son of Zhang Zuolin. He was born in 1901 and was only in his twenties at the time. However, due to the tradition of "I am a hero, my son is a hero", Zhang Xueliang was fascinated by it and joined the army very early.While studying in the Northeast Lecture Hall, Zhang Xueliang met Guo Songling, an instructor at the time, and the two hit it off immediately, and they became brothers with different surnames in private.

In 1920, after Zhang Xueliang graduated from the Northeast Lecture Hall, he immediately transferred Guo Songling as the chief of staff and head of his guard brigade. Commander of the Eighth Brigade.Since Zhang Xueliang was busy with other affairs at the time, Guo Songling was also responsible for the daily training and other work of the third brigade, that is, Guo Songling actually commanded two brigades.Later facts proved that these two brigades played an important role in the war. After the first Zhifeng War, due to the heavy losses of the third brigade and the eighth brigade, Zhang Zuolin reorganized them into the second and sixth brigades, with Zhang Xueliang and Guo Songling still serving as brigade commanders, and selected elite soldiers to supplement them. The two brigades, and the new firearms are also selected first by these two brigades.Under Zhang Zuolin's key training, Zhang Xueliang and Guo Songling's status in the Fengjun rapidly increased, and the troops they led became the most basic troops in the Fengjun.

When Zhang Zuolin was raising troops in the Northeast, Wu Peifu was not idle in the Central Plains.After the troops arrived in Luoyang, Wu Peifu got up before 6 o'clock every day and went to the playground to read exercises at 8 o'clock, rain or shine.It is commendable that Wu Peifu not only pays attention to military training, but also pays attention to the spiritual education of soldiers. Since he is a scholar and always likes to talk, he often calls soldiers to give speeches, such as "loyalty, filial piety, righteousness" and "see Lisi" Righteousness, see danger and accept orders" and so on, are often spoken, and then come.

Wu Peifu not only likes lectures, but also composes his own military songs, such as the most famous "Looking at Manchuria in the North" (Manjianghong tune), which is his impression when he was on a mission in the Northeast during the Russo-Japanese War. Soldiers love to sing: Although Wu Peifu's lyrics scolded the Japanese pirates, they actually pointed to Zhang Zuolin's Feng faction who colluded with Japan. Through this military song, Wu Peifu wanted the soldiers to always remember the courage and mission of "restoring the old mountains and rivers in World War I" .

Wu Peifu is indeed unique and extraordinary among warlords. For example, the faults of ordinary warlords, such as supporting soldiers and harming the people, greed, smoking opium, lustful women, gambling and drinking, and shameless, etc. Wu Peifu has never Sticking to these shows that his character and morality are high.In terms of running the army, Wu Peifu has strict discipline and hates evil like hatred, which is also rare in modern soldiers. In his spare time, Wu Peifu likes drinking and composing poems with the shogunate advisers, or riding a horse to test his sword, which is quite like an ancient Confucian general.As far as his behavior is concerned, he is actually somewhat similar to Duan Qirui, and he has the legacy of Zeng Guofan, the commander of the Hunan Army.It's a pity that because Wu Peifu has won many battles, he thinks that he uses soldiers like a god, so he inevitably develops a little arrogance and takes military force too seriously.Tai Shigong has a saying: If you want to conquer and manage the world with your strength, you will suffer a complete defeat and cannot be dealt with.In fact, although Wu Peifu opposed Duan Qirui, he still inherited the old Duan's mantle of "unification by force".Too much advocacy of force is the precept of Wu Peifu.

After Cao Kun became president, Wu Peifu took over as the patrol envoy of Zhiluyu and the two lakes. Shaanxi, two lakes, and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River all fell into the sphere of influence of the direct line.Time flies like an arrow, time flies, and in a blink of an eye, it will be the seventh day of the third month of the lunar calendar in 1924. This day is Wu Peifu's 50th birthday, and his subordinates and cronies will make a big fuss about Marshal Wu. On the day of his birthday, there were many guests who came to Luoyang to celebrate Wu Peifu’s birthday. The house was full of guests and celebrities from all walks of life reached thousands of people, including military and political chiefs or representatives of various provinces, garrison generals, etc., as well as representatives of Kang Youwei, Xu Qian and even the former Qing Regent Zaifeng. .In order to entertain these guests and entourages, the previously prepared guest house could no longer accommodate them, so the regiment headquarters and battalion headquarters of the army had to be vacated.On that day, all the soldiers were given a catty of pork and rewarded each, and they had a holiday to rest.

In the birthday hall of Jiguang Building (Qi Jiguang, a famous anti-Japanese general in the Ming Dynasty, was a fellow of Wu Peifu, so Wu Peifu named his office building after it), gifts from all over the country piled up like mountains, such as the white jade Ruyi sent by Zaifeng, which is extremely fine. It is as white as mutton fat; there is also Qiu Shizhou's famous painting "Bianluo Picture" sent by someone. Eight Hunan embroidered screens sent by Zhao Hengti, two famous Yili horses sent by Ma Fuxiang, etc. The most peculiar set of gifts was sent by Feng Yuxiang, which was a jar of clear water from Yuquan Mountain.Everyone was surprised when they saw Feng Yuxiang, and felt that Feng Yuxiang was too unkind and almost rude, but Wu Peifu laughed and said, "After all, Huanzhang is a caring person. He means that the friendship between the two of us is like water!" Among all the gifts, Kang Youwei's birthday couplet is Wu Peifu's favorite: Kang Youwei was a famous figure in the Reform Movement of 1898. The couplets written by him really added to the icing on the cake for Wu Peifu, who was in charge of the wind and rain at that time. It is said that after Wu Peifu saw this couplets, he bowed to Kang Youwei three times and said happily: "A reward from the emperor and the son of heaven." I don’t care much about it, but the two famous quotes given to me by Mr. Kang will be priceless treasures and will accompany me forever!” "One hundred years of fame and talent reach half, and wind and rain in all directions will meet Zhongzhou." These two sentences are probably not just Kang Youwei's compliment to Wu Peifu, but indeed a portrayal of Wu Peifu's heyday. When Wu Peifu's reputation was in full swing, even people in Europe and the United States were extremely optimistic about him, and believed that he would lead China out of the chaotic war and eventually move towards unification. On September 8, 1924, Wu Peifu appeared on the cover of Time Magazine in the United States. The note below the cover read: General Wu. A week later, on September 15, Zhang Zuolin called himself the Zhenwei Army and dispatched nearly 150,000 troops from the Sixth Route Army to the pass. The deployment was as follows: Jiang Dengxuan, commander of the first army, and Han Linchun, deputy commander, led the second and fifth divisions to attack Shanhaiguan, Jiumenkou line; Li Jinglin, commander of the Second Army, and Zhang Zongchang, deputy commander, led the first division, 23rd, 24th, and 26th brigades to advance to the Chaoyang, Lingyuan, and Lengkou lines on Rehebei Road; Zhang Xueliang, commander of the third army, and Guo Songling, deputy commander, led the fourth division, fifth, and nineteenth brigades to attack Shanhaiguan and Jiumenkou; Zhang Zuoxiang, commander of the fourth army, and Ding Chao, deputy commander, had 5 brigades under their jurisdiction as the general reserve in Jinzhou; Wu Junsheng, commander of the Fifth Army, Xu Lanzhou, commander of the Sixth Army, and Wu Guangxin, deputy commander, these two armies are mainly cavalry and are in charge of Rehebei Road. (Note: After the Zhiwan War, both Zhang Zongchang and Wu Guangxin of the Anhui Department joined Fengjun.) After Cao Kun learned of Fengjun's large-scale dispatch, he urgently telegraphed Wu Peifu to Beijing to discuss countermeasures.Wu Peifu also expected to fight Zhang Zuolin again sooner or later, but he didn't expect the old beard from outside the pass to come so soon.According to his estimation, it will take another two or three years for Feng Jun to recover. By then, his troops will be almost fully trained. Even if Old Beard doesn't come, he will go to pacify the Northeast. On the day when the Feng Faction army was dispatched, Cao Kun issued an order to crusade, and Wu Peifu ordered troops in Sizhaotang, Zhongnanhai. Wu claimed to be the commander-in-chief of the rebellion army. The army is divided into three groups, commander Peng Shouxin of the first route, deputy commander Feng Yurong, commander of the second route Wang Weicheng, deputy commander Ge Shuping, commander of the third route Dong Zhenguo, deputy commander Shi Quansheng, divided into the fifteenth division, the thirteenth mixed brigade, the twenty-third The Division, the Twelfth Mixed Brigade, the Ninth Division, and the Fourteenth Mixed Brigade confronted the Fengjun Zhang Xueliang's troops in the Shanhaiguan area; Wang Huaiqing, the commander of the Second Army, Mi Zhenbiao, the deputy commander, and Liu Fu, the former commander-in-chief of the enemy, led their troops in Chaoyang Confronted with Li Jinglin's Department of Fengjun; Feng Yuxiang, Commander of the Third Army, led his troops to fight against Wu Junsheng and Xu Lanzhou's Departments with Zhang Zhiguo and Li Mingzhong's Department in Chifeng.In addition, the commander-in-chief of the reinforcements was Zhang Fulai, and the reinforcements in the rear included more than a dozen troops, including Hu Jingyi and Jin Yun'e, who went north to support the war.The scale of the melee between the warlords is getting bigger and bigger. Later, Feng Yuxiang mentioned the famous "Sizhaotang Soldier" in his memoirs, but he described it with a very contemptuous attitude: "Sizhaotang is surrounded by glass windows on all sides, and the electric lights are as bright as day. The table was crowded with more than 60 people. After sitting for a long time, they heard someone report loudly: "The commander-in-chief is out!" Then, Wu Peifu waddled into the hall, and looked at his Secondary attire: wearing a pair of white trousers underneath, a purple silk jacket, and a black waistcoat outside, with the chest open and unbuttoned, smoking a cigarette in his mouth. He walked to the seat, cross-legged Sit down on the chair, leaning against the table, that way of sitting, like a lazy country girl!" "Then, Wu Peifu read the various missions again. After the order was issued, Wu stood up and said: 'There is no more? Let's do it like this!' At this time, the chief of the navy quickly stood up and said: 'Report to the commander-in-chief, there is no mention in the order. When it comes to the Navy, what about our fleet?” Wu replied: “Oh, the Navy didn’t mention it, just add one to the order, you can patrol freely to prevent accidents.” The director of aviation also stood up and said: “And what about our Air Force , what should we do?" Wu said again and again, "Add one more, you are ready at any time, and the camera will attack." Then, other generals who did not assign tasks also asked for instructions one after another. Wu Peifu scratched his head and said impatiently:' Is it still an order to add as much as possible like this? That’s it for today, let’s go, let’s go!’ Then everyone dispersed.” Afterwards, Feng Yuxiang commented extremely disdainfully: "Such an important matter is done so lightly and child's play, and Wu Zhi's recklessness is often like this!" Of course, Feng Yuxiang and Wu Peifu have great conflicts, and his description certainly has the suspicion of deliberately smearing Wu Peifu , but the haste and ill-considered planning of the Zhijun at that time was an objective existence, which played a vital role in the success or failure of the subsequent battle. As early as September 15th, the Li Jinglin Department of the Feng Army exchanged fire with the Mi Zhenbiao Department of the Zhijun Army. The most elite troops fight here. Shanhaiguan is adjacent to Yanshan Mountain in the north and Bohai Sea in the south. The distance between the mountains and the sea is only 15 miles.The Zhi army had already prepared and occupied favorable terrain in the Shanhaiguan area. When Jiang Dengxuan, the first army of the Feng army, and Zhang Xueliang, the third army, came to attack, the two sides were evenly matched, and each had a victory or defeat.This Shanhaiguan battle is the first multi-arms three-dimensional battle in Chinese history, with the army, air force, and navy working together to attack each other. In terms of the air force, the Feng army has an absolute advantage. It continues to use planes to bomb the Zhijun positions, and the Zhijun also dispatches anti-aircraft guns imported from Italy to fight back; in terms of the navy, the Zhijun has the upper hand. Island, and carried the army to Yingkou to land, copying Fengjun's back road.However, the Fengjun planes continued to come and bomb, causing the navy to lift anchor twice and return without success.On the land battlefield in Shanhaiguan, Fengjun's heavy artillery regiment and cavalry played an important role, while the soldiers of the Zhili lineage had been battle-tested, relying on favorable terrain, they were not at a disadvantage. As a result, the Feng army and the Zhi army repeatedly charged and fought on the less than 15-kilometer front in Shanhaiguan, and launched an extremely cruel tug-of-war. The fierceness of the battle was rare in previous wars.Especially the use of heavy artillery, heavy machine guns, landmines, and aircraft bombing has greatly increased the casualty rate.In addition, in the battle for Jiangnv Temple in the forward position, the two sides even launched a large-scale hand-to-hand battle. More than 2,000 people were killed by bayonets, which is extremely rare in the history of modern warfare. After Feng Jun could not make a breakthrough on the front of Shanhaiguan, he turned to the Nine Gates, an important place on the side, to attack.Nine Gates is ten kilometers northwest of Shanhaiguan. It is another main road leading to the inside of Shanhaiguan. At that time, it was stationed by Feng Yurong's troops. On October 8, Jiang Deng sent a brigade to raid Jiumenkou. Because two regiment leaders under Feng Yurong refused to obey the command and fled, the Zhijun was defeated. Jiumenkou fell, and Feng Yurong committed suicide by taking poison. After the news reached Beijing, Wu Peifu was shocked, and then went to Shanhaiguan to supervise the battle in person, and transferred the 10th Regiment and the 6th Brigade of the 3rd Division, which he retained as a reserve team, to the front line for reinforcements, which temporarily stabilized the front line.Encouraged by the victory, the Third Army of the Serving Army once again launched a fierce attack on the front of Shanhaiguan in an attempt to overcome the defense line of the direct army Peng Shouxin in one fell swoop. Peng Shouxin is a fierce general under Wu Peifu, and the 15th Division he leads is also the main force second only to the 3rd Division. He ordered his subordinates to set up dozens of Maxim heavy machine guns against Fengjun's desperate death squad attack method. The strafing made the Fengjun Death Squad not only return in vain, but also lost all casualties... Wu Peifu's troops have always been bold and good at close combat, and the shock tactics of the Death Squad are often ineffective. After losing consecutive battles in the middle, the Feng army decided to give up this hard bone and march to the two wings, which are the coastal area in the south and the Sandaoguan area in the north.In the coastal area, after three days and three nights of fierce fighting, Jiang Deng's troops piled up corpses on their positions. The 7,000 Feng army had only 3,000 people left, unable to fight any more. Although the direct troops also suffered heavy casualties, they still held their positions. Sandaoguan is the closest passage leading to Erlang Temple and outflanking Shanhaiguan. Fengjun Guo Songling sent three brigades to attack, and successively took the first and second passes.In this matter, Wu Peifu also visited Erlang Temple in person to command nearby, and transferred the 10th Regiment, 24th Division, 26th Division and 26th Mixed Brigade of the 3rd Division to counterattack. At this time, Zhang Zuoxiang's department, which was the general reserve of the Fengjun Army, also rushed to Sandaoguan to support Guo Songling's department, and once captured Erlang Temple.However, the fall of Erlang Temple was Wu Peifu's trick to lure the enemy. As soon as Zhang Zuoxiang's telegram of victory was sent out, the Zhijun Army had reoccupied Erlang Temple. So far, the second Zhifeng war has been fought for more than a month. Both sides tried their best in the main battlefield of Shanhaiguan, but they were still evenly matched, forming a confrontational situation; The North Road battlefield has been calm, why is this? It turned out that the troops of Feng Yuxiang, Hu Jingyi, Yue Weijun, and Sun Yue were not direct troops of Cao Kun and Wu Peifu. They were very dissatisfied with the long-term unfair treatment, so they were not willing to work for Wu Peifu.And Cao Kun's general Wang Chengbin was also dissatisfied because of the deprivation of military power. In addition, he and Sun Yue were the second classmate of Baoding Army Military Academy, so he also joined forces with Feng Yuxiang and others to oppose Wu Peifu at a critical moment. Long before the Zhifeng War, Feng Yuxiang had approached Fengjun Zhang Zuolin. It is said that Zhang Zuolin gave Feng Yuxiang "Fengtian official silver name of more than one million Xiaoyang".As a result, although Feng Yuxiang's troops left Beijing, they repeatedly refused to march on the excuses of insufficient food preparations and the need for road construction ahead, and did not fight the Feng army when they arrived at the battlefield. Wu Peifu's plan to use Feng Yuxiang's troops to flank the Feng army completely fell through. At the very beginning, Feng Yuxiang just watched the battle directly to see who could gain a decisive advantage: if Wu Peifu won the victory in Shanhaiguan and marched into the Kanto, Feng Yuxiang's troops would attack the northern part of Rehe according to the previous plan, and Wu Jun would attack the Feng army; If Feng's army breaks through Shanhaiguan and advances into the pass, Feng Yuxiang will return to Beijing to give Wu Peifu a bottom-up salary, and join Feng's army to attack Wu's army. At this time, a telegram ordered Wu Peifu's life, and it had to start with Wu Peifu's chief of staff. In 1923, Li Zhuozhang, Wu Peifu's former chief of staff, was transferred to be the governor of Henan Province, and Zhang Fangyan, the chief of staff, took over.Zhang Fangyan knew that he was not capable enough, so he resigned to Wu Peifu, saying: "I am not good at military studies, and I am naive in politics, economics, and diplomacy. I am afraid that I am not competent. Please ask the commander to appoint someone else!" After Wu Peifu heard this, he laughed and said, "Zhang Liang, Han Xin, I will do it myself. I don't need you to draw up a military plan for me, you don't need you to go to the front to command the army, and you don't need you to lead troops to charge. You just need to be cautious. Just follow me and just listen to what I say." In this way, Zhang Fangyan has nothing to say, but he can only thank "the master for his cultivation". As a result, Zhang Fangyan followed Wu Peifu like a shadow. He had never been a chief of staff to give advice, so someone laughed at him behind his back: "Where is this chief of staff? He is clearly a senior adjutant!" And it was precisely this chief of staff, who never gave advice, who made his own claim at the most intense moment of the Zhifeng War. In his own words, he "prescribed a prescription for the Zhijun to die"! What's going on here?It turned out that Wu Peifu went to the front to command the battle in person, and Zhang Fangyan showed Wu Peifu the booth at the general headquarters.At this time, an urgent call came from the front line, asking for quick deployment of reinforcements, and it happened that two brigades from Jin Yun'e's department had arrived and were about to land in Yingkou. He went to support, but Jin Yun'e's brigade commander looked down on Chief of Staff Zhang, so he shied away and said: "We have other tasks, you can tell our leader directly!" The military situation was as urgent as sparks, and Zhang Fangyan couldn't find Jin Yun'e for a while, so he could only send a telegram to Zhang Fulai, the commander-in-chief of the reinforcement army, to quickly dispatch the army to come to support.After the telegram was sent, Zhang Fangyan felt that the long-distance water could not quench his near-thirst. He suddenly remembered that Feng Yuxiang's troops in the Third Army had not launched a war yet, so he sent another telegram to Feng Yuxiang, saying: "The situation here is critical. If there is no unexpected victory, it may be difficult to restore the decline ", and hope that Feng Yuxiang will send troops to attack the Feng army as soon as possible to make a great contribution. Feng Yuxiang had been following the development of the Shanhaiguan War. Just as he was hesitating, a telegram from Zhang Fangyan came, so Feng Yuxiang decided that Wu Jun must be dead, so he resolutely decided to return to Beijing to launch a coup and imprison President Cao Kun. Wu Peifu came to take a drastic action. After the news of the Beijing coup spread to Shanhaiguan, the morale of Wu Peifu's troops was shaken. Zhang Xueliang took the opportunity to command Fengjun's elite to break through the defense line of the direct army, defeating Wu Peifu's main force in one fell swoop, disarming and surrendering more than 30,000 troops.After this great defeat, Wu Peifu led tens of thousands of remnants of the defeated generals to retreat, and Feng Yuxiang and other troops marched eastward to outflank. Wu Peifu finally had thousands of soldiers retreating to Tianjin, and finally fled by sea. It ended in a big victory, and Zhang Zuolin also took revenge. Ladies and gentlemen, regarding the story of Chief of Staff Zhang, please don't think that what the author is talking about is unofficial history. You must know that the matter of this telegram is a factual and well-documented matter, and there is absolutely no fabrication or exaggeration.In fact, history is sometimes determined by details, and the contingency and irrationality of details determine the direction and development of history at critical moments... When people are struggling to pursue the truth of history, it is only because of a North American It's just a butterfly flapping its wings! Afterwards, Wu Peifu left Tianjin on a warship. The remnants of the defeated generals resented Zhang Fangyan for sending telegrams, which led to failure, and all of them demanded that Zhang Fangyan be thrown into the sea to feed the bastard.Wu Peifu waved his hand and said with a wry smile: "It's not his fault, it's all my bad luck, let's forget it!" Chief of Staff Zhang's life can be forgotten, but what about Wu Peifu's ambition? The story is far from over, let's read below!