Chapter 138 137. Hunan Campaign

On the eve of the Northern Army's attack on Yuezhou, for some reason, Tan Haoming did not make any preparations for combat.The deployment of the Southern Army is: Zhao Hengti Division of the Hunan Army is in Yuezhou, Liu Jianfan is in Pingjiang, and Ma Ji, Wei Rongchang, and Lu Yuguang of the Guangxi Army are in the rear of the Hunan Army as the general reserve.This kind of deployment shows that the Guangxi faction has no determination to resist the Northern Army at all. Not only is it lack of determination, but also has selfish plans. It is quite correct to say that the Guangxi Clique understands politics and will take advantage of political contradictions. Since the fall of Yuan in the fifth year of the Republic of China, Lu Rongting has been ruling Guangxi and Guangdong by political means.He adopted the strategy of uniting Feng Kangduan against the north, using the direct line to contain the Anhui line.What he hopes is to create conflicts between Zhi and Anhui, expand their conflicts, and achieve the division of Beiyang and the war between Zhi and Anhui, so that the Guangxi faction can reap the benefits of fishermen, so he does not want to really fight, especially he does not want the Guangxi faction to bear the brunt of fighting with the Anhui faction .It is best for the Guangxi family to "sit" and wait for changes, and "drag" for changes.

When the main combat faction in the north raised its head and the Anhui faction had sent troops southward, the Guangxi faction knew that the Hunan war was inevitable, and believed that the Hunan army and the Guangxi army could not resist the northern army. This was a hopeless war, so the decision of the Guangxi faction was to preserve as much The strength of the Gui army, when the war broke out, it is better to let the Hunan army be on the front line, and the Gui army will try to retreat safely when necessary to preserve its strength. The Northern Army marched into Hunan in two directions, and Changsha and Yuezhou were attacked from both sides. The Southern Army was at a very disadvantage in resisting the Northern Army.At this time, Gui Jun also gave up the argument that Hunan was the gateway to Guangdong and Guangxi earlier.The negative attitude of the Guangxi faction dealt a serious blow to the morale of the Hunan Army.As early as when the Southern Army occupied Yuezhou, the generals of the Hunan Army advocated taking advantage of the victory to attack Wuhan, or at least occupying the favorable terrain in southern Hubei as a peripheral stronghold of Yuezhou, but Tan Haoming ordered that no one step into Hubei be allowed.When the northern army went south, the southern army's combat situation was very unfavorable, and what was even more unfavorable was that the Guangxi army was preparing to retreat without a fight, and the Hunan army could not fight alone.At the same time, the Guangxi Army discriminated against the Hunan Army. The treatment of the Guixiang Army was unfair no matter in terms of arms and military expenses.

When the Southern Army abandoned Yuezhou, Tan Haoming, the joint commander of the Southern Army belonging to the Guangxi faction, was still in Changsha demanding military pay from the chamber of commerce, and issued a notice saying: "Yueyang's small setback is normal in the military. This commander sits in charge and has his own ideas." On March 25, 7, it was discovered in the city of Changsha that this self-proclaimed joint commander had already fled the day before.The superior officers of the Hunan Army were also missing, and Changsha suddenly fell into a state of anarchy.Changsha has "changed hands" several times in the past few years. Every time the northern and southern armies "change defense", there is always a vacuum in between. During that gap, the Changsha group always organizes a maintenance meeting or something like that. However, this time because of rumors that Zhang Jingyao's army had killed and passed by, even the respected people in the local area were held back.At the same time, batches of soldiers in the front retreated without anyone to take care of them. They could neither find officers nor a place to eat and drink.Fatigued and hungry, burning with anger, he had no way to vent his anger for a while, so he plundered all the shops and houses in Changsha city. He first looted the commercial centers in Bajiaoting, Huangdao Street, and Pozi Street, and then spread all over the city. The batches came again, causing shops to close and strikes on the streets. Many shops posted a statement outside: "Our shop has been robbed and there are no goods on the market." The citizens of Changsha were extremely disappointed with the Hunan Army defending them this time. .

On March 26, the Zhijun Army entered Changsha without encountering resistance. After Wu Peifu captured Changsha, he pursued the Southern Army directly, rushed to Xiangtan, and handed Changsha over to Zhang Jingyao, the brutal commander of the Seventh Division of the Northern Army. It turned out that Zhang Jingyao had never been on the front line. He went to Jiujiang to supervise the division after the conquest of Yuezhou. He extorted huge sums of money along the way, interfered in people's finances and various affairs, and the army arrested gangsters. He wanted to spend girls. The foreign reporter sent a message to describe this: "This There are not enough bandits to suppress the people, but there is more than enough to suppress the people. Pingjiang's military robbery is what the Ministry did. There are many women who commit suicide by throwing themselves into the river. The north and the south have seen it in the enemy's country. Because they hate the southern army, they hate the southern people. The Hunan people are like conquered people. Most of the northerners who accompanied the camp were robbers accumulated by Xu Huaijian, and they shared the spoils with the northern soldiers, but the third division did not have any of them."

After occupying Changsha, the Northern Army divided into three groups to advance forward: the direct army in the center attacked Hengshan and Hengyang, the seventh division on the right wing attacked Xiangxiang and Baoqing, and the second army on the left attacked Liling and Youxian.Under the command of Wu Peifu, the Zhijun marched swiftly and aggressively, but slowly slowed down. Of course, this was due to political reasons. First, there was a new quarrel between Cao Kun and Xu Shuzheng, which affected the mood of the Zhijun. At the same time, because the troops on the left and right wings could not be as fast as in the middle, and could not cooperate, Wu Jun did not dare to go deep alone.

The Southern Army did not counterattack because the Northern Army's offensive was slow. On the contrary, from late April, the Guangxi faction withdrew most of the Gui troops back to Guangdong. Tan Haoming also left Hengyang for Yongzhou on the 22nd, which showed the strength of the Guangxi faction. non-resistance policy.The Hunan Army had to retreat quickly because of the retreat of the Guangxi Clan. On the 23rd, Cheng sneaked out of Hengyang, and on the 24th, the direct army entered Hengyang without bloodshed. The Second Route Army, which was in charge of the left-wing attack, was dazzled by the victory, thinking that as long as it advances, it will win. Therefore, the advance was extremely slow, but it was changed to a fast attack. This is a big taboo for military strategists. Their advance made it impossible for the Hunan army to retreat, and the Guangxi faction was also afraid that the Northern army would pursue them.Therefore, on April 26, Zhao Hengti and Liu Jianfan of the Hunan Army counterattacked the following Northern Army, and the Ma Ji Department of the Gui Army, which had already retreated to Shaoguan, was also quickly transferred back to support the Hunan Army.The Hunan Army has only 3,000 soldiers, the Guangxi Army has only 10,000 people, and the Second Route Army of the Northern Army has more than 20,000 people. In the county, Liling was conquered again. Zhang Huaizhi's general Shi Cong fled in a panic. The Zhao army and the northern soldiers fought fiercely at Huangtuling and wiped out the northern soldiers. The first division of the Lu army fled to Changsha, and the sixth mixed brigade of the Soviet army and the Anwu army fled to Pingxiang. They don't care about each other.Along the way, the common people in Hunan were treated as plainclothes troops of the Southern Army, burning, killing, looting, and doing everything without distinction.From Youxian County and Liling to Zhuzhou and Yijiawan, it became a smoky sea of ​​flames.

The defeat of Zhang Huaizhi's troops on the left wing of the Northern Army in eastern Hunan shocked Changsha.Zhang Jingyao responded urgently and sent the seventh division to supplement the soldiers of the second regiment to act as police officers. Tong Guoan, the head of the regiment, also served as the chief of the police department. Torture.Changsha has become a world of terror.Especially at night, Zhang Jingyao's department used the pretext of searching for chaotic parties, trespassing into people's homes, extorting money, and doing everything. Whenever they saw a woman, they would treat it as a flower girl for adultery.

Families above the middle class in Changsha all fled away, while those below the middle class hid in the countryside.Zhang Jingyao brazenly boasted that the Seventh Division was strictly disciplined, and Qiu committed no crimes, and that he was a benevolent teacher.The people are not allowed to accuse the Northern Army of illegal actions, otherwise they will be considered spies sent by the Southern Army.The local newspapers in Changsha did not dare to expose the atrocities committed by the Northern Army directly, but they all used an allusive method to report how lawless the ruffians who spoke with different voices were.Make readers know at a glance that it is the Northern Army.

For Hunan people, Zhang Jingyao's rule was even more terrifying than that of Tang Xiangming. When the Northern Army was defeated in Hunan Province, Zhang Jingyao asked the Beijing government for help one after another. At this time, if the Guangxi Clan was willing to fully assist the Hunan Army in its counterattack and attack Changsha with a pincer attack from the left and right flanks, the possibility of regaining Changsha was very high. big.As a result, Wu Peifu's Department of the Northern Army in Hengyang became prominent and had to retreat quickly.However, the two armies of the North and the South will have a decisive battle in the Changsha area, but the Guangxi faction is unwilling to fight the main force. Therefore, after they attacked the Second Route Army of the Northern Army, they immediately withdrew the troops supporting the Hunan Army.

In response to Zhang Jingyao's support, the Northern Army dispatched Fengjun Commander Guo Fen in Hankou to lead a brigade and a regiment to quickly reinforce eastern Hunan. Retreating to the south, on May 1, Liu Jianfan of the Hunan Army slipped and fell into the water and drowned while crossing the river in Zhuzhou. Zhang Huaizhi is ridiculous. After the defeat in eastern Hunan, he retreated from Pingxiang to Zhangshu Town in a panic, and from Zhangshu Town to Hankou.He claimed that the old illness had relapsed, and he also said that bandits in Shandong were rampant and must be rushed back. He telegraphed Duan and recommended Xu Shuzheng to lead the Feng army to take over eastern Hunan as the commander of the second route.Xu Shuzheng was not on the front line, so he was determined not to go. He also recommended Zhang Jingyao or Chen Guangyuan, and even Cao Kun was the commander of the first and second routes.There were two reasons for his request. The first was that he was not sure about fighting on the front line, and the second was that he was afraid that his old nest would be snatched away by others, because after he left Shandong, Zhang Shuyuan, the commander of the Fifth Division, took care of the Shandong governor.The Beiyang warlords always take care of them first and then get rid of them. Naturally, Zhang Shuyuan does not want Zhang Huaizhi to return to his post. Zhang Huaizhi is on the front line and his heart is in Shandong, and he can't wait to return to Lu immediately.

Duan Qirui felt that it would be embarrassing for Yi Shuai to be on the front line at this time, and at the same time he could not find a suitable person to replace the commander of the second route, so he made a promise to him in the name of the State Council: "Du Lu will never be easy to be a man."At the same time, it is guaranteed that if the second line of troops is insufficient, it can continue to send troops for reinforcements. It is hoped that he will immediately go from Hankou to Jiangxi to take charge of the military. Since the first battle in eastern Hunan, the northern army did not dare to go deep, and the southern army did not dare to counterattack. The battlefield in Hunan suddenly calmed down from the hot war. While the Northern Army was attacking Hunan, Duan Cabinet ordered Jiangxi Governor Chen Guangyuan and Fujian Governor Li Houji to open up two battlefields to attack Guangdong.Although Chen Guangyuan is the main peace faction, but the trend of the times, he has to follow the main battle faction to send troops.Jiangsu Governor Li Chun sent Yang Chunpu, the commander of the 19th Division, to Jiangxi, and Chen Guangyuan also sent Wu Hongchang, the guardian of Gannan, to attack Nanxiong.The southern army guarding Nanxiong was Zhang Kairu of the Dian Army, who retreated without a fight. Mo Rongxin of the Guangxi faction sent Li Gengen as the supervisor of the border defense of Guangdong, Jiangxi and Hunan to strengthen the control of the Dian Army in Beijiang.Since late April, Nanxiong has had several tug-of-war battles, but none of them were fierce battles.Because Chen Guangyuan's purpose was only to deal with the main fighters and did not actively attack. There was no major development on the border between Fujian and Guangdong. The Duan cabinet appointed Li Houji, the governor of Fujian, as the commander-in-chief of the Guangdong aid army, and Tong Baoxuan, the commander of the First Division of the Zhejiang Army, as the deputy commander. On April 26, Li Houji went to Xiamen to set up a headquarters. The Zhe army concentrated in Zhao'an was only more than ten miles away from Chen Jiongming's Guangdong army. The counties of Zhao'an, Yunxiao, and Pinghe all declared military martial law.In this regard, the Northern Army and Zhejiang Province were originally planning to cooperate with the Longjiguang Army in Guangdong. Because the Dragon Army was in a slump, Li Houji did not dare to fight alone, so it became a stalemate. Originally, regarding the southern army, the Guangxi faction and the Dian army agreed to jointly destroy the Longjiguang army, and promoted Li Liejun as the commander-in-chief of the Longji army. On March 22, the Dian army captured Yangjiang, occupied Dianbai on April 12, entered Huazhou on April 25, and recaptured Lianjiang, the base of the Dragon Army on March 27. Li Liejun returned to Guangzhou from Jiangmen on March 28. At the Dragon Congratulations Conference, the Southern Army's battle against the dragon will come to an end. Xu Shuzheng was a busy man at the time. He had to single-handedly organize the election of the new National Assembly and preside over the military operations against the South, so he often traveled between Beijing and Hankou.Because the two generals of the main combat faction suddenly changed their minds and refused to listen to the dispatch, he planned to rely solely on Fengjun, stop the plan to aid Sichuan, set up a Fengjun front enemy general headquarters in Hankou, and place all the six mixed brigades that Zhang Zuolin admitted to transfer in Hunan. on the battlefield. On May 9, he sent Sun Liechen, commander of the 27th Division of the Fengjun Army, Ji Jinchun, commander of the 28th Division, and Wu Junsheng, commander of the 29th Division, to Changsha to arrange for the Fengjun Army to fight in Hunan. On May 24, he rushed back to Hankou from Beijing to supervise the implementation.But this plan aroused great resentment from the Zhi (Cao Kun) and Lu (Zhang Huaizhi) armies, so they became more war-weary.At the same time, this plan unexpectedly aroused Zhang Zuolin's disgust.Zhang Zuolin sent troops for another purpose, and it was obviously inconsistent with his purpose to put all the Fengjun troops entering the customs on the battlefield; Army division commander, and under the pretext of urgent border defense, he was transferred back to Fengjun, which had already arrived in eastern Hunan. But Xiao Xu was not discouraged by this. On May 26, he traveled from Hankou to Changsha, and on May 27 he went to Hengyang to deal with Wu Peifu in person.He thinks that Wu Peifu is a real thug, and Cao Kun is just enjoying the benefits. If Wu Peifu is brought over, Cao Kun will become an insignificant role. On June 1, Xu hurried back to Beijing from the front and suggested to Duan to step up his efforts to win over Wu Peifu in order to dismantle Cao Kun's Taiwan.Duan Shen took it for granted, and immediately made a direct phone call with Wu to show his excellence-the cabinet prime minister has never had a direct phone call with a division commander. On June 3, the Beijing government appointed Wu Peifu as "General Fuwei".Although a general is a title in name only, it is at the "special" level in the official system. It is parallel to the warlord. A soldier with real power and this title is an alternate warlord, which is completely different from the role of being appointed as a general after the warlord steps down. . However, this appeasement work did not achieve the expected results. After Wu Peifu arrived in Hengyang (April 25), he never moved forward. On June 15, he and the Hunan Army (Tan Yankai, Zhao Hengti) established an armistice agreement. On August 7, he published a positive letter to Li Chun, attacking Duan’s cabinet’s pro-Japanese policy. On August 21, he published a letter to Feng Guozhang. Ma Dian actually blatantly shouted the slogan "Stop the war and resist insults". There are several reasons for Wu Peifu's change of attitude: First, the soldiers were tired from fighting for a long time. In fact, they could no longer go further south.2. The Hunan War was his first effort, but Zhang Jingyao snatched the warlord away, which made him resentful.3. The domestic atmosphere of opposing civil war and pro-Japanese (Nishihara loans, several transactions have been successful, and the military agreement between the Chinese and Japanese armies to jointly defend against the enemy was also signed on May 16) is becoming stronger and stronger, and the main combat faction is also Self-contradictory.4. Internationally, at the end of the European War, the United Kingdom and the United States gradually resumed their intervention in the East, and are working hard to support the anti-Duan forces to resist Japan behind the Duan Clan.Fifth, the last and most important thing is that in the south, Cen Chunxuan has been appointed as the chairman and president of the military government by the warlords of Yunnan and Guangxi (May 20). The psychology of seeking peace with the north is more urgent than before.And Wu Peifu and the Guangxi faction have established a secret alliance in an attempt to use this alliance to improve his status. When Xu Shuzheng went to Hengyang to visit Wu Peifu, Wu invited him to dinner. After the meal, they had a close talk beside a big goldfish tank in the yard, and the talk was very speculative.Xu Shuzheng wrote a Hengzhou ballad to Wu: "I come to Hengzhou City, and I sing Hengzhou ballads. The Xiangjiang River in Hengzhou is flowing, and the people of Hengzhou are happy. How happy are the people, and tears are like rain on their cheeks. I will Chen Wule, please remember my suffering first. My hometown The old farmer grows rice and irrigates the garden. The livelihood is not evil, and the well-off comforts the children. Once the flames of war frightened the sky, and the east and west Guangdong were entangled in weapons. The kuaijie in central Hunan rose up everywhere, and the bondage raised righteous voices. Ask him what is going on ?The fate of the big mansion is stubborn and stubborn. Find out what he is doing? The big team will lose the money to support the soldiers, and the small team will eat the fish. The eldest man rushes to follow the thief officer, and the youngest daughter hides and asks relatives. The old wife weeps and tears, holding her His youngest son lives in a deep mountain. Since last year, he has been at peace day and night. He has heard for a long time that the bandits are admonishing each other, and Wu Gong’s soldiers are invincible. I don’t know who Wu Gong is. What a speed. Idiot captives are covered with blood in the wilderness, crafty people abandon the city and flee to the barren valley. Beheaded or forced to surrender and die, Duke Wu's coming is a blessing to the people. Ma Qianzhan pays homage to the gentleman, and Xun Xun is a Confucian. Lu Lane has no answer to knock on the door at night , The military order is as quiet as the mountain. The exile is far away from the ruins, and the security industry can still shelter relatives. My son was necrotic in the suburbs, so it is no wonder that he was trapped as a thief. Wife and daughter return to walk around the knees, this world is hard to enjoy. Wu Gong loves the people Just like loving the army, he is as diligent as loving a child. Duke Wu governs the army as he governs the people, and his emotions are trustworthy and naive. In the army, he is full of leisure, and his grace and elegance are unmatched. Sitting quietly is easy to read. There are common rituals, the halberd gates are gentle and calm. Thousands of brushes, thousands of ingots of ink, watch the public face the pond and make a happy. The fragrance is fragrant, the wine is full, and the time plays the piano and sings poems. The old people have tasted things in history, ancient and modern. Who is the most famous general here? In the past, I wished Duke Wu to come, but now I am afraid that Duke Wu will go. I would like to borrow from Mr. Kou for a year, so who will I sue for this situation? Who will I sue for? Please stay with me! I am sorry for Wu Gong’s arrival.” Although Xu Shuzheng was very good at playing politics, it was futile this time. He had a very speculative talk with Wu in Hengyang, and promised to subsidize some military expenses for Wu and announce the name of Wu's General Fuwei in exchange for Wu Peifu's complete obedience.Unexpectedly, Cao Kun found out about Hengyang's secret talk, and he became very angry, thinking that Xu Shuzheng had bribed his subordinates, so he immediately raised serious questions.But Wu Peifu thought that Xu Shuzheng leaked it deliberately so that Cao Kun would not be ashamed of Wu and made himself unable to be a human being, so he turned his face at once.