Chapter Twenty-Five: Exchange Tactics

  Ma Yuanhai said discontentedly, "You also want to occupy a piece of land and be armed and separate, don't you? Otherwise, what's the use of having so many troops?"

  "We established base areas and formed the Red Army also under compulsion."

  You don't know, do you? The Northern Expedition was the result of cooperation between the two parties, the KMT and the CCP. At that time, our party believed that Chiang Kai-shek could implement Mr. Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People, lead the Chinese people to eliminate warlords, overthrow imperialism, and liberate the peasants and workers, so we fully supported the Nationalist Party. Many officers in the National Revolutionary Army were members of our party.

  Before the Northern Expedition had succeeded, Chiang Kai-shek raised his butcher knife and, with the support of the imperialist powers and the big landlords and capitalists, turned his spearhead against the people, becoming a new warlord opposed to the revolution. We sacrificed tens of thousands of men in this struggle.

  We have our own magnificent ideals, we have the ambition to change China's poverty and backwardness, and we have a broad mind to seek happiness for all the people of the country.

  We can achieve our ideals without relying on the Kuomintang. So, we took to the road of armed seizure of power and encircling cities from the countryside through revolution.

  You say we occupy land, we want to occupy all of China.

  You said we have an army, we are building a modernized national army that is loyal to the Party, loves the people and is good at fighting.

  We must rely on this army to eliminate all warlords, defeat the imperialist powers, defend the integrity of our national territory and not be subject to imperialist aggression.

  Do you have such an ideal?

  "Do you have such vision?"

  "What's the use of having ideals? You'll still be chased around by others." Ma Yuanhai said disdainfully.

  "At present, we are still relatively weak and our strength is not yet sufficient; we have many shortcomings within ourselves. But our political ideals have gained the support of more and more working people, our policies have been recognized by them, including poor peasants among your Muslim comrades. As long as we have the support of the masses, can you say that victory is still far away?"

  Ma Yuanhai panted and said: "You keep saying you want to resist Japan, the Japanese are in Northeast China, in North China, you don't go there, but run to our place to resist... what Japan?"

  "This time our army marched to Hexi, one is to raise grain and fodder, two is to advance into Xinjiang, obtain Soviet agreement to support our military supplies, both purposes are for the near future to have sufficient strength to respond to the government's call to resist Japanese imperialism."

  Last time I told you about this, you might not have taken it seriously, but we are making serious preparations. Rest assured, as soon as the government gives the order, I will definitely lead my brave men to go east and fight against Japan.

  Because we know that at the critical moment of life and death for the Chinese nation, someone must stand up, even if you have little strength or poor equipment, to block the enemy's invasion and save those ordinary people who have lost their homes and families.

  Sacrifice yourself, use your passion to awaken those who only know personal interests, small group interests, and make the numb and selfish people who have forgotten what a country is all about stand up and fight.

  As the national anti-Japanese front takes shape, our propositions will be understood, accepted and upheld by more people.

  "Our troops will also grow and mature in battle, our party will become a powerful political force trusted by the Chinese people and accepted by all social strata."

  Chen Haisong took a sip of tea and said to Ma Yuanhai, "The purpose of telling you all this is that it's time to stop now. The cost in human lives and money is really not worth it."

  I hope you can exert your influence to persuade Marshal Ma and the various commanders of the Ma Family Army to cease fire on the battlefield, engage in peaceful negotiations, put away their killing knives and guns, rest and regroup, and jointly study the equipment and tactics of the Japanese army, preparing for the expedition to North China.

  "How was it?"

  Zhang Shizhi, who was standing beside him, saw that Ma Yuanhai did not speak up and took the opportunity to say: "The reasoning that Officer Chen just mentioned has a lot of points that I personally agree with, and I also have great admiration for your party's ideals.

  We just belong to two opposing camps, we are just subordinate combat units, executing orders from our superiors.

  It's meaningless for us to reach any private agreement, soon other troops will be deployed and continue to execute the superior strategy, we really can't play a role.

  In a word, without fearing Commander Chen's ridicule, General Ma, although the commander-in-chief of various fronts, actually had only a few battalions directly under his command that he could mobilize.

  Ma Baochang, Ma Jirong, Han Qigong, Ma Pu of the 100th Division, Ma Biao, commander of the first brigade in Hainan, Ma Lu, Han Qilu, Qi Ming Shan and other brigade commanders had always been directly under the command of Marshal Ma.

  The commander-in-chief Ma merely proposed a combat deployment and troop movement plan, and the final order was still issued by Director Ma for execution.

  So General Ma is a man of few words, but his love for her may be helpless.

  Zhang Shizhi was an early Han Chinese convert to Islam who joined the Ma clique. He served as a staff officer in Ma Bufang's army for a long time before graduating from the Central Military Academy, serving as a lieutenant colonel on the staff of the 100th Division.

  After the Red Army's Western Expedition, Ma Bufang and Ma Hongkui suffered successive defeats, and they sought help from Ma Buqing. Chiang Kai-shek also offered them inducements.

  Ma Bufang decided to organize the main force of the 100th Division, the Hainan Cavalry Brigade and other elite troops to participate in the war. He appointed Ma Yuanhai as the front-line commander-in-chief, Zhang Shizhi as chief of staff, and promoted him to senior colonel.

  Ma Xinyi participated in planning battles everywhere for the Ma clan army of Qinghai.

  "It's clear that you still don't believe I have the ability to stop this war and are still harboring illusions about the military strength of the Ma family army."

  I won't force you, as long as you can accept defeat and no longer be enemies of our army, we will treat you leniently, not harming your body or mind, not destroying your living habits, respecting your religious beliefs. When you arrive in Zhangye, take care of yourselves and think carefully about what I have said.

  Other troops will think of ways to deal with them slowly, there are many factors that determine the outcome of a war, having more soldiers does not necessarily mean you will win, the key is for the commander to adopt the correct combat strategy, play to their strengths and limit the enemy's advantages.

  Victory does not necessarily appear on the main battlefield, and the role of a surprise attack often decides the outcome.

  "In short, I must make this war stop as soon as possible. Whether it is a peaceful way or a forceful way depends on your choice, Officer Ma."

  Zhang Shizhi said worriedly, "Magistrate Ma, for the sake of his ancestors' foundation, for the benefit of the group, and to gain recognition, rewards, replenishment, and expansion from the central government, he will not accept ceasefire negotiations. In the end, it's likely that they'll fight to the death."

  "Alas, let's leave the political matters to our superiors. General Ma, Chief of Staff Zhang, shall we review this battle in Hexi? What are your observations on our army's performance?"

  Ma Yuanhai said seriously: "You Red Army fought bravely, defended the position without fear of death, no bullets, knives, sticks and stones were used to fight with all one's might, the spirit was not inferior to us at all."

  Fighting in icy and snowy weather, wearing thin clothes, with inadequate food and grass, suffering a lot, in this aspect we are not as good.

  Their shooting is more accurate than ours, if there were more bullets, our losses would be greater.

  All levels of officers can come to the front line in person, take the lead and set an example for their troops, just like our army.

  Your equipment is slightly better than ours, but the organization of light and heavy machine guns and mortars is more hierarchical than ours. Unfortunately, you don't have many bullets, and your hand grenades are homemade, aren't they? Their power is too small.

  Your treatment of prisoners is better than our military discipline.

  We have a complete advantage in mobility, which is why you can't play mobile warfare and guerrilla warfare.

  Your commander's direction is unclear, hesitant and indecisive, wanting to fight to the death on the spot, but also wanting to break through and escape, we can't grasp it well, and you yourselves are not good at deploying troops.

  Gu Lang, your nine armies are isolated and cut off from the main force.

  "Your five armies advanced alone, were trapped for five days before the cavalry arrived to rescue them. This shows that your communication is not smooth, and once you divide your troops, you will inevitably suffer losses. I wonder how Comrade Chen Zhengde evaluates our army?"

  Chen Haisong smiled: "I heard that you always sit in a high place on the periphery of the battlefield to observe the situation, directing troops and generals on the spot. It seems that this is not an empty statement, your observation is quite accurate."

  I'd say that the Qinghai Ma family army's combat effectiveness is indeed not low, their riding skills are exquisite, physically strong, and their style is bold, they can be considered a strong and fierce unit in the Chinese army, much stronger than the Central Army, Sichuan Army, Northeastern Army, and Ningxia Ma family army.

  Your attack method is a bit monotonous, the coordination between infantry, cavalry and artillery is not good, and the mutual protection between troops is not enough, so every battle has no great results. This allows our army to persist in fighting even when we are isolated, the weather is bad, and supplies are scarce, causing relatively heavy casualties for your troops.

  It's said that it's because you didn't give your subordinates enough ammunition, each person only fired two bursts of ten rounds in a battle, and then retreated, unable to advance in depth, let alone penetrate, divide, or encircle.

  "That was to prevent you from capturing it. I wonder how General Chen evaluates our army's offensive tactics?" Zhang Shizhi listened with great interest as the two enemy generals evaluated each other's strengths and weaknesses, and asked eagerly.

  I hope Xilu Jun can persuade Ma Yuanhai, so there will be more ideological debates. Please understand, fellow book friends. Thank you.