Chapter Eighteen: Muddy Waters

  Obviously, Li Ruofeng would not put all his energy into this defensive unit.

  He also needs more important elite troops to be trained.

  After the daily training and management of the Guard Team entered normal, Li Ruofeng would often disappear from the team department in Nenjiang County for several days.

  Of course, this situation is uniformly treated as a military secret to outsiders.

  As a cavalry captain of the original White Russian army, Gronimov felt that his life had lost its direction since he fled to China after being defeated at home. Even after being recruited by Lin Shouren, he still felt like a useless scoundrel who spent his days in a daze waiting for death.

  But when he met Li Ruofeng, the superior who made him feel extremely mysterious, and was selected by him with a training method that he had never experienced before to become a member of the special forces called "Hellfire Mercenary", at that moment, he suddenly seemed to see the dawn from the endless darkness, and the fighting passion that had been lost for a long time was rekindled.

  Along with him were thirty-five other former Russian comrades, whom Li Ruofeng took to a mysterious training camp set deep in the dense forest of Xiao Xing'an Mountains.

  Here, apart from Chinese soldiers, Gromov also saw dozens of German soldiers with eyes full of murderous intent and physique no less than these Russian strongmen.

  Gronimov thought that these Germans were definitely military men, although they did not wear the standard uniform of the German army, but wore a kind of flower-green clothing that he had never seen before. Later, he learned that this outfit was called jungle camouflage by Li Ruofeng.

  Gronimov knew he would never forget Li Ruofeng's speech to them for the rest of his life, because that content was also deeply engraved in his heart.

  That day was March 24, 1930.

  At that time, Li Ruofeng was wearing a camouflage uniform. His opening sentence was spoken in both German and Russian: "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to hell!"

  He then said the following in German and Russian respectively:

  "I know you all used to be soldiers, and the kind of professional soldiers who don't know what to do once they leave the barracks. But your army lost, and you were abandoned by the very army you once deeply loved. Do you know why? Because although you are better than most of your comrades, you are still not good enough. If you were good enough, your army wouldn't have lost! And you wouldn't be here in China!"

  I am not only your boss, but also your instructor. You have all experienced the ways of Chinese people to get here, and I know you all used to look down on Chinese people, especially Chinese soldiers. But these are not important, what's important is that in the coming days, I will let you know what the strongest soldier in this world is! As long as you can pass my training, I can promise you that you can wash away the shame on your body through battle at any time, regain your former honor, find back your confidence and sense of superiority! German brothers, you will stand up from the shadow of defeat in World War I, wash away the shame brought by French and British guys, Russian companions, you can also lift up your proud head again from the collapse of the Russian Empire, drive away the Soviet Red Army, and rebuild the glory of Peter the Great's era!

  Battle will become your profession, war will become your synonym, you will prove to the whole world that war is no longer a monopoly of national armies!

  But what happened next left Gronimov stunned.

  Li Ruofeng surprisingly challenged that group of German soldiers alone. Because among these people, some thought he was a complete madman!

  He knocked down all thirty German soldiers in less than five minutes when he was just over thirty.

  It was this move that allowed Li Ruofeng to establish an absolute strong reputation among these German giants.

  And these Germans, who had no idea how Li Chengxiang had managed to bring them back from Europe, were all of high quality and met with Li Ruofeng's satisfaction. Moreover, he had already made up his mind to let Fourth Uncle have the opportunity to bring more people to China, anyway, after using them for a while, Sino-German relations would enter a honeymoon period lasting nearly five years.

  Gromov didn't think Li Ruofeng was a madman at all.

  On the first day from Li Ruofeng to Tie Qi Village, Gromov met Li Ruofeng for the first time through Lin Shouren's introduction.

  Based on his understanding of Lin Shouren, Lin Shouren is a cunning and ruthless old man who would never entrust all his family property to an incompetent person, let alone marry off his beloved daughter to a useless pretty boy.

  Gronimov keenly felt at the time that Iron Horse Village was about to change.

  As expected, Li Ruofeng made a drastic move on Tie Qi Zhai and split the original 300+ Cossack cavalry into two parts.

  Gronyomov did not know what Li Ruifeng was up to, although he was ostensibly a colonel and regimental commander of the Northeast Army's local garrison troops.

  But the secret training camp located deep in Xiao Xing'an Mountains, the base of Inferno, was absolutely not something that a person who was content with being a local garrison commander could possess.

  For the past three months since entering the camp, Gromov felt like he was almost every day in hell. However, he rather enjoyed this devil's baptism. Because, he could clearly feel his combat strength rapidly rising, getting stronger every day.

  He never thought that soldiers could be trained like this.

  With his military intuition, he knew that he would have the good fortune to personally experience the birth of a brand new mode of warfare.

  What made him feel fortunate was that all his Russian comrades who entered the camp with him passed the first stage of assessment.

  And those big German guys who were always competing with the polar bears during training also persisted, not a single one was eliminated.

  As for these four uncles who somehow brought back retired German soldiers from Germany, their overall quality really left Li Ruofeng speechless. Compared to those Cossack cavalrymen, they were even stronger by a fraction.

  This training method, which belongs to the 21st century special forces, Li Ruofeng did not keep secret. He didn't think that teaching this devilish way of training soldiers to the Germans and Russians he recruited would pose a threat to him in the future.

  The main battlefield of the Germans has always been centered on Europe, and their hands have never reached the Chinese mainland.

  And these former Cossack cavalrymen, they are probably the most hateful and hostile group of people towards the current Soviet Red Army on this earth. If they can be trained, in the future when World War II breaks out, let them organize the original White Russian warriors to stir up trouble with the Soviet Red Army in the Far East, Li Ruofeng will absolutely be overjoyed.

  Under the current constraints of weapons and communication equipment, many tactical ideas cannot be fully demonstrated. This is also one of the reasons why Li Ruofeng is not worried that the Germans and the old Maoists will learn from him in the future and surpass their masters.

  Li Ruofeng has been basically shuttling between Nenjiang and Xiao Xing'an Mountains recently. Occasionally, he would also send a telegram to Sun Zhen to ask about the situation of that security regiment.

  Of course, the contact with Fourth Uncle was the most diligent. In addition to telegrams, there were also special liaison personnel running between the two.

  The current domestic situation is that the Chiang Kai-shek faction of the Central Army, the Feng Yuxiang faction of the Northwest Army, the Yan Xishan faction of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army, and the Bai Chongxi-Li Zongren faction of the Guangxi Army are basically united as one.

  The Anti-Chiang coalition, after much negotiation, finally appointed Yan Xishan as the Commander-in-Chief of the Republic of China's land, sea and air forces, Feng Yuxiang and Li Zongren as Deputy Commanders-in-Chief, and Liu Jie as Chief of Staff.

  The Guangxi Army formed the First Front Army, led by Li Zongren, marched into Hunan and advanced towards Wuhan.

  The Northwestern Army, as the Second Front Army, was led by Feng Yuxiang and was responsible for combat missions along the Longhai and Pinghan railways within Henan Province, advancing towards Xuzhou and Wuhan.

  The Jin-Sui Army was the Third Route Army, led by Yan Xishan, responsible for combat missions in Shandong Province along the Tianjin-Pukou and Jiaozhou-Jinan railways. It would join forces with the Second Route Army to attack Xuzhou, then advance southward along the Tianjin-Pukou railway, directly attacking Nanjing.

  Shi You San led the Fourth Route Army, with its main force attacking Jining and Yanzhou, while a detachment cooperated with the Third Route Army to attack Jinan.

  Zhang Xueliang was appointed as Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Navy and Air Force (and planned to establish the Northeastern Army as the Fifth Route Army), actively seeking to jointly oppose Chiang.

  Liu Wenhui of Sichuan was the Sixth Route Army and He Jian of Hunan was the Seventh Route Army.

  To encourage non-affiliated commanders, Shi Yousan was appointed as the chairman of Shandong Province, Wan Xuancai as the chairman of Henan Province and Sun Dianying as the chairman of Anhui Province.

  Afterwards, Fan Zhongxiu was also appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army.

  In late March, Feng Yuxiang formed the Deputy General Command of Land, Sea and Air Forces in Tongguan, with Zhang Weixiao's unit as the first unit, departing from southern Shaanxi via Jingziguan, passing through Neixiang and Lushan to reach the Pinghan line.

  Sun Liangcheng's division as the second route, Pang Bingxun's division as the third route, advancing to and from Zhengzhou via the Longhai Road.

  The fourth route was formed by Song Zheyuan's troops, and the fifth route was formed by Sun Lianzhong's troops. They marched to Henan from Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai respectively.

  Take the Sixth Route Army as the vanguard, advance along the Longhai Railway to Kaifeng and Guide; concentrate the cavalry of each army into a Cavalry Group Army, led by Zheng Dachang, to operate in eastern Henan and northern Anhui, coordinating with infantry combat.

  Liu Yufen was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the rear (later also acting as the chairman of Shaanxi Province), responsible for all rear affairs in Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai.

  At this time, the Northwestern Army had more than 260,000 troops. Feng decided to mobilize all of them to go to the front line, in order to unite with various forces and launch a decisive battle against Chiang Kai-shek's group.

  On April 1, Feng Yuxiang was sworn in as Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Land, Sea and Air Forces in Tongguan (Yan Xishan took office as Commander-in-Chief in Taiyuan on the same day), appointed Lu Zhonglin as the Frontline Commander-in-Chief, advanced to Zhengzhou to deploy frontline military affairs, and ordered various large armies to move eastward successively.

  Han Fuju, the chairman of Henan Province, saw Feng Yuxiang launch a campaign against Chiang Kai-shek and realized that Henan would be the first to bear the brunt. He was neither willing nor dared to fight against Feng's army, nor did he want to follow Feng to fight against Chiang. Therefore, he asked Chiang Kai-shek to lead his troops to Shandong Province to resist the Jin Army. Chiang agreed, and Han led his troops to withdraw eastward in late March (during the withdrawal, Zhang Deshun's cavalry division of the Northwestern Army took the opportunity to return). As a result, the Northwestern Army was able to occupy Luoyang, Zhengzhou, and other important cities without bloodshed. Wan Xuancai's division took advantage of the situation to advance eastward and soon occupied Kaifeng and Guiyang. Wan then succeeded Han as the chairman of Henan Province.

  In mid-April, Feng Jun's First, Second and Third Routes advanced to the west of Pinghan Road in Suichuan, Neixiang, Ye County and the western section of Longhai Road in Luoyang and Zhengzhou. The Jin Army's Sun Chu, Yang Xiaoou, Guan Fu'an and other units, as well as most of the artillery, were commanded by Xu Yongchang and Yang Aiyuan to move from Zhengzhou to the Lanfeng area in eastern Henan. The troops stationed in Ji'nan, eastern Henan and northern Anhui, including Shi Yousan, Liu Chunrong, Wan Xuancai, Liu Maon and Sun Dianying, were all under his command. On the Jinpu line, the Jin Army was commanded by Fu Zuoyi and Zhang Yinwu, advancing to and from Dezhou and Jinan.

  At this time, the deployment of the Chiang Kai-shek faction's Central Army was:

  With Han Fu Quan as the commander of the First Army Corps, defend the south bank of the Yellow River to block the Jin army from advancing south along the Tianpu Road.

  Liu Zhen was the commander of the Second Legion, defending Xuzhou, Dangshan and Su County.

  He Chengjun was the commander of the 3rd Army, defending various places south of Xuchang on the Pinghan Road; Chen Diaoyuan was the commander of the General Reserve Army, stationed with Ma Hongkui's troops in Jining and Caozhou, western Shandong, to stop Shi Yousan's troops.

  In addition, Yang Huicheng's troops were stationed in Nanyang and its vicinity, while Fan Shisheng's troops were stationed in Xiangfan and its vicinity.

  On May 1st, Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang met in Xinxiang and arrived in Zhengzhou together by car on the third day.

  Yan and Feng met to discuss the results, unanimously agreeing that the current situation is very favorable: Li and Bai of the Guangxi clique have prepared for military action against the Chiang Kai-shek faction and are about to start; Zhang Xueliang in Northeast China, although temporarily unable to send troops, has agreed to provide ammunition assistance; Wang Jingwei sent a telegram expressing his agreement to cooperate and jointly achieve great things; all friendly armies are willing to work together to overthrow Chiang.

  From the overall situation, the timing has matured and we should actively prepare to attack. They have strong confidence in this major move against Chiang. On the second day after Yan arrived in Zhengzhou, he convened a military meeting at the Lieshi Shrine in Bishagang, Zhengzhou, where they further studied and made specific deployments for the entire combat strategy:

  With Xuzhou and Wuhan as the first phase of combat objectives, they were divided into three routes: Tianjin-Pukou, Longhai, and Pinghan. The Tianjin-Pukou route was undertaken by the Third Front Army, with Xuzhou as its target in an offensive manner;

  The Longhai and Pinghan lines, due to the Second Route Army being transferred from northwest to east, need time to concentrate, so temporarily adopt an offensive defense. The main force on the Longhai line is the Third Route Army, with Sun Dianying, Wan Xuancai, Liu Maoyun, Liu Chunrong and others, as well as one part of Shi Yousan's troops, all under the direct command of Xu Yongchang, the front commander-in-chief of the Third Route Army.

  The Ping-Han line took the Second Route Army as its main force, with Fan Zhongxiu's unit cooperating in the battle. In the triangular area east of the Ping-Han Road and south of the Longhai Road, defenses were set up along the Lanfeng, Musi County, Fugou, and Xuchang lines. The Fourth and Fifth Route Armies of the Second Route Army, with a force of about 100,000 men, served as a mobile reserve, controlled in Tongxu, Yishi, Zhengzhou, Luoyang, etc., to respond to various situations.

  If the main force of Chiang's Central Army attacks the Tianjin-Pukou Railway, this army will advance to Bengbu, threatening the rear of Chiang's Central Army; if the main force of Chiang's Central Army attacks along the Pinghan Railway, this army will turn towards Wushengguan, coordinating with the two front-line troops to shift the offensive. After the plan was decided, Yan immediately appointed Lu Zhonglin as the commander-in-chief of the Second and Third Front Armies, and Xu Yongchang as the deputy commander-in-chief, in order to unify command.

  The overall situation of the war is: The Longhai line is in the center of the whole country, and the Tianjin-Pukou and Pinghan lines are its two wings. Therefore, both sides have used their main forces on the Longhai line, because the gains and losses of this aspect will play a decisive role in the entire battle situation.

  In this war, Chiang Kai-shek used his elite troops in this aspect, such as Liu Xiang, Gu Zhutong, Chen Jicheng, Jiang Dingwen, Xiong Shihui, Wang Jun, Yang Shengzhi, Chen Cheng, Wei Lihuang, Ye Kairui, Qin Qinglun, Zhang Zhen, Zhang Zhizhong, Feng Yuxiang and others.

  Yan and Feng used troops in this aspect, with three armies of Sun Chu, Yang Xieou, Guan Fu'an of the Jin-Sui Army, as well as superior artillery units; there were also troops from the Northwest Army such as Sun Liangcheng, Song Zheyuan, Sun Lianzhong, Ji Hongchang and others, as well as Zheng Dazhang's cavalry group, all of which were strong fighting forces.

  The difference lies in the fact that Chiang Kai-shek controlled the transportation lines of railways and navigation, with rapid military deployment, and could mobilize and concentrate a large number of troops on the battlefield within a short period. The supply of food, forage, and ammunition was also very convenient, and soldiers did not have to travel long distances, so they could maintain their full energy. The Northwestern Army was different, at the beginning of the anti-Chiang war, except for Sun Liangcheng, Song Zheyuan, Pang Bingxun and other parts stationed in the Guanzhong Plain, which were closer to the Longhai Road and easier to move eastward, Zhang Weizhen and Liu Zumeng's troops stationed in southern Shaanxi needed to pass through mountainous areas and were also restricted by Chiang's central army in Xiangfan area. As for Sun Lianzhong's troops far away in Gansu, Ningxia, and Qinghai, they had to rely on foot marching, which took even more time. All of these were far inferior to Chiang's Central Army.

  Beginning in early May, the Yan-Feng coalition army advanced with Shi You San as the left route, from Kaocheng to Heze and Dingtao; with Wan Xuan Cai as the middle route, and Sun Dian Ying as the right route, separately advancing from Guided, Bozhou towards Mangshan and Xuzhou. Xu Yongchang and Yang Ai Yuan (they were the commander-in-chief and deputy commander-in-chief of the third aspect army, under the command of Feng Yu Xiang and Lu Zhong Lin in the battle on the Longhai line) led three armies and artillery units to arrive at the Longhai line, and then set up a headquarters in Lanfeng, with the main force supporting Wan and Sun's two divisions.

  On May 11, both sides began to make large-scale contact. Due to the strong momentum of Chiang's central army and the coordination with the air force, after several days of fierce fighting, Wan and Sun's two armies gradually retreated, retreating step by step, Sun's troops retreated to Bozhou, and Wan's troops retreated to the vicinity of Guiyang.

  The Central Army led by Gu Zhutong, Chen Jicheng and Chen Cheng launched a victorious attack. Chiang Kai-shek personally went to Mapo Village on the 15th to direct the battle, and used the First Instructional Division to besiege Guide.

  At this time, Liu Maoyin (Liu Zhenhua's younger brother) was dissatisfied with Yan and Feng and defected to Chiang, using the meeting as an excuse to capture Wan Xuancai in Ningling. The Wan army was immediately surrounded, and Guided was attacked and broken through by the Central Army of the Chiang system, and the regimental commander Wan Dian was captured. The remaining troops were commanded by Shi Zhenqing to break through the siege and retreat westward, acting as a substitute for Wan Xuancai's military position. This sudden change immediately caused great chaos in the military. First, Ningling and Yucheng, which were originally defended by Liu Maoyin, fell into the hands of the Central Army of the Chiang system.

  The Jin army's Yang Xiaoou department (Liu Maoren returned to Yang Zhihui) and Sun Chu department both suffered certain losses, while Guan Fu'an department lost control in the chaos and suffered even greater losses. After Chiang Kai-shek's Central Army occupied Guided, its vanguard troops took advantage of their victory to occupy Liuhe Railway Station west of Guided, and Jiang Dingwen's department also approached Muxi County, attempting to coordinate with Chiang Kai-shek's Central Army's main force to surround Lanfeng.

  Sun Dianying retreated to Bozhou, and thus lost contact with friendly forces. The Shandong Western Route Army led by Shi Yousan was also blocked by Chen Tiaoyuan's forces and could not advance.

  Due to Liu Maonan's betrayal, the war suffered a major setback from the very beginning, disrupting the predetermined plan and laying the foundation for the ultimate victory of Chiang Kai-shek's Central Army in this massive battle involving nearly 13 million troops.

  Until September 18th, Zhang Xueliang, who had been wandering outside the battlefield, issued a telegram supporting Chiang Kai-shek, and the Northeast Army marched into the pass, securing the final victory for the Chiang faction.

  Li Ruofeng couldn't help but think that this was perhaps heaven playing a joke on Zhang Xueliang.

  The Central Plains War can be said to have been caused by Zhang Xueliang's final comeback, leading to the defeat of the Fengtian clique, Shanxi clique and Guominjun. A year later, on September 18th again, the Japanese army launched a comprehensive invasion of Northeast China, but Chiang Kai-shek ordered Zhang Xueliang not to resist, thus causing the destruction of the Zhang family's years of hard work in an instant, losing all of Northeast China.

  Above the head of three feet there is a god, it seems that for traitors, no one has ever been able to get good fruit to eat.

  Under the guidance of Li Ruofeng and the mediation of Li Chengxiang, Feng Yuxiang finally retired to the Ya Temple. Sun Zhen's regiment was not used as cannon fodder on the battlefield. On the contrary, by the end of the war, Sun Zhen had incorporated 24,000 veteran soldiers with rich combat experience, none of whom had bad habits.