Chapter 21: Attack on Dongguan (Part 2)

  February 4th, 1925, Dongguan County Town.

  Originally belonged to the Qing dynasty county government office, now Yuan Yijiu's command center.

  His troops were 650 men, only 300 people stayed in Dongguan, and the remaining 350 people were all deployed in Chashan to respond to Shi Long's friendly forces.

  However, he also had a private heart. The 300 people stationed in Dongguan had four heavy machine guns, twenty flower machines, and a 75MM field gun purchased by Chen Jiongming from the United States, with 100 rounds of ammunition. Yuan Yining relied on these weapons to defend the county seat of Dongguan, which was as solid as gold soup.

  "Don't mention the Huangpu brat army, even if Xu Chongzhi's Guangdong Army comes, without a division of troops and a month of time, don't think about occupying Dongguan." This was Yuan Yujin's boastful words after learning that the Huangpu Instructional Brigade was stationed at Humen.

  When Yuan Kewu's superior, Hong Zhaolin, called to ask him to be careful when inspecting the Huangpu Instructional Brigade, Yuan Kewu became even more arrogant and said to Hong Zhaolin: "If the Huangpu brat army comes to attack Dongguan, my one company can capture an entire battalion of their guns."

  "Captain, the Huangpu brat army has been spotted outside." A deputy officer hastily walked over from outside and said to Yuan Yijiu.

  Yuan Yuke hastily walked to the front of the map, carefully looking at the vicinity of Dongguan. His first thought was that the Guangdong Army had broken through Shilong and was now marching towards Dongguan.

  "Are you sure it's the Huangpu Wa Wa Army and not a Guangdong army unit?" Yuan Xiaojiu hastily asked again.

  "It's confirmed, these people are all wearing gray military uniforms with red scarves, only the Huangpu children's army has such attire, but their equipment is very good, there are several cannons." The deputy officer replied quickly.

  Yuan Chujiu's face showed a puzzled expression, and he quickly led his deputy officer out of the room.

  Arriving at the city gate tower, Yuan Xiaoju held up a telescope and carefully looked into the distance. The attacking troops nearby had made preparations, and in the distance behind them, several cannons were indeed set up.

  Having seen this, Yuan Yijiu's heart couldn't help but feel a little empty. Even if it were the main force of Xu Chongzhi's Guangdong Army, they probably wouldn't have such equipment.

  "Are they really the Whampoa kids?" Yuan Xiaoji asked again involuntarily.

  The officers on the city gate looked at each other and nodded.

  Outside the city, on the departure ground.

  Chang Zheng, a consecutive long, Party representative Du Yuming, was making pre-war mobilization for the officers and soldiers.

  This time, three rows of troops were assigned to the task of probing attacks. The row leader Huang Pu, a first-term student, stood aside and led 33 officers and men to listen to the party representative's reprimand.

  "Comrades, Dongguan is just ahead. Whether we can take down Dongguan depends on our ability. You all know that Chen Jiongming's troops look down on our Huangpu Military Academy, and even other friendly troops also look down on our troops. They think we are a student army, they think we are not worth fighting." Du Yuming stood in front of the troops, shouting loudly.

  "We are student soldiers, but we are the student soldiers that Premier Sun has high hopes for. This time, Premier Sun came north to negotiate with the Northern warlords on national affairs. We were able to participate in this battle because Premier Sun personally agreed to it. What should we do to not disappoint Premier Sun's expectations?" Du Yuming shouted loudly.

  "Take down Dongguan, capture Chen Jiongming alive!" shouted Wei Song, the third company commander.

  "Take Dongguan, capture Chen Jiongming alive." The officers and soldiers shouted.

  Shen Jian walked to the front of the formation, looked at his thirty-four subordinates, and a serious expression appeared on his face. He saluted and said: "The first battle is given to you, scout Chen Jun's firepower point. Now I order, the troops set off."

  "Long live the Party Army!" Wei Song shouted loudly, leading his troops and launching an attack on Dongguan.

  Two 75mm field guns, under the command of Sun Xinghua, began firing shells towards Dongguan, covering the actions of the three rows. The two heavy machine guns of a row of aircraft guns also started firing, covering the charge of the troops.

  "It's really the Whampoa Military Academy." Yu Rujiu smiled on the city wall, especially when he saw the artillery and machine guns on the opposite side start firing, he looked down on the Whampoa Military Academy even more.

  He thought he hadn't exposed any firepower here, and the other side's artillery and machine guns started firing, which was completely to boost the morale of the attacking troops, with no actual effect.

  "Machine guns ready, let's teach these Whampoa brats how to fight!" Yuan Yijiu put down the binoculars and shouted loudly.

  With Yuan Shikai's order, the four heavy machine guns deployed on the city wall were ready to fire, and the infantrymen on the city wall also began to prepare for battle.

  Thirty-four officers and men formed a long skirmish line, slowly approaching the city wall.

  Four Browning automatic rifles, began to look for favorable positions, and set up one after another, aiming at the city wall. Once the shooting unfolded on the city wall, the four Browning automatic rifles would immediately suppress it.

  "Squad leader, less than 200 meters left." The deputy officer looked up and said hastily.

  His words had just finished, a bullet flew over his head, the deputy officer hastily squatted down and hid, if his head was a little higher, this bullet would have taken his life.

  "Brothers, have you seen that the Huangpu kids can't even shoot straight and have no combat experience? Give them a good beating. For every soldier killed, there's a reward of one yuan, for every officer killed, ten yuan will be awarded. Open fire!" Yuan Shijiu quickly gave the order.

  He followed Chen Jiongming for many years and was a veteran, so he naturally knew the importance of the first battle. If this battle gave the Huangpu Army an advantage, it would not only boost the morale of the Huangpu Army but also have a huge impact on their own morale. Therefore, at this time, Yuan Jiuru could not resist the temptation of money.

  As soon as Yuan Shao's order was given, the defending soldiers on the city wall became excited.

  Four heavy machine guns spewed out flames, and bullets shot at three rows of officers.

  The infantrymen, one by one, took their rifles and aimed at the three rows of officers below, starting to fire.

  As Yuan Shao's ninth unit opened fire, the three rows of troops stopped moving and hid, allowing the bullets from the city wall to shoot down.

  Sun Xinghua saw the firepower exposed on the city wall and a smile appeared on his face.

  "Pass the order, First Company, Second Platoon, Machine Gun Platoon, Second Company, Fourth Platoon, quickly reinforce upwards. Machine gun platoons, suppress the firepower points on the city wall." Sun Xinghua hastily gave the command.

  Two 75mm field guns, under the command of the gunner, quickly adjusted their positions and targeted the machine gun fire points on the city wall.

  "Boom" "Boom"

  With two loud cannon shots, the shells quickly traversed the empty sky and landed on top of the city wall.

  Bricks and tiles were hit by shells, causing a collapse. Two heavy machine gun firing points have been completely erased. With the explosion of the shells, five or six Chen army soldiers fell down from the city wall along with broken bricks and tiles.

  "Boom boom", the two 37mm infantry guns of the machine gun squad began to attack the city gate.

  Each row of light machine guns opened fire on the city wall, and the infantry quickly approached the city wall.

  "Ladder, quickly bring the ladder over to them." Sun Xinghua watched as the two men carrying the ladder moved slowly and couldn't help but shout loudly.

  The more anxious, the more chaotic, two soldiers carrying ladders also didn't know if they were hit or not, immediately fell to the ground, the large ladder suddenly fell to the ground. The troops that arrived at the bottom of the city wall could only be anxious, a part of the soldiers quickly ran back to the ladder, wanting to carry it over as soon as possible.

  But at this time Chen Jun's soldiers started throwing hand grenades from the top of the city wall.

  Hand grenades fell from the city wall without warning.

  Some of the soldiers fell to the ground and began to moan in agony.

  "Company commander, I'm going." Watching Sun Xinghua run forward, Shen Jian drew out his Colt pistol and stopped Sun's action. He himself rushed forward hastily.