Chapter 34: An Empty City

  February 7, 1925, Dongkeng Town.

  At 7:00 in the morning, Sun Xinghua led three battalions to rush to Dongkeng Village, while the artillery company quickly set up machine guns and cannons, aiming at Dongkeng Town.

  The three battalion troops who had never participated in the battle, under the leadership of Battalion Commander Dong Tianyong and Party Representative Sun Guangping, made preparations to launch an attack on Dongkeng.

  The first battalion was responsible for covering the two wings of the third battalion, and the second battalion served as the reserve for the entire regiment.

  Sun Xinghua made it clear that He Yingqin's troops would not arrive here until they had taken down Dongkeng Town, so he made all the preparations and decided to launch a strong attack on Dongkeng Town with his own battalion. Even if he couldn't take down Dongkeng Town, he would reduce casualties in his own troops while inflicting heavy losses on the defenders of Dongkeng.

  "Company Commander, what kind of turtle formation are these bastards using? There's no garrison outside the city and no one on the city walls. Are they trying to get us into a street fight?" Second Company Commander Hu Wei walked up to Sun Xinghua and said, holding his Japanese-made binoculars after observing for half a day without finding anything out of the ordinary.

  "It doesn't seem right. Even if they want to engage in street fighting with us, the city towers and outer walls should have troops stationed there." Sun Xinghua also expressed his own doubts.

  Nowadays, warfare is not like World War II where every troop has strong artillery support. If Sun Xinghua didn't have this intelligent computer general chip system, his troops probably wouldn't have any cannons at all.

  Even now each infantry regiment has only two French 37mm infantry guns, and each infantry company, apart from one light machine gun and one heavy machine gun, the rest are all rifles.

  "The defenders, even if they knew we had artillery, would not abandon the city walls and outside strongholds. They must have some ulterior motive. The third company dispatched a reconnaissance unit to scout out Dongkeng Town." Sun Xinghua put down his binoculars and quickly issued orders.

  As Sun Xinghua's order was passed down, a platoon of infantry from the 3rd Company began to move towards Dongkeng Town. The ten soldiers advanced cautiously, with the Browning automatic rifleman at the very back, ready to provide support for the entire squad at any time.

  But what surprised the warriors was that even as they approached the city walls, there was still no sign of anything.

  "Officer, don't shoot, Chen's soldiers have all run away." Just then the city gate opened and several civilians came out, saying fearfully.

  The infantry battalion in front cautiously advanced into the town and, after finding no Chen army soldiers, sent soldiers back to report.

  At 8:00 am, Sun Xinghua's three regiments entered Dongkeng Town and occupied the empty city without any Chen Jun soldiers.

  "The battalion commander, now the whole battalion is significantly over quota, each infantry company has dozens of extra men, and the total number of people in the battalion is around 700." After the troops were stationed, Cai Guangji reported the problems of the three battalions.

  The machine gun company expanded from the original two artillery pieces and eight machine guns to four artillery pieces and twenty-two machine guns, with a personnel strength of around 100 people.

  Each battalion's troops, except for infantry, originally had twelve light machine guns and two heavy machine guns per battalion, which were expanded to fifteen light machine guns and four heavy machine guns. The number of personnel also increased to around 170 people, with each infantry squad having two more riflemen.

  All of this development was fully sponsored by Chen Guangming.

  Chen Jun's troops not only captured a large number of weapons and ammunition from Sun Xinghua, but also took many soldiers prisoner.

  These soldiers became the main candidates for Sun Xinghua's supplementary personnel, among whom there were no shortage of excellent veterans, let alone excellent marksmen and related artillery talents.

  For these soldiers, they had no faith and did not exist the idea of serving only one person for a lifetime. As long as you gave them money, they would serve you. Don't mention fighting against Chen Jiongming's troops, even if you asked them to bring Chen Jiongming's head, as long as you had money, they would execute your orders.

  Compared with Chen Jun's soldiers, the troops of the teaching group are a team that has its own beliefs and lofty ideals. They value honor rather than money.

  Perhaps someone would say that after several decades, they changed their beliefs and ideals as their status changed, but now they only think about saving the country and people, only thinking about defeating the warlords as soon as possible and realizing Sun's Three Principles of the People.

  It can be said that the current teaching team is as pure as a blank sheet of paper, and anyone who leaves any mark on this sheet of paper will change the lifelong beliefs of these officers.

  "It doesn't matter if the number of troops is large, I'll take care of the military pay. However, we can't let those Chen Jun soldiers affect us, but rather we should influence them. Party representative, you immediately pass down the order, and have the troops hold a commendation meeting." Sun Xinghua hastily gave the command.

  "Yes, Camp Commander." Cai Guangji bowed and walked out towards the outside.

  At 10:00, the commendation meeting of the three regiments was held in Dongkeng Town. At the same time, the main force of the First Instructional Regiment led by He Yingqin set out from Liaobu Town and marched towards Dongkeng Town.

  Party representatives Miao Bin and others, although unable to change He Yingqin's orders, secretly reported all of He Yingqin's actions to Principal Chiang.

  "Some people say that this commendation conference is to praise the outstanding officers and men who fought in the previous period. Others say that this commendation conference is to reward those who have made contributions. But I want to tell you, this commendation conference is only a recognition of the bravery of our soldiers, not a reward for their achievements."

  "If we are to talk about rewarding merits, those officers and soldiers who died in battle, what kind of commendation should they receive, and how should they accept our commendation. This commendation ceremony is merely an affirmation of the troops' previous battles, as well as a praise for the outstanding officers and soldiers."

  Sun Xinghua stood in front of the troops, loudly reprimanding them.

  After Sun Xinghua's order was conveyed, many voices emerged from the troops, believing that this commendation meeting was a reward for the officers and soldiers.

  "The regimental commander is right. Premier Sun had spoken about this at the opening of the Whampoa Military Academy, from today on, make a vow for life, never harbor the mentality of seeking promotion and wealth, only know the cause of saving the country and people." Party representative Cai Guangju looked at Sun Xinghua without continuing to speak, stood up, and quoted Premier Sun's speech at the opening of Whampoa.

  "We'd rather die than betray our country and people." The officers and soldiers raised their right hands and shouted in unison.

  The officers from Huangpu, as if they had returned to the first day of school, stood on the stage, facing themselves and giving instructions, warning the young men of Huangpu about the will that should exist throughout their lives.

  "Not for money, not for life. Love the country, love the people."

  The sound has been echoing in Dongkeng Town for a long time, this is their original oath, and it is also the promise they made in front of Premier Sun and Principal Jiang.

  Listening to the shouts of the soldiers from the three battalions, Chen Jun's soldiers also seemed to understand some reason why this unit was fighting so desperately.

  The party army troops have just been established, and the road ahead is still very long. Many of us will die in battle, and many of us will survive. Those who survive will have increasingly higher positions, battalion commander, regimental commander, division commander, and even corps commander, are all possible. But I hope that no matter when, you can always remember your oath. When doing anything, think about whether what you're doing is worthy of these twelve characters, whether it's worthy of Premier Sun. Sun Xinghua continued to speak, the officers and soldiers fell silent.

  Some of the officers and soldiers who were thinking about merit and reward looked down at the ground in shame.