Chapter 35: The Officer's Code of Conduct
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Dongguan, headquarters campus.
Chiang Kai-shek looked at the telegram sent by Miao Bin, his eyebrows furrowed tightly. He knew that Sun Xinghua's recent performance was too outstanding, overshadowing the prestige of Commander-in-Chief He Yingqin, but Chiang Kai-shek was very dissatisfied with He Yingqin's approach, after all, Sun Xinghua's troops were also trained by Chiang Kai-shek himself.
However, for He Yingqin, Chiang did not make any criticism. Chiang was a clever man and knew that criticizing He would only deepen the hatred between He and Sun Xinghua.
"Orders are as follows: 1. The first battalion of the First Regiment will rest and regroup in Dongkeng, while He Yingqin leads the main force to join forces with the Guangdong Army and launch a full-scale attack on Changping. 2. The Second Regiment will advance quickly to Dongkeng and take up defensive positions as the reserve team. 3. After the arrival of the Second Regiment, Sun Xinghua's battalion will return to its original formation under the First Regiment and serve as the regimental reserve." Principal Chiang gave orders swiftly while studying the map.
In order to prevent He Yingqin from over-consuming the three camps, Chiang Kai-shek specifically instructed in his orders that after Sun Xinghua returned and took charge of the 1st Regiment as a reserve team, this was a warning to He Yingqin.
"Yes." The orderly saluted quickly and said.
Chiang Kai-shek walked up to the map after the orderly had left.
This time, the Chen army unit west of Laos was annihilated, and Sun Xinghua's three regiments made great contributions. From these days of fighting, Principal Chiang also saw that Sun Xinghua's command ability was above He Yingqin's, lacking only seniority.
"Director Chiang, Commander-in-Chief Hu Hanmin, Party Representative Liao Zhongkai, Xu Chongzhi, Wu Chaoshu and Soviet Chief Adviser Galen arrived at Shilong from Guangzhou by car. They will convene a military meeting with frontline commanders. Shall we set off immediately?" Director Zhou said as he walked up to Director Chiang's side.
Principal Chiang looked at the map and said to Director Zhou beside him, "We will set out immediately. Also, pass down the order that we must capture Changping before nightfall."
After finishing speaking, Principal Jiang wore his military cap and walked out towards the outside.
Dongkeng Town, Sanying Command Center.
More than an hour ago, the main force of He Yingqin's troops had passed by here and would attack Changping with the Guangdong Army. As for Chiang Kai-shek's order, He Yingqin seemed to have realized something and personally came to the command post of the third battalion to comfort the officers and soldiers, and also allocated a portion of silver dollars from the regimental headquarters to improve the food supply of Sun Xinghua's troops.
He Yingqin's behavior shocked the officers and soldiers of the three battalions. However, only a few people, including the party representative Miao Bin, knew that He Yingqin was worried that Chiang Kai-shek would remove him from his position as regiment commander, so he had to temporarily put aside his pride and make friends with Sun Xinghua, after all, Sun's recent performance was visible to everyone. It was also very possible for Chiang Kai-shek to replace He Yingqin with Sun Xinghua in a fit of anger.
"Squad leader, it's all set." Party representative Cai Guangju walked out from outside, still holding a small blue notebook in his hand, with the emblem of the Blue Sky and White Sun on the cover.
Sun Xinghua's face broke into a smile as he took the notebook and flipped through it, saying to Cai Guangjie: "Well done! Notebooks like this must be guaranteed for every officer. From now on, their merits and demerits will all be recorded in these notebooks."
The small notebook is not big, just the right size to be put in a pocket. The first page of the notebook reads:
1. Don't fear death
2. Don't covet money
3. Love the country
4. Love the people
5. Don't pull rank
6. Obey orders
7. Be loyal to duty
8. Strictly observe discipline
9. Practice what you preach
10. Complete the revolution
In the following blank pages, there will be a military department document, which writes down the achievements of the military officers and some mistakes.
The purpose of this little book is to give officers a sense of their own honor, and also to rely on the merits and demerits recorded in it when promoting officers, so as to assign them suitable duties.
"The soldiers over there also need to be managed, let the squad leader of each squad record everything about the soldiers, how many enemies they killed, what merits they achieved, and what mistakes they made. The battalion headquarters here needs to keep a record of the addresses of all officers and soldiers. Once a soldier is sacrificed, we must send double compensation according to the address." Sun Xinghua returned the small notebook to Cai Guangju, saying seriously.
"Yes." Cai Guangju bowed and walked out towards the outside.
Sun Xinghua did not expect that his actions today would become a unique system of the Party army, and by the time of the War of Resistance against Japan, every Party army officer had two small blue books in their pockets. One was the "Code of Conduct for Party Members" personally formulated by Chiang Kai-shek, and the other was the "Code of Conduct for Military Officers" formulated by Sun Xinghua.
On February 7, 1925, the Guangdong Army's Zhang Mingda Division and He Yingqin Brigade launched an attack on Changping. After a fierce battle lasting two hours, neither side could gain the upper hand, with both sides suffering casualties. Upon hearing the news, Chiang Kai-shek quickly mobilized the armored car unit from the General Headquarters to launch a cannon attack on the Changping position. Zhang Mingda, commander of the division, Xu Ji, commander of the brigade, He Yingqin, and other officers rushed to the front line to assist in the battle. However, Chen's troops relied on their advantageous terrain to repel the allied forces' attacks dozens of times.
On February 8, the Second Regiment led by Commander Wang Boling was stationed in Dongkeng and served as the general reserve team for the right route army. Sun Xinghua's third battalion received orders from Chiang Kai-shek to go to Changping to assist in the battle.
Both sides fought fiercely in Changping for many days, and morale was low, but after Sun Xinghua's fresh troops arrived, the tide of victory turned in favor of the allied forces. At 1 pm, Sun Xinghua's three regiments captured Changpingshan, annihilating over 200 of Chen's troops, who retreated to defend the city.
At 4 pm, the commander of the defending army, Yan Xiu, saw that the allied forces were about to surround Changping, and quickly abandoned Changping, leading more than a thousand defeated soldiers to set out for Zhangmutou Town.
The Guangdong Army troops, under the command of Zhang Mingda, quickly pursued Chen's army to Zhangmutou Town, but when they arrived at Zhangmutou Town in the evening, they found that Chen's army had retreated without a fight. Zhang Mingda was afraid that Chen's army might be plotting something, so he immediately ordered his troops to stay put and stop pursuing the Guangdong Army, while contacting the First Instructional Brigade in Changping to rush to Zhangmutou Town to take over its defense.
February 10, 1925, Zhangmutou Town.
The First Battalion of the Second Regiment, led by Battalion Commander Chen Jicheng, entered Zhangmu Town.
After observing for a while, Zhang Mingda found that Chen Jun's troops did not counterattack, and quickly ordered the troops to continue attacking, leaving the First Division of the Instruction Corps in Zhangmu Town.
"Battalion Commander, what is Zhang Shilong really thinking? He lets us take the lead and then leaves us in Zhangmu Town. Isn't he just playing with us?" said Guan Linzheng, the deputy commander of the machine gun company, standing beside Sun Xinghua with a displeased expression.
Sun Xinghua smiled and patted Guan Linzheng's shoulder, but didn't say anything.
Zhang Mingda's idea was clear to Sun Xinghua, who worried that Zhangying Town was a trap, so he let the Guidance Team test the waters. Seeing that Chen Jun's troops did not counterattack, Zhang Mingda must have known that Chen Jun's soldiers were already demoralized and unable to fight again. Knowing this situation, how could Zhang Mingda give up the best opportunity to gain merit by beating a defeated enemy to the Guidance Team?
