The Thirteenth Chapter: Silent
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The development of the war afterwards was not entirely as Gan Lu hoped. Song Xilian led the two detachments that monitored Shibao to retreat and merge with Fan Hanjie's detachment, then merged with the main force in Shikou Village. The Western Army in Shikou retreated immediately after learning about the situation at Weitang, but the Eastern Army captured two large ships and seven small ships. Afterwards, the Eastern Army's main force entered Shikou to rest, and after three hours of rest, they prepared to cross the river with great fanfare and torches after dinner. Guan Linzheng received the news and secretly led his army out, hiding quietly in the south of Shikou.
At this time, the detailed report and meeting records of the first phase were submitted to the director's office, and Chiang Kai-shek, Galen, He Yingqin and others only fully understood how the battle situation had evolved.
The change in the battle situation began on the way to Shibaicheng, due to Zhuang Jihua's suspicion of the Western Army's deployment and his concern about the enemy situation on the other side of Lie De Stream. Under Zhuang Jihua's insistence, a combat meeting was held, where Zhuang Jihua persuaded everyone to adopt a more stable approach, that is, to resolutely capture Shigang at the beginning of the attack, intimidating Guan Linzheng in Shibai and making him dare not move lightly. Then the main force crossed Shibai, using three detachments instead of the whole army to attack the crossing point, while the main force stayed between the crossing point and Shibai, and sent out reconnaissance teams to the north and south of Lie De Stream, especially around Shikou Village in the north, because there were large ships there. When the Western Army began to send reconnaissance teams from the other side to Shikou Village, they were discovered, and thus the Western Army's combat plan was completely exposed, which led to the subsequent siege and annihilation battle. The Eastern Army's battle planning and deployment were all attributed to Zhuang Jihua.
As the Eastern Army began to cross the river, Guan Linzheng quietly set out towards Shikou. When the Eastern Army had passed two-thirds of the way, Guan Linzheng launched an attack on Shikou and quickly entered it. However, he was soon surrounded by the Eastern Army in a small area south of Shikou Village. It turned out that the main force of the Eastern Army had not crossed the river at all, but had been hiding in Shikou Village, with only one detachment rowing back and forth on the river to lure Guan Linzheng into a trap and annihilate his troops. What followed was simple: under the attack of three times the number of soldiers, after an hour of fighting, Guan Linzheng's army was completely annihilated.
At the same time, the defenders of the ferry crossing abandoned their positions under He Shaozhou's leadership and retreated to Shou Dog Ridge. During the Battle of Weiting, He's unit did not dare to move without orders or clear situation, and after learning about the outcome of the battle, they reported back to the Western Military Command at Shou Dog Ridge before retreating. However, this action was criticized by He Yingqin.
He Yingqin has recovered from the blow, and he strongly criticized He Shaozhou's actions, believing that He Shaozhou should have immediately rushed to the opposite bank of the Shikou River to intercept the Eastern Army's crossing, coordinating with Guan Linzhen's forces, rather than retreating to the safe area of Shoujiaping. His criticism was supported by Galen. At the same time, Galen criticized the Eastern Army for not immediately crossing the river and instead delaying their crossing due to concerns about Guan Linzhen, which could lead to failure if He Shaozhou retreated to Shoujiaping, where Western forces would greatly increase in strength.
In the dead of night, the Eastern Army crossed the river and advanced towards Gaoyang Ridge in forced marches. Meanwhile, He Shaozhou's division of the Western Army stopped to rest at Fanyuan south of Gaoyang Ridge. This move not only made He Yingqin shake his head but also led Wang Bailing to clearly believe it was a mistake. They thought they should withdraw to Gaoyang Ridge as soon as possible. After receiving the report of the defeat at Weitang, Zhu Tong, the commander-in-chief of the Western Army at Gaoyang Ridge, immediately sent someone to find He Shaozhou and order him to withdraw to Gaoyang Ridge at once. However, due to the darkness of night, the order failed to reach He Shaozhou's hands.
After dawn, the Eastern Army found He's unit and annihilated it. However, before its destruction, He's unit put up a stubborn resistance for two hours, causing considerable losses to the Eastern Army and leaving them exhausted. The Eastern Army was forced to rest for two hours, by which time it was already noon on the last day of the exercise.
The director's department counted the forces on both sides, and the Eastern Army had more than 230 people left. The Western Army's Guan Linzheng Department and He Shaozhou Department were annihilated, with losses of nearly 300 people. Now there are about 180 people left in the Western Army at Shou Dog Ridge. Since the Western Army occupies the bottom, it is still a question whether the Eastern Army can capture it.
At this point, the final result is no longer important. Although there were not many people in this exercise, it was re-enacted in a dozen or so square kilometers around the village, with battles such as village sieges and ambushes. The deployment of troops on both sides was well-organized, and although there were not many people, they had the flavor of a large army battle. As the battle developed to this point, Chiang Kai-shek was extremely satisfied, despite some minor flaws. Among these students, Zhuang Jihua, Jiang Xiyun, Chen Gong, Hu Zongnan, Li Zhilong, Guan Linzheng, Song Xilian, and He Shaozhou all showed their talents in this exercise, especially Zhuang Jihua, whose plans were behind the actions of the Eastern Army.
Chiang Kai-shek further confirmed that Zhuang Jihuah was a talented general, but thinking of him reminded him of the recent troubles he had been having, which made him somewhat annoyed. Although Zhuang's criticism by the Communist Party pleased him, his proposal for equal treatment of both parties also met with opposition from many senior Kuomintang members, who even called him the "Red General", a name that didn't seem so bad now. Chiang thought to himself that he needed to have a talk with him after the exercise.
The Eastern Army troops were divided into two routes to attack the Skinny Dog Ridge, and the remaining Western Army forces led by Shen Ying fought bravely. The two sides clashed at the Skinny Dog Ridge, and when the exercise ended, the Western Army was surrounded on all sides at the summit, but did not allow the Eastern Army to gain a complete victory.
After the exercise, Chiang Kai-shek, accompanied by his advisor General Galen, Chief of Staff He Yingqin, and Director Zhou of the Political Department, inspected all personnel participating in the exercise. Chiang Kai-shek delivered a speech to all participants:
"I am delighted with your performance. You have only received six months of military academy education, and in these six months, you have completed the military training that the Japanese need three years to complete and the Soviets need two years to complete. Today is an assessment of your six-month education, and you have surprised me and the advisory team. Whether it's in night battles or assault battles, you have fully applied the knowledge you learned in military school. This reflects the bravery and cleverness of revolutionary soldiers and shows that the education at this school is successful. However, don't be proud, as many problems were exposed during the exercise. When you go back, you must carefully summarize and reflect on your experience. You also haven't encountered the problem of leading troops yet, as the soldiers you led are students from the military academy, not those you trained yourselves. Some of you will go to the instructional team, and we will establish a new regiment. Lower-level officers will also be selected from among you, and when that happens, you must train your troops well. The country is in crisis, and you must bear the responsibility of saving the nation and its people."
Recently, some people have been saying that Communist Party members should withdraw from the Nationalist Party. The principal said this and glanced at Zhuang Jihua, seeing that he was very calm, with no change in his expression: "What I want to say is that all the Communist Party members in our school are good guys, they are all passionate young people, attracting such passionate young people into the revolution is Premier's wise decision. The three major policies of uniting with Russia, tolerating communism and assisting farmers and workers are not to be changed. Anyone who opposes this policy, opposes the Communist Party, is an enemy of mine. You must resolutely oppose them."
Listening to Chiang Kai-shek's speech, Zhuang Jihua couldn't help but smile wryly in his heart. This Chiang Kai-shek was indeed good at talking big and not paying taxes, deceiving people to death without being held accountable. He glanced at Director Zhou standing beside Chiang Kai-shek, only to see that Director Zhou was also looking at him. He quickly shifted his gaze away, unsure of what Director Zhou was thinking, but he was certain that he had been deceived.
"The officers and men of the instructional troops are also very good. You have been in the army for at most three months, and at least one month, and you have shown strong fighting spirit and revolutionary courage in the exercises, which is very good. You have joined the revolutionary army and become a member of the revolution... You should know that although you have lost several battles, your opponents are military school students who have been trained for six months, and their equipment is better than yours. However, despite this, you have caused them more than half casualties, which is an outstanding achievement... Although the Western Army was defeated, Chiang Kai-shek felt that he could not dampen the morale of the instructional troops and wanted to encourage them."
As the student who performed best in the exercise, Zhuang Jihua was commended by Chiang Kai-shek and Galen, and given a certificate of merit and a bonus. Galen was even more enthusiastic, telling him to his face that he had the potential to become a marshal, while also asking him why he didn't immediately cross the river and then destroy the ferry, leaving Guan Linzheng stranded on the east bank, whether this option wasn't better. The advisor's equal attitude towards students made Zhuang Jihua somewhat flattered, knowing that half of the Russian advisors were very arrogant, and due to cultural differences between China and the West, they would directly express their opinions, often making some instructors lose face. Zhuang Jihua told Galen that he was worried about Guan Linzheng causing trouble during the crossing, so he wanted to annihilate Guan's troops first, only thinking afterwards that it was indeed possible to leave Guan's troops stranded on the east bank.
The grand and magnificent exercise has ended, and the first batch of students from Huangpu have begun to leave school. At this time, Zhuang Jihua felt like a professional moving worker for a moving company, with only slight differences in the items being moved - a backpack, then books, some people having more, some less, and some none at all. He sent Jiang Xiyun, Zeng Kuocheng, Hu Zongnan to the Lianzhi team, sent He Zhonghan, Deng Wenyi, Yang Qigang, Li Zhidong to the Political Department, sent Chen Geng to the Student Regiment, and on his way back, he also sent Xu Jishen, Liu Chongxi to the newly established Second Instructional Brigade. Each time was the same, with similar words being spoken, but they all had some doubts because according to informed sources, Zhuang Jihua was supposed to go to the First Instructional Brigade as a company commander, yet until now there has been no news, and the company commanders of each company in the First Brigade have already been appointed. Xu Jishen advised Zhuang Jihua that he might be going to the Second Brigade, or else he would be like Yu Jizi, serving as a secretary for the school principal. In his heart, Zhuang Jihua knew they were comforting him, and now the whole school knows that he is actually being reassigned. Although these two men had strong suspicions of being communists, they intentionally did not bring up the matter, and Zhuang Jihua was happy to avoid talking about it, laughing and saying "I am a revolutionary brick, wherever I am needed, I will be moved there."
After sending everyone away, the dormitory was left with only him. He remembered that in his previous life, he had watched a TV series about a soldier guarding a military camp. Zhuang Jihua felt that he was a bit like that soldier now. Every day, he would run lightly in the morning and then go to the reading room to read books and newspapers. The newspaper was still lively, but Zhuang Jihua didn't make a sound. Both factions almost didn't let him off, and they all suspected of brutally beating "fallen dogs". However, the campus had calmed down. "Soldier's Friend" continued to publish articles supporting the maintenance of cooperation between the KMT and the Communist Party and opposing division. Zhuang Jihua welcomed this type of article, but he also couldn't express his opinions. Some second-year classmates were still staring at him, waiting for him to make a move.
After drifting for over ten days, Principal Chiang seemed to have had enough of his idleness and sent Yu Jiti to find him. The matter was a simple one - inviting him to dinner.
