Chapter 3: The Wind Rises in Guangdong Section 46: Raid on Danshui (4)

  It wasn't long after departure that a light rain began to fall from the sky. After traveling for one hour and twenty minutes, they arrived at the foot of Danshui City in the dark. Wang Gongliang led a team to quietly set up a bridge over the moat; Xia Yanglin estimated that the city wall was about three meters wide, but Jiang Xianyun felt it wasn't safe, so he made a bamboo ladder over four meters long, which became a simple bridge when laid on top of the wall.

  Jiang Xianyun handed over a sentence to Li Xianzhou, saying that if we don't come back, you will lead the troops to withdraw in a southwest direction. Then, he led a platoon of two remaining classes, carrying ladders, and quietly arrived at the foot of the city wall. They set up the ladder, and Jiang Xianyun was the first to climb up. When he reached the top, he found that the ladder was not long enough, still about 1 meter away from the battlements. He listened to the movements on the city wall, grabbed the edge with both hands, and jumped onto the wall, hiding beside it. Later, Wang Gongliang also climbed onto the wall. Under the leadership of the two officers, a platoon of soldiers quietly climbed over the wall.

  Before the soldiers all climbed up, Jiang Xianyun and Wang Gongliang each led a group of people to sneak towards the two castle towers. The doors of the castle tower, which were slightly closed, showed a faint light. At 4:00 in the morning, when the sleepiness was strongest, the only sentry under the eaves of the building was hiding from the rain and dozing off, occasionally raising his head to look around, cursing the bad weather in his heart. In his opinion, the Eastern Expedition Army was still far away, more than 20 miles from Danshui, besides this was the East Gate, not the South or West Gates. When he raised his head again to look around, he saw a pistol pointing at his chest, and he subconsciously opened his mouth to shout, but the owner of the pistol covered his mouth with his hand.

  After controlling Chen Jun's squad in the city gate tower, Jiang Xianyun quietly went down the city and quickly approached the city gate. There was no accident, and the soldiers guarding the city gate were all hiding in the city gate cave, with someone watching from above, and the city gate was closed, what could happen.

  The guard was dozing off in the corner, while Ye Xuanrong was still studying the map. Since Zhang Liguo's troops arrived, he had been living in the command center and hadn't returned home. He had been worried that Chen Jiongming's promised reinforcements had not arrived, and Danshui was almost an empty city. Hong Zhaolong repeatedly claimed that his Yunnan army was too strong to send reinforcements, but Ye Xuanrong understood what he was thinking - he just wanted to see Ye Xuanrong make a fool of himself. A few days later, Zhang Liguo returned, and Ye Xuanrong learned that the defenders on the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway had been completely defeated. He immediately sent out an urgent call for help to Chen Jiongming and Ye Xuanrong. This time, not only was Chen Jiongming panicked, but Hong Zhaolong and Ye Xuanrong were also panicked, and the troops that couldn't be mobilized before suddenly appeared.

  Thousands of horses and men were defeated in two battles, and Yuan Huan and Meng Xiangzhang's life or death was unknown. This had never happened before. Ye Jianying felt that Sun Yat-sen's Eastern Expedition this time was different from the previous ones. Two years ago, during the Eastern Expedition, although Sun Yat-sen's troops were numerous, they were not as resolute as this time. Everyone on the battlefield still left some room for each other, unlike now when it was a matter of life and death. The Huangpu Military Academy in Zhangmutou had only one company, but they fought to the death, which was unprecedented even among the Yunnan-Guangxi troops.

  Looking at our own army, after arriving in Dongjiang, it's not like before. The commanders are at odds with each other. Hong Zhaolin wants to take a share of the spoils in Huizhou, but Ye Jueming secretly opposes him. As a result, even now when Danshui is in crisis, Hong Zhaolin refuses to send troops to rescue them. But on the other hand, who would be willing to give up the fat meat that's already in their mouth in impoverished Dongjiang?

  I'm afraid the Eastern Expeditionary Army will arrive at the city walls tomorrow. If the reinforcements haven't arrived yet, it's almost certain that Tamsui will fall. Just as he was thinking this, the door suddenly swung open and a gust of cold wind blew in. Several people burst in without even knocking on the door.

  You're too arrogant! As he raised his head in indignation, he saw several black gun muzzles pointing at him, and two more were aimed at the awakened guards. A young officer wearing a uniform of his own army smiled at him and said: "We are the Whampoa Military Academy, you have been captured, hand over your weapons."

  After controlling the city gate, Jiang Xianyun sneaked into the nearby military camp with the same method and solved all the guards at the east gate without firing a shot. Through the company commander of the east gate guard, he learned about the location of the enemy command center in Danshui, left Li Xianzhou's squad to guard, and led the rest of the troops to launch a surprise attack on the command center immediately. To deal with potential enemies they might encounter on the way, they even put on the enemy's military uniforms, but it turned out to be unnecessary as the enemy's defense inside the city was even more relaxed, and they didn't encounter any patrolling enemy soldiers on the road before arriving at the command center. What followed was like a play: the guards at the door were easily solved, Jiang Xianyun led a squad to rush into the room where the enemy commander was staying, Wang Jiaxiu led another squad to deal with the guard squad, and Wang Gongliang took care of the rest of the people.

  "How did you get in?" Despite having surrendered, Ye Wenxuan still couldn't figure out how these people had entered the city.

  Jiang Xianyun did not tie him up, but instead assigned two soldiers to guard him and left. Zhang Yunpeng knew that he had gone to deal with the others in the command center. After a while, Jiang Xianyun returned.

  "How did we get in? We'll discuss that later, Instructor Zhang. Can you help me out for now? Call the battalion commanders to come and have a meeting. Don't bother with Lieutenant Lei who's guarding the east gate, or the one here either." The plan was going smoothly, Jiang Xianyun felt happy and couldn't help but imitate Zhuang Jihua's way of speaking.

  Yan Feng reluctantly picked up the phone and made several consecutive calls, summoning the battalion commanders to a meeting at the regimental headquarters. As expected, each one was taken care of. Afterwards, Jiang Xianyun and Wang Gongliang took the commander of the South Gate garrison to the South Gate. The South Gate garrison was scattered, and under the leadership of the commander, Jiang Xianyun went from one company to another, taking control of the South Gate within half an hour. Then, he immediately dispatched Wang Gongliang to lead a cavalry unit to seek reinforcements at the regimental headquarters. Xia Yanglin, who had mixed in with Li Xianshou's troops, also followed into the city and volunteered to guide them again.

  Wang Gongliang had never ridden a horse before, but he had no choice and could only force himself to do so. He tightly grasped the reins and whipped the horse to hurry forward. Although the 4th company's advance was going smoothly for now, there were still two gates that they couldn't control, and even if they managed to control them, tomorrow the enemy's reinforcements would arrive, and the 4th company would face a fierce battle.

  A horse ran by, and Wang Gongliang was surprised to see Xia Yanglin riding effortlessly on the horse. Damn it, this kid's horsemanship is not bad at all. Of course, it's not bad, the Xia family has several horses, and Xia Yanglin has liked riding since he was a child. He runs east and west, always going by horseback, do you think he walks?

  "Ease the reins a bit and squeeze your legs tight, the horse will run faster." Xia Yanglin ran for a distance before stopping to wait for Wang Gongliang to catch up, then shouted at him loudly before running off again, leaving Wang Gongliang fuming.

  In front of the stone drum, a small village Xia Yanglin was stopped by the sentry. His worn-out military uniform made the sentry think he was a spy. Fortunately, it was at night, otherwise the sentry would have opened fire from afar.

  San Camp Commander Liu Yi said he couldn't believe that the four consecutive took away the freshwater, and the principal's four-way siege was actually taken down by Jiang Xianyun alone. He was very suspicious that this was the opponent's dead soldier, but looking at the young man's excited appearance, it didn't seem like it. Just as he was hesitating, Wang Gongliang arrived.

  The three regiments were mobilized in an emergency, and then the whole division was deployed. He Yingqin was overjoyed, saying that Jiang Xianyun's contribution was too timely. Wang Boling, that empty theorist, was defeated by Zhuang Jihua's brilliant battle. Last time at the meeting, he looked so proud, his eyes almost popped out of his head. Now look at you, are you still proud? Your Second Division has Zhuang Jihua, but my First Division also has Jiang Xianyun.

  Liu Zhen rushed to Danshui when Jiang Xianyun and the enemy were facing off near the North Gate. They were discovered by a soldier who got up early while attempting to launch a surprise attack on the West Gate, forcing them to open fire. However, the defenders at the West Gate discovered too late and were quickly eliminated by the 4th Company. The defenders at the North Gate, however, were prepared, so Jiang Xianyun had no choice but to launch a strong assault. Due to insufficient troops, the attack failed, resulting in a standoff.

  Liu Zhen arrived just in time, the enemy had just regrouped and was about to launch a counterattack. Since all high-ranking officers were captured, the remaining lower-ranking officers each had some discontent, after fighting for a while they found that this way of fighting individually would not work, so they reluctantly elected a commander-in-chief to take charge of commanding various units.

  Liu Zhen sounded the charge as soon as he arrived and launched an attack. Chen's army discovered that the reinforcements had arrived in the city, so they immediately abandoned the city and fled. Liu Zhen did not pursue them either, but instead closed the city gate and guarded it from inside, waiting for He Yingqin to arrive before doing anything else.

  Yin Ji's troops, who came from Haifeng, did not arrive in Danshui until noon. The reason was that Jiang Xianyun had claimed to be the commander of the vanguard regiment at Shuitianzhuang, frightening off Yin's vanguard regiment (intelligence from the vanguard company rescued at Shuitianzhuang). As a result, they proceeded with caution along the way and only began to act after waiting for the follow-up troops to arrive. By the time they arrived, not only had the First Regiment of the Training Division entered the city, but Chiang Kai-shek and Galen had also entered the city with the Second Regiment of the Training Division. The main force of Zhang Mingda's 2nd Division of the Guangdong Army had already reached Xiangshan on the west bank of the Danshui River, while another unit had crossed the river and approached Danshui; the 7th Brigade of Xu Ji's Guangdong Army arrived at Shuixiangtang.

  Yin Ji saw that things could not be violated, and he retreated towards Changshan Kou and Xianren Shi in the north.

  Tamsui is finally in hand, and the southern gate of Huizhou has been opened.

  However, Hong Zhao-lin's reinforcements from Boro and Yang Kun-ru's from Huizhou were only a few dozen miles away from Danshui, with the vanguard already arriving at Wangniu Gang.

  Yin Ji met Hong Zhaolin and Yang Kunru, the commander of the 4th Brigade Li Kecheng, at Laopojiao between Wangniugang and Changshan Kou. After learning that Danshui had been lost, they stopped advancing and asked Chen Jiongming for instructions on their next move. Chen Jiongming ordered them to retake Danshui immediately. The three men discussed and decided to have Hong Zhaolin's troops as the main force attack Danshui from the Shakeng direction, Yin Ji's troops would attack the north of Danshui from Wangniugang, and Li Kecheng would defend along Huangsha Wei and Guoling to cover the flanks of the two armies.

  Chiang Kai-shek soon received reinforcements from Chen Jiongming's army, led by Hong Zhaolin and Yin Ji, who rushed to the area north of Danshui. After consulting with Galen, he ordered the 2nd Division to deploy along the Shakeng River, while the 7th Regiment of the Guangdong Army, led by Xu Jizhe, and a part of the 2nd Division of the Guangdong Army advanced northward from Wangniugang. The main force of the 2nd Division of the Guangdong Army set out from Xiangshan, with one unit standing guard to the north, while the main force crossed the river through Shankeng and attacked in the direction of Guoling.

  The two armies clashed head-on north of Tamsui, launching the first decisive battle of the First Eastern Expedition.

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