Chapter 28: The Liberated Warrior

  After returning to Xingguo, the Independent Regiment did not stay for long. Due to a large number of non-combat personnel following the army, the Independent Regiment could only keep attacking, attacking and attacking again. Once they stopped, they would be attacked by the enemy. Even if they won in the end, there would still be many technicians and educated youth who died or escaped in the chaos, which was unacceptable to Hu Weidong. Moreover, Hu Weidong's goal had always been to cross the Yangtze River and fight against the Japanese invaders. What was the point of being stuck in the south fighting a civil war? Of course, everything had to be based on protecting the revolutionary masses in the Soviet area, but Hu Weidong believed that this did not contradict the Independent Regiment's move north to resist Japan...

  After these days of understanding, Hu Weidong gradually realized that the National Army was not all a group of evil thugs, and there were even some model troops with military discipline no less than the Red Army. The ones who harmed the people in the Soviet area the most were first the Pacification Corps, followed by the landlord's militia (returning to the village team), and then the warlord troops (note 1). Among them, the Pacification Corps quickly declined after Kang Ze's death, and the warlord troops that participated in the fifth siege also left the Soviet area one after another. As for the landlord's militia, with Hu Weidong's establishment of a militia system in each county, there was no need to fear at all. It is worth noting that on average, each county had several thousand core militiamen, and Hu Weidong also distributed those old-fashioned rifles that were not used by the independent divisions to them...

  However, if the National Army's main forces were to enter the Soviet area, the militia in each county would be powerless to resist, and the civilian corps could take advantage of the situation to wreak havoc. This was something that Hu Weidong absolutely did not want to see. But if the independent regiment were to stubbornly defend each county in the Soviet area, it would undoubtedly repeat the mistake made by the Central Red Army under Li De's command. Not only would it result in the unnecessary sacrifice of many combatants' lives, but it would also cause the local people to suffer even greater hardships. The blood of the Central Soviet Area had already been drained dry; if they continued to fight like before, these counties that were now barely visible with young people might really become uninhabited areas...

  To break the deadlock, Hu Weidong could only lead the independent division to actively attack the Nationalist-controlled area, as instructed by Taizu, and draw away the main force of the Nationalist army. The people in the Soviet area would be saved. Of course, doing so was equivalent to embarking on a "Long March to the East", perhaps not as arduous as the Long March route taken by the Central Red Army, but with an even greater degree of danger. The areas they passed through were all core regions controlled by Chiang Kai-shek, and if the independent division lost once, it might be completely annihilated. However, for the sake of the tens of millions of revolutionary masses within the original Central Soviet area, and to stop the civil war as soon as possible, Hu Weidong decided to give it a try. But before heading north, Hu Weidong felt that he had to rescue the hundreds of thousands of revolutionary masses in the "occupied areas" first...

  On March 16, 1935, the independent division with a force of over 50,000 men left Xingguo and advanced southeast after a brief rest. In just ten days, they captured Yunfu and Anyuan counties one after another. The reason for this achievement was that the garrison troops in these two counties were all third-rate troops of the National Army. On the other hand, the Red Army's telegraph operators deciphered the National Army's code and gained a huge intelligence advantage. At the same time, these counties were all former Soviet areas, and the old Red Army soldiers in Hu Weidong's unit were familiar with the terrain. Even in an offensive battle, it was as convenient as an internal line operation, and the fighting was naturally effortless. However, most importantly, Hu Weidong boldly used disguise tactics continuously and took risks to personally lead his vanguard disguised as National Army troops deep into enemy territory to implement tactical deception, which achieved such unimaginable results...

  In the early days of the Yongfeng and Xinguo war, the Independent Division had captured nearly a hundred vehicles. After Hu Weidong returned from Pingxiang, he discovered that these hidden treasures were still there, and suddenly came up with the idea of forming a motorized unit. Anyway, among the surrendered Tax Police Corps, there were not a few who could drive, plus others from the National Army, totaling three to five hundred people, which was quite enough. "Liberated soldiers" were great! Moreover, Hu Weidong seized every spare moment to teach the army's combatants, especially the special forces, how to drive cars, so that in the future, if they captured more vehicles but couldn't drive them, they wouldn't be snatched back or destroyed by the enemy, which would be heartbreaking...

  Which enemy would have thought that a troop of nearly two thousand people, almost everyone with a submachine gun, wearing neat National Army uniforms, not only were their boots polished, but even the wind buttons were all neatly buttoned up, would be the Red Army? As a result, the main forces of the National Army in these two counties were all disarmed in the county seat, and even if there were those who dared to resist, how could the enemy gathered on the empty field withstand the metal storm fired by thousands of submachine guns? This was not a battle at all, but a disguised massacre...

  After the main force of the county town was destroyed, the independent regiment dispatched by Hu Weidong as a unit to the lower towns and villages, although they still lacked excellent officers in command, were enough to easily eliminate the small enemy forces of no more than a few hundred people in each town. In this way, the independent regiment consumed only tens of thousands of bullets and more than ten mortar shells, with casualties of one or two hundred people, and eliminated more than 10,000 enemy troops, including more than 8,000 captured. The "immediate capture and supplementation" and "suing bitterness" movement once again showed great power, and the independent regiment now has a strength of over 60,000 people, even without counting the militia, with more than half being "liberated soldiers", and due to the large number of spoils obtained from continuous victories, their equipment is completely comparable to that of the best national army units.

  The independent division's momentum was greatly boosted, and the work in the local area became easier to do. Not only did the revolutionary masses increase their support, but many gentry and landlords also began to change their stance. Hu Weidong took advantage of this opportunity to carry out united front work, implementing a policy of "attacking the heart as the top priority, and attacking as the bottom line" towards the local Nationalist government and militia. He required each county's democratic autonomous government to strengthen its ties with local enlightened figures, even advocating for the establishment of dual governments to avoid the revolutionary masses and innocent civilians from suffering brutal retaliation from the Nationalist army. At the same time, Hu Weidong changed the previous policy of "resolutely fighting against local militia" to "three not-fighting", that is: if the local militia did not fire first, the independent division (and each county's militia) would not fight; if the local militia was willing to contact the independent division, the independent division would not fight; if the local militia did not report to the White Army before the independent division left, the independent division would not fight. The independent division protected the lives and property of local enlightened figures, even some reactionary political figures who were not enemies of the independent division and did not harm the revolutionary masses. For those who provided financial assistance or sheltered wounded soldiers for the independent division, the independent division offered protection and kept their secrets...

  Note 1: During the Republican era, it was commonly said that the military discipline of the Central Army was not as good as that of the warlord troops. However, there is a premise - the warlords were local, otherwise these miscellaneous troops would harm the civilians more than most of the Central Army. The typical example is the Guangxi Army, which was known for its good military discipline at the time, but did not do fewer evil things in the Soviet area. Although the Central Army was mixed with good and bad, due to its identity as a government army, it had a sense of belonging wherever it went, as long as the commander-in-chief was not a scum like Tang Shengzhi, generally it was still passable...