Chapter 378: New Outlook of the Ministry of Rites (XIV)
On the third day after the last short battle in Henan, the day Qian Qing severely criticized his old brothers, Ding Shuaimin was ready to fight the Qing army again.
As the fist force, that is, the force that dealt a fatal blow to the Qing army, Ding Shuaimin chose Li Hong who had participated in the exercise before. Li Hong was originally a regiment commander, and was promoted to deputy division commander at this time. However, he was airdropped and appointed as the deputy branch chief of the rites branch of the 17th Division. This was also the most profound institutional adjustment made by Ding Shuaimin's army.
As the deputy branch chief, he could attend all high-level meetings of the division headquarters, and he was not just a regimental-level officer, but a member of the etiquette department with a certain say.
At the critical moment, the members of the Ministry of Rites must stand up! So the command of the Fist Force was handed over to Li Hong.
While arranging the work, Wu, the commander of the 15th Division, heard the arrangement and immediately said, "Commander, our 15th Division can fight! Let us fight."
Ding Shuaimin immediately replied: "This is not the time to be angry."
Commander Wu insisted, "No. We also held a branch meeting, and after discussion, we also know how to fight!"
"Oh? Tell me about it." Ding Shuaimin wanted to retreat in order to advance.
Division Commander Wu immediately explained: "The Qing army's hiding cave must be in a place that can be defended. Last time we fought desperately to break in head-on, but we ran into their trap. Commander, we have discussed it. This time, we will not fight in a horizontal column, but in a vertical column! Use firepower to control the two ends of the Qing army's weak points, and the troops will charge in from the weak points in a column. After entering, do not entangle with the enemy, but rush directly inside. Smash the center of the Qing army!"
"Huh?" Ding Shuamin was surprised.
However, Commander Wu obviously misunderstood what Ding Shuaimin meant. Before Ding Shuaimin could continue speaking, he quickly shouted, "Commander, this is a lesson taught in the military academy recently opened by His Majesty. We only listened to it before, but did not understand it. Now we understand, and this is the only way to tear the Qing army apart."
Ding Shuaimin didn't expect that Commander Wu would suddenly come to his senses. He still didn't dare to believe it, and said thoughtfully: "But..."
"If we want to fight like this, we need someone who is not afraid of death to rush in! I will hand over the troops to the branch chief for command, and I will lead the charge myself!"
Ding Shuaimin was a little embarrassed. Commander Wu made all the key points very clear, and just as Commander Wu said, the military academy opened by Huo Chong taught the new tactics of winning by cutting in with columns. The reason why the old brothers were more resistant was because the gap between the column tactics and the previous large-scale horizontal advance was too big.
Moreover, from a purely management perspective, the tactics of cutting in with a column are too flexible and maneuverable compared to a horizontal column. In a large-scale troop battle, a force with less than one twentieth of the enemy's strength rushing into the enemy's army would be too risky. If there is any accident, they will be killed.
However, no matter how good the commander Wu's words were, Ding Shuaimin didn't want to let the 15th Division take risks. Just as he was about to refuse, he heard the military branch chief Li Hao say, "Commander, why not let the 15th Division and the 17th Division attack from opposite sides. If they can meet up with the Qing army, it will just cut the Qing army in half."
Ding Shuaimin wanted to refuse, but he was unwilling to oppose Li Hao's suggestion so directly. While he was hesitating, Division Commander Wu said loudly: "I want revenge and redress. But these are all the results of discussions by our division's etiquette department for so long. Commander, you have to trust our division's etiquette department!"
After being told this, Ding Shuaimin really had nothing to say. Huo Chong now wanted to replace the situation where the military chiefs made all the decisions in the past through collective discussion and command by the Ministry of Rites. Since it was the decision of the Ministry of Rites of the 15th Division, especially since the basis of this decision was particularly reliable, it seemed inappropriate to refuse.
In the end, Ding Shuaimin agreed to the 15th Division's request.
As soon as the Chinese army moved, the Qing army immediately discovered the movement. Urban summoned all the generals and asked them to act according to the previous plan.
After the Qing army fled to Xi'an, they really put in a lot of effort to study the new situation of the war. After learning from the painful experience, the Qing army acknowledged the advantages of the Chinese army in weapons and equipment, and also determined that the biggest advantage of the Chinese army was to fight large-scale field battles on the great plains.
This tactic of shooting in a line was very helpful for the Chinese army to play the advantage of weapons. The horizontal column came all over the mountains and fields, comparable to a gun array. As for small-unit combat, the Chinese army's firearms and individual training could easily overwhelm the Qing army. Therefore, the result of the Qing army's research was to use positional warfare and trench warfare to fight the Chinese army for consumption.
Although the Huaxia Army occupied Shandong, Henan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Fujian, Jiangsu and Zhejiang did not produce any strong soldiers. Henan, Anhui and Fujian were just occupied by the Huaxia Army. The real core of the Huaxia Army was still the Shandong group.
In contrast, the Qing army occupied Huguang, Northwest China, Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou. Except for Yunnan and Guizhou, the soldiers in these places were not weak. If they could fight with the Huaxia army, they would have a chance to reverse the situation. On the contrary, the Qing army would obviously suffer a loss in a field battle with the Huaxia army.
After the small victory, the Qing army understood that this model was indeed effective, and all the generals under Urban were full of vigor and prepared to face the next battle.
Soon, the Qing army entered the trenches, and the Chinese army also arrived outside the 100,000 Qing army positions. Coincidentally, both sides began to bombard each other as if in a demonstration.
Opposite the 15th Division, the red cannons of the Qing army fired fiercely. The diffuse smoke gradually spread, forming a good symbolic object. The 15th Division, as the military academy said, sent some exploratory troops to launch a feint attack on the Qing army.
I was originally worried that the feint attack would not be able to detect it, but I didn't expect that the Qing army's firepower configuration could be seen clearly after a few rounds of shooting. I didn't even need to listen to the gunshots, I could roughly tell the number of muskets deployed just by looking at the density of the smoke.
The engineers swung their shovels vigorously and dug out a half-man-high traffic channel. The Qing army also saw some movement, but the ground between the two fronts was obscured by drifting smoke, and the scene was gradually blurred. They could only use their eyes to see. If they saw anything unusual, they would shoot with volley guns.
Knowing that the attack route was ready, Division Commander Wu took off his sword, put his revolver in place, and picked up a rifle. The regiment commanders below stepped forward and stopped Division Commander Wu, "Division Commander, let us go first."
Division Commander Wu glared at him and said, "You have no choice but to go! I will go with you. The command of the troops will be handed over to the branch chief."
The branch chief wanted to persuade you, but didn't. He just said, "Commander, if you die, and I can't win, I will go into battle and fight to the death with you!"
Division Commander Wu looked back at the branch chief, who looked as if he was trying to force a smile. However, at this moment, his face was twitching because he wanted to smile, but he had no intention of smiling. Division Commander Wu suddenly stood at attention and saluted the branch chief.
The branch chief immediately stood at attention and saluted. The other soldiers followed suit. On the battlefield, everyone suddenly realized that only the military salute could express all their emotions at the moment.
"Go!" Commander Wu picked up his rifle and strode forward.
The basic training of crawling, rolling, and jumping had long been taught thoroughly in the military academy, but Commander Wu found that for the first time he truly understood where the word "basic" in these basic tactics came from.
To climb over those gullies, one had to crawl forward. To climb over the empty space between the gullies, roll over, and then quickly push off the ground, hiding the body through the ups and downs of the terrain. All of this was to allow oneself to hide behind a cover.
Even so, the Qing army fired volleys at the movement in the open space between the positions, and the bullets whizzed past, even cutting through the air very close to them. Even though he knew he would not be hit, the fear in the heart of Wu Shizhang, as well as the shame caused by his fear, stimulated Wu Shizhang's nerves vividly.
In the past, when commanding a large army to fight in a platoon, everyone's life and death depended on fate. God knew who would be hit by the flying bullets. Soldiers in the first row were indeed more likely to be injured, but among the injured, the proportion of people in the first row was not particularly high. Was it unlucky? God knew who was more unlucky!
Therefore, even though Division Commander Wu was in the front row commanding the firing of volleys, he gradually got used to it. It even made Division Commander Wu think of himself as a fearless man.
But the feeling now is different. In the past, I was thinking that if someone dies, the ball will go up, and if someone doesn't die, I will just hang around. That's called leaving it to fate.
Through tactical moves, Division Commander Wu and his troops avoided the enemy's fire and approached the enemy's position. This was entirely his own decision. The more successful such actions were, the closer Division Commander Wu and his soldiers were to death.
Even though he thought his heart was as solid as a rock, Master Wu still felt his nerves tense and the fear could not be suppressed. It was because of the fear that Master Wu felt what it meant to be alive.
He dodged the bullet and lived to the next moment.
The Qing army was attacked from three sides and endured constant bombardment from the Chinese army. General Urban was no longer trembling slightly because of the Chinese army's bombardment.
The Chinese Army’s artillery was indeed very powerful. Compared with the Qing Army’s artillery, it could fire farther and faster, and its duration was exceptionally long.
In order to ease the atmosphere, General Urban said to the people around him: "After we defeat the rebel army and capture Huo Chong to present to the emperor, we must keep the craftsmen in the rebel army. We must also let them cast cannons for us."
The people around saw how calm and confident General Urban was, and how confident he was in victory, so they quickly followed suit.
In a sense, General Urban was indeed much stronger than his predecessors. His predecessors had difficulty maintaining their formations under the fierce artillery fire of the Chinese Army. At this time, having learned from the experience of their predecessors who had risked their lives, the Qing Army's positions had indeed made great progress in terms of artillery resistance.
The soldiers hid in the trenches on the enemy side, so even if the shells fell into the trenches, they could not cause immediate casualties.
Not to mention that some soldiers dug out something similar to the cat ear holes of later generations. The anti-artillery effect was even more extreme.
The name of Maoerdong was said to be created by Su Yu and others during the civil war. During the civil war, General Su Yu had a very difficult period of fighting. At that time, both central and northern Jiangsu were captured by the counterattack of the National Army. Although he annihilated several main divisions of the National Army, including the 74th Division, in Menglianggu, Shandong, he also consumed too much. Under the counterattack of the National Army, several major liberated areas in Shandong were soon lost. In 1948, under the leadership of Su Yu, the Huaye Army moved to Henan, where the National Army was relatively weak, and launched the famous Battle of East Henan.
Since the Shandong Liberated Area was the main battlefield of the National Army's attack at that time, a large number of the National Army's first-class American-equipped troops participated in the battle, and the artillery was very powerful. In positional warfare, the People's Liberation Army used a large number of cat-ear holes for artillery and air defense. Before the start of the Battle of East Henan, Su Yu inspected the 10th Column troops that blocked Hu Lian's Corps. Although the 10th Column annihilated a large number of National Army troops at that time, the casualties under the attack of the National Army were also extremely heavy. Several main divisions had less than 5,000 soldiers. Su Yu was very sad to see so many wounded soldiers, and said to Xiao Feng, the commander of the 29th Division of the 10th Column: It is not easy for you to suffer so many casualties, and our commanders have a certain responsibility. We are considering withdrawing your division first.
But Xiao Feng was a fighter. He said: Commander Su, don't worry. Although I still have more than 5,000 people left, I can still fight the New Fifth Army for ten days or half a month. Su Yu said: The Fifth Army is one of the five main forces of the Kuomintang. It has a lot of artillery, aircraft and tanks. We cannot underestimate the enemy. I see that you don't have any heavy weapons and you don't have enough soldiers. I'm afraid you can't hold on.
Xiao Feng replied: Don't worry, our soldiers have invented cat-ear holes, which are very effective in resisting artillery bombardments, tanks, and airplanes.
Su Yu asked: What is a cat ear hole?
Xiao Feng said: These are small anti-artillery holes, dug by the soldiers themselves! No materials are needed, just a few pieces of wood can be dug, and they are much more effective than trenches in anti-artillery. You see these holes are small and narrow, like cat ears, don't they? This is the name given by the soldiers.
Although the time and space were different, and the situation was even more different, the Qing soldiers were also very careful about their lives and were unwilling to stand in the range of the artillery and get beaten. Moreover, the artillery of this era was solid shells, and if the iron ball came, it was considered lucky to be killed directly. If they were shot in the arms or legs, the limbs would be directly blown up.
That was a real explosion, with flesh and bones shattering and splattering, and the person gradually died in severe pain.
Huo Chong's artillery was completely incomparable to the bald American-equipped division. The Qing army only needed to dig easily to gain absolute safety. This method soon became popular in the Qing army's positions.
However, the Chinese army's artillery soon stopped. The Qing army waited for a while and felt safer. Many of them crawled out of the small earth hole, stretched their limbs, and breathed the air filled with gunpowder smoke.
Suddenly, the sound of artillery fire rang out again, and the Qing army immediately hid back in the cat ear caves again.
This round of artillery fire was very fierce, especially the density was greatly increased. Previously, the Chinese army's artillery fire was a continuous process, especially before the attack, the shooting would be more intense.
Seeing the situation like this, the Qing army's front-line officers raised their clairvoyance one after another, while those without clairvoyance widened their eyes and called on the soldiers with the best eyesight to observe together.
In order to deal with the tactics of the Huaxia Army, the Qing army made a lot of preparations. The most important thing was to focus on defense and observation. They would not start shooting until the Huaxia Army really approached, so as to maximize the power of the muskets.
I looked left and right but couldn't see anything. Suddenly, some Chinese soldiers jumped up about ten meters away from the Qing army's front line. They were seen holding rifles, striding over a distance of more than ten meters, and jumped into a trench of the Qing army.
The incident happened so quickly that only the nearby Qing troops noticed it. Those further away saw nothing at all.
However, in this section of the Qing army's trench, the Chinese army commandos had already launched a fierce battle. The vanguard said that they would not let Wu Shichang do such a dangerous job. A platoon rushed into the Qing army's trench and immediately stabbed and killed anyone they met. In an instant, they killed all the Qing soldiers in the trench.
At this time, Division Commander Wu ignored the guards' pulling and stood up to follow. The guards had no choice but to follow Division Commander Wu. The follow-up company also rushed in.
After seeing that the Qing army had been defeated, the troops quickly checked the trenches. They did not find any hiding holes for soldiers. Commander Wu was overjoyed, thinking that the direction of attack he had chosen was correct.
Waving his rifle, Commander Wu shouted, "Fire flares!"
At the command, the soldiers at both ends of the army immediately raised their signal guns and fired flares into the sky. There was one red and one green flare on each side. As the flares rose into the air, the artillerymen quickly determined their positions and fired fiercely at the area outside the flares.
Commander Wu didn't even look at the reaction of the artillery. He raised his rifle and shouted, "Follow me!" and took the lead in rushing deep into the enemy position.
The guard suddenly burst into tears. He wiped away his tears and rushed to the left of Division Commander Wu, moving forward with him.
If a bullet came from the left, it would definitely hit the guard first. However, the guard didn't care at all. At this moment, the word "heroism" that he had heard of before burst out of Division Commander Wu. Since the division commander was not afraid, the guard was willing to stand on the left side of the division commander with the emotion of dying together with Division Commander Wu.
Leaping onto the side of the trench close to the Qing army, Wu rushed forward. After rushing out for more than 30 meters, Wu saw another trench in the faint smoke. The Qing army actually dug more than one trench, which was something Wu had not expected.
Two hundred men were lost before, but the first trench of the Qing army was not broken. At this time, Wu realized that the previous tactics were really ineffective. The Qing army not only replaced the flintlock rifles, but also changed their tactics. The large army group that the Chinese army relied on before was no longer suitable. Even without going to the mountains, even in the plains, the Qing army tried its best to find a way to defeat the Chinese army.
The 100-meter distance was quickly covered. A row of Qing soldiers stood up from the trench. The leader probably didn't see clearly and shouted, "Who is it!... Ah, the enemy troops are coming, shoot, shoot quickly!"
Almost at the same time, Commander Wu shouted, "Everyone get down!"
After shouting, Commander Wu saw that the guard was still rushing forward, so he rushed over and pinned the guard down, then he and the guard fell to the ground together.
Fortunately, he had a lot of training, and although his internal organs were a little hurt, at least he was not injured. The bullets from the Qing army's volley flew over the head of Division Commander Wu, but did not hit him or the guards.
"Grenade! Grenade!" Commander Wu shouted at the top of his lungs.
At the same time, he pulled out the grenade from behind his waist and threw it out in a lying position.
Previously, he was suspended from his post by Li Hao, the military branch chief, and asked Wu to start from basic training. At that time, Wu, who was completely disappointed, returned to the army with a grudge and started training with the regiment commanders, battalion commanders and company commanders.
Initially, it seemed like he was just venting his anger, but after practicing the new set of techniques and tactics, even after practicing only half of it, Division Commander Wu suddenly realized something. It turned out that these new basic tactics were a system that had abandoned the old tactics.
It was because of this realization that Commander Wu was able to figure it out in two days. He discussed with the members of the Ministry of Rites branch and came up with this tactic.
The grenade flew into the trench in an arc and exploded soon after. There was chaos in the second trench of the Qing army, with screams and cries of surprise.
Commander Wu climbed up, holding his rifle and shouting, "Follow me!" Then he charged into the second trench with his bayonet pointed.
Seeing that there were not many Qing soldiers in the trench, Wu killed the nearest Qing soldier with one strike of his sword. Then he rushed forward and killed another Qing soldier who was confused. Just as he was about to deal with the third one, he saw the cold light of the bayonet flashing, and the third Qing soldier had already fallen to the ground.
Looking closely, it was the police officer who had the blood on his bayonet. The guard did not say anything and continued to stab the Qing army. However, the guard only stabbed down two enemies, and the others were killed by the Chinese Army commandos who followed.
"Buglers, get ready! Charge again in a moment. If there are no enemies, blow the bugle!"
