Chapter 23: The Grand Battle of Zhifeng Comes to an End

  Across the river from Pukou, Nanjing Xiaguan Wharf. The ferry that used to travel back and forth between the two banks has long since stopped operating, and the entire wharf has been transformed into a military stronghold. There are trenches everywhere, sandbags stacked up, doors taken from homes, and soldiers from the Jiangsu First Division with ash-covered faces and dejected expressions, as well as craters from explosions everywhere.

  Wang Dashan is now a squad leader. From September 3rd when he first went into battle to the present, several months have passed. Wang Dashan has grown from a new recruit to an old soldier. Before the war started, he was the only one left in his original squad.

  Kicking the new recruits who had just been assigned to the class with his foot, urging these lazy eggs to finish dinner quickly. Several experiences of leaving the battlefield alive made Wang Dashan have a kind of intuitive feeling about danger, looking at the distant opposite bank of the river, he always felt uneasy tonight.

  Although the officers have been saying that the enemy dare not attack, Wang Dashan did not believe their words at all. Two months ago in a village near Jiading, the officers said that the Zhejiang army had run away and rushed into the village to loot, and everyone shouted and rushed out, but only Wang Dashan and the old squad leader followed slowly behind. The hundreds of brothers who rushed into the village first were ambushed and killed in the village, and since then Wang Dashan did not believe anything the officers said.

  The sky slowly darkened, and Wang Dashan hid in his own dugout, quietly waiting for the incoming artillery shells from the opposite side.

  Ever since being dispatched to Xiaoguan, every night has been a rhythmic bombardment of cannon fire from the opposite side.

  The remnants of the 3rd Mixed Brigade of Jiangsu said that at first, our big guns on this side were still engaged in a shootout with the other side, but the other side was using large-caliber cannons to fire from a distance, while our own cannons were small and couldn't reach them, so we could only take the beating. In just two or three days, they were bombed out of existence. Later on, it was just one-sided bombardment, and the troops stationed here had long been bombarded into submission.

  As soon as it gets dark, we hide in the artillery cave. The opposite side usually fires a round every half hour every night, and stops firing when dawn breaks. However, sometimes they also come up with a few shots before half an hour is up. Old squad leader said this was to practice our artillery skills. Old squad leader was blown up while going to the toilet during the artillery strike interval.

  Wang Dashan felt something was off tonight, until after 9 o'clock the opposite side still hadn't fired a shot, only the sound of waves crashing against the shore and an eerie silence all around. Wang Dashan couldn't calm down, leaving the artillery cave to come to the observation post, gazing out at the river under the moonlight.

  Ten minutes or so passed and the river surface was still calm, just as Wang Dashan was about to leave, a faint rumbling sound came over. Lying on the ground and trying to open his eyes wide to look at the river surface, countless small black dots were slowly approaching the dock. The rumbling sound also grew louder.

  Just as Wang Dashan hurriedly got up to report to the superiors, three red signal flares suddenly rose in the night sky across the river.

  "Trouble!" Wang Dashan rolled and crawled towards his own bunker, but before he could even get back to his bunker, the air was already filled with a series of deafening roars. The entire lower pass defensive position instantly erupted into chaos. Cannons boomed, shrapnel flew everywhere, and massive flames burst forth, illuminating the entire defensive position as bright as day.

  On the evening of January 7, 1925, at 9:30 pm, Gao Yang commanded the First Division of Anhui Land Army to launch a battle to cross the river and attack Nanjing. More than 200 large-caliber artillery pieces above 75mm fiercely bombarded the shore defense positions and artillery positions on the opposite bank, with dense gunfire ringing out continuously, shells raining down on the opposite bank like raindrops, stirring up countless bright flames.

  Thousands of soldiers in the first wave of attack boarded steamers, fishing boats and naval warships to rush towards the Lower Port on the opposite bank. After Duan Qirui took over as acting president, the navy that had been staying near Yangzhou was bought by Gao Yun. Whether in name or actual benefit, Gao Yun was superior, and the navy immediately abandoned Qi Yaosan and joined Gao Yun's camp. At this time, there were no longer any foreign warships that could stop Gao Yun from crossing the river.

  The three ferryboats were in the lead, and Gao Yang's order was to charge forward and run aground. Just before running aground, several signal flares rose from the boats, and a moment later, dense artillery fire began to extend backward, blocking the road to the lower wharf to reinforce the troops.

  The riverbank was just stormed, hundreds of men wearing German military uniforms, with steel helmets, carrying hand grenades and engineer shovels, holding MP18s, elite shock troops rushed onto the position. While sweeping and shouting "Surrender or be killed."

  The Soviet troops, who had already lost all morale after being bombarded for over 20 minutes, put up almost no resistance against these carefully selected elite soldiers, and those who were still alive basically became prisoners.

  The prisoners huddled together, looking at the ships docking one after another. Large numbers of heavily armed soldiers marched in pairs towards Nanjing City, all silent. Wang Dashan looked up at the sky, both banks of the Yangtze River were lit up by the fiery glow, dense gunfire flashed across the horizon like shooting stars, pounding the ground heavily, setting off bursts of flames. "This time we finally don't have to fight anymore." Wang Dashan let out a deep sigh.

  Commander He Chengen of the 3rd Regiment, 1st Division of Jiangsu Army stationed at Hailing Gate and Lion Mountain Battery sat in his command post with a worried expression. Across from him was Yang Dong, who was drinking tea with a leisurely face.

  "Commander He, the gunfire is getting closer and closer. If you don't make up your mind soon, there won't be another chance." Yang Dong said lightly.

  He Tuanzhang was a native of Nanjing and originally the regimental commander of the First Division of Jiangsu. However, since the First Division participated in the war, it had been defeated every time, and each defeat ended in rout. Qi Xieyuan angrily referred to the First Division as "the women's army", and all officers from division commander to regimental commanders were dismissed. Nevertheless, He Tuanzhang's wife was on good terms with Qi Xieyuan's deputy officer, who accepted 50,000 silver dollars and spoke for him, barely retaining his position as regimental commander.

  The city wall of Nanjing is very thick and high, and cars can run side by side on it. During the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese bombed for half a month but couldn't break into the city. Gao Yang didn't plan to slowly attack Nanjing, internal sabotage was the best way. Yang Dong had entered Nanjing City more than half a month ago, and after investigating everywhere, he chose He Tuanzhang, who was notorious for his corruption, as the target.

  "He's been quite generous to me..." He Chengen hadn't finished speaking when Yang Dong stood up and said, "Commander He, let's not waste words. As long as you open the city gate and let our people in, we'll immediately send over 6 million yuan as a labor fee." After a pause, he chuckled and said, "I heard that your wife and Commander Qi's deputy have been playing mahjong for two days and two nights straight. Hehe, doesn't Commander He want to have a good chat with the deputy? Hehehe?"

  "I want eight hundred thousand." He Chengen's face turned black like a pot bottom, gritting his teeth as he spoke.

  "Alright, it's settled then." Yang Dong said, extending his hand.

  Qī Xiǎoyuán, who was in Zhenjiang, received the telegram after 2 am on the 8th. His hands were shaking as he read it, and his teeth were almost clenched to pieces. "This bunch of useless soldiers, trash, trash ah!" Just a few hours later, Nanjing had almost completely fallen, which made Qī Xiǎoyuán utterly disbelieving. "Are the Anhui troops not even divine warriors? You can't even beat them, can you even hold on for a few hours hiding behind city walls?"

  Qī Xiǎo Yuán led his troops overnight to rush to Nanjing for reinforcements, and as for the Zhejiang army in front of him, he couldn't care about it anymore.

  Woken up from their dreams, they were summoned to assemble and then marched overnight along the riverbank. By dawn, the Soviet soldiers were already filled with discontent, exhausted and hungry. Qī Xiǎoyuán, who was anxious like a burning fire, couldn't care about these things at all. Now his mind only had one thing - to retake Nanjing. As for the soldiers not having breakfast, it was no longer something he considered.

  When the sky was bright, the Soviet troops on the verge of chaos suddenly found that dozens of warships were slowly approaching the river! This is the Beiyang Navy carrying the first division of the Anhui Army to Yangzhou. When it got light, they found a large number of Soviet troops on the riverbank.

  Li Junxi immediately ordered the ship to sail past and fire a few shots. Since he had accepted Gao Yang's money, he had to make some show of it. After firing, he could still go back and ask Gao Yang for reimbursement for the cannonballs, not to mention that many of Gao Yang's soldiers were watching from on board.

  The dense artillery fire erupted on the warship, and the shells fell into the marching column like rain, causing countless limbs to be severed. The Soviet troops, who had been filled with anger for a long time, directly blew up the camp and fled in all directions.

  Qī Xiǎo Yuán rode on a tall horse, wielding his whip to stop the soldiers from fleeing, but who could stop them in this situation? At this moment, a 127mm shell exploded beside Qī Xiǎo Yuán, and after the smoke dissipated, Qī Xiǎo Yuán and his horse were nowhere to be seen. The highest commander was gone, and now the army really collapsed like a mountain.

  Tens of thousands of troops were dispersed by a few rounds of naval gunfire, such things are rarely seen. Qi Xueyuan is dead, this traitor who in his original time and space relied on the Japanese to crazily slaughter his own compatriots with blood-stained hands has finally exited the stage!

  The navy finished firing and continued to head towards Yangzhou, unaware that these rounds of artillery had ended the war that had lasted for several months and swept across half of the country. It was started by Qi Xueyuan and also ended by Qi Xueyuan.

  Gaoyang learned of Qi Xueyuan's death from the mouths of captured soldiers on the second day. "I wanted to give this traitor a public trial, but I spared him." Gaoyang said indignantly.

  It's not the time to talk about these things now, Lu Yongxiang's army has already started occupying the land. Gao Yang ordered the navy to blockade the Yangtze River and encircle Jiangbei first. Then it will be a running competition with Lu Yongxiang.

  It is clear that Lu Yongxiang's Zhejiang Army cannot catch up with Gao Yang's automobile wheels on the 11th route. Two days later, both sides met in Yixing, Wuxi and Jiangyin, and agreed to take the actual control line as the boundary, without disturbing each other.

  Wang Dashan's wish to no longer be a soldier could not be realized, as Gao Yang assigned large numbers of captured and new soldiers to mercenary troops and newly trained officers to form more than a dozen security regiments stationed in various places. The main force of the First Division was assembled and quickly departed for Xuzhou, while the navy transported a battalion of soldiers and heavy weapons to Lianyungang. The bandit army led by Zhang Zongchang had entered Shandong!

  Zhang Dashuai led tens of thousands of troops into the pass, and General Feng was unable to withstand the attack and retreated northwest. Zhang Zongchang, a notorious bandit leader from Shandong Province, marched southward after occupying Shandong Province and continued his advance towards Xuzhou in Jiangsu Province without stopping.

  Duan Qirui immediately appointed Gao Yang as the inspector of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River to take charge of Anhui and Jiangsu provinces. However, Zhang Zongchang, who was from a bandit background, responded to Duan Qirui's order prohibiting him from entering Jiangsu with just one sentence: "I don't recognize characters."

  Gao Yang smiled and said to Yuan Dian, "It's okay if you can't recognize words, as long as you can recognize cannonballs."