In February 1928, Chiang Kai-shek, who had been forced into the field for the first time, was reinstated, and He Yingqin, who had been centrifugal for a time, was dismissed from military power and replaced by chief of staff. Chen Cheng, who had always been loyal to Chiang, was once again reused and appointed as the commander of the guards of the Nanjing General Headquarters. In August of the same year, Chen Cheng went to southern Anhui and merged his two guard regiments with Cao Wanshun's 17th Army to form the 11th Division.
Serve as the first
The 11th Division commander used a large number of Whampoa students
Jiang's original intention was to ask Chen Cheng to serve as the commander of the 11th Division, but He Yingqin resolutely opposed it on the grounds that his seniority was too shallow, and in the end Chen Cheng only served as the deputy division commander. However, under the favoritism of Chiang Kai-shek, Chen Cheng firmly grasped the division's financial power and the power to appoint and dismiss personnel, and a large number of Huangpu graduates were transferred to the division as middle- and lower-level officers.
In the summer of 1929, the division commander Cao Wanshun was transferred, chen cheng formally served as the commander of the 11th division, began to reform within the army, and vigorously dispatched Cao Wanshun's old department under the slogan of "not greedy for money and not afraid of death", so that the quality of the officers and men of the 11th Division was further improved, and the style of the troops also changed greatly.
Twice, miscellaneous cards were collected and the army was expanded into a first-class division
After the Chiang-Tang War in early 1930, the outstanding 11th Division was assigned to Wuhan for reorganization, and its strength was greatly replenished twice. The first was to disband the remnants of Cao Wanshun's 66th Regiment by force, send officers to send them, and replenish soldiers to the regiments. The second was to reorganize the independent 13th Brigade of Xu Shengyu in Hubei Province and change its name to the Independent Brigade of the 11th Division. The 11th Division was expanded from 2 brigades to 3 brigades and 9 regiments, including the ranks of the First Division.
In the 1930 Central Plains War, Chen Cheng led the 11th Division to occupy Guide, save Qufu, attack Yanzhou, and enter Jinan, repeatedly building Qigong, being commended by Chiang Kai-shek, promoted to commander of the 18th Army, and still serving as the commander of the 11th Division. In October of the same year, Chen Cheng's troops conquered Zhengzhou, the railway hub of Pinghan and Longhai. Chiang Kai-shek personally wrote a handwritten praise: "Ma Muji opened the end of victory; Qufu saved the dying situation; Zhengzhou bore the fruits of victory." ”
As
Commander of the 18th Army, Annexation of the 3rd Division
After Chen Cheng became the commander of the 18th Army, he only had jurisdiction over the 11th Division. After several requests from Chiang Kai-shek, Qian Dajun's 3rd Division was incorporated into the 18th Army. Although the division, together with the 1st and 2nd Divisions, was called Chiang Kai-shek's Imperial Forest Army. However, due to the fact that Qian Da hook has always been corrupt and corrupt, full of bureaucracy, and rarely paid attention to military affairs, the discipline of the troops was abolished and their reputation was very bad. In addition, two regiments were annihilated by the Red Army, which were re-recruited and formed as second stubble, so the combat effectiveness was weak.
In order to rectify this contingent, Chen Cheng directly abolished the number of instructors and changed it to the 14th Division, and personally served as the commander of the division; at the same time, Zhou Zhirou, commander of the 31st Brigade of the 11th Division, was promoted to deputy division commander, and the division was strictly rectified, and a total of 40 and 41 brigades were formed, and the artillery battalion and other direct subordinate units were strengthened.
The annexation of local armies and defeated soldiers rapidly increased in strength
Chen Cheng took advantage of the fact that the troops were stationed in Wuhan to receive local troops such as the Wuhan Fortress Engineering Battalion and reorganized them into 1 brigade, with Li Yannian as the brigade commander. At this point, Chen Cheng's 18th Army began to take shape, with 2 divisions and 1 brigade under its jurisdiction, a total of 18 infantry regiments, a total of about 43,000 people.
From July to September 1931, the 18th Army marched from Hubei to the front line of Fuzhou, Jiangxi, to participate in the third "encirclement and suppression" of the Central Soviet Region. During this period, Chen Cheng continued to annex the troops of the Miscellaneous Army, successively absorbing the remnants of Han Deloitte's 52nd Division, Guo Huazong's 43rd Division, and Zhang Ying's 59th Division of the Sichuan Army, and the 18th Army was once expanded to 8 divisions.
We should make great efforts in the three aspects of employment, economy, and listening to opinions
In order to ensure firm control over the troops, Chen Cheng always personally grasped the power of personnel. When serving as the commander of the 11th Division, all personnel transfers above the rank of lieutenant officer were personally decided to appoint and dismiss; when serving as the commander of the 18th Army, the colonel and above were personally summoned and talked in person. Because the eleventh was "earth" and the eighteenth was "wood", and the 11th Division just happened to have a civil engineering battalion, Chen Cheng's team was collectively called "civil engineering department".
In terms of economy, Chen Cheng did his utmost to win the share and economic treatment due to his troops, and specially appointed his cronies to set up an office of the 18th Army in Nanjing to receive funds and equipment from the Ministry of Military Affairs full-time to ensure that the military's funds were never in arrears and that they would be distributed in a timely manner. At the same time, Chen Cheng severely punished the troops for taking short amounts of money and embezzlement, and encouraged officers and men to boldly expose and give rewards.
In terms of listening to opinions, all officers and men of the 18th Army can put forward opinions and suggestions in the fields of personnel, education, management, training, and combat. Officers at all levels can criticize and make suggestions on the work of the troops at the meeting; any problem that the grass-roots commanders do not solve can write to the commander at the next higher level to reflect it, and Chen Cheng himself takes the lead in reading and handling such letters. Sometimes, at the "review meeting" after the battle, Chen Cheng personally presided over the meeting and listened patiently.