At the end of 1937, Nanjing and Jinan fell one after another, and the morale of the Japanese army soared, and a larger plan of occupation began. The first is to penetrate the north-south battlefield, planning to use Nanjing and Jinan as bases to march along the Jinpu Railway in the direction of Xuzhou.
In mid-March 1938, after several engagements between the 51st Army and the Japanese army, the situation was not optimistic, and the troops suffered heavy losses and could not continue fighting, so Zhang Zongren had to order Zhang Zizhong's 59th Army to rush to Linyi to support. After Pang Bingxun, commander of the 51st Army, learned the news, he once felt that he was less fierce this time.
Pang Bingxun
Because as early as during the Central Plains War, after Pang Bingxun betrayed Feng Yuxiang and defected to old Jiang, he led his troops to sneak attack Zhang Zizhong's headquarters. Zhang Zizhong was shot twice in the counterattack and almost met with Yan Wangye, and the two formed a bond. Therefore, Pang Bingxun felt that Zhang Zizhong would probably not come to support, and even if he came, he might deliberately delay time on the road.
However, later, I found that it was actually my own heart as a villain, living in the belly of a gentleman. As soon as Zhang Zizhong received the order, he ordered the whole army to make preparations and set off for Linyi as quickly as possible.
But what he never expected was that his strictly managed unit would actually have soldiers defiling the 16-year-old flower girl in the farmhouse.
Without iron discipline, there is no iron army, which is Zhang Zizhong's rule all along, so in order to strictly enforce military discipline, once the truth is found out, he immediately orders the law enforcement officer to shoot the murderer.
However, just when the murderer was executed, Zhang Zizhong couldn't help but cry.
The boy has tears, not softly, but not to the sad place. Zhang Zizhong threw himself into the revolution at the age of 20, and has experienced countless battles, what kind of life and death have not been seen? Therefore, it can be seen how much this incident hurt him.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="6" > braved the rain to move forward</h1>
Zhang Zizhong led his troops to set out in late March, due to the urgent military situation, the whole army quickly stepped up its whip, even if it encountered heavy rain on the way, it was not allowed to disturb the people when passing through the village, otherwise the military law would be dealt with.
But the rain kept falling, and it didn't stop for several days, and the soldiers were very tired of the rapid march in the rain, so on this day when the troops passed by a small shop in the town that sold umbrellas, two soldiers walked in.
When he saw the customers enter the store, the boss immediately greeted them and asked them what they needed. However, the two soldiers did not pay any attention to the shop owner, went straight to the counter where the umbrellas were placed, picked up two umbrellas and planned to leave.
In the years of war, although the people also knew that the soldiers were bitter in marching and fighting, they all tied their heads to the waistband of their pants to live, but their lives were not good. Moreover, the shop owner did not say that he was reluctant to do so, but they took it without saying a word, which was a little inappropriate, so the shop owner rushed up to inquire.
However, I did not think that the two soldiers saw the boss to ask for umbrella money, and their hearts were instantly displeased, not only full of dirty words that the boss did not know the rules, but even beat the boss. This made the boss very puzzled, because the Zhang Zizhong he knew was a general who had always led the army with steel discipline, so he could not help but wonder in his heart: Is this really Zhang Zizhong's soldier?
In order to find out about this, the shop owner closed the door of the shop and planned to go to the army to find a steward to ask for clarification. As soon as he went, he found Sun Eryong, the battalion commander of the guard battalion beside Zhang Zizhong.
Sun Eryong, like most soldiers, joined the army because he saw and experienced a lot of oppression when he was a child, so he was very unaccustomed to the powerful people oppressing the people. After hearing the shop owner tell the story of the incident, Sun Eryong immediately reported the matter to Zhang Zizhong.
Zhang Zizhong was very angry when he learned of the situation, and immediately asked Sun Eryong to find out the soldiers who had made mistakes. Sun Eryong was extremely efficient, and in just a quarter of an hour he brought the soldiers who beat the shopkeeper to Zhang Zizhong.
The two soldiers did not justify their mistakes, but when asked why they did not pay, they were also helpless, because there was really no money. But Zhang Zizhong always felt that this could not be used as a reason to forcibly take things from the people, so he ordered people to blow the assembly number, publicly recounted the mistakes made by the two soldiers at the meeting, and then issued the punishment result: shooting!
The shop owner actually came just to want an explanation, and never thought of letting the two fighters end the matter with death, so he immediately went up to Zhang Zizhong to intercede, saying: "Those two umbrellas were given to the soldiers by me, no money, no money, the shooting was too serious!" ”
"Boss, the military order is like a mountain, this is the business of our troops, you leave it alone." As for the umbrella, we will compensate according to the price. Hearing Zhang Zizhong say this, the shop owner knew that his intercession was ineffective, and he somewhat regretted coming to the army.
In fact, Zhang Zizhong's heart is also very unbearable, but the law does not tolerate him, and he must set an example. Therefore, while handing over the task of shooting to Sun Eryong, he also told him that he must find two coffins to bury the two soldiers well. The next day, before the troops set out, he also went to their graves, took off his hat and saluted, and said very remorsefully: "Blame me for not teaching you well in normal times, let you make mistakes, I am sorry for you..."
In order to prevent such a thing from happening again, after Zhang Zizhong bid farewell to the two soldiers and returned to the army, he asked Sun Eryong to tell the generals that they must strictly observe military discipline and must not know that they have made mistakes. However, the arrival of a mother and daughter early the next morning brought even worse news.
The mother and daughter found the troops with tears in their eyes, and no matter who came to inquire, they did not say anything, they had to see the supreme general Zhang Zizhong. After Zhang Zizhong learned of the situation, he immediately rushed to inquire about the reason. From the first time he saw the mother and daughter, Zhang Zizhong felt that things were not good.
The eyes of both mother and daughter were already red and swollen, and it was obvious that they had been crying for a long time. "My daughter is only 16 years old, she has not yet married, this has been tarnished by your soldiers, how will she have a face to live in the future..." Sure enough, things were really as bad as Zhang Zizhong thought.
"Because it was dark, I didn't see what the soldiers really looked like..." Listening to her mother's crying to Zhang Zizhong, the girl's tears could no longer be stopped, and she lowered her head and kept crying.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="4" > credit is not offset, and credit is not a shield</h1>
Does this pay off? Zhang Zizhong was furious and immediately ordered the whole army: Stop moving forward!
After Zhang Zizhong loudly informed the origin of the matter, his eyes were like swords, and he said angrily: "Manhood dares to do it, stand up, count you kind!" ”
However, as Zhang Zizhong's words fell, the air seemed to freeze, and there was nothing but the sound of wind and rain.
"Nobody admits it, right? Then take off your pants one by one! It turned out that according to the victim's recollection, although she did not see the face of the soldier clearly, she scratched his thigh during the struggle and shed blood.
Zhang Zizhong handed over the inspection task to Sun Eryong, Deputy Wang, and Zhou, director of the Military Justice Department, and ordered him to carefully examine it, and such mistakes felt that they could not be tolerated. In order to lead by example, Zhang Zizhong was the first to be examined that night.
After that, the three men, in a company unit, asked the soldiers to take off their pants for examination. But after tossing and turning for most of the night, no wounds were found on the soldiers that matched the victims' statements.
After learning of the situation, Zhang Zizhong's doubts increased greatly, and just when he was thinking about whether the victim had misremembered, he suddenly turned his eyes to the three people in charge of the inspection: "Who else has not checked?" ”
"Only I... There were three people, Commander Sun Ying and Director Zhou", just when Deputy Wang answered the question truthfully, Sun Eryong's performance was very wrong, and he did not even dare to look at Zhang Zizhong. Zhang Zizhong understood at once, but he didn't want to trust his intuition.
But before Zhang Zizhong could inquire, Sun Eryong also truthfully confessed his crimes. Subsequently, Sun Eryong was taken to the Military Justice Department, and for the interrogation of Director Zhou, Sun Eryong said that he was well aware of the dangers of the Taierzhuang Campaign, and that he might not be able to return. But he was almost 30 years old, but he hadn't touched a woman yet, so he made a mistake last night with such a thought...
If an ordinary soldier made such a mistake, Director Zhou would have dealt with it according to law, but this was Sun Eryong. He was not only the commander of the guard battalion, but also killed 18 ghosts on the Great Wall at Xifengkou; he also led half a company to guard the Lugou Bridge during the "July 7 Incident", fighting with a japanese brigade and sworn to die in the line of fire.
Later, he also saved Zhang Zizhong's life and was Zhang Zizhong's savior.
After the fall of the Lugou Bridge, the Japanese army marched to the city of Beiping, and the defenders in the city could not resist the enemy at all, and Tong Linge, deputy commander of the 29th Army, and Zhao Dengyu, commander of the 132nd Division, led the army to swear not to retreat, and all of them were martyred. Therefore, in order to preserve his strength, Song Zheyuan, the commander of the 29th Army, had to order the troops to withdraw from Beiping, and Zhang Zizhong stayed in the city as acting mayor.
On the 29th, Peiping completely fell, Zhang Zizhong never retreated, insisting on the position of mayor, so he became a thorn in the eyes of the traitor agents, eager to pull it out quickly. At that time, Sun Eryong was already a guard by Zhang Zizhong's side, and one day in August, when Zhang Zizhong was assassinated on the way back to his home after going out, he completely disregarded his own safety and died in front of Zhang Zizhong, and his body was hit by 3 bullets, and he almost couldn't save himself.
Since then, Zhang Zizhong has admired Sun Eryong's bravery and trusted him even more. Later, when Zhang Zizhong withdrew from Beiping, he named Sun Eryong by name as the commander of the guard battalion, and has been with Zhang Zizhong since then. Therefore, with this relationship, the director of the Military Justice Department, Zhou, felt that how to deal with Sun Eryong still had to be handed over to Zhang Zizhong.
After Zhang Zizhong listened to Director Zhou's report, he fell into contemplation with no expression on his face, and after about 5 minutes he issued an order: "Sun Eryong committed a felony and will die. ”
Originally, Director Zhou, like many soldiers, felt that Sun Eryong had made meritorious contributions and should have opened up to the net, or let him wear crimes and make meritorious contributions in the future. It can be seen that Zhang Zizhong has given the result for so long, and he understands that it is useless to say more at this time.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="2" > military orders are like mountains, and they are shot twice</h1>
"What else do you have to say?" Worried about his past feelings, Director Zhou asked Sun Eryong before the execution whether he still had a last word to confess, but he did not think that he was just saying it, and he also wanted to meet the military commander.
Zhang Zizhong did not come to the scene after learning about it, but instead slapped the table hard, "No, kill quickly!" Deputy Wang rarely saw Zhang Zizhong talking like this, so he turned around and left to return to the place of execution without saying much, completely ignoring the tears in Zhang Zizhong's eyes.
"What else did he say?" After Director Zhou returned, Zhang Zizhong asked again.
"He said that in twenty years he would be a good man again, and if the commander needed it then, he would be your guard!" Hearing this, Zhang Zizhong's face did not show too much expression, but only issued a sigh.
Later, Zhang Zizhong would think of Sun Eryong from time to time, and subconsciously called out Sun Eryong's name several times, until he found that the guard who came in was not Sun Eryong, and he reacted that Sun Eryong was no longer there. But what he never expected was that one night Sun Eryong came back again.
At that time, Zhang Zizhong was seriously studying strategy and tactics in the house, thinking about how to fight the next battle, when suddenly a guard rushed in and reported with a frightened face: "Commander, Sun... Eryong... Back! ”
"Who? Camp Sun? He's not..." Just as Zhang Zizhong asked with a puzzled face, Sun Eryong had already entered the room.
Sun Renyong's face was withered, and his military uniform was worn out, but he still gave Zhang Zizhong a military salute very seriously.
"You're not dead?" Zhang Zizhong couldn't believe everything in front of him, and his eyes immediately turned red after asking a question.
It turned out that the soldier who was responsible for shooting that day had always admired Sun Eryong's bravery, so he was very unbearable during the execution, and his heart was panicked, and he did not even hurt the key point by firing two shots. Later, the troops left, and Sun Eryong had to pass by the people to save his life, and as soon as he was well, he set out to find the troops, because he wanted to follow the troops to continue killing the devils.
Zhang Zizhong was able to see aijiang, and he was also very happy, but he thought about it for a moment that there could be no favoritism and fraud in the "Iron Army". Therefore, he immediately ordered Sun Eryong to be locked up and dealt with.
Early the next morning, the unsuspecting Deputy Wang pushed open the door of Zhang Zizhong's house, and thick smoke came from the front, and at first he thought that there was a fire somewhere. It wasn't until after entering the house that he saw a stack of paper on Zhang Zizhong's desk with the words "Eryong" written on it, and cigarette butts on the ground, that Deputy Wang reacted.
At breakfast, Zhang Zizhong held a meeting of senior generals, the core content: how to deal with Sun Eryong.
Zhang Zizhong's attitude was very direct, and he bluntly said that what he needed was an "iron army", a unit that strictly obeyed military orders. All the generals understood his words, and the meeting finally reached a final decision: a second shot of Sun Eryong.
The execution order was still announced by Director Zhou, and this time he asked Sun Eryong if he had anything to say. Only this time Sun Eryong did not ask for it, but replied very firmly: Obey the order!
"Then come with me and go see the commander!"
"What does the commander do?"
"He invited you to dinner."
Sun Eryong understands very well that this is a "severed head meal" and that things are irretrievable, but he still wants to gamble. So at the dinner table, he took off his military uniform and exposed a knife scar on his body, hoping to use these to persuade Zhang Zizhong to give him a chance to kill more devils.
Everyone bowed their heads when they saw this, but Zhang Zizhong was not moved, and asked the other division commanders to undo their clothes as well. They were all people who came from the rain of bullets, which one was not injured? Therefore, this is Zhang Zizhong telling Sun Eryong that a military order is a military order, and the law is not merciful, and there is no room for recovery in this matter.
Early the next morning, Sun Eryong was taken out of the house where he was being held. The early warning horn had not yet been sounded, but many of the soldiers had risen and were waiting where the execution was about to be carried out, and even the pit had been dug.
When Sun Eryong saw all this, his heart was very complicated, but he had no complaints or regrets.
"Don't worry, I'll do it for you!" Zhang Zizhong clasped Sun Eryong's hands tightly and frowned. "Good! Thank you, Commander! Sun Eryong replied very calmly.
Then the gunshot rang out, and Sun Eryong fell to the ground again, only this time he lost his breath on the spot.
Zhang Zizhong turned and left, and walked straight to the general staff, but his body was a little hesitant. Deputy Wang was a little uneasy, but he didn't know what to say, so he could only silently follow behind him.
Two days later, Zhang Zizhong fulfilled his promise to kill more devils for Sun Eryong, and the Nationalist army won a great victory and Taierzhuang won a great victory.