Author: Tai Shi Xiaosheng
On June 5, 1926, the Nationalist government held a meeting in Guangzhou, passed the Case of the Northern Expedition, and issued a mobilization order for the Northern Expedition. On July 1, the "Declaration of the Northern Expedition" was issued, and then on the 9th, the National Revolutionary Army officially swore an oath to serve the Northern Expedition, with Chiang Kai-shek as the commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army, Li Jishen as chief of the general staff, Deng Yanda as the director of the General Political Department, and the Soviet government sending General Gallen as the military adviser to the Kuomintang army. The Northern Expedition officially began.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track = "7" >, Chen Mingren was promoted to brigadier general at the age of 27</h1>
After the Battle of the Crusades, Chen Mingren was transferred back by Chiang Kai-shek to the Whampoa Military Academy to train the 5th and 6th cadets, and was later promoted to colonel brigade commander; in 1928, he was promoted to colonel of the 56th Regiment of the 28th Brigade of the 12th Division of the Kuomintang Army; in 1930, he was promoted to the commander of the 28th Brigade Major General. At this time, he was only 27 years old.
In late July 1931, Shi Youlan, commander-in-chief of the 5th Army of the Kuomintang Army stationed in southern Hebei, was eager to expand his sphere of influence and attempted to turn against him. He said in a secret telegram: "Brother is about to attack Pingjin, and after the northeast, Brother Xi will contact the Japanese side." After Chiang Kai-shek learned of this, he immediately dismissed Shi Yousan from his various posts, and at the same time ordered Shi Yousan to be taken over, and the encirclement and suppression operation immediately began. Chen Mingren was ordered to serve as the vanguard of the Southern Route Army and lead his troops north, under the leadership of Commander-in-Chief Liu Zhi, to attack Shi Yousan; Zhang Xueliang also sent a telegram to attack Shi Yousan, and most of the main force of the Northeast Army was drawn into the Pass, which was the Northern Route Army.
Shi Yousan's army group was stationed in Shunde Province (present-day Xingtai City), with a total strength of more than 60,000 troops. In addition to leaving one brigade stationed in Shunde, the main force of more than 56,000 people marched north and successively occupied shijiazhuang, Baoding, Wangdu and other towns. Chen Mingren's troops soon approached Julu County. At that time, julu was garrisoned by 2 divisions and 1 cavalry brigade led by former enemy commander Sun Guangqian and division commander Cheng Xixian, which were the main forces of Shi You's three divisions.
At the meeting to study the battle plan for capturing Julu City, Chen Mingren's opinion and the opinion of the division commander appeared obviously opposed, and the division commander meant to take the front triangle attack formation, break through a little, not as good as the rest, and occupy the giant deer as quickly as possible. In his speech, Chen Mingren pointed out: "The task entrusted to us by the principal is to suppress the rebels, not to drive out the rebels. Wherever they run is also the territory of the Republic of China, they will still do evil. Julu City was originally the land of the Republic of China, and there was no greater significance in occupying or not occupying, the key was to completely annihilate the rebel Shi You's three departments. Therefore, I propose to adopt the tactic of rapid envelopment and division, with fierce crossfire, and strive to completely annihilate the enemy. ”
Chen Mingren's speech aroused the praise of the generals, and the division commander suddenly felt faceless and said indignantly: "You, a transfer student of the Huangpu Phase I, have not studied the basic theory of military science well, so don't make a fuss." Since the ancient soldiers have no fixed method, that method of warfare wins quickly and loses little, which is a good method of warfare. ”
"Your deployment is a tactic to scare off the enemy, harmful, extremely stupid, and undesirable!" Chen Mingren's stubborn strength came out again.
"What is the crime of slandering your superiors and violating military discipline by speaking ill of you?" The division commander did not show weakness either.
"Obviously, you disregarded the great plan to suppress the rebels, vainly tried to take the floating merits lightly, ashamed of the people and the principal, and dared to ask me for your sins. If you have no direction in command, and you can't listen to the opinions of others, why should you be a division commander? Chen Mingren pressed forward step by step, not giving the division commander a chance to breathe.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > Second, the division chief of staff saw the situation, knew that if the quarrel continued, the consequences would be unimaginable, and hastily announced the temporary suspension of the meeting</h1>
After the generals dispersed, the chief of staff of the division said to the division commander: "The division seat is angry, Zi Liang is fierce in character, strong and competitive, and he is deeply valued by the principal, so I don't think I need to worry too much about him." Moreover, if his battle plan is indeed desirable, it is better to let him make a military order, with his brigade as the main attacker, and if he can win a complete victory, the division commander will have a light on his face; if he fails, it is not too late to punish him. ”
At this moment of dilemma, when the division commander heard this, he thought that what he said was reasonable, and immediately changed his attitude and agreed to act according to the opinion of the chief of staff: The meeting resumed, and the chief of staff took the lead in speaking: "After studying with the division commander, I think that Brigadier Chen has far-reaching ideas and tactics can be feasible. This statement is quite general and slightly sarcastic.
Chen Mingren did not care about this, took the pen and stone, and waved it: "The position is the vanguard, suppressing the rebel army of the giant deer, if it does not win a complete victory, it is willing to be military law." In case of accident, please. This is chen mingren. Then he handed the general's order to the chief of staff and said, "If you win your post, you will die, please give the order!" ”
After a brief mobilization for battle, Chen Mingren immediately threw himself into an offensive operation. Chen Mingren and the 3 regimental commanders took the lead and bravely rushed to kill, the vast number of officers and men were greatly encouraged, the military might was greatly enhanced, and after more than 2 hours of fierce fighting, they completely annihilated the cavalry brigade on the outskirts of the giant deer. Immediately after that, with the cooperation of other divisions and brigades, an encirclement attack operation was carried out against the infantry divisions defending the city. At this time, yu Xuezhongzhi's 1st Army of the Northeast Army overheard the sound of the rebels' gunshots, and judged that the defending enemy had an attempt to abandon the city and flee, and urgently ordered the troops to encircle Julu City in two ways. The 2nd Army of the Northeast Army also rapidly advanced to the south of the Tuotuo River to take on the task of providing reinforcements and blocking the fleeing enemy. Sure enough, the rebels abandoned the city at night and fled, and when they retreated to the Tuotuo River, they encountered a surge in the river, and the movement was difficult, so they surrendered their weapons and surrendered, and the division commander Mi Wenhe was captured. Shi Yousan and his chief of staff, Tang Bangzhi, fled to Shandong with only about 3,000 remnants and defected to Han Fuyu.
In this battle, a total of more than 23,000 rebels were annihilated, and Julu City was recaptured, and a complete victory was won. After Chiang Kai-shek saw the war report in Nanjing, he said: "Zi Liang, I have indeed lived up to my expectations. In addition to his excitement, he saw the complaint cable that "Chen Ziliang confronted his superiors in battle, did not listen to dispatches, made good claims, was difficult to lead, and was difficult to entrust with heavy responsibilities", and immediately revoked the decision to promote Chen Mingren to division commander and appointed him deputy division commander of the 80th Division and brigade commander of the 238th Brigade.
On 12 September, Chiang Kai-shek went north to Shijiazhuang, and after summoning Zhang Xueliang and other generals of the Northeast Army, he also summoned the generals of the Southern Route Army led by Liu Zhi, and in his speech he also specifically mentioned Chen Mingren, saying: "Ziliang is young and promising, and the Battle of Julu, as a vanguard, with a brigade of enemies and two divisions and a brigade, has no color, and has made innovative achievements, which should have been rewarded heavily, but Nian Ziliang's old brother is young and vigorous, easy to be rash, afraid that his superiors will be difficult to dispatch, and temporarily entrusted with a commission, if there are any achievements, he will be entrusted with a heavy responsibility." ”
After Chen Mingren listened, he knew that someone had sued diao, but he didn't think that he could explain this matter clearly in one or two sentences, and he, who had always been difficult to swallow his anger, swallowed this evil breath for the first time in the world, and also laughed at himself: "Gentlemen do not see with villains in general!" However, after all, he did not have such a high level of cultivation, and after the meeting, he angrily rebuked the division commander more frequently as a "straw bag plus a villain" to relieve the hatred in his heart. Two years later, Chen Mingren was promoted to lieutenant general of the 80th Division in September 1933. Subsequently, Chiang Kai-shek immediately transferred the division to participate in the "encirclement and suppression" operation against the Fujian-Gansu Soviet region.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > third, in order to save his best friend Wen Jimo, offended Jiang Dingwen, Master Chen Mingren was dismissed</h1>
Xie Fangru was an illiterate rural woman, a year older than her husband. After Chen Mingren was promoted to deputy division commander, he took his wife to the army, and in his spare time, he taught her to read and write by hand, received people and things, and soon trained her to become a sage who knew how to read and write.
One day in the summer of 1934, Jiang Dingwen, commander-in-chief of the Eastern Route Army's "suppression of bandits," telephoned Chen Mingren, saying that his subordinate Wen Jimo sympathized with the anti-Chiang incident launched by Li Jishen and Chen Mingshu in Fujian, connived with his subordinates to rebel and absconded from the Soviet zone, and allowed officers and men who had been captured by the Red Army and returned to the unit to do counter-offensive work, and explicitly ordered that Wen be immediately taken to the General Headquarters and severely punished. After reading the telegram, Chen Mingren was silent and very embarrassed. After asking about the situation, Xie Fangru said, "Wen Jimo is your best friend, you should save his life, and you must not let him die." ”
"I think the same way, but I may be charged with sympathy for rebellion, or even fornicating banditry." Chen Mingren paced back and forth as he spoke, hesitating.
"But if you see death and don't save it, what kind of best friend is it?" If he were really escorted to the General Headquarters, wouldn't he be charged with unkindness and injustice, and what prestige would such a division commander have? Xie Fangru kept asking.
"All right!" Chen Mingren slapped his hand on the table and said, "Just do it, tomorrow I will call Jiang Dingwen and say that I have detained and examined Wen Jimo, and there is no solid evidence for the crime described in the call." ”
Unfortunately, a few days later, Jiang Dingwen led his staff officers to Yanping, Fujian Province, to inspect the matter and prepare to personally investigate the matter. Chen Mingren deliberately avoided seeing him, so Jiang Dingwen had no choice but to send several staff officers to the 80th Division to find Chen Mingren, accusing him of deceiving his superiors and shielding his subordinates, and if he did not immediately hand over Wen Jimo, he would report to Chiang Kai-shek for the crime of allowing treason and banditry. The sudden appearance of several staff officers left Chen Mingren momentarily at a loss. Just at this moment, Xie Fangru sent a telegram. The caller said: "The 238th Brigade to which your division belongs is near Shaxian County, and was attacked by the bandits Peng Dehuai and Yang Shangkun, and the brigade commander Chen Pingqiu fled into the wilderness, and the whole brigade collapsed. ”
Chen Mingren was heartbroken and indignant at this loss for his subordinates' journey, and he was furious at several staff officers at the headquarters and rebuked: "How could I not have known about this operation of Chen Pingqiu's brigade?" ”
Xie Fangru said as if knocking on the side of the pot: "I heard that it was directly commanded by the General Headquarters!" ”
"This is all caused by Jiang Dingwen's unclear judgment, improper command, and commanding behind my back. If he were to set up some more spies and ears to monitor our division, and if he arbitrarily buckled the hats of plotting rebellion, rebellion, banditry, and banditry, I would report the real reason for the failure of the Chen Brigade to Chairman Jiang! You guys watch and do it! ”
Several staff officers were bored with themselves, and did not dare to mention the detention of Wen Jimo again, so they resigned in a gray and slippery manner.
Jiang Dingwen was very angry when he heard the report of the staff officers, and he had a moment of suffering, but he would never stop there. Once, taking advantage of the loss of the 80th Division's troops and before the replenishment of the full number of troops, he personally inspected the division's garrison and sent a point inspection team to the units under his command to conduct inspections, and the new recruits recruited by the division in transit were all counted as shortfalls. Subsequently, he telegraphed Chiang Kai-shek on charges of "eating a large number of shortages and disobeying dispatches."
Chiang Kai-shek did not know the truth, and immediately dismissed Chen Mingren from his post as division commander and transferred him to the Lushan Officers' Training Corps to study, while concurrently serving as the deputy commander of the 1st Brigade. A few months later, he was transferred to the Army's 2nd Division, serving as chief of staff under division commander Huang Jie. In 1935, he was advised by Jiang Dingwen to be relieved of his post as chief of staff and to study at the 13th term of the Army University. When he learned that Chiang Kai-shek deliberately polished his pride, he did not refuse to take office, but he still had no intention of studying, and whenever he was examined, he asked Dai Jian, Huang Bin, and others to do the work for him.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="1" >4, Chen Mingren was reassigned as the commander of the 44th Division, why did he disarm and return to the field? </h1>
In the spring of 1938, Chen Mingren graduated from Lu University, and due to He Yingqin's relationship, he was assigned to the Ministry of Military Affairs as a subordinate. During his tenure, he was assigned to the posts of director of the Xiang, Gansu, Zhejiang and Sichuan troops, and director of the 6th Infantry Training Department. In June, he was transferred to the 2nd Reserve Division and re-led the troops. The quality of the division was extremely poor, and when it went to Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, to prepare for a war against Japan, there were many deserters, and 5 of the 6 division commanders of the division headquarters also escaped. To this end, Chen Mingren trained the troops with great dedication, strictly straightened out military discipline, and sometimes continued to conduct exercises in spite of the air raids of Japanese aircraft, which quickly improved the combat effectiveness of the troops.
On July 22, at midnight, a Japanese army submerged into Poyang Lake in the rain and landed at Gutang. On the 24th, the Japanese Botian detachment and the 106th Division attacked Jiujiang, and launched a general attack the next morning. Later, the battle was serious, and the Pre-2nd Division led by Chen Mingren was ordered to enter the battle. As a result, the other 8 kuomintang divisions participating in the battle collapsed, and only the 2nd Division was able to fight effectively and completed the scheduled combat tasks. To this end, Chiang Kai-shek and He Yingqin were very happy, and while commending Chen Mingren, they announced that the Pre-2nd Division would merge with the 44th Division, using the name of the 44th Division, and enter the official sequence of the Kuomintang Army, and Chen Mingren would be replaced as the commander of the 44th Division.
It is said that this is a good thing, but Chen Mingren has a different view, he believes: First, the pre-2nd division changed its past image in the Battle of Jiujiang, gained a good reputation, and canceled its name is inappropriate; second, the 44th division was under the direct command of Yu Jishi, and it was not as independent as the pre-2nd division. Therefore, he found He Yingqin and said angrily: "If the number of the pre-2nd division is canceled, I would rather be disarmed and return to the field." ”
He Yingqin said: "The military order is like a mountain falling, like a tree has become a boat, and it is inconvenient to change." ”
The 44th Division immediately returned to the 8th Army, and Chen Cheng also invited Chen Mingren to be the deputy commander of the army, but Chen refused. He Yingqin sent a telegram ordering Chen Mingren to return to the Military and Political Department to stand by. Soon after, He Yingqin formed a division from the troops of the Dechuan Anti-Japanese War, gave it the official name, and handed it over to Chen Mingren for command. However, Chen Mingren still insisted on the restoration of the pre-2nd division, and He Yingqin had to accommodate him and re-appoint him as the commander of the pre-2nd division. Chen Mingren finally achieved his goal.
About the author: Taishi Xiaosheng, a lover of history, is especially passionate about reading and writing party history and military history. I have always wanted to look back at history more clearly, look at history more rationally, and write history more fluently.
The majority of history buffs are welcome to exchange axes.