Chapter 67

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

After the oath-taking assembly ended, the Eastern Expedition Army divided into three columns and launched another punitive expedition against the Dongjiang Region from three directions.

The First Army, as the Eastern Expedition Army's first column, made Huizhou City its first battle.

"The Huizhou region has experienced countless wars throughout the dynasties and is famed as impregnable; since the Song Dynasty five hundred years ago, Huizhou has never been breached." The Principal pointed at Huizhou City on the map inside the command post.

"That's right. When Grand Marshal Sun Yat-sen was alive, he launched two uprisings in Huizhou against the Qing Court, both ending in failure. Today our Revolutionary Army raises troops in Huizhou for the third time, and we must take Huizhou City!" Official He clenched his fist, determined to take Huizhou at any cost.

During the First Eastern Expedition, Huizhou City was originally assigned to Yang Ximin and Liu Zhenhuan to capture, but the two harbored ulterior motives and, because of the city's formidable defenses, hesitated at its gates without advancing.

This tough nut that was Huizhou City had to be dealt with during the Second Eastern Expedition.

This Second Eastern Expedition was to secure the great rear of Guangdong Province and prepare for the Northern Expedition.

"Huizhou City is hard to take... My opinion is to bypass Huizhou City and strike directly at Hailufeng," the Principal suggested, clearly unwilling to expend effort on Huizhou City.

Political Advisor Paul Ting disagreed: "Principal, don't you forget the assassination of Mr. Liao in August? Huizhou is Representative Liao's hometown, now occupied by the rebels—how can we stand by and do nothing? Moreover, once Huizhou is taken, the toughest bone of this war can be broken, and morale will surely be boosted!"

"A new batch of Russian-style artillery aided by Soviet Russia has arrived. With these fine guns, they may be the weapon to capture Huizhou City," First Division Commander He Yingqin supported attacking Huizhou City.

The Russian military advisor General Galun nodded: "Not bad. An artillery position can be built on Fei'e Ridge outside Huizhou City to strike the city walls and important facilities inside the city."

Although Huizhou City had high walls and thick ramparts, it was not without weaknesses. Less than a kilometer from the city wall was a small highland, Fei'e Ridge, which overlooked the entire city of Huizhou.

"The reason Huizhou has never been breached in five hundred years is that it has never faced true modern warfare. Ancient walls can stop arrows and catapults, but they cannot withstand the shrapnel of foreign cannons. As long as we increase the volume of shell delivery, we can win the first great victory of the Second Eastern Expedition at Huizhou!" Instructor Wu continued to bolster the Principal's confidence.

Seeing that everyone advocated attacking Huizhou City, the Principal announced:

"Alright. Two days. If we can't take it within two days, we'll bypass Huizhou City. Now I order:

The assault force shall consist of the First Division's Artillery Battalion and Engineer Battalion; the Second Division's Fourth Regiment; the Third Division's Seventh Regiment, Eighth Regiment, and one Supplementary Regiment;

The Second Division's Fourth Regiment shall serve as the main assault; the main attack direction shall be the North Gate of Huizhou, with the South Gate as the secondary attack; the Second Division's Fourth Regiment shall be responsible for attacking the North Gate, and the Third Division shall be responsible for attacking the West and South Gates..."

The Principal spoke at length, and everyone took notes.

It can be seen that the assault infantry mainly came from the newly formed units of the Second and Third Divisions, while the First Division, as the most direct lineage among direct lineages, was only provided artillery support and engineer support by the Principal.

Clearly, the Principal actually held a "let's try" attitude toward taking Huizhou, and even if it failed, it would not injure too much of their vitality.

On October 11, the First Army swept away the enemies outside Huizhou City, successfully encircling Huizhou City, and simultaneously occupied Fei'e Ridge, which overlooked the entire city of Huizhou.

On the twelfth, the Revolutionary Army sent planes to drop propaganda leaflets inside Huizhou City, persuading the three thousand rebels in the city to surrender and launching psychological warfare.

On the thirteenth, on the artillery position at Fei'e Ridge, Artillery Battalion Commander Chen Cheng began test-firing the guns and calibrating targets.

Taking advantage of Fei'e Ridge's commanding terrain, Chen Cheng directed the artillery to strike the rebel command post, telegraph office, artillery position, and the gate tower and city wall at the North Gate inside Huizhou City.

The cannon fire rumbled. The Principal supervised the battle on the artillery position at Fei'e Ridge, and Artillery Battalion Commander Chen Cheng personally pulled the lanyard of the first shell.

More than a dozen mountain guns and field guns launched a fierce bombardment against Huizhou City's North Gate.

In five hundred years, Huizhou City had never witnessed such fierce bombardment.

The power of the bombardment could not be compared with bows and giant stones from hundreds of years ago, nor with the bombs and rifle bullets of the Tongmenghui uprising more than twenty years ago.

The Huizhou city wall was like a loaf of bread, being gnawed into crumbs by the shells.

First the city gate crumbled, then a breach appeared in the city wall, and finally the bartizan collapsed. The assault troops were greatly encouraged and began to arrange troops to attack in echelons.

Standing on Fei'e Ridge, the Principal saw that the artillery battalion under Chen Cheng's command moved as if an extension of his arm, with not a shot wasted, and felt greatly pleased: "Good! Chen Cheng, your guns are well fired! In both Eastern Expeditions, plus the last suppression of the Yang-Liu Rebellion, the artillery units you commanded played a huge role. Keep it up—you have a future!"

Hearing this, Chen Cheng fired the guns even more vigorously.

However, although a breach appeared in the city wall, the four thousand rebels inside Huizhou City still defended the city wall tenaciously.

The rebel leader inside Huizhou City, Yang Kunru, ascended the city wall, shot several subordinates who retreated in the face of battle, and ordered people to bring up basket after basket of silver dollars: "Whoever dares to slip away, don't blame me for turning my face and not recognizing anyone! But whoever kills an enemy, I'll reward him ten silver dollars!"

"Don't be afraid! The enemy doesn't have that many shells. I don't believe they can blow the whole city wall down. Fight hard for me!"

Under the threats and inducements of their leader Yang Kunru, the rebels chose to fight to the death.

Whenever a breach appeared in the city wall, the rebels swarmed over to repair and defend it, and heavy machine guns on the city wall continuously swept the Revolutionary Army below the wall with fire.

Inside Huizhou City, Yang Kunru even arranged an artillery position to cover the essential route of the assault troops with artillery fire.

Below Fei'e Ridge, in front of Huizhou City's North Gate, the Second Division's Fourth Regiment served as the main assault.

On Fei'e Ridge, the field-grade and above officers of the First Division's three regiments followed the Principal to observe the battle, whispering to each other and exchanging opinions.

"Muzi, how do you think the rebels of Yang Kunru opposite are fighting?" Regiment Commander Liu Zhi pointed at Huizhou City below Fei'e Ridge and asked.

"Their tactics are not great, but taking Huizhou City is still not simple," said Lv Muzhi, commander of the Special Service Company of a regiment, analyzing the situation. (The Special Service Company is not spy secret police; it can be regarded as the guard force of the regiment headquarters, so don't misunderstand.)

"Oh? I'd like to hear it in detail."

Lv Muzhi pointed at the Fourth Regiment probing forward below Fei'e Ridge: "Our Fourth Regiment sent out a company as the vanguard, followed by a battalion to strengthen the attack, but the rebels opposite exposed all their firepower without reservation..."

Liu Zhi laughed heartily: "Exactly! Anyway, I only saw a group of panicked rebels. Our army only sent a small detachment, and the rebels revealed all their heavy firepower on the city wall, even exposing the artillery positions inside the city."