The arrival of the provisional First Army Headquarters team announced that the Nationalist Army's large-scale military operations in northern Zhejiang finally had a direct command organization, instead of relying on the Fuzhou Headquarters for remote command as before.

On the morning of 19 May, the Provisional First Army Headquarters issued Military Order No. 1 in the name of the General Staff of the Army, ordering the Second Division to speed up its march to Hangzhou and at the same time dispatch a regiment to march lightly and urgently to support the First Division.

Subsequently, Lin Zhaomin took the relevant personnel of the staff department to the front line in Hangzhou.

In the headquarters of the First Division, a group of senior officers of the First Division walked into the conference room one after another, and these senior officers of the Nationalist Army were all wearing hot officer uniforms, long leather shoes on their feet, their hair was all oiled and shiny, their hands were all wearing white gloves, and they were wearing officers' sabers and pistols around their waists.

At the beginning of the establishment of the army, the senior officers of the national army paid great attention to their appearance, especially Yuan Fang and several other people wore officer uniforms and white gloves every day, but slowly the whole army also learned, although there were no clear regulations, but all the officers on formal occasions were neatly dressed, and after more than half a year, the officers even wore to a sick state on formal occasions, compared with Beiyang and the army.

In this way, almost all the officers of the National Army in the eyes of outsiders wear handsome military uniforms all the year round, and they are all handsome and extraordinary, and almost all the officers of the National Army in newspapers and photos are more handsome and have a more dignified feeling, and even many young people in China have specially come to Fujian to join the army for the sake of the National Army wearing a good-looking military uniform.

Of course, there are also a lot of disadvantages, for example, in the battle with Zhu Rui's Second Division yesterday, there was a captain who came forward to supervise the battle in a dazzling officer's uniform, and then was targeted by more than a dozen gunners of Zhu Rui's Second Division on the opposite side, and finally succeeded in becoming the first National Army officer to die.

With such exceptions, Chen Jingyun had to strictly order officers not to wear official officer uniforms when they went to the front line in person to avoid being hunted by the enemy in an organized manner. It's just that this is a later story, and the current national army is still like this.

After a group of high-ranking officers entered the conference room and sat down one after another, everyone they knew started talking in twos and threes, and they were all talking about war.

"Brother Xu, in the early morning battle this morning, the 2nd battalion under your 13th Regiment fought quite well, and a surprise attack occupied the eighth height!"

Xu Jingqing listened to the compliments and smiled, Xu Jingqing was first a member of the Jianning Patrol Battalion, and later surrendered to the National Army because he wanted to continue to lead the troops, so he entered the Fuzhou Military Academy for training with some other surrendered officers, and graduated successfully after studying with those young people for three months, because Xu Jingqing was originally a senior officer in the former Qing Dynasty, and his own quality was not weak, and he was appreciated after studying at the Fuzhou Military Academy for three months, so he was assigned to the 10th Regiment of the Fifth Brigade as a regimental staff officer, and then promoted to the staff officer of the Fifth Brigade. In the planning of the reorganization of the Seventh Division, he was appreciated by Feng Qin, and then recommended as the deputy commander of the first division, and later promoted to the commander of the 13th regiment, successfully realizing his dream of continuing to lead the troops, and Xu Jingqing was also the fastest promoted among the generals of the old army who surrendered.

Yesterday it was said that his 13th Regiment was deployed on the east side of the defensive line, and the opposite Zhejiang army had a brigade, which was twice as strong as his 13th Regiment, and at night the Zhejiang Army launched a large-scale raid, and the 2nd Battalion of the 12th Regiment, which was close to the 13th Regiment, suffered a large-scale rout, causing the 13th Regiment defense line on one side to be in trouble. In order to solve the dilemma, Xu Jingqing planned to capture the No. 8 Heights, which was approved by Yuan Fang. In a surprise attack this morning, he personally commanded on the spot, and it took a battalion of troops to capture Heights 8, so that the 13th Regiment could use the terrain of Heights 8 to suppress the enemy, and then reverse the predicament of the Nationalist Army on the Eastern Front.

Xu Jingqing said with a smile: "It's all the brothers below who work hard, otherwise they can't implement the plan!" ”

While Xu Jingqing was talking to a few people around him, the guards at the door suddenly shouted: "The chief has arrived!" ”

Suddenly, all the officers present stood up in unison and looked at the door.

At this time, Lin Zhaomin and Yuan Fang entered one after another, after the two came over, Lin Zhaomin sat directly on the main seat, and then Yuan Fang sat next to him, and after sitting down, Lin Zhaomin pressed his hand and said: "Sit down!" ”

After the officers sat down one after another, Lin Zhaomin said: "This time, Lin came to Zhejiang on the order of the governor, and what he did was nothing more than one thing, that is, to defeat Zhu Rui. Today, when I inspected the various units at the front line of the First Division, I saw that all the units of the First Division were high-spirited, brave and good at fighting, and worthy of being the first-class strong army of the Governor. ”

The praise of the opening remarks made the officers of the First Division present a little embarrassed. But then Lin Zhaomin's face changed: "Even though the first division is generally good, but it is also a bad horse, in the battle last night, the commander of the 2nd Battalion under the 12th Regiment, Nie Baofeng, led to the collapse of the headquarters, trapped the friendly army at a disadvantage, and even escaped from the battle privately." If we don't get rid of these black sheep, it's not enough to show our army's military law! ”

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw several gendarmes pressing a man in, who was covered in stains, his hair was disheveled, and there were no epaulettes on his military uniform, but everyone present recognized this person. This person's name is Nie Baofeng, he is an old man in the second battalion of the 38th standard, and when he was expanded, he served as the commander of the 2nd battalion of the 12th regiment, and from the faction, he belonged to Chen Jingyun's subordinates, but in the first battle last night, he not only lost the battle, but in the end, he did not organize a resistance but escaped from the front line with a few guards without permission. This kind of thing happened just after the war, which made Yuan Fang extremely angry, and immediately removed this person from his post and handed him over to the military police for justice.

At this time, Lin Zhaomin happened to come, and Lin Zhaomin also pushed the boat down the river and used this matter to establish his authority.

After Lin Zhaomin finished speaking, the relevant military judge personnel of the Provisional First Army also stood up and took out an official document and read it out:

"On the night of May 18, due to Nie Baofeng's improper command, he escaped from the battle, causing heavy damage to our army, and because of the critical period, the military court specially sentenced Nie Baofeng to death, which was executed immediately!"

After this person finished speaking, Lin Chengkun nodded, and the gendarmes immediately dragged Nie Baofeng out, and in the process, Nie Baofeng didn't say a word, not even a single expression, and the whole person was depressed. However, just as the gendarmes dragged him out of the door, the man suddenly shouted: "Master, I deserve to die, but my wife and children are innocent, please give them a way to live!" ”

The gendarmes did not stop, dragging Nie Baofeng and continuing to walk.

And Yuan Fang heard this as if he hadn't heard it, but the other officers present felt cold in their hearts when they heard it, because seeing this disposition, it seemed that Nie Baofeng was not the only one who shot him, as if he had also implicated his family?

At this time, without Lin Zhaomin's orders, the people of the Military Justice Department once again stood up and said: "According to the latest military law regulations, if there are serious violations of military discipline such as escaping from the battlefield or defecting to the enemy in the course of the battle, all the generals of our army will be engaged in military law, and all the military salaries previously issued will be recovered, and the insufficient personal assets will be made up by their families, and the immediate family members will not only continue to hold political and public positions!" ”

These words sound murderous, and the military law is engaged in these things, but the military salary is recovered and made up by the family, which is completely a copy of the family in another way. In addition, the fact that family members are not allowed to hold public office is nothing for officers from small families, but it is not good for large families, these people are basically with roots and leaves, and it is difficult for family members to ensure that many of them serve in the military and political axes.

Such drastic terms are naturally unpleasant in the eyes of the officers, but who dares to oppose it, and if they do, they will clearly express their desire to join the enemy.

So the officers closed their mouths very sensibly, and said in their hearts: "Anyway, I won't join the enemy and won't run away, so this matter is basically none of my business!" ”

After dealing with this matter, Lin Zhaomin said to Yuan Fang: "Brother Yuan, I still have to worry about introducing one or two things about the current battle situation!" ”

Yuan Fang said: "This is natural! Then he nodded and looked at a lieutenant colonel staff officer, and immediately, the lieutenant colonel staff officer stood up, took the baton and came to the large military map on the wall next to him and said: "Commanders and colleagues, the current situation of our army is that all units are in a state of cross-entanglement with the enemy!"

At present, the battle line is mainly concentrated in the areas of Hongbei Mountain, Baoge Mountain, and Zhoufeng, and the 11th and 12th regiments of our army are deployed in this area, and the 13th regiment is deployed on the flank adjacent to the 12th regiment, of which the No. 8 height, No. 47 highland, and No. 63 highland are the areas where the fighting situation is most intense. At present, except for two infantry battalions and units directly under the division, all of our troops have been put into the battlefield, and it is estimated that the enemy forces will deploy nearly two brigades of troops on the frontal front, which is more than ten miles wide, and two brigades of enemy troops are expected on the frontal of the 13th Regiment on the Eastern Front. According to preliminary statistics, the total number of enemy troops should be no less than twenty-five thousand, that is, twice as many as our army.

On the frontal front, after yesterday's battle, the enemy and our two sides were in a state of see-saw, and the troops under the 13th Regiment on the eastern front seized the No. 8 high ground in the early hours of this morning, and it is expected that an artillery battalion will be deployed on the No. 8 high ground, which can inflict effective artillery casualties on the enemy troops on the eastern front. ”

With the explanation of this operational staff officer, various signs continued to appear on the military map, and then in Lin Zhaomin's eyes, it was a battle line more than 20 miles wide, the battle line was zigzag, and the two armies were almost staggered, and in some places it seemed that the troops of the national army were encircled, but in some places it seemed that the Zhejiang army was encircled. It's just messy, it can't be messy.

In such a chaotic front, Lin Zhaomin could almost see at a glance that the current First Division was on the defensive, and even slowly shrinking its troops. The reason why this is also simple is because the first division is currently too small in strength, although it has an advantage in firepower, but in the initial engagement, it was under too much pressure because of the small number of troops, and after the casualties occurred one after another, Yuan Fang ordered to shrink the troops, abandon some unimportant fronts, and concentrate forces.

Lin Zhaomin nodded and said, "What about the casualties of the enemy and me?" ”