Yang Bin's East Route Army mixed formation stumbled all the way south along the east coastline, while Li Nan's army on the other side went quite smoothly. It went south along the railway station, passed through Hsinchu, Miaoli, and arrived in Taichung, encountering almost no obstacles. Because the rebels and the Qing troops stationed along the way heard that the Red Label Army was coming to challenge, they all cheered and gave convenience and support to the march. Compared with Yang Bin's encounter with various obstacles from the local Gaoshan tribe in Hualien, it was much smoother. .
Because everyone has witnessed the brilliant achievements of the Red Flag Army against Japan in Taipei, Huwei, and Jinbaoli, while the Black Flag Army in Tainan was completely defeated by the Japanese army, and the other rebels and Qing troops were even more vulnerable.
If the Japanese army had not been trapped in logistical supplies and temporarily stopped attacking after capturing Yunlin, giving the Qing troops a chance to breathe, otherwise, Nogi Hideori would have fought all the way, not to mention Nantou, Changhua, and even Taichung might have fallen. .
It turned out that Taoist priest Lin Chaodong was stationed in Taichung. He performed extremely well in the Sino-French War and commanded the Dongjun, one of the most effective troops in Taiwan at that time. He was responsible for the security and defense of Taichung. However, due to the fact that he was in the Democratic Republic of Taiwan, After its founding, he was deliberately excluded and suppressed by Tang Jingsong. Later, after the fall of Huwei, the defeated soldiers poured into Taipei, burned, killed and looted. In addition, Tang Jingsong fled Taipei overnight and took an ocean liner to ferry back to the mainland. This also made him feel discouraged and felt The situation was over. After sending his wife, children, and children back to the mainland, and paying the troops' salary, he also chose to cross inland. However, the 10th Battalion of Dongjun under his command was not disbanded. Instead, he stayed in Taichung and followed Wu Tangxing. During the Anti-Japanese War.
After the great victories in Taipei and Huwei, rebel leaders such as Jiang Shaozu, Xu Xiang and Wu Tangxing rushed to Taipei to join the Red Standard Army and accept the reorganization. Therefore, Yu Xiaocheng included them in the seventh, eighth and ninth regiments of the Red Standard Army. Among them, they were stationed in Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Changhua respectively. After Lin Chaodong left Taichung, the Dongjun in Taichung was taken over by Wu Pengnian of the Black Flag Army, and his Black Flag Army was mainly stationed in Nantou County, south of Taichung. Liu Yongfu's attitude towards the Red Flag Army was also deeply influenced by Liu Yongfu. His hostility was greater than his goodwill. After the Japanese army captured Chiayi and reached Yunlin, he led the Black Flag Army to leave Nantou and joined Wu Tangxing of Changhua to fight against the invading Second Army Nogi Nogi. division.
When Li Nan rushed to Nantou, only a few Black Flag troops were left stationed in Nantou, and their attitude towards the arriving Red Flag troops was extremely arrogant and blunt. They were not even prepared to provide food and grass. If Li Nan had not just replenished the supplies in Miaoli, Without food and grass, the soldiers of the three armies may not even have dinner.
When Li Nan arrived at Nantou, it was already dark and the army could no longer march south, so they simply spent the night in Nantou. However, the Black Flag Army stationed in Nantou refused to let them enter the city, so the army had to station outside the city. This was also The resentment of the Red Label Army was soaring. After all, everyone came here to fight against Japan. They were all welcome along the way. Only here in Taichung were they treated so coldly. This made all the officers and soldiers of the Red Label Army feel extremely angry. If Li Nan hadn't tried his best to suppress it, , I am afraid that they have already started fighting with the Black Flag Army in the city.
Although the Red Label Army was stationed in Nantou overnight, Li Nan couldn't hold back after hearing that the fighting on the Yunlin front line was fierce and decided to personally send reconnaissance cavalry to Yunlin to observe the situation. Therefore, as soon as the army was stationed, he handed over the affairs of the general. Xiao Nai, the commander of the 1st Artillery Battalion, was temporarily in charge.
Because Xiao Nai once studied at West Point Military School in the United States and performed extremely well in the Battle of Taipei, with outstanding military exploits and excellent command and combat capabilities, he was trusted by Li Nan.
After Xiao Nai waited for Li Nan to leave, he began to lead the people from his artillery battalion directly to the gate of Nantou City, deceived the Black Flag Army guarding the city gate and asked them to open the city gate, and then led his troops to rush in, but Anyone who stood in their way had no scruples and was beaten to the ground with random sticks. Suddenly, their heads were beaten to pieces and blood flowed at the city gate, and there were more than twenty Black Flag troops wailing all over the ground.
"Fuck, I've come all the way to fight Japanese ghosts, but you still can't fucking open the city gate and let us brothers sleep and eat outside the city. You can't do it anyway. Isn't it because everyone is fighting against Japan today? I will destroy you all!" Xiao Nai was not polite. He stepped on the face of a small leader of the Black Flag Army on the ground and said viciously, "My surname is Xiao Mingnai. You best remember my face. , If you have the guts, go to your fucking leader and file a complaint, preferably to Liu Yongfu, but let me tell you, he has already fled back to the mainland on a ocean liner. If you want to file a complaint against him, you have to swim across the strait! "
"You are talking nonsense, you are talking nonsense. There is no way that our commander can cross the mainland. How great are you Red Label Army? You will bully others with your strength. The Lord Joined the Army is right. You Red Label Army are evil wolves, greedy evil wolves " The little leader of the Black Flag Army who was stepped on was trembling with anger, but before he could finish his words, Xiao Nai kicked him unconscious.
¡°Fuck it, you Black Flag Army lost Tainan, you¡¯re so damn embarrassed, you can¡¯t get it back.¡±?We still need to rely on our Red Label Army! "After Xiao Nai kicked the opponent unconscious, he said fiercely to the other black flag soldiers who were knocked to the ground, "You are just a bunch of fucking pigs. After so many days, Tainan and South Africa have not been able to recover, and they have been beaten to Yunlin. , It¡¯s so fucking embarrassing. If I were your Black Flag Army, I¡¯d be so embarrassed, but I still have the nerve to guard this shitty place and make things difficult for our Red Flag Army! You can¡¯t take back Tainan. Our Red Flag Army will take it back for you. But I want to tell you that if Tainan is taken back, your Black Flag Army¡¯s bullshit will be gone. No matter how bad our Red Flag Army is, we will never do what we did in half a day. The matter of losing the city port is coming! "
With that said, he raised his right hand and said fiercely to the subordinates who were like wolves and tigers around him: "Hit them all hard, damn, if you don't beat them to their senses, they won't know how embarrassing they are!"
Upon hearing the order, the soldiers of the artillery battalion immediately raised the big sticks they had prepared long ago, and hit the weak Black Flag Army soldiers who were lying on the ground like raindrops on the heads and backs. In just a few minutes, the gate of the city was filled with chaos. Wailing and screaming, he was either beaten to a bloody head or knocked unconscious.
Seeing that these black flag troops had no room to resist anymore, Xiao Nai finally let out a breath of bad breath and called on his subordinates to hand over their firearms, and then called on other red flag troops outside the city to camp in the city.
The Red Label Army outside the city had already set up camp. Seeing that the city gate was open, the acting commander Xiao Nai invited everyone to camp in the city. They couldn't manage so many people, so they swarmed into the city, and soon the whole army The streets and alleys of the county were all crowded with the Red Label Army. When the people in the city saw such a new army with strange costumes, they could not help but stand on both sides of the street and watch curiously. With his big black braids, many people thought that foreign troops were coming.
However, the local people had never seen such an upright and mighty army. The soldiers listened to the officers' orders and walked in the city in an orderly manner. The guns on their bodies were clanging against each other, and the cavalry was running through the streets in small steps. , the artillerymen pushed the field artillery "click-click-click" across the road without any whispering or making loud noises. Their military discipline and morale were vastly different from those of the Qing army and the Black Flag Army stationed in Taiwan. The people in the city were shocked. Many people even couldn't help but start applauding. Some people even came forward and asked if they could join the team.
Xiao Nai couldn't help but be overjoyed when he saw that the people in the city were very enthusiastic about joining the army. In addition to wearing the hat of an artillery battalion commander, he also wore another hat of a military battalion commander. Unfortunately, he was a bare battalion commander. Yu Xiaocheng once He was promised to rely on his own ability to recruit a battalion of soldiers, but he had to pay for the firearms, ammunition, food, grass and money himself. Now he could take advantage of this great opportunity to realize his dream of recruiting soldiers.
Sure enough, when he mobilized all the soldiers in the artillery battalion to post recruitment notices in the city, the several recruiting offices he set up in the city were quickly overwhelmed by crowds. Many people saw the majestic dress and solemn and majestic momentum of the Red Label Army. They were all impressed by it, and many regiment-trained warriors even took off their uniforms and joined the army directly.
In just half of the night, Xiao Nai recruited more than 1,700 people for his army battalion, nearly a regiment of troops. In order to be different from Li Jiacai's army, he simply declared that he It is the 2nd Regiment of the **, and when the Nantou Telegraph Bureau sent the relevant military intelligence telegram to Taipei, he brazenly changed his original ** Battalion directly into the 2nd Regiment of the **, and it was also ranked ahead of other troops.
After he sent this telegram back to Taipei, it really surprised Zheng Yi, because the only ones assigned to Li Nan were the 3rd Regiment, the 3rd Battalion of the 4th Regiment, the 4th Battalion, the 2nd Cavalry Company, the 1st Artillery Battalion, and the Guards The first detachment of the army and other 6 mixed troops suddenly appeared, and the Second Regiment of the Second Regiment suddenly appeared, and it was also deliberately different from Li Jiacai's Regiment, which puzzled him. When he sent a telegram to ask who the leader of the Second Regiment was, , Xiao Nai was not polite and directly replied to his name, and also defended himself plausibly. The leader promised that he would serve as the leader of the ** regiment.
Zheng Yi had never heard of this appointment, so for the sake of caution, he had to report it to Yu Xiaocheng. When Yu Xiaocheng saw the name of the Second Regiment, he couldn't help but burst into laughter. Of course, he remembered that he had promised Xiao Nai to serve as the battalion commander's officer. hat, but I didn't expect that this guy arrived in Nantou and recruited nearly 2,000 people at once, and then he was promoted to a higher level and put on the big hat of leader of the *** regiment.
Of course Yu Xiaocheng didn't like this kind of overstepping behavior that casually messed up the army's establishment, but since the mixed formation of the West Route Army had arrived at the front line and was about to go into battle and was in urgent need of personnel, he adopted a compromise method, first sending a message in the telegram He severely reprimanded Xiao Nai for his unorganized and undisciplined behavior, and did not acknowledge the so-called Second Regiment's establishment in the Red Label Army. However, he did not say anything to death. If Xiao Nai could make great contributions in this battle, he would Consider expanding the ** Battalion and reorganizing it into the ** Second Regiment.
When Xiao Nai received this telegram, he couldn't help but be overjoyed. This was a tactful acknowledgment of the establishment of the Second Regiment. Of course he would notSeizing this good opportunity, he immediately started to build an army in accordance with the Red Standard Army's four-four system standards. He also divided the more than 1,700 people he had just recruited into four battalions in a stylish way, and publicly regarded himself as the Second Regiment in front of other troops. It also made other troops who didn't know what was going on think that the Red Label Army had added another sequence, and they also celebrated together.
However, what troubles Xiao Nai is that the newly established Second Regiment is extremely short of firearms and ammunition. He has already disarmed all the Black Flag Army and Tuan Lianxiang Yong in the city, and even the patrol battalion that maintains law and order. , and also smashed open the only arsenal in the city, and distributed all the firearms and ammunition in the warehouse to his newly formed army. However, even though it had already scraped three feet of ground, it could only be equipped with two infantry battalions. Firearms, the remaining two battalions of firearms are still unaccounted for.
In the end, there was really no other way. He could only temporarily equip the two battalions with short knives and spears. Fortunately, there was no shortage of these cold weapons in the city, so these two battalions barely had weapons on hand, but they became the only ones in the Red Label Army. The two infantry battalions are not equipped with thermal weapons.
Xiao Nai actually didn't know that he took the initiative that night and used his rogue habits to force open the city gate of Nantou and lead the troops into the city to camp. On the contrary, he saved the army from the Japanese attack and greatly alleviated the unnecessary losses of the Red Label Army. casualties.