Chapter 26

When He Zhengdao led a fully armed independent regiment to secretly infiltrate the grand temple for repairs, they would rest in the mountain ravines during the day and quickly move along the route He Zhengdao had planned at night, heading towards the border of Hunan Province.

Considering the complex enemy situation around, He Zhengdao would always take time during the day to dispatch soldiers from the guard company to conduct reconnaissance, trying to gather as much information about the enemy on the road as possible.

With nearly two thousand troops in the independent regiment, they abandoned their cars and used mules and horses to transport ammunition and supplies. He Zhengdao also had the Red Army soldiers who went out on reconnaissance change into civilian clothes, enter the towns at the border of the two provinces, purchase some food and medicine, and occasionally act as guerrillas, executing a few landlords and corrupt officials.

However, he did not know that because he had robbed the inspection team, causing many casualties among the Gui Army and the inspection team members, the two major figures of the Gui clique would not easily let go of this opportunity to strike at the Central Army. They extorted a significant amount of compensation before cooperating with the Central Army's investigation team, which traced the independent regiment, disguised as the Central Army, all the way to the Dong'an area.

Seeing that the trail really led to Dong'an and into the territory of the Hunan Army, the Central Army and the Gui Army investigators immediately sent telegrams to their respective supreme commanders, informing them that the group pretending to be the Gui Army had indeed taken advantage of the conflict between the two sides to sneak back into southern Hunan.

With the report from the investigation team, Chiang Kai-shek, who had been closely following the so-called 'bandit suppression' campaign, naturally did not hesitate to order the commander of the Hunan Army, He Jian, to identify the regimental commander who had impersonated the Gui Army to rob the reward money and hand him over to the investigation team sent by the National Government for serious handling.

In this situation of united external resistance, sowing discord among the three armies was undoubtedly malicious. Even the two major figures of the Gui Army, Li Bai, directly questioned He Jian about his intentions.

Was it because he had become the commander-in-chief of the bandit suppression that he no longer took the Gui Army seriously? After all, the current achievements of the commander-in-chief were largely due to the efforts of the Gui Army. How could he do such a thing as crossing the river and then dismantling the bridge, or kicking someone when they were down?

Faced with a main force division of the Central Army and a regular brigade of the Gui Army preparing to continue the investigation towards Yongzhou, the Hunan Army stationed here would not easily let them enter with a large force.

Who knew if their so-called investigation was genuine? If they used it as a pretext to occupy their Yongzhou city and even refused to leave, what would happen?

Currently, the main force of the Hunan Army was chasing the main force of the Red Army. If they took advantage of the weakness of the main force to create some chaos, it would be uncertain who would have the final say in southern Hunan!

There was no question about it; on the issue of territory, He Jian would not make any concessions. He quickly mobilized a division and directly entered Yongzhou city, clearly stating that he would conduct the investigation. If the Gui Army and the Central Army did not trust their investigation, they could send representatives to participate, but the division and the brigade would not advance any further.

Originally planning to give the currently successful He Jian a warning, the main force division of the Central Army and the regular brigade of the Gui Army did not continue to advance towards Quanzhou. However, this nearly 20,000-strong force directly stationed in Andong city.

They claimed that they were afraid the Hunan Army would play tricks and needed to ensure they had a way to retreat to western Guangxi. So, this nearly 20,000-strong force was their fallback plan. No matter how much He Jian protested, it was of no use!

Clearly, if the culprit was not caught, these people would not leave. Although Andong city was just a small county, its strategic position was undoubtedly important. He Jian definitely did not want to give it up easily.

For these warlord forces that belonged to the Central Army, any strategic location was extremely valuable!

He ordered the investigation team to report the investigation results to the Gui Army and the Central Army. Even a confidant of He Jian, who was sent by the Hunan Army, brought the security team leaders and city defense battalion commanders of all the large and small counties around Yongzhou for them to see.

Even battalion-level officers were called out for the inspection team leader Liu Zhen Dong to see, but none of them turned out to be the officer who had impersonated the Gui Army and robbed the Central Army.

Seeing that the other side had shown them the security team leaders and city defense battalion commanders of dozens of large and small counties nearby, but still did not find the Hunan Army officer who had impersonated the Gui Army to rob the Central Army, the Gui Army and the Central Army investigators were undoubtedly confused.

After all, this main force regiment that had impersonated the Gui Army and the Central Army had indeed come here by car! When their convoy passed, the civilians on the road were not just one or two. It was impossible that all the civilians were lying!

But why couldn't they find the impersonating officers in the security teams and regular troops of these counties? Could it be that these people really had invisibility powers, robbing the Central Army and ambushing the Gui Army, and then flying away in the territory of the Hunan Army?

As the investigation time extended, the Hunan Army representative was undoubtedly also annoyed. He felt that the Gui Army and the Central Army were deliberately nitpicking, and such random investigations would undoubtedly affect the morale and spirit of the Hunan Army!

When Liu Zhen Dong wanted to investigate further, this representative of He Jian directly refused.

Since they entered southern Hunan, they had investigated no less than a hundred regiment and battalion-level officers, and none of them matched the description of the impersonating officer given by Liu Zhen Dong. Even the regiment and battalion-level officers of the Hunan Army's main force division stationed in Yongzhou city had been investigated.

The result was the same; they did not find the so-called battalion or regimental commander who had robbed them. Now they wanted to investigate further. Did they want to investigate all the regiment and battalion-level officers in southern Hunan?

This confidant of He Jian directly sent a telegram to his commander, complaining that the Gui Army and the Central Army's investigation team members were too bullying. With nearly 20,000 troops stationed in Andong city, causing chaos, and the Hunan Army responsible for providing food, they now wanted to investigate further. Did they think southern Hunan was their backyard, to be investigated as they pleased?

Realizing that this was likely a trick by the Gui Army or the Central Army, and knowing what Chiang Kai-shek was most concerned about, He Jian was not foolish. He directly sent a complaint telegram to the old general's office.

The message was that the Gui Army's investigation team was too bullying. He had already shown the Central Army's regimental commander all the regiment and battalion-level officers around Yongzhou city, and found that there were indeed no impersonators!

It was not right to blame the Hunan Army just because the cars had entered the direction of Yongzhou. Who knew if the robbers of the Central Army were not actually impersonators from the Gui Army?

After all, if they dared to impersonate the Central Army and enter Quanzhou city, they must be familiar with the terrain of Quanzhou. It was also possible that they had feinted and then returned to western Guangxi overnight!

Since the real culprit needed to be found, He Jian's suggestion was that the Gui Army should also be investigated. Given their familiarity with the Central Army's methods, it might even be some people from the Central Army. In this way, the Central Army also had a suspect.

In response to He Jian's complaint telegram, which mentioned that the morale of the army was somewhat unstable, and that everyone said the Central Army and the Gui Army were too bullying, and that they wanted to return to southern Hunan to protect the territory and the people, Chiang Kai-shek clearly understood that this was He Jian's way of protesting. It was not a complaint telegram!

Thinking that the matter had been entangled for so many days, and that the main force of the Red Army had already turned towards Guizhou Province from Tongdao, it meant that the Hunan Army's forces deployed along the Red Army's route would almost not encounter the main force of the Red Army.

Knowing the current strength of the Guizhou warlords, Chiang Kai-shek decisively terminated the investigation and encouraged He Jian to continue his efforts, aiming to eliminate the main force of the Red Army in the Guizhou and Hunan regions in cooperation with the Guizhou warlords.

As for the Gui Army, Chiang Kai-shek also explicitly told the two major figures of the Gui Army, Li Bai, that the matter would be temporarily put aside. Everything would be handled after the main force of the Red Army was eliminated, and he would provide more reward money.

In response, the two major figures of the Gui clique, who also knew that this matter was likely not the doing of the Hunan Army, silently agreed!

These few days were undoubtedly very important for the independent regiment that was secretly marching. When this regiment, which operated at night and rested during the day, entered the border town of Lin Kou in southern Hunan, He Zhengdao ordered the entire regiment to rest and repair in the mountains for two days, looking for an opportunity to check the situation of Tongdao city, which was not far away.

He was very clear that a very important and hasty meeting for the Red Army would be held there. The main force, which originally intended to continue west to join the Second and Sixth Corps, ultimately changed its route at this meeting, making the Hunan Army's blockade on the road to western Hunan a mere formality.

This meeting was later made into a movie called 'The Turn at Tongdao,' which allowed the main force of the Red Army to avoid being surrounded and eliminated. Although from the timeline, it seemed that He Zhengdao and his group were a step late.

However, if He Zhengdao really wanted to join the main force, he would not have adopted this method of marching at night and resting during the day. The most important thing was that He Zhengdao wanted to do some follow-up work for the main force.

Because the Red Army, which had been marching and fighting all the way, had many Red Army soldiers 'stored' in the homes of local civilians. Many of them might get separated from the main force during battles.

These 'stored' and separated Red Army soldiers, a large part of whom did not survive until liberation, were cruelly killed by the white dogs, who were like wolves. He Zhengdao was undoubtedly more aware of these tragedies than anyone else.

Since the independent regiment had taken the initiative to name itself the rear guard independent regiment, it had to do its job well. And he had already thought about where to join the main force.

At this time, his major supporter had not yet truly taken power. If he brought these hard-earned troops to join the main force now, it might deepen the suspicions of the so-called 'true leaders' towards Mao Zedong.

Since he knew these matters, why not endure for a while longer?