Ode to Clean Conduct and Righteous Spirit | What Is the "Iron Army"?
What Is the "Iron Army"?
■ Sun Yang
In early 1927, an iron shield roughly one meter tall, forged at the Hanyang Arsenal in Wuhan, was solemnly presented by the people to the 4th Corps of the Northern Expedition Army. On the face of the shield were engraved two bold, vigorous characters: "Iron Army" (铁军). This honorific of "iron" originated from the charges made by Ye Ting's Independent Regiment at Tingsi Bridge, Hesheng Bridge, and beneath the walls of Wuchang. Yet if we read the history of those battles carefully, we find that the "iron" of the Iron Army carries deep and layered meaning.
What is the "Iron Army"? Without question, when it comes to fighting, heads may be broken, blood may flow, lives may be lost — but retreat is not permitted.
August 1926, Tingsi Bridge. It was the autumn flood season; floodwaters had spread across the land. The bridge was surrounded on three sides by water and backed on one side by mountains, and Wu Peifu's heavy forces held the commanding terrain in a fight to the death. After a full day of fierce battle, the Northern Expedition Army had launched more than ten charges, all repulsed. In the early hours of the 27th, Ye Ting personally led his troops, moving through dense forest along an ancient path in total darkness, circling around to the enemy's rear at Gutang Corner. The mountain path was rugged and the night was pitch black; the officers and soldiers climbed the mountain barefoot, advancing swiftly with bits clenched in their teeth, not a sound made, not a man falling behind. As dawn broke, the Independent Regiment descended like soldiers from heaven, suddenly striking from the enemy's rear. The enemy forces, attacked front and back, collapsed across the entire line. The Independent Regiment defeated a superior force and broke open the most dangerous pass on the road of the Northern Expedition.
After Tingsi Bridge, Wu Peifu set up three lines of defense at Hesheng Bridge. On August 30, the Independent Regiment was assigned the main frontal assault. 2nd Battalion Commander Xu Jishen charged at the front and was struck in the chest by a bullet; blood soaked his uniform red. Enduring excruciating pain, he pressed his hand to his wound and continued to command until he lost consciousness and fell. Under the enemy's artillery barrage, the officers and soldiers showed not the slightest fear; when ammunition ran out, they fought with bayonets. The entire regiment's battle cries shook the fields; they drove into the enemy formation like an iron spike hammered in tight. The enemy cried out in alarm: "Ye Ting's Independent Regiment is a group of iron men who do not fear death!" The Independent Regiment's reputation as the "Iron Army" first made itself known.
By September, beneath the walls of Wuchang. The Independent Regiment was ordered to lead the main assault. Before the battle, a dare-to-die assault team (奋勇队) was formed; the moment the order was issued, officers and soldiers throughout the regiment competed to sign up. On the eve of the assault, 1st Battalion Commander Cao Yuan, twenty-four years old, and his officers and soldiers each wrote their last testaments — some leaving behind clothing, some entrusting final words — vowing: "If the city is not taken, we will not return alive." In the early hours of the 5th, Cao Yuan raised his command saber and led his men to scale the walls with ladders. The enemy poured down a rain of bullets from the top of the city walls, hurled stones, and splashed kerosene and set it alight. The officers and soldiers fell in waves, and in waves they climbed again. With the assault stalled, Cao Yuan wrote a battle report to Ye Ting: "More than ten men remain, but revolutionary soldiers advance and do not retreat. How to proceed — please instruct. Cao Yuan…" The moment he finished writing the character "Yuan" (渊), he was struck in the head by a bullet; the final stroke of the character "Yuan" trailed off three or four inches long. In that battle, the Independent Regiment suffered nearly fifty percent casualties; 191 martyrs were buried at Hongshan in Wuchang. The inscription on the tomb reads: "The blood of these martyrs forged the honor of the Iron Army."
What is the "Iron Army"? Behind those cries of hot-blooded passion and those fierce battles, we can still search for new answers.
In the art of employing troops, instruction and discipline come first. Ye Ting's Independent Regiment was the first regimental-level regular military force established and directly led by our Party. As early as during the garrison period in Zhaoqing, the Independent Regiment established a political work system. It not only taught soldiers how to fire a rifle, but also told them for whom they were firing it. Regimental Commander Ye Ting personally taught political classes to the soldiers, explaining the principles of revolution and guiding soldiers to understand the fundamental difference between a revolutionary army and the old armies. The regiment also developed Party organization by absorbing company and platoon cadres and activist soldier elements into the Party through work and struggle; the number of Party members gradually grew to more than 120, continuously strengthening Party leadership within the Independent Regiment.
Zhaoqing was the throat of western Guangdong, a gathering place for merchants, and the unhealthy tendencies prevalent in society had seeped into the officers and soldiers to some degree. Ye Ting launched a "Three Anti" (三反) campaign within the Independent Regiment — against corruption, against beating and cursing, and against false reporting — sweeping away the warlord habits that had existed in the regiment's early days. He also organized a military police supervisory team, serving as its commander himself, strictly investigating without exception any breach of military discipline by the regiment's own officers and soldiers, as well as any unlawful conduct by friendly forces such as smuggling for profit or bullying the people. Ye Ting's cousin Ye Shiju gathered people for gambling; Ye Ting showed no favoritism and no cover-up, immediately relieving his cousin of his platoon commander position and confiscating the gambling funds for public use. 5th Company Commander Liu Guanglie embezzled soldiers' meal funds and also beat and cursed soldiers. Ye Ting immediately removed him from his position and used him as a negative example to educate the officers and soldiers.
These efforts laid the foundation for a revolutionary army with strong combat effectiveness; the political consciousness and military quality of the Independent Regiment's soldiers grew day by day. What "iron" meant began to exert an imperceptible influence on every officer and soldier. Comrade Zhu De once analyzed and summarized the reasons for the Independent Regiment's powerful combat effectiveness as follows: the army had Chinese Communist Party organization within it, had political training, and had the support of the broad peasantry and the people.
In the years that followed, this regiment underwent multiple reorganizations and rendered extraordinary service time and again — the forced crossing of the Wu River, the seizure of Luding Bridge, the surprise attack on Lazikou, the first battle at Pingxingguan, the bloody battle at Liulaozhuang… The "Iron Army" name resounded throughout the world.
History is like a monument and a signpost, offering enlightenment and guidance. Entering the new era, Chairman Xi has profoundly pointed out the need to forge elite forces (过硬部队) with iron-like faith (铁一般信仰), iron-like conviction (铁一般信念), iron-like discipline (铁一般纪律), and iron-like responsibility (铁一般担当). These words capture the true essence of the "iron" in the Iron Army. What is the "Iron Army"? The Iron Army's cutting edge is absolutely not merely a spirit of valor or the hardness of weapons.
Today, looking once more at that iron shield now nearly a century old, the inscription on its reverse side remains faintly legible: "Able to uphold discipline, able to avoid sloth and boasting; able to love the people, able to save the nation. Charging the vanguard and breaking through formations, hard as iron; revolutionary aspirations, shouldered like iron. Useful as iron, the people rely upon it; may its longevity be like iron, remembered for ten thousand years." This is not only an echo of history but also an illumination for the present: only when faith does not lack calcium (信仰不缺钙), discipline does not loosen its buttons (纪律不松扣), and conduct does not fade in color (作风不褪色) can the "Iron Army" of the new era, when facing any test — forged through a hundred trials into steel, carry all before it, and bring stability and security to the nation.