Under the gloomy sky, An Yi's reading teacher divided into two roads and slowly drove west.

The heavy artillery, pulled by four horses, struggled through the damp and soft road, and in many sections of the road had to be pushed together by the brethren of the artillery battalion.

Colonel Li Tianen, the commander of the artillery battalion, who was promoted to the third level, did not complain about An Yi at this time for distributing part of the artillery to the headquarters, and whispered to Lieutenant Colonel Shi Junren, the deputy battalion next to him: The boss is really fucking far-sighted, otherwise the rainy season will be even worse.

An Yi touched his hot ears, walking beside Xu Sitong, a private-class soldier in the third company of the second regiment, dressed in a non-commissioned officer decoration, and also carrying a rifle on his shoulder, if it weren't for Lin Yaodong's well-equipped personal guards walking in front and rear, An Yi, the major general and division commander, would definitely be drowned in the advancing ranks.

"Sitong, I heard your squad leader say that you have a younger brother who is a cavalryman under Zhang Zongchang?" An Yi asked as he walked, and half of the cigarette in his mouth fell into the ashes.

Xu Sitong, who was captured in the Battle of Yangzhou, was a good machine gunner, with a strong and powerful body and an honest appearance.

"Yes, Shizao, my younger brother is taller than me, he has been herding cattle and horses for large families since he was a child, and he has never been restless when he was a child, and he has also practiced excellent riding skills, if I have the opportunity to see him on this trip, I must have him do it with our team, but ...... This war is raging, and I don't know if he can survive. ”

An Yi smiled and comforted: "Don't worry, you look so good, your brother will never be bad, Lao Tzu has learned some face-to-face things from my old Tao, Jiren has his own natural appearance, don't worry!" ”

Xu Sitong, who was still sinking his face just now, smiled: "Master, do you think I can see my brother?" ”

"I guess okay, as far as I know, Zhang Zongchang's grandson is also a person who is not profitable, and he loves money very much, he doesn't know a few big characters, and he also learns to chant poems everywhere, and his soldiers will not be sent out until the critical moment, so Sun Chuanfang's grandson has a lot of opinions about him.

Didn't you see it when we hit Chuzhou? Zhang Zongchang's main force will run away as soon as it hits, and we will meet them in the future, and then we will have a chance, saying that you may not be able to capture your brother with your own hands. ”

An Yi's words provoked laughter from the brothers around him.

Zhang Dakui, the non-commissioned officer squad leader on the side, asked happily: "Division, I want to enter the guard camp, when will the big competition be held?" ”

"Okay! After defeating Xuzhou, we will hold an all-army competition when we have time to rest, as long as you have the ability, Chief Ding and Chief Dou of the guard battalion will definitely accept you. Da Kui, listening to the accent, you are from Luxi, right? Are the two elders in the family okay? An Yi asked like a homely person.

The dark and burly Zhang Dakui smiled: "I am from the countryside of Dongming, Luxi, and the next mountain is Henan...... Shizuo, if our team passes through our county this time, I want to take half a day off to go back to see my wife, I joined the division and saved 23 oceans in three months, enough for my family to eat and drink for a year. ”

An Yi looked at Zhang Dakui's appearance of being twenty-five or sixteen years old, and was frightened in his heart: "Okay, as long as you pass by there, I ask your company commander to give you a day off, no problem!" Dakui, you're not coaxing me, are you? How old are your parents who gave birth to eight younger siblings? ”

"My father and mother were married in the same year, and now they are only forty-two years old, and my mother gave birth to me at the age of sixteen." Zhang Dakui still looks willing.

An Yi was full of admiration: "I really admire your father's ability!" You can't be worse than your father, when the Northern Expedition is over, marry a daughter-in-law and give birth to ten or eight of him, baredoor, haha! ”

The brethren laughed when they heard this, and then the herald rode up from behind, and the reins of An Yi's beloved horse were tied to his saddle:

"Report to the division commander, more than 300 brothers who are sick and injured have been sent to the division hospital in Shahe Town, and all the 200 brothers in logistics have returned to the team."

"Good! Do you have to work harder, and lay down the two ponds tonight and spend the night there, do you have faith? ”

"Yes!" Neat answers came from all around.

An Yi put the rifle behind him, walked out of the team to take the reins and lead the horse, and saw that the guards had finished getting on the horse, and they also turned over and rode onto the horse, and with a slight clamp of their legs, the sensible little black horse stepped out of the four hooves and rushed to the front of the team.

At night, the nuns escaped to the Baiyun Nunnery in the west of Shuangtang Town, which became the temporary division headquarters of the Reading Division, and Yin Jinan pointed to the map on the wall under the light of the horse lantern and loudly arranged the combat mission:

"As of yesterday afternoon, the troops of General Li Zongren of the Third Route Army in the west had captured Hefei, and the troops of General Xia Wei, who were heading north, encountered the enemy Ma Jibu who was heading south from Bengbu, and after a fierce battle on the Liangyuan line, they routed the enemy at noon today, and are now marching north in three ways.

After receiving reinforcements from the 44th Army, Commander He of the East Road sent General Chen Cheng's 21st Division to detour through Taizhou and attack Gaoyou, believing that he would soon be able to crush the stubborn enemy on the Hai'an front. Our Second Route Army is progressing smoothly, General Chen Tiaoyuan's 37th Army has advanced to 20 kilometers south of Dingyuan, General Yang Jie's Sixth Army is attacking Xuyi, our First Army and One Division are stationed in Chuzhou for rest and recuperation, and the Third Division is the general strategic reserve.

In this way, the position of my reading teacher is very isolated, please see ......"

Yin Jinan pointed to Wuhekou on the map: "According to Commander Bai's order, our division must take Wuhekou within five days, so as to cut off the connection between the enemy in Bengbu and the direction of Suqian in the north, so as to facilitate the attack of our Second and Third Route Armies on the defending enemy in the Bengbu area." The distance from the current position of our division to the mouth of the five rivers is 107 kilometers, and more than 70 large and small rivers will pass on the way, so there is no need for the artillery battalion to take part in the battle this time, and tomorrow morning it will go to Sanjie Town in the south with the logistics and quartermaster departments to garrison and recuperate, and I suggest that General Liu, the party representative, take full command of it. ”

Liu Shoujiang, the dignified party representative, smiled slightly, and said: "No problem, according to the opinions of the division commander and the actual situation, our division is also in urgent need of a temporary rest and transit place, the town of the Three Realms is very suitable, the necessary place for highways and railways, and the surrounding thirteen towns are also the focus of our Northern Expeditionary Army's political work, which belongs to a relatively wealthy area, and I only need to leave the gendarmerie and the political engineering department to carry out work immediately." ”

Yin Jinan nodded and continued to explain: "The first and second regiments led by Deputy Division Commander Hu and Chief of Staff Yang have now sneaked to Qiuji Town, and the guard battalion will cross Mao'er Lake from Fanjiawan west of Xuyi in the early morning of tomorrow morning, and attack Nüshanhu Town, which has only one company to defend the enemy, so as to quickly open the way for the main force of our regiments to quickly pass through this large lakeside pond in the northwest, so all units must start a rapid march at 4 o'clock in the morning tomorrow, and strive to reach Fanjiawan 40 kilometers away before tomorrow evening.

It should be noted that the whereabouts of the large army must not be exposed, if you encounter merchants, monks, Taoists, wandering Langzhong and all those with suspicious deeds along the way, you must be coerced forward in accordance with the original regulations of our division, and you must not be careless, do you understand? ”

"Understood!"

The commanders of the Reading Regiment, the Third Regiment, and the division's subordinate units replied in unison.

The commanders of the battalions dispersed, Liu Shoujiang and An Yi walked side by side on the edge of the lotus pond in Baiyun Nunnery, and the two talked in a low voice, looking like they were quite compatible.

Ever since Liu Shoujiang joined the Reading Division, he felt that the unique relationship between officers and soldiers and the management style of the Reading Division were very different from those of other units, and he was quite satisfied with everything except that An Yi and others had opinions on their contempt for political work, but Liu Shoujiang gradually felt that the entire unit had no room for him to display his talents, and that the unique political and ideological work of the Reading Division was called by him as sacrificing the basics and seeking the last. However, when An Yi asked him what the purpose of the army's political and ideological work was, Liu Shoujiang was confused again, and he had to admit that the unique education method that originated in the early days of the model battalion and had been continuously improved was very effective, and the officers and men did not need to be mobilized at all to start a war, and they were all as excited as a hungry wolf seeing a fat sheep.

However, Liu Shoujiang was very unwilling to have a dispensable position in the reading division, and he used many methods to transfer to the reading division, not only because he would be promoted faster when he came to the reading division, but also because Liu Shoujiang also had his own ideals and ambitions, and he also hoped to learn more knowledge and accumulate more qualifications in this army with outstanding achievements, so he would rather give up his post as director of the military-level political department that was about to expand the army.

However, when he entered this collective with confidence, he suddenly felt lost, because in this collective, each level of instructors is a fierce general who can write and martial arts, and they all serve as deputy positions in various departments, everyone participates in the officer training class hosted by An Yi, and every time he encounters a battle, he can fully assist his own commander, and he can also take charge of himself when he is released, and his military knowledge and combat quality are very high, which makes Liu Shoujiang, the top boss with a high degree but who has never led a day of soldiers, feel ashamed of himself.

It is comforting that An Yi and the chief officials at all levels gave him Liu Shoujiang considerable respect, and no one neglected him, but no one was willing to have a deep friendship with him.

Liu Shoujiang is a very smart person, he knows what method and through what way to establish his position in the reader's division, in the case of not being able to seek a quick position, he chooses to take a step back, without complaint to take on the task of assistant, he readily accepted Yin Jinan's suggestion is for this reason, he wants to gradually master the logistics, military quartermaster and political work departments, step by step to prove his ability, determine his status.

An Yi was very satisfied with Liu Shoujiang's active cooperation, although he still kept Liu Shoujiang a secret in terms of his own funds, special training methods and means that belonged to the confidential surname, but in other aspects An Yi did be open and honest, and even humbly solicited Liu Shoujiang's opinions on many issues, this time it was the same, An Yi also told him the expected goals and means of this operation one by one:

"It's not difficult to take Wuhekou, it's hard to gain a foothold. The Wuhekou area is one of the waterway hubs of the Huaihe River leading to Xuzhou, Suqian, Bengbu, Huai'an, Yangzhou and other important places, and if we cut off the Wuhekou waterway, it is equivalent to cutting off the enemy's logistical arteries in the south, and it will inevitably lead to a fierce counterattack by the enemy, so this battle will be the biggest test since our division crossed the river, so we must set up a division hospital, a transit station, and a rest base in Sanjie Town.

Lao Liu, your burden is not light, just the dry food, cooked meat, roasting, transportation and other matters of the 8,000 soldiers will keep you busy. An Yi said in a low voice.

Liu Shoujiang replied with a smile that there was no problem, and asked An Yi puzzled: "Since Chief Bai knows that after we take Wuhekou, we will face a siege from enemies from all directions, why did he still issue such an order?" Isn't it better that our division's original plan of attacking Fengyang and harassing the enemy around Bengbu in response to General Li Delin's general attack on Bengbu is not better?

Within five days, General Li Delin was unable to capture Bengbu at all, and after our division occupied Wuhekou, it would definitely attract the enemy's anger and strong attack, but none of the troops supported and coordinated with our troops, which was not right! ”

An Yifu smiled: "I thought the same at the beginning, but Commander-in-Chief Jiang has already issued an order to order General Li Delin to occupy Bengbu within five days, so it is nothing wrong with Chief Bai ordering us to occupy Wuhekou within five days, as long as it is carried out simultaneously, we can reduce the difficulty to the lowest point, not to mention that Chief Bai only asked us to capture Wuhekou, and did not require us to hold on to Wuhekou, so as to achieve the purpose of containing the enemy from attacking and harassing the enemy and cutting off the logistics channel of the northern front of Bengbu to defend the enemy, We've done it right. ”

"What do you mean......" Liu Shoujiang asked puzzled.

An Yi stopped and replied: "It's very simple, it's not difficult for us to capture the mouth of Wuhekou where a brigade is defending the enemy, attack it and grab it, retreat immediately, as long as the enemy dares to pursue, we will destroy them in the movement."

You know the speed of our army's attack and the endurance of officers and men, as long as the enemy dares to come out, even if he has two divisions, we will wipe them out one by one.

If the enemy does not pursue, we will continue to harass them, launch frequent attacks on the 39-kilometer long stretch of river leading to Hongze Lake, leave them without food or drink, and force him to come out to fight a decisive battle with us. Therefore, we must act in advance, fight the enemy in fear, and fight out, so that we can better destroy the enemy, otherwise we will always go to attack the city, how many officers and soldiers can we consume? ”

Liu Shoujiang opened his mouth wide, and it took a while before he exclaimed loudly: "Gao, ......"

"It's nothing, this is also a last resort, if we follow the original plan, we will fight a lot easier, and it is not difficult for the entire division to be forced to the north of Bengbu. However, if Commander Bai changes the combat mission of our division, there must be reasons for him to change, and in the overall situation, none of us has Commander Bai's vision and wisdom, and I admire him very much.

There is also General Li Delin, his Seventh Army is indeed a division of steel, from the Northern Expedition to the present, he has conquered everything, General Zhang Fakui's Fourth Army is in a hurry to expand due to too large battle losses, and the combat effectiveness and cohesion of officers and soldiers have greatly declined, especially after General Zhang Fakui drove out General Chen Shuming, the commander of the 11th Army, the main division of the 11th Army has been taken to the side of Nanjing Political Axe by General Chen Shuming, and the remaining combat effectiveness of the 11th Army is not strong, and General Ye Ting's Reading Force Regiment has also been greatly reduced in strength due to most of the battle losses, Although he is now the deputy commander of the 11th Army and the commander of the 24th Division, there is not much essence left of his 24th Division, and the only one in the entire Northern Expeditionary Army with strong combat effectiveness is the Seventh Army, so I believe that General Li Delin can capture Bengbu in five days. An Yi spoke very confidently.

Liu Shoujiang's mind was racing, he had mixed feelings, and he paused for a while and said solemnly: "Do you know? Both the headquarters and the Wuhan side are secretly evaluating the strength of your reading division and the combat effectiveness of the Seventh Army, I think you had better pay attention to it and be careful of accidents! ”

An Yi nodded movingly, and took Liu Shoujiang's arm and walked forward:

"Don't worry, our team will always be a revolutionary team, and we can't defeat it, haha......"

(To be continued)