The distance between Xuzhou Station and Liuquan Station is only more than 20 kilometers, and it was exactly 10 o'clock in the morning when Bai Chongxi's three-car special train arrived.

Bai Chongxi's face was very ugly, and after getting out of the car to return the salute, he walked to An Yi's headquarters without saying a word, at this time, the wide and sturdy warehouse suddenly became crowded due to the stationing of Wang Tianpei's Tenth Army Military Headquarters, and the four radio stations that were lined up along the wall, only two of the reading division were busy.

Bai Chongxi looked around, then slowly sat down at the top of the five-meter-long table prepared in advance, looked up at the slightly restrained generals, waved his hand to signal everyone to sit down, and then began to ask about the reason for Hanzhuang's defeat.

Wang Tianpei's heart was like a trumpet, and he hurriedly stood up and explained, emphasizing that this battle was precisely because the friendly troops on the right flank of Zaozhuang withdrew too quickly, which led to the enemy taking advantage of the situation, and in order to prevent the enemy from being in a desperate situation, the Tenth Army had to retreat with the whole army, and later was outnumbered, and under the repeated blows of the enemy's superior forces, it had to withdraw from Hanzhuang again, relying on the Grand Canal to confront the strong enemy.

Bai Chongxi knew that these were all prevarications, so he snorted very dissatisfied, looked at the void in front of him and stopped talking, Wang Tianpei on the left was at a loss, he couldn't stand or sit, he looked very embarrassed. The rest of the generals of the Tenth Army were full of shame and did not dare to speak, An Yi saw this scene and quickly stood up and loudly reported to Bai Chongxi the current preparations of his division.

After listening to An Yi's report, Bai Chongxi's face looked a little better, motioned for An Yi and Wang Tianpei to sit down, and then asked An Yi and Wang Tianpei how they would deal with the upcoming war?

Seeing that the audience was silent, An Yi changed his mind and stood up again: "Report to the commander-in-chief, during the early morning of the retreat of the troops commanded on the Liguo front, General Wang, General Jin and other generals of the Tenth Army have come up with a preliminary plan, and their subordinates have just met at the meeting, and they have also put forward the position occupied by the headquarters and the response plan, and finally reached an agreement. The two armies began at 6 a.m. to jointly carry out active preparations before the battle, and his subordinates implored General Gao, chief of staff of the 10th Army, to elaborate on the specific plan. ”

"Yes!"

Bai Chongxi didn't have to think about it, he knew that An Yi was excusing Wang Tianpei and the others, although he was quite unhappy in his heart, and he was secretly wary of An Yi's tactfulness, he still nodded very generously in agreement.

All the generals and commanders secretly sighed in unison, and then they all stood up consciously, and surrounded Bai Chongxi, Zhang Dingfan, and others to the large map hung by An Yishi, and Gao Guanwu, chief of staff of the Tenth Army, cheered up and reported in detail to Bai Chongxi the battle plan that had just been drawn up a few hours ago.

Wang Tianpei and Jin Handing stood beside An Yi, grateful for An Yi's righteousness, looking at An Yi and wanting to give him a grateful smile, who knew that An Yi stared at the map intently, without any reaction at all, that focused look, like a modest student, made Wang Tianpei and others sigh secretly in their hearts.

Bai Chongxi carefully inquired about several of the key points, expressed his approval of the entire defense plan of the two flanks of the Tenth Army, thought about it and pointed to the middle defense line where An Yi's division was stationed, and asked An Yi softly: "Are you confident that with the strength of one of your divisions, you can withstand the repeated impact of the enemy's three armies?" That's more than 60,000 people! ”

"Yes! The subordinates believed that the blocking positions, which had been constructed by the officers and men of our regiments in 18 hours, were fully capable of resisting the simultaneous attack of the enemy's three divisions. The reason why we did not consider facing more enemies directly was that the roads on both sides of the railroad were bumpy, and there were many ponds and lakes, and it was difficult for the enemy to devote more than three divisions of troops to the attack at the same time, so no matter how strong the enemy's forces on the other side were, only three divisions could be put into battle.

The only thing worth worrying about now is the enemy's artillery, but from the intelligence analysis obtained by our reconnaissance unit, the enemy's artillery is still stranded in the area south of Hanzhuang and north of the canal, and without 12 hours of transfer, it will not be able to reach the front line and complete the preparation for the attack. An Yi replied confidently.

Bai Chongxi nodded with satisfaction: "Very good, the whole plan is decent, there are no obvious flaws, I am very satisfied." However, the positional junction between the divisions needed to be on guard, and with proper coordination, it would be difficult for the enemy's three armies to break through the entire defensive line in a short period of time.

Of course, you must also have enough psychological preparation, our opponent may not be more than these three armies, Zhang Zongchang's two integrated armies have arrived in Tengzhou, through the Jinpu Road is easy to arrive here within 12 hours, this point hopes to arouse your enough attention, behind you is Xuzhou, is the headquarters of my second and third route armies, is the focus of the attention of the people of the whole country, there is no way back, if your defense line is broken by the enemy, the bad impact will be extremely huge...... Okay, let's not talk about anything else, but now, please come with me to the front line to have a look. ”

"Yes!"

All the generals replied in unison, respectfully accompanying Bai Chongxi to the northern position.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Bai Chongxi and others, together with An Yi, the commander of the 10th Army, and Hu Jialin, the deputy division commander, returned to the headquarters in Zhennan after inspecting them.

Zhang Dingfan, Gao Guanwu, and Hu Jialin stood in front of the large map, constantly marking the situation of the enemy and us with their pens, analyzing the enemy's primary attack point, and discussing the coordination of the left, center, and right blocking lines. Bai Chongxi sat with Wang Tianpei, Jin Handing, and An Yi, and saw that the information from the front line was quickly transmitted to An Yi.

"It's unbelievable...... Is all your department's operational intelligence so detailed? Bai Chongxi was a little surprised and asked.

An Yi nodded: "Yes!" Each regiment of our division has its own reconnaissance company, and they coordinate with the reconnaissance group of the guard battalion directly under the division headquarters to attack and cooperate with each other, usually observe around the enemy's marching route, and give back information in a timely manner, so that the division headquarters can judge the enemy's next move. ”

Bai Chongxi smiled slightly in shock, and no longer asked, but turned to Wang Tianpei on the left and discussed in a low voice.

After inspecting the forward positions, Bai Chongxi was in a much better mood, and during the three-hour inspection, he did not board the positions of the regiments of An Yi's Reading Division, and he knew that An Yi's division, who was born as an engineer, did not need to look at the construction of the positions at all, so he specially inspected the positions of the divisions of the Tenth Army on both flanks.

At 2:25 p.m., the telephone on the side rang suddenly, and the three telephones rang non-stop, Zhan Huanqi, chief of the communications section of the reading division, listened to the report of the communications staff officer, and immediately came to Bai Chongxi and others:

"The command posts of the three positions on the front line simultaneously reported the offensive movements of the enemy, the enemy's Third Army attacked our left flank, the three regiments of the enemy's Sixth Army were slowly approaching our forward position in the center, and the enemy's Fifth Army had also appeared in the front line of our right flank instructor and the 30th Division's position, and the battle was about to begin."

"Attacking so soon? It seems that the enemy is not slow! ”

As soon as Bai Chongxi's words fell, the dense gunfire in front of him came, and a major offensive and defensive battle in which more than 130,000 troops were invested by both sides began.

Below the side of the main position in the center, Lu Guang, the commander of the Reading Regiment, was suddenly thrown to the ground by the adjutant, and a dense row of heavy machine gun bullets was fired all the way from the left side of the bunker into the observation port, hitting the sleepers in the rear of the room, and the sawdust splashed on the neck of the communications staff officer in the corner, making him scream in pain.

Cheng Guang got up, he didn't even bother to pick up his military hat, he pounced on the observation port again, raised his binoculars to observe the front, and saw that more than 3,000 enemies were divided into two ways to attack the junction between his reading force group and the first regiment, Cheng Guang strode to the telephone, ordered the communicator to connect Xia Jian in the left position, took the microphone and shouted loudly:

"Lao Xia, you let the mortar behind the position bombard the joint between us, and I will transfer a few more machine guns here to sweep the damn one!"

"No problem, five minutes!" Xia Jian's voice was still so loud.

In less than two minutes, the twelve mortars roared in unison, and the screaming shells fell quickly in the frantically attacking enemy group with fierce flames, and the 14 light machine gunners who had already moved to the left of the middle seized the opportunity of the smoke to block the sight of the enemy's heavy machine guns, and emerged from the trenches to set up machine guns, and fiercely strafed the enemy troops who had just gotten up after the shelling. After the enemy was defeated, the follow-up troops also quickly retreated, and immediately changed the magazine to extend the shot.

The same situation appeared on the positions of the divisions, and for a time a dense rain of bullets shuttled back and forth between the positions of the two sides, and the entire seven-kilometer-long front was full of gunpowder smoke and flying dust.

Yin Jinan's front-line headquarters was hidden on the edge of the high ground behind the side of the position, and the roof above was a support beam erected with ten railroad tracks, and the rails were crossed and densely covered with two layers of sleepers, and above the sleepers were two layers of sturdy sandbags, on which were green camouflage nets, which looked like a slightly raised weedy field from a distance.

Yin Jinan heard the urgent report of the third battalion of Gu Changfeng's regiment in the right position, and immediately ordered the mortar company of the division to support the fire, after dozens of mortar shells were fired, the mud and rocks in front of the position of the three battalions were flying, and the smoke of gunpowder was filled, and the enemy gathered a reinforced regiment to surprise the rapid strong burst, and finally was repulsed when he rushed to the front of the position dozens of meters, and the officers and men of the third battalion, who had greatly reduced the pressure, actually rushed out of the trench with machine guns in the shouts of the battalion commander who took the lead, chased the two thousand fleeing enemies and fired fiercely, and rushed straight out of more than 100 meters before stopping advancing. The comrades who were quickly shot rushed back to their positions.

On the high ground one hundred and fifty meters behind the side of the third battalion, Gu Changfeng put away his binoculars, cursed a few words in annoyance, rushed out of the command post, and quickly came to the position of the third battalion along the wide traffic trench, and scolded at the commander of the third battalion, Shao Wugong:

"Dog! You just started the first round of engagement, and you embarrassed Lao Tzu, what the hell are you doing with heavy machine guns? Unexpectedly let the enemy rush under his nose, if it weren't for the timely support of the mortar company of the division headquarters, I see how you would explain to Lao Tzu! ”

"Tuanza, I don't want to either! I didn't expect that the two heavy machine guns set up in the left front were all jammed, but after a minute of delay, they were suppressed by enemy fire, the enemy is a regiment and we are only a battalion, and most of our brothers are recruits, you call me...... As you saw just now, if it weren't for the veterans' fearless counter-charge, how would the recruit brothers have the courage to do so now? Look, aren't you playing pretty well now? The two machine guns also screamed, and there will definitely be no more problems next time. ”

Shao Wugong is a famous mother-in-law's mouth, and when she talks about it, it is a big string, which also makes Gu Changfeng feel a lot angry.

Gu Changfeng looked at the two trenches in front of him, spat out saliva full of mud and sand, gave Shao Wugong a slap on the head, and turned to leave.

Shao Wugong rubbed his stunned head, hummed aggrievedly, the Ninth Company Commander on the side couldn't help laughing, Shao Wugong glared at the Ninth Company Commander with a black face in annoyance, stood up and wanted to kick him twice, who knew that he saw the enemy in front of him rushing up again in the dark, and hurriedly shouted:

"The dog said, it came up again, and the brothers beat me! Hit those bitch breeders hard! ”

…… Soon after the first round of tentative attacks was repulsed, Cheng Guorui, the commander of the enemy army, launched two rounds of large-scale charges that affected the entire front, dispatching more than 40,000 troops, but they were all bravely repelled by the tenacious officers and men of the revolutionary army.

The enemy commander Cheng Guorui's misjudgment made the Sixth Army Xu Yuanquan's division pay a very heavy price - in the face of An Yi's reading division occupying favorable terrain in the middle, Xu Yuanquan adopted the strategy of taking the sword to the front, and desperately attacked the position of the third regiment of the reading division and the joint of the instructor of the tenth army, trying to break a little, so as to drive the whole line.

Under the pressure of the doubled pressure, Yin Jinan and Yang Bin, the former enemy commanders of the Reading Division, finally mobilized extremely cleverly camouflaged artillery erected on Qingquan Mountain, and the 24 guns of the artillery battalion bombarded more than 20,000 enemy troops of the 3rd Regiment of the Black Pressure Shock Division and the 2nd Division of the friendly army on the right flank, and at the same time mobilized the division's heavy machine gun company and mortar company at the junction of the two divisions to deal a resolute blow to the enemy with fierce firepower.

In a tug-of-war that lasted for more than 20 minutes, more than 1,800 enemies were killed, thousands of enemy troops were wounded, and more than 10 heavy machine-gun fire points in the front of the enemy's position were completely destroyed, so that the enemy was unable to launch another attack on the center for 10 hours.

However, the officers and men of the Reading Division, which occupied strong fortifications and were equipped with superior firepower, also paid the price of more than 260 killed and more than 440 wounded, and the 3rd Regiment and 3rd Battalion suffered nearly half of the casualties, and the whole retreated and withdrew from the battle.

As a reserve, Chen Zhibiao's second regiment was already impatient, and the first battalion of the second regiment rushed into the position of the third regiment and the third battalion without asking for instructions.

Night is gradually falling, the gunfire on the front line is not as fierce as the day, the residents of Liuquan Town seem to have become accustomed to it after a day of fright, simple stoves have been erected on both sides of the long street, a pot of steamed or boiled rice is steaming, all the crockpots and iron pots that can be collected are bubbling with the smell of meat, a group of people in front of the workers and pickets are carrying the burden and sending the freshly prepared dinner to the front position, and thousands of young people spread blankets on the door panels and small wooden ladders. Wounded revolutionary officers and soldiers were sent to a temporary hospital in Zhennan.

Bai Chongxi walked through the street accompanied by Wang Tianpei and An Yi and other generals, and saw the reverent eyes of the oncoming soldiers and civilians, and couldn't help but feel a lot of emotion, Bai Chongxi finally saw the rumored good popularity of An Yi, and saw the pickets with rifles and shell guns coming to look for An Yi from time to time to discuss things, and seeing the women and children under the guidance of their husbands and brothers, showing a bright smile to An Yi, Bai Chongxi vaguely remembered the set of Hunan [***], but today's people support the revolutionary army, This made Bai Chongxi feel an indescribable feeling in his heart.

What shocked Bai Chongxi even more was that the middle road that was most strongly attacked and under the greatest pressure was the position of An Yi's Reading Division, which only sent two-thirds of its troops, and repelled three large-scale attacks launched by an enemy twice its size without one regiment or one battalion had yet to be dispatched, and suffered less than 800 casualties in the fierce battle that lasted for four hours, while the five divisions of the Tenth Army on both flanks faced the same enemy but paid the price of more than 2,600 casualties. What kind of fortifications and what kind of tactics are the advantages that are reflected?

Bai Chongxi seemed to understand and was very confused, he really wanted to go to the front line of the Reading Force Master and see for himself what was going on.

"Report! His subordinates came to ask for battle from the division. ”

Chen Zhibiao, who was sweating profusely, finally found An Yi, he stood in front of An Yi like a javelin, exuding a strong fighting spirit, and Bai Chongxi, Wang Tianpei and others secretly applauded.

An Yi was a little surprised, stepped forward and whispered, "Zhibiao, what are you doing here?" If there is anything to talk about later, didn't you see that Lao Tzu was accompanying a few commanders to inspect the logistics? Stay with me, the real battle will be tomorrow. ”

"Shizuo, you can't be partial, if you don't let the second regiment under your command go up, I'm afraid the enemy will soon retreat, the 2,200 brothers of our regiment entrusted their subordinates to ask for war from Shizuo, and now if you want your subordinates to go back with nothing, I'm afraid that the brothers under your command will make a fuss." Chen Zhibiao stubbornly insisted on his own opinion.

An Yi was stunned for a moment, and carefully looked at Chen Zhibiao, whose face was full of expectations, I don't know why this confidant is so abnormal today?

Looking back, he saw Bai Chongxi, Zhang Dingfan, Pan Yizhi and Wang Tianpei and other generals looking at him with a smile on their faces, and the enthusiastic people around him gradually surrounded him, praising the brave Chen Zhibiao, An Yi immediately knew that if he refused in this situation, it would obviously not work, because this was likely to hurt Chen Zhibiao's self-esteem, which would put a heavy psychological burden on the back of this brave love general.

Chen Zhibiao stared at An Yi eagerly, but An Yi nervously calculated the combat effectiveness of the second regiment in his heart, and it took a while for An Yi to make a decision in front of everyone:

"In this way, none of the brothers on the frontline will give up their positions to your second regiment, you know this, but you can go to Lao Ding to discuss and let him cooperate with you! Remember, in this situation, the soldier is in the essence and not in the crowd, you have to be very cautious! ”

"Got it! Thank you, Master! ”

Chen Zhibiao excitedly saluted An Yi, and then saluted Bai Chongxi and the others, turned around and strode away.

The onlookers gradually dispersed under the persuasion of the pickets, and Wang Tianpei asked An Yi suspiciously: "Xiao Yi, what do you mean by what you just said?" Playing pantomime? Listen to the accent, that head of your regiment is from Hunan, right? How did a few words make him happy like that? ”

An Yi replied in a low voice: "The one just now is Chen Zhibiao, the second commander of my division, who was born in Hunan Jiangwutang, is brave and strategic, has a very good set of leading troops, and is even more fearless of death when fighting, I have always been very optimistic about him!" Today, his second regiment is in reserve, and it is estimated that he wants to go to the front line in a panic, but the brothers in each regiment are fighting very well, and no one wants to come down, so I have no choice but to let him find someone to talk to himself. ”

Wang Tianpei sighed in admiration: "Fighting side by side with my brother, I know that there is no deficiency under the fame!" My 10th Army admires my brother's mind and talent, and he is really a great young hero! Now I see that there are so many generals under the command of my brother, such a strong fighting spirit, and such a spirit of unity, which is really enviable! ”

"The seniors have won the award, but the juniors just rushed to Liuquan one step ahead of schedule and won the time to take the initiative, so it is easier to defend, otherwise the fierce battle this afternoon will not be stopped, and there are more than 60,000 people in the three armies on the opposite side!" An Yi humbly explained.

Bai Chongxi watched coldly, silently watching everything in his eyes, knowing in his heart that what An Yi said was all kind words, according to the analysis of the few words of dialogue between An Yi and the head of the regiment under his command just now, the little head Chen Zhibiao went from a sad face to a happy heart, it is definitely not as simple as An Yi said, it must be that an extremely important meaning has been conveyed in a brief conversation.

A few words that seemed to others to be understated, but Bai Chongxi obviously felt the unique tacit understanding and strong cohesion between the upper and lower levels of the reader, and he became more and more jealous in his heart.

Three hours later, Bai Chongxi and the congregation, who had finished their belated dinner and then held an emergency meeting, were interrupted by the sudden sound of intense fighting from the front line.

The generals who thought that the enemy had launched a night attack nervously inquired about the news on the front line, but the news they waited for was: The pursuing troops of the enemy's two regiments were repulsed by the officers and men of the Xia Jian Regiment and the Teaching Brigade of the Reading Division, leaving behind more than 300 corpses and retreating in disarray, and Chen Zhibiao, commander of the Second Regiment of the Reading Division, led his troops to attack the front-line command post of the enemy's Wang Dong Army, successfully completed the surprise attack mission, and was escorting a brigade commander and more than 10 generals and colonels of the enemy army to the headquarters on the way.

After the communication staff report was completed, Bai Chongxi and more than 20 other generals looked at each other, and finally all looked at An Yi, who shrugged his shoulders embarrassedly:

"I didn't expect Chen Zhibiao to dare to do it, hehe! Ladies and gentlemen, let's continue with what we just said......"

(To be continued)