Under the tall ginkgo tree in the backyard of the general headquarters of the Chengnan Military Camp in Bengbu, a round table of sour branches and wood is placed upright, and next to the table are four chairs of the same texture and exquisite workmanship, on which are placed several exquisite dishes, and three or four military cooks are serving the dishes with light steps.

"Come on, come on, this is the Sanhua wine specially sent from Guilin by the logistics department of our army, it has been cellared for 20 years, the taste is elegant and delicate, the wine is plump and mellow, and the aftertaste is long, you must have never drunk it."

Li Zongren personally poured An Yi full of wine, and when he saw An Yi standing up respectfully, he couldn't help but smile slightly, waved his hand and said: "Sit down, don't be polite to me, the Five Rivers Battle you launched has benefited the officers and soldiers of my Third Route Army a lot, and I should give you a glass on behalf of the soldiers!" ”

"Thank you, sir! Thank you...... Ah, this wine is so fragrant, a little faint osmanthus taste, delicious! An Yi waited for Li Zongren to sit down before he dared to sit down, picked up the thin porcelain cup with both hands and took a sip, smacking his lips and saying for a long time.

Bai Chongxi laughed: "It's good wine!" It's a pity that I can't have a good drink with you because of my lack of alcohol, don't see outside! Feel free, where was your confidence and arrogance at the press conference last night? ”

An Yi smiled embarrassedly, politely toasted Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi and Wang Yingyu, snatched the delicate white porcelain wine bottle, and diligently poured the three of them full wine.

An Yi knew that Li Zongren drank very well, and legend has it that the only time Li Zongren was drunk was when he was fighting with Guo Moruo. At that time, the division between Wuhan and Nanchang had already appeared, Wuhan political axe in order to pull Li Zongren, a famous general with a heavy army and a high level of military command, into his own camp, sent Guo Moruo, director of the political department, to Anqing with a letter of appointment from the chairman of Anhui Province, Li Zongren of the garrison in Anqing received Guo Moruo and his party very warmly, and the meeting was to drink, and as a result, he was defeated by Guo Moruo, and he was drunk until he couldn't wake up the next morning, Guo Moruo also knew that Li Zongren would not accept the appointment of Wuhan political axe. I had to regret leaving Anqing and returning to Wuhan. Interestingly, Guo Moruo had just left on his front foot, and Li Zongren, who was originally drunk and lying in bed, went out to inspect the troops on his hind foot.

An Yi's humility and politeness made Li Zongren quite liked, after three rounds of drinking, Li Zongren asked An Yi's hometown and whether he was married, etc., An Yi stubbornly gave a brief explanation vaguely, especially on the issue of marriage. You must know that now the bosses of various forces like to be matchmakers for their subordinates or the younger generation with related interests in order to get closer to each other, so An Yi truthfully told the story that he was pursuing the daughter of Ou Yaoting, a wealthy businessman in Guangdong and Hong Kong, which caused a burst of laughter from everyone.

Li Zongren no longer mentioned this matter, but told An Yi more worriedly: "Your shocking remarks last night are estimated to have been reported today, and the impact is really difficult to estimate, the only thing I can be sure of is that the Nanjing Central Political Axe and Commander-in-Chief Jiang will be very unhappy, at this time Nanjing Political Axe has frequent exchanges with envoys from various countries, and is trying to seek recognition of Nanjing Political Axe by all countries, your hostile attitude towards Yue Ben is likely to be misunderstood by the outside world as a general understanding of the existence of our Nanjing Political Axe's army, It will put Nanjing's internal and foreign affairs into a passive situation. Therefore, I am very worried that you will be convicted of your words and be severely punished, but you are the hero of the Northern Expedition today, an outstanding general emerging from the younger generation, and your influence is immeasurable! ”

Bai Chongxi saw An Yi's incredulous appearance and said in a low voice: "Don't believe it, General Delin's words are right, this morning the General Headquarters sent a telegram to me, asking if the content reported in the newspaper is indeed from your An Yi's mouth?" I replied that I had not seen the relevant reports, and summarized and reported your remarks at the press conference last night, emphasizing that the statements you have repeatedly stated are only personal views and have nothing to do with the position of your army and political axe. That's all I can do, you have to be prepared.

Don't think that if you are Principal Jiang's senior apprentice, you will be fine. The political axe is very deep, even as the commander-in-chief, he has to take into account all aspects of his feelings, and when necessary, you are a pawn thrown out of sacrifice. ”

An Yi's face became ugly, but he didn't say anything to refute it, just nodded slightly and thanked him in a low voice. After hesitating for a while, he finally calmed down, toasted the three of them with a glass, lifted the chopsticks to enjoy the Guilin-style chopped pepper fish head, and took a bite and praised the dish loudly:

"I really didn't expect Guilin cuisine to be so delicious, it is lighter but more delicious than our Sichuan cuisine, and it is the first time for my subordinates to eat Guilin cuisine, thank you General!"

"Haha! If you really like it, come to me often and walk around, now your theater and our Seventh Army and the Second Division intersect, the distance between each other is only dozens of kilometers, at the speed of your BMW, you can reach it in two hours, enjoy the perfect food and exchange ideas, it is very helpful for you to improve your command level, haha...... Come on, come on, eat a little more if you like. ”

Li Zongren picked up the chopsticks and a small saucer and put a piece on An Yi, and slowly sent it to him, An Yi was flattered, and even said that he didn't dare to take it, and hurriedly lifted the wine bottle and poured wine for Li Zongren to show his gratitude, and as a result, Li Zongren's colonel adjutant grabbed the bottle and whispered to An Yi to sit down, and he would be the bartender for the generals.

Li Zongren saw that An Yi was slightly worried about the possible punishment but quickly let go, and secretly applauded An Yi's calmness and open-mindedness in his heart, thought about it, and then brought the topic to the upcoming Battle of Xuzhou, only to say a few words A major general staff officer arrived in a hurry, handed a telegram to Li Zongren, and waited for Li Zongren to wave his hand after reading before saluting and leaving.

Li Zongren's face flushed, handed the message to the concerned Bai Chongxi, turned to the chief of staff Wang Yingyu beside him and whispered a few words, Wang Yingyu's face flashed with surprise, stood up and politely bid farewell to An Yi, saying that there was urgent military affairs to deal with, An Yi quickly stood up and shook hands politely to thank him.

After reading the telegram, Bai Chongxi handed it to An Yi casually, with a heavy face: "This is an urgent telegram from the Seventh Army Left-behind Department in Hankou, take a look, what you said last night finally took effect, it is said that this warship shelled the camp of the Northern Expeditionary Army in Hankou, killing and wounding more than a dozen soldiers, Wuhan is now in a hurry, and it is estimated that at this moment Mr. Wang and Commander Tang Mengxiao are seeking a diplomatic solution...... Alas, the ambition of the wolf is clearly revealed! ”

"How is that possible...... This little guy is really a fucking mad dog, and he bites people when he sees them...... Also, there are so many garrisons in Wuhan, why don't you know to fight back? I remember that the forts such as Phoenix Mountain are fully equipped, and as long as the order is given, the Kou will never dare to be so rampant! ”

An Yi stabilized his mood after reading the message, and gently put the message in front of Bai Chongxi: "If it is really a subordinate who leads to this result, the subordinates have a clear conscience, and even think that this is a good thing, so that more Chinese people can recognize the true face of Xiao Yueben, and be able to prepare for the upcoming Sino-Japanese battle in all aspects earlier." ”

Li Zongren shook his head slightly: "An Yi, I basically agree with your judgment that the army may carry out full-scale aggression in the future, and I also believe that the day of a full-scale war between the two countries will eventually come, but I completely disagree with your conjecture that it will come soon."

Judging from the current international and domestic situation, even if he had such military strength, he would never dare to risk offending the European and American powers to go to war against China without authorization, and the European and American powers would never allow him to do so, because this would infringe on the interests of the majority of countries, and they would never allow a big piece of the cake to be shared by himself alone, and they would certainly come forward to restrain him.

I think that in a few years, I will only be able to provoke incidents in the three eastern provinces, Chahar, Suiyuan, and other northern regions at most, and will not be able to carry out actual aggression against our Central Plains, the Yangtze River Valley, and other regions; the strength of the League of Nations is gradually growing, and it is particularly worth mentioning that the United States, which represents the strength of the Ming Cook, is getting stronger and stronger, and they absolutely do not agree that their aggression against China harms the interests of Europe and the United States in China, and they will certainly try their best to restrain them.

Therefore, your worries will not happen for a few years, and perhaps, you are patriotic and too pessimistic. ”

The careful Bai Chongxi saw the look of disappointment in An Yi's eyes, and immediately asked, "An Yi, do you still have different views?" I think General Delin's words are very reasonable, and there is no reason why the great powers such as Britain, France, and the United States would let Ben's aggression go unpunished! ”

An Yi took a deep breath, pondered for a moment and did not answer, but asked the question from another angle:

"Chief Li and Chief Bai, according to the information obtained by their subordinates in Nanjing, Chief Huang Shaohong is in charge of planning Guangxi's ten-year economic development plan, and has begun to vigorously build roads in the northwest of Guangxi, preparing to carry out large-scale political axe mining of tungsten ore and tin ore. The reason for this is that the reason why Guangxi, a poor and mountainous region, has been able to support an elite military force of up to 80,000 has always been related to the opium smuggling cooperation between Guizhou and Yunnan.

However, there is a puzzle here under the subordinates, that is, Guangxi's rich mineral resources always have to be exported, and if you want to export, you have to go through the Qinzhou and Lianzhou regions controlled by the Guangdong army, because Guangxi has no geographical advantages along the coast, what if there is a conflict between the Gui army and the Guangdong army and the sea is cut off? Further, if China and China go to war, and the army uses its powerful navy to blockade the coast of Guangdong, what does the commander plan to do? Do you want to be like Long Yun in Yunnan and pay the French to ship out of Vietnam? ”

Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi looked at each other, they didn't expect An Yi to ask such a question, and it hit the nail on the head of Guangxi's economic development.

Although the two of them could not answer An Yi's question as a small major general, Li Zongren still answered very steadily when they tried their best to win An Yi into their camp:

"I really didn't expect that General An has such a unique vision for economic development, and it is indeed very rare to be able to see the weaknesses of Guangxi at a glance! Yes, the question you raised is exactly what we are worried about, because the Guangdong garrison is complicated, the Yunnan army, the Hunan army, and the political axe army are all occupying it and are unwilling to leave, resulting in a lot of psychological resistance among the officers and men of the Guangdong army, but this is a problem left over from history, and it is not something that can be solved by any local political axe, but this is indeed extremely unfavorable to our economic development and social construction in Guangxi.

At present, we can only trade through Wuzhou, the only port, for the time being, which is also a last resort, but I can tell you responsibly that Qinzhou, which is extremely favored by Mr. Zhongshan, has been included in our next development and construction plan, and this plan has also received strong support from Guangdong.

Since ancient times, the two Guangxi brothers have become one, you have me, I have you, regardless of each other, as long as the coordination is appropriate, conflicts can be avoided. Of course, if it is blockaded by the warships, it will be impossible to control, but at least for ten years, we will not have such worries, and I will not be able to hit the two Guangzhous, and we will develop and grow in ten years. ”

This view of the general is exactly what his subordinates are most worried about, because the general, like our President Jiang and Wang Jingwei of Wuhan Political Axe, and other high-ranking officials, has not correctly treated his own rapidly expanding ambitions, as can be seen from the unscrupulous shelling of the revolutionary army camp in Hankou by his warship an hour ago, and once he himself goes crazy, there is nothing they dare not do.

In order to delay the momentum of our Northern Expeditionary Army's advance and let the reactionary warlords Zhang Zuolin, Zhang Zongchang, and Sun Chuanfang, who have bent their knees to them, keep us in the Yangtze River valley, they will intervene by unscrupulous means, exert pressure on our Northern Expeditionary Army with warships and garrisons, constantly provoke all kinds of incidents, and find all kinds of excuses to attack us.

Under the promises of Sun Chuanfang and Zhang Zongchang's traitorous promises, the British also continued to create incidents in the waters of the Yangtze River, while our upper echelons were always submissive, and they were beaten so that their faces were swollen and they ran to appease others, swallowing their anger and complaining about the people, and if they continued like this, they would soon lose the support of the people, especially the young students and intellectuals who accounted for a small minority of the population but had great potential.

If we do not attract the attention of the two governors and the leaders at the top level, readjust our foreign relations and make military preparations, and allow the great powers to run rampant and act arbitrarily on our soil, it is very likely that unexpected turmoil or separatism will occur in the near future...... The subordinate means that the disaster will cause the wall and the civil war will not stop. An Yi said his worries heavily.

Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi glanced at each other, thought about it, turned to An Yi, and asked in a low voice, "Are you talking about the Kuomintang and the Communist Party?" ”

"Yes, the subordinates are very worried, thinking of the day when thousands of Whampoa comrades will face each other with swords and guns, the subordinates are very sad, don't look at [***] There is no army now, but the power of faith is extremely huge, as long as [***] is supported by the people, even if the Kuomintang has more troops, no matter how good the weapons and equipment are, it is useless, and we must always guard against imperialism taking advantage of the fire to rob, and the future of the country and the nation is worrying!

What should I do if I really get to that point? Let the invaders make waves, but they want to lead their own army to fight with their brothers? An Yi said this, his face was heavy.

Bai Chongxi lowered his face and whispered: "These are all shadowless things, are you really too worried?" If there is a day, I hope you will not forget that you are a soldier and that it is your duty to obey orders.

All along, you have done a good job, more like a pure soldier than your brothers and sisters, although you were squeezed everywhere in the First Army, it did not affect your desire to serve the country, which is what we value you the most.

I have always believed that an excellent soldier like you should have a bigger stage, and should not succumb to a small division commander position as he is now, which will not only seriously affect your development, but also a loss for the revolutionary army.

According to my understanding of the members of the Nanjing Party Department and the Commander-in-Chief Chiang, it is very likely that you will be investigated and punished within three days, and it is difficult to say whether you can stay in the army, after all, the impact of your words last night is too great, although both of us can understand your feelings and see your pure heart, but the Nanjing Central Political Axe will not consider your good starting point, let alone your heart of worrying about the country and the people, you must have this ideological preparation. ”

An Yi straightened up in surprise: "Expelled from the army...... It's not that serious, is it? ”

"Anything is possible! In order to appease my anger, they can do anything, the political field is much more complicated than the military, and in many cases it is more difficult and dark, and I am well aware of this, so you have to prepare for the worst, and the two of us will try our best to convince the upper echelons of Nanjing for you. Now that the war is very tense, the battle of Xuzhou, which is very crucial for our Northern Expeditionary Army, is imminent, and we do not want to see you attacked. Li Zongren said sincerely.

An Yi stayed for a while, took a drink from the wine glass, shook his head and said gloomily: "If the situation is really so bad, the subordinates will simply disarm and return to the field, and the surname Suo will go back to be a businessman and make a fortune." ”

Bai Chongxi laughed: "Don't say such frustrating words, are you really willing to leave the army?" Are you willing to leave the model battalion and invincible reader you brought out? Are you willing to give up your beliefs and talents to become an ordinary businessman? ”

An Yi smiled reluctantly and let out a long sigh: "If you are reluctant, you can't help it!" The way of the world...... Thanks to the chief's wine and hospitality, his subordinates remember the bottom of their hearts, and hope to allow their subordinates to resign, and their subordinates want to lay down Si County and Lingbi before they are removed, and I can deal with them when they are finished! ”

Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi slowly stood up, looked at the sad An Yi with concern and did not speak, An Yi respectfully saluted and thanked him, and walked out of the barracks accompanied by Bai Chongxi.

Li Zongren, who was standing in place, looked at An Yi's rather depressed back, with a subtle smile in his eyes.

(To be continued)