After the successful conclusion of the Xuzhou meeting, General Feng Yuxiang returned to Zhengzhou by special train overnight, but on the return trip, he no longer took the dirty stuffy tank car full of rust, but came to the luxurious command car in the middle of the train with great satisfaction, shook hands with Commander-in-Chief Jiang affectionately in the majestic military music, and then hugged him tightly, boarded the train with tears, and drove a long way still waving his hand at the door of the train, looking deeply from afar.

Commander-in-Chief Chiang, Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi and other generals immediately held a military meeting after returning to the Pengcheng camp, and finally clarified the plan for the next stage of the Northern Expedition:

Lai Shihuang of the First Route Army, General Xiong Shihui, Second Division, General Cao Wanshun, and the 17th Army of the 14th Army attacked Zhao; Deng Zhenquan and Gu Zhu of the First Army of the Second Route Army cooperated with the Chen Diaoyuan Department of the 37th Army and Ye Kaixin of the 44th Army to attack Linyi; The Seventh Army of the Third Route Army, Xia Wei, Hu Zongduo, and Wang Tianpei of the Tenth Army attacked Lincheng; The 40th Army's He Yao Organization Department and An Yi's Division attacked Taierzhuang and Zaozhuang, and the 33rd Army's Bai Wenwei Division and Ma Xiangbin's Provisional 11th Army attacked Yutai and Jinxiang.

The next day, Commander-in-Chief Chiang left Xuzhou and returned to Nanjing, and the 2nd Division of Liu Zhi of the First Army, the 14th Division of Wei Lihuang, and the 21st Division of Chen Cheng were also ordered to quietly withdraw from the front line and go south to defend Nanjing.

Seeing off Commander-in-Chief Chiang, An Yi immediately rushed to General Bai Chongxi, and after receiving the order, he returned to Daxu Town, the garrison in the east of Xuzhou, and according to the requirements of the battle order, the Reading Division must occupy the Chefushan position south of Taierzhuang within two days, and join up with General He Yaozu's 40th Army to attack Taierzhuang.

Thirty-eight-year-old General He Yaozu graduated from the Yueben Army Non-commissioned Officer School 11 years ago, and was a famous general of the Hunan Army with rich command experience and resolute and tenacious, and his 23,000 officers and men of the two divisions of the 40th Army were all from Hunan, and they were really Hunan troops.

He Yaozu was unable to launch an attack due to the lack of troops, and the defenders were worried that they would be divided and broken by other revolutionary troops on the left and right flanks, so the two sides faced each other for three days and three nights without a decent engagement.

As soon as the artillery battalion entered the position, it launched a tentative artillery bombardment across the Grand Canal to the enemy defending west of Taierzhuang; except for the three regiments that served as reserves, the other three regiments all entered the position, built trenches, and prepared for engagement, and Ding Zhicheng's special detachment had already bypassed the west side of Taierzhuang to carry out reconnaissance behind the enemy.

An Yi, accompanied by adjutant Shen Fengdao and the guards, rushed to the headquarters of Houzhuang Village on the south bank of the canal, respectfully reported to General He Yaozu, and humbly asked for instructions.

He Yaozu and several deputies were very happy to see An Yi coming, and they all said that they didn't expect An Yi to come so quickly, and as soon as he arrived, he would give the enemy a dismount.

After He Yaozu asked An Yi about some information, he took An Yi to the high ground on the left to observe the enemy's defensive position, and told An Yi in detail about the situation of the enemy army coming from Lian Yu:

"Zhang Zongchang's Third Army and Eleventh Army on the opposite side are somewhat abnormal, and after the mutual artillery bombardment with our unit three days ago, no artillery has been fired again, and it seems that the enemy has no interest in fighting a tough battle with us. Due to the large canal in front of us, and the enemy's very tight guards, it is difficult for us to sneak out and detect any information, if my estimate is correct, as long as Tancheng in the east is taken by our friendly forces, they are afraid that they will flee. ”

"That's what the juniors estimated."

An Yi said with a smile: "Zhang Zongchang is very reluctant to help Sun Chuanfang fight this battle, according to the analysis of the situation in the previous two battles of the younger generation, many of Zhang Zongchang's troops belonged to Wu Peifu's troops who joined after they were scattered, and most of them were discouraged and had no fighting spirit.

Cheng Guorui and Wang Hanming, who were opposite us, were both from the Feng family, and they followed Zhang Zongchang to fight with Sun Chuanfang during the Great War, and they were once rivals of life and death, so the younger generations thought that they were likely to preserve their strength, and they were unlikely to take the initiative to attack before Zhang Zuolin's reinforcements arrived, otherwise they would have fought with their predecessors in the north and south of the canal on the first day. ”

He Yaozu smiled appreciatively at An Yi: "The analysis is very thorough, it seems that you have put a lot of effort into this." ”

"The younger generation of readers has just recovered from their strength, and they have to be careful everywhere." An Yi replied with a smile on his face.

He Yaozu thought for a while and asked, "So, what do you think we should do next?" ”

An Yi put away his smile and suggested in a low voice: "The junior has an idea to ask the senior to correct the axe, if our two armies send four to five companies of sappers at the same time to cut down trees with great fanfare, and at the same time use artillery to carry out correction and test firing from time to time, maybe the enemy can react a little." ”

He Yaozu's eyes lit up, and he said happily: "Sure enough, he is a wise and brave general!" I'll listen to you all, haha! ”

Half an hour later, large-scale felling of trees began on the positions of the revolutionary army on the south bank of the canal in preparation for the construction of pontoon bridges, and from time to time one or two shells were fired at the rear of the positions of the two divisions of the 40th Army and the Reading Division to the north bank, and a heavy machine gun was carried to the firing point as close to the river bank as possible, and intense preparations for the forced crossing began at seven or eight points along the four-kilometer long stretch of the river.

An Yi, who returned to his position, walked through one firepower point and construction point, joking with the officers and soldiers while walking, the veterans were familiar with An Yi's habits, and they were willing to joke with An Yi and did not salute, and they were busy with whatever they should be busy without delay, and the newly joined brothers saw that their division commander was wearing a non-commissioned officer uniform, with two belts crossed on his chest and a wide belt, a pistol on one side and a briefcase on the other, and a rifle on his shoulder, and the whole dress was exactly the same as the guards around him, which surprised the recruits and brothers. Especially when he saw the old brothers around him talking so casually with An Yi, he felt incredible, but An Yi went his own way and kept shouting, and the tense pre-war atmosphere made him feel a lot more relaxed.

The two war horses galloped to An Yi's side and stopped, and the herald of the division headquarters saluted on the horse and reported loudly: "Report to the division, the enemy on the opposite side has fled, this is the military commander of the 40th Army, and he said that he came to report on the order of General He." ”

Huang Bi's lieutenant colonel, who was in his thirties, saluted An Yi: "Report to the general, the military seat orders the subordinates to bring you a message, at seven o'clock in the evening, invite the general to drink in the Zhuangzi in the north, and invite the other commanders of the Reading Division to come together." ”

"Thank you! Tell Senior He that we will go on time. An Yi replied with a spring breeze on his face.

"Subordinates say goodbye!"

Lieutenant Colonel turned his horse's head and galloped away.

An Yi instructed the herald to inform Yin Jinan and the others, took out his binoculars and looked at the line of Taierzhuang on the north bank, laughed, and said loudly: "Brothers, work hard, build the bridge and go to Taierzhuang comfortably for dinner." ”

The cheers on the battlefield made the officers and soldiers very proud to scare away the enemy without fighting.

At eight o'clock in the evening, when An Yi and his entourage toasted and drank with He Yaozu and other generals, Tancheng in the east was inextricably fought, and the two armies of Sun Chuanfang's army, which had been insisting on sticking to Tancheng and successfully resisting the non-stop attack of the four divisions of the First Route Army, finally collapsed, and the news of the loss of Taierzhuang reached Tancheng, and the defending generals were taken aback, and they were deeply afraid that the Northern Expeditionary Army in the direction of Taierzhuang would turn around and cut off their retreat to the east, so they immediately made the decision to retreat at full speed and retreat to Linyi to hold on.

Deng Zhenquan's 1st Division, Gu Zhutong's 3rd Division, and Ye Kaixin's 44th Army, which had withdrawn to Nanjing for the two divisions, were greatly boosted, and took advantage of the enemy's confusion to rise up and attack, and achieved the results of destroying more than 1,400 enemy troops and capturing a large number of baggage.

Ye Kaixin returned to Tancheng and met with Gu Zhu and others, only to know that He Yaozu and An Yi's troops suddenly took Taierzhuang, and He Yaozu's second division also went out to camp in Nigou Town in the northwest, directly threatening the enemy defending Yishan, making the enemy panic.

"Tut, it is estimated that Xiao Yi's reading master drove to the front line of Taierzhuang and scared away the enemies who were deeply afraid of him." Ye Kaixin said with a smile.

Deng Zhenquan nodded approvingly: "An Yi, this kid is amazing, full of ghost ideas, just now he replied to our telegram that the three divisions had just cut down trees and had no time to build a bridge, and the defending enemy fled.

From the battle in Zhejiang to the battle of Xuzhou in the previous paragraph, none of the Zhilu coalition army and Sun Chuanfang's Anhui army against An Yi could escape his calculations. ”

Gu Zhutong said with relief: "As soon as he came, the battle line that we had been stalemate for several days immediately changed, and their breakthrough in the middle lane made it much easier for us to fight on the left and right, and it is estimated that the three route armies will be able to make good progress at this time tomorrow." It is a pity that An Yi's division is still under the jurisdiction of the Second Route Army, and if it can get close to us and attack Linyi together, it may play a greater role on the whole front. ”

Ye Kaixin said helplessly: "It is estimated that Xiao Yi is deeply appreciated by Commander Bai to be like this, but I don't think it's a big problem, aren't we next to him all the way?" There will be opportunities in the future. ”

"I hope so." Gu Zhutong shook his head and walked towards the map.

Suqian, the headquarters of the Second Route Army of the Northern Expeditionary Army.

Bai Chongxi stood in front of the large map and looked at it again, and laughed in a low voice: "I gave An Yi two days to rush to the battlefield, but I didn't expect him to take only one day, and he easily took Taierzhuang, which was guarded by the two armies of the Zhilu Army, and this battle was really unexpected." ”

"This kid can always do something unexpected, saying that he is lucky, every one of his victories is real, but he can get the biggest result at the lowest price, it's incredible."

Pan Yizhi sighed, and Zhang Dingfan on the side also laughed.

Bai Chongxi turned around slowly: "The two of you can't say that he is lucky, but you should see that this is his ability, don't look at An Yi's young age and smile from time to time, he knows how to use psychological warfare better than anyone else, it can be said that he is more scheming and calculating than many battle-hardened generals, he has made very full preparations before the war, and his efforts far exceed that of any of our troops, so he has many ways to lure the opponent to reveal his flaws, as long as he sees the opportunity, he will launch fierce strikes again and again, Usually his opponents can't resist him for a hit or two, so he can often get a good record while playing more with less, and now An Yi is getting more and more mature. ”

"Which mission are you going to give him next?" Zhang Dingfan asked.

Bai Chongxi shook his head: "Don't be busy, let him rest in Taierzhuang for a day or two, and then make good use of him after seeing the battle situation in all directions." ”

"Got it!"

(To be continued)