Gu Zhutong looked at the four semi-new and old trucks in front of him, puzzled, walked outside the cab of the first truck, glanced at the newly added blue sky white logo on the door, thought about it and turned to An Yi and asked loudly:

"What about the sedan that the principal gave you? What about the seven new trucks that I left here for you to help watch? Why are only these four broken cars left? You're not going to hide and be a miser, are you? ”

An Yi smiled: "I'm sorry, my subordinate car was sent to the old Nanchang non-commissioned officer training base, along with six trucks to the base and the recruitment office, because our department needs to transport a batch of materials and more than 100 old brothers who have completed their service to return to Nanchang, the car is not enough, so I can only drive the instructor's seven new trucks back together, I'm really sorry!" ”

"Okay, you An Yi, you actually robbed Lao Tzu!" Gu Zhutong smiled angrily.

An Yi hurriedly apologized, ignoring Gu Zhutong's adjutant Huang Wei's big eyes, stepped forward and laughed in a low voice: "Instructor, aren't they just a few broken cars?" Why are you angry? Isn't it okay for your subordinates to take seven or eighty percent new Krupp field cannons and return them? ”

Gu Zhutong turned his anger into joy, but stared at An Yi's eyes and said fiercely: "Seven gates? Just seven? You think beautifully, at least ten, or I'll go to the headmaster and sue you!" ”

"Huh!? That's a bit too ruthless, isn't it? A Krupp gun is equivalent to three to four trucks! The subordinates saw that the instructor's artillery battalion had begun to take shape, and there were seven more guns to reach the number of an artillery regiment, so they could not bear to cut the flesh, if the instructor did not forgive, I immediately called the old Nanchang base in Nanjing, and asked them to send someone to drive the seven broken cars back, and the two of us were liquidated, saving me from being like a debt to you for the rest of my life, this is not possible! ”

An Yi's businessman's face was vividly displayed again, and he spoke eloquently and aggrieved, which immediately amused Gu Zhutong, Huang Wei and others.

Huang Wei saw Gu Zhutong's tempted look, and hurriedly stepped forward and suggested to Gu Zhutong: "Division, my subordinates think that Xiao Yi's suggestion is worth considering, but our artillery lacks horses, and even if these cannons are given to us, it is an iron lump, so it is better to let each gun exchanged by Xiao Yi be equipped with six horses, in this way, it is basically fair." ”

"Haha! That's it! Gu Zhutong turned around happily.

An Yi hurriedly stopped: "Slow ...... I said Senior Brother Huang, junior brother remembers that your ancestral home is Jiangxi and not Shanxi, how can you be the same as Yan Xishan's old man? Is there such a reckoning with you? And said it's basically fair,! I didn't do it anymore, when I arrived in Nanjing, I asked the principal to return seven cars to you, and the principal said last time that he would give me a car company, but I felt that many places could not be used after going north, and there was no fuel tanker to match, and I had to leave someone to wait for me when I couldn't walk halfway, so I said to the principal to suspend the equipment, and this time I asked for a few cars The principal will definitely agree, and when I get to Nanjing, I will go to Brother Cai Zhonghu and sell the artillery to him at half price. Haha, okay, okay, let's get in the car, it's too late to make it to Nanjing for dinner. ”

Everyone laughed loudly, and then got into the car, knowing that An Yi said this but would not do it, just taking the opportunity to scratch the hair, An Yisheng's surname was very nostalgic, and he never cared about the gains and losses with the senior brothers and instructors, and gave a large number of materials and horses and ammunition to the senior brothers more than once, so he was just scratching the hair, and he would never really give Gu Zhutong face.

An Yi drove down the second lieutenant driver of the third division in the cab, got into the car and started to leave, Gu Zhutong in the passenger seat knew that An Yi's driving skills were good, so he was very relieved to chat while walking, the two started from Huangpu, and then Gu Zhutong followed He Yingqin to lead his troops to fight Fujian, and talked about the origins of the generals in the current army, gangs and romances, and then to the confusing and complicated relationship between Li Zongren, Tang Shengzhi's department and President Jiang.

An Yi listened quietly, benefited a lot, and humbly asked what he didn't understand, Gu Zhutong became more and more affectionate towards this student and colleague, so he knew everything, and said everything, so that An Yi learned a lot of subtle things, and also heard the signs of contradictions between Gu Zhutong and Liu Zhi and He Yingqin.

The car drove to the Longtan checkpoint and was stopped, and the gendarmes saw An Yi open the door and get out of the car, and hurriedly stood and saluted, and then saw Gu Zhutong, who was dressed in a straight official uniform, sitting in the car and smoking leisurely, one by one frightened, and hurriedly opened the road.

An Yi greeted the gendarmes with a smile, without a little arrogance, and won the great favor of the officers and soldiers with his inherent affinity.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, the convoy entered Nanjing, Gu Zhutong instructed An Yi to drive the car directly to the National Axe Compound on the Yangtze River Road, An Yi did it honestly, and the three cars behind the car also followed closely, crossed the Taiping Road, where there were not many vehicles, and turned into the Yangtze River Road, and soon arrived at the parking lot of the Political Axe Compound.

Gu Zhutong got out of the car and walked into the building of the guard regiment to make a phone call, and hurriedly came back and asked An Yi to change his clothes quickly: "Quickly take off your dirty clothes and change into a general's uniform, the principal heard that we were coming, pushed down a meeting agreement, and ordered the two of us to go in immediately to report to work, and the car in the attendant's room will come to pick us up and go to Xiyuan." ”

"So fast...... But I didn't bring a general's uniform! This dress was also just changed this morning, it's not dirty, and the dress given by the principal is reluctant to wear it! An Yi said with a sad face.

Gu Zhutong looked at An Yi's school officer uniform, shook his head frequently, and instructed Adjutant Huang Wei to lead the guards to drive to the Yangtze Hotel in Xiaguan and contact him again.

An Yi thought about it and instructed Xiao Jiu to bring the guards there, so that it would be convenient for everyone to live together.

It was Chen Lifu who drove to greet him, Gu Zhutong and An Yi stepped forward to salute, got into the car and drove to the gate of Xiyuan after a while, reported the gun as usual, and followed Chen Lifu into President Jiang's office, both saluted and reported.

Chiang Kai-shek quietly glanced at the two generals under his command, his eyes were kind, and his face was full of praise. He kindly motioned for the two to sit down on the sofa, and one of the guards brought a teacup to the two of them and quietly retreated.

Almost all the officers knew that there were not many subordinates who could give Principal Chiang a seat and talk with him, and usually everyone who came would stand and report, and Principal Chiang would praise or admonish him, and it would be over, and only the students or generals who Principal Chiang liked and respected the most could get this preferential treatment.

Gu Zhutong looked a little excited, but An Yi was calm, because every time An Yi came, unless there were many people present and it was urgent military affairs, every time Principal Jiang asked An Yi to sit down and said slowly, this delicate relationship between Principal Jiang and An Yi had already spread throughout the army, which was also one of the reasons why many people were jealous of An Yi, but An Yi didn't know that he had offended people because of Principal Jiang's small favor, he felt normal, and this was probably an obvious difference between the values in his mind and the existing values.

Chiang Kai-shek took a document and walked to the sofa master and sat down, handed the document to An Yi, but looked at Gu Zhutong:

"Mo San, Gaoyou fought a very good battle, very good! Your division alone completed this great battle, and the results achieved were astonishing, surpassing the results of capture and capture in any division-level battle, and its huge political influence was the greatest gain of this battle.

Since the early morning of May 1, your third division and An Yi's reading division captured Yangzhou, He Jingzhi and Li Delin, the two generals, could not sit still, today, Li Delin sent me a telegram, his Xia Wei division captured Chao County, is taking advantage of the victory to the north to encircle Hefei, He Jingzhi also called me, saying that Sun Jun Bai Baoshan division has surrendered, Chen Cixiu and Liu Jingfu two divisions have captured Rugao, the army is advancing to Hai'an.

This is all good news, but I know that if it weren't for you and An Yi's beautiful launch and capture Gaoyou and Taizhou, it would not have stimulated such rapid progress on the left and right, so I want to reward you! ”

Gu Zhutong stood up straight and expressed his determination loudly: "My subordinates will never live up to the cultivation of the principal!" ”

"Good, good! Sit down. ”

Principal Jiang gestured slightly to Yu Jishi, who was sitting behind the secretary's desk in the distance, took a sip of boiled water, put down the cup, took the telegram handed by Yu Jishi, and handed it to Gu Zhutong:

"Take a good look at it, think about it after reading it, and tell me your opinion...... An Yi, are you satisfied with this award from the headquarters? ”

An Yi put down the document and stood up to thank him: "Thank you, principal!" Student representatives Yin Jinan, Hu Jialin, Yang Bin, and Cheng Chengguang, four new generals, and the commanders of each regiment and battalion, thank the principal for his trust and cultivation! ”

Chiang Kai-shek nodded with satisfaction and waved his hand to let An Yi sit down: "If there is any difficulty, explain it to me directly." ”

"Report to the principal, the students are not in difficulty at the moment, and everything is running smoothly. After two self-replenishments, the number of officers and men in our division has now reached 11,000, of which 10,000 are combatants, and the total number of political workers, military police, quartermaster logistics, and logistics personnel of various regiments in the division headquarters is less than 1,000.

After the capture and replenishment of the First Battle of Taizhou, as well as the replenishment of a large number of materials and ammunition that the principal had given to the students in advance, our reading teacher is now full of momentum and confidence, and only needs one or two days of local adjustments to enter the battle.

There is one thing I would like to ask the principal to adjudicate, that the students now have 48 mountain artillery and field artillery in good condition, and 1,200 well-trained and experienced artillerymen, who have played an irreplaceable and important role in the successive battles against Yangzhou and Taizhou. An Yi truthfully put forward his request.

Chiang Kai-shek pondered for a moment and nodded slightly: "You can consider it, but this matter can't be rushed, at present, all divisions have a request to expand the artillery battalion as an artillery regiment, but this is a very large expansion plan, if I agree to your request, it will make all the troops of our Northern Expeditionary Army follow suit, and there will be countless application reports piled up on my desk, judging by our current financial resources, we simply cannot afford to raise or buy so many artillery pieces and shells."

Last month, we issued 25 million public bonds, and this month we issued 30 million treasury bills again with customs taxes, but we still cannot meet the military expenditure.

Again, the other armies and divisions are not as Anyi as you, the most expensive equipment such as artillery and machine guns are captured by themselves, and they will only stretch out their hands to the center and reach out to me.

Therefore, your request should be postponed for the time being, I agree that you will keep the establishment of 1,200 artillerymen, but you still have to use the number of the divisional artillery battalion to the outside world, and after you go back, you can use your rights to promote all the commanders of the artillery battalion at all levels to the first rank, and you only need to submit the promotion documents to the military headquarters of the First Army for the record, and I will greet the people of the First Army. The maximum number of teachers you were given was 16,000, so you should make good use of it. ”

"Students obey!"

An Yi smiled gratefully.

Chiang Kai-shek looked at Gu Zhutong with a calm face, and Gu Zhutong hurriedly replied: "Principal, there is a reason why my subordinates retreated immediately after capturing Gaoyou, with 13,000 soldiers of our three divisions, there is really no way to garrison Gaoyou, otherwise they will be attacked by strong enemies in the two directions of Xinghua and Baoying."

To the west of Gaoyou is a large lake with vast blue waves, and there is no way to retreat, unless An Yi's reading division goes north from Taizhou to echo and support, otherwise our third division will be left alone and will be under the attack of a superior enemy. Gaoyou did not have a city wall, and his subordinates used the tactics of rapid raid in this operation, and they could not pull artillery across a large area of waterways and swamps, so they could only be beaten if they defended Gaoyou, so their subordinates did not agree with the opinion of He Jingzhi's commander. ”

An Yi knew the mystery as soon as he heard it, and also estimated that the main force led by He Yingqin was trapped by the tight defense of the enemy on the front line of Hai'an, so he asked Gu Zhutong to occupy Gaoyou in order to contain the enemy, but if he really wanted Gu Zhutong and the third division to be stationed in Gaoyou, which was dozens of kilometers deep into the enemy-occupied area, it was only a matter of being beaten, and if it was not done well, it would really lead to the annihilation of the whole army.

An Yi couldn't help but feel deeply glad about the situation of his troops, the two divisions of the 17th Army led by Du Qiyun had been stationed in Taizhou, took over the defense of the Reading Division, and formed a confrontation with the enemy in the east, An Yi's Reading Division retreated to Jiangdu, and the first and third regiments were on the way to Xinji Town in the west, completely getting rid of the command range of He Yingqin on the East Road, and no longer being angry with the many instructors and senior brothers of the First Army. Just like this Taizhou victory, if it weren't for the cooperation with Gu Zhutong, who was good-natured and caring for his subordinates, it is estimated that most of the captured materials and artillery would have been divided up long ago.

Chiang Kai-shek listened to Gu Zhutong's defense and thought it was true: "Don't worry, I will send a telegram to He Jingzhi to explain, your Third Division and An Yi's Reading Division belong to the Second Route Army under my name according to the regulations, and they are under the full command of Bai Jiansheng, the commander-in-chief of the former enemy, so it is understandable that they cannot support the Eastern Route Front of the First Route Army, otherwise, Bai Jiansheng will have a lot of opinions." Don't worry, you don't have any scruples, let go of Bai Jiansheng and strive to make new contributions. ”

"Principal Xie!"

Gu Zhutong was relieved.

Chiang Kai-shek looked out the window at the gradually darkening sky, was silent for a while, and said with a solemn expression:

"The reason why I asked you to come to Nanjing at the same time is because I trust you, among my subordinates and students, you two are very capable and resourceful, treat your subordinates with affection and righteousness, and are people who value feelings, which is what I admire most about you.

The current situation is very grim, on the whole, although Wuhan sent four armies to the Northern Expedition, but Tang Shengzhi left his three main forces, and the brave and unscrupulous Zhang Fakui was also used by [***], leaving the arrogant Ye Ting and two main divisions equivalent to the number of military personnel to guard Wuhan, eyeing our Nanjing, and may attack Nanjing City at any time. Their gang has no rules, no morality, and dares to do anything. Therefore, Li Delin had no choice but to leave his main force on the line from Wuhu to Anqing, and he had to defend the barrier of Nanjing to avoid being attacked by the Wuhan side, especially when Zhu Yizhi (Zhu Peide) was instigated by the Wuhan side and his position wavered, otherwise Zhu Yizhi, who would be heavily stationed in Jiujiang, was likely to be co-opted by Tang Shengzhi and Wang Jingwei, and then attacked our Nanjing.

The situation is pressing! So I have to be vigilant at all times, and I also pin the great hope of the Northern Expedition on you, on He Jingzhi and the teachers and students of the First Army of Whampoa, and hope that you will understand my painstaking efforts. ”

Gu Zhutong and An Yi hurriedly stood up, showing their determination to live up to the mission of the Northern Expedition.

Chiang Kai-shek nodded with satisfaction: "Sit down, I can trust you." Mo San, An Yi, fight the next battle well, if possible, your two divisions will cooperate more, cooperate more, and give me tacit understanding and cooperation, I plan to combine your two divisions into one army in the next step, a main force dominated by my Huangpu soldiers, I hope you will cherish the opportunity and perform well. ”

Gu Zhutong stood up excitedly: "My subordinates will never live up to the principal's expectations and cultivation!" ”

An Yi also stood up again and said: "Principal, please rest assured, the students will go all out to carry forward the spirit of my Whampoa!" ”

Chiang Kai-shek was very satisfied, stood up and told him to go back to the desk and sit down, Gu Zhutong and An Yi looked at each other and knew that it was time to go, at this time Chen Lifu hurriedly walked to Chiang Kai-shek and handed over the folder, Chiang Kai-shek looked at it and said loudly:

"An Yi, the commander of the artillery command, Cai Xuchen (Cai Zhonghu), is waiting for you outside, as well as Hu Zongnan and Zeng Kuoqing, go quickly."

"Yes."

After An Yi finished answering, he walked to Chiang Kai-shek with Gu Zhutong, ready to salute and leave.

At this moment, Chiang Kai-shek suddenly slapped his palm on the table and scolded very angrily: "Niang Xipi, Niang Xipi!" What's going on? It is so bold to dare to murder gentry and celebrities in broad daylight, hateful, hateful! How can I explain to Mr. Feng and other friends in Shanghai? How can I face all living beings in the world? ”

Chen Lifu hurriedly persuaded: "Principal, please calm your anger, the analysis of his subordinates is very likely that Jiang Luming and others were dealt with by our party in accordance with the law, and after Mr. Pan Henian cooperated with us, Sun Chuanfang held a grudge and sent someone to set up an ambush to assassinate Mr. Pan Henian."

According to the situation at the scene of the incident and the analysis of the rifle shells that were found, the murderer was a premeditated assassination operation, and it was definitely done by professional soldiers. At present, very few units of our army are equipped with weapons, only Sun Chuanfang's troops are the largest, and according to eyewitnesses, two men of medium to short age crossed the town of Xinba in Jiangbei in a small boat, and have since disappeared. ”

Chiang Kai-shek's face was very ugly, and after a long while, he muttered to himself: "Could it be Sun Chuanfang?" That's right, it must be him, and only he will rack his brains to calculate my relationship with my friends in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, hateful! Damn! If the warlords are not eliminated, they will not be restless! ”

As soon as these words came out, An Yi, who was slightly worried in his heart, completely put his mind at ease, his face was not shocked, and he waited to see what Chiang Kai-shek would do.

(To be continued)