In the early morning of the 19th, Commander-in-Chief Chiang led all the generals in Xuzhou to board the train and rush west to Dangshan Chengdong Station, where they traveled more than 70 kilometers to show their respect and expectations for General Feng Yuxiang of the Northwest Army.

On the platform, colorful flags are displayed, the guard of honor is like a forest, the drums and trumpets of the military band are shining, and the carefully selected guard of honor is brightly dressed and well-equipped, and the scene is as grand as a coronation event.

The generals waited for a long time on the platform, only to hear the sound of the whistle from the west, and the special train full of flowers and ribbons that General Feng Yuxiang was riding finally arrived.

The smoke-billowing locomotive had just entered the platform, the military band drums and trumpets were sounding in unison, the welcoming crowd was waving colorful flags, and Commander-in-Chief Chiang, who was wearing a straight military uniform, stroked the brim of his hat, and the generals behind him tidied up their clothes and waited neatly on the platform with a smile.

The special train slowly stopped, except for the dozens of tall and well-equipped guards who jumped out of the carriage and stood outside the doors of each section, there was still no figure of General Feng Yuxiang, and the generals couldn't help but wonder greatly. Li Zongren and the others poked their heads out and looked around in the middle luxury carriage, only to see a group of civil and military attachés but not General Feng Yuxiang's honorable face.

Li Zhengming, who greeted Feng Yuxiang with Commander-in-Chief Jiang, hurriedly stepped forward and asked loudly through the car window where Feng Shuai was? The attachés pointed to the back carriage and smiled silently, and Commander-in-Chief Chiang and all the generals greeted the back of the train together.

Walking past the two carriages, An Yi saw that the carriages behind him were all roofless convertibles and stuffy tank cars transporting livestock, except for two iron doors, there were not even a single window. This kind of car An Yi also took during the evacuation of Wuhan and the operation of leading his troops into Jiangxi, the carriage was empty, there was nothing, and it also transported all kinds of goods all year round with a mixed smell, and it was impossible to imagine that General Feng Yuxiang, the commander of the Northwest Army, who claimed to be the commander of the 500,000 army, would be in such a carriage.

only heard the sound of "bang", the train stopped completely, and Li Zhengming shouted "Feng Shuai", which immediately attracted everyone's attention.

An Yi followed everyone's look, only to see a burly red-faced man wearing a homespun military uniform and open hemp shoes standing at the door of the stuffy tanker, waving to his side with a smile on his face, and everyone knew that this was General Feng Yuxiang, the commander of the Northwest Army who shocked the whole country.

Commander-in-Chief Jiang shouted "Brother Huanzhang" and strode forward to shake hands warmly.

Feng Yuxiang, who was tied with a cloth belt around his waist and had big ears, also excitedly stepped forward and stretched out his hands, and shouted "Brother Zhongzheng" emotionally in his thick voice, and his four hands were clasped together, like old brothers who had been reunited after a long absence.

Feng Yuxiang, who was dressed in a Henan homespun uniform, shook hands cordially with Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi and other generals under the enthusiastic guidance of Commander-in-Chief Jiang, and let out hearty laughter from time to time.

Feng Yuxiang suddenly stopped, looked An Yi up and down carefully for a while, and everyone around him watched quietly with a smile on their faces. An Yi was looked at by Feng Yuxiang for too long, and there were so many smiling faces on the side, seeing Feng Yuxiang, who seemed to have just come back from the ground, mixed in the middle of a group of generals with straight military uniforms and leather shoes and swords, he suddenly felt that this scene was very humorous, and couldn't help grinning, realizing that he was out of shape, and hurriedly saluted with straight legs: "Junior, An Yi, salutes his seniors!" ”

Feng Yuxiang smiled, pointed at An Yi and said: "It's better to be famous than to meet, and it's better to meet than to be famous, our little general who shocked the whole country is really extraordinary, haha!" ”

After Feng Yuxiang finished speaking, he saluted An Yi in a formal manner, and the surrounding Commander-in-Chief Jiang and dozens of generals all let out happy laughter, and gathered around General Feng Yuxiang to review the honor guard, and then re-boarded the car and drove to Xuzhou.

An Yi returned to the surrounding carriage behind the commander-in-chief's carriage, wiped the sweat from his head, and breathed a long sigh of relief, General Feng Yuxiang and Commander-in-Chief Jiang were all gathered in the front carriage, An Yi, a small division commander, could also relax, but as soon as he remembered the scene just now, An Yi couldn't help laughing, shook his head and walked to the soft chair opposite Kang Ze and sat down, picked up Kang Ze's teacup and poured a few sips, cai; I couldn't help but put it down: "Little brother is an eye-opener today!" ”

Kang Ze couldn't help laughing: "General Feng's appearance is really unimaginable, haha!" I'm afraid it will soon become a national anecdote. ”

"Senior Brother Kang, don't you have collected the files of the generals of all armies across the country? Can you tell me a little bit about General Feng's history? ”

An Yi took out a cigarette, and when he saw Kang Ze shaking his head, he was not polite, and ordered one contentmently.

Kang Ze nodded: "General Feng Yuxiang can be said to be the most special and distinctive representative of the northern generals. The reason why he became the commander of the Northwest Army is a long story, let's talk about it briefly: when the Anhui Beiyang political axe announced China's participation in World War I, Duan Qirui's arm, General Xu Shuzheng, formed a war army and went to the northwest, which is said to be to conquer Germany through Central Asia. It stands to reason that although the northwest is closer to Europe than Yanjing, the distance to participate in the war is really unreliable, but you want to say that he is not a drunkard and does not drink is also a little meaningful, and later the leader of the Northwest Army, Feng Yuxiang, built a road in Hanguguan, Shaanxi, and made people write 'through Europa' at the intersection, but he did not lead his troops to the west, but did not leave when he arrived in the northwest, and was reorganized into the Northwest Frontier Army on the spot, and pulled a lot of Jing [***] and the original Shaanxi army subordinates of Yu Youren's predecessors and others, and became the main force of the Shaanxi and Gansu military administration. This can be regarded as the predecessor of the Northwest Army and the origin of its name. ”

An Yi wanted to laugh again: "I really didn't expect that there would be this section, Duan Qirui would announce his participation in World War I, I didn't expect him to be so good." ”

Kang Ze said with a smile: "Also, General Feng was originally from Chao County, Anhui Province, because he grew up in Baoding, so he said Baoding, he began to be a soldier at the age of eleven, at that time he was a Qing soldier wearing a red tasseled hat, and then gradually promoted, every time he was promoted, he had to fight with his boss, and he fought back and forth to have his basic unit, the 16th Mixed Brigade of Beiyang Political Axe.

After the death of Lu Jianzhang, the commander of the Northwest Army in 1922, the armies of the Northwest were leaderless, and General Feng relied on his kinship with Lu Jianzhang to exert extraordinary means, and finally successfully took over the military power of the Northwest after another brother committed suicide by taking poison.

Three years ago, in the second Zhifeng War, you should know, the two sides fought at the Nine Gates, when General Feng received the order of Marshal Wu Peifu asking him to copy the back road of the Shanhaiguan Fengjun, he asked for food and salary, and put on a strange long snake formation.

After Zhang Zuolin of the Fengjun offered a price of 450,000 yuan and promised not to enter the customs to participate in politics, General Feng Yuxiang immediately defected and occupied Yanjing, which directly caused a great rout in the direct line. Zhang Zongchang and Li Jinglin each had tens of thousands of troops, one was the Zhili overseer, the other was the Shandong overseer, and Zhang Zuolin's descendants Zhang Xueliang and Guo Songling were quite suspicious, and the Feng generals Jiang Dengxuan and Yang Yuting were also trying their best to expand their territory and go south to run Jiangsu and Anhui.

General Feng very much hoped to take advantage of this opportunity to strengthen himself, and he released two clever moves, one was to ask Mr. Zhongshan to go north, and the other was to send Lu Zhonglin to expel Pu Yi from the palace, and since then his reputation has been greatly enhanced, and he has become a famous revolutionary general, with the support of generals including Yang Hucheng.

With General Feng Yuxiang joining the banner of the National Revolutionary Army, the Northwest Army has been shaking until now. You should know the rest, I won't say more. ”

An Yi smiled and asked, "Senior Brother Kang, it seems that you don't like General Feng Yuxiang very much. ”

"Am I not like you? Who likes this kind of person who is in the twilight? Now that he is in Wuhan with one foot and the other in Nanjing, doesn't he just want to make two profits? Look at it, and you'll soon see his true intentions. Kang Ze said indifferently.

An Yi nodded: "Senior brother has been busy in the past two days, junior brother heard that General Feng's eloquence is quite good, he doesn't need a script for a few hours to speak, his words are humorous, many people can't argue with him, a few words that make him angry can make people embarrassed, his words are sharp and mean and don't have dirty words, senior brother is in charge of propaganda and press conference this time, and he will definitely be able to see General Feng's demeanor." ”

"I'd rather help you hold a press conference, at least it's easier."

Kang Ze shook his head: "But I don't have much to do, Hu Hanming's cooking table, Wu Jingheng, Li Yuying, Cai Yuanpei, Li Liejun and other seniors are all out of the horse, and there is Jing Lao behind him, where do we little characters need to be careful?" It is necessary to learn from these seniors.

At the beginning of the month, nearly 10 senior officials from Wuhan, including Mr. Wang Jingwei, General Tang Shengzhi, and Mr. Sun Ke, went to Zhengzhou to talk with General Feng for three days, and in addition to giving Henan to General Feng, they received limited gains, and it is estimated that in exchange for General Feng's promise not to jointly attack Wuhan with our Nanjing, there was also an unexpected gain that General Feng, who was originally pro-Communist, began to [***], and Mr. Wang Jingwei obtained General Feng's support in suppressing the [***] organization. The declaration jointly issued by the two of us allows us to see the new changes in Wuhan, which is quite beneficial to us. ”

An Yi said with a smile: "Thank you senior brother for mentioning it, junior brother just wants how to lead his troops to the front line as soon as possible, as a leading general, it is impossible to say that he does not fight, if General Feng Yuxiang can immediately cross the Yellow River north, the entire Northern Expedition will be much easier." ”

Kang Ze thought for a while and said worriedly: "It is estimated that it will be difficult to persuade General Feng to immediately go on a northern expedition, and in the past few days, I have listened to the private discussions of the seniors of the Central Party Department, and it is generally believed that General Feng is likely to stand still and wait and see the changes in all directions before General Yan Xishan officially sends troops to attack the Feng Department. Therefore, I am afraid that the next stage of the war of our army will be very arduous, especially your reading division, which is now recognized by the whole [***] team as the strongest unit of our Nanjing Revolutionary Army, your opponent will definitely add a lot of trouble to you, you have to be cautious, if possible, it is best not to take the initiative to ask for battle, it is best to fight steadily, and there must be no fiasco in Sixian, otherwise public opinion will be extremely unfavorable to us. ”

"Little brother understands!" An Yi smiled gratefully.

Kang Ze took his leave at the call of another staff officer, and An Yi sat alone by the window, staring at the scenery outside the window, thinking about the affairs of the next few days all the time, guessing the direction of the Second Route Army's attack in the general battle plan to be announced.

An Yi had a hunch that the next battle would be very arduous, and the difficulty was likely to be much more than the previous battles, especially in the plain area, the cavalry advantage of the Zhilu coalition army and the Feng army was fully utilized, and the fast and flexible running advantage of his reading division was greatly reduced, especially in terms of preventing enemy attacks and harassment, An Yi felt that his officers and soldiers lacked experience and training in this area, and they had to come up with a set of methods against the cavalry in the shortest possible time.

(To be continued)