At dusk, the three main divisions of the Eighth Army, Li Pinxian, Ye Qi, and He Jian, under the command of the army commander General Tang Shengzhi, broke through the loose defensive line of the defenders in the direction of Yueyang in one fell swoop, and forced the defenders to withdraw from Xiangyin without a fierce battle, escaped the Miluo River, and organized a defense on the north bank from Chutang to Tianjing.

An Yi's second division was stationed in the small town of Gupei, a few kilometers behind the main force of the Eighth Army, and after dinner, division commander Liu Xiao summoned his subordinates to discuss the battle situation and deduce the battle situation.

An Yi and Yin Jinan led several brothers from the third company and three platoons to the headquarters in advance, and according to the map and auxiliary materials provided by Chief of Staff Hu Shusen, they quickly made a two-meter-square sand table, which intuitively showed the terrain and troop deployment in Yueyang and its surrounding areas.

Sand table production is one of the basic training subjects of An Yi's third company platoon commander, there is detailed information, naturally it is familiar with the road, rapid progress, it only took 35 minutes to show the strategic points and military situation in the area of 80 kilometers from east to west, north and south of Yueyang, and the 800 miles of Dongting Lake west of Yueyang also made the third platoon commander Cai Guangqing vividly express with a piece of blue homespun cloth.

The second division surrounded the school around the sand table and sighed, and An Yi, who was more satisfied, saw that he had finished his work, so he replied to Hu Shusen and led the brothers back to their station.

As soon as he walked out of the courtyard of the headquarters, An Yi was stopped by Liu Xiao's adjutant, saying that the division seat and the chief of staff ordered An Yi and Yin Jinan to participate in the seminar.

An Yi instructed Cai Guangqing to bring the brothers back to this and this, and after the explanation, he and Yin Jinan returned to the sand table again, thinking that such a good opportunity could not be missed, at least he could learn about the development of the battle situation on the whole front through the seminar, and he also had some confidence in his heart.

Chief of Staff Hu Shusen began to speak at the signal of Liu Xiao, he lifted a wooden stick more than one meter long, and just pointed to the sand table, he heard An Yi remind in a low voice, only then did he remember that the sand table with lime paste as the main material was not dry, and he began to explain with a slight smile:

"Due to the rapid movement of the Seventh Army and the Fourth Army on the right flank of our Central Route Army, they have pressed to the south of the enemy's defense line of more than 80 kilometers in the section of Pingjiang and Hukou, and have put tremendous pressure on the enemy's 1st Song Dapei Division in Hubei Province, Yu Yinsen's 17th Mixed Brigade, Ye Kaixin's 1st and 4th Hunan Army's 1st and 4th Divisions in Changsha, and Wu Peifu's Hunan-Hubei Frontier Army, forcing the enemy to put the center of gravity of the battlefield on the north bank of the Miluo River, and to use the trenches, pillboxes, barbed wire, and other tight fortifications built in the past half moon to confront our army on both sides of the Miluo River. Below, we will mainly discuss the battle situation of the left column to which it belongs, and make predictions and deductions for the attack on the whole line that will be launched at dawn. First of all, let me give you an overview of the situation on both sides of the enemy that we are currently dealing with......"

Hu Shusen explained very carefully, more than 20 generals and colonels were listening attentively, how could An Yi and Yin Jinan, who were keen on this, give up this rare opportunity?

After listening to Hu Shusen's explanation, the two immediately calculated quickly in their hearts, compared the opinions of the regiment commanders with their own ideas, and repeatedly deliberated and calculated, without a second pause in their minds.

Half an hour later, division commander Liu Xiao summarized everyone's opinions: "Very good, most of the views are very insightful, and I will summarize the basic consensus." As everyone said, once the general offensive is launched, the enemy on the opposite side of our army will not be able to resist the officers and men of the Eighth Army who are numerous, and their morale is like a rainbow, especially now that the water conditions of the Miluo River are very favorable to us, most sections of the river can be crossed without the need to erect bridges, the defense line of the enemy on the north bank is too long, full of loopholes, and the main force of the defenders is in front of Yueyang, trying to defend this important town, as long as our army breaks through a little, the enemy will be shaken on the whole line, and the Eighth Army can bravely pursue and not give the defending enemy a chance to breathe. According to my conversation with General Tang Shengzhi after the military meeting, I learned that the Eighth Army was indeed as we expected, as long as the defense line of the Miluo River was broken and immediately attacked, and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd divisions of the Eighth Army arrived at Nangang in the south of Yueyang City and the Jinfeng Bridge in the east respectively. More than 8,000 officers and men of Liu Xing's Fourth Division plunged directly into Meixi, north of Yueyang, in an attempt to cut off the retreat of Yueyang defenders in one fell swoop. Another important reason is that most of the defenders in Yueyang are Hunan troops, and General Tang Shengzhi has sent people to infiltrate Yueyang to secretly surrender, so the battle of Yueyang has almost been won. Let's discuss the question of how our two divisions should work together, and just speak freely. ”

Jiang Dingwen laughed: "Master, and everyone, I'm afraid General Tang Shengzhi doesn't need our cooperation anymore." Look, the enemy in front of my left column is about three divisions, the enemy defending Yueyang City is about four divisions, plus the local powerful armed forces who are afraid of revolution are two divisions, and if the rabble with a total of 50,000 people becomes a turtle in the urn, even if half of the dead and wounded escape, the remaining half will be two armies! On the other hand, the number of officers and soldiers in our army is just over 10,000, half of which are still led by Commander He to stay on the front line of the Fujian-Guangdong border, the first division is still in the Gongwei headquarters in Changsha, and my second division begged my grandfather to worship my grandmother to replenish all the way, and so far it is barely close to 4,000 officers and soldiers. ”

The generals and colonels echoed each other, demanding that they follow closely and capture more prisoners and do everything possible to strengthen our revolutionary forces.

An Yi and Yin Jinan looked at each other and smiled, they both knew what all the big brothers were thinking, that is, to expand their strength and supplement personnel as soon as possible, as long as the number of people reached a certain level, the eldest brothers would be able to be promoted to one level naturally, and the battalion commander would become the regiment commander, and the regiment commander would be promoted to the division commander, this temptation was much more realistic than any revolutionary principles and great ideals. But everyone tacitly understood this, and their mouths were full of grandiose slogans such as "the needs of the revolution", and each one shouted louder than the other.

Liu Xiao and Hu Shusen and Xu Tingyao looked at each other and smiled, Hu Shusen stretched out his hands and signaled everyone to be quiet:

"We understand your feelings, tonight's seminar is over, and the division will send your opinions to the commander-in-chief, so you can rest assured to go back and get ready, and wait for the next instructions."

"Yes!"

The generals and colonels quickly left the headquarters, An Yi and Yin Jinan ran away as soon as they were discharged from the hospital, and the company headquarters that returned to the east immediately got into the tent, and all the squad and platoon leaders were already under the organization of the beard, and they all stood up when they saw An Yi and the two come back.

An Yi motioned for everyone to be casual, looked at the sand table and turned to Cai Guangqing: "Guangqing did a good job, this sand table is no deviation from the division headquarters, and none of us can compare to you with this memory." ”

"It's all the result of the joint efforts of several brothers, and it's very simple to repeat it when you come back just after you finish it for the division, and we've done fifty-seven of these sand tables for more than a month, and we're all proficient." The smart Cai Guangqing smiled happily.

"Good! Brethren, let me repeat to you the main content and plan of the seminar just now......"

An Yi briefly explained the opinions of the generals and the opinions of several commanders at the meeting, and then lifted the wooden stick next to him and pointed at Yue Yang:

"It seems that the defenders can't run away, with my understanding of Tang Shengzhi, this person will never be willing to let a soldier flow into the hands of our second division, let alone weapons and ammunition, and I heard that Liu Wendao, the chief of staff of the Eighth Army, is not good at fighting, but he is a master of conspiracy and trickery. Liu Wendao, who is bald for most of his brain, graduated from the first phase of the Baoding Military Academy, and we have to call him brother when we see him, and this person also crossed east to get a diploma in political economy from Waseda University in Tokyo, and obtained a doctorate in law from the University of Paris in France. I estimate that the idea and action of secretly recruiting the defenders of Yueyang was planned by this person, and I also think that as long as the Eighth Army is going well, our Second Division will probably not even be able to drink a sip of soup. ”

"What then?" Chen Kan, the second platoon leader, asked anxiously.

An Yi smiled bitterly: "If there is a way, why are you in such a hurry?" Ladies and gentlemen, I estimate that tomorrow all the divisions of this division will follow closely behind the various units of the Eighth Army...... Here are the four regiments of our army...... Lao Tzu didn't believe that his Eighth Army could do a good job in such a high-speed pursuit! There will definitely be fish that slip through the net and places that cannot be taken into account! I don't know if you've ever seen fishing? Those fish that jump out of the big net, the fish that hide under the net and stick to the mud or the riverbed, are often the cunning big fish or the most powerful fish, and catching a few such fish is worth more than a few baskets of fish in the net, it depends on our ability. I can't think of any good idea now, but I have always believed that the wisdom of the brothers is infinite......"

At dawn the next day, the general attack on the whole line started as scheduled, the battle situation of the left column was indeed the same as expected by the generals of the second division, the enemy defending the north bank after two hours of fierce fighting, finally could not stop the crazy attack of the officers and men of the Eighth Army, Ye Qi Division took the lead in breaking through the enemy's defense line and occupying the position on the north bank, the enemy was shaken on the whole line, and then fled in panic to the direction of Yueyang, the divisions of the Eighth Army did not make any stop to pursue, but never forgot to leave a piece to clean up the battlefield, which made the second division units that followed closely behind depressed, Seeing that people were happily packing up all the light and heavy weapons abandoned by the enemy and occupying them, thousands of officers and men full of hope had nowhere to vent their grievances, and they had to obey the orders of General Tang Shengzhi, the former commander-in-chief of the enemy, to bury the bodies of the officers and men who had died in battle.

The next two days were the same, the main force of the Second Division was extremely disappointed, and even An Yi and his brothers in the Third Company, who were fully prepared to formulate various response plans, found nothing, and followed behind the Eighth Army in frustration, surrounding Yueyang City on three sides.

What puzzled the generals of the second division was that there was no attack on the siege for two consecutive days, Liu Xiao and others asked Tang Shengzhi, and Tang Shengzhi patiently and kindly explained: There are many famous places in the ancient city of Yueyang, and the children of Xiaoxiang can't bear to be destroyed in a moment, and they are ashamed of Xiangzi, the tense surrender negotiations are underway, and a breakthrough has been made, and it is just around the corner to take Yueyang without letting go of a shot!

At this time, the good news of the right column flew like snowflakes:

The Fourth Army broke through the 30-kilometer defense line of the Miluo River in one fell swoop, occupied Pingjiang, and was rapidly pursuing it northward in one go; The four brigades of the Seventh Army, including Li Mingrui and Hu Zongduo, commanded by General Li Zongren, forcibly crossed the Miluo River from the front line of the Talc Beach, occupied the Zhangjiapai and Hukou lines in one fell swoop, destroyed and captured nearly 10,000 enemy troops, and captured countless artillery pieces and light and heavy weapons.

Just when the soldiers of the First Army and the Second Division were impatient, General Tang Shengzhi suddenly issued an order to attack the city in an all-round way, and after a round of gunfire, the three divisions of the defenders of Yueyang City all surrendered to the Eighth Army.

At this point, the Yueyang war was over, although General Tang Shengzhi did not do not let go of a shot, but the harvest was the greatest, General Tang quickly reported the good news to the Changsha headquarters, while entering the city to inspect everywhere to appease in every way, to accept the praise and love of the Yueyang gentry and celebrities from all walks of life, and then with a stroke of the pen, to the divisions under his command and the newly attached departments to issue huge rewards, for a time, the whole army congratulated a jubilant scene.

An Yi, who was eleven kilometers outside the East City, looked at the map in frustration, and said to his brothers: "Grandma's Tang Shengzhi, the iron rooster is not as stingy as him, and he hasn't shaken out a single hair, absolutely not!" ”

Yin Jinan didn't seem to hear An Yi's words, pointed to the attack route of the Right Route Army on the map, and said to An Yi:

"Big brother, you see, General Li Zongren is amazing, not only the progress is rapid, but also the results are brilliant, although the officers and soldiers under his command are thin, but they are all from the mountainous Guangxi, walking on the mountain road like walking on flat ground, I am afraid that the enemy army who fled into the mountains will not be saved. There are also Huang Qixiang and Ye Tingbu of the Fourth Army, who have already arrived at this position, look at ...... Having crossed the mountainous and hilly areas and entered relatively gentle areas, looking at the current momentum, the Fourth and Seventh Armies are simply crazy, and I estimate that within two days they will attack the line from Xianning to Zhaojiaqiao. ”

"Yes, the Fourth and Seventh armies are indeed brave, and it is not surprising that they are so powerful."

Beard nodded, agreeing with Yin Jinan's analysis.

An Yi looked at the smile in Yin Jinan's eyes, and suddenly woke up: "I call him an ancestor...... It turned out that they wanted to wait for the Fourth and Seventh Armies under the command of General Li Zongren to reach the south of Zhaojiaqiao, and cut off the retreat of more than 30,000 enemy troops on the line from Yueyang to Yanglousi in one fell swoop...... Absolutely! A master of the masters......"

"Report: A large number of enemy troops are found to be fleeing in the direction of the Shiwan Reservoir in the northeast, about 4,000 people, the formation is chaotic, and it is strange that there are no pursuers." Su Tieming, the leader of the fifth platoon, came to report.

An Yi was overjoyed: "Tietou, can you see clearly?" ”

"Our observation post in Beigao can see very clearly, it is only about two kilometers away from our company, and I estimate that the rout army that has escaped from Yueyang City is because I don't see them carrying heavy weapons, and they seem to be tired." Iron Head replied in the affirmative.

An Yi ordered loudly: "Ji Nan, leave three rows of guards, and gather the team immediately!" Hu Zi and I hit the horse to take a look, Lao Tzu doesn't believe it, this division can still slip out of our palms! ”

"Yes!"

In the division headquarters, two kilometers to the southeast, Liu Xiao and the generals were in a depressed mood, sighed, and scolded Tang Shengzhi for not being a thing, and even Yueyang didn't let us get close.

only heard the sound of horses' hooves in a hurry, and everyone stopped talking and saw that outside the window, An Yi and Beard had already strode forward.

"Division, four kilometers to the northeast found a team of about 4,000 direct rout, I estimate that it is Ye Kaixin's second division of the Hunan army, only the second division that has been working against General Tang Shengzhi is unwilling to accept the adaptation, and there is no chasing army behind the rout, and the subordinates estimate that the Eighth Army must have taken a train to the south of the Wuli Pai station in the northeast, blocking the retreat of this rout, setting up a position, and preparing to wait for the rabbit to wait for work. Master, this piece of fat is sent to the mouth, don't we take a bite? An Yi happily reported.

"Why not take a bite? Swallow it in one bite! An Yi, come back to give you credit! ”

Liu Xiao was overjoyed, and immediately issued a series of orders, and the commanders of each regiment and battalion rushed out of the headquarters as if they were flying, and in the blink of an eye, the lifeless camp cars roared and the dust and smoke rose everywhere.

(To be continued)