All units of the An Yi Reading Division stationed in Lai'an County maintained a high degree of vigilance from beginning to end, and the police companies of each regiment frequently dispatched reconnaissance platoons, and one by one bright or covert guard posts appeared in all directions far away from the county seat, and 360 officers and men of the four companies of the special brigade under the guise of "divisional guard battalions" took turns to dispatch day and night, covering a 30-kilometer radius of Lai'an City, in order to guard against a sudden attack by the enemy on the officers and men of the headquarters protruding outside the battle line.

On the third day after the occupation of Lai'an, An Yi's reading division sent a telegram to Bai Chongxi, Bai Chongxi took the telegram of only sixteen words and read it again and again, smiled and handed it to Zhang Dingfan beside him, and said casually: "Bo Xuan (Zhang Dingfan), come and see, our young general can't sit still, like full of confidence!" ”

Zhang Dingfan glanced at the telegram of the war, and handed it to Pan Yizhi, director of the Political Department, the more he thought about it, the more interesting he felt, and laughed and said:

"An Yi this guy is indeed brave and strategic, easily captured Ancheng but did not hold on, in the case of the strength is obviously at a disadvantage, he even dared to send a small group of reconnaissance troops, for three consecutive days to the northeast, due north, northwest three directions of the defending enemy to carry out vigilance and active harassment strikes, these aspects of the superior enemy army but afraid of An Yi's prestige, did not dare to meet him head-on, all of them cowered in their own defense area did not dare to move, this battle to this extent is indeed unexpected! As Kensheng often says, victory is the cornerstone of faith, and this is true! ”

"Yes, since An Yi joined the army, he has been invincible, invincible, and all the way to the Northern Expedition has played out his prestige, especially after the Battle of Tonglu, the Battle of Kunshan, the Battle of Yangzhou, the Battle of Taizhou, and the Battle of Chuzhou, the whole person is full of confidence, and the maturity is as fast as if he was reborn, and he has the demeanor that a famous general should have.

Originally, the Feng, Lu, and Anhui coalition armies in the north only knew that the model battalion was the strong force of our Northern Expeditionary Army, and it was invincible, but now they all knew that An Yi had been promoted to the major general and division commander of the First Army's Reading Division, and it was estimated that soon the limelight of his Reading Division would overshadow the original model battalion, and the deterrent effect on the enemy was not insignificant! ”

Bai Chongxi was in a good mood, took off his glasses and took out a white flannel cloth to wipe it gently, and a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Pan Yizhi, director of the Political Department, asked puzzled after reading the telegram: "According to the establishment given by the General Headquarters, An Yi's reading division can have 15,000 soldiers, why this time he left all the thousands of people captured to other divisions, and the hundreds of people captured in Anxian County were also released, such generosity is very different from his style of fighting with each other, it is really incomprehensible." ”

Bai Chongxi shook his head slightly: "Actually, it's easy to explain, An Yi is eager to fight, and he doesn't have any extra time to expand at all, otherwise it will take one to two weeks to fully form his combat effectiveness, and with the eleven thousand troops he currently has, it is enough for him to use." ”

"Is this another way of saying that An Yi prefers to maintain the status quo? As you all know, An Yi's reading division is a descendant of Commander-in-Chief Chiang, and the monthly salary of 15,000 soldiers is paid in full, and it is not reduced or reduced because of the insufficient number of An Yi's subordinates, of which 4,000 soldiers can be used for turnover...... The mystery can be known without asking, haha! ”

Pan Yizhi smiled disdainfully, and the meaning of his words was naturally that An Yi, who had always been greedy for money, was more willing to eat empty salaries.

Bai Chongxi frowned, waved his hand and said: "I think this is definitely not the case, although An Yi is greedy for money, this person will never treat his subordinates badly, saying that his greed for money is just a matter of performance if others don't know it."

Zu Yi (Pan Yizigzag) probably doesn't know An Yi's shrewdness, right? All the armies of our Northern Expedition know that An Yi has an amazing military understanding and innovation ability, and also knows that An Yi has his own set of unique and effective principles for selecting soldiers, and his requirements for the source of soldiers are several times stricter than that of any army, but many people have never delved into the purpose of his selection of soldiers.

As long as you carefully analyze the composition and combat effectiveness of An Yi's reading division today, you can see his uniqueness. Almost all of the soldiers he selected were veterans under the age of 24, who were physically strong, had no bad habits, and had actual combat experience; while carrying out uninterrupted political and ideological education, he supplemented them with adequate military salaries and combat rewards, and he did everything possible to promote and take care of those who had made meritorious contributions and those who had a basic cultural foundation, and were deeply loved by the officers and men.

It is said that An Yi himself will go down to the grassroots companies as long as he is free, receive training from those warrant officers and non-commissioned officers with ordinary non-commissioned officers, eat the same pot of rice with the soldiers, smoke inferior cigarettes with the soldiers, and greet the lower-level officers and soldiers, without any arrogance, so that everyone under his command is grateful, and they all work hard, even if they are recruits who have entered his command for a few days, a little integration can immediately exert great combat effectiveness, think about it, how many generals in my Northern Expeditionary Army can do this? ”

Bai Chongxi paused for a moment, and then said: "Stimulated by various rewards and punishments, An Yi's recruit company is more effective than the elite companies of many troops, and the military discipline is strict, fearless, and honors are more important than life, looking at the whole army, how many such troops can there be?"

Yesterday, at a military meeting convened by the Commander-in-Chief in Nanjing, an old friend of the General Staff Office privately revealed to me that He Jingzhi of the First Route Army on the Eastern Front sent a telegram to the Commander-in-Chief requesting that An Yi's headquarters be transferred to the First Route Army. The principal specially asked for my opinion during the recess, and I politely rejected it on the grounds that the Battle of Xuzhou was more important, which shows that An Yi's ability was finally recognized by the generals of the First Army, and this person is indeed a rare genius! ”

Zhang Dingfan nodded, pondered for a moment and whispered: "Brother Jing's First Route Army was blocked on the front line of Hai'an and could not advance, but from the perspective of the overall situation, there is no problem in conquering Hai'an, but it will take longer and the price will be greater."

Once the First Route Army successfully conquers Hai'an, Yancheng, which has no danger to defend, will not be able to block the superior forces of Brother Jing, but if it wants to occupy Huai'an to achieve the second phase of the combat purpose, it is necessary to conquer the surrounding Xinghua, Baoying, Jinhu, Hongze and other counties in advance, and the location of Xuyi County, which is dozens of kilometers west of Jinhu, is very critical, less than 70 kilometers away from Lai'an City, where An Yi's reading division is located. They would have to cooperate with the various units of the First Route Army, so their subordinates were very worried that Brother Jing would use this as a reason to call Commander-in-Chief Chiang again in order to achieve the purpose of transferring An Yi's Reading Division to the First Route Army to fight. ”

"Makes sense."

Bai Chongxi couldn't sit still when he heard this, stood up and slowly walked to the map with his hands behind his back, and after a careful inspection, he turned to Zhang Dingfan:

"Now that we have entered the rainy season in the Jianghuai region, the next battle will be more difficult, and the requirements for the speed of the troops' march will be higher and higher.

Before capturing Bengbu, An Yi's brave and fast maneuverability, powerful firepower configuration and high morale, etc., are all important to us, under various factors, the role of An Yi's reading division is comparable to that of any army.

In view of this, I intend to fulfill An Yi's request for war, and under the unified command of the headquarters, give An Yi the right to act at the opportunistic opportunity, and let him give full play to his own strengths on the basis of the battle around Bengbu.

I believe that with An Yi's outstanding command ability and endless stratagem, coupled with the strong combat effectiveness of the various divisions of the Reading Division, the ability to move quickly and unsteadily, and the strange fighting style that is unconventional, we will definitely be able to confuse the defending enemy front we are facing, make our opponents at a loss, and thus bring greater opportunities to our Second Route Army. What do you think of this opinion? ”

Zhang Dingfan and Pan Yizhi immediately understood another intention in Bai Chongxi's words - while giving An Yi such a relaxed environment, it would not only make An Yi grateful, but also let An Yi's division get farther and farther away from He Yingqin's First Route Army, and instead go all the way with the First Route Army commanded by Li Zongren in the west, which happened to fulfill General Li Zongren's wish to inspect An Yi at close range.

The two looked at each other and smiled, admiring Bai Chongxi's arrangement, and the shrewd and meticulous Zhang Dingfan asked: "After An Yishi goes west, which one is more suitable to transfer to Lai'an?" ”

Bai Chongxi looked at the map and replied confidently and unhurriedly: "Let Yang Gengguang (Yang Jie) lead his Sixth Army north to replace the current location of An Yi's Department, isn't Commander-in-Chief Jiang not at ease with the newly formed Sixth Army?" He would certainly be very happy to transfer the Sixth Army to the side of He Jingzhi, who was most reassuring to Commander-in-Chief Chiang, and He Jingzhi himself could not raise any objections. You must know that Yang Gengguang's Sixth Army is two divisions, and with the strength of two divisions, it is always much more than the number of An Yi's divisions, right? ”

Pan Yizhi and Zhang Dingfan laughed loudly, shouting in unison, Bai Chongxi nodded again and again with great satisfaction, and ordered Zhang Dingfan to telegraph this deployment to the general headquarters, and then returned to his seat to continue to study the battle situation.

The situation was exactly the same as Bai Chongxi's expectation, and Commander-in-Chief Jiang once again received a telegram from He Yingqin and Liu Zhi suggesting that An Yi's division be transferred to the First Route Army to fight together, and he also felt that he had really lacked consideration in appointing An Yi's Reading Division with Bai Chongxi's Second Route Army, after all, An Yi's division still belongs to the First Army sequence, and the opinions of the First Army generals and colonels must be taken into account in how it should be used.

Just when Commander-in-Chief Chiang was thinking about how to make adjustments, Bai Chongxi's telegram arrived in time, and after reading the telegram, Commander-in-Chief Chiang pondered for a moment, and felt that Bai Chongxi's suggestion was more in consideration of the overall situation. The position of Xuzhou in the mind of Commander-in-Chief Chiang is a hundred times more important than that of Suqian, Huai'an and other places, as long as Xuzhou, which is a place where soldiers must fight, Lunan and eastern Henan are in sight, and its great political significance, military significance, and social effects are incomparable to the capture of any place, and it will greatly boost the morale of the whole people, produce a huge psychological blow to the enemy, and give a strong response to the Wuhan political axe with brilliant achievements and practical actions.

Liu Zhi led the officers and men of the Second Division to attack the enemy on the north bank of the Qindong River for three days, and in three days, the four regiments under his command lost more than half of the battle, and the casualties of the five regiments and six regiments were not light.

What saddened Liu Zhi and Xu Tingyao the most was that Colonel Cai Guangqing, commander of the division's engineer battalion, was seriously injured when he rushed to build a pontoon bridge, and more than half of the 500 brothers in the engineer battalion were killed and wounded by artillery shells, and the entire engineer battalion was severely damaged by this and withdrew from the battle.

In the bunker of the left-wing headquarters, Liu Zhi held the telescope motionless and looked at it for more than half an hour, thinking that An Yi, who was full of tricks, was by his side, and he didn't know how to break the current deadlock?

Xu Tingyao, who was covered in traces of gunsmoke, returned to the command headquarters, walked to Liu Zhi's side and handed him a telegram: "The principal has called back, the Anyi Department has been transferred by Bai Jiansheng to the west of Lai'an to attack Jiashan County, and the two divisions of Yang Jie's Sixth Army are stationed in Lai'an. ”

Liu Zhi put down the binoculars and sighed helplessly: "How do you break the method?" The opponent's strength is more than twice that of our division, and it occupies the north bank with the Qindong River moat, and with the support of powerful artillery fire, it repeatedly repels the forced crossing initiated by the regiments of our division, and places observation posts all over the commanding heights on the north bank of the 30-kilometer river. ”

"It can only be carried out with the tactics of concentrating troops to break through a little, but in this way, the losses of our division will be extremely heavy, I have failed to negotiate with Chief He and others, General Zhou Fengqi did not give our division support on the grounds of heavy fighting in the middle of the road, and the 14th Army of General Lai Shihuang, as a reserve, has no intention of helping at all, and there is really no way." Xu Tingyao sighed helplessly.

Liu Zhi gritted his teeth and said angrily: "Don't ask Lai Shihuang, this person is the same enemy as me in the Jiangxi campaign after the Xinhai Revolution, he has not spoken to each other since he was annexed, even if he sees my division fighting to the last pawn, he will definitely not send a reinforcement." ”

Xu Tingyao shook her head and smiled bitterly, looked at the front of the gunsmoke position, and sighed involuntarily: "It would be nice if Xiao Yi was here, now that I think about it, I feel sorry for him......"

Liu Zhi was stunned for a moment, looked at Xu Tingyao, who had mixed feelings, and looked ahead, his face full of loss and remorse, but he couldn't say a word......

(To be continued)