An Yi's readers, who were marching in the barren mountains and wilderness, disappeared almost without the outside world knowing, and in addition to the contact between the four self-owned radio stations every two hours, the more than 8,000 readers were also cut off from the outside world.

On the way, An Yi contacted and reported to the general headquarters as agreed, and after receiving a brief call back from the headquarters, he set off again, not knowing what was happening in the outside world that shocked the whole country:

Yang Sen, a Sichuan warlord appointed by the Kuomintang as the commander of the 20th Army of the National Revolutionary Army, suddenly led his troops to attack western Hubei guarded by the Wuhan Political Axe Army, attempting to go down the river and finally attack Wuhan, which was full of red; Xia Douyin's division, which had already surrendered to the revolution, landed from Jiayu and attacked Wuchang at an incredible speed.

At the same time, Wuhan Zhengax formed the Wuchang Military Academy students into the first division of reading power, appointed Yun Daiying as the party representative and Shi Cuntong as the director of the political department, and together with Ye Ting's 24th Division, which was guarding Wuhan, to meet Xia Douyin's division approaching the outskirts of Wuchang.

Chiang Kai-shek, who was secretly watching all this, felt extremely satisfied when he saw that the two armies of Cheng Qian and Lu Diping had left eastern Hubei and that the direct threat of Nanjing had been temporarily lifted.

A series of unexpected events finally lit the fuse of the sword and gun encounter between Wuhan and Nanjing, and within a month, the vigorous Northern Expedition died halfway, and this huge change caused tens of thousands of revolutionary officers and soldiers to retreat in a hurry and return to Jiuquan under the pursuit of the Fengjun, Sun Jun and Zhilu allied forces.

An Yi didn't know anything about what was happening in the outside world, and he didn't have time to know, at this moment, in his eyes, nothing was as important as a small place - Nushanhu Town.

The defenders of a company in Nüshanhu Town were really pitiful in front of the elite under Ding Zhicheng, and the two squads of sentries at the Zhenxi outpost and the Zhennan Wharf had not yet figured out what was going on, so they were put on their heads by a pair of black and shiny shell guns, and squatted in two rows back to back very cooperatively, and immediately took off their khaki clothes and pants after explaining many matters in the town, and stayed honestly in the simple houses on the edge of the outpost, tremblingly took the cigarettes handed by the guards, lit the fire and answered the interrogations of the guards while snorting, Half an hour had passed, and all the prisoners had been brought together in the town's barracks, and all the captives had settled down.

Opposite the ferry port of Nüshan Lake Town is the lotus village that connects the Huai River, between the seventeen kilometers long and several kilometers wide Qili Lake in the south and the vast Nüshan Lake in the west, there is a 15 kilometers long waterway connected, and there is a six kilometers long and one kilometer wide waterway in the east to connect the Huai River, because of the flooding of the river once every few years, there are not many households in the lotus village surrounded by water on three sides and the low terrain, and a company of the Zhilu coalition army is stationed above the ferry of the lotus village, A motor-wheel ferry, which could carry 10 horse-drawn carriages at a time between the north and south ferries, was moored at the ferry port north of Nüshanhu Town, which greatly relieved Colonel Ding Zhicheng, the commander of the guard battalion, and more than 100 brothers of the 1st Squadron, who had quietly arrived in the clothes of the enemy—the north ferry port shrouded in morning fog on the other side of the 250-meter-wide waterway, and for some reason, there was not a single enemy who was on guard.

The boatmen who were woken up were very surprised to see more than 100 strange soldiers alive and vibrant, and under the persuasion of the brothers of the guard battalion one by one and the muzzles of the black holes, they quickly sent more than 100 special officers and men in disguise to the other side.

Perhaps it was the sound of the motor that woke the sentinels at the ferry post, and a-eyed fellow walked backwards to the smooth stone slab of the ferry with his spear on his back, glanced at the slowly approaching ferry, and fumbled for his way out, pulled out half a crumpled box of cigarettes, and smoked one and lit it.

When the ferry approached the solid stone ramp of the ferry, the sentry saw the many strange soldiers on the ship, and then he woke up, and was just about to untie the spear on his shoulder, a black dot flew like lightning, the sentry did not have time to shout half a sentence, the sharp arrow that pierced the wind had been inserted into his throat, "Boom-" A soft sound, the sharp conical arrow had drilled out of the socket of his neck, the sentry staggered two steps, fell to the ground, and the barrel of the rifle on his shoulder hit the stone slab with a crisp crashing sound.

"Up!"

Ding Zhicheng on the boat gave an order, and more than 100 brothers of the 1st Squadron flew off the boat under the stunned gaze of the six boatmen and the early fishermen on the wharf, and rushed like leopards to a courtyard more than 40 meters away from the ferry.

After only seven minutes, more than 80 disheveled defenders were escorted out of the courtyard and sent to the ferry.

"Next time you hurt yourself with a knife, Lao Tzu will send you to the cooking class to kill pigs!"

"My subordinates know it's wrong!"

The nineteen-year-old non-commissioned officer lowered his head in shame, saw Ding Zhicheng wave his hand, hurriedly saluted and ran to the dock with relief, stayed with the brothers of the first squadron, blocked the village, visited the villagers, and took over the task of guarding the enemy.

On the ferry boat that slowly drove to the south wharf, Ding Zhicheng stared at the stubborn enemy captain and company commander, and asked kindly: "Brother's surname is Ma, right?" ”

Although the tall and square-faced enemy company commander was barefoot and only wore a white cloth coat, he did not lose his self-esteem and majesty at all, the strong bronze muscles on his body bulged one by one due to excitement, his thick neck was straight, and a pair of hostile eyes under his thick eyebrows were wide open, and he met Ding Zhicheng's eyes that could not see any expression and asked:

"Which part are you from? Why did you attack us and kill more than 30 of my brothers? ”

Ding Zhicheng pointed to the military uniform on his body, and said flatly: "This is the clothes of one of your companions in Nanmian Town, brother, I just borrowed it to wear." My surname is Ding, and I am the colonel and battalion commander of the Reading Division of the First Army of the National Revolutionary Army. ”

The commander of the enemy horse company was taken aback, and the resentful look on his face turned into extreme shock: "A reading force division of the first army? Could it be that he is a reading teacher where the model camp is located? ”

"Dude's news is still very well-informed, not bad! It's the Reading Power Master under General An, and we came before dawn. There was not a single casualty among the brothers of your first company in the south, and the second company led by the elder brother reacted too quickly, in order to reduce the casualties, brother, I had to order a cruel attack on the rebels, how offended, please forgive me! Ding Zhicheng said politely, just as politely as he walked the rivers and lakes in the two years after his debut.

Company Commander Ma looked at the sky, shook his head and sighed: "It's not a shame to be planted in the hands of the reader, Lao Tzu confessed ......"

Ding Zhicheng didn't say anything more, and when the ferry docked, a group of guards was left to guard the water, and ordered the accompanying brothers to escort the prisoners to the military camp in the town.

Near noon, the first and second regiments led by Hu Jialin and Yang Bin quickly arrived, Xia Jian's first regiment did not make any stops, and directly took a ferry to Lotus Village on the opposite bank. The Second Regiment led by Chen Zhibiao was stationed in the town middle school and quickly blocked the road and wharf leading to the outside world, and the instructors of the model battalion took on the task of visiting and pacifying.

At six o'clock in the evening, the divisional units led by An Yi and Yin Jinan, the Reading Regiment, and Gu Changfeng's three regiments came one after another, and more than 8,000 brothers fell asleep after dinner to recharge their energy for the upcoming battle.

At five o'clock in the morning of the next day, the officers and men of a company in Taiping Town were still asleep, and they were infiltrated into the barracks by twice as many officers and men of the guard battalion as Ding Zhicheng and disarmed; Xia Jian's 1st Regiment and Chen Zhibiao's 2nd Regiment quickly passed through the town when it was dark, and pounced on Liuxiang, which was 12 kilometers to the north, and the Reading Force Regiment led by Lu Guang and the 3rd Regiment led by Gu Changfeng attacked Panjia Town, which was 6 kilometers to the northwest, and Ziyang Town, which was 11 kilometers to the west.

By 12 o'clock in the afternoon, all four regiments had successfully completed their scheduled tasks, rested briefly, and then drove the main force to Wuhe County, 24 kilometers to the east, south, and north of the city at almost the same time, and then launched a fierce blow to the panicked defenders, and the more than 1,000 defenders who were scattered only resisted for more than 20 minutes, and after paying the price of more than 400 dead and wounded, they left the ruined and low county town and fled for their lives in a panic to Bengbu in the west.

Gu Changfeng's 3rd Battalion, which was responsible for the attack on the northern front, gave full play to its rapid action and launched a fierce pursuit of the fleeing enemy, and after only 5 kilometers, it achieved the record of destroying more than 300 enemies and capturing more than 250 enemies.

Chen Zhibiao's 2nd Regiment poured into the city with the vigilance and cooperation of Xia Jian's 1st Regiment, ransacked the enemy's warehouse, the official palace compound in the city, the opium smoke house, and the county government, and used the captured more than 400 horses and more than 150 carts to quickly transport all the goods to Ping'an Town.

To An Yi's overjoy, Liuxiang, where Chen Zhibiao had successfully attacked, turned out to be a logistics transfer station for Zhang Zongchang's troops, and four 16-meter-long steamboats on the Huaihe wharf, under the escort of the brothers of the Second Regiment Engineer Company, loaded with captured ammunition and sailed down the river, stopped briefly in Ping'an Town, and immediately sailed downstream to Nushanhu Town. With the intense efforts of the officers and men of the Reading Division and the prisoners, all the piles of materials arrived at Nüshanhu Town, the bridgehead of the operation, in the morning of the next day.

It took a full morning for the brothers of the four companies of the teaching team led by Yin Jinan and Chen Kan to complete the inventory of all the seizures and report to An Yi, who had gathered together for a combat meeting, and when they reported to the commanders in the room, they were shocked by the generals in the room:

In this battle, more than 800 enemies were annihilated, more than 1,200 enemies were captured, and almost half of Zhang Yaoming's brigade in the Wuhekou area was wiped out; More than 930 machine guns and long and short guns, 250,000 rounds of ammunition, three cargo steamboats, more than 700 horses, 490,000 gold and silver jewelry, oceans and opium tobacco were seized, and 12 tons of explosives and detonator fuses were harvested; The division suffered 261 officers and men killed, 120 seriously wounded, and more than 320 lightly wounded.

This battle basically achieved the expected goal, caused great confusion and psychological panic in the enemy's rear, and played an important role in striking the enemy's morale and boosting the morale of all units of the Northern Expeditionary Army.

An Yi once again turned his gaze to the captured enemy documents and maps, and after some contemplation, he decisively ordered: the engineer battalions of each regiment immediately escorted the prisoners, transported the captured back to the rear of the Three Realms Town, and the rest of the troops rested in place, and the Reading Regiment and the First Regiment stationed at the North Ferry Port sent a reconnaissance team to be on strict alert, and the guard battalion took over the three steamboats, and recruited skilled boatmen to be on standby at any time.

Half an hour later, the battle report of the Reading Force Division flew to the general headquarters, and after Zhang Dingfan, chief of staff, finished reading the telegram, the full hall of generals who were holding an emergency combat meeting were extremely shocked.

Previously, most of the generals did not know the whereabouts of the reading division, and they were all stunned when they heard this good news, and they could hardly believe that An Yi's troops had traveled hundreds of kilometers in just two and a half days, and captured the enemy's Wuhe County, a key place in the depths of the enemy, and achieved the record of destroying more than 800 enemies and capturing more than 1,200 enemies, and then retreated to Nushanhu Town, which is surrounded by water on three sides and easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Bai Chongxi stood up with emotion and said solemnly: "You don't need to be surprised, I fully believe in the achievements of General An Yi, and I can also imagine the way in which the Reading Division comes and goes like the wind. I dare to assert that even greater achievements are yet to come......"

(To be continued)