"Nanjing is only a few dozen kilometers away from Zhenjiang, if there is something, the younger brother can rush back on the same day, the reason why he came so rashly, there is indeed a last resort! The reason is this, we detected Sun Chuanfang's annihilation ...... placed in Zhenjiang City" An Yi went through his plans in detail.

After listening to An Yi's statement, where did he remember to blame An Yi, he knew what An Yi's secret battle plan meant, Wuhan took the lead in holding a large-scale Northern Expedition oath five days ago, and slowly drove out the troops of the Northern Expedition three days ago, and has now reached the Xiaogan line in northern Hubei Province, so that President Jiang became very passive, and was violently attacked by the public opinion of the Wuhan side for three consecutive days on the counter-revolutionary Chiang Kai-shek's zealous separatism and infighting. The Nanjing political axe, which criticized Chiang Kai-shek, had already left Mr. Zhongshan's legacy and the great cause of the Northern Expedition behind, and the commander-in-chief Chiang was busy mobilizing Zhu Peide's Third Army and Cheng Qian's Sixth Army to march northward, and all units of the First Army stationed around Shanghai were also about to drive to Nanjing to cross the river to the north, and secretly ordered Liu Zhi's Second Division, Gu Zhutong's Third Division, and other units to be ready for battle, cross the river at any time, and respond to the accusations and attacks of the Wuhan political axe with practical actions.

Now that An Yi has arrived in time and offered such a subtle strategy, it can bring great help to Commander-in-Chief Chiang, who urgently needs to show his firm belief in the Northern Expedition with practical actions, and if this battle is fought well, he will definitely be able to use this great military exploit to plug the mouth of the Wuhan side, establish a lofty revolutionary image for Commander-in-Chief Chiang, and reverse the passive political situation in one fell swoop.

If An Yi led his troops to succeed in one blow, it would mean that the entire defense line of the Sun Army in Jiangbei would be torn apart, which would not only greatly damage the morale of the Sun Army, but also make Zhang Xueliang and Zhang Zongchang, who were stationed on the front line of Bengbu and northern Jiangsu, unable to determine the main direction of the Northern Expeditionary Army, and were likely to retreat to the line from northern Anhui to southern Lunan in panic, so as to win a large-scale strategic depth advantage for the various units of the Eastern Route Northern Expeditionary Army under the command of Commander-in-Chief Jiang.

An Yi was very aware of the possible military impact of his actions, but he did not expect the political factors at all, and when he saw Yu Ji so happy, his hope could not help but increase greatly, and he was even more determined to persuade President Jiang to strongly support him in this battle.

The car drove into the former commander-in-chief of the allied forces of the five provinces on the Yangtze River Road, entered the tall courtyard gate, passed through strict road guards, and drove until it stopped in front of the gate of the commander-in-chief of Xiyuan in the depths.

An Yi saw the chief guard Wang Shihe standing on the steps of the door with a smile, and as soon as the car stopped, he immediately got out of the door and saluted:

"Senior brother, it's been a long time!"

"Come on, Xiao Yi, what are you doing with so many courtesies? I didn't send a telegram before I came, really...... Liangzhen (Yu Jishi), take Xiao Yi in, the principal has rushed back from meeting with the American guests, and is now waiting for his arrival in the study of the East Hall. ”

Wang Shihe lightly knocked An Yi's punch, heard the muffled thunder in the sky, looked up, and hurriedly said to An Yi: "I'm afraid it's going to rain, and the rain won't be light when you see the sky, I have to look around, you go in quickly and don't let the principal wait, we'll talk when you come out." ”

An Yi nodded, followed Yu Jishi and strode in, through the wide hall through the open aisle, to the east hall to stand and wait.

After Yu Jishi finished the report, he motioned An Yi to hurry in, An Yi walked into the door of the study with standard steps, came to the desk and saluted and reported loudly:

"Principal, student An Yi took the liberty to ask to see him, and I implore the principal to punish him!"

Principal Jiang put down the document, raised his head and smiled slightly: "Have you eaten?" ”

"Senior Brother Yu arrived halfway through the meal, and the students didn't dare to slack off and came immediately, Principal Xie cared!" An Yi stood up straight, but there was a bright smile on his face.

Chiang Kai-shek suddenly felt a lot more comfortable when he saw the long-lost smile of his beloved general, pointed to the chair next to An Yi and said kindly: "Sit down...... What is the urgent military situation that made you come in a hurry? ”

An Yi did not take a seat, but quickly took out the carefully formulated battle plan from the briefcase on his waist and presented it with both hands:

"Principal, the students have seen the fighter plane, and they want to cross the Jiangbei to clean up the new second brigade of Sun Chuanfang's department, and the major general of the new second brigade, Nie Mingshan, dares to brag about the "declaration" and "The Times" that his defense line is impregnable, and the grandson also shouted that the combat effectiveness of the department has increased unprecedentedly and the morale is high, as long as they Sun Dashuai gives an order, he will regain Zhenjiang City, where the students are stationed, with an indomitable momentum, and the students will be so demoralized that they will go up and down, and they will surround the students every day to ask for battle."

When Principal Jiang heard An Yi's witty words, he couldn't help but smile, took An Yi's plan and opened it with interest, and immediately stood up and ordered loudly after reading two pages:

"When it comes to helping, I will immediately invite Director Ge Jingen, Deputy Director Yin Zusheng, Section Chief Chen Lifu of the Confidential Section, and Director Miao Bin of the Manager Department!"

"Yes!"

Yu Jishi opened the door and turned to the next door to make a call.

Principal Jiang walked to An Yi's side, put the plan on the table, and asked about the key points one by one, covering An Yi's current troop layout, the scope of the defense area, artillery positions and observation posts, etc., An Yi answered seriously one by one, and reported in detail the width of the river, the distribution of wharves, the hills and estuaries and other important places within 20 kilometers of the upper and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in the north of Zhenjiang City.

Seeing the arrival of Chief of Staff Ge Jingen and others one after another, President Jiang kindly motioned for everyone to sit down at will, and then briefly told everyone the content of An Yi's battle plan.

As soon as everyone heard this, they all came to the spirit, Chen Lifu and Miao Bin, who were familiar with An Yi, greeted An Yi with a smile, Chen Lifu also introduced Yin Zusheng, the deputy director of the staff office that An Yi had never seen, to An Yi, An Yi saluted very politely, and when it was the turn of the original old boss Miao Bin, director of the Political Department of the First Army, although An Yi's face was happy, but he couldn't figure out how Minister Miao, who fled without a trace with Deputy Army Commander Wang Bailing in the Nanchang rout last year, suddenly came back and also took the position of the director of the vital manager's department. Miao Bin pulled An Yi to sit beside him with great enthusiasm, asking for warmth, extremely affectionate, and An Yi also talked happily.

Ge Jingen, the thirty-eight-year-old chief of staff, took the battle plan handed over by Commander-in-Chief Jiang and read it, looked at An Yi in shock, and nodded frequently:

"Sure enough, it's a tiger general with both wisdom and bravery! Commander-in-chief, his subordinates appreciate this plan very much, and also think that it is indeed feasible, especially when our Eastern Route Army is about to launch a three-way northward march, if it can be successfully implemented, the significance is extraordinary! It's just that his subordinates have two questions, hoping to get an explanation from General An Yi. ”

"Just ask."

Commander-in-Chief Jiang had already returned to his seat, nodded solemnly and calmly, seeing that An Yi had already stood up in advance and was waiting for the inquiry very respectfully, his love and respect for An Yi had reached a higher level, he quietly looked at An Yi's tanned face and resolute demeanor, and suddenly felt that An Yi had matured and become more confident.

Ge Jingen, whose ancestral home is Jiaxing, graduated from Zhejiang Jiangwutang at the age of 17, served as a grassroots officer in the Zhejiang Army of Beiyang Political Axe for eight years, and then was admitted to the Army University, the highest military academy, and stayed in school to teach for two years after graduation, and then was selected by Beiyang Political Axe to study at the Army University, graduated and returned to China six years ago, served as the chief of staff of the First Division of the Zhejiang Army, and was appointed as the chief of staff of the General Headquarters of the National Revolutionary Army after the Righteous Revolution, with rich practical combat experience and command experience.

At this moment, Ge Jingen silently stared at An Yi standing majestically in front of him, knowing that the names of several Zhejiang army colleagues were folded in the hands of the young major general in front of him.

"I would like to ask General An Yi two questions: first, what is the route and time of the stealth route in General An's planned left detour? Second, with the strength of General An's headquarters, if General An successfully eliminated the enemy's headquarters in Yangzhou City, how large would he be to turn around and annihilate the enemy's three regiments on the north bank? ”

An Yi admired the shrewd officer in front of him, who was not tall and ordinary-looking, but asked the key points one by one, and hesitated slightly, but still reported in detail that he did not include in the plan:

"Report to the chief, the detour on the left road has already walked back and forth four times, and it is very concealed and convenient to cross the river from the seven ferry area ten kilometers upstream, and it can be carried out by ordinary sampans.

The total length of the circuitous route is about 36 kilometers, and it takes about seven hours based on the weight of 15 kilograms of ammunition for the officers and men of our army, and about 5 hours and 40 minutes at the speed of the officers and men of the guard company with good physical fitness. The enemy headquarters in Yangzhou City had two battalions of guard strength, one of which was an engineer battalion, which was stationed on the west bank of Anle Bridge, nine kilometers east of the city, and a company of the engineer battalion was stationed at Yinqiao, four kilometers from the mouth of the canal, for a long time to cooperate with the rapid movement of enemy artillery. ”

"Intelligence is very efficient, go on." Ge Jingen said kindly.

An Yi nodded: "If the attack on the enemy's headquarters fails, all the officers and soldiers of our army who sneaked out of the river and crossed the river will return immediately." If it goes well, our regiment will make a detour ahead of time to the strength of a battalion behind the enemy's 1st regiment, and will seize four 30-meter-high dirt slopes behind the enemy's position, and attack the enemy's regiment with mortar and machine-gun fire more than twice as high as the defending enemy's fire.

At the same time, our artillery battalion, which has already moved forward three kilometers, will block the three bridges on the canal with artillery fire and cut off the support road of the 3rd Regiment located in the middle of the enemy's battle line; as for the enemy's 2nd Regiment facing the Jiaoshan position on our army's right flank, he wants to escape from the 4th Battalion of our regiment and immediately cross the river to pursue it; if he moves closer to the middle road, our 4th and 3rd Battalions will cross the river at the same time, and attack the model battalion from east to west, so as to press the enemy on the flat line on the east bank of the canal, and it will not be impossible to completely annihilate the enemy troops.

The enemy's new 2nd Brigade had only 6,000 officers and men, while our Reading Force Regiment had more than 6,800 officers and men, and the boats for crossing the river were provided by the shipyard owner who had been planted by the enemy in Zhenjiang City. ”

Ge Jingen nodded: "If your artillery battalion is discovered on the move, and the enemy uses artillery fire to strike, can your model battalion successfully cross the Jiangbei and seize the favorable terrain on the west bank of the canal while taking advantage of the chaos?" ”

"Report to the commander, as long as the guard company of our regiment succeeds in attacking Yangzhou, the enemy's artillery battalion will no longer exist, because the strength of our regiment's guard company is now not only one company, but also the number of reconnaissance platoons of each battalion has exceeded four hundred and fifty people, which is equivalent to a battalion of normal establishment, and the teaching team composed of mortar company, machine gun company and non-commissioned officers of two companies under the regiment will also add up to more than six hundred and fifty people, and they will continue to cross the river behind the model battalion, and strive to annihilate the enemy regiment in the shortest possible time together with the first battalion. Afterwards, we were on guard against possible reinforcements from the enemy, and we endeavoured to end the battle within three hours, and then withdrew to the south bank to maintain the standoff. Because our troops are really limited, we can't defend Yangzhou City, which is facing the enemy on three sides, so we can only make some cheap and retreat. An Yi admires Ge Jingen's meticulousness very much.

Commander-in-Chief Jiang saw Ge Jingen's puzzled look, and calmly helped An Yi to add: "Zhanhou (Ge Jingen), the guard company of An Yi's regiment is not ordinary, it is an elite team that is good at concealing and stealth, and they have performed well in several major battles in Zhejiang, Kuntai Campaign, which can be assured." ”

Ge Jingen nodded, turned to the map opened by Yin Zu Rope to take a closer look, raised his head and asked An Yi again: "How do you need the headquarters to help you?" ”

An Yi replied: "We only need to transfer the 2nd, 1st and 21st Divisions of our First Army to the line of Jiangyin City Ferry downstream, and transfer the 3rd Division stationed in Changzhou and the 22nd Division stationed in Wuxi to Jinchang Ferry South of Taizhou with great fanfare, and then it doesn't matter how they are deployed." ”

"What a plan! I personally agree with this plan and am ready to assist the Ministry in its operations. ”

Ge Jingen finally expressed his attitude, but there was one thing he didn't say, that is, even if An Yi failed to achieve the expected goal in this battle, it would not affect the overall situation, whether he won or lost, it could become the political propaganda capital of Nanjing's political axe, because although Wuhan took the lead in the expedition, it was still far away from the enemy and full of speed, as long as An Yi's side fought, it would be completely different in the eyes of the Chinese people; At the same time, it can also direct the attention of the enemy army to the front line of Zhenjiang, and create more favorable conditions for Li Zongren's troops on the left flank of the east road, the middle road led by Commander-in-Chief Chiang, and the right flank army led by He Yingqin and Bai Chongxi to cross the river and go north.

Commander-in-Chief Jiang asked for the opinions of several other people, and was very happy to see that everyone agreed on An Yi's plan, and he looked at An Yi's eyes with an unconcealable affection: "An Yi, when do you plan to start the operation?" ”

An Yi glanced at the drizzling rain outside the window, and replied respectfully: "If the principal allows it, the students plan to start the operation at eight o'clock tonight." ”

"What? So fast? ”

The crowd exclaimed in unison.

An Yi explained: "Seeing that this rain will fall at least until the evening, even if it stops tonight, the Zhenjiang area will be misty due to the sudden temperature difference, which is a weather condition that has often occurred in recent times, and it is the foggy and rainy season in the Zhenjiang area, which is very suitable for our lightning rush operation." It is a pity that the friendly forces on the front line of Nanjing Pukou cannot cross the river to cooperate, otherwise the defending enemy of Yizheng will have no way to escape, and we can obtain greater results more safely. ”

Commander-in-Chief Chiang pondered for a moment and stood up: "Very good! I immediately ordered all divisions of the First Army to follow your request to create the false impression that they were about to launch a river crossing on a large scale in the downstream areas, and also ordered the two artillery regiments of Cai Zhonghu's division stationed in Xiaguan and the 18th division of Cheng Qian stationed in Qixia Mountain to jointly strike at the enemy of Yizheng when you see fit. You immediately return to Zhenjiang to command the overall situation, let Lifu go back with you, arrest the shipyard owner surnamed Jiang, and the Jianxi in the city, and escort them back to Nanjing for public trial! ”

"Yes!"

An Yi replied loudly, and then frowned and made a request: "Headmaster, the students have been engaged in artillery battles, there are many wounded, there is a shortage of medicines, mortar shells and artillery shells are almost exhausted, this time I ...... coming."

Principal Jiang smiled knowingly, and waved his hand to interrupt An Yi's words: "Go back first, come to see me as soon as the battle is over, if you have any requirements at that time, just put forward them, and I will let Miao Bin and Jishi solve them for you in terms of materials!" ”

"Principal Xie!" An Yi happily stood up and saluted.

Ge Jingen came up and told An Yi kindly that he would temporarily send two radio masters back to Zhenjiang with An Yi to use another set of encrypted codes for 24-hour uninterrupted contact.

An Yi gratefully took the note and whispered his thanks, saluted President Jiang respectfully, and then saluted and said goodbye to everyone.

Walking out of the door, Wang Shihe was very sorry, and learned that An Yi would come back soon after the battle to get together, which was much easier, and he told An Yi that Zeng Guangqing was likely to come back from a business trip in the past two days, and the brothers would get together again when the time came.

Yu Jishi still enthusiastically sent An Yi back to the Grand Mansion Hotel, and asked for his best along the way, which made An Yi grateful, and left most of the attachés who came with him today in Nanjing to ask for care, and Yu Jishi agreed without hesitation.

Entering the building, the banquet had already dispersed, An Yi went up to the room to urgently convene a meeting of the brothers, Lao Dao and others heard that An Yi was going to return immediately, and they couldn't help but be surprised. Gu Changfeng, Xia Jian, and Chen Zhibiao knew that there was a battle to be fought, and their eyes lit up with excitement, and Lao Dao also guessed that something was unusual from An Yi's demeanor, and immediately decided to return to Zhenjiang with An Yi and others, leaving the logistics unit and Ding Molan, Qiu Mingxuan and others to do procurement services, and ordered Huang Yingwu and the recruiting guards who came with him to be responsible for the overall security.

Everyone simply packed up and went downstairs, and as soon as they started the car, they saw Chen Lifu leading two cars in, and everyone got into the car and rushed to Zhenjiang after a little discussion.

An Yi drove the car out of Nanjing City for a few kilometers, and Lao Daocai told An Yi without being salty:

Lin Xudong was interesting enough, and gave the three junior brothers of Xiaojiu to An Yi as personal guards, and he also selected fifteen lay disciples to give to An Yi under the seat of the Jiangxi Daomen senior brothers, and these eighteen people have completed all the formalities at the recruitment office of Lao Nanchang, the lowest rank warrant officer, the highest rank of second lieutenant, and they will follow An Yi in this life, and they can use their own people with confidence......

(To be continued)