The atmosphere in the conference room of the general headquarters in Gao'an City was warm, and the good news just sent from Wuhan made Commander-in-Chief Chiang and all the generals and commanders very excited: Under the leadership of General Deng Yanda, the commander-in-chief of the siege, 100,000 officers and men of the Fourth and Seventh Armies finally broke through Wuchang City on 10 October and captured more than 12,000 stubborn enemies under the enemy generals Liu Yuchun and Chen Jiamo. At this point, the Northern Expeditionary Army basically wiped out the main force of the direct warlord Wu Peifu and achieved the major goal of occupying the "two lakes".

Rejoicing, the eyes of the generals were all focused on Nanchang City, although the generals have their own thoughts, feelings are different, but one thing is very consistent, that is, the good news sent by Wuhan is a driving force is also a heavy pressure, everyone knows very well that only by laying down Nanchang as soon as possible can we establish prestige, in order to be eligible to enjoy the benefits that the "founding heroes" deserve.

General Chiang Kai-shek, commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army, was in a complicated mood and had mixed feelings, and he was extremely excited by the good news of the occupation of Wuchang, but the ensuing telegram of discussion on "moving the capital to Wuhan" made him anxious and uneasy.

At the Central Committee meeting before the expedition, Chiang Kai-shek also agreed with the decision to move the capital to Wuhan after completing the objectives of the first phase of the Northern Expedition, but under the current circumstances, it was really difficult for him to decide to move the capital.

The most typical representative of which is General Tang Shengzhi, who was initially defeated by the direct army and joined the revolution under the brutal pressure of survival, his ranks have swelled sharply from more than 7,000 to more than 65,000, and they are still expanding; Another example is the Fourth Army of Zhang Fakui's Division, which was gradually dyed red, and the two divisions that went out of Guangdong at the beginning of the Northern Expedition have now rapidly grown to more than 40,000 people, and the two divisions remaining in Guangzhou have also grown to an unprecedented scale of more than 25,000 troops in four divisions and two regiments...... Another important reason is that from sending troops to Hunan to Wuchang and then to today's Jianguichang, Chiang Kai-shek commanded the officers and men of all armies to go forward and continue to advance, but every time the soldiers of the various armies threw their heads and shed their blood to fight in a place, and the dust was not washed and they had just left for another front battlefield, Tang Shengzhi's headquarters and various political groups deeply influenced by external forces came in a big stride, raised the banner of revolution and set up local political axes on their own, set up officials on their own, established armed regimes, and took charge of all military and civilian affairs. The bizarre phenomenon of the predecessors planting trees and the later picking peaches has aroused the dissatisfaction and anger of the various combat units at the front, and if they are allowed to develop, there will be an irreparable split among the combat units that have lost their interests, and the magnificent feat of the Northern Expedition, which they swore before setting out on the expedition, will be abandoned halfway.

At this time, Chiang Kai-shek, who was watching and listening to all directions, knew very well that the troops that really belonged to him were only more than 30,000 people, and if it were not for the fact that he had decisively appointed He Yingqin, the commander of the First Army, as the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Route Army of the Northern Expedition, and led the three divisions of the First Army out of northern Guangdong to win victories one by one, only with the more than 10,000 people of the first and second divisions he currently has, he was too weak and did not have enough strength to win the championship at all, especially the Nanchang fiasco of his henchman Wang Bailing half a month ago, and almost the quality of the officers and soldiers was excellent. The well-equipped First Division, which had grown to nearly 10,000 people, was wiped out, and the remaining 5,000 officers and men were still licking their wounds, while replenishing and working hard with hatred, and now only the Second Division led by Liu Zhi, who was honest and loyal, could be called dependent, and it was precisely with the Second Division's battles of Shangfu and Fengxin and other victories that Chiang Kai-shek's anxious and heavy heart was greatly comforted.

At the meeting, the generals of all walks of life were full of enthusiasm and confidence, and they were already discussing the battle plan of forcibly crossing the Ganjiang River to besiege Nanchang City. General Bai Chongxi, deputy chief of the general staff, who had only returned to the Gao'an General Headquarters from Wuchang City the night before, had a calm face and was as calm and confident as ever.

Bai Chongxi, who was thirty-three years old, sat next to Commander-in-Chief Chiang, he had extraordinary command ability and military talent to strategize and win a thousand miles, but he couldn't see much from Commander-in-Chief Chiang's unsmiling calm face, but Bai Chongxi could feel the urgency of the commander-in-chief to attack Nanchang, and knew that the current situation had forced the commander-in-chief to make a decision, and after Wuchang was attacked by Tang Shengzhi, Zhang Fakui and others, even the most lame politicians knew who the huge reputation was creating powerful political capital for.

Therefore, Bai Chongxi did not urge the commander-in-chief to make a decision immediately, but calmly listened to the various strategies of the participating generals, and easily judged their merits, he knew that the commander-in-chief made a decision sooner or later, and it was today.

Although Bai Chongxi knew that this battle was really a siege against the water, and he had committed the taboo of soldiers, and it was likely that the gains outweighed the losses and even the loss of the soldiers, and there were many means to choose from to achieve the greatest results at the lowest cost, for which he had formulated several sets of battle plans and plans, but in such an atmosphere, he was reluctant to say this. Many of the people present here are not only older than him in qualifications, but also have greater power than him, and all of them are full of confidence and are determined to win, and from a political and military point of view, it is also imperative to attack Nanchang, and Bai Chongxi does not want to leave a bad impression of arrogance at such a time.

More than ten minutes passed, the venue gradually quieted down, and all the generals looked at Commander-in-Chief Jiang, who had not spoken, and waited for an order to rush to the battlefield.

The commander-in-chief slowly glanced around, and said calmly in his inherent calm and unhurried manner: "Your opinions are very good, the good news of Wuchang is inspiring, the morale of our officers and men is greatly encouraged, plus the former General Delin's Seventh Army conquered De'an after a hard battle, cut off the Nanxun line and divided the enemy army in one fell swoop, and our second division went deep into the tiger's den to capture the enemy's two generals of the excellent record, Nanchang and its surrounding enemies were hit one after another, morale was sluggish, and the morale of the army was fluctuating, and our Second Army was also under the leadership of General Lu Yong'an (Lu Diping), Yesterday afternoon, he captured Fengcheng and threatened the southern line of Nanchang, and at this moment he has arrived in Gao'an. Therefore, it was the right time to attack Nanchang. Now, I would like to invite General Kensheng, deputy chief of the General Staff, to brief you on a series of plans drawn up by the General Headquarters, which will be implemented as soon as they are decided. ”

It only took Bai Chongxi half an hour to unify the various ideas of the three army generals who were arguing endlessly into his battle plan, and easily let the generals take the order happily and convincingly: Ming said that the armies would force the Gan River from three directions, and the third army would occupy the Niuhang station north of Nanchang to prevent the enemy from moving south for reinforcements; The Second Army and the First Division of the First Army served as the main forces for the siege. Bai Chongxi continued in his familiar role - the former commander-in-chief of the enemy.

The generals dispersed, Bai Chongxi put away the documents, thought about it and asked Commander-in-Chief Jiang who put down the water cup in a low voice: "Jiegong, my subordinates inspected the combat readiness of various armies yesterday, and passed by the west of the city to see the actual combat training of the engineers of the model battalion of the second division, and felt that the four engineer companies of the model battalion were very good, and their technical ability and command level were far above the engineers of the army. The pontoon bridge of more than 60 meters can be completed in five hours, and the subordinate Xingzhi went to the bridge to inspect it, and found that the pontoon bridge was strong enough for horse-drawn artillery to pass safely, and this speed and quality were amazing.

The subordinates couldn't help but think of the many past events of An Yi, the commander of the battalion, as well as a series of outstanding achievements since the Northern Expedition, especially the Fengxin War, which caused the officers and men of our Northern Expeditionary Army to be deeply surprised by the strong combat strength of this model battalion mainly composed of engineers. When his subordinates were in Wuhan to guide the deployment of the siege, they had already heard the outstanding performance of the battalion, and the generals of the various armies praised each other, especially General Liu Wendao and General Ye Qi of the Eighth Army, and the generals Zhang Fakui, Huang Qixiang, and Ye Ting of the Fourth Army, who were being expanded, were full of praise for An Yi. ”

Commander-in-Chief Jiang was very proud in his heart, but his face was indifferent: "This An Yi, Jiansheng has seen it, in mid-April, I invited you to Huangpu to give lectures and inspect, and observe the training of the engineering department together on the training ground, I remember that you shook hands with An Yi, who was the acting district captain at that time." ”

Bai Chongxi smiled slightly: "The subordinates still remember it vividly, at that time I felt that An Yi was frank and straightforward, and he was polite, but I didn't expect him to be a tiger general when he started the battle, and the Northern Expeditionary Army is still reciting An Yidang's deeds of single-handedly, braving the rain of bullets and rushing under the Wuchang city wall, shooting two accurate shots to kill the enemy machine gunner and exploding a huge gasoline barrel, causing the defender's city wall to be covered by fire within a radius of 100 meters, so that the two hundred soldiers of the second division successfully got out of trouble." In the early days of the Northern Expedition, he traveled to Changsha, and the anecdote of his confrontation with a regiment commander of the Eighth Army for his soldiers has been widely circulated so far, and people can't help but have endless aftertastes. Hu Zongduo, the brigade commander of the Seventh Army, who served as the main force of the siege of Wuchang, once revealed to his subordinates that when the model battalion assisted him in making the siege ladder, he reminded him to guard against the artillery attack of enemy ships on the river. ”

Commander-in-Chief Jiang nodded: "Hehe! This An Yi is good, and he still has a certain future for development. Maybe you have also heard that Jing Yanzong, the commander of the mixed brigade of the enemy army, and Zhou Huayuan, the chief of staff, who were guarding the southwest section of the river in Nanchang City, were also captured by An Yi's model battalion, and I was also surprised at the time, this bold An Yi dared to do this, it was completely the result of a bet with his boss Jiang Mingsan and Xu Yuexiang, and on the night of the arrest, he took the bet note and brought two pack horses to find three bosses to ask for the ocean, Jiang Mingsan was distressed, but had to pay An Yi a total of 15,000 yuan, I heard that this guy got the money and challenged with a hippie smile, hoping to continue gambling when he hit Nanchang, and his three bosses were so angry that they couldn't speak, hehe! ”

Bai Chongxi laughed, and then suggested to the smiling Commander-in-Chief Jiang: "Jiegong, my subordinates have occasionally heard Brother Jingfu talk about interesting stories about the grassroots officers and soldiers of the model battalion, saying that as long as they have time, they will build a sand table to carry out war deductions, and every time An Yi sits in the village and serves as the president, no matter which side wins or loses, he will pump half of the water to ensure the harvest in drought and flood, haha!" The subordinates estimated that the attack on Nanchang was imminent, and they would not be idle, if Jie Gong had time, how about going to the model camp of the General Temple together? The subordinates also wanted to take the opportunity to see the preparations of the model battalion, after all, the site selection and construction of the two large pontoon bridges were very huge, and the burden on the model battalion was not light! ”

Commander-in-Chief Jiang, who had made a decision to let go of a big matter, laughed and readily agreed, and happily walked out of the spacious conference room side by side with Bai Chongxi.

(To be continued)