More than 16,000 officers and men of the Seventh Army fought a decisive battle with the enemy's two main divisions Liu Fengtu and Bi Huadong and a cavalry regiment on the front line of Wangjiapu under the condition of lack of provisions, and after seven hours of fierce fighting between the two sides, Wang Jun, acting commander of the first division of the First Army stationed in Fengxin for recuperation, led the main force of the two regiments to gallop to Baishui to help, flanking the enemy from the flank and rear, annihilating more than 4,000 enemy troops, and seizing a large number of guns and ammunition, mortars, heavy machine guns and a large number of military supplies. The three brigades of the Seventh Army rose up to catch up, and the remnants of the enemy were kept in Ruichang before stopping.

The Seventh Army entered Jiangxi and won three battles and three victories, and the military prestige was greatly boosted, and congratulatory telegrams from the General Headquarters and the rear political axes flew like snowflakes, and General Li Zongren's heroic name once again shook the whole country.

Lu Shouqi, commander of the Ninth Regiment, Lu Yanxin, commander of the Second Regiment, and Wu Tieying, captain of the machine gun brigade, fought a bloody battle, and one-third of the officers of the company platoon of the whole army suffered casualties, including more than 70 graduates of the fourth phase of Whampoa who went to the Seventh Army to serve as trainee officers.

After the rest, the First Division of the First Army regained its confidence because of the test of the First Battle of Wangjiapu, and Commander-in-Chief Chiang was very pleased to hear the news, and sent commendation telegrams to the Seventh Army and the First Division respectively to encourage them. At the same time, the Sixth Army, which had completed its recuperation, was ordered to approach the Seventh Army and respond to each other, and ordered General He Yaozu's Second Division of Reading Power to go to Wangjiapu, and the wings were replenishing the resting Seventh Army.

At this point, both sides were exhausted and unable to follow, and at the same time fell into a state of truce and confrontation. At the same time, the General Headquarters of the National Revolutionary Army in Gao'an City was busy, and a huge "Plan for Purging Jiangxi" was being formulated day and night.

After lunch, the military camp of the General Temple, a few miles north of Gao'an City, was bustling with activity, and more than 1,600 recruits from Gao'an, Shanggao, Yifeng, Zhangshu, and even Fengcheng County, which had been reoccupied by the enemy, were divided into a team of 100 people and ran around the camp under the cheers and shouts of nearly 1,000 veterans.

These recruits, who had just entered the barracks for one to five days, ran out of breath one by one, their feet floating, and they managed to cross the uneven and obstacle-ridden camp road three times, and ran a total of five kilometers like ducks before they could stop.

The 30 men who ran in front of each team were quickly taken back to their respective barracks by the supervisors of the 2nd and 3rd Battalions, and they were called to register and pay the military pay of the month, and when they were finished, they happily received belts, rifles, and badges symbolizing regular soldiers, and this group of outstanding recruits with a total of 480 people became the men and horses of the An Yi Regiment. The 70 recruits running behind drank water and rested under the warm hospitality of the officers and men of the first battalion, and the recruits and veterans chatted with each other and joked and cheered continuously. By the time all the recruits had completed their physical fitness tests, it was already four o'clock in the afternoon, and the rice and pickled pork stew that had just been eaten in their stomachs at noon were gone.

The more than 1,150 recruits gathered under the high platform did not know what was going on, so a group of non-commissioned officers of the regimental training team were divided into 10 squares and stood in the high and low barracks, listening to these veteran non-commissioned officers with shell guns on their waists and machine guns on their shoulders reading out the military discipline aloud. Hu Zi and the others on the high platform proudly said that one hundred and fifteen people in each square team can basically be counted as one company, and the recruitment results of these ten companies are not bad, and it is recommended that each battalion be given heavy rewards.

An Yi sat on the wide chair specially made for him by the brothers, looking at the teams in the audience, smiling from ear to ear, and the commanders of the battalions squatting or standing around him, pointing and laughing from time to time.

On the small stool beside An Yi sat a young lieutenant with a thin and pale face, holding a pen in his left hand, holding the notebook on his knee with his right hand and recording nervously, there was no trace of a smile on his rather delicate face, a pair of eyes with a touch of melancholy but extremely focused eyes staring at every word written in the notebook, his right hand only had his thumb and index finger left, and half of his palm seemed to be neatly cut off, but he did not deliberately hide his flaws, but used the remaining thumb and index finger to hold the wide notebook steadily. When he was captured by An Yi's model battalion in the Battle of Heshengqiao and joined the model battalion together, An Yi kept his promise to put him and the 26 wounded soldiers who returned to Shun at the same time, put on the uniform of the revolutionary army and sent him to the field hospital of the General Headquarters in Xianning, where he was treated with more than 100 model battalion brothers who were wounded before and after the battle of Tingsi Bridge.

Like the more than 100 brothers who have recovered from their injuries or have not yet recovered, Shi Lejun kept his promise and returned to An Yi's model camp.

To the great touch, the returning brothers were greeted warmly by the brothers as soon as they entered the camp of the General Temple, and all of them received new badges for promotion to the first rank, as well as a lot of military pay and subsidies during the period of recuperation. More than 100 brothers stood on the high platform in front of the temple and saluted An Yi, who was still injured and half lying on a chair basking in the sun, each with a sore nose and tears of gratitude in his eyes.

Shi Lejun finally became An Yi's lieutenant quartermaster and clerk, and the veterans who had been waiting for half a bucket of water for a long time were finally able to get rid of the increasingly heavy work of munitions statistics and accounting, and were very polite and caring to the newcomer Shi Lejun, and admired his rich knowledge, fast and accurate calculations, and high level of familiarity with military resources and military supplies.

At this moment, according to An Yi's instructions, Shi Lejun is recording and calculating how many clothes, shoes, hats, military blankets, quilts, and food consumed by the recruits who were eliminated in these assessments and are about to be sent to other regiments in the process of recruiting and entering the camp, just waiting for the division commander and the regiments and battalions to sign when they come to dignitaries.

This large-scale recruitment of recruits did not include a settling-in fee, but relied on the talents and incorruptible tongues of the instructors and veterans of each battalion and company to encourage and lure.

Because at this time, the news that the revolutionary army had occupied most of Jiangxi and was besieging Nanchang City had been widely spread, and more and more people were gradually enlightened under the inspiration of Sanming Cooking Righteousness and the revolutionary spirit, and the various armies and divisions did not start the conscription work in time in the midst of grief and indignation, so the conscription work carried out by the battalions under An Yi under the banner of the First Army of the National Revolutionary Army and the banner of the model battalion was very smooth, and they all completed the tasks that they originally felt were very arduous.

After a while, the officer on duty came to report, the division commander led nearly 100 people on horseback, An Yi put up a pergola and looked at the south outside the camp gate, and was immediately happy when he saw the rolling dust:

"Lejun, the recruitment and publicity fees, the cloth wages of the big red flower and the pennant, the carriage and horse expenses, and the food consumption are doubled for Lao Tzu, grandma's, don't we work for nothing if we don't earn some money? The bonuses of the battalions and companies are expected to be cut out of this. ”

"Yes!"

Shi Lejun put on the record book, stood up and strode towards the temple, which contained the statistical tables he had drawn in advance, and he only needed to fill in the numbers one by one.

Liu Zhi, Xu Tingyao, Zhang Benqing, the commander of the fourth regiment, Li Yannian, the commander of the fifth regiment, Guo Jun, the commander of the sixth regiment, Li Xianzhou, Tan Fulie, and other deputy battalion commanders of the regiment who graduated from the first and second phases of Huangpu rushed into the camp gate, and a group of generals turned over and dismounted in front of the high platform, happily ascended the high platform, looking at the groups of recruits everywhere in front of the high platform, everyone greatly admired An Yi and his brothers' quick response, speed of start, and exquisite and efficient recruitment methods. It only took a week to recruit more than 1,000 young, strong, and high-quality recruits, and when other friendly troops reacted and hurriedly attacked, almost all of them were soldiers who had been carefully selected and eliminated by An Yi's regiment, so angry that the bosses of the political departments of the second, third, and sixth armies scolded their mothers, and several bosses of the second and third armies even went to Commander-in-Chief Chiang to complain that the second division had crossed the line and even wantonly recruited troops in their defense areas.

"Sit down, you don't have to get up."

Xu Tingyao came to An Yi's side and pressed his shoulder, sat on the stool that Hu Zi had moved and glanced ahead with Liu Zhi, Xu Tingyao praised loudly: "You kid is amazing, these more than 1,000 recruits are all first-class soldiers!" No wonder the friendly troops have such a big opinion on our second division, if you don't accept it, you can't do it, haha! ”

An Yi grinned: "Chief of Staff, the officers and soldiers of our regiment are all strictly selected according to the recruitment standards, we don't want to be less than one meter six tall, we don't want to hold a hundred pounds, and we don't want to have a circle of legs and ducks, otherwise we can get back at least three or five thousand recruits in five counties." ”

"Ah, that's so demanding...... In fact, I think we can lower the standard appropriately, and our logistics department also needs to be supplemented, and those with poor physique can be competent for logistics tasks. But we're very happy that you've done that...... Look at these senior brothers of yours, one or two are all running down without hurrying, haha! ”

Xu Tingyao was very happy, and Liu Zhi, who was sitting on the other side of An Yi, also had a look of satisfaction on his face. If they knew that these more than 1,150 people were still picked by An Yi again, I don't know what the two of them would be surprised about.

An Yi saw a group of regimental battalion commanders and brothers all jumping off the high platform and walking towards a group of recruits, and in a hurry, he sat up straight and shouted:

"Lao Zhang, Lao Li and Lao Guo, grandma's, you have to sign and hand over before you can take it away! Come back...... Division, Chief of Staff, this is not good! You see, even if you don't want to give it away for free, you have to go through the handover procedures with us first, right? That's a team of ten companies...... Look, look! Lao Li, the grandson of the sixth regiment, really dared to take away two companies...... Master, you have to be the master of your subordinates, if you run out and don't admit it, who will go to the subordinates who will fill in the large recruitment fees? ”

Liu Zhi, Xu Tingyao and other division commanders laughed, Liu Zhi gently patted An Yi's shoulder, and laughed in a low voice: "Don't worry, wait a while, you will bring the handover order and the cost statistics table, and I will sign it for you, and I will never let you spend your efforts and have to pay for it, otherwise we commanders will be incompetent." ”

"Hey, hey! There is a teacher's seat, and the subordinates are relieved. ”

An Yi is not in a hurry to achieve his goal, the heads of the regiments in front of him are gathered together with a red face and a thick neck, which makes An Yi laugh non-stop, when the three regiment commanders are still bargaining for who the remaining company should belong to, the battalion and company commanders of each regiment have already acted, and the battalion and company commanders of each regiment first led the three companies that were assigned to them and shouted the password to open the camp gate, as if they were afraid that they would be snatched away by others if they were not careful, and Liu Zhi and others on the high platform laughed.

Xu Tingyao looked at An Yi meaningfully, An Yi felt strange and immediately turned his head to ask for instructions, Xu Tingyao smiled and said in a low voice:

"Xiao Yi, I have to tell you something, the situation is like this: since each regiment is currently equipped with a qualified engineer company with your support, the response of each regiment is quite good, and they all say that the engineers trained by the model battalion are not only highly professional, but also have first-class military quality, and are better trained than many infantry companies, and everyone is very satisfied.

At this morning's meeting of the division headquarters, the idea of setting up an engineer battalion under the division was again put forward by the commanders of various departments, because we will be fighting for a long time in areas with dense water networks in the north and south of the Yangtze River, and we urgently need an engineer battalion directly under the division headquarters to build bridges and pave the way for the transportation and distribution of military supplies and soldiers.

Therefore, the division and I also agreed with this opinion very much, and finally decided to draw out Cai Guangqing, the deputy commander of the third battalion of the sixth regiment, and his engineer company, and set up a directly subordinate engineer battalion on this basis, with a very good lieutenant colonel Cai Guangqing as the commander of the engineer battalion. But in this way, there will be no sappers in the 6th regiment, understand? ”

An Yi's handsome face twisted like a cramp for several seconds, and then, like a patient who had just had his big tooth removed, he exhaled and inhaled in pain, and finally recovered, lowering his head and not speaking.

Xu Tingyao and Liu Zhi glanced at each other, shook their heads helplessly, and knew in their hearts that they had always owed too much to this subordinate who could fight and fight, loyal and generous, and transferred people from him again and again but did not give him any benefits, more than a dozen mortars, more than a dozen machine guns and more than two hundred flower machine guns were all obtained by him personally from the principal, and most of the remaining weapons and equipment were captured by himself, if An Yi was not too young and not qualified enough, with his combat record and ability, he would not have been sitting in the position of the current supplementary regiment leader. If he is with other friendly forces, he will definitely be more reused, and it is not necessarily the commander of a division now. Therefore, the apologetic Xu Tingyao and Liu Zhi didn't know what to say for a while, but both of them knew that although their love would be very heartbroken, they would finally obey the order taking into account the overall situation.

As Xu Tingyao and Liu Zhi expected, An Yi, who had calmed down, nodded and agreed: "My subordinates obey the order, so let's transfer the first battalion and four companies as a whole...... However, please ask the division seat and the chief of staff to persuade the Sixth Regiment not to change the platoon commander of this company, at least not within a year, because the company commander of the fourth company, Lieutenant Wang Qingbao, the deputy company Zhang Yingliang, and the instructor Second Lieutenant Huang Yaotong are all old brothers who came here from the Guangzhou West Battalion of our Second Division, except for Huang Yaotong, who can write and count, the other two are not very literate, and they are all promoted by their military exploits, and among the 150 people in the entire newly formed company, only dozens of company platoon leaders can master the skills of engineers. The others are almost all inexperienced novices, and if the main technical backbone is replaced, the entire company is useless.

The subordinates asked that they be given three months to work hard and work together, and after three months, they would definitely be a competent engineering company, and after more than half a year of practice, they would be able to divide them into two companies for use, because the system of chief and deputy squad and platoon commanders practiced by their subordinates was prepared for the expansion of the ranks, and if they wanted to expand the ranks, they only needed to separate the deputy company commanders and the deputy posts of the squad and platoon, and they would soon be able to bring out a qualified engineer company. ”

Liu Zhi and Xu Tingyao immediately agreed, and the grateful Liu Zhi asked in a low voice, "Xiao Yi, are there any difficulties that we need to solve for you?" ”

Xu Tingyao saw An Yi's hesitant appearance, and immediately said with a smile: "If you have anything to say, now the entire Second Division and even the friendly army, who doesn't give An Yi face?" ”

An Yi nodded embarrassedly, signaling Liu Zhi and Xu Tingyao to get closer, the three of them muttered with their heads on their heads, only to see Liu Zhi, who was full of joy, stand up and loudly ordered all the regiments to return, Xu Tingyao hurriedly called Yin Jinan to find Yang Bin and others, An Yi had returned to normal at this time, and called the old Han Tou loudly to arrange a dinner.

(To be continued)