In the early morning, the Jianghuai region in the rainy season was rarely clear, the blue sky was like a wash, and the red morning sun hung in the eastern sky, before it had time to show its might, 29 trucks carrying clothing, provisions, and ammunition to the camp in Liuxiang Town had returned to Pukou.

More than 350 seriously wounded were carefully transported back to the rear for treatment and recuperation under the careful care of the doctors of the military hospital, and Major General Liu Shoujiang, the representative of the Reading Division, shook his head and sighed as he looked at the distant convoy, and instructed the adjutant to lead the villagers to sail the boat to the wharf of Wuhe County, load the 50 head of cattle, 3,000 catties of salt, and 100 quintals of wine that the Reading Division had specially purchased and presented to the villagers, and then returned to the camp and telegraphed An Yi in Sixian County about everything one by one.

At noon, when the sun was shining, more than 300 brothers from various logistics departments quietly returned to Liuxiang, where they used ox carts and boats to transport the bodies of 525 soldiers who had died in battle, and buried them together with the 1,298 brothers who were buried at the mouth of the Tong River. Three hours later, An Yi led the commanders above the battalion level to the mouth of the Tonghe River, attended the funeral of the brothers, and mourned with heavy gunfire.

As the night slowly fell, the torches were blazing in the camp of Liuxiang, and hundreds of representatives of the villagers and self-defense team members under the leadership of Uncle Mogen entered the camp as guests.

There was no laughter, no noise, only whispered exchanges between the military and civilians and mutual toasts and thanks.

This drink was drunk until late at night, and Uncle Maogen, who was no longer able to stand, grabbed An Yi and Yin Jinan's hands tightly, saying that he was going to build a courtyard and two houses at the foot of the slope next to the martyr's tomb, and he would live there in the future, and his children and grandchildren would guard the cemetery for the deceased soldiers of the Northern Expeditionary Army.

In the early hours of the morning, the sky returned to normal, and it began to drizzle again. The brothers crossed the Huai River before dawn, and finally left the place where they had been stationed and fought for nearly 20 days, and after completing the transportation task of the three captured steamboats, they were also presented to the local Self-Defense Forces along with the Liuxiang battalion.

After crossing the river, more than 1,000 officers and soldiers waved goodbye to the villagers in the vast rain curtain and silently marched northward, and more than 800 locally recruited recruits put on military uniforms and joined the ranks of material transportation.

Major General Liu Shoujiang, the representative of the Reading Division's party, slapped his horse forward, walked side by side with An Yi with a heavy face, and walked half a mile before asking in a low voice: "My blind command has brought extremely heavy casualties to the Reading Division, and many elite veterans who have survived a hundred battles are buried on this land because of me...... Do you still blame me in your heart? ”

An Yi glanced at Liu Shoujiang and found that his face was full of nervousness, and he smiled coldly in his heart, but shook his head calmly: "How can I blame you?" The responsibility for this is not yours, I know that you are also chasing ducks to the shelves, and you are in a hurry to show yourself before you come out of this matter. Alas, the deceased is gone, forget the past things, don't go to your heart, how can you not die when you fight? The key is to learn from it and not make the same mistakes again.

Starting from Guangzhou and walking here, there are almost half a division of brothers under my command who have been killed and disabled in battle, and there will be more and more in the future, so every time I think about it, I feel uncomfortable, and I just said goodbye to such good villagers, my heart is panicked, not because I have any opinions on you. ”

Liu Shoujiang secretly breathed a sigh of relief: "Seeing you commanding the battle, I realized that I was so incompetent, I have read so many years of books in vain, don't say it......"

"Don't say such discouraged words, the ruler is short and long, everyone is different, for example, I can't carry out political and ideological work and do war mobilization, if it weren't for you this time, the brothers would not have fought so easily, your achievements are obvious to all, it is your timely and efficient logistics command, so that Ji Nan can pull out, lead his soldiers to capture Changgou Town and calmly arrange an ambush circle, surround the two regiments of enemy reinforcements in the direction of Si County, all the achievements have your credit.

When I say this, it is not a kind word, but a realistic evaluation, and when I get to Si County, a lot of work still depends on you to lead and command, and there must be no ideological baggage.

Our reading force has not fully recovered now, and we need to unite and look forward as one, and you need your participation in the transformation of prisoners, logistics command, and personnel adjustment. ”

An Yi sincerely expressed his attitude, although he did not completely forgive this low-eyed party representative in his heart, but he hid his true feelings well, and kindly encouraged him to express his support.

Liu Shoujiang was moved, but the more polite An Yi was, the more uncomfortable he felt in his heart, although An Yi didn't mean to blame him, but he could clearly feel the indifference and alienation of the officers and soldiers to him. However, the general of the defeated army is not brave enough, Liu Shoujiang can only choose to endure silently, at least before the end of the battle of Xuzhou, he has to endure it, and then he can leave this reader who makes him feel deeply defeated and humiliated through all relations, and transfer to the rear or other troops, if he leaves now, he will never be able to wash away the shame of the loser on paper, only endure silently, and wait for the reader to win again before choosing to leave, and then the reputation will be much better. Your own heart will also be more comfortable. Liu Shoujiang firmly believes that as long as he follows An Yi and persists, victory will come soon, and he will be able to achieve physical and mental relief as soon as possible.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, An Yi led more than 1,000 brothers back to Si County.

There were still two kilometers away from Si County, and I saw a detachment of brothers led by Dou Fang, deputy of the guard battalion, waiting at the intersection. Dou Fang replied with a smile that the routine reconnaissance alert had just returned, and when he heard An Yi leading the logistics department and the recruit brothers to return, he came over to greet him.

Dou Fang saw that the team did not pull the artillery over, and hundreds of horses and pack horses were full of military supplies and ammunition, and hurriedly asked An Yi what was going on, An Yi replied that those artillery pieces had been pulled back to Nanjing from Wuhe, and the brothers of the artillery battalion were all concentrated in Changgou Town, where there were sixteen captured artillery, although they were old, but they were okay.

The two walked and talked to the south of the city, An Yi saw that the two thousand officers and soldiers of the instructor supplementary regiment not far away were burying the corpses under the command of Fang Tian and Chen Jianxuan, and thought about it and explained a few words to Liu Shoujiang behind him, let him lead the team back to the city first, turned over and dismounted and walked straight to Fang Tian standing on the dirt bag, and where he passed along the way, the recruits still respectfully called An Yi the regiment commander, which made Dou Fang, who had followed An Yi all the way, laugh vigorously.

Fang Tian saw An Yi coming, hurriedly stepped forward, took the cigarette handed by An Yi after seeing the salute, and said angrily: "Today is a little better, when the corpses on the street were moved out of the city yesterday, almost half of the brothers vomited and couldn't afford to bury them at all, so it has been delayed until today, and Brother Guangting's second regiment is the same in the north of the city, but it saved a lot of last night's dinner." Fortunately, although there was a day of sunshine yesterday, the rainy weather immediately recovered after the early hours of this morning, otherwise the stench of the corpse would be unbearable after being exposed to the sun for most of the day. ”

An Yi smiled, looked around and asked in a low voice, "Did the master call back?" ”

"It's done! Thanks to the excuse that we were in need of temporary assistance in garrisoning due to the shortage of troops, the division agreed to let us stay for a while, but on the condition that you send a teaching team to help us with the training. Not to mention, I really let you say it right, after this battle, the mental outlook of the officers and soldiers has changed dramatically, after seeing the strong combat power and skilled military skills of the big brothers of the reading division, no officer and soldier shouted tired, although many people vomited a mess last night, they still expressed their determination to forge ahead to me. Fang Tian said with a smile.

An Yi nodded happily: "Okay!" As long as we don't follow orders, we will send the best instructors to assist you in training...... It's almost time, give the order to go back, the rain is getting heavier and heavier, and we will continue to do it tomorrow, look at this progress, you can't bury so many corpses today. I asked the heralds to go to the north of the city to inform Senior Brother Du and them, and after dinner, we began to summarize the routine battle, and if the senior brothers were willing, they could send the commanders at the battalion level and above to participate in the audit. ”

"Haha, that's great! Just waiting for your words, who in the whole army doesn't know the weight of your reading division's post-war summary? It's so exciting! Thank you, Xiao Yi. Fang Tian excitedly thanked loudly.

"Go, go, thank you, thank you? Is it necessary for our brothers to be so polite? Okay, I'll go back first. An Yi said hello to Chen Jianxuan and strode away.

Back at the headquarters in the city, the brothers of Gu Changfeng had already washed away the bloodstained county office, and every corner of the county government was lit with sandalwood to dispel the strong smell of blood in the air.

An Yi sat down with Yin Jinan, Hu Jialin, Gu Changfeng, Xia Jian and other generals, and after handling military affairs, they began to discuss the telegram they had just received from the General Headquarters of the Second Route Army.

"What did Chief Gu Zhutong say?" An Yi put down the message and asked in a low voice.

Yin Jinan scratched his head and replied with some doubts: "Commander Gu wants to drive north into Suining County, saying that he will encircle Suqian with the First Division and General Ye Kaixin's 44th Army.

Big brother, why did you say that Chief Bai asked our reading master to take over the defense of Lingbi within 24 hours, instead of ordering us to attack Suqian? Could there be any problems in between? ”

"Well, maybe it's because we have lost too many people, give us a period of time to rest, the conditions over there in Lingbi are much better than those in Si County, the population is twice as large, and the industry and commerce are more developed, which is more suitable for us to rest." An Yi thought for a while and asked, "What's the news over there in Xuzhou?" ”

Hu Jialin shook his head: "At noon, I just called Commander Gu and the General Headquarters in the name of the division headquarters to inquire, but there is still no reply, and it is estimated that I will not know until later." ”

An Yi nodded: "Then let's go to Lingbi tomorrow, Lu Guang's reading regiment and artillery battalion are temporarily stationed in Changgou and don't move, and Ji Nan is in charge of commanding."

Hutou's third regiment and Xia Jian's second regiment led the remaining 3,000 captive soldiers to replenish tomorrow morning and set off first, Huzi, you lead the division and the eight hundred recruits to march later, Chen Kan led the mentor's brothers to stay temporarily, I will go to Lingbi first after the meeting tonight, while Gu Zhutong has not left, we have to discuss it carefully, I always feel like something is wrong in my heart...... Lao Ding? ”

"Here!"

Ding Zhicheng replied loudly.

"You and the brothers in the guard battalion work hard, leave the matter here to Chen Kan, set off with me to Lingbi tonight, and immediately launch an in-depth reconnaissance in the direction of Xuzhou after resting, we can't be blind." An Yi advised.

"Got it! I'm going to find Chen Kan. Ding Zhicheng acted immediately after speaking.

After dinner, the post-war summary meeting was held immediately, and all the regiments and battalions of the Reading Division gathered together except for the chief officers on duty, and all the chief officers of the two regiments and battalions above the regimental and battalion level attended as observers.

An Yi completed the tasks of each regiment tonight and tomorrow, and handed over the presiding power to Lu Guang, the head of the Reading Force, and more than 40 generals surrounded the sand table in the middle of the hall and began to listen to Lu Guang's review of the battle and explain the details.

From the planning of the campaign to the initiation of the war, he methodically enumerated the entire course of the war and the process worth studying, and when it came to the stage of confrontation across the river, Cheng Guang particularly praised the speed of action and the bold strike of Chen Zhibiao's second regiment, and it was precisely because Chen Zhibiao was in place in time to withstand the reinforcements of the two battalions on the enemy's left flank, that the middle and west roads were fought easily, and the three death squads successfully swam across and quickly broke the enemy's 80-meter defense line. As a result, the enemy's deployment was completely disrupted, causing the enemy's position to advance into confusion, so that as soon as the big explosion sounded, the enemy's fighting spirit was completely lost.

After Cheng Guang finished talking about the battle on the Changge battlefield, Gu Changfeng then told about the surprise attack on the county seat, and in the case of being recognized by the enemy in advance, Gu Changfeng decisively ordered a charge, and after the arduous battle at the West Gate, the enemy retreated, and the main force immediately quickly entered the city to fight the street battle that he was familiar with, so as to firmly grasp the initiative.

Gu Changfeng's eloquence is quite good, although this guy is not low in knowledge, but he is not willing to speak as eloquently and elegantly as Cheng Guang, but to explain with his usual speaking habits, witty language and foul language from time to time, which caused the brothers to laugh heartily, and Du Yuming, Fang Tian and others were eye-opening.

In the end, Hu Jialin summed up the entire war, and as soon as he opened his mouth, he criticized Xia Jian and Gu Changfeng and other chief officials who took risks, Yin Jinan took a notebook and recorded it on the side, and when Hu Jialin finished scolding, he said, "The above personnel will be deducted for one month", which made Du Yuming and others stunned.

Hu Jialin then questioned the outflanking line of the third battalion of the Reading Regiment, and Cheng Cheng Guang hurriedly stated the reason for the original choice, and the two debated for more than three minutes and refused to give in to each other, until Hu Jialin drew two straight lines on the sand table and calculated the firepower and speed, Cheng Cheng Guang knew where he was wrong, and immediately admitted his mistake seriously, and thanked Hu Jialin.

At this point, the summing up meeting, which lasted for more than two hours, sat down for a while and then left one after another. Hu Jialin and Yin Jinan politely asked Du Yuming and the others to sit for a while, and then went out to patrol the camp together.

In the wide hall, there were only a dozen excited brothers left such as An Yi and Du Yuming, An Yi saw that Chen Kan was leaving, and hurriedly pulled him to his side and sat down:

"Your three companies will have to stay tomorrow to assist my senior brothers in conducting a week-long intensive training for the brothers of the two regiments of the instructor, and I will leave the radio station for you, and the party representative will lead the logistics departments to stay with you."

"Yes!" Chen Kan smiled and nodded.

Du Yuming, Fang Tian and the others were overjoyed, and politely asked Chen Kan to formulate a training plan and be fully responsible for presiding over the training, Chen Kan hurriedly and politely said:

"If you have no opinion, let's follow the short-term training syllabus of our recruit company of the Reading Division, the brothers of both regiments performed well in the battle the day before yesterday, firing at least fifty rounds each, and also launched a charge, capturing more than two thousand four hundred prisoners, and I believe that it is not a big problem to accept the next training plan.

You also observed the reorganization and dismissal of the prisoners yesterday afternoon, and you also saw the principles and methods of selecting our soldiers, and I guess you have a rough idea of the intensity of our training. ”

Zheng Jiemin replied: "Yes, we are extremely impressed by the selection process of the prisoners, but fortunately, our two regiments have improved to a certain extent after this emergency transfer and participation in actual combat, so I myself estimate that we can afford it, so I will handle it according to your opinion." ”

"I agree!"

After Du Yuming expressed his attitude, everyone else also agreed, and even asked Chen Kan to be difficult and strict, this opportunity is really rare.

Chen Kan thought for a while and said, "Since this is the case, let's start from the early morning of tomorrow, like this, ......"

After Chen Kan finished the training plan in the early morning of the next day, the battalion commanders who taught the instructor agreed one after another, An Yi smiled and said goodbye to everyone and rushed to Lingbi, leaving Chen Kan and Du Yuming and others to continue the consultation.

At five o'clock in the morning of the next day, there was a sudden sound of gunfire and explosions from the north and south outside the city, and the brothers of the two new regiments got up to the sharp assembly whistle, quickly put on their clothes and pants, raised their guns, and rushed out of the barracks.

After a while, he pressed the bullet into the chamber of the gun with a command, and then launched a non-stop fire on the black front, but until the sky was bright, only the gunfire in front of him was heard, and not half of the enemy's shadow was seen.

As the officers gave the order to stop shooting, and the concentrated whistles of the companies on the position sounded one after another, the recruits knew that it was actually an exercise, and climbed out of the trenches one by one with mud and exhaustion, only to see hideous corpses and stumps and broken arms that had not yet been buried, and some soldiers got up to see that they were lying on the corpses of the enemy, some of their ankles were hung by smelly intestines, and some of their bodies were stained with smelly blood and muddy water......

(To be continued)