Two days after the first division left Guangzhou, it was reported that the Northern Expeditionary Army had conquered Changsha.

After Li Zongren persuaded Li Jishen, the Fourth Army's Ye Ting's Reading Regiment and the Tenth Division's Chen Mingshu Headquarters immediately set off for Hengyang, and the Zhong Zupei Brigade of the Seventh Army also set off from Guangxi. After Ye Ting's reading group arrived in Hunan, it was just in time for Ye Kaixin to launch an attack on Anren, Ye Ting led his troops to rush to Huangmaopu, defeated the enemy army in one fell swoop, and took advantage of the victory to recover Youxian, and then Zhong Zupei's brigade also defeated Ye Kaixin in Jinlan Temple. Ye Kaixin led his troops to retreat to the north of Lushui and Lianshui. The two sides have formed a standoff and are waiting for backup. Chiang Kai-shek was overjoyed when he heard the report, and appointed Tang Shengzhi as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy of the Northern Expeditionary Army, and the headquarters was reorganized into the Eighth Army of the National Revolutionary Army, and all the Northern Expeditionary Army entering Hunan was subject to its control.

The news of the Nationalist Axe's large-scale entry into Hunan immediately reached Wu Peifu, who was commanding the Battle of Nankou in Yanjing at this time; Wu Peifu fought very badly in the Nankou War, the resistance of the national army was very resolute, and Wu Jun was quite dissatisfied with Wu Peifu's insistence on joint service, most of the generals did not contribute to the work, Wu Peifu's number one general Jin Yun'e simply said that he was not sick, and Wu Peifu was not polite, and dismissed him from his posts as the Henan overseer, the deputy commander-in-chief of the coalition army, and the commander of the 14th Division, and changed to the Shaanxi overseer; Wu Peifu suppressed the opinions of his subordinates with an iron fist, and then commanded the troops to attack the south entrance, taking over the defection of one regiment today and one brigade tomorrow; After two months of fierce fighting, there was no progress. Zhang Zuolin stood by and gloated, and sent someone to ask every day: "When will Yushuai enter the south entrance." It made Wu Peifu angry and ashamed.

As soon as the news of the National Revolutionary Army's large-scale entry into Hunan came, Chief of Staff Zhang Qihuang suggested that Nankou be abandoned and handed over to Zhang Zuolin and Zhang Zongchang, and the main force would immediately move south. Wu Peifu resolutely refused: "Abandoning Nankou is equivalent to abandoning the Yanjing regime; I will never return to the army until I take the south exit. ”

But Wu Peifu also knew that Ye Kaixin alone could not stop the National Revolutionary Army, and he ordered Li Zhuozhang, the governor of Hunan and Hubei borders, to be the commander-in-chief of Xiangjun, and command the Fourth Route Army to reinforce Ye Kaixin, with Song Dapei and Sun Jianye as the first route; Wang Duqing is the second way; Ganjun Xie Wenshan is the third way; Dong Guozheng, Ma Ji, Liu Zhilu, and Lu Yun are the fourth road. At the same time, planes and warships were dispatched to Hunan to fight.

On the side of the Northern Expeditionary Army, Chen Mingshu's 10th Division and Chen Jitang's 11th Division of the Fourth Army, and Hu Zongduo of the Seventh Army led two brigades and one regiment to Hunan successively. All of a sudden, more than 200,000 troops of the north-south coalition gathered on the front line of Yanling, Zhuzhou, and Xiangtan.

Wu Peifu's reinforcements are quite a lot, far more than the Northern Expeditionary Army that has arrived in Hunan, but if you read it carefully, you will know that these troops are disorganized, and most of them are useless, Ma Ji is the remnant of Shen Hongying of the original Gui Department, Xie Wenshan is the remnant of Chen Jiongming of the original Dongjiang River, and the only thing that may have some combat effectiveness is Wang Duqing's Seventh Division, which is the old foundation of Beiyang, but it is dull. Such a combination may be feasible to fight a tailwind, but if the war is stalemate or unfavorable, it will inevitably be defeated.

Tang Shengzhi saw through this and proposed to Chiang Kai-shek to launch an attack first, and his proposal was supported by Hu Zongduo and Chen Jitang, so Chiang Kai-shek agreed to his plan. At the beginning of July, Tang Shengzhi commanded the units of the Fourth, Seventh, and Eighth Armies to forcibly cross the Xiangjiang River and Lianshui, and connected Loudi, Gushui, and Xiangtan; On the second day of the Guangzhou Pledge Conference, he conquered the important military town of Yanling in eastern Xiangdong; On July 11, the Eighth Army Li Pinxian Division conquered Changsha, the Seventh Army conquered Xiangyin, and the Eighth Army conquered Yiyang.

Changsha was lost, and Wu Peifu was furious, and urgently ordered Ye Kaixin and Li Zhuozhang to retreat to the Pingjiang and Miluo lines. Gather heavy troops in Pingjiang, Miluo, Yueyang, with the Miluo River as the first line of defense, Yanglousi, Wulipai, Yunxi as the second line of defense, and after he ends the Nankou War, he will lead the main force to the south and fight a decisive battle with the Northern Expeditionary Army in northern Hunan.

After conquering Changsha, Tang Shengzhi immediately formed the Hunan Provincial Political Axe, appointed himself as the chairman of Hunan Province and director of the Military Department, and at the same time vigorously incorporated and expanded the troops, which were rapidly expanded to six divisions. Tan Yankai and Zhang Jingjiang jointly sent a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek, saying that this case could not be opened, that the wind could not rise, that the personnel and financial powers of the recovered provinces must be returned to the central government, and that the provincial governors could not concurrently serve as directors of the military department, and that the military and government departments must be separated.

This made Chiang Kai-shek very embarrassed, Li Pinxian's occupation of Changsha was a deliberate arrangement by Tang Shengzhi, and his purpose was to enter the king of the customs first, creating a fait accompli; Looking further, the Northern Expedition was originally caused by Zhao Tang's struggle for Hunan, Tang Shengzhi spent so much thought, just wanted Hunan, could he let go? I want to make it impossible. But Tan Yankai and Zhang Jingjiang's opinions are undoubtedly correct, otherwise the old warlords will be eliminated and new warlords will be born. Both sides must have face and steps.

"Niang Xipi, this Tang Mengxiao has a problem for me." Thinking about it, Chiang Kai-shek couldn't find a good way.

"Commander-in-chief, can you talk to Tang Shengzhi and ask him to make a statement that he will not accept the appointment of the provincial chairman, and then the central committee will meet to reappoint him as the chairman of Hunan Province?" Feng Wei came up with an idea. Chiang Kai-shek nodded silently after thinking about it, and his eyes towards Feng Wei became more and more complicated.

On the night of August 11, the special car of the General Headquarters of the Northern Expeditionary Army drove into Changsha Railway Station (Guangzhou and Changsha are not connected by train, take a train from Guangzhou to Shaoguan, then get off and walk, go to Zhuzhou, and then take a train to Changsha, and the railway from Zhuzhou to Shaoguan was not opened to traffic until 1936. Fifty thousand citizens waited all night at the train station to welcome Chiang Kai-shek, and Chiang Kai-shek was moved to tears.

However, at the military meeting held the next day, the generals of the various departments were seriously divided on the direction of the next operation.

At the meeting, Tang Shengzhi proposed to divide troops to attack Jiangxi, and proposed that the Fourth, Seventh, and Eighth Armies attack Hubei; The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 6th armies attacked Jiangxi.

As soon as Tang Shengzhi's plan came out, everyone knew Tang Shengzhi's purpose, he didn't want Tan Yankai and Cheng Qian to stay in Hunan, but also wanted to include Hubei in his sphere of influence.

Cheng Qian objected, believing that Sun Chuanfang was strong and that the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 6th armies alone were insufficient, and suggested that the 4th and 7th armies should also join the Jiangxi battlefield, and the 8th Army would take the defensive position against Hubei. Cheng Qian's proposition was supported by Lu Diping, who attended the meeting.

This is another selfish plan, Cheng Qian and Lu Diping saw that Tang Shengzhi had already taken Hunan, and they expected to be unable to fight, so they hoped to develop Jiangxi, but they went like this, and it was difficult to get out of their hearts, and let the Eighth Army fight against Wu Peifu alone, they wanted to use Wu Peifu's hand to weaken Tang Shengzhi's strength, and of course they didn't want to hand over Hubei to Tang Shengzhi.

Chiang Kai-shek was very clear about their thoughts, and it was most advantageous for the Northern Expeditionary Army to avoid fighting on two fronts, so he sent people to do Sun Chuanfang's work as early as June, hoping to win his neutrality, and the intelligence from the Eighteen Arhats showed that Sun Chuanfang now had no intention of interfering in the war in Hunan, but was preparing to carry out Bian Zhuang's method of stabbing the tiger.

Chiang Kai-shek was about to come up with his own plan, but Li Zongren stood up and said: "These two plans are two-front operations, I think this is inappropriate, our main enemy now is Wu Peifu, only by defeating Wu Peifu first, can we start a war against Sun Chuanfang; Therefore, I suggest that the main force should be used to smash Wuhan to the north and guard Jiangxi. After conquering Wuhan, Dabie Mountain and Tongbai Mountain were used as barriers to hold Wusheng Pass; The main force then went down the river and arrived at Jiangnan. ”

As soon as Li Zongren's words fell, Chiang Kai-shek said: "Delin said well, Sun Chuanfang's side we have already sent someone to do the work, he also agreed to neutrality, he wants to use Wu Peifu to consume the strength of our army, but we can plan as we can, first defeat Wu Peifu, and then move to Jiangxi; Harvest the effect of each break. If we start a war against Sun Chuanfang now, Wu Peifu will be able to get a respite, regroup and attack us from Hubei; So I think Li Delin's plan is suitable. ”

Gallen also stood up and said: "General Li's plan is safe, any general must avoid fighting on two fronts, and if he hits Wuhan, he can get in touch with the Nationalist Army in the north, which is very beneficial to the later operation." ”

After the three of them finished speaking, the wind direction of the meeting changed immediately, and the focus of the debate became how to enter Wuhan, and the final decision was to march northward, first break through the enemy's defense line on the Miluo River, annihilate the enemy on the north bank, occupy the first line of Yueyang and Yangloudong, and then divide the troops into three routes, and the main force marched north along the railway, heading straight to Wuhan; The second road quickly crossed the river and assisted in the attack on Wuhan; The third route out of Jing and Sha to contain the enemy in all parts of Hubei and fight in Wuhan, the main force. In the end, part of the troops were left to gather in Yanling Youxian County to consolidate the defense line in eastern Hunan and guard Jiangxi.

Before the end of the meeting, Gallen asked Li Zongren: "General Li, how many days do you think we can hit Wuhan?" ”

"Fourteen days." Li Zongren replied after thinking about it.

"Oh, General, I admire your optimism." Gallen smiled and said, "What is your basis?" ”

"Experience, in the early stage of the operation, we walked 50 miles a day with the pursuit of the company, and now the front line is only more than 700 miles away from Wuhan, and we can go there in 14 days." Li Zongren is very confident.

"Don't you count the time for the enemy to hold on and counterattack?" Someone who joined asked in surprise.

"How many days does Comrade Adviser think it will take?" Li Zongren asked.

"Forty days." Gallen spoke his mind.

"Absolutely impossible, if it takes us forty days to reach Wuhan, we shouldn't attack Wuhan." Li Zongren shook his head and said.

"Why?" Gallen asked.

"Sun Chuanfang, he won't watch us conquer Wuhan, as long as we reach Wuhan in thirty days, Sun Chuanfang will immediately send troops." Li Zongren said in his heart that China's Romance of the Three Kingdoms had long said that Yiling burned Liu Bei's hundreds of thousands of troops, but Lu Xun did not dare to chase it, and Cao Pi was staring at it behind.

"Then I can make a bet with you, twenty days, you win in twenty days, and in twenty days it will be..." Gal resolutely did not believe that he could hit Wuhan in 14 days.

"Okay, bet on it, you win after twenty days, you say what you bet." Li Zongren was also very stubborn.

"Brandy, a dozen brandy." Gallen said.

"Okay, I'll testify." Chiang Kai-shek looked at the two with great interest and said.

12 days later, under the city of Wuchang, Gal Lun happily gave Li Zongren twelve bottles of brandy, eight bottles to be exact, four of which he drank back.

After the meeting, Chiang Kai-shek pulled Li Zongren and Tang Shengzhi to talk about the chairman of Hunan Province, and Li Zongren also said that Tang Shengzhi should not appoint it on his own, let alone the military and government.

"Brother Meng Xiao, our Northern Expedition is to eliminate the old warlords, and your brother's participation in the revolution is also to eliminate the warlords, and the lack of separation between military and political affairs is the root cause of the warlords' disaster; Of course, I'm not saying that you Tang Mengxiao will become a warlord, but if you do this in Hunan, will it be the same in Hebei and Henan, which are farther away from Jiangxi and Zhejiang, in the future, so Chairman Tan is right, this precedent cannot be opened, I advise you, or follow me, I will hand over Guangxi to the central government, I will only lead troops to fight, and I don't care about other matters by the central government. ”

Li Zongren's words were very thorough, but Tang Shengzhi didn't think so, the poor place in Guangxi, I don't want to give it to me, of course it is cost-effective to hand it over to the central government, but Hunan is different, if I want to hand over Hunan to the central government, what should I do with Zhao.

"Commander-in-Chief, it's not that I want to be the chairman of this province, I'm a soldier, and I don't know anything about civil affairs; It's just that Hunan people are xenophobic, and they are worried that outsiders will become the chairman of Hunan Province. Tang Shengzhi explained innocently.

"Meng Xiao is too modest, hasn't Hengyang been managed in an orderly manner in the past few years in Hengyang? There are still many places in Hunan to borrow Brother Meng Xiao, the central government will consider it, and you can recommend candidates for the director of the Military Department. Chiang Kai-shek gave him a strong hint.

Tang Shengzhi comprehended and hurriedly said: "Okay, commander-in-chief, I will resign as the provincial chairman and be reappointed by the central government, and I recommend He Jian to take over as the director of the Military Department." ”

Chiang Kai-shek finally breathed a sigh of relief, if Tang Shengzhi didn't appreciate it, he would really be difficult to deal with.

"Commander-in-chief, the officers and men of the Eighth Army deeply admire the prestige of the commander-in-chief, can you ask the commander-in-chief to go on a parade." Tang Shengzhi said suddenly, he had a little more heart, thinking about what to do if you broke the contract, Tan Yankai and Cheng Qianke were staring at this piece of meat in Hunan, so they wanted to ask Chiang Kai-shek to take a look at his troops.

When Li Zongren heard this, he also invited Chiang Kai-shek to go to the Seventh Army for a parade; Chiang Kai-shek, Tang Shengzhi's first division, roughly guessed eight points, but Chiang Kai-shek didn't know why Li Zongren was, but he also wanted to see these two teams that were very capable of fighting.

"Well, I'll review it together tomorrow."

The next day, more than 10,000 people from the 7th and 8th armies lined up in more than 10 neat phalanxes to be reviewed by Chiang Kai-shek.

Chiang Kai-shek, dressed in a marshal's dress and white gloves, looked proud and mighty, and he rode slowly through all sides, the first to review was the Seventh Army; Guangxi is barren and poor, and the soldiers wear straw shoes and hats, and the military appearance is neat, but it is not lively; Seeing this, Chiang Kai-shek somewhat understood what Li Zongren meant, and he wanted to ask him to take care of him in the quartermaster.

But the Eighth Army is different, not only the banner is clear, but also there is a military band in front, when Chiang Kai-shek walked to the front of the Eighth Army, the military band drums sounded in unison, Chiang Kai-shek sat down Ma Da did not hear this sound, a long neigh, hoofs galloped, Chiang Kai-shek was caught off guard and fell off the horse, one foot hung on the stirrup, was dragged by the frightened horse for more than ten zhang, and the riding boots fell off to survive. After this trouble, although Chiang Kai-shek insisted on completing the review, the momentum was not as good as before.

After the review, Tang Shengzhi did not go home but went to the second school garden, the second school garden is the place where Monk Gu preaches the scriptures, this monk Gu is a layman, believes in tantric Buddhism, and is deeply trusted by Tang Shengzhi. Tang Shengzhi is a soldier, but he believes in Buddhism, usually respects Buddhism and does not say anything, but also preaches Buddhism in the army, and the soldiers have to accept the ordination of Moding, so his army is also called the Buddha Army. Before the Tang army fell into Zhao, Gu Zen Master divined four words: "Tang monk became a Buddha." Only then did Tang Shengzhi make up his mind to challenge Zhao Hengti.

After seeing Monk Gu, Tang Shengzhi told him in detail about today's events, and Monk Gu pinched his fingers and calculated when he heard this, and then said softly: "It seems that Chiang Kai-shek can't pass the Eighth Army." ”

Tang Shengzhi's heart was overjoyed when he heard this, and since then he has had the heart to replace Chiang Kai-shek.

(Editor's note: It seems that Monk Gu is a person with real talent and learning, not a person who fools around and eats, didn't the later Red Army be reorganized into the Eighth Route Army?) Chiang Kai-shek returned to the headquarters in embarrassment, and as soon as he entered the office, Jiang Xianyun came in, and the expression on his face was very strange: "Report to the commander-in-chief, I received a report from the Hunan Peasant Association that Zhuang Jihua, deputy commander of the First Division, forcibly recruited people on the way forward and sabotaged the peasant movement. ”

Chiang Kai-shek's back was still hot, and he first asked people to go to the military doctor, and then said: "Wushan, are they mistaken?" ”

"That's right, commander-in-chief, they came to report that it was the First Division, an order from Zhuang Jihua." Even if he returned to work with Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang Xianyun refused to call him the principal anymore.

Chiang Kai-shek looked at Jiang Xianyun with complicated eyes, and the latter was standing in the room with a solemn look; He knew what Jiang Xianyun's dissatisfaction was, but he still didn't want to give up on him, Zhuang Jihua had pulled him over, and Jiang Xianyun didn't want to let it go.

"He wants to say that Wang Maoru still believes me, the Cultural Revolution, I don't believe it, Wushan, do you believe it?" Chiang Kai-shek made his judgment without even thinking about it.

"I can't believe it, the Cultural Revolution has never done anything to disturb the people, it's just ,...." Jiang Xianyun hesitated and said: "It's just that the people who came said the time, place and name in detail, and the lowly didn't dare not believe it." ”

When Chiang Kai-shek saw Jiang Xianyun's appearance, he couldn't help but be stunned, could it be that Zhuang Jihua really did these things?

Yes, Zhuang Jihua really did it, the number of his regiment is getting bigger and bigger, and the number of the "volunteer" team in front of the branch is also getting bigger and bigger.

(To be continued)