The next morning, An Yi arrived at Mingguang City at noon under the escort of the 36 guards, and Zhou Chongan and four other reporters also completed the interview with the model battalion and the reading teacher, and followed An Yi back to Nanjing.

To An Yi's surprise and touch, Ye Kaixin, the commander of the 44th Army, learned that An Yi was passing by Mingguang and specially led his generals to greet him.

An Yi saluted and thanked him very politely, and dismounted and walked into the city amid the warm greetings of Ye Kaixin and others.

Ye Kaixin was originally the commander-in-chief of the direct Hunan army, and Tang Shengzhi was an old rival, and after the Northern Expeditionary Army entered Hunan to fight, Ye Kaixin was defeated again and again, and retreated to the northwest of Hubei.

When he arrived at Wuchang City, Ye Kaixin saw that the defeat of the direct army was unstoppable, so he surrendered to the revolution under the guidance of his old classmates and was appointed as the commander of the 44th Army, but he still could not escape Tang Shengzhi's revenge, because at the beginning of Tang Shengzhi's army to fight for the dominance of Hunan, Ye Kaixin beat Tang Shengzhi very badly, although in the end he surrendered to the revolution, the two still did not speak. Tang Shengzhi saw that the time was ripe when Ninghan was divided, and he was determined to get rid of Ye Kaixin to avenge the revenge of the year, but a deputy division commander of the Eighth Army who sympathized with Ye Kaixin leaked the news in advance, Ye Kaixin led the army to the eastern Hubei line four hours before Tang Shengzhi's move, broke out of the encirclement of Tang Shengzhi's two armies and successfully entered General Li Zongren's territory, Commander-in-Chief Jiang promptly called General Li Zongren to make proper arrangements, and sent the relevant generals of the General Headquarters to Ye Kaixin to send 300,000 yuan of military funds, Finally, Ye Kaixin and his 18,000 soldiers got out of the predicament and joined the army sequence of Nanjing Political Axe.

Forty-two-year-old Ye Kaixin has rich military experience, and is also an early member of the League, from the high position of Hunan Provincial Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Hunan Army to today's step, it is indeed full of ups and downs, embarrassing, in his words, the general trend of the world has been irreversible. Out of gratitude to Commander-in-Chief Chiang and respect for General Li Zongren, Ye Kaixin and his soldiers fought very bravely after the start of the second phase of the Northern Expedition, and he also knew very well about the combat effectiveness and combat methods of the northern warlords.

Seeing An Yi for the first time today, Ye Kaixin saw the doubts and precautions naturally revealed by the respectful and humble An Yi, and he didn't explain anything, but just led An Yi and the four accompanying reporters to the military compound with a spring breeze on his face, politely exchanged views on the current war situation, and soon led An Yi and others to the backyard, and a sumptuous banquet had been set.

After sitting down politely with each other, Ye Kaixin stroked the three strands of long beard and said kindly: "General An, how about I introduce you to an old friend?" ”

An Yi nodded in surprise: "Senior, please!" ”

"Brother Dexin, come out, haha!" Ye Kaixin clapped his hands and shouted happily.

A tall, square-faced lieutenant general appeared from the door of the east wing, laughed and strode towards An Yi, An Yi was startled and hurriedly stood up and saluted:

"General Zhang...... God, juniors aren't dreaming, are they? ”

Zhang Hongluan laughed, grabbed An Yi's saluting hand, and looked him up and down: "Yes, I am becoming more and more powerful and mature, and my momentum has become stronger, this is the style of a general in my imagination!" Ha ha! ”

Zhang Hongluan nodded with four smiling Chinese and foreign reporters, pulled An Yi to sit between him and Ye Kaixin, leaned forward slightly, and smiled at Ye Kaixin:

"Brother Jingqiu, last year it was this guy who captured his brother and more than 3,000 soldiers under his command, he was too ghostly in the war, hundreds of people tortured thousands of us enough, and dragged more than 3,000 of us to death in the hillside east of Yueyang, and finally was surrounded by General Liu Jingfu and the main force. At that time, he was still a small engineer company commander, and the younger brother was very optimistic about him, and now it proves that the younger brother has a good vision, right? ”

Ye Kaixin and Zhang Hongluan laughed in unison, raised their wine glasses and toasted three glasses with the joyful An Yi, Ye Kaixin turned to the four reporters who were left out and said apologetically:

"I'm snubbing everyone, come on, I salute four journalist friends in this seat, and two foreign friends are really rare! It's the first time I've drunk with a foreigner, and the number of etiquette can't be missing, and I have to toast three glasses in a row, haha! Please, please ......"

After drinking three glasses between the guests and the hosts, Dawit quietly asked He Jing beside him: "This General Zhang and General An seem to be old friends, right?" ”

"I guess it is, but I only know that General Zhang Hongluan is the chief of staff of the 44th Army, and I don't know that General Zhang and General An know each other.

He Jing was also full of doubts, and when he saw the straightforward and bold Kaplan standing up, he hurriedly motioned to Dawit to listen.

Kaplan, whose face was slightly red, said sorry, and asked An Yi curiously in fluent Chinese: "General An, can you tell us about the relationship between you and General Zhang, hearing your conversation just now is curious and very interesting." ”

"This ...... Miss Kaplan, please take a seat, no need for so much courtesy. ”

An Yi motioned for Kaplan to sit down, turned his head to look at Zhang Hongluan and Ye Kaixin, and didn't know what to say, Zhang Hongluan smiled at Ye Kaixin, and asked Ye Kaixin to introduce to everyone, after all, Ye Kaixin is the commander of the army and Zhang Hongluan's friend for many years, and he was originally in the Hunan army.

Ye Kaixin nodded very happily: "It's okay to tell everyone, my chief of staff, General Zhang, and I fought with General An Yi last year, when General An was still a company commander, and we belonged to two hostile sides, he led hundreds of people to drag the more than 3,000 horses and horses led by General Zhang to break through, and finally was caught up by the troops of one of their divisions, and General Zhang became his prisoner, if it weren't for the repeated invitations of this seat to the countryside of Pingjiang, General Zhang may no longer be in the army in his life!"

As for myself, in the famous battle of Tingsi Bridge and the Northern Expeditionary Army at that time was an opponent, responsible for the defense of the left flank position, at first it was not bad, and then it was disabled under the fierce attack of General Zhang Fakui's Fourth Army, and had to lead the troops to retreat to the rear, as a result, on the second night, our Tingsi Bridge position was broken by the commando team composed of General An and now the commander of the Fourth Army, General Huang Qixiang, this seat saw that the general trend had gone, and immediately led the headquarters to retreat to the rear of Hubei to rest, and since that time has a deep memory of General An Yi.

Three months later, he led his troops to join the Northern Expeditionary Army and was appointed as the commander of the 44th Army, that is, he returned to his hometown to invite General Zhang, who returned to the retreat, to serve as the chief of staff of the army. ”

The reporters suddenly realized, and the excited He Jing looked at An Yi opposite and asked loudly: "Xiao Yi, why did you never mention this matter to us?" It seems that the information collected in the book "Model Camp" is still not comprehensive......"

An Yi replied embarrassedly: "These are all things that happened before I became the commander of the engineer battalion of the second division, when I led the brothers of the third company of the engineer battalion to block the men and horses of General Zhang who broke through, who knew that in the end, I didn't catch a captured brother to expand the army, not to mention, but also handed over more than 30 captured horses, what a bag!" ”

When everyone saw An Yi's embarrassed appearance, they all smiled, and An Yi respectfully asked Ye Kaixin and Zhang Hongluan: "If the two seniors don't dislike it, just call the juniors by name, so gracious, the juniors really don't dare to be it!" ”

Ye Kaixin and Zhang Hongluan looked at each other and smiled, Ye Kaixin nodded, and said boldly, just call you Xiaoyi, Zhang Hongluan didn't say anything, but patted An Yi's shoulder affectionately and persuaded him to eat quickly.

An Yi smiled gratefully, picked up the unused chopsticks, picked up a piece of Hunan smoked ham, politely put it in the Kaplan bowl, and then gave Dawit a piece, asking the two to taste it to see what the taste was different from the German smoked ham. Kaplan and Dawit thanked him politely, tasted it carefully, and praised it loudly, and Kaplan said that it would be better if there were fewer peppers, which drew a hearty laugh from the audience.

At the end of the lively lunch, the orderlies quietly set up a tea table on the side, Ye Kaixin and Zhang Hongluan told An Yi the reason why their army drove to Anhui to fight, and told An Yi that it was likely that in the near future, Ning and Han would meet each other, and reminded An Yi to be prepared.

Ye Kaixin then quietly told An Yi that the next battle was originally his own 44th Army and the Reading Division fighting side by side, but I don't know why General Li Zongren suddenly changed the operational deployment, and reversed the combat direction of the 44th Army with the Second Division of the Seventh Army, becoming General Hu Zongduo's Second Division and An Yi's Reading Division in the same direction, Zhang Hongluan regretted this for a long time, saying that there are many Hunan Army brothers in the Reading Division, and the two armies must be able to work together side by side.

Everyone moved to the tea table and sat down to taste tea and take a break, several reporters cherished this rare opportunity very much, and asked to interview Ye Kaixin and Zhang Hongluan, Ye Kaixin agreed, and after answering a few questions from reporters, he recounted the tasks and achievements of the battle.

An Yi suddenly remembered a person, so he asked Ye Kaixin with a smile: "Senior, junior said that I don't know if my predecessor remembers, he is General Zhang Chengzhu, the fierce general of the cavalry regiment under the original command of Wu Dashuai." ”

Ye Kaixin replied in surprise: "Remember! Brother Zhenbei is indeed a rare fierce general with both wisdom and bravery! It's a pity that I was too scared of him at the beginning, worried that Wu Dashuai sent him to take the opportunity to get involved in my Hunan, and now I feel deeply ashamed when I think of it, and I am on guard to take precautions, but now it's all lost? Alas, regret not being at the beginning!

Brother Zhenbei has repeatedly proposed to me to take the initiative to attack, but after much consideration, I still refused, if I had adopted Brother Zhenbei's suggestion, with the reinforcements of my eight divisions plus Wu Dashuai's four divisions and three brigades, I am afraid that I would not have come to this point...... Hey? Xiao Yi, do you know Brother Zhenbei? ”

An Yi nodded: "I know, the black horse of the younger generation was generously given by Brother Zhang, in August last year, Brother Zhang led his troops to attack the Hengyang Iron Bridge and failed, and after breaking through, he evacuated to the east.

After the fight, everyone sat down to eat, Brother Zhang did not look down on the junior as a small company commander, but analyzed the Hunan battle situation with the junior, it can be said that the junior really opened his eyes from that time, and Brother Zhang's words that night made the junior infinitely useful.

When the day was about to dawn, Brother Zhang and Adjutant Li Jinlong were going to Jiangxi, and before that, Brother Zhang and the juniors made an agreement that if our Northern Expeditionary Army was finally defeated, the juniors would have to be a horseman for Brother Zhang for a lifetime, and if our Northern Expeditionary Army was victorious, Brother Zhang would also have to lead a horse for the juniors for a lifetime. ”

Ye Kaixin and Zhang Hongluan looked at each other, and then laughed, Zhang Hongluan said happily: "I didn't expect you to have such a relationship with Brother Zhenbei, Brother Zhenbei is a well-known man, although I didn't have a deep relationship with him at the beginning, but I admired Brother Zhenbei's talent and character very much, which shows that the heroes of the world cherish each other!" Ha ha...... By the way, Xiao Yi, I heard that Brother Zhenbei was graciously retained by Marshal Zhang Zongchang after the defeat of Marshal Wu, and now he is serving as the commander of the major general brigade in the Zhilu Coalition Army, and the cavalry brigade under his command is still very strong, I don't know if we will meet him in the future, if we do, it will be interesting! ”

Ye Kaixin was also embarrassed, he, like Zhang Hongluan, greatly agreed with the frank and respectful An Yi, and invisibly increased their feelings for each other.

An Yi also sighed very emotionally in his heart, he had a further understanding of the warlords in the world, knowing that in troubled times, no one could control his own destiny, and there were many upright and generous people in the warlords, and there were also ruthless and perverse people in the revolutionary ranks.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Ye Kaixin and Zhang Hongluan sent An Yi and his entourage to the station, and used two wagons to hang the horses and personnel of An Yi's entourage on a special train and send them to Pukou.

The three of them agreed on the platform that they would have to sit down and have a good drink after they took Xuzhou, and carry out exchanges and sincere cooperation between the two armies as appropriate.

On the rumbling train heading south, An Yi was still immersed in emotion, and Zhou Chongan, who was sitting opposite, seized the opportunity of An Yi to light a cigarette and said in a low voice:

"I didn't expect you to get along so well with the two generals, and I can see that both of them are orthodox soldiers in the older generation, and they are very important to you, a bit like they are to their own sons and nephews. Do you think there will be further cooperation between you and the two generals in the next Northern Expedition? ”

An Yi shook his head: "I can't help this matter, you also know my current status and situation, I can only say that the relationship between Senior Ye and Senior Zhang will be deep, but I don't know if there will be any opportunities to fight side by side in the future, from the aspect of subordination, my Reading Division is under the jurisdiction of He Yingqin, the commander-in-chief of the First Army, and Liu Zhi, the acting commander, and fighting under General Bai Chongxi is only a temporary requirement of the battle situation, and I still have to return to the First Army in the end."

Now more than 100,000 soldiers of the Second and Third Route Armies are fighting around Xuzhou, after the Battle of Xuzhou and before the third stage of the Northern Expedition, the General Headquarters is likely to make a major adjustment, General Ye and General Zhang's 44th Army belongs to the Third Route Army under the command of Li Zongren, and our Reading Division is likely to return to the First Route Army under the command of He Yingqin, which is hundreds of kilometers away from each other, so it is difficult to fight side by side for a period of time in the future. ”

He Jing of the party newspaper keenly heard the information revealed in An Yi's words, nodded and didn't ask anything anymore, Zhou Chongan didn't understand the various contradictions, origins, moderation and belonging issues within the Northern Expeditionary Army, and after listening to An Yi's answer, he didn't ask the reason in detail, but looked at An Yi with concern:

"Xiao Yi, I'm afraid that your trip to Nanjing will be heavily criticized, I listen to He Jing's analysis, you may be punished by the Central Party Department and the General Headquarters, I don't know if you are psychologically prepared for this?"

An Yi sighed: "To be honest, I haven't said a lot of things, the real things that are about to happen are more complicated and cruel, take the three eastern provinces as an example, I'm afraid that in less than three years, I will be trampled by the iron hooves of Yue Kou, but I don't have any evidence to prove my words."

I also know that many of our high-level officials and the military in Nanjing are pro-Yu factions, and many people did not foresee the coming of the crisis, and are still deceived by the hypocritical theory of friends of the political axe; just imagine, will Yue Ben, who carries out military occupation of China every day and provokes incidents every day to bully and plunder the Chinese people, be friends of the Chinese people? Can you believe the words of their political axes that they are still flaunting their might and rampage on Chinese soil, shelling our troops and poor people at will on our Yangtze River?

In the past two days, you have discussed with me a lot about economic revitalization, but without a development environment where we can live and work in peace and contentment, and we live under the guns and butcher's knives of the great powers every day, how can our people live in peace and how will the economy develop? The simple legal existence of a political axe made our Nanjing political axe bow down and beg others, and almost knelt down and kowtowed.

Tell me, in such an environment, what are we going to do to compete with the large-scale industrialized goods of the great powers? In the face of such a cruel reality, what can I personally do but cry out in vain? I don't think too much about this trip to Nanjing, but if I take off my military uniform, I don't believe that anyone would dare to lock me up or restrict my personal freedom, if that were the case, the person who made this decision would be a revolutionary sinner! ”

"Xiao Yi, I can fully understand your feelings, you are the most worry-conscious, the most magnanimous and fraternal general I have ever met, to be honest, I am deeply moved by you, I will closely follow your affairs, if the Nanjing political axe arbitrarily disregards the public opinion, I will use all my connections and strength, use public opinion to put pressure on the Nanjing political axe, to the commander-in-chief Jiang, because you are right.

Besides, everyone has the right to freedom of speech, and if we allow this newspaper to clamor in China for a long time, can't we tolerate our own people exposing and warning about the inflated ambitions of this political axe? If it is really not allowed, then this political axe will not have any future. Zhou Chongan said excitedly.

An Yi smiled slightly: "Thank you Lao Zhou!" It's an honor to know you! ”

"Stop talking nonsense, it's honorable to me! Haha......" Zhou Chongan smiled sincerely at An Yi.

Kaplan walked over to the three friends he was talking to, asked An Yi and got permission to sit next to An Yi slowly: "General, your experience is full of legends, I was fascinated by you just a few days of following the interview, and ...... You are very handsome, oriental-style beautiful man. ”

An Yi saw the ambiguous smiles on Zhou Chongan and He Jing's faces, and was a little uncomfortable: "Thank you Miss Kaplan for the compliment, you are also beautiful!" I don't know much about the Jewish people, except for the Ten Commandments of Moses and the allusion to the exodus from Egypt, but for some reason, the history of the Jewish people is full of so many tribulations? To a certain extent, it seems that the Chinese nation, like the Chinese nation, is advancing in constant tribulations. ”

"Has the General read the Bible?" Kaplan asked happily.

An Yi shook his head: "No, I had never been to a church before I met Alfred in Quzhou, and I couldn't even tell the difference between Germans, Slavs and Jews. ”

Kaplan laughed: "Many people are like this, and when I first arrived in China, I couldn't tell everyone apart, but I slowly got used to it." General, you just have to remember what I look like, and you will know the characteristics of the Jews in the future, hehe! ”

"Hey, hey! You're so funny, hehe......"

An Yi suddenly understood the slightest subtlety from Kaplan's bold eyes, and had to use a hehe smirk to cover up the devil in his heart, and as a result, his rapidly reddened face caused Zhou Chongan and He Jing to laugh.

(To be continued)