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Yesterday, Feng Yuxiang, who had just been inaugurated as deputy commander-in-chief of the 6 Navy and Air Force, saw the generals leave. The pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info picked up the teacup and drank it with a heavy heart.

Lu Zhonglin, the former commander-in-chief of the enemy, respectfully bid farewell to Feng Yuxiang, and led his generals to Zhengzhou non-stop, deployed the front military, and commanded the armies of all roads to continue eastward.

This important military meeting lasted two days, and the operational sequence of the Northwest Army was once again adjusted. Feng Yuxiang appointed Zhang Weiwang as the commander of the First Route Army, and led his troops out of Jingziguan in southern Shaanxi, and entered and exited the Pinghan Line through Neixiang and Lushan; Sun Liangcheng was appointed as the commander of the Second Route Army, and his headquarters entered and exited Zhengzhou from Longhai Road; Pang Bingxun was appointed as the commander of the Third Route Army, and his troops went south to Jingxiang, advanced and occupied Wuhan, and at the same time contained the strength of the Central Army, it could also deal a heavy political blow to the Nanjing government and Chiang Kai-shek; With Song Zheyuan's division as the Fourth Route Army and Sun Lianzhong's division as the Fifth Route Army, they continued to march to Henan from Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, and Qinghai6; Wan Xuancai was appointed as the commander of the Sixth Route Army, and led his troops to advance along the Longhai Line to Kaifeng and Guide.

Feng Yuxiang also concentrated the cavalry of various units into a cavalry group army, and the cavalry commander Zheng Dazhang commanded the east to go out of eastern Henan and northern Anhui to cooperate with the infantry in combat; Liu Yufen was appointed commander-in-chief of the rear and acting chairman of Shaanxi Province, responsible for all rear affairs in Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningbo, and Qingdao. The total number of troops mobilized by the Northwest Army this time amounted to more than 260,000 troops, all of whom were mobilized to the front in order to unite the forces of all sides to carry out a decisive battle against the Chiang Kai-shek clique.

In the headquarters after the meeting, the atmosphere was extremely solemn, and Pang Bingxun, a veteran who was more than half a hundred years old, came to Feng Yuxiang with a limp and said in a low voice:

"Marshal, the Third Route Army under his post originally planned to go east to southern Henan, but now it is temporarily transferring our troops south to fight on the front line of Jingxiang, and it is not very familiar with several local divisions on the front line of Hubei and Henan, and there is no time to formulate a comprehensive battle plan due to the urgency of time, so I am afraid it will take ten to fifteen days to move

Bit.

Feng Yuxiang politely invited Pang Bingxun to sit down: "Brother Chen (Pang Bingxun), your unit has been stationed in southern Henan for many years, and you are most familiar with the situation on the Hubei-Henan border. There are often good results determined by flexible tactics with one blow, which Chu Yu (Zhang Weiwangzi) can't compare to Brother Chen! In May last year, that line, the shameless traitor Han Xiaosi (Han Fuqu, who claimed to be the leader of our Northwest Army. Ranked fourth) with 50,000 troops, wasn't it also defeated by Brother Gengchen on the front line of Heishi Pass with a large number of enemies?

Looking at the more than 100 generals in our Northwest Army, only Brother Chen is brave and resourceful, and he does not think twice about the experience of facing the enemy, and the adjustment of Brother Chen's Third Route Army to the front line of Jingxiang is not only a safe policy, but also the result of the strong recommendation of the generals.

Since Li Delin took office as deputy commander-in-chief of the 6th Navy and Air Force, he has regarded Wuhan as the greatest goal of his first front army, and Jiang Zhongzheng has also taken great pains to transfer troops and dispatch generals to keep Wuhan, an important place of great significance and political capital.

When our coalition army takes Xu Beng to oppress Nanjing, Jiang Zhongzheng will inevitably give up Wuhan and surrender Nanjing

As soon as Pang Bingxun heard this, he immediately understood Feng Yuxiang's true intentions, and knew that Feng Yuxiang not only wanted to attack Nanjing together with Nao Xishan, but also wanted to take Wuhan, a significant economic and political center, as the object of his conquest, and then occupy the two lakes. From Feng Yuxiang's words, Pang Bingxun was slightly comforted, as a partial division, his Third Route Army could not participate in the big war so early, but only started a full-scale attack after the war was stalemate or made progress in the Xu Beng area. From this level of meaning, Pang Bingxun, who only had 18,000 elite soldiers in hand, was much more restless and restless.

After pondering for a while, Pang Bingxun asked: "Marshal, the report says that Lao Jiang's Fifth Theater Commander An Yi has not recovered from a serious illness, and two of the four divisions in western Hubei under his command are newly formed divisions, but there are more than 50,000 garrisons in western Hubei. I wonder if this information is accurate? ”

"It's exactly what happened.

Feng Yuxiang smiled slightly: "But Brother Chen, don't underestimate the enemy, I have seen An Yi, a doll lieutenant general; According to the report of the Pingjin Command, An Yi was pierced through the thoracic vertebrae and damaged his ribs and thoracic cavity.

However, this person did not start by grandstanding and sloppy, he fought several classic battles, which have been widely praised by various armies, and he is indeed a brave and resourceful young man. This time, Jiang Zhongzheng didn't use the central gang's henchmen, but instead summoned this An Yi from his illness and gave him a high position as the commander of the legion, except for relying on the command level of his proud protégé, there would be nothing else.

This also reminds us that this baby general really can't be ignored, otherwise Jiang Zhongzheng would not have given him such a high power and position, and Brother Chen must pay more attention.

As for the 50,000 local garrison troops, most of them are a rabble that has been temporarily collected and recruited, and there is no need to worry about it, and the independent division with strong combat power has now been transferred to the front line of Xu Beng, which is not under the jurisdiction of the Fifth Army Corps in western Hubei Province

Pang Bingxun nodded, hesitated for a while, and said, "Marshal, there is still a reluctant request from your post." ”

"Brother Chen, please say, Feng Yuxiang replied briskly.

"None of the five local divisions on the line from southern Henan to southwestern Henan is fully staffed, whether it is the number of officers and soldiers or equipment, they can only be called brigades, and they all belonged to the First Route Army of Chu Yu's elder brother before. More than half of them came from the former Nationalist Army. Although he also served in the three national armies before he was attached to the marshal, he was equivalent to nearly half of them, so I am afraid it will be difficult to transfer! Is the marshal designated as Qianhuang and Khan coming to our department?

Pang Bingxun took retreat as advance and proposed his own invitation

Feng Yuxiang smiled, stood up and said loudly: "In addition to giving Brother Chen the right to dispose of military law during the war, this commander will also release the military salaries and military supplies belonging to all departments of the Third Route Army. All of them are handed over to Brother Chen to be in charge, who of them dares to disrespect the order? ”

"Xie Dashuai! I will do my best. Strictly follow the orders of the General Command. Carrying out a series of battle plans to the letter, Pang Bingxun finally spoke out loudly.

For half a month in a row, the fighting between the Longhai and Jinpu armies became more and more intense, and the flames of war became more and more vigorous, spreading in all directions, and the 14th Route Army of the Northwest Army respectively advanced to the area of "Neixiang, Yexian, and Luoyang and Zhengzhou in the western section of Longhai Road" west of Pinghan Road. Sun Chu, Yang Xiaoou, Guan Fu'an and artillery units under the command of Yan Xishan's Jin Sui Army, commanded by Xu Yongchang and Yang Aiyuan, were transferred to the Lanfeng area of eastern Henan via Zhengzhou, and Shi Yousan, Liu Chunrong, Wan Xuancai, Liu Enmao, and Sun Dianying stationed in Qinan, eastern Henan, and northern Anhui were all under the command of Yan Xishan; The Jinsui army on the Jinpu line was commanded by Fu Zuoyi and Zhang Yinwu, and the troops were divided into four routes, rushing towards Dezhou and Jinan.

Jiang Zhongzheng went from Nanjing to Xuzhou to command the various armies in battle, and Chen Tiaoyuan, Han Fuqu, Ma Hongqian, Gu Zhutong, and Liu Zhi all went to Xuzhou to attend the military conference. ordered the First Army of Han Fuqu and Chen Tiaoyuan's Division, which was defeated and retreated in the face of the lack of confidence of the Northwest Army but wanted to preserve its strength, and the First Army Corps was transferred to Shandong to command all the armies in Shandong; Liu Zhi's Second Army commanded all the armies in the southern section of Jinpu; He Chengjun's Third Army commanded the armies of Hubei and Henan. By strengthening command and simplifying links, we can fight with high efficiency. Wang Jinyu, Yang Hucheng, and Xu Yuanquan, the generals of the local army who supported the central government, were appointed as commanders of the right, central, and left wings of the corps; Chen Tiaoyuan's Fourth Army Corps was a reserve corps, and this time it was strengthened again.

Just when the legions were fighting with all their might and fighting with the coalition forces, the theater where An Yi's Fifth Army was located was extremely calm, and there was no sign of a big war coming.

On April 24, Chiang Kai-shek, who had returned to Nanjing to complete the borrowing of money from the Jiang Shu chaebol to fight the war, rushed to Hankou, and hurriedly walked into the conference room after getting off the plane, and saw He Yingqin, commander of the Third Army Corps, He Chengdan, and other more than ten generals all standing up and waiting, but there was no figure of An Yi, commander of the Fifth Army Corps. ”

"It's here, but he quarreled with Minister He and walked out of the balcony to smoke." The good-natured He Chengjun replied in a low voice.

"Minghao!"

Chiang Kai-shek took off his military hat, put it on the table upright, frowned and asked himself again about the senior brother of Ben Zhenwu Military Academy today: "What are you arguing about?" ”

He Chenglan shook his head: "Minister He strongly advocates that the Xianggong line and the 17th and 51st divisions of the garrison be included in our third army, so that it can be connected with Brother Huchen (Yang Hucheng) and Brother Kecheng (Xu Yuanquan) stationed on the front line of Xinyang and Nanyang to consolidate the defense line. General Ahn objected, arguing that this was a disservice, claiming that such a move would only add to the confusion of the entire chain of command of the already bloated Third Army. It will not help the war in the slightest. The two of them had their own reasons, but General An was sarcastic during the argument, so the louder and louder they were, and finally broke up unhappily

An Yi strode in at this time, saluted Chiang Kai-shek, silently walked to the lower left, and sat with several major generals of the General Headquarters.

Chiang Kai-shek thought for a while and looked at He Yingqin, who was pale-faced on the left: "Respectfully, if you think it is necessary, you will do it according to your opinion." ”

He Yingqin smiled gratefully: "The subordinates don't dare!" General An had already made a public statement just now. If he said that if the battle was defeated and the enemy broke through the defense line and forced Suizhou to the front line, his Fifth Army Corps would not give the aid of a single soldier of the Third Army Corps, and he would have to bear all the responsibilities arising therefrom. ”

Chiang Kai-shek breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this, it was not easy to deal with each other's attacks between private individuals, and he was most taboo about the constant internal contradictions during the war. After listening to He Chengdan and He Yingqin's explanations, he suddenly felt that An Yi was probably right, after all, Yang Hucheng, who had not been attached for a long time, was from the Northwest Army, and Xu Yuanquan originally defected from Tang Shengzhi. Not long ago, Tang Shengzhi, who fled in embarrassment after the annihilation of the entire army in the Battle of Henan-Hubei, returned to China again, and sang and made a harmony with Yan Xishan, Wang Jingwei and others, in an attempt to make a comeback, and privately let out the rumors, even if he went bankrupt, he would take out the last savings of more than 15 million yuan, and re-recruit the old troops to oppose Chiang to the end.

In this sensitive period, if Fan Shisheng's department, which had a history of wavering and rat endings, was merged into the Third Army Corps, it would encounter a setback. It is difficult to ensure that these divisions will not passively avoid the battle or even defect to the enemy. In this way, Wuhan will not be guaranteed.

Presumably, He Yingqin's scruples are exactly this, from this point of view, An Yi is not only aware of this hidden crisis, but also seems to have a solution, otherwise, he would not dare to turn his face with He Yingqin in front of more than ten prominent generals in the army.

Thinking of the delicate relationship, Chiang Kai-shek's frowning brows opened, and he began to preside over the meeting as if there was nothing to do, and in a few words he paid attention to the grim war on the Eastern Front, and the topic soon turned to the Hubei-Henan theater of the Third Army.

He Chengdan unhurriedly reported the situation on the battlefield and the process of several tentative engagements between the two sides, and correctly judged that Feng Yuxiang's two-way commander was likely to suddenly turn around and go south to attack the line from Xinyang to Wushengguan.

Chiang Kai-shek was quite satisfied with Ho Chengjun's report. glanced at An Yi, who looked up and looked down to take notes, and suddenly asked loudly:

"An Yi, tell me about it!"