In the wee hours of the morning, the mist slowly swells from above the wide and quiet mountain ponds, the valleys are shrouded in light veils for miles, the early birds sing in the branches, the partridges chirp in the distant mountains, the gentle morning breeze sweeps through the green treetops, and the faint scent of flowers and herbs wafts with the breeze.

Geng Xianglin, the adjutant of the major of the Seventh Regiment of the Hunan and Hubei Frontier Defense, maintained a good routine of life as usual, and the first thing he did after getting up was to squat in the thatched pit.

Unbuckled his belt and stripped off his pants and squatted on the two tree trunks built above the gap in the mountain pond, Si Swenwen's adjutant Geng always had a sense of precarious fear, although he had seen five brothers squatting in a string on these two four-meter-long tree trunks lying on the water, grinning and laughing happily in the slight shaking, but he always felt scared in his own heart, especially in the quiet morning, the "squeak" sound made by the two tree trunks after bearing the weight was so harsh, always made Geng Xianglin, who was highly educated in Shanghai, tremble.

Finally squeezing out the sediment in his body, scraping the sensitive part of the secret place in the center of his buttocks with the rough branches prepared in advance, the worried Adjutant Geng lifted his pants and stepped on the solid ground like a tightrope, only then did he look up to the sky with a sigh of relief, and opened his eyes to look at the morning glow above Yanziling.

Suddenly, Adjutant Geng found that the scenery on the Yanziling Pass was very different from the previous two days, he quickly tightened his trouser pockets, rubbed his eyes and looked at it again, a kilometer away from the mouth and the seven or eight blue sky and white flags on the mountainside on both sides of the mountain were extremely eye-catching under the morning glow, and Geng Xianglin, who was so frightened that his soul was scattered, no longer remembered to maintain a calm and elegant demeanor, and ran to the thatched hut in the small village in a panic, and exclaimed loudly in a shrill and piercing voice: "The enemy is coming......

The exclamations of the exhausted stiles echoed through the mountains, and the silent valley was immediately filled with exclamations, and groups of disheveled officers and men ran out of the thatched huts, rushing in all directions like headless flies, screaming in terror, the pulling of bolts and the shrieks of whistles.

Lu Ronggao, a tall and thin regiment commander in his early forties, rushed out of the big house near the water surrounded by more than a dozen adjutant guards, pulled out his pistol and fired three shots into the sky, which shocked the frightened more than 470 subordinates.

Lu Ronggao took the telescope handed by the guards and looked around, gasped after seeing it, and immediately realized that he couldn't escape even if he put on his wings: five or six light and heavy machine guns were set up condescendingly on the mouth of Yanziling, 800 meters to the east, and people were surging and the woods were swaying within nearly 100 meters on both sides of the mountain col; The only exit to the north, Baishi Pass, was spread out with six huge blue sky and white flags, and on this mountain pass stood more than a dozen arrogant revolutionary soldiers, pointing at themselves, and two of them seemed to be looking at themselves; At the foot of the 100-meter hill across the 800-meter hill to the south, the flag was waving, the dense grass was undulating, obviously full of ambushes, and two light machine guns were erected on the commanding heights 100 meters apart; On the relatively gentle yellow mud fort in the west, more than 30 blue, blue, red and red flags were erected in the blue sky and white and red all over the ground, and one of the red flags fluttering high was embroidered with six big white characters: The Second Division of the First Army! Under the banner, a tall officer, escorted by dozens of officers and soldiers, silently watched every move in the village.

Lu Ronggao put away the binoculars and shouted angrily to the battalion lieutenant: "What about the sentry? Where's your guard post? Didn't you boast to me that you were safe and well-guarded? ”

The adjutant put down the binoculars, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead: "Tuanzao, I didn't expect that the revolutionary army would be surrounded from all sides, it is estimated that ...... I guess they came in before dawn, and I got up at four o'clock to check on the post...... Look, the sentinels from the west are back! ”

Everyone looked at the sentry who was running in embarrassment, and found that the guns and belts on the three people were gone, and the sentry squad leader stopped three meters in front of Lu Ronggao, gasping for breath and panicking:

"Regiment commander, we are surrounded, and it was a battalion of the 2nd Division of the 1st Army of the Revolutionary Army that attacked us from the west, and the remnants of the 6th Brigade that we drove away at noon yesterday have surrendered to them...... This was a letter ordered me to send to the regimental commander by their commander, who said that he would only give us twenty minutes, and that if he did not reply in twenty minutes, he would be regarded as stubborn resistance to the end, and that the two regiments of their second division, located in the west and south, would attack at the same time as the sixteenth regiment of Li Zongren's seventh army, which occupied Yanziling in the east. ”

Lu Ronggao quickly grabbed the envelope and opened it to watch, after reading it and pondering for a moment, he looked up to the sky and sighed: "Chief of Staff Li, inform the brothers of all departments to assemble, lay down their arms and accept the reorganization of the first army and the second division." Since the start of the war, our army has collapsed on all fronts, and our regiment has no choice but to retreat after fierce fighting, and more than half of the casualties have been lost before and after...... What's more, the letter writer said that he and Zhang Chengzhu, the fierce general under the command of the commander, Zhang Zhenbei are righteous brothers, and he must have known that Brother Zhenbei has the grace to rebuild our department, so I think that our brothers have reached the end of the road, and the mountains and rivers are exhausted, even if they abandon their weapons and surrender to sincerity, they will not be too embarrassed. ”

"Tuanza, this ...... Be! ”

Chief of Staff Li saluted and turned around and gave a loud order, and the panicked units of the Seventh Regiment slowly swallowed up and sorted out their ranks in company and platoon units, and the officers and men were reluctant but had no choice.

Under the sharp order of Chief of Staff Lee, one by one the officers and men unloaded their weapons and walked to the center of the field, and piled up all kinds of weapons indiscriminately; in the blink of an eye, 12 light and heavy machine guns and more than 300 rifles and pistols were piled up in the middle of the open space like a hill, and the officers and men of the artillery company who had lost their artillery carried out dozens of boxes of ammunition that had not yet been opened from the thatched huts in the north and walked to the middle to stack them neatly.

Adjutant Geng took the letter from Lu Rong's hand and read it carefully, and the letterhead was neatly written with the following text: Respectfully submit to the head of the Seventh Regiment of Hunan and Hubei Frontier Defense. Because of sympathy for the surnames of the officers and soldiers of our two sides, our unit and the Zhou Zuhuang Regiment of the Seventh Army of the friendly army did not launch a comprehensive encirclement and suppression to your troops at dawn, and the commander of the regiment hoped that the officers and soldiers under his command would put the surnames and lives first, see the situation clearly, lay down their arms, and accept the reorganization of the Second Division of the First Army of our National Revolutionary Army. Revolutionary Salute! Task Force of the 2nd Division of the 1st Army. An Yi. Another submission: I and Zhang Chengzhu and Zhang Zhenbei's eldest brother are like brothers and sisters, and I will never forget it, and I have also heard that the head of Lu and my brother-in-law have a very close personal relationship, and the younger brother is eager to see the heroics!

Five minutes later, hundreds of revolutionary officers and men with loaded guns and ammunition strode from Yanziling in the east and Huangnibao in the west, and banners in all directions were still waving and waving.

Lu Ronggao tidied up his appearance, ordered several guards to put down their weapons and stay put, and led his four deputies to stride westward.

An Yi stopped five meters away from Lu Rong and saluted respectfully: "I have long admired the name of Commander Lu, and on behalf of all the officers and men of the Second Division of the First Army of the National Revolutionary Army, An Yi hereby expresses my sincere respect and warm welcome to Commander Lu and the officers and men of his department!" ”

Lu Ronggao was surprised to see An Yi so young: "Sure enough, the young hero is extremely admirable!" ”

An Yi laughed: "Thanks to the general's wrong love, An Yi is grateful!" Commander Lu, if there are no other objections, do you allow our department to lead the Toucheng soldiers to Shuanggang Village for rest and recuperation? ”

"So far, everything is up to Brother An. Brother An, can I meet with General Liu Xiao of your department? Or meet with Zhou Zuhuang, the head of the 17th Regiment of Li Zongren's department, so that he can listen to the teachings and understand the plan for the reorganization of our department. Lu Ronggao quietly asked.

An Yi smiled again: "Of course you can, but please ask the general to follow the little brother to Shuanggang to arrange it, haha!" If the general has no other requirements, will the reception work begin immediately? ”

Lu Ronggao nodded helplessly: "Please!" ”

An Yi beckoned back, and the brothers of the second company ran forward in a neat line, each platoon led a completely disarmed surrendered company to the west of Shuanggang, and after a while, Hu Zi also led the first company of brothers to arrive, and more than 100 elites surrounded the piles of weapons in the field, watching the long dragon marching westward The team was on strict guard.

The beard took out his whistle and blew it in all directions.

The first platoon, the fourth platoon of newly formed machine guns, and more than 100 brothers led by Shi Junren, led a group of villagers in disheveled clothes and carrying nearly 100 flags on their shoulders left the ambush area one after another, and rushed to the small village north of Shantang from all directions, and only more than 20 middle and high-ranking officers such as Lu Ronggao were left in the wide open space.

Lu Ronggao silently watched his more than 400 subordinates gradually move away, his heart was full of mixed feelings, extremely sad, he sighed and turned to An Yi, but found that more than 200 stupid and happy villagers each carried a big banner from all directions, and one by one the fully armed revolutionary officers and soldiers were mixed with this group of villagers, old and young, and more than 100 remnants of the Sixth Brigade wearing the same military uniform as themselves were still unpitiful lost dogs yesterday, and today everyone is wearing a red belt around their necks, and their faces show excitement and pride, They talked and laughed with the revolutionary army and the villagers around them, and they were like a family.

With the order of the beard, more than 200 soldiers quickly gathered, and after reporting the number, they lined up and walked to the pile of weapons and ammunition in the center of the field, and carried most of them away in the blink of an eye.

Seeing that the army could not finish moving, more than 200 villagers immediately put down the big flag, quickly took down the flagpole and threw it aside, and rolled up the red, red, blue and blue flags into a ball and stuffed them into their arms.

This group of young and old, who rarely showed their faces once in their lives, worked together and quickly carried out the remaining weapons and dozens of boxes of ammunition.

A tough old man who was nearly sixty years old and carried the flag saw that the things were empty and had no part of his own, so he thought about it and picked up the long bamboo pole on the ground, took out the crumpled red quilt in his arms and tied it up, grinned his mouth with few teeth left, and happily raised the flag high, looking extremely proud and proud behind the returning team.

At this time, Lu Ronggao and the more than ten school captains around him completely understood, and they were all so ashamed that they didn't dare to raise their heads.

Lu Ronggao's face was pale and self-ashamed, he gritted his teeth and walked in front of An Yi and saluted solemnly: "Brother An, please allow Lu to take a few brothers around him to fend for themselves. ”

An Yi replied apologetically, took out a letter from the briefcase on his waist and handed it to Lu Ronggao: "This is the letter I prepared in advance, and it has been stamped with the seal of the Political Department of my First Army. ”

An Yi saw Lu Ronggao indifferently accept the letter, thought for a while and explained in a low voice: "Brother Lu, please forgive the younger brother for doing this, if you don't cheat, you will never lay down your arms with Brother Lu's surname, otherwise Brother Lu would have surrendered to the Fourth Army or the Seventh Army a long time ago, even if the younger brother quietly launched a surprise attack before dawn, it would not be able to achieve the current effect, and hundreds of brothers would fall in a pool of blood, perhaps including myself and you, Brother Lu."

There is another thing to tell Brother Lu, the younger brother and Zhang Chengzhu's eldest brother are indeed brothers and sisters, but each is their master, and they can't be together for the time being, the younger brother and Zhang Chengzhu's eldest brother have a gambling contract, if the revolutionary army is defeated and the younger brother does not die, he will do his best to serve in front of and behind the saddle of Brother Zhang in this life, if the revolutionary army where the younger brother is victorious, Brother Zhang will also give the younger brother a horse for a lifetime. ”

Lu Ronggao looked at An Yi in surprise, An Yi smiled slightly, saluted solemnly, turned around and led his more than twenty brothers to the west.

A group of captains of the Seventh Regiment immediately surrounded Lu Ronggao, scolding An Yi's back, and swearing to avenge this shame.

"Shut up!"

Lu Ronggao roared and said sternly, "Which of you has the strategy of Brother An?" Which of you has his good heart? In just half a day, people have not missed anything, and they have surrendered to hundreds of officers and soldiers without a fight, this wisdom and bravery, this courage, how many people have you seen in your life? He has taught us this lesson today, which is enough for us to remember for a lifetime! Why do you hate people? If you want to hate, you hate yourself for not being capable, if I hear someone say a disrespectful word again, please ask him to leave me immediately, I don't need such a narrow-minded person under someone! ”

On the way back, Hu Zi walked up to An Yi and asked in a low voice, "Are you sure that Lu Ronggao and others will leave?" ”

An Yi nodded: "Although I don't know much about Lu Ronggao, I still hear a rough idea from the mouths of a group of captives." First of all, he was trapped in the White Horse Bridge for three days and three nights in the fierce battle with Tang Shengzhi's troops, and a regiment under his command was almost disabled and never surrendered, indicating that this person is a man, and secondly, he was crippled by the Fourth Army in Pingjiang and moved to Daping to rest, and was beaten by the Seventh Army and still insisted on leading the team to flee into the mountains, which shows that this person is an unusually strong person, otherwise he would have surrendered a long time ago. So I remembered what Lao Dao once said to me, Lao Dao said that the more iron-clad a man, the more he misses the old feelings, otherwise he is like the overlord of Chu who is short of breath and has a long love for children, so he took the courage to fight, and used the strategy of the suspicious soldier and the old favor to divide the two-pronged approach, betting that he Lu Ronggao was in an unbalanced mood under the rout all the way, and the grass and trees were all soldiers, and the result was that Lao Tzu was right, otherwise we couldn't afford to drag it out, haha! ”

Hu Zi nodded in admiration: "It's comfortable to be with you, you have expected it in all aspects, take 10,000 steps back and say, if Lu Ronggao sees through it, we can adopt a second blockade plan and occupy a favorable terrain to trap them, but if it takes a long time, the casualties are unpredictable." ”

"Yes! Beard, I also want to be steady, we have won again and again with good luck during this period of time, but people will never have good luck forever, in the future, you and Ji Nan beat me a little more, don't let my brain heat up! An Yi was moved.

Hu Zi laughed, patted An Yi's head rarely, and strode forward to help the brothers in front of him lift the Makqin water-cooled heavy machine gun weighing more than 100 catties to a high hurdle.

(To be continued)