readx;

Chapter 678: Determination and Faith

At 12:40 p.m., the Huangzhen Reserve Battalion. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

At the end of the brief but solemn battlefield commendation ceremony, nearly 100 generals accompanied Chairman Chiang into the dense forest in the northwest corner and began to enjoy the lunch provided by the logistics unit of the 24 th Army.

Previously, at the headquarters of the 19th Route Army, 16 generals from the commander-in-chief Cai Tingkai were awarded and commended, and three brigades were awarded honorary titles, and Chiang Kai-shek finally handed over a reward check of 200,000 yuan to Cai Tingkai, and once again emphasized that the Songhu War of Resistance was consistently carried out in the name of the 19th Route Army, which was brave and good at fighting.

Although the 19th Route Army had received donations of more than 1.7 million yuan from the people in Shanghai and all parts of the country since the beginning of the war, received a large number of food and material donations, and was able to secretly recruit two supplementary brigades from Guangdong, Fujian, and other places to make up for the battle losses, it was highly praised and recognized by Chiang Kai-shek and the central authorities, which made the 19th Route Army extremely proud of abandoning their complaints, and played an important role in boosting morale and boosting the morale of the army.

In the just-concluded commendation ceremony, the 24th Army was highly praised and benefited, acting commander Yin Jinan was officially promoted to lieutenant general, deputy army commander Ye Cheng was awarded the Baoding Medal for his effective planning and command, Gu Changfeng, commander of the 44th Division of the Tiger General in the army, was promoted to lieutenant general, and brigade-level generals and colonels were promoted and medaled.

In order to show his comfort and respect for the 24 th Army, which had made outstanding achievements in battle, Chairman Chiang was particularly gracious and conferred the official name of the 39th Division of the Standing Division of the Central Army of Xia Jian's Garrison Division, which had rushed to the battlefield in the name of a tutor, and Xia Jian concurrently served as deputy commander of the South Sichuan Garrison Command in the name of lieutenant general and division commander.

At this point, the 24th Army became the second descendant army of the whole army after Chen Cheng's 18th Army, with three divisions and its own headquarters.

Sitting at the long table made of felled trees, the generals were full of praise for the snow-white steamed rice in the lunch box, the large plate of braised pork, meat buns and egg cauliflower soup on the table, and joked that they didn't expect the food of the 24th Army to be so good.

Yang Jie, the careful deputy chief of staff, introduced with a smile: There is another unit whose food is better than this, but that unit only has one meal of rice and three days of rice porridge every week, and the rest of the time is all staple foods such as noodles, steamed buns, and flatbread.

As soon as the generals heard this, they immediately thought of the Hujialin Independent Division, which was fighting with the Japanese army in Jiangbei and Chongming Island, but was extremely agile, and immediately heated discussions about the Jiangbei arrangement and role of the independent division.

Chiang Kai-shek looked at the beloved general An Yi sitting beside him, very satisfied, just now in the temporary pharmacy of the field hospital, Chiang Kai-shek had already reprimanded An Yi for five minutes for being a small soldier on the front line, and now that little worry has all dissipated, and the performance and firm loyalty attitude of the 24th Army have made Chairman Chiang feel more comfortable.

Hearing the generals around him whispering about the deep meaning of the independent division's use, Chiang Kai-shek smiled slightly, bowed his head to eat, he had already learned from An Yi's secret report that the independent division was so useful, and he didn't explain too much to the generals under his command after agreeing.

From the bottom of his heart, Chiang Kai-shek did not want the war to spread and lead to an escalation of the war, so that he would have time to annex the great powers, exterminate the Red Army, and revitalize the economy, but he could not help but take precautions to make further arrangements, including Chen Cheng's 18th Army, which has now been driven to the front line of Jiaxing, and Zhang Hongluan's 44th Army on the front line of Suzhou, which are the main forces that Chiang Kai-shek decisively mobilized just in case, and a total of more than 80,000 soldiers from seven divisions of the two armies can enter the Songhu battlefield at any time for a decisive battle. In addition, Xia Jian's rapid advance of a 15,000-man division with various artillery regiments made Chiang Kai-shek, who had abundant defensive forces in the first and second lines, reassured himself that he accepted the opinions of He Yingqin and other lords and factions, and did not let the troops from all over the country go to the battlefield and the surrounding areas, and extended an olive branch to the Japanese for peace talks. In the first battle, Chiang Kai-shek was extremely satisfied with the results achieved by destroying 500 enemies, and thus dragging a brigade of the 11th Division of the Japanese Army that had just arrived in the Jiangbei and Chongming Island areas.

An Yi's mood is far from everyone, the two divisions of the 24th Army will soon return to southern Sichuan to recuperate, and the price of losing tens of thousands of experienced and determined veterans makes An Yi extremely painful, he knows that there is no half a year, the 16th and 44th divisions are out of breath, even if they are replenished to form combat strength, they still need to be tested in actual combat, therefore, how to strengthen the army construction has become a difficult problem in front of An Yi and the generals at all levels of the 24th Army. Secondly, An Yi was surprised that President Jiang gave Xia Jian the official number of the 39th Division regardless of his previous suspicions, and he also thought a lot, the 39th Division was originally the number of the Northwest Army, and according to the plan of the Military Commission, this official number will be awarded to Pang Bingxun's Department who is still stationed in the border area of northern Henan and southern Hebei, and now President Jiang has generously given the number of the 39th Division to the 24th Army as part of the reward. There is another question that makes An Yi feel a lot, he didn't expect Chiang Kai-shek to be so good to his father-in-law Ou Yaoting and Lao Shoudao, before inspecting the hospital to comfort the wounded, he actually took time to talk with Ou Yaoting for 20 minutes, what to talk about An Yi still doesn't know, after the arrival of colleagues from the Military Commission, An Yi has been accompanying him to discuss together, and he has no time to understand the content.

"What do you think?" Chiang Kai-shek wiped his mouth with a napkin, turned his head and asked An Yi kindly.

An Yi put down half of the bun in his hand, bowed his head and replied: "The war in the Zhabei direction has started again, and the intermittent bombing of Wusong by Japanese planes has started again, and the students feel that the Japanese army's full-front attack is likely to be delayed for a few days, and it is estimated that they have seen our firm determination to resist the war, and see that their current strength is difficult to launch a large-scale full-front attack, so the students are worried about the gentlemen of the negotiation team of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and it is estimated that the pressure they face will become greater and greater, and the situation will become more and more complicated after the participation of the seven European and American countries." ”

The generals stopped talking and all looked to Chiang Kai-shek and An Yi, which was also a major concern of all people, and most of the generals feared that after making military progress and gradually seizing the initiative, the civilian officials would fall in the negotiations.

Chiang Kai-shek nodded approvingly: "I am very relieved that you can think so, very good!" As one of the leading generals in the army, as the deputy chief of staff of the Central Military Commission, and as the chief of the general staff of the former enemy in the Songhu Theater, your worries are normal and necessary. So far, we have not sent representatives from the military to join the negotiating team, not because we are afraid of it, but because we are polite and moral, to show the world our desire for peace, and at the same time to show the Japanese our sincerity. However, this does not mean that we are passively waiting, and the brave resistance of the officers and men of the 19th Route Army and the 24th Army for half a month is actually enough for the world to see our determination. It's just that everyone thinks a little simpler on political issues, but in fact, the situation is very complicated, and the ups and downs in it are not so tasteful! You tell me? ”

An Yi pondered for a moment and replied decisively: "Principal, students have shallow experience, especially not good at diplomacy and politics, and can't share worries for the principal and the country, and the students feel very guilty!"

Since the students have always thought in their hearts, since they cannot contribute in other aspects, it is better to devote all their energy to the military, do their best to fight every battle, and through every battle, demonstrate the prestige of our army, show the firm and unyielding determination of our army, and strive to establish the confidence of the officers and men of the whole army in victory, promote justice, and increase the sense of pride and mission in the hearts of the officers and men of the whole army, so that our officers and men can bravely go forward under the bayonets of the violent sun, go forward one after another, and do not hesitate. To create as favourable conditions as possible for political negotiations.

I remember that the German iron-blooded Prime Minister Bismarck famously said: Failure is the final test of perseverance, and truth is only within the range of a cannon! Although this sentence seems to be brutal, it exhausts the common essence in the hearts of the great powers, so what students want to do most now and what they should do most is how to increase the range of our army's artillery. ”

The generals laughed for a while, but they felt endlessly aftertasted, Chiang Kai-shek nodded and glanced around: "An Yi said it well, he said the essence of the law of the jungle in this era, from the position of the army and from a military point of view, we must have such and such psychological preparations." What is even more comforting to me is that An Yi's words show an attitude, a spirit of firm and unyielding and diligent, not only determination but also confidence, and the establishment of confidence must come from a hard-working battle, from the encouragement and spur of victory!

Ladies and gentlemen, don't underestimate An Yi's words, he is telling us all, telling us the whole army, how to build confidence after having determination, it is thought-provoking! ”

The generals stopped eating, one by one silent, full of thoughts, An Yi's words seemed to be humble and peaceful, and even a little slogan-like hollow, but after Chiang Kai-shek summed it up, it was meaningful, not only the army's position and policy to go, there is an indomitable firm belief, but also that requires a hundred times the blood, sweat and wisdom, otherwise there is no victory, how can there be confidence? And victory is not so easy to get, with An Yi's talent and the courage of the 24th Army, the half-moon battle has also been fought without three out of ten, although it has achieved a key battle victory, but also paid the lives of thousands of soldiers, after this tragic battle, pay a tragic price and achieve victory, how many armies can do it? And how many generals are willing to do this? Although the 19th Route Army and the An Jia Army have already done it, and the independent divisions, the 87th and 88th divisions are doing it, who can match their words and deeds and speak from the bottom of their hearts among the various forces that are shouting against Japan throughout the country?

Chiang Kai-shek saw that the generals were deep in thought, slowly stood up, and whispered An Yi to accompany him, An Yi respectfully stood up and walked into the forest path with Chiang Kai-shek.

The standing generals sat down again, looking at the figure of Chiang Kai-shek nodding frequently in the distance and An Yi pointing to the eastern battlefield, knowing in their hearts that through this battle, An Yi had been favored and respected, and I was afraid that An Yi's position of power in the future would become heavier and heavier.