The two horses rushed quickly to the front of An Yi's battalion on the side of the Lujiapo highway, and the division headquarters staff officer Chen laughed when he saw An Yi, pointed to the "model battalion" flag held high and said, Thanks to it, I can find you at once, and when I finished, I signaled that the headquarters staff officer around me could give orders.

The lieutenant colonel staff officer of the military headquarters took out the order and read it out loud: The engineer battalion immediately turned around and returned to the Heshengqiao Railway Station, took the special train of the headquarters, and rushed to the Yujiawan Station in the south of Wuchang City.

An Yi took the order and respectfully returned the salute, and ordered Hu Zi and Yin Jinan to lead the brothers to turn around immediately.

Staff Officer Chen was quite surprised to see that there were more than sixty horses in An Yi's team, and asked An Yi why there were so many more horses all of a sudden, and what were behind these horses? An Yi replied that some of them were seized yesterday, carrying various construction structures, explosives and some other special tools.

Staff Officer Chen nodded relievedly and told An Yi that fortunately, three convertible wagons were dropped at Puqi Station in the south in the early morning, otherwise you sappers would not be able to transport so many urgently needed things to Wuchang City in time.

Seeing the two herald commanders leaving, An Yi and Yin Jinan led their horses and exchanged opinions in a low voice, and quickly guessed from Staff Officer Chen's words just now: It is estimated that they will assist the main force in attacking the city!

In the evening, An Yiying rushed to Yujiawan Station in the south of Wuchang City and immediately received a notice: march to Wushengmen through Hongshan and Xujiapeng.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, An Yi, who was camping in the old woods four kilometers outside Wusheng Gate, suddenly received a notice and asked to immediately rush to the division headquarters outside Zhongxiao Gate to attend an emergency meeting.

An Yi didn't say a word, rode on the little black horse, and followed the herald to the temporary headquarters of the division headquarters in the southeast.

Liu Xiao nodded to An Yi and motioned for him to sit at the end: "Ladies and gentlemen, according to the order of the headquarters, General Li Zongren will serve as the commander-in-chief of the siege, at the request of Chief Li, the headquarters agrees to Chief Li's siege plan, taking advantage of the favorable opportunity when the defending enemy has been defeated again and again, and the position is not stable, the Fourth Army, the Seventh Army and the two main regiments of our Second Division have arrived under Wuchang City, and they will launch a powerful attack on Wuchang City at 8 o'clock in the evening today, and the 4th and 6th regiments of our division will be the reserve of the Fourth Army before 7 o'clock in the evening. Arrive at the rear of the siege force of the Fourth Army outside the Tongxiang Gate and reinforce at any time; The divisional engineer battalion must arrive behind the main force outside the Wangshan Gate to Zhonghe Gate of the Seventh Army before 5 p.m., and make every effort to make siege ladders for friendly siege troops. Next, the chief of staff will introduce the situation of Wuchang's city defense. ”

Hu Shusen glanced at the generals and colonies, and said loudly: "Wuchang City is second to none among the three towns of Wuhan, and is the political, economic, cultural, and military center of Hubei. The circumference of the city wall is 30 kilometers, the moat is strong and wide, the snake mountain in the city is criss-crossed, and the artillery position of the defending enemy is set on the snake mountain, and the power is greatly increased. The depth of the moat is about two meters and thirty, the bridge on the moat is almost completely destroyed by the defenders, the city wall is extremely strong, about seven to eight meters high, and the whole city has nine city gates, which are heavily guarded, easy to defend and difficult to attack. This battle will be extremely difficult, and I hope you are well prepared. ”

It is hard to imagine that under the existing conditions, how can an eight-meter-high ladder be made safely and quickly, such as using logs to obtain the greatest stability, even if an eight-meter-long log ladder can be made in an hour, but the weight of hundreds of kilograms will not hinder the speed of the attack? If it is made of tough bamboo, it is simple and easy to carry, but such a ladder is wobbly and full of elasticity, how can it ensure the stability and speed of the friendly brothers who climb it? I'm afraid that just after the erection is put up, a grenade can blow up the long ladder in all parts.

Without waiting for An Yi to think of a way, the meeting was about to end, and Liu Xiao asked all departments to carry forward the spirit of Huizhou siege during the Eastern Expedition and go all out to raise the prestige of our army!

An Yi could only repeat the oath with everyone, walked out of the hall to the big tree in the yard to untie his beloved horse, and pulled out of the yard with anxiety.

"Wait, Xiao Yi!"

Jiang Dingwen strode out of the courtyard, stopped An Yi, who was about to get on the horse, walked up to him and asked in a low voice: "Did you know that your big brother Xu Jishen was shot in the chest when he led the assault team to rush to the bridgehead at Hesheng Bridge?" ”

An Yi was taken aback: "God...... Where is Brother Xu? How is he doing now? ”

"Don't worry, you can't die, he was seriously injured but still insisted on commanding, until he fell, and now he is undergoing surgery in the military hospital of Xianning Battalion, I heard in the morning that he has not woken up, but he is lucky not to hurt his heart. Because our regiment was covering the advance of the main force in the early morning yesterday, it had an unexpected encounter with the sneak attack troops of two regiments of the enemy, and our regiment fought desperately and annihilated more than 400 enemy troops, but because they were outnumbered and suffered heavy casualties, if the friendly troops did not arrive in time, I am afraid that it would be even more dangerous, so we could not participate in this siege battle, and we were ordered to escort many wounded brothers back to Xianning by special train this evening for medical treatment and recuperation. Jiang Dingwen smiled slightly after speaking.

An Yi was stunned for a while, then came back to his senses and shook his head helplessly: "What can you say like this?" I guess he won't hear it for a while, so I'd better wait for me to go back and look for him. Thank you, boss, my brother has to go back as soon as possible, and he has to go back to the camp early to lead people to the Seventh Army to listen to the order. ”

Jiang Dingwen grabbed An Yi's sleeve and whispered, "Are you in such a hurry?" More than 100 people from the Political Department and two engineer battalions of the Seventh Army have already started before lunch today, and the people in the vicinity are very enthusiastic, donating countless staircase door panels, they themselves have already done it, the reason why you are transferred to the department is nothing more than a matter of face, you don't give me stupid enough to take the initiative to ask for the siege of the city, that is a life of nine deaths. ”

An Yi smiled slightly: "This self-aware little brother still has, and the younger brother is not optimistic about this attack at all, in terms of firepower and troops, we are not as good as the enemy, there are still so many artillery pieces on Snake Mountain, after the shells are fired, we open a boat to cross the river and transport it back from the Hanyang Arsenal, we have no naval guns and no heavy artillery, and we do not have advanced engineering equipment and perfect preparations, so it is estimated that it is very uncomfortable." ”

Jiang Dingwen smiled appreciatively: "Not bad! I'm getting more and more savvy day by day, no wonder a few teachers are in favor of you, even I am scared by your progress, haha! Okay, if nothing else, I just want to tell you that you must remember to increase the vigilance force of the camp to prevent the enemy's sneak attack and destruction at any time, and also remember the person Chen Jiamo, the main general of the enemy army who defended the city. I know you've been keeping an eye on this old fox for a long time, and you don't have to worry about the rest. Alright, go back, be careful on the battlefield, don't put yourself in danger. ”

An Yi said goodbye to Jiang Dingwen gratefully, and was just about to get on the horse, when he suddenly remembered the important opium business, and looked left and right at Jiang Dingwen's ear with a whisper.

Jiang Dingwen was overjoyed, and whispered two words to leave immediately.

Half an hour later, Jiang Dingwen led a platoon of henchmen to ride forty-one pied horses and quietly arrived at An Yi's camp, the two entered the tent guarded by three sentries and came out quickly, Jiang Dingwen, who was full of excitement, ordered his subordinates to move out the opium smoke, and the horses he brought were not finished and took away An Yi's seventeen pack horses, and happily returned to the five regiment garrisons in Yujiawan, An Yi was also greatly relieved.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, An Yi left Yin Jinan to lead the best-equipped company, two machine gun platoons, and more than 100 new brothers who had just changed into revolutionary army clothes and were waiting for assignment to guard the camp.

An Yi and Hu Zi looked at the production method of connecting two or even three bamboo ladders or wooden ladders together with ropes for a while, and said nothing, and immediately ordered the brothers to start work.

After working for more than two hours, the production speed and quality of the An Yi Engineer Battalion were loudly praised by the commanders of the Seventh Army, especially the four reinforced ladders made by the brothers of the Third Company with eight ten-meter-long bamboos, which were highly praised by the commanders of the main force of the siege, and immediately asked a group of people to carry these four ladders for rapid transportation tests and support load-bearing tests, which won unanimous praise from the officers and soldiers, and the five squad leaders of the Third Company were then taken everywhere by the commanders of the Political Department of the Seventh Army to impart experience.

An Yi and Beard sent away the annoying officials of the Political Department, came to the edge of the attack position under a plane tree, stood silently while smoking, looked ahead for a while, took out their respective binoculars, and carefully observed the terrain from Wangshan Gate to Zhonghe Gate, the city walls, battlements, and the firepower points arranged by the defenders in the bright place.

A colonel of the Seventh Army who was on patrol before the war signaled his subordinates to keep quiet, quietly walked to An Yi's side, and quietly listened to the conversation between An Yi and Huzi.

Hu Zi asked: "It's too dangerous, it's just a hundred secrets...... Why do I suddenly feel that the siege in the evening is very suspenseful? How sure do you think our army will choose to attack at this time? ”

An Yi, who was holding a telescope and observing intently, didn't think about it and replied casually: "There is a fart certainty, whether you want the location to be advantageous or not, whether you want firepower or not, and you want to break through the fortified city in front of you with hundreds of broken ladders?" Dream on! Not to mention that the enemy ships on the river could bombard this open and flat area outside the city at any time, and the artillery on the snake hill inside the city and the hundreds of heavy machine guns at the head of the city could kill them. ”

Hu Zi nodded and agreed: "I also have this opinion, especially when I heard you say that the main general of the city defense is Chen Jiamo's old fox, and the friendly army is estimated to have enough to drink a pot tonight." ”

An Yi spit out the cigarette butt and put down the binoculars, Yu Guang saw someone around him, and quickly turned around, feeling that the unfamiliar colonel in front of him was very abyssed, and looked at the nameplate on his chest and was suddenly startled, it turned out to be Hu Zongduo, the colonel of the Seventh Brigade of the Seventh Army, the main force attacking the city tonight.

An Yi hurriedly stood up and saluted, and greeted awkwardly: "Hello Chief Hu!" The subordinates don't know that it is Chief Hu, and the nonsense is offensive, please forgive me! ”

Hu Zi also walked over in surprise, saluted Hu Zongduo and stood beside An Yi.

Hu Zongduo shook his head kindly: "You are right, it coincides with my thoughts, I also said this to Chief Li in the morning, and General Gallen, the head of the advisory group, was also very worried. Lieutenant An Yi, I heard of you before the Northern Expedition, your engineer training methods have been promoted in our army, but they are still not as good as yours, I looked around just now, your engineers are much stronger than our army's engineers, just say that the rope is wound and knotted when the long ladder is tied, I have never seen several methods, fast and strong and refreshing. ”

"The chief has won the award, these methods are all learned from the fishermen in Guangzhou, if the chief needs, we can teach it to your counterparts, it is very simple, master the trick and learn it in ten minutes."

An Yi smiled embarrassedly, and finally remembered Hu Zongduo's identity as a native of Hubei, remembered the outstanding performance of the two regiments under his command on the day of the Battle of Heshengqiao, and also remembered that he was the only one in the entire Seventh Army since the Northern Expedition who successfully subdued more than 3,000 prisoners and did not escape, and now the strength and number of officers and soldiers of his Seventh Brigade are second to none among the brigades of the Seventh Army, and they continue to expand.

Hu Zongduo nodded appreciatively: "This matter is not in a hurry, what is urgent is the large-scale siege that is about to start, I want to hear what suggestions you have." ”

An Yi shook his head helplessly, and the helpless look on his face made Hu Zongduo let out a long sigh. In the face of the impregnable city in front of him, he didn't have any way, only one feeling: difficult, difficult!

(To be continued)