As soon as Staff Officer Liu went out to inform the regiments, a guard walked in quickly, raised his hand and gave a military salute to Xu Ming, "Report, Division Commander Mo has arrived." ”

"Oh, hurry back and receive it." Xu Ming immediately got up and returned to the division headquarters in Lu'an with the chief of staff.

At the same time that Xu Ming visited others, others also came to visit him, and today it was Mo Dehong, the commander of the 138th Division, whose troops were transferred to Huoshan to rest and recuperate after defending the Chihe River.

Division Commander Mo Dehong, Chief of Staff Long Yanwu, and 414 Brigade Commander Zhong Yi were drinking tea in the temporary reception room, and when they saw Xu Ming coming over sweating profusely, they said with a smile, "Uninvited, uninvited." ”

Xu Ming also smiled, "I said how to go out in the morning and heard the magpie at the door, it turns out that Master Mo is coming today." ”

The two exchanged pleasantries and introduced the personnel to each other, Mo Dehong said, "I came today, mainly thanks for coming, Master Xu, your 4 guns have helped me a lot, you don't know, Tianren (Zhong Yi) He lost 2 guns, and I had a good fight with him." ”

Zhong Yi also smiled on the side, "Our Gui army originally had few cannons, and the division commander saw that I lost 2 guns, and scolded me well, I said that the small ones don't go, and the big ones don't come, and the next day Division Commander Xu, you sent 4 guns." "Zhong Yi is a dark but very strong man, and his speech has a distinct Guangxi Zhuang accent, which has a kind of magnetism.

Xu Ming hurriedly waved his hand modestly, "Where, where, I won't use this kind of cannon, it's a burden to keep it, it's better to forget it for those who know the goods." At this, the crowd laughed.

Since he is an officer, he can't help but talk about the battle situation, the five theaters at that time were all led by the Gui department, and the four armies of the Gui department were all here, and Mo Dehong was naturally very concerned about the battle situation.

After the Battle of Mingguang and the Battle of Taierzhuang, the Japanese army really couldn't bear the defeat, and with the discovery of Tang Enbo's corps, the Japanese army thought that this was an excellent opportunity to annihilate the main force of the squadron in one fell swoop and force the opponent to surrender. The day after the defeat of Taierzhuang, the Japanese army base camp issued a mainland order for the Battle of Xuzhou, and the troops were divided into 7 routes, which crossed from the east, south and north of the Longhai Line and the Jinpu Line, and cut off the first retreat route from the Lanfeng and Guide defense lines in the west, in an attempt to wipe out the main force of the squadron.

At this time, the top level was still counting on another big victory, there were more than 400,000 troops in the theater, and hundreds of thousands of horses were continuously mobilized from all over the country, Xu Ming found that no matter how it changes, people's hearts cannot be changed.

A few days ago, when he learned that even the Central Army in Hunan and the 60th Army in Yunnan had been transferred to Xuzhou to participate in the war, he sent a sealed telegram to the theater headquarters to express his concern about the war situation.

"Qianli, the opinion of the war zone is to win another victory in Taierzhuang, but it won't work, and it's good to win a big victory in Mingguang." Mordhorn Road.

"Master Mo, how can there be a big victory, if it weren't for Wang Mingzhang in front of him, he would have blocked the attack with death in Touteng County to win the time for the war zone to deploy defenses; Then Sun Lianzhong defended Taierzhuang for half a month, and finally the Japanese army was repeatedly attacked, the division veterans were tired, and the Tang army commander surrounded and annihilated him in the back; and Sun Tongxuan fought to the death in Jining, dragging the Japanese reinforcements. Which of these conditions are present every time, Commander Mo, when have you ever seen such a coordinated battle between various armies? ”

The cooperation of the various armies in Taierzhuang is very rare, such as the poor combat effectiveness of the Sichuan army, and the looting of military supplies in Shanxi, so that Yan Xishan and Cheng Qian do not want them, but they fight to the death in Tengxian until the whole army is annihilated; Sun Lianzhong's ability to stay for half a month was also greatly beyond everyone's expectations, and the original plan was to keep it for 3 days! Tang Enbo and Sun Tongxuan's performance is also remarkable, Taierzhuang's squadron may not be the strongest squadron with the strongest combat effectiveness, but it is indeed the best unit that coordinates with each other.

Mo Dehong knew that the battle of Taierzhuang was very difficult for China to win, at that time, the situation on the front line changed three times a day, one time the Japanese army broke through the defense line in Zhuangnei, and the other time our army death squad regained the position, and the two sides fought into a flesh mill, but the Japanese reinforcements were not in time, and the last breath was worn out.

"Even if you can't beat Taierzhuang, I hope to make another thousand miles." Mo Dehong said with a smile, Xu Ming defeated the Japanese army twice in Mingguang, he admired it very much, and at that time he thought that Mingguang of the 107th Division was a weak link, and now Xu Ming's ability has been recognized by the generals in the theater.

"Master Mo, you have promoted me, I don't hide it from you, the defeat of the Japanese army Taierzhuang is to blame, but the defeat of Mingguang is really wronged, the Japanese have 99 roads to victory, and they chose the only way to defeat the army!" Xu Ming smiled bitterly.

"What?" Mo Dehong was very surprised when he heard this, at that time, he was repeatedly defeated, some troops occasionally won small victories, and they falsely reported their war exploits, and some of the troops turned out to be warlords, killing three or five Japanese ronins, and also dared to report "Destroy a thousand enemies and capture more than 100!" "He really can't imagine that Xu Ming is so young and so humble after a big victory.

"Commander Mo, this was the case at the time...... Xu Ming did not completely report all the situation truthfully when he reported to the war zone, and the Chinese propaganda naturally did not say that the 107th Division was almost defeated, and Mo Dehong knew that Xu Ming had indeed won luck.

"If the main forces of the Japanese army do not break away from the headquarters, run to pursue; If the Japanese army searched closely; If the enemy chieftain Ogishu military headquarters is not destroyed by me; If it weren't for one of my battalions destroying the devil's station; I will definitely lose this battle, and it will be a big defeat! Xu Ming said 4 ifs in a row, he sometimes woke up and couldn't believe that it was true, how could he be so bold and lucky at that time, if Xu Ming was given the same chance again, he might not have this determination.

"Brother Qianli, it is your ability to win, you say you are lucky, then why are others unlucky..."

As the two of them talked, they talked about the seizure.

"Little brother Qianli, I heard that you confiscated a saber from the commander of the devil division." Mo Dehong asked casually.

"Yes, the soldiers of Ogisu ran in a hurry and left the knife behind." After Xu Ming finished speaking, he asked someone to fetch the saber.

Mo Dehong took the captured saber and looked at it carefully, and then as soon as the knife was withdrawn, the cold light splashed. "Qianli, this knife has a history." Mordhorn said appreciatively.

"Oh," Xu Ming leaned over to look, and sure enough, there were 8 words in it, "Shenyun Emperor Heaven, Mountain Moon Yonghe." ”

"It was rewarded by Emperor Hirohito?" Xu Ming wondered.

"It was rewarded by the Emperor, but it was not Hirohito, it was given by Emperor Taisho of his Laozi Neuropathy." Mo Dehong seems to have studied this knife palm a lot, and he is reluctant to hold it in his hand.

Xu Ming was a little skeptical, according to him, Mo Dehong was not a university professor who studied history, he was a general from the army, and he seemed to have studied elementary school, how could he be so familiar with a saber, and when the war situation was tense, he came to visit him as a division commander, and he understood in his heart.

"Since Brother Zhikuan knows so much about this sword, then I will give the sword to the hero and give it to the eldest brother." Xu Ming is generous and authentic.

Mo Dehong carefully closed the knife, saw Xu Ming's meaningful smile, and did not sell it, and said, "I came here this time, and someone else really asked me to ask for this knife." ”

"Who?"

"He Xuanting." He Xuanting that Mo Dehong said in his mouth is He Weizhen, the commander of the 173rd Division, he likes to collect all kinds of swords very much, and he heard that Xu Ming captured a large number of Japanese sabers, and he asked Mo Dehong to get one.

Xu Ming smiled, this knife is valuable in the eyes of others, but he didn't take it to heart, maybe he can leave Okamura Ningji or Yan Junliu's saber in the future, that one is valuable. Don't say that let others entrust the relationship, even He Weizhen directly sent someone to ask for it, and Xu Ming will also give it with both hands.

However, Mo Dehong inadvertently said another sentence Xu Ming couldn't laugh at.

"There seems to be a rumor that your troops will be transferred to Anqing, Qianli, Qianli, you..." Mo Dehong found that Xu Ming's expression was a little abnormal, and he shouted Xu Ming twice before he reacted.

"What the hell is going on, why is my unit being transferred to Anqing, isn't Anqing guarded by the Sichuan army?" Xu Ming's face was very grim.

"That's the case..."Mo Dehong is a general of the Gui department, he knows a lot of inside information, the 27th Group Army Yang Sen has only 2 divisions, but he has to guard Anqing, the capital of Anhui Province, Tongcheng and Shucheng, so he asked for reinforcements, and the theater transferred Xu Yuanquan's 26th Group Army to support, but Xu Yuanquan was cunning and cunning, how could he be willing to take on this heavy burden, so he put the 107th Division, a nominally subordinate unit, up.

The theater command also considered that although Xu Ming's troops suffered great losses in Mingguang, their combat effectiveness was still there, and Anqing was an important town, and it would not work without a strong force to defend it, and Li Pinxian would never pin his hopes on Yang Sen's Sichuan army and Xu Yuanquan's troops.

Xu Ming, the opinion of the Central Military Commission, could also guess that there were no other central armies in central and western Anhui, and the general judgment at that time was that any theater should have a considerable central army unit as the base point, and by the way, supervise and lead the local troops to fight, and if the 107th Division, which had the strongest combat effectiveness, was transferred out, it would be a great blow to the morale of the troops near Anqing.

Mo Dehong looked at Xu Ming's solemn expression and was a little puzzled, "Qianli, the opinion of the Military Commission is that there will be no big war near Anqing for the time being, you can rest there for a few months first." ”

Xu Ming sighed, "Brother Kuan, when has the opinion of the Military Commission been accurate!" ”

Anqing, I'm afraid it's not that there won't be a big war for the time being, it's a big war that will be out of control! Thinking of the Botian detachment that captured Anqing in half a day, and thinking of Lao Jiang scolding Yang Sen for "losing the famous city lightly, and laughing at friends." Xu Ming fell into deep worry.

Mo Dehong's account was confirmed the next day, when Xu Ming received a military order from the Commander's Headquarters of the Fifth Theater of Operations, telling him to "defend Anqing and the northern part of Anqing with the main force, and ensure the safety of the nearby Yangtze River region." After receiving this order, Xu Ming did not hesitate, he and the officer corps first set off overnight, and the troops urgently assembled and rushed to Anqing.