really let Liu Xiang and Fu Chang guess correctly, Chengdu had indeed fallen into the hands of the Central Guard Division led by Liu Yimin at this time.

After capturing the commander of the Fourth Brigade of the Sichuan Army in Leshan, Liu Yimin had a basic understanding of the situation of the Chengdu garrison. At that time, there were not many garrisons in Chengdu, and it was very chaotic. There was a garrison headquarters, and the commander was Li Hongkun. The main force of the garrison was a brigade of Liu Xiang's 21st Army, as well as a regiment of Deng Xihou's department and a regiment of Tian Songyao's department, which were stationed in the eastern, western, and northern parts of Chengdu and the military camps near several city gates. The rest are paramilitaries like the police.

Liu Yimin knew that at this time, Sichuan was only over after 33 years of the Second Liu War, and all power was concentrated in the hands of Liu Xiang's Sichuan Aftermath Supervision Office, and the original Sichuan Provincial Political Axe set up by Liu Wenhui in Chengdu had come to an end, and the new Sichuan Provincial Political Axe should be temporarily located in Yucheng, Liu Xiang's base camp, but according to history, Liu Xiang would reorganize the provincial political axe in Yucheng in February, and now the provincial political axe in Yucheng is really nameless.

Judging from the current garrison situation in Chengdu, Chengdu is actually under the joint management of Liu Xiang, Deng Xihou, and Tian Songyao, but Liu Xiang's 21st Army is the mainstay, Liu Xiang sent a garrison commander, and Deng Xihou sent a division commander to take charge. This is also in line with the actual situation after the three companies jointly defeated Liu Wenhui.

After setting out from Leshan on the afternoon of January 3, Liu Yimin led his troops all the way without stopping, and even went down to several small county towns such as Jiajiang, Meishan, Pengshan, and Shuangliu, and captured all the scattered Sichuan army garrisons and security regiments in several county towns.

Looking at the rapid march all the way, the troops were already very tired, Liu Yimin let the troops rest in Shuangliu for three hours as planned to recover their strength, so that those who fell behind could catch up.

Hu Laohu's cavalry battalion and Cao Shengli's second and third battalions of the baggage regiment finally caught up. From Yibin to Shuangliu, after a continuous drive of more than 800 miles for 2 days and 3 nights, more than 20 horses of the cavalry battalion and the horses of the baggage battalion were exhausted, and the soldiers were also extremely tired.

When he saw Liu Yimin, Hu Laohu's first sentence was, "My waist is about to break!" ”

Liu Yimin didn't say a word, picked up the kettle and handed it to Hu Laohu and Cao Shengli, and then asked them to rest quickly, and they were about to enter Chengdu.

At 6 o'clock in the morning, the Central Guard Division of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, which had taken a short break, left Shuangliu and marched to Chengdu.

Liu Yimin knew that the soldiers were very tired and continued to rest well, but now they were competing for time with the Sichuan army, and they couldn't take care of it so much. The troops were ordered to be lightly armed, the baggage regiment was sheltered behind the palace, mortars and heavy machine guns were all carried by pack horses, cadres at all levels and the old Red Army were to help the new soldiers, and the whole division had one goal: "to storm the city of Chengdu." Liu Yimin also let out the war horse for the soldiers to sit, and he took the lead, carrying two light machine guns, walking in front of the special operations detachment and rushing to Chengdu.

At 9 o'clock in the morning, the troops arrived at a place 5 miles away from the south gate of Chengdu, where Luo Yan and his reconnaissance company waited.

It turned out that Luo Yan and the others arrived here 3 hours in advance, and they wanted to sneak into the city, but the accent was wrong, and the two soldiers who were disguised as doing business were driven out after knocking a few pieces of ocean by the defenders of the south gate. Luo Yan had no choice but to lead the reconnaissance company to retreat here and wait for the large army to come up.

Seeing Liu Yimin, Luo Yan was very ashamed, feeling that he had not completed the task assigned by the division commander, and asked to be a strong assault company.

Liu Yimin listened to the situation and knew that he had thought about the problem simply, just thinking about sending a few Sichuan soldiers as guides, and neglecting to pass through the checkpoints and city gates, it was not enough to have only a few guides.

Feng Dafei proposed to storm the south gate, feint to the west and north, and set up an ambush position in the east to allow the Sichuan army to escape from the east.

Liu Yimin thought about it, and felt that Feng Dafei's method was also very good, the key was that he didn't want to fight in Chengdu, this is a famous cultural city, and if he damages the monuments, he will become a sinner. Therefore, he decided to enter the city from the south gate, and the black tiger dug out his heart, attacked and occupied the barracks and key points by road, and tried not to use guns and cannons as much as possible.

Determined to be sure, he ordered the special operations detachment to select the clothing of the Central Army from the military uniforms carried by the mules and horses of the baggage regiment and change their clothes. All units rested in place, and after the special operations detachment had resolved the defenders at the south gate, they quickly entered the city, led by the defenders, and rushed to the target by separate routes.

After the order was issued, Liu Yimin rode his war horse and led the special operations detachment in changed clothes to the south gate of Chengdu.

Garrisoned at the south gate were Deng Xihou's defenders. This is also one of the secret agreements reached by Liu Xiang, Deng Xihou, and Tian Songyao. Out of the south gate, you can go to Leshan, which is now the territory of Liu Xiang and Liu Wenhui, which is too convenient for Liu Xiang. So the vicinity of the south gate was controlled by a regiment of Deng Xihou. The vicinity of the west gate was controlled by a regiment of Tian Songyao, and the city center, north gate, and east gate were controlled by Liu Xiang. In this way, we can check and supervise each other.

At 9:50 a.m., this time is very accurate, because Zhao Yaozu, the company commander of the Sichuan Army standing by the city gate, just glanced at the newly bought watch, and he took the post today.

Zhao Yao's group was already upset by the city gate, and he just met a beautiful female student yesterday and said that he would go to his house this morning. You know, it's not easy to find a beautiful female student these days, those girls have high vision, if it weren't for Zhao Yao's group following Deng Xihou to fight around in the past few years, and the bag was bulging, then the foreign students would be able to take a fancy to him as a little company commander? Thinking about it, the old chief was kind, he fought with him for a few years, got a lot of money, not to mention, and transferred himself to Chengdu to garrison. What a fat errand, every day at the gate of this city, the silver dollars will flow into the pocket, this is said, let alone let me go to other troops as a company commander, and I won't change a battalion commander!

Zhao Yaozu couldn't help but glance at his watch, at 9:50, there is another hour, and it should be three consecutive changes of guard, annoying, why is Lao Tzu so unlucky, but he is on duty at the south gate today.

After looking at his watch, Zhao Yaozu looked up and saw when a team of people came from the south, I don't know if it was from the 21st Army. You have to go up and ask, what kind of tricks is Liu Xiang playing in a good manner, don't let him take advantage of the old chief!

This team from the south is so strange, in front of it are several security teams and Sichuan army officers leading the way, and behind are regular troops. The strange thing is that the clothes worn are not from the Sichuan Army, the symbol indicates that it is the Central Army, and the weapons and equipment are really fucking good! There are so many light machine guns and submachine guns! And those who carry submachine guns and rifles still carry a shell gun on their backs, and look at the leather on the holster, they are all brand new, so magnanimous!

Zhao Yaozu was just about to order the sentries to block, when he saw the team stop, and an officer ran out and began to organize the team. With a few commands to stand upright, look to the left, look forward, take a break, and count the numbers, this unit actually drilled at the city gate. Then, with the officer's command, the procession turned to the right and marched neatly toward the gates.

When they reached the city gate, the officer gave another command, and the whole team began to march in unison. I can only hear the uniform footsteps click, click, click, click, like a dozen big drums beating the drum, one rhythm after another, hitting people's hearts with the drum beat.

Without waiting for Zhao Yaozu and the Sichuan army at the city gate and the city wall to wake up from their stunned, the officer shouted the password again, and the team actually saluted the Sichuan army on the city gate, which made Zhao Yaozu and the soldiers completely stunned, and the soldiers on the city gate hurriedly cleared the barricades and made way for the team, and the soldiers on the city wall chased the figure of the team and watched intently, for fear of revealing every movement of this mighty and majestic team.

Seeing the team pass through the city gate, Zhao Yaozu swallowed his saliva, damn, this is the army, this is the elite soldiers. Looking at the appearance of his subordinates, Zhao Yaozu opened his mouth to scold. Before he could scold, an officer ran over next to the commander who was riding a horse at the end of the team, and gave Zhao Yaozu a standard salute with a "snap". Zhao Yaozu hurriedly returned the salute, and before he could put down his hand, he heard the officer shout: "Sir, please come over!" ”

Zhao Yaozu hurriedly followed the officer to the commander on horseback, and seeing that the commander did not dismount, Zhao Yaozu saluted and reported: "Report to the commander, Zhao Yaozu, the company commander of the Chengdu unit of the 28th Army of the National Revolutionary Army, reports to you that our company is on duty. If you have any requirements, sir, just say it! ”

Liu Yimin rode on the horse and laughed all of a sudden, this guy's previous report was decent, why did he come later and say, "If the chief has any requirements, just say it", this is Deng Xihou's Sichuan army!

After laughing, Liu Yimin raised his hand and returned the salute and said, "Brothers have worked hard!" My brother is a staff officer of Chairman Chiang's chamberlain, and he came to Chengdu on business, and these brothers are all guards brought by me. Commander-in-Chief Liu sent several officers to lead the way. ”

When Zhao Yaozu heard that it was the staff officer of Chairman Jiang's chamberlain, he hurriedly saluted again. He heard that Chairman Chiang's chamber was equivalent to the Manchu Emperor's military aircraft department, which was amazing! I said, why is this team so strong, it turned out to be the elite guard of the Central Army! I don't know what this chief is doing in Chengdu, but I can't snub him and cause trouble for the old chief.

Thinking of this, Zhao Yaozu hurriedly said: "The chief has worked hard all the way, if you have any orders, just say, as long as the brothers of the 28th Army can do it, there is no ambiguity!" ”

Liu Yimin thought to himself, what I'm afraid is that you ignore us and block the city gate, and now that you have entered the city, you can't do what you want? He shouted: "Adjutant Zhao, take some money, the brothers have worked hard, each of them will be rewarded with two pieces of Guangyang, which can be regarded as a proxy seat to comfort the brothers!" ”

Zhao Yonggang, the squadron leader of the special operations team, ran over with a suitcase, saluted Liu Yimin, and opened the suitcase. At 10 o'clock, the sun was just right, shining on the boxes full of silver dollars, and the white flowers were dazzling.

Zhao Yaozu took a breath, this chief is really fucking arrogant, it seems that the staff of the chairman's chamber is different, and he said that he was on behalf of the committee to comfort the brothers, okay, I didn't expect that the sun came out of the west today, and Chairman Jiang sent a reward to his head, what a fucking luck! He saluted the chief again, said "Chairman Xie, thank you, sir", and bent down to pick up the suitcase.

Zhao Yonggang stretched out his white-gloved hand, grabbed Zhao Yaozu's hand stretched out to the suitcase, and said with a smile: "Brother, do you understand the rules?" Gather the brothers, and I want to see that Chairman Chiang's mind can be sent directly to the brothers. ”

Zhao Yaozu patted his head: "Let the chief laugh, it's the brother who is reckless." He turned around and shouted: "The whole company is assembled, and Chairman Jiang has sent condolences to the brothers, each with two oceans." Assemble now! ”

Soon, the people on the city wall and on the watchtower all ran down and stood in line.

Zhao Yonggang asked Zhao Yaozu: "Are you all here?" Don't show any of your brothers. ”

Zhao Yaozu immediately shouted the password to report the number, and after the check, he reported to Zhao Yonggang: "There are 126 people in the whole company, all of them have arrived." ”

Zhao Yonggang began to shout the password: "All of them have it, stand upright." On behalf of Chairman Jiang, the chief officer rewarded everyone with two pieces of ocean, and now everyone is lining up to the front to lead the ocean, two pieces per person, don't take too much. Let's go! ”

The soldiers, led by Zhao Yaozu, lined up and each received two oceans. After receiving it, Zhao Yonggang said to Zhao Yaozu: "Brother, do you want to take our commander to inspect your troops?" ”

Zhao Yaozu was completely dizzy at this time, it was like a dream, where else could he think of? Hurriedly agreed, sorted out the troops, left two platoons to guard the city gate, and led a platoon himself, lined up, and guided the commander's guard in front to the barracks guarding the south gate. As for the defense of the city gate, Zhao Yaozu didn't think about it anymore, and besides, what could he do now.

Zhao Yaozu didn't notice that the adjutant Zhao who contacted him did not go with the team, but led more than 30 central troops to gather the brothers he left behind to give lectures. Then, a large force of the Sichuan army appeared on the main road outside the south gate, and the Central Guard Division poured into Chengdu City in this way.

When the troops entered the south gate, Zhao Yonggang was speaking to the soldiers of the Sichuan Army: "Brothers, in order to ensure the safety of our commander, Commander-in-Chief Liu Xiang dispatched troops from the 21st Army stationed in Yucheng and Leshan to escort them. After Commander-in-Chief Liu ordered the troops to enter the city, they would be stationed in the barracks of various units, garrison headquarters, and police stations in Chengdu to rest. When our chief leaves, he will escort us away. As the commander said just now, we are not familiar with the people in Chengdu, and it is easy to run the wrong way, so I ordered the brothers to guide the way to the troops. Those who are willing to lead the way, 5 oceans per person, lead to the place accurately, and send another 5 oceans. and those who would not lead the way remained and stood guard and guarded the gates. If you are willing to lead the way, please raise your hand. ”

At this moment, all the soldiers of the Sichuan army raised their hands in unison. Joke, 10 oceans, what kind of concept is that, it's a lot more than a year's military salary, and if you don't go, it's a melon!

In this way, after the guard division entered the city, each battalion could be assigned one or two guides, and the troops quickly separated, and the teams shuttled through the streets and alleys of Chengdu to rapidly advance to the garrison headquarters, the Sichuan garrison barracks, the city gates, the municipal axe, the police station, the finance bureau, the tax bureau, the mint, the arsenal, and other targets. By noon, Chengdu, a famous city in western Sichuan, was all under the control of the guard division.

When Liu Yimin arrived at the Chengdu garrison headquarters, Red Army sentries wearing Sichuan army uniforms were already standing at the door. The sentry's tired face was full of joy, and when he saw the arrival of the division commander, he immediately saluted with his gun excitedly. After Liu Yimin returned the salute, he strode into the commander's office of the garrison headquarters.

As soon as he entered the office, he anxiously reported: "At half past eleven, Liu Xiang personally called and ordered Li Hongkun, the commander of the Chengdu garrison, to answer the phone in person. ”

Liu Yimin immediately realized that Liu Xiang already knew that the Red Army had entered Sichuan, and he probably also knew that Chengdu had fallen into the hands of the Red Army. Just ask Chief of Staff Qian and He Xinghua where they are, do the radio stations add up?

The radio station was stationed in the former provincial political office building, and Chief of Staff Qian said that the building was high enough to set up a radio station.

Liu Yimin's face was blank, and he ordered Ju Zanda to immediately inform Qian Zhuangfei and He Xinghua to move the radio station to the garrison headquarters.

By the time Qian Zhuangfei and He Xinghua rushed to the garrison headquarters with tired faces, the main leaders of the guard division had basically gathered and were all in the conference room of the headquarters. He Xinghua muttered in his mouth that the building of the provincial political axe is relatively high, and the radio signal is good.

Liu Yimin glanced at Qian Zhuangfei, and then said to He Xinghua: "The Himalayas are the highest, why don't you put the antenna on it?" ”

He Xinghua didn't expect the division commander to speak so impulsively, his face was red and blue, and he didn't know what to do when he stood there.

Qian Zhuangfei didn't say a word, his eyes were slightly closed, and he didn't seem to hear Liu Yimin's words.

Liu Yimin felt that the words were too heavy, so he eased his tone and said, "I know that Liu Wenhui's Provincial Political Axe Building is taller than here. However, have you ever thought about it, the Central Committee and the Red Army Headquarters are about to arrive in Chengdu, and they may have to rest here for a while. We occupy the Provincial Political Axe Building, so where will [***], Vice Chairman Zhou, Commander-in-Chief Zhu and other leaders work? This is this place, if the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 9th legions come, we will give them up too. See what I mean? ”

He Xinghua nodded ashamedly.

Liu Yimin said: "Go ahead, hurry up and set up the radio station, and we will contact the headquarters immediately." ”

After He Xinghua left, Qian Zhuangfei stood up and solemnly gave a military salute to Liu Yimin: "Report to the division commander, it's my fault, I didn't think about it so much, I didn't think it through, please criticize the division commander!" ”

Liu Yimin waved his hand and said, "Sit down."

Seeing that except for Fu Zhuting, who stayed in Leshan, the other party committee members had arrived, and Liu Yimin said: "Let's have a brief party committee." Let me say three things. 1. Chengdu is a big city, and our army will have to rest and train here, and it may have to stay for a while. This is facing the temptation of big cities, where everything will come to our cadres and fighters. In this case, it is likely that some warriors on the battlefield could not resist the temptation and became prisoners of drunken money. Therefore, the Political Department should immediately take action to educate cadres and fighters, and ask them to be iron soldiers who resist corrosion and never get wet, and who will not change color or degenerate. ”

Seeing that everyone was pondering, Liu Yimin said: "The second point I want to talk about is the current military situation. Judging from the fact that Liu Xiang called Li Hongkun to answer the phone in person, Liu Xiang must have known that our army had entered Sichuan and occupied Chengdu. It is still difficult to judge what Liu Xiang and the warlords of Sichuan will do next. However, no matter what he did, he could not surpass three of them, one was to immediately mobilize all the forces of the Sichuan army to fight a decisive battle with our army on the Chengdu Plain. The second is to let the Central Army enter Sichuan and unite the Central Army to fight a decisive battle with us. The third is to negotiate with us in exchange for limited interests in exchange for our army's abandonment of Chengdu and withdrawal from Sichuan. No matter which one it is, it must be based on the premise of fighting. Only when we have fought well and won, whether it is Liu Xiang or Chiang Kai-shek, will they be afraid of us and will accept our proposal to stop the civil war and join forces to resist the war. The specific response will be handled according to the orders of the headquarters after the arrival of the headquarters. ”

Seeing that the cadres were thinking and taking notes, Liu Yimin said: "The third point I want to talk about is about our guard division. In order to deal with a serious enemy situation, our division had to expand its troops. However, the expansion of troops is too fast, and the combat effectiveness is prone to decline. What to do? The key is to grasp two hands: First, we must grasp ideological education, thoroughly transform the thinking of the captives, and figuratively put it in mind, that is, brainwashing, and wash away all the reactionary, feudal, ignorant, and backward ideologies in their minds and replace them with the thinking of our Red Army to obey the party's command, seek happiness for the poor and needy, fight against the aggressors, and establish a new China. On the other hand, we should grasp training, with soldiers practicing endurance, shooting, bomb throwing, stabbing fighting, and tactical movements, and cadres training tactical command, troop coordination, and infantry and artillery synthesis. Isn't that right? ”

Cai Zhong said: "What the division commander said is right, I am thinking about what to do now, our troops are too tired and urgently need to rest. Now whether to continue to pretend that the Sichuan army is resting, or to wave the banner of our Red Army, please ask the division commander to decide. ”

Liu Yimin replied directly: "Today, we will continue to camouflage the Sichuan army, and the troops will rest in the city." Just be vigilant. Tomorrow morning, we will wave our red flag, draw a few regiments out of the city to carry out the city ceremony, change into clean military uniforms, and quickly cut out those who need to get a haircut and shave. Show the people of Chengdu the iron will and invincible spirit of our Red Army. This matter was led and organized by Political Commissar Huang. After entering the city, the logistics department issued 2 silver dollars to each soldier, so that the soldiers could open their eyes in Chengdu. In addition, we are divided into subordinate work, with the political commissar responsible for the deployment of cadres in the newly organized units, all cadres at and above the battalion level attending the meeting for study, Division Commander Feng being responsible for public security and vigilance in the whole city, Political Commissar Huang and Director Yuan being responsible for handling urban management issues, Chief of Staff Liu being responsible for troop training, Director Li being in charge of ideological education, and Director Wu being responsible for the management of seized materials, especially the management of the assets of the arsenal and the confiscation of assets of corrupt officials and the treasury of political axes. Do you have any opinions on this division of labor? ”

Several people said that they would resolutely carry out the order.

Hu Di asked: "What is the task of me and Chief of Staff Qian?" ”

Liu Yimin replied: "When the headquarters arrives, the two of you will accept Vice Chairman Zhou's orders, and I will not ask you about your work." However, Minister Hu wants to build the Ministry of Security during this period of time and be able to put it to work. Chief of Staff Qian wants to set up an intelligence analysis office in the General Staff Office. In addition, I want to tell you that this is Chengdu, the metropolis, and Sichuan University, where there are many high-level intellectuals and skilled workers. During our stay in Chengdu, we wanted to make friends with them and win them over to join the Red Army. Those who study military industry, mechanics, chemistry, geography, geology, mining, biology, Chinese, English, German, in short, all those who have a skill. ”

Cai Zhong asked again: "You haven't said how the troops will be reorganized?" ”

(To be continued)