In an elegant small hall of the Shanghai Garrison Headquarters in Longhuasong, Shanghai, Bai Chongxi and Li Zongren sat opposite each other, worried about the future and full of expectations for the upcoming great changes.

After pondering for a while, Bai Chongxi said: "Since the junior brother became the commander-in-chief of the former enemy of the Eastern Route Army, he has been fighting on the front line, and I am deeply guilty for not being able to fight for the interests of my brothers in the Seventh Army. Tang Shengzhi must have swelled his ill-intentioned ambitions, and for several months he has fabricated charges to kill friendly generals, annexed friendly soldiers, and monopolized the two lakes to control tax sources to enrich himself, and now even my brilliant Seventh Army has been so excluded and attacked by him, and he can no longer ignore it!

I believe that the most urgent task at the moment is to solve the needs of tens of thousands of our soldiers in terms of food, clothing, and military salaries, and to replenish our army's guns, ammunition, and new guns and artillery in large quantities, otherwise we will lose the initiative in the next step. Brother, why don't you drive the main force into the territory of Anhui, send a main force to take Chuzhou, which no one dares to gain a foothold, and occupy the key areas on the border of Hubei and Anhui, control the taxes in southern Anhui and Hefei, Anqing, and Chuzhou, ensure the source of food and military funds at the same time expand the establishment, and then peep into Nanjing to monitor Wuhan. ”

Li Zongren nodded movingly: "Those who know me are healthy!" Brother Wei was just about to talk about this plan, but now it seems that there is no need to bother anymore. At present, the situation is still favorable to us, and both the Wuhan political axe and the general headquarters, which has just moved its base camp to Nanjing, have to be afraid of the prestige and attitude of our army, and the only difficulty is the issue of food and wages.

Jiansheng, I heard the secret rumors from the upper echelons that Jiang Zhongzheng has been supported by the Shanghai chaebol and the capitalists in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, not only secretly obtained a sponsorship of 7.5 million, but also reached two interest-free loan agreements with the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce, which is said to be as high as 15 million. ”

"I know a little bit about it, the loan agreement has only heard rumors and has not been implemented, but the 7.5 million yuan of sponsorship money has been quietly transferred to Commander-in-Chief Chiang as early as the day after our army occupied Kunshan and cut off the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway in one fell swoop, and it is estimated that in the near future, all divisions of the First Army and the younger brother's Songhu garrison headquarters will be able to receive rewards ranging from 100,000 to hundreds of thousands, and the younger brother will quietly transfer it to his brother's account for expenses, and the other more than 3,000 captured firearms and 500,000 rounds of ammunition will be transported to Anqing by water, and the elder brother only needs to send someone to receive them." Bai Chongxi replied generously.

Li Zongren, who was shy and tortured by suffering, was overjoyed when he heard this, and sighed with emotion, and his hanging heart suddenly let go:

"That's what I need! By the way, when it comes to the very meaningful battle of Kunshan, I know that it must have been planned by Jiansheng, but I don't know how the thousands of men and horses and heavy artillery of the An Yi Reading Force Regiment can pass through the area where water networks are intertwined and swamps and lakes are all over so quickly, can Jiansheng elaborate on one or two? ”

"Although this battle comes from the overall planning of the younger brother, but the specific action plan is completely formulated by An Yi, his marching speed and thunderbolt means are classics, and it is also greatly unexpected by the younger brother, this son is indeed a military genius, and the national newspapers have recently called it a model Northern Expedition pioneer in the army, and the younger brother thinks it is not an exaggeration!"

Bai Chongxi sighed, and then told Li Zongren in detail about the content of the battle report after Xu Tingyao came to report.

Bai Chongxi then analyzed: "There is an intriguing thing in the battle of Kunshan, that is, An Yi secretly ordered the total annihilation of the 'Tiger Ben Company' that was famous for its speed and bravery in the north and south of the river before the war, instead of capturing as much as possible and screening and adapting it to enrich itself as much as possible. From this slight difference, it is enough to see An Yi's maturity and deceit, what he wants is this invisible deterrent, in the future Northern Expedition, I am afraid that Sun Chuanfang's troops will be timid before they see his battle flag.

According to Xu Yuexiang's report, in the process of annihilating this enemy army, An Yi's guard company fought very shrewdly without a single casualty, An Yi was overjoyed, and all the German-style refined weapons, cash and trophies captured by the 'Tiger Ben Company' were awarded to the guard company under his command and the teaching company that assisted in the battle, Xu Yuexiang did not mention the amount of this reward, but judging from the experience of the younger brother, each officer and soldier participating in the battle benefited no less than 1,000 oceans, which shows An Yi's wealth and the importance and generosity of the soldiers under his command, he is very good at seizing the opportunity to boost morale, so that the officers and soldiers under his command are desperate to work for him.

After months of secret observation by the younger brother and the analysis of every battle case of An Yi's department, I have to be impressed by this person's command talent and ability to command troops. ”

Li Zongren stood up and took a few steps, paused for a moment and returned to Bai Chongxi: "That's true, it's true...... According to An Yi's military merits, he should have been promoted and reused a long time ago, but to this day, An Yi is still a major general, what is the mystery in it? ”

Bai Chongxi shook his head: "The junior brother is also deeply puzzled by this, according to the meaning of the conversation when the former Commander-in-Chief Jiang came to Longhua to inspect, Liu Zhi of the Second Division is about to be promoted to the commander of the First Army, and the Second Division has been transferred to the post of Commander of the Eastern Zhejiang Garrison after the deputy division commander Jiang Dingwen recovered from his injury, and the post of deputy division commander has been vacant for a long time, and the 22nd Division inherited by Chen has no candidate for deputy division commander so far, I heard that the three of them have called Commander-in-Chief Jiang to request that An Yi be promoted to the deputy commander of the division, but Commander-in-Chief Jiang has not replied, nor has he heard the news that Commander-in-Chief Jiang has expanded his number in the near future.

Therefore, the younger brother can't help but wonder if An Yi is too young and has an ambiguous political stance, which makes Commander-in-Chief Jiang hesitate? In particular, now that the generals of the First Army, such as Xue Yue and Zheng, have been shaken, and a large number of battalion commanders under the command of the two have begun to take to the streets to devote themselves to the vigorous workers' and peasants' movement, hundreds of Whampoa officers rushed to Commander-in-Chief Chiang's residence in Shanghai, and repeatedly questioned him why he violated Mr. Zhongshan's three policies and revolutionary ideas, forcing Commander-in-Chief Chiang to explain in every possible way, and he was full of headaches.

Judging from this phenomenon, the First Army, which was based on Commander-in-Chief Chiang, had been reddened and seriously infiltrated, and was on the verge of getting out of control, so Commander-in-Chief Chiang at this time probably would not give much trust to An Yi, who was growing in feathers, and would not have time to consider the expansion. ”

"Got it! This is a great opportunity...... Let's go, let's rush to the city to meet Commander-in-Chief Chiang, I'm afraid he will be in a hurry if it's too late, and when he is so betrayed and left, he has to ask you and me, such a God-given opportunity, how can we miss it? He told me in the telegram that Ji Kuan (Huang Shaohong) and Ren Gong (Li Jishen) had secretly arrived in Shanghai, and that the whole of Guangdong and our base camp Guangxi had also fallen into the red tide.

At this time, Jiang Zhongzheng is facing a bigger problem than us, and he must always guard against the strong military pressure of Tang Shengzhi, Zhang Xianghua (Zhang Fakui) and others in Wuhan. We do not lack political prestige and military capital, nor do we lack popularity and wisdom, all we lack is money, as long as we seize this favorable opportunity and plan properly, we will not be able to achieve a great cause that surpasses Hong and Yang (the leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom)! Li Zongren smiled hesitantly.

Bai Chongxi's eyes were blazing, Huo Ran stood up, laughed and walked away side by side with Li Zongren.

An hour later, the two arrived at Chiang Kai-shek's secret residence by car, and were immediately respectfully ushered inside, and when they entered the conference room on the second floor, they saw that Li Jishen and Huang Shaohong were already sitting together, chatting and laughing loudly with Commander-in-Chief Chiang.

When the three of them saw Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi coming in, they hurriedly got up to greet each other, and they were as affectionate as brothers.

After a period of greetings, Li Zongren, who sat down slowly, asked Chiang Kai-shek with a smile: "I heard your hearty laughter on the stairs just now, I don't know what happy things make you so happy?" ”

Chiang Kai-shek smiled slightly, picked up the telegram on the coffee table and handed it to Li Zongren:

Due to the overwhelming continuous propaganda in the newspapers, the Kunshan battalion of An Yi's headquarters has been surrounded by more than 6,000 enthusiastic young people from all over the country, including as many as 500 young women, all of whom have asked to join An Yi's model battalion. An Yi's hard persuasion was fruitless, and he had to urgently request the Second Division and the First Army Military Headquarters to relieve the siege, and the First Army Military Department thought that it could take the opportunity to set up a student corps of the Northern Expeditionary Army, but considering that An Yi's department shouldered the heavy responsibility of monitoring the enemy in Jiangbei at all times, it could not take care of other miscellaneous affairs, so it could only be submitted by telegram to ask for instructions.

Just now, Ren Gong said that the wife of Brother Delin organized a women's team for the Northern Expedition, and the effect was remarkable before opening up the atmosphere, so you can consider letting An Yi let it go, and also set up a women's ambulance team or something, and see what kind of effect it will have. But Brother Ji Kuan said that if An Yi's reading group really set up a women's ambulance team, I'm afraid the treatment room will be overcrowded, haha! ”

Li Zongren's heart moved, and he said with a smile: "Commander-in-chief, I think it is completely possible to form a Northern Expedition Youth Corps, its political influence alone is difficult to estimate, if the Anyi Regiment is unable to take care of this matter on its shoulders, it can be directly driven to Nanjing for reorganization and training after forming a team, but in this way, the Anyi Regiment is still unable to concentrate on preparing for the war, and countless enthusiastic young people will continue to flock to it and follow it wholeheartedly, especially its Kunshan station is just between the prosperous Jiangsu and Shanghai, and the two places are only dozens of kilometers away from Kunshan, and they can go back and forth within a day. I'm afraid that our young general, who is both wise and brave and full of scheming, will also be tired of parrying, haha! ”

"Yes! This question is quite thorny, because An Yi, who has repeatedly made meritorious contributions, and the invincible model battalion have now become a banner of the Northern Expeditionary Army and a model for young people across the country to aspire to and learn from, and how to maintain this hard-won honor will be very important. I had planned to replenish An Yi's regiment in a week's time, and then order it to go to Changzhou to maintain a standoff with the Sun army on the north bank, and exert strong psychological pressure on the enemy army on the north bank, but now it seems that it has to be carried out in advance. Chiang Kai-shek had clearly planned for a long time.

The scheming Li Ji thought for a while and suggested: "With the strong combat effectiveness and prestige of An Yi's department, it seems a pity to put it in Changzhou, if possible, I would prefer to see An Yi's department go to Zhenjiang, where the situation is more complicated and the pressure is greater, opposite Yangzhou, where Sun Chuanfang's former enemy headquarters is located." If the enemy army saw the An Yi Division, which had changed the color of their talk, stationed in Zhenjiang, the psychological pressure would probably be even greater.

One of the important reasons for this suggestion is that according to my analysis of the performance of the An Yi Department in several battles, this little guy is almost as fast as thunder in the war, and there is no trace to be found, and it is difficult to judge his intentions and attack direction before the war. Therefore, if you use this chess piece well, you will play no less role than one or two divisions! ”

Bai Chongxi immediately agreed with Li Jishen's opinion: "Ren Gong is ingenious, and his subordinates also suggested that An Yi's troops be transferred to the most arduous Zhenjiang front-line garrison, judging from the current strength of more than 6,000 soldiers in the An Yi Department, its combat effectiveness is no less than that of a main division.

Second, the situation of the divisions of the First Army stationed in the vicinity of Jiangsu and Shanghai is quite complicated, and there is no faith and cohesion at all in the chaos and confusion, and only the regiments of Liu Jingfu's Second Division can still maintain a minimum of military discipline and combat effectiveness.

Instead of this, it is better to hang this sword high in front of the enemy's formation, not only to maximize its effect, but also to avoid possible political influence, so as to maintain the pure surname it has always had, and also to keep An Yi's soldiers in the tempering of war. ”

Chiang Kai-shek felt deeply reasonable, nodded frequently, and very happily accepted the suggestions of Li Jishen and Bai Chongxi, and immediately ordered Chen Lifu, the confidential secretary on the side, to draft a telegram to directly transfer An Yi's headquarters to Zhenjiang for garrison, and at the same time transfer the Third Division stationed in Zhenjiang to Kunshan, and give An Yi the right to dispose of it on the spot.

Chiang Kai-shek did not realize that after such a transfer, the distance between the Anyi Department and Li Zongren's department suddenly narrowed several times, almost forming horns to live next to each other, and initially achieved the first goal of Bai Chongxi and Li Zongren.

After Chiang Kai-shek issued this order, he immediately consulted with the four giants of Guangzhou, Guangzhou, and Guangzhou, and a series of decisions that profoundly affected China's fate and historical trend were successively introduced against this gloomy and mysterious background, and a bloody storm that swept China was about to be unveiled in Shanghai.

……

(To be continued)