As night fell, the sound of fierce firefights gradually thinned out, and the revolutionary army units, which had suffered heavy casualties, had to stop their attacks, return to their starting positions, sit on the ground, grab cold dry food and swallow it with difficulty in the cold raw water.

Suddenly, the enemy's shouting and killing suddenly sounded, earth-shattering, the black and oppressive defenders rushed out from several sluices under the city of Nanchang, like a wave to the revolutionary officers and soldiers who were resting outside the city, the city fell down a soft ladder, countless enemy troops went down the ladder, joined the raid, the exhausted revolutionary army soldiers threw away the dry food and water bottle to rush into the battle, and soon more and more enemies rushed into the formation than the division and surrounded.

Thousands of officers and men of the Second Division struggled in the Jedi with steep walls in front of them and a surging river at their backs, resisting stubbornly, and little by little they were being eaten away by the fierce enemy, and the encirclement became smaller and smaller, and it was in danger.

In the headquarters of Linjiang, Commander-in-Chief Jiang, who was shocked by the great changes, turned pale, and asked loudly to Liu Zhi, who rushed in to report: "Jingfu, where are your troops?" What about the troops? ”

"It's scattered, it's all messed up! The subordinates were also guarded by close soldiers to open a bloody road and come to report urgently. Liu Zhi's hat and neckline were all soaked with sweat, and his chest and left arm were stained with blood.

Commander-in-Chief Chiang was taken aback: "What to do?" What to do...... Jiansheng, what should I do? ”

Bai Chongxi stood calmly in front of the map and walked towards the helpless commander-in-chief: "Jiegong don't need to panic, the enemy is not so fast...... Brother Jingfu, if possible, immediately go to the rear of the melee position to blow the trumpet and assemble, our officers and men heard the sound of the trumpet, and they will be lifted up to fight their way out of the encirclement, and Brother Jing Fu can immediately lead the men and horses to retreat southward, rush to the first pontoon bridge built by the model battalion, and then return to the west bank safely, with my troops behind him to cover. ”

"Yes!"

Liu Zhi finished answering and turned around and left.

Bai Chongxi turned to Huang Ruihua, the captain of the guard standing at the door: "You immediately gather the three hundred guards, and together with the commander-in-chief's guards, protect the commander-in-chief and retreat behind the second division to the south pontoon." ”

"Chief of Staff, you ......"

Huang Ruihua, the captain of the guard, was very anxious when he saw that Bai Chongxi was not left alone.

Bai Chongxi waved his hand: "Just leave me a platoon, go!" ”

"Yes......"

Bai Chongxi walked up to the grateful Commander-in-Chief Jiang and whispered a few words, immediately went out and got on his horse, led more than 30 guards to the south of the battlefield, reined in his horse and shouted to the guards: "Give me a horse to rush into the position and shout loudly, just say that I Bai Chongxi is here, all the officers and soldiers are close to me, and then lead the officers and soldiers who follow me to me." ”

"Yes!"

The guards rode their horses into the chaotic battle positions, pointed their machine guns at every enemy they encountered, and shouted "Chief of General Staff Bai is here, everyone is coming closer to me."

Ten minutes later, most of the thirty guards who had dispersed returned, and the revolutionary officers and soldiers who were struggling to survive gathered around Bai Chongxi in a row, and at the same time, they also attracted bursts of bullets from the enemy, and in the blink of an eye, the three guards around Bai Chongxi were shot off their horses.

Bai Chongxi, who was riding a big white horse, gave orders very calmly and calmly, commanded more and more officers and soldiers to resist layer by layer, retreated to the south in an orderly manner, and crossed the water network in Xujia Village in the southwest of the city and suddenly ordered to speed up, and the rout of nearly 2,000 troops finally temporarily got rid of the large-scale pursuit under Bai Chongxi's calm command and rushed to the south.

At the head of the first pontoon bridge on the east bank and 500 meters deep on the west bank, with the support of two engineer companies of the Model Battalion, the artillery regiment directly under the command of the first successful retreat was unharmed.

The angry Cai Zhonghu roared and ordered the officers and soldiers under his command to quickly untie the fourteen guns pulled by the horses, and open the distance to build a firing position, the gun commanders adjusted the firing Zhu Yuan in his command, and the deputy shooters at the same time moved out the seventy boxes of shells in the roadside woods, pried open the thick ammunition box with a steel drill, and moved out the brand-new shells in the box, and hurriedly installed the rapid combination of audio messages, just waiting for Cai Zhongwat to give an order to all fire, and Cai Zhongwat boarded the top of the cab of a tractor that transported the wounded back, Just wait for An Yi to give a signal, and immediately launch an artillery bombardment on the surging pursuing enemy.

In front of the position on the east bank of the pontoon bridge, Liu Zhi took the lead and led more than 2,000 remaining brothers of the Second Division to rush to the position, and under the guidance of the officers and men of the Fifth Company of the Model Battalion, they rushed into the position and rushed onto the pontoon bridge in an orderly and rapid manner.

Liu Zhi hit his horse to meet An Yi, who was striding over: "Quick, go with me immediately to pick up the principal!" Fast! Jiang Mingsan was also injured and fell behind the team. ”

"Yes! The division follows his subordinates, otherwise we will not be able to get out of the battle, and the withdrawn brothers are too confused and have blocked the entrance to the position. ”

An Yi, who had been informed by Adjutant Bai Chongxi in advance, had already made preparations, turned around and ran to the little black horse, grabbed the saddle with one hand and flew up, and shouted an order to Yang Bin, who was standing at the height of the position:

"Lao Yang, I will hand it over to you and Lao Qu here, the brothers of the Fifth Company and the Seventh Company must nail Lao Tzu to this position, and they are not allowed to take a step back without Lao Tzu's order! As soon as you see the flag of our model battalion, you immediately set fire to the gasoline barrels by the river, and let the artillery regiments on the west bank be cut off by the retreating brethren! ”

"Yes!" Yang Bin replied loudly.

An Yile turned his horse's head and led more than ten brothers such as Hu Zi and Gu Changfeng to ride out of the battle from the other side, avoiding the chaotic flow of people on the oncoming side, and rushed to the north from the east side. After running three kilometers, Liu Zhi shouted loudly with joy, and Commander-in-Chief Chiang met him surrounded by hundreds of guards.

With the last ray of light in the sky, Wang Shihe, who was beside Commander-in-Chief Jiang, saw the banner of the model battalion and immediately announced loudly, Commander-in-Chief Jiang raised his hand to signal the team to slow down, and saw Liu Zhi and An Yi who had returned, and their hearts were immediately calmed down.

The two teams stopped head-on, and Liu Zhi, who was on the horse, saw that the commander-in-chief was safe and sound, he was ashamed and excited, but Commander-in-Chief Jiang smiled and said to Liu Zhi, An Yi and Huzi: "Chief of General Staff Bai is still behind, and after helping, the guards with Chief of General Staff Bai will immediately go to meet him!" ”

"Yes!"

Liu Zhi called Bai Chongxi's guard chief Huang Ruihua and led Bai Chongxi's guards to the north, along the way there were more and more defeated officers and soldiers, more and more crowded, the defeated officers and soldiers of the divisions of the Second Army were surging, Liu Zhi could only order Huang Ruihua to fire his gun to open the way, so as to move slowly north.

Seeing that there were more and more routs, An Yi made a loud request to Commander-in-Chief Jiang: "Headmaster, please follow the students back to the bridgehead immediately and cross the bridge as soon as possible, otherwise it will be too late!" ”

"No, I'm going to wait until the White Chief of Staff arrives before leaving. There is also the injured Jiang Mingsan, Xu Yuexiang and other generals who took care of him are still lagging behind, as the commander of the whole army, how can I just leave? Commander-in-Chief Chiang said stubbornly.

An Yi was in a hurry, so he could only say loudly to the beard beside him: "Huzi, you lead the brothers to the north immediately to find the deputy division commander and the chief of staff, and send them back immediately when you see them, if they don't have horses, you can grab them on horseback and bring them back together!" ”

"Understood!"

The beard on the horse turned to the rear and gave a loud order, and more than a dozen elites immediately patted their horses and quickly left.

Fifteen minutes passed, Liu Zhi and Bai Chongxi galloped together, hundreds of meters behind them, thousands of sweaty defeated officers and soldiers, almost more than half of them had already thrown away their weapons and their military hats, and An Yi sighed frequently and was sad.

After another eight minutes, Hu Zi and his party returned quickly, Chief of Staff Xu Tingyao and Deputy Division Commander Jiang Dingwen were in the team, but Jiang Dingwen, who was covered in blood, came back lying in front of Hu Zi's saddle, and the wound hit by the bullet hurt so much that he bared his teeth and kept moaning.

Wang Shihe immediately called two guards to help Jiang Dingwen on a war horse, and saw that Jiang Dingwen was staggering and could no longer hold on, so he could only ask a powerful guard to ride a horse to take care of him.

Bai Chongxi rode his horse to the front of An Yi, nodded with satisfaction after listening to An Yi's report, and told An Yi not to give the artillery regiment a signal too quickly, there were still many officers and soldiers of the Second Army who were left behind and were being chased by the enemy, and a few salvos of fourteen artillery pieces would cause many friendly soldiers to be injured by mistake.

An Yi instructed Hu Zi to lead the Dong Yanzi and the brothers to stay behind, as long as they saw the shadow of the enemy, they would return immediately, Yang Bin would light the fuel barrel to give a signal when he saw the banner, and then asked Hu Zi not to stop, and led the brothers to the second pontoon bridge in the south to meet.

After all the arrangements were made, An Yi rode his horse and followed behind Commander-in-Chief Chiang and Deputy General Bai to the south, thousands of defeated officers and soldiers crowded the roads, fields and all convenient escape routes, and the commander-in-chief's horse team mixed with the rolling flow of people was like a long and narrow boat, rising and falling with the terrified flow of people, constantly changing its shape and moving forward.

Finally came to the position on the east bank of the first pontoon bridge, everything in front of him made An Yi and the generals extremely anxious, more and more routs pressed the 150-meter-long, 100-meter-deep defensive position was crowded, because it was impossible to pass through the ten-meter-wide position entrance in time, a group of frightened routs jumped over the trenches on both sides of the entrance, breaking through the layers of sandbags in front of the trenches, and the model battalion brothers in the trenches saw that they were all their own brothers and did not dare to shoot to stop them, and hesitated slightly, The position was immediately swept away by the flow of people in extreme fear.

As far as the eye can see, the ant-like crowd on the pontoon bridge is constantly screaming, and there is chaos, and the officers and soldiers who are constantly being squeezed off the pontoon bridge by the crowded crowd struggle hopelessly, and the heavy cotton clothes on their bodies are extremely heavy after being soaked in water, and soon the drowning people who are screaming incessantly fall to the bottom of the river.

It was not until this time that An Yi, who saw the rout for the first time, had a sense of frightened fear, and knew how far-reaching and clever Bai Chongxi's foresight was, if there was no second pontoon bridge in the south, or if the pontoon bridge was built in the north section of the river according to his original plan, and he did not make a series of tedious and thorough preparations for this, even he might not be able to escape.

Bai Chongxi, who rushed to the edge of the crowd, shouted an order to the guards behind him: "You lead a platoon to stay, and after we move forward for five minutes, you immediately shout loudly that there is a pontoon bridge in the south three miles, and then immediately ride a horse to quickly cross the bridge." ”

"Yes!"

"Let's go—"

An Yi roared, and the entire horse team of nearly a thousand people bypassed the chaotic position crowded with thousands of people, slowly accelerated, faster and faster, and it only took five minutes to see the big flag on the riverbank position of the second pontoon bridge.

Just when An Yi breathed a sigh of relief, Xia Jian and the others, who were on the guard mission in front, rode their horses and ran to report loudly: "Report to the battalion commander, two kilometers to the east, about 3,000 enemy troops have been found to be rushing towards me, the brothers of the sixth company are ready for battle, and the artillery company on the west bank is ready for battle!" ”

"You immediately assist the officers and men of the Sixth Company and make all preparations for battle!" An Yi's scalp was numb, and the voice he shouted was out of tune.

Everyone was taken aback, and Bai Chongxi did not expect that the commander of the enemy army, Deng Ruzhuo, would react so quickly, think so cleverly and secretively, and act so quickly and efficiently, and in a hurry, he would not consult with Commander-in-Chief Jiang and immediately issued an order to cross the river quickly.

An Yi took the lead, rushed to the bridgehead position, flew off his horse and ordered a platoon commander to immediately mount his war horse to the opposite bank to inform the mortar company, just wait for the battle gunfire to sound, immediately open fire 500 meters in front of our position, and after three rounds of rapid fire, extend the artillery fire by increasing the firing range by 50 meters each time.

Commander-in-Chief Jiang and his entourage had just approached the edge of the position, and suddenly there was a whistling sound of cannonballs in the sky, An Yi was shocked and shouted to dismount and hide, and immediately rushed to Commander-in-Chief Jiang's horse without waiting for everyone to react, grabbed Principal Jiang's arm and pulled off the horse forcefully, and it was possible to roll into the trench with Principal Jiang in his arms before the two shells fell.

Before the smoke of gunpowder was over, the second round of shells flew again, blasting the area of more than 50 meters in the position to the ground of mud and rocks, and the dust was filled, one of the shells flew over the position and landed on the river surface on the right side of the pontoon bridge, and the ghost made a miracle to blow up the load-bearing pile at the junction of the approach bridge and the five-meter square formwork, so that An Yi, who was pulling Principal Jiang to the exit of the traffic trench with severe pain in his left shoulder, was in pain, Bai Chongxi and others immediately arrived, looking at the crumbling and rattling pontoon bridge deck ten meters below and was surprised.

Just when everyone was panicking, an amazing scene immediately appeared, An Yi loudly ordered Wang Shihe behind him to protect the principal, suddenly stood up, rushed down the ramp, took a few steps to board the approach bridge that made a rattling sound, and flew down the river under the stunned gaze of everyone, and the huge water columns stirred up by the cannonballs drowned An Yi, and after a while, he quickly swam to the break and quickly floated, grabbed the edge of the main bridge that was about to sink with one hand, and sank his body together, and slowly lifted the heavy five-meter-square bridge body with his right shoulder, Raise his watery head and shout loudly to the shore: "Wang Shihe, quickly protect the principal to cross the bridge, hurry-"

"Battalion Commander—"

Chen Zhibiao, the commander of the sixth company lying on the embankment, roared, threw down the weapons in his hands, and shouted to the brothers to come and help, and then rushed down the river bank in spite of the flying artillery fire.

Principal Jiang ran to the bridge deck surrounded by the guards, braved the water curtain in the sky, he took a few steps to the bridge deck above An Yi and squatted down, and sighed with tears in his eyes: "Xiao Yi ......"

An Yi was in a hurry: "Principal, go quickly, it's dangerous...... The dog said that Wang Shi and you are stupid? Do you know that the weight on Lao Tzu is very heavy, hurry up-"

An Yi, who was pale and panting, roared loudly, his thigh was cut through a long wound by sharp shrapnel deeply nailed to the broken pile, due to the high tension and the cold of the river, he didn't feel anything, blood continued to gush out from the wound on the back of his left shoulder and his right thigh, and a strong smell of blood came out under the fierce undulating river.

Wang Shihe, who was extremely moved, bit his lower lip, and another guard picked up the teary-eyed Principal Jiang, and rushed across the pontoon bridge with a hug and rushed to the opposite bank......

(To be continued)