The army under the command of General Li Zongren pursued 25 kilometers of victory until the darkness of the night, and then stopped.

The main force of more than 30,000 officers and men who fought fiercely for two days in a row captured nearly 10,000 enemies, captured a lot, and they were also exhausted and walked heavily, so they could only camp and rest on the front line of Changshandian at the intersection of railways and highways.

Three kilometers north of Hesheng Bridge, located on the right side of the railway, in the south of Lujiapo Village, a large mansion covering an area is heavily guarded, and a guard post is set up at the gate of the beautiful compound and the eaves at the four corners of the square courtyard, and a group of two people holds machine guns in their arms, closely monitoring all directions.

Revolutionary officers and men in groups of four, escorted by two heavily armed soldiers armed with light machine guns or machine guns, escorted the surviving prisoners, bags of heavy belongings, and baskets full of belongings to the lobby of the main room within the walls.

This is the meeting point of the Anyi Department to clean up the battlefield, and the mansion, which has been emptied by the war, has become a concentration of captured supplies and prisoners of war.

The sporadic gunfire in the direction of the southeast bridgehead had stopped, and the footsteps of the large troops entering were getting closer and closer, and the officers and men of the first company and the second platoon, who had gathered the ranks and counted the number of people, according to An Yi's orders, lit two blazing bonfires outside the main gate of the mansion, and the "Model Battalion" battle flag obliquely inserted on the top of the courtyard gate was clearly visible under the light of the fire.

After sending off two groups of patrol teams of the Eighth Army, An Yi returned to the eaves of the main hall where torches were blazing and a large bonfire was lit, and inspected the wounded prisoners who had already bandaged the wounds of the brothers one by one, chatting with this one and asking a few questions from that, with a kind attitude and a smile on his face, which made the frightened prisoners feel much more at ease.

After visiting more than seventy wounded prisoners, An Yi walked to the more than three hundred and thirty intact and frightened prisoners on the other side, thought for a moment and shouted to the beard standing at the door:

"Beard, take out the cigarette guns we have put back, so that the brethren can relieve their fatigue, and save them all from standing and their legs trembling."

Hu Zi nodded, and called a group of brothers to carry out several baskets of smoking guns and three large bags of Yunnan tobacco, and placed them separately in front of more than 300 captives and more than 70 wounded captives.

The captives' eyes suddenly glowed green and kept twitching, and even a few of the captives covered in gauze struggled to get up and stretched out trembling hands.

An Yi smiled when he saw this, and kindly instructed: "Brothers help each other, take turns to smoke, the cigarette paste is not enough in the house, don't worry, take your time, haha!" ”

Two hours later, An Yi gave an order, separated the two hundred and one hundred and ten prisoners and forty-seven wounded soldiers who had smoked opium into the middle of the courtyard, and asked Dong Yanzi to bring a table.

"Brothers, Lao Tzu knows that most of you are from poor families, and many of you are soldiers in order to have a full stomach, but soldiers should have the integrity and good habits of soldiers. Where can you be called a real soldier? Here, brother, I would like to make a hope to all of you, and when you go back, you should think of quitting opium smoking, otherwise no amount of income will be enough to burn out this fire.

Now, the brethren will line up and come here, and each of you will receive some money for the journey, and I will only send you two oceans, brothers, and after taking the money, we will take care of each other, and go out of the courtyard gate and go east, and rest in the village a mile away, and then think about going home. ”

With the captives looking at them in amazement, gratitude, and shame, An Yi strolled over to the one hundred and forty captives and twenty-six wounded who were not smoking opium under the eaves, and pointed to the eight cauldrons in the courtyard where rice and stew were cooking:

"Brothers, you are doing well, I will invite you to dinner later, because it is too hasty to have a white film of steamed bread, the brothers will use some rice. If you want to leave after eating, I will still send two oceans, and if you don't want to leave, you will continue to be a soldier with Lao Tzu, with a minimum salary of 12 yuan per month, and you don't need money for clothing and food, as long as Lao Tzu has food to eat, the brothers will not be hungry...... Raise your heads, don't be discouraged, although you lost the battle, you can't be blamed, you don't need to be afraid and sad.

I would like to take this opportunity to tell you that our troops have brothers from Hunan and Jiangxi, as well as brothers from Guangdong and Sichuan, and most of the brothers in and outside the courtyard and on the roofs with machine guns are standing guard for us, and hundreds of them are from your direct divisions. Tidy up your clothes and get ready for dinner. ”

A group of half-believing and hungry captives watched more than 200 brothers who did not want to leave walk out of the courtyard gate, lined up anxiously, took all kinds of dishes and chopsticks handed by the revolutionary officers and soldiers, and walked to the firehead army who shared the food, squatting under the eaves after eating one by one, gobbling it up, most of them swallowed a large layer of hot fat on the rice in a few bites, and then stripped the rice in the bowl three times or twice, and looked at a few large pots, there was still a lot of rice and pork left in the pot, but no one could get the gift of even half a spoonful of rice.

An Yi held a beautiful porcelain plate full of rice and pork, strode over to the most injured Anhui soldier and squatted down: "Shi Lejun, right?" Listening to your name is like a child of a scholar, right? ”

The young wounded soldier nodded sadly: "The chief is right, the younger one has been taught by his father since he was a child, and the family has been cultivating and reading for generations, and the younger one also knows some poetry and books, but now, ...... Half of the slap and three fingers of his right hand are gone, and he was shot in the thigh, which is a waste of his life......"

"What are you doing in Sun Jianye's army?" An Yi asked.

"The lieutenant adjutant of the division headquarters is the accountant in charge of the allocation of military resources and the statistics of military salaries." Shi Lejun was very depressed, and his voice was always low.

An Yi laughed: "Isn't this enough?" Just now I asked my medical officer Xiao Langzhong, and he said that you are fine, the penetrating wound on the leg did not hurt the muscles and bones, as long as you use the herbs he prepared for a month, you can get better, not to mention that our army also has a lot of anti-inflammatory drugs for foreigners. The wound on the hand can be cured if it is not a big problem, but I advise you to start practicing shooting with your left hand after the injury is healed, writing and planning the plate, there is just a shortage of an accountant in the Lao Tzu Army, according to the regulations just promulgated by our army, the rank of the officers and soldiers of Toucheng remains unchanged, and the officers above the rank of lieutenant and above the general officer are demoted to one level, and you will temporarily be my second lieutenant adjutant. ”

Everyone in the courtyard looked at An Yi in astonishment, An Yi looked like he didn't know, and kindly scooped a small spoonful of rice dipped in gravy with a spoon, and sent it to Shi Lejun's mouth very naturally.

Shi Lejun looked at An Yi's eyes excitedly, and said tremblingly: "Long ...... Sir, don't tease the little ones! The little ones are like this......"

An Yi carefully put the porcelain plate on the ground, looked around, and called Shi Junren, the honest machine gun platoon leader:

"Old Shi, this brother is also a member of your old Shi family, so it's up to you to serve him! Tell him what kind of person Lao Tzu is, and if he still thinks he is a waste, send him five oceans to tell him to get out! Lao Tzu's troops do not collect their nests. ”

An Yi's cruel words frightened everyone into silence, and the courtyard was silent.

Shi Junren pulled the shell gun to his waist and sat down cross-legged, picked up the porcelain plate and looked at Shi Lejun, and sighed long: "Brother, brother, I am also from a direct line, thanks to the battalion commander's acceptance, I have today, and I also promoted my brother from a small soldier to a platoon commander." Don't look at our battalion commander who is young and doesn't like to accommodate people, but he has always been a mouthful of foam and a nail, and he has never lied. As long as we have the ability in this battalion, as long as we are willing to work hard and learn, no one will suffer, and we will be rewarded for meritorious service and punished for mistakes...... But there was one thing, every brother in the camp looked down on the spineless. Brother, you are a scholar, you should be more sensible than my brother, and you should be able to see that our battalion commander has a hard time for you...... Okay, don't be sad, let's eat first, go into the side room after eating and sleep well, if you really want to leave, you have to change the medicine tomorrow morning. ”

Shi Lejun opened his mouth and took a mouthful of food fed by Shi Junren, big tears rolled down his emaciated face and flowed into the corners of his mouth, he licked the bitter tears, swallowed hard along with the rice and bitter saliva, raised his stubborn head and said word by word: "Brother Shi, the little brother eats by himself, the little brother's left hand is not wasted!" ”

Shi Junren nodded with satisfaction, put the porcelain plate in front of him, stuffed the small spoon into his left hand, patted him on the shoulder and stood up and went into the house to resume his life.

This extremely touching scene shocked the hearts of the more than 100 captives and the brothers in the courtyard, and everyone looked at the main hall with mixed feelings and sighed with emotion.

In the depths of the main hall, An Yi on the Taishi chair listened to Shi Junren's report, nodded with satisfaction, and pointed to the more than seventy small wooden boxes stacked on the wall behind the red wooden pillars and whispered:

"Old history, each box of these cigarette paste is about fifteen or sixteen catties, all of which are refined from high-quality cloud soil, and they are worth at least 70,000 oceans at a discount of eight percent, and our brothers will be counting on these cigarette paste for their future fortune, and your machine gun platoon will be responsible for transporting them tomorrow, and they will be packed into the tool kits of the brothers of the third company, and they will be carried away by horses, fortunately, the brothers just now quickly brought back more than 30 good horses from the lake and marsh, and the brothers don't have to work so their backs along the way, just find some cloth and sheets to wrap and tie them up, When I get to the front and join the main army, I have my own way to deal with it, remember? ”

"Understood! Subordinates will never lose a tael! Shi Junren replied solemnly.

An Yi slapped his arm hard, waved his hand to let him go to the sentry, turned to Dong Lingzi on the other side and smiled: "Dong Yanzi, you can't do this arithmetic, you have counted it twice and still haven't figured it out?" Just those oceans are worth counting for so long? ”

Dong Lingzi glanced at An Yi happily, lowered his head and continued to count: "Big brother, you don't know, this part of the ocean recovered from the corpse must be wiped clean before it can be put away, I also have to count the ocean and the ocean separately, it is more than 3,000 yuan, it takes a little effort, plus the three thousand five hundred yuan that Qu Platoon Leader picked up from the carriage that turned into the water, this time we can send it!" ”

An Yi smiled and turned to Hu Jialin, who was cleaning up a large pile of sabers, guns and armed belts: "Huzi, are there any light machine guns?" ”

The beard head didn't reply: "No, the heavy machine gun is carried back with three, all of which are ninety percent new, and if it is a human being, I will also get the other ** strong." There were 271 long guns and 14 short guns, including an American revolver that unfortunately ran out of bullets, and a lieutenant saber with 16. I left other pocket watches, snuff bottles, daggers, and other small things for the brothers themselves, as if there were a few fountain pens, and I wondered if the brothers who searched for them could write. ”

An Yi laughed: "Grandma's! The pen has to be handed over, haha...... Beard, just carry back a few hundred knives and guns, how can you tell the brothers to collect so many armed belts? ”

"I've checked, the armed belt issued by the direct subordinate troops is stronger and more durable than ours, thick and soft, solid, even the leather cartridge sleeve on the top is made of high-quality cowhide, the brass cover buckle is easy to access and store, the brass rivets on it are neat and tidy, the buckle is firm and smooth, there is no gap, it is estimated that one of the three hanging belts we are issued is not broken, and I have only found one hundred and thirty-five after hard work!"

The beard pulled out a wide belt for official use and threw it to An Yi: "I have turned over nearly a thousand corpses, there are only four such special belts, which are definitely from the hands of master craftsmen, you have no place to buy them if you have money, the other two I and Jinan want to use, and I have to keep the remaining one." ”

An Yi copied it with his hand, caught it steadily, stood up for a moment and happily untied the officer's lanyard on his body, changed it and played it neatly, inserted four magazines, moved the Zhongzheng sword on the new belt a few times, and then applauded loudly.

Seeing the list brought by Dong Lingzi, An Yi hurriedly took it and looked at it, nodded with satisfaction and said in a low voice: "Good girl, I have gained a lot, it's enough for us to squander for a while, haha!" What do you think? Big brother, I'll let you run faster with the main ass, right? If you wait for the Eighth Army and the logistics units of the divisions to come up, you won't be left a piece of shit. ”

Dong Yanzi said excitedly: "What a pity! If Brother Yin called the brothers of Sanlian as well, we would have gained even more this time! At first, I didn't know that I would pick up so much, but I thought it was really like what my eldest brother said. Big brother, why did you call all the brothers back when it was dark? We've only cleared half of the enemy's left flank and we've gained so much, wouldn't we get more if we searched it any longer? ”

An Yi laughed, hugged Dong Yanzi's shoulders, and said solemnly: "Dong Yanzi, today you remember the words of the eldest brother, no matter what you do in the future, don't be too greedy, you must know how to stop in moderation!" Just now, Tang Shengzhi's Eighth Army and the two logistics units of the Fourth Army have all poured in, if we are still there, wouldn't it be eye-catching? Moreover, we only have more than 200 brothers, so can we really fight for any benefit without suffering?

When we came back just now, we heard a burst of gunfire, and I guess it was the Fourth Army and the Eighth Army that were arguing over opium or gold bars and oceans that the enemy didn't have time to take away, and they were arguing and fighting! If we are still grinding there, it is estimated that these 70 boxes of tobacco paste will not be able to be saved, and all our seizures tonight will not be one-third of this batch of tobacco paste! Enough is enough, you can't be greedy anymore, you will die if you are insatiable, understand? ”

Dong Yanzi finally understood An Yi's hard work, and when she saw that Hu Zi was standing beside him at some point, she looked at herself happily, scratching her head and laughing embarrassedly.

(To be continued)