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At eleven o'clock in the morning, the camp in Hankow. Pen~Fun~Pavilion www.biquge.info At the end of the military meeting convened by Chiang Kai-shek, the generals left the venue in droves with the latest instructions and fighting spirit, and seven people, including He Yingqin, He Chengjun, and the chief officer of Chen Yi's Xiaoxing Battalion who came from Nanjing, surrounded Chiang Kai-shek and discussed in a low voice.

An Yiwang was about to step forward to say goodbye and return to Yichang, when Adjutant Shen Fengdao walked in with a telegram and whispered. After reading the message, An Yi pondered for a moment, whispered a few orders, and then strode to Chiang Kai-shek's side.

"Report to the commander-in-chief that the 16th and 44th Divisions of the Fifth Army Corps took Laohekou at nine o'clock this morning. After the shelling, the defenders surrendered. The specific reason was that the defenders lacked supplies and were greatly reduced due to illness and cold, and there were only 5,600 officers and men left in the enemy's temporary 7th Division, of which more than 1,000 were still lying down.

According to the confession of the chief of staff of the enemy major general, Nie Peiyuan. Pei Jingwen, commander of the Provisional Seventh Division, and Pang Bingxun, the new commander of the Second Route Army, have had a deep grudge over the years, so after Pang Bingxun took office, he did not give the Provisional Seventh Division any military salary and material supplements, and it has been five months since he was paid the officers and men of the Provisional Seventh Division, who were required to be self-sufficient in food and grass, and the officers and men of the Provisional Seventh Division fled from illness and spent their days as if they were sick

The wind dismissed the defenders according to the severance pay of two oceans per person, and they were unwilling. They have begged our army to treat them as disaster victims. ”

After An Yi finished his report, he stood quietly and waited for Chiang Kai-shek's opinion.

The generals were amazed when they heard this, and it was estimated that the enemy would abandon Laohekou and retreat to southwest Henan. How could the Northwest Army be so embarrassed?

Only Chiang Kai-shek's eyes lit up and he was quite excited: "Very good, very good!" The bloodless capture of the old estuary proves that it is completely correct to open up a battlefield on this front! I will personally call Yin Jinan and Gu Changfeng Jiamian, no matter what, after taking Laohekou, southern Henan and southwestern Henan are under our noses, I hope your department will immediately change the battle plan, no need

Wait, transfer all divisions to the north as soon as possible, and make a fierce attack on southern and southwestern Henan! ”

"Yes!" An Yi returned to tea

"General An, what are you going to do with those more than 5,000 soldiers? If so, how about transferring my 3rd Army Reserve Division? He Cheng asked with a smile.

An Yi replied apologetically: "I'm really sorry, Chief He, at most, I can only send 3,000 people to the commander, because 2,000 of them are still useful in my legion, and my subordinates have ordered the political department of the legion to select 2,000 officers and soldiers who are bitter and hateful, give them enough salaries, and send enough dry food." Under the escort of our scouts, they entered the counties of southwestern Henan and dispersed

Our army will open up the Hubei-Henan Highway. We have sent a large amount of relief food to the disaster areas, and asked these 2,000 officers and men to secretly contact and persuade their relatives and friends in various units of the Northwest Army to make old friends, and encourage them to defect to our Central Army. ”

"Good! Good strategy! The two armies are facing each other, attacking the heart first, and the soldiers who surrender without a fight are the highest level of the art of war, let it go! Chiang Kai-shek shouted encouragement.

"Yes!" An Yi is returning to the Rui

Chen Yi took half a step forward and asked with interest: "General An, in this way, the entire front of the Fifth Army Corps will quickly advance northward, and the pressure on the line from Jingxiang to Suizhou will suddenly decrease, in this case, will General An consider handing over the defense of Suizhou to the Third Army Corps, so as to deal with the war in the northwest with all his energy?" ”

An Yi was stunned for a moment, and then knew that Chiang Kai-shek had finally made up his mind to annex the disobedient Fan Shisheng's 51st Division, and in last night's secret conversation, Chiang Kai-shek suddenly proposed to transfer Gu Zhutong's chief of staff Han Deqin to the commander of the 51st Division, appoint Fan Shisheng as the commander of the Jingxiang Garrison Command, and transfer all the Xiangfan Garrison Command, which originally belonged to Zhu Shigui, to Fan Shisheng

Middle. It seems that the power and territory have increased exponentially, and the opportunity to search for wealth has also increased greatly, but since then, Fan Shisheng has no 51st Division number belonging to the Central Army, and I am afraid that he will lose the opportunity to lead troops in the future.

An Yi pondered for a moment and replied cautiously: "My subordinates have no opinions, there are only two requirements, first, the delivery of materials from the two legion depots of Xiangyang and Laohekou that will be established must be safeguarded and absolutely respected by the garrisons of the Third Army along the river, because most of the materials are disaster relief food, clothing and medicine, and there is no room for sloppiness.

Second, the appointment of Generals Fan Shisheng and Han Deqin, and the decision on the ownership of the Suizhou Defense Region, must be issued by the Central Military Commission. ”

"This is simple, and it is up to us at the Ministry of Military Affairs. General An will not be embarrassed. Chen Yi said with a happy smile, obviously very satisfied with An Yi's reply. He Yingqin on the side was quite uncomfortable in his heart, he clearly knew that if this suggestion was made by him to An Yi, he would definitely eat it immediately and close the door.

An Yi turned to Chiang Kai-shek, who was smiling: "Headmaster, Zhan Zhuo is cumbersome, and the students will leave!" ”

"Go, I'll wait for you to deliver another good news!" Chiang Kai-shek waved his hand and replied unusually kindly.

An Yi saluted in a proper manner, and then saluted the chiefs. Huan Li, striding away under the eyes of Chiang Kai-shek, walking more than a dozen steps, suddenly heard He Yingqin's voice coming: This is too easy, right?

On April 26, in the royal city of Luoyang, the commander-in-chief of the Northwest Army camped.

Feng Yuxiang, Zhang Zhijiang, Song Zheyuan, and other generals and commanders of the Northwest Army gathered together, and Zhang Zhijiang loudly announced the battle reports on all fronts to the participants.

"The bandits who suddenly came out of Heluo, Beina and other places entrenched in Rongyang for four days, kidnapped and killed more than 15,000 of our military equipment, destroyed three railways, and looted the city's materials. Our army did not coordinate in time to jointly suppress bandits; Henan, Shen, and Ningbo's major cities and towns broke out one after another with ultra-leftists and pro-Chiang faction elements behind the scenes, and there were even big regulations in various counties in southern Shaanxi

The Mochi bandits rioted. They killed government officials at all levels appointed by our army. Burning the government and snatching the weapons of the security team. The military camps and government treasury of various counties have been looted, and the convoys of our grain and material convoys have been ambushed on both sides of the road

Disturbed.

At present, the Commander's Department has instructed the remaining troops to strictly suppress and eliminate the rebels, and once again warn you that you must take it seriously, according to our understanding, this riot is not as simple as a catastrophe, there must be a few black hands behind it to sow discord and add fuel to the fire, which is enough to rise to the political level to deal with it

"Report to the marshal, Nanyang Chief Pang is in an emergency."

The confidential staff officer hurriedly came and handed over the telegram from behind Feng Yuxiang, Zhang Zhijiang saw Feng Yuxiang's brows furrowed and suddenly straightened up, immediately stopped speaking, and turned his head with concern to see what was going on.

Feng Yuxiang handed the telegram to Zhang Zhijiang, pondered for a while, and calmly reported to the generals: "The Fifth Army Corps in Western Hubei captured Laohekou, and Pei Jingwen, who had long been separated from us, led the officers and soldiers of the whole division to raise the white flag and surrender. ”

The general sat majestically with an unchanged expression, obviously no one was surprised by this, Pei Jingwen, who was stranded in the old estuary of western Hubei alone, was not a descendant of Feng Yuxiang's system, this team that originally belonged to Sun Yue, the commander of the National Third Army, was still an ally of Feng Yuxiang's National Second Army two years ago. After Sun Yue died of illness in 28 years, the three armies of the Nationalists were gone

Some of them occupied one side and set up another banner to do their own thing, while others went their own way and threw themselves under the command of various big warlords, and the various units of the Northwest Army also tried their best to integrate and enrich themselves when they saw the opportunity, and in the past two years they have used thunderbolt means. The integration of large and small armed forces in various parts of Henan and Shaanxi. The eradication of the eradication of Henan and Shaanxi provinces has achieved temporary tranquility, but it has also buried the hidden danger of rebellion.

Pei Jingwen saw that all the units of his army were either exterminated or annexed by the Northwest Army, and immediately convened a military meeting above the regimental level to let everyone choose their future. In the end, it was unanimously decided to surrender to the command of Zhang Weibao, the commander of the First Route Army, and had been stationed in Dengzhou as a local garrison

south, and soon defeated two regiments of the Hubei local garrison division to occupy Laohekou.

Since Pei Jingwen's division did not belong to the Northwest Army's descendant troops, the Northwest Army, which was financially strained, did not have military salaries and grain in peacetime, and all expenses were "self-raised" by Pei Jingwen's division within the scope of the garrison, and the general headquarters would subsidize military salaries only in every war. This "self-funding" is very subtle. To put it mildly, it was actually allowing the garrison to loot the local people

Under the guise of "self-financing," corrupt officials and some local warlords forcibly expropriated and extorted money by disregard for the people's livelihood and careless management of human life, and other evil deeds have contributed to the hatred between the army and the people.

Feng Yuxiang was a little surprised to see that everyone didn't react, but then he understood, smiled and asked, "What do you think of this matter?" ”

Sun Liangcheng replied: "Dashuai, which part of the old estuary is occupied by the enemy?" ”

Chief of Staff Zhang Zhijiang replied on his behalf: "The telegram said that it was the 44th and 16th Divisions of the Fifth Army Corps. These two catties, the main division of the Central Army are all three brigades and nine regiments of the A division, each division is about 16,000 people, the equipment of the newly formed 44th Division is not yet clear, the former deputy commander of the An Yi Independent Division Yin Jinan served as the division commander of the 16th Division, staffing

The equipment situation is similar to that of the independent division of the ace unit of the Central Army, both of which have divisional artillery regiments and teaching regiments, and each brigade has a machine gun battalion and an engineer battalion, which are well-equipped and well-trained, and should be one of the most capable units in the Central Army's sequence of fighting tough battles

Judging from the background of Gu Changfeng, the commander of the 44th Division, An Yi, who is extremely protective of his old subordinates and very eccentric, will definitely not treat him badly. Some of them have manpower and money, and the supply of guns and materials is even more abundant, and it is likely that they will also be forty in a very short time

The overall combat strength of the 4th Division has been raised to a level similar to that of the 16th Division. ”

"Speaking of which, Nanyang is in danger! The north of Laohekou is less than 100 miles away from Dengzhou, and Nazhou is only 100 miles away from Nanyang, a strategic place in southern Henan, and if Nanyang is attacked by the enemy, southern Henan and western Henan will inevitably be shaken, and the entire Hubei-Henan war situation will be difficult to grasp. Old Jiang Ding used An Yi's Fifth Army to go north out of Nanyang in order to contain our troops, and then threaten us

The hinterland of western Henan. ”

Song Zheyuan expressed his opinion worriedly. It was immediately recognized by many generals.

Sun Liangcheng thought for a while and said with relief: "According to the intelligence, the Fifth Army of An Yi only has more than 50,000 people in four divisions, and it is more than enough to defend and not enterprising. Facing nearly 60,000 soldiers from the seven divisions and brigades of our Second Route Army. I don't know what chance An Yi has to win, Brother Mingxuan is too worried. ”

"Brother Liangchen, why did you forget to subtract more than 7,000 people from Pei Jingwen's temporary seventh division?" Song Zheyuan reminded angrily.

Sun Liangcheng bowed his head and was silent, frowning and thinking silently. He turned a deaf ear to the discussion of the generals, and after a long while, Sun Liangcheng suddenly asked: "Chief of Staff, which part of the Dengzhou garrison is it?" ”

When the generals heard this, they immediately stopped talking, and they all looked at Zhang Zhijiang, not knowing what Sun Liangcheng meant by this? Zhang Zhijiang was shocked and turned to Feng Yuxiang. Feng Yuxiang beckoned to the rear grid and ordered Pang Bingxun to call Nanyang to closely monitor the movements of the enemy troops at Laohekou and send an additional brigade to the 13th Mixed Brigade stationed in Sichuan. Feng Yuxiang finished his order and looked at Sun Liang

Cheng, asked with a solemn expression: "Liangchen, did you think of something?" ”

Sun, Liangcheng hesitated slightly, and then replied loudly: "My subordinates know An Yi's ability to use troops. During the Northern Expedition of the Independent Division, he was famous for his erratic actions and coming and going like the wind, and An Yi was bold, often taking the sword to the front, and the department was well-trained and had strong firepower. fear

I am afraid that General Zhang Miqing's 13th Mixed Brigade will be in big trouble.

Feng Yuxiang was relieved when he heard this, and waved his hand with a smile: "Huchen, the veteran General Pang Gengchen is not in vain, I think since the news of the fall of Laohekou, General Pang already has a perfect strategy, if An Yi commands two divisions of more than 30,000 people to attack Nazhou, I am afraid it will be difficult to get a little cheap, and if it is not good, it will be because of the light enemy and then by General Pang."

The army is facing a head-on attack!

Just imagine, the road from Laohekou to Dengzhou is rugged, if there is no artillery to fight together, how many men and horses does An Yi have to use to capture Jiancheng Nazhou, which is at the horns of Xinye and Nanyang? Don't forget, there are 35,000 soldiers of our Second Route Army in Nanyang alone, and the road from Nanyang to Dengzhou is wide and flat

The trip takes only an hour and a half to arrive.

Huchen, as you said just now, the Fifth Legion only has four catties. The strength of the main division needs at least one division to be stationed on the front line of Xiangfan, in case our army moves south from Xinye, at this time, unless An Yi has twice as many troops in his hands, otherwise, it can only be beyond his strength to attack Dengzhou, where Pang Lao's army is stationed.

With General Pang's rich experience, at least for more than a month, we can rest easy, even if An Yi has great ability, at most he can only occupy the old estuary and seek a confrontation. ”

The generals were relieved to listen to Feng Yuxiang's analysis, but Song Zheyuan saw the hidden crisis from the far-fetched smile of Sun Liangcheng, who suddenly understood. After the meeting was adjourned, Song Zheyuan went to Feng Yuxiang's residence to ask for his resignation and rushed to the front line, once again earnestly reminding Chief of Staff Zhang Zhijiang to send Pang Bingxun an additional division of troops. After all, An Yi has a reputation for being good at fighting and scheming,

This is a critical juncture. No one dares to be negligent.

Three days passed and on May 1 every year, Chiang Kai-shek made a pledge to defeat Yan and Feng, and the first army Han Fuqu's division increased its strength to eight divisions to undertake the combat mission of the Luxi front, and the second army Liu Zhi's jurisdiction increased to twelve divisions, responsible for the offensive and defensive operations of the eastern Henan line, and the third army He Chengjun's division was adjusted and supplemented, totaling thirteen catties, divisions

, responsible for the combat heavy worship of the southern Henan front

On the same day, Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang met in Zhangde in northern Henan, and the coordinated operations of the Jin Army and the Northwest Army were straightened out, and a larger-scale and more fierce war was about to begin.

An Yi is in the front-line headquarters in Xiangyang City. Intense discussions with his generals and colonels in the hope of reaching an agreement between the two offensive options. Three days ago, An Yi secretly ordered Gu Changfeng's division to go north to feint an attack on Nazhou, and secretly ordered Zhu Shigui's 17th Division, which had been stationed in Fancheng for a long time, to raid Xinye through Guyi and conduct a military test of Pang Bingxun's troops.

However, the enemy general Pang Bingxun did not pay attention to Gu Changfeng's troops who pretended to be radical, and only sent a battalion of cavalry to monitor from afar, so that Gu Changfeng did not dare to take a step forward after traveling 25 kilometers in a row, for fear of being ambushed, he quickly retreated five kilometers back and camped at a dangerous place. Ling Gu Changfeng

It's hard to give up, and there's nothing to do. At the same time, Pang Bingxun commanded the Xinye defenders to raid Fancheng and carry out a tentative attack on Zhu Shigui's troops on the front line of Xiangfan. Zhu Shigui relied on the advantage of having twice as many mortars and light and heavy machine guns as the enemy, and repelled the desperate charge of the brave Eighth Division three times

Two hours after the battle, he was ordered by Zhao Rui, chief of staff of the corps, to quickly withdraw to the front line of Guyi to hold on. Ding Zhicheng, who was responsible for the task, rushed out of the ancient post to find the enemy for a decisive battle, and the temporary eighth division saw that the situation was not good, carrying more than 300 corpses and quickly returning to Xinye.

This battle gave An Yi a deeper understanding of the veteran Pang Bingxun, and finally knew the power of this lame veteran who was neither Feng Yuxiang's descendant nor born in a professional class, and deeply understood that this veteran who was more than half a hundred years old and walked step by step from a soldier to the commander of the Second Route Army of the Northwest Army is not the kind of pedantic generation, but has rich experience in battles and can make decisions on the spot

An eclectic and brave general. For this reason, An Yi specially visited the Seventh Senior Brother of Guishun to inquire about Pang Bingxun's experience, and finally reported to the generals one by one at the military meeting. When the generals heard this, they were full of admiration, and no one dared to despise this "lame man" who had been in the army for more than 30 years, had no reputation, was good at fighting tough battles, and often won more with less

Zhu Shigui, who lost more than 200 people in the battle, was not in a good position. He was very depressed, and Ding Zhicheng, the commander of the Temporary First Division, who was temporarily transferred from the 16th Division to the Yichang Garrison Force, was also full of praise for the courage of the Temporary Eighth Division. From the Seventh Division to the Eighth Division, the stark contrast and huge contrast surprised An Yi and his brothers, and finally understood Pang Bingxun and his descendants

The troops are not much inferior to themselves, and if Pang Bingxun's two divisions also have the same equipment and logistics as themselves, it is difficult to predict who will die in this battle.