Yichang, the former enemy headquarters of the Sichuan Army.

In the conference room on the second floor of the main building of the Yichang Garrison Command, which was established less than half a year ago, the ticking of the radio station has not stopped since dawn, and the 28 staff officers of the Sichuan Army General Headquarters have been divided into five groups to nervously and methodically conduct battle analysis and battlefield tracking and communication on the basis of the information they have gathered.

On the basis of the information provided by the Operations Office and the Communications Department, the staff officers of the Quartermaster Logistics Office worked intensively to calculate the consumption of food, ammunition, and other materials and supplies for the three divisions at the front.

Wang Lingji, deputy commander-in-chief of the Sichuan Army, and Lu Yixuan, chief of staff, stood side by side, pointing to the enemy's retreat route just marked on the map, and discussed in a low voice.

At the huge conference table behind Wang Lingji and Lu Yixuan, Xiao Yimin, commander-in-chief of the Sichuan Army, was still carefully reading the four telegrams he had just received, and the two confidential adjutants stood solemnly opposite the large table, holding folders and pens in their hands, ready to record the orders given by Xiao Yimin at any time.

Wang Lingji looked at the red arrow stabbing in the direction of Jingmen, and was very satisfied:

"Yang Sen's first division did a good job, and it moved faster than Liu Xiang's tenth division, it is estimated that Yang Sen will soon be able to take Jingmen and coerce Xiangfan, I don't know how Li Tiancai of Xiangfan feels?"

Lu Yixuan replied easily:

"What else can Li Tiancai think? Since the civil war in the Hubei army last year, there is only one regiment left under his command, and if it weren't for the veteran Shi Xingchuan who was righteous enough to transfer him to two supplementary regiments, I'm afraid he wouldn't even be able to stand in Xiangyang. Moreover, Xiangyang has always been a fierce people, the clan power is deep-rooted, the surrounding places are not fuel-efficient lamps, the Hubei-Henan border area is rampant bandits, although they are some backward equipment, untrained rabble, but can not stand the mountains with a large number of people, these places and bandit armed entanglement with each other, fish and dragons are mixed, during which there are not a few years of the collapse of the Hubei army, there are also down the mountain to grab the territory of the green forest habitual bandits, the whole Xiangyang City has long been a family of bandits.

"Therefore, after Li Tiancai was defeated and retreated to Xiangyang, he has been enduring the constraints and resistance of local tyrants, and he has not been able to turn over again, and now in the face of the 12,000 soldiers of our army's first division equipped with a large number of mortars and light and heavy machine guns, he has only two ways to go: either surrender or flee north, no matter how strong Xiangyang City is, it will not be able to hold it."

Wang Lingji very much agrees with Lu Yixuan's analysis:

"This is a more realistic problem, it is easy for Yang Sen to take Xiangyang, but if you want to gain a firm foothold, I am afraid it will take a lot of effort, and perhaps the method suggested by the commander-in-chief to integrate the local armed forces is worth trying."

Lu Yixuan was unsure about the incorporation of local armed forces:

"The original intention of the commander-in-chief is good, but I estimate that it will be difficult to work with Yang Sen's temper and work habits, it must be to kill a few arrogant local snakes first, sacrifice the flag and establish authority, and then open favorable conditions to integrate the local armed forces, as for how to do it, I will pay attention to northern Hubei is not our Sichuan, and many robe bosses in our army have no friendship with the White Lotus Sect and the remnants of the Heaven and Earth Society in northern Hubei, unless Yang Sen is ......ruthless enough."

Lu Yixuan shut up when he said this, Wang Lingji smiled knowingly, and didn't say any more - Yang Sen was a fierce general he picked up with one hand, far more ruthless than Liu Xiang, and letting Yang Sen lead his troops to attack Xiangyang came from Wang Lingji's suggestion, and what he valued was Yang Sen's resolute determination and resoluteness.

Attacking and occupying the northern Hubei region where the feudal armed forces and green forest heroes are all over the place, Yang Sen, who holds a butcher's knife in one hand and a silver dollar in the other, is far more useful than Liu Xiang who is a crepe, no matter what Yang Sen does when he arrives in Xiangyang, the Sichuan Army General Headquarters only needs to control public opinion and shout the slogan of "suppressing bandits and reassuring the people" in a grand manner.

Wang Lingji's gaze turned to the sand city and the front line of public security on the map:

"Strange, what is Wang Jian doing? Why didn't the two battle reports mention the 11th Brigade? ”

Wang Lingji looked down at his watch, puzzled: "It's nearly half past five, and the sky will be completely dark in two hours, how can Xiaojiawan on Jingqian Highway and the newly occupied Shashi be so calm?" Even if the remnants of the enemy have been completely wiped out, at least the results of the battle must be reported, right? In the past, this king key was more active than anyone else......"

Lu Yixuan said with a smile: "Maybe the battlefield is too scattered, Wang Jian and they can't be busy for a while and a half The Fourth Division is the first main division of our army with a three-regiment system, and the establishment has been very stable in the past two years, because of the needs of the Hunan front, before departure, the newly formed instructors were transferred over to enrich the troops, and they were hurriedly organized into three brigades and headed for Hunan, it is estimated that their command system has not been sorted out clearly, and some confusion and delay are inevitable, according to the current results, the Fourth Division has done a good job." ”

While Lu Yixuan and Wang Lingji were discussing in a low voice, Xiao Yimin also saw some clues from the battle report sent by Wang Jian's Fourth Division.

"What is Wang Jian doing? Why haven't the 11th and 12th Brigades reported their exact location until now......"

Without any hesitation, Xiao Yimin issued an order: "Urgently send a telegram to Wang Jian, the Fourth Division, and order him to lead the 11th Brigade to Jingzhou before 8 o'clock in the morning tomorrow, meet with Chief of General Staff Bao, and hand it over to Chief of General Staff Bao for unified command." ”

"Yes!"

The confidential staff officer collected the telegram signed by Xiao Yimin and ran to the communication office by the wall.

Ten minutes later, Ma Xiaoyue, the confidential secretary of the translation room, came to Xiao Yimin's side: "Report to the commander-in-chief, the commander of the Fourth Division, Wang Shi, send an urgent telegram." ”

Xiao Yimin took the telegram, didn't rush to look at it, looked at Ma Xiaoyue, who was wearing a well-fitting military uniform with a serious face, and shook his head slightly: "Hurry up and take a break, staying up late is not good for your health." ”

Ma Xiaoyue's tense goose egg face, slightly red, took half a step back and stood upright, then turned around and walked to the translation room, closed the door and leaned weakly on the back of the door, raised his hand, held his hot face stupidly for a long time, and finally shook his head self-deprecatingly, returned to the desk and sat down, seeing the ambiguous smile of the colleague opposite, he scolded in a low voice in shame: "What are you laughing at, dead girl!" ”

Xiang Shuang, a Tujia girl who graduated from the Sichuan Army Military Academy majoring in communications, laughed: "I obviously like it tightly in my heart, but I pretend to be indifferent on my face, my aunt and grandmother want to see how long you Ma Xiaoyue can last, hahaha......"

Ma Xiaoyue subconsciously looked at the closed door, and when she turned her head, her mood had stabilized, she glared at Xiang Shuang, who was gloating, and began to tidy up the somewhat messy desktop.

Xiang Shuang, who was cheerful and a little spicy, stroked the hair covering his forehead, and was just about to ask a few words about the commander-in-chief Xiao Yimin, when there was a cough from the confidential section chief outside the door, and a pile of messages full of numbers required the two of them to be turned into words, and the two confidential female officers with the rank of second lieutenant had not closed their eyes for two days and one night.

In the conference room, Wang Lingji, Lu Yixuan, and several school officials were already sitting around Xiao Yimin, nervously discussing the sudden incident of Wang Jian's Fourth Division violating the order to attack Qianjiang, while Xiao Yimin, who had a gloomy face, did not say a word, quietly listening to the opinions of the generals under his command, and seemed to be very angry by Wang Jian and He Qiwu's unauthorized actions.

Wang Lingji pushed aside the public opinion and put forward his opinion to Xiao Yimin:

"Now that the two brigades of the Fourth Division have been deployed, it is no longer meaningful to force them to abandon their actions and retreat to Gong'an and Shashi, and how to deal with Division Commander Wang and Chief of Staff He is a post-war problem, and the top priority at the moment is that we must consider the chain reaction after the occupation of Qianjiang by the Third Brigade of the Hubei Army.

"This is no longer a simple military issue, commander-in-chief, I'm afraid you have to report the situation to Tan Zu'an and Cheng Songyun in Hunan, as well as Duan Zhiquan and Feng Huafu, the commanders of Beiyang.

The generals agreed that this was the best way to make up for the bad political influence.

Although Wang Xuanming, who was stationed in Qianjiang, was neither a descendant of Beiyang nor a member of the revolutionary party camp, even if Wang Xuanming and his Third Brigade were destroyed, no one would come forward to complain.

However, the political impact after the occupation of Qianjiang is very great, and everyone will think that this is the precursor of the Sichuan army attacking Wuhan and occupying the whole of Hubei, and it will inevitably trigger a strong reaction from the various units of the Hubei army guarding Wuhan and the Wu Peifu department of the Beiyang Army entrenched in Xiaogan, and even force Wang Zhanyuan and Wu Peifu, who are facing each other, to put aside their differences, turn their guns together, and point at the menacing Sichuan army, which is very unfavorable to the Sichuan army that has not yet completed the mobilization and assembly of troops, and Xiao Yimin will also be blamed by all parties for this, and fall into an extremely passive situation politically.

Xiao Yimin thought hard for a long time, and under the nervous gaze of the generals, he finally raised his head and made a decision:

"Call Chief of General Staff Bao and ask him that no matter what method he uses, he must ask Shi Xingchuan to lead his troops to Qianjiang and station! Since Wang Jian's two brigades have successfully mobilized Qianjiang to defend the enemy and rush to aid Jingzhou, there is nothing to say about the battle below, it is estimated that they will lay down Qianjiang before the early morning of tomorrow, and order Wang Jian to enter Qianjiang and no longer act rashly, rest in place, wait for Shi Xingchuan to arrive, and quickly evacuate Qianjiang after completing the handover, and return to the public security to rest. ”

The generals were relieved, left their seats one after another, returned to their posts, and began to get busy according to Xiao Yimin's instructions.

Wang Lingji poured a cup of tea and handed it to Xiao Yimin:

"According to me, this is not a bad thing, at least after eliminating Wang Xuanming's troops, it can have a huge deterrent to all forces in the Jingxiang line and northern Hubei region, and there is also one less variable, which is quite helpful to our army's next move. Of course, Wang Jian and He Qiwu's disobedience will be punished, but this is the next step, don't worry too much, as long as we hand over Qianjiang to Shi Xingchuan, we can minimize the adverse impact, and then concentrate on consolidating the newly occupied Jingxiang region, which will not cause too much criticism, and it will be wrong. ”

Xiao Yimin sighed: "We all have high hopes for the Fourth Division, and we have decided to expand the Fourth Division into the Seventh Army after completing the combat mission at this stage...... Passive! ”

Wang Lingji said with a smile: "Don't think about it, Hunan won't say anything, the group of literati in Guangzhou will call a few times at most, the key is to wake up Duan Zhiquan and Feng Huafu, which will have a certain impact on our next plan, but then again, the capture of Wuhan and the whole of Hubei has long been in our plan, it really can't work, we can also follow the second set of plans to support the Guangdong Revolutionary Army and the Hunan Revolutionary Army, and burn the war to Jiangxi." ”

Xiao Yimin nodded: "That's it, just give the third division teaching group that is preparing to evacuate Daye to my second brother, what do you think?" ”

Wang Lingji was stunned for a while, and then stroked his palms and laughed:

"Good strategy! The 50 cadets sent by the revolutionary army who had previously studied at our military academy have now led a new regiment to Guangdong, and it is estimated that they have now arrived in northern Guangdong. Now that the situation has changed, we will simply give Zicheng another regiment and let Zicheng lead his troops to fight a good battle in Jiangxi, and those revolutionaries have nothing to say, everything is for the needs of the revolutionary cause, haha! ”

(To be continued)