On 1 November, the headquarters of the Northern Expeditionary Army finally sounded the clarion call for an all-out attack, and 140,000 officers and men of the six armies began an all-out attack on the defending enemy in Jiangxi. The Anhui warlord Sun Chuanfang also dispatched troops to complete the preparations for the campaign, gathering more than 130,000 troops from the five fronts to fight-for-tat.

Under the control of Commander-in-Chief Chiang, the bourgeoisie in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, with their longing for a better future and their incomparable admiration for the revolutionary army's indomitable heroic and tenacious spirit, used their influence to do a great deal of persuasion and guidance work, gradually dismantling the forces of the warlords, weakening their economic strength, and making outstanding contributions to the revolutionary cause.

Sun Chuanfang's Anhui army was in internal and external difficulties, and the generals of various departments finally had frequent dissenting intentions, deviated from morality, and revolted one after another by holding high the banner of righteousness and telegraphing uprisings, and successively threw themselves into the unstoppable torrent of the national revolution, dealing a huge blow to Sun Chuanfang, the representative of the stubborn feudal forces.

First of all, Xia Chao, a general under Sun Chuanfang and chairman of Zhejiang Province, suddenly telegraphed an uprising on October 18, announcing his inauguration as the commander of the 18th Army of the National Revolutionary Army, and immediately led his troops to attack Nanjing and Shanghai; A few days later, Bai Baoshan, the general of Zhenjiang, declared an uprising, cutting off the Nanjing-Shanghai railway in one fell swoop; General Chen Tiaoyuan, commander of the Anhui Fifth Front Army stationed on the front line of De'an and Jiujiang, secretly sent liaison officers, accompanied by the Jiangsu-Zhejiang chaebols, to secretly come to Gao'an for cordial talks with Commander-in-Chief Chiang. Shangguan Yunxiang, Zhou Fengqi, and other generals of the Sixth Front Army of the Anhui Department established contacts with the headquarters of the Revolutionary Army in different ways.

On the Fujian side, General He Yingqin, commander-in-chief of the Eastern Route Army of the Revolutionary Army, led the 3rd and 14th Divisions of the First Army to attack the east and the west with the tactics of floating and floating, and used the beautiful tactics of frontal confrontation and rapid advance to fight back violently, and achieved a "great victory of loosening" in one fell swoop, capturing more than 10 generals and colonels of the division and brigade below Zhou Yinren, the commander of the Anhui Department, and encircling the two divisions of the enemy's Zhang Yi Division. The victory of Songkou instantly changed the situation in Fujian, and the warlords of all provinces were shaken, and General Cao Wanshun, who had already secretly formed a tacit understanding with the revolutionary army, kept his promise and led two divisions to be stationed in western Fujian. After the surrender of Zhang Yi's troops, more than 30,000 troops of Li Chunsheng, the defender of Fuzhou, were immediately surrounded by the Eastern Route Army on three sides.

On the battlefield of Jiangxi, the Left Wing Corps attacked on all fronts on the morning of 1 November, with General Li Zongren's Seventh Army approaching De'an, and General Zhang Fakui leading two divisions of the Fourth Army to attack Mahuiling, an important barrier of the enemy. In the afternoon, Chen Guangzu, the defender of De'an, quickly withdrew from De'an without fighting, and the 7th Army occupied De'an without blood. The defenders of Mahuiling, which was attacked by the Fourth Army, resisted stubbornly by virtue of natural dangers, and were immediately surrounded on three sides by a brigade of the Seventh Army galloping to the aid of the Fourth Army, the Ten Divisions of the Fourth Army, and the Second Division of Reading Force, and the defenders finally lost their combat strength under the continuous attacks of the revolutionary army, and fled from their positions in the early morning of the third day and fled in the direction of Jiujiang, and the Fourth Army achieved the outstanding record of capturing eight artillery pieces, more than 20 mortars, dozens of light and heavy machine guns, and more than 2,000 long and short guns.

The Right Wing Army also launched an attack at the same moment, occupying the fortified positions abandoned by the enemy almost effortlessly, and Deng Ruzhuo's troops were shocked to hear that De'an had been lost, and immediately retreated to Nanchang, making it very easy for the officers and men of the Second Army to send a group to encircle Fuzhou with Lai Shihuang's 14th Army.

The defenders of Fuzhou were terrified in the face of the revolutionary army three times their size, and were forced to abandon their positions and flee to Nanchang, and the officers and men of the Second Army easily occupied Fuzhou, and made a detour to the west to force Fengcheng to continue to advance to Nanchang.

Under the command of General Cheng Qian, the Sixth Army of the Central Army and the First Division of the First Army slowly advanced from Anyi and Fengxin to Lehua in the north of Wuchang City, and Liu Zhi, commander of the Second Division, served as the commander-in-chief of the General Reserve of the Central Army.

At the same time, the two battalions of the An Yi Division, which were directly under the command of the headquarters, quietly set off, under the banner of the Second Army of the National Revolutionary Army, and surrounded Yang Bin's vanguard troops quickly drove to Jinxian County, Sun Chuanfang's last fortress, and entered Yuandu Town, which was abandoned by the defenders, in the early morning of the third day, and looked at the defenders of Jinxian County across the Fuhe River.

After the camp was completed, regimental staff officer Yang Bin and second battalion commander Lu Mingdi, escorted by Gu Changfeng, commander of the guard company, and elite officers and men of a detachment, crossed the Fuhe River and went straight to Jinxian County.

At 5 p.m. on 4 November, Commander-in-Chief Chiang led nearly 100 attachés from the Gao'an Headquarters to the west bank of the Ganjiang River. The commander-in-chief was calm and calm, as if taking a leisurely walk, and called his subordinate An Yi, who accompanied him on the expedition for the first time, to come to the first pontoon bridge surrounded by the guards and the generals of the headquarters, and was very surprised to see that the pontoon bridge was intact.

"An Yi, look at the marks on the bridge, the soldiers of our army must have crossed the river from the bridge, so in the past ten days, why has this throat connecting the north and south been destroyed by the enemy? Don't they know the great significance of this bridge for my Northern Expedition troops? The commander-in-chief asked in harmony pointing to the sturdy pontoon.

An Yi replied respectfully: "The enemy naturally understands the important surname of this pontoon bridge, in fact, the eastern section of the bridge has been blown up by the enemy at the risk of death, and now the section of the bridge deck east of the Jiangxin sandbar was rebuilt by two engineer companies of our regiment in the early morning under the enemy's artillery fire, and the overall reinforcement was carried out according to the principal's wishes, which is enough to pass through a full load of trucks." ”

Wang Shihe, the chief of the guard, who had previously learned in detail about all the defensive operations of the An Yi Department, added: "Xiao Yi is very smart, knowing that our army can not cross the river without this pontoon bridge that has been carefully built, and when our army withdrew to Gao'an, the four engineer companies of the model battalion, under the leadership of Yin Jinan, dug out a wide trench of more than 400 meters and two communication trenches of more than 200 meters deep into the dense forest along the river with the pontoon bridge as the central point, and used logs to build six strong shooting bunkers buried four meters deep in the ground in various places on the left and right banks of this bridgehead. And quite cleverly camouflaged.

More than 160 officers and men of Xiao Yi's two mortar platoons and two platoons of the guard company always stayed in these trenches and firing bunkers, firing accurately at the invading enemy on the east coast with six mortars, 18 light machine guns, and nearly 100 rifles. The distance between the river and the embankment was less than 120 meters, and the enemy troops were wiped out by our accurate marksmen in a blink of an eye, and when they came too much, they were covered by a salvo of six mortars.

Until three days ago, the enemy did his best to cover the positions and pontoon bridges on the west bank with intensive artillery fire, and sent two companies to try to attack the positions on the west bank under the cover of machine guns, and finally paid a heavy price of more than 120 dead and wounded to blow up the bridge deck on the east bank, and never dared to come again, the officers and men under Xiao Yi's command were killed and two were injured, and 17 people were injured, but they always held this position and never took a step back, which won time for our army's counteroffensive. ”

All the generals applauded in unison, praising the model battalion for fighting smartly, fighting tenaciously, and showing the momentum of the Northern Expeditionary Army.

Commander-in-Chief Chiang, who was greatly intrigued by the courageous performance of his subordinate troops, immediately ordered An Yi and Wang Shihe to lead the way, led dozens of headquarters generals to the trenches that were quite muddy and full of bullet shells after heavy snowfall, inspected the solid bunkers buried more than four meters deep in the ground, and looked at the east bank opposite from the shooting holes one by one.

After inspecting the position, the leaders of the group shouted that they were extremely exquisite and fruitful, and they were full of praise for the construction concept and high-quality construction ability of the model battalion.

Lu Diping, the commander of the Second Army, nodded frequently, his eyes were full of envy and admiration, he walked out of the dark bunker full of bullet shells, climbed the trench and asked An Yi kindly: "Colonel An, is the design and construction of such an ingenious bunker in the tutorial of the Whampoa Military Academy?" ”

An Yi replied cleverly: "General Hui, there was no tutorial at that time, and it is estimated that there is no now." His subordinates, together with Yin Jinan, an instructor of our regiment, Zhang Tianyi, commander of the engineer battalion of the Fourth Division under the command of the general, and a fellow student from Shanxi who is currently the commander of the engineer company under the command of General Yan Xishan, carried out a miniature simulation of the construction theory of the hidden fort of the colonel Hulin on the spot. At that time, the other students were very tired, and few of them were willing to work with the four of us, so in the end, only the four of us really mastered the construction essentials of this wooden and stone structure fortress. After returning to school, the four of us had a heated discussion again, and combined the construction of trenches and communication trenches to come up with a set of simple and practical methods, which I didn't expect to use so quickly. ”

"Zhang Tianyi? Oh...... I remembered that this person was a very good young battalion commander under the command of Zhang Shihou (Zhang Huizan), and when he heard that the Fourth Division had withdrawn, he launched a vigorous large-scale training under the impetus of the engineer battalion, and the morale of the officers and men was raised in less than half a month, and the combat effectiveness of the whole division was greatly improved -- it seems that the engineering section of the fourth phase of Huangpu is indeed full of talents, and there are many masters! ”

Lu Diping laughed, and then remembered the rare talent of Zhang Tianyi under his command, and decided to find a time to investigate, if it was really a tiger general, he would be promoted and reused.

Hearing An Yi's report, President Jiang's eyes were full of pride, and he thought about it and ordered in a low voice: "An Yi, after the defeat of Nanchang, you and Yin Jinan will compile a detailed written report on the significance of the construction of this kind of dark fort, technical essentials, construction standards, and complementary trenches and other elements as soon as possible. ”

"Yes!" An Yi replied respectfully.

When it was dark, An Yi returned to the supplementary regiment station south of the temporary battalion of the headquarters, and immediately called more than 10 company and battalion commanders, including Chen Zhibiao, commander of the third battalion, and Xia Jian, commander of the fourth battalion, into his big tent, lit a lantern, and spread out the map for a routine discussion on military topics.

An Yi gave a detailed report on the battle situation learned from the headquarters, the locations where the various armies had arrived at the moment, and the areas and towns they occupied, and then directed the attention of the brothers to Jinxian County.

An Yi pointed to Yuandu Town, which is more than 20 kilometers southwest of Jinxian: "The guard company, mortar company and the first battalion of our regiment have successfully entered Yuandu Town under the banner of the engineer battalion of the sixth division of the Second Army.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, the radio team of the headquarters of the army sent back a report that staff officer Yang Bin and Lu Mingdi, commander of the second battalion, under the escort of a seven-person detachment in Hutou, pretended to be a liaison officer of the retreating Fengcheng garrison and successfully crossed the Fuhe River to Jinxian County, and four platoons of the guard company led by Hu Zi had sneaked from the enemy junction in the north to the north of Jinxian City, and more than 1,000 brothers from the first and second battalions led by Ji Nan were ready to go to the county seat of Jingxian County.

If everything goes well, all the units of our regiment will be stationed in the inner and outer defense lines and positions of Jinxian before dawn, and this matter will be considered a success. ”

Chen Kan, deputy of the third battalion, asked: "Boss, if Staff Officer Yang and Hu Zi successfully control the Jinxian line, how should our two battalions act?" You can't accompany the old men of the headquarters all day long and walk all the way to Nanchang, right? If we wait like this, when we arrive in Nanchang, the daylilies will be cold, where will we still have the soup to drink? ”

"What are you anxious about? Didn't you hear the principal say, 'Slow progress'? There's a lot of work here! ”

An Yi moved his slender fingers to the area of the Nanxun line: "General Zhang Fakui's Fourth Army has successfully taken the strategic point of Mahuiling, and is slowly advancing towards Jiujiang.

After the Seventh Army occupied De'an, two brigades attacked Tujiabu from the west and north, and the other two brigades attacked Jiuxianling, and the Sixth Army of our Central Army and the first division of our army were about to join forces, and tens of thousands of enemy troops who were driven to the front line of Tujiabu, Wucheng, and Xingzi had no choice but to surrender except for mustering up the courage to fight against the water, and how many steamboats could let the enemy escape from the vast Poyang Lake?

Looking back at our second division, it has successfully won the new construction, facing Nanchang City across the river, only waiting for the main force of the Sixth Army in the north and our first division to complete the encirclement and suppression, turn around and go south, immediately cross the river and go straight to the northeast of Nanchang City, and the main force of the two divisions of the Second Army in our direction will encircle Nanchang, leaving only a gap in the southeast leading to Jinxian, so as to avoid the tens of thousands of defenders in Nanchang City who have no way to retreat, and thus increase the unnecessary casualties of the various armies.

Our current strategy of 'slowly advancing and pressing' seems to be inactive, but in fact it has a profound meaning, you might as well use your own brains to think about it. ”

The brothers stared intently at the map, and when they understood it, they began to discuss it passionately.

Xia Jian said with great admiration that the principal was clever, Chen Zhibiao and Mu Zhaiyi predicted the route of the enemy's possible escape, and soon found that the enemy army had no other way except to jump into Poyang Lake, and the enemy army was pursued by the two main divisions of his First Army, and the only passage for the enemy army was the Jinxian line.

Just wait for the enemy to withdraw from Nanchang, and this only way back will be quickly blocked, because Jinxian has long been occupied by Gao Zhihua's division of his own supplementary regiment and Chengcheng. After this battle, the ones who benefited the most were their own First Army and Sixth Army! As an exclamation rang out, every brother knew how wise and subtle the commander-in-chief's decision to "advance slowly" was.

The next time, the generals of the Northern Expeditionary Army continued to sit firmly at the headquarters, facing Nanchang City across the river, and did not move.

Receiving the news that Yang Bin had successfully entered Jinxian and completed the union with Gao Zhihua's department, An Yi was overjoyed, and when he had nothing to do, he found Cai Zhonghu, the commander of the artillery regiment, and asked him to send an artillery tractor to drive on the pontoon bridge to try.

At this time, Cai Zhongwat was also in a panic, and when he heard An Yi's suggestion, he hurriedly ordered his subordinates to prepare, and An Yi immediately ordered the third battalion commander Chen Zhibiao to lead two companies to the east bank to strengthen the vigilance.

Half an hour later, under the watchful eyes of thousands of officers and men, a bearded driver with the best skills slowly drove his car down the embankment, drove onto the thick five-meter-wide bridge deck, and drove smoothly and steadily to the east bank, winning bursts of cheers from officers and men on both sides of the strait.

The bearded old driver was so excited that he drove back in the car and returned to the West Bank safely in a roar of exclamations, winning more cheers and applause.

Cai Zhonghu, who was full of smug face, laughed and cursed, obviously because he was used to the crazy actions of his subordinates, and he didn't care about it, but An Yi immediately ordered Chen Kan, deputy of the third battalion, to personally lead the brothers of the engineer company to the bridge for a careful inspection.

"Xiao Yi, it seems that we have nothing to do in this battle in Nanchang." Cai Zhongwat sighed regretfully, such a "slowly advancing" warm water fighting style really made his artillery regiment unable to get touched.

An Yi smiled and said, "Or, eldest brother, you will lead your infantry company and sixteen vehicles to go out to fight with your junior brother?" This trip is estimated to make a small fortune, haha! ”

Cai Zhonghu looked at An Yi in surprise: "Can you really get rich?" Now that I have empty pockets, I have long wanted to fight a big battle, but now all the departments have occupied the territory outside Nanchang City, where are we going to fight this battle? ”

"The younger brother has obtained the approval of the principal, and let the transport regiment of the logistics department carry more than 1,000 brothers from the two battalions of our regiment by truck, cross the river and head east, through Xiangtang Town to Quanling in the southeast, the whole journey is 40 kilometers, and all of them are behind the Second Army, the road is flat and spacious and very safe, and the younger brother estimates that it will take two and a half hours at most.

As soon as we got out of the car, we immediately set up defenses and built two solid blocking lines to completely block the retreat of the fleeing enemy, just waiting for the fleeing enemy to throw themselves into the net. The eldest brother only needs to lead the infantry company under his command to clean up the battlefield, if he picks up a firearm suitable for the younger brother's department, how about paying the eldest brother ten oceans for each gun? An Yi was tempted step by step, smiling brightly.

Cai Zhonghu nodded happily: "Okay!" I immediately went to the principal, my infantry company used to protect the artillery has not yet fought, why do you have to pull it out to exercise, how can you easily miss such a good opportunity? Ha ha! ”

An Yi smiled slightly, his strategy finally succeeded, there are more recruits in the third and fourth battalions of the new formation, if you don't take advantage of such a good opportunity to win the actual battle to go out and build confidence, when will you wait?

(To be continued)