Xiao Yimin seemed to have expected that someone would propose to take advantage of the chaos to go out of Sichuan, nodded encouragingly, and said with a smile: "Very good!" Jin Kang is off to a good start, please sit down...... What else do others think? ”

Sun Zhaoluan, the commander of the military division in charge of the defense of southern Sichuan, smiled slightly: "It may not be appropriate to announce the reading power, if the Yunnan army is still like four years ago, I am afraid that we need to fight a real battle in southern Sichuan, I personally think that it is better to hold it first, now the situation is chaotic, we are invincible first, and then it is not too late to map Yichang!" ”

Liu Bingxian thought about it and took the initiative to pick up the topic: "General Sun's suggestion is very safe, what we need to consider at present is not the problem of taking advantage of the chaos to expand, but the question of how to stand in line after the arrival of the great changes, no matter what reason and purpose the Yunnan army is preparing for the Northern Expedition, they all occupy the righteousness, which is a righteous act, in this case, we must have a reasonable reason to prevent the Yunnan army from entering Sichuan."

"Then we have to get the support of the provincial government, the provincial council and the people of Sichuan, so that we will not be condemned by the whole country. Clausewitz said that war is a continuation of politics and a means to serve politics, and this incisive argument is universal! ”

The general colonel of the Eastern Sichuan Military Division knew that Liu Bingxian was a member of the Kuomintang, and although he was not angry with Liu Bingxian's words, he could not refute his views for a while.

Xiao Yimin glanced around, turned to Xu Xiaogang, who was silent in thought, and asked, "What is Brother Shenfu's opinion?" ”

"Ahh

Xu Xiaogang saw his name and was slightly distracted, but he reacted quickly, his eyes rolled, and he became muddy: "What everyone said makes sense, I think the two opinions are not contradictory, and they can be solved step by step."

Everyone's eyes lit up and they all looked at Xiao Yimin.

Xiao Yimin didn't mean to say anything about this, and turned to Wang Lingji: "What is Brother Fang Zhou's opinion?" ”

Wang Lingji stood up and said loudly: "The subordinates are not strictly controlled, and I ask the commander-in-chief to bear with me!" ”

"Where's the word? The purpose of the meeting is to pool wisdom and make efforts, speak freely, there is no problem of overstepping the original border guard departments have been doing this, and have received good results, I hope that at this point everyone will learn more from the border army, summarize before and after training and operations, study the gains and losses, and draw lessons and lessons, so that there will be fewer deaths Many people Brother Fang Zhou please sit down, sit down and talk slowly. ”

Xiao Yimin kindly invited Wang Lingji to sit down, secretly grateful to Wang Lingji in his heart, knowing that the reason why Wang Lingji, who was like a brother to him, behaved so respectfully and respectfully was completely out of respect for himself and a warning to his high-flying subordinates.

"Yes!"

Wang Lingji sat down, glanced around with half-closed eyes:

"It seems that everyone's attention has been diverted to Yunnan by General Songpa's telegram, but our biggest threat is not Yunnan, but Hubei! Since we lost the strategic point of Yichang, Yuan Dashuai's 7th Division of Zhang Jingyao of the Beiyang Army was stationed in Yichang and Jingzhou, and Zhang Fang's mixed brigade from Henan was stationed in Xiangfan

"If Yuan Dashuai waives his army into Sichuan in anger, let alone let's attack Yichang, whether we can hold eastern Sichuan is another matter, not to mention that we still have tens of thousands of Yunnan troops in the south? If we can't hold our breath and take the lead in provoking a war, we will inevitably fall into the predicament of being attacked on both sides, and even if we win in the end, it will be a miserable victory for both sides!

"Therefore, my opinion is: do not move, act at the opportunity!"

The other generals and colonels attending the meeting immediately agreed with Wang Lingji's point of view, guessing that this was probably also the meaning of the commander-in-chief Xiao Yimin, and a group of generals and colonels of the Eastern Sichuan Military Division realized their recklessness one after another, if they really did what they wanted, I am afraid that Sichuan would have no choice but to say goodbye, and they all lowered their heads in shame, not daring to look at Xiao Yimin and Wang Lingji.

Xiao Yimin saw that everyone had no opinions, smiled, and began to make a final summary:

"Today's meeting was a great success, and everyone was able to bridge their differences and unify their opinions in a free voice, which is very good, and I hope it will continue to be carried forward and maintained in the future. Let me talk about my opinion, I basically agree with General Ark, the only difference is to take the initiative to respond, not to passively wait. ”

The generals immediately raised their heads and pricked up their ears, and Wang Lingji also turned to Xiao Yimin with a solemn expression and listened attentively.

Xiao Yimin picked up a document and gestured slightly: "This is the announcement of the suppression of bandits issued by the provincial political axe three months ago and notified the whole province.

However, up to now, most of the bandits still have luck in their hearts, continue to occupy the mountains as kings, loot caravans, coerce the people, bully men and women, kidnap and extort money, causing tens of thousands of people to suffer greatly, and the construction of seven roads under construction has also been forced to stop, among which the border area between Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou is the most serious.

"So, I mean let's go into the bandits first! The Provincial Political Axe and the Provincial Police Department will fully cooperate with our army's anti-bandit action, and will announce this anti-bandit resolution to the world tomorrow, so as to create a stable and peaceful social environment for the fathers and villagers in Sichuan! Next, I would like to ask Minister Xu to announce the plan to suppress the bandits. ”

Only then did the generals suddenly realize that they admired Xiao Yimin's ingenious arrangement.

Although the reasons for launching a huge campaign to suppress bandits in southern Sichuan at this time were somewhat far-fetched, the establishment of forbidden areas and the blockade of large and small communication arteries in the name of suppressing bandits became a justifiable military action, and even if the Dian army was no longer willing, it did not dare to forcibly enter the territory of Sichuan, otherwise it would be an act of armed aggression.

Especially at this sensitive time, no one can bear the responsibility of taking the initiative to provoke the flames of war. As for when the suppression of bandits will end, it depends on the mood of our Commander-in-Chief Xiao.

Xu Xiaogang stood up, read out the order issued again by the provincial government three days ago, and appointed Sun Zhaoluan, commander of the South Sichuan Military Region, and Wang Jian, deputy commander and commander of the Fourth Division, as the chief and deputy commander-in-chief of the anti-bandit campaign; The two infantry regiments and the machine gun regiment directly under the general headquarters were led by the fierce general Zong Yi, and left for Syria three days later to accept the dispatch of Sun Zhaoluan, the commander-in-chief of the war.

In this way, the total strength of southern Sichuan has reached more than 38,000 people in seven brigades, which can completely play a role in deterring the Yunnan army.

Although the generals and colonels of all ministries hoped to participate in the battle against bandits, there were many monks and few porridges, and there was no goal if they wanted to fight a battle.

At this time, the bandits in western and northern Sichuan had long since obeyed Xiao Yimin's leadership, and the bandits in various counties in northern Sichuan had descended from the mountains one after another, and were being reorganized and trained by more than 1,000 officers from the General Headquarters and the training regiment directly under them, and nearly 10,000 bandits would soon be turned into local garrisons or county and town police.

Xiao Yimin left the commanders and chiefs of staff of the various military divisions to continue the meeting, and the rest of the generals and colonels went to tour the camp and take a break to attend the rare reception banquet at noon, which was paid for by the richest commander-in-chief Xiao himself.

Deng Xihou, who was bent on occupying Yichang and recasting the prestige of the Sichuan army, was very frustrated, Yichang could not fight, and he had no part in suppressing bandits, which made Deng Xihou, who was bent on achieving the purpose of training troops through actual combat, very disappointed, and walked in the camp with the two brigade commanders under his command and was sullen and unwilling to speak.

"Brother Jin Kang, the commander-in-chief is invited!"

I don't know when, Lu Yixuan, the deputy director of the headquarters, came behind Deng Xihou and others.

Deng Xihou raised his eyebrows, turned around, and asked excitedly, "Brother Lu, is there good news?" ”

Lu Yixuan smiled and nodded: "Brother Jin Kang, go quickly, a few commanders are waiting for you." ”

"Thank you!"

Deng Xihou almost trotted back to the conference room, and saw Xiao Yimin, Sun Zhaoluan, Xu Xiaogang, and Wang Lingji standing in front of the newly hung large map to compare and draw, and four or five staff officers stood aside to take notes carefully, and hurriedly rushed over to salute the report.

Xu Xiaogang grabbed Deng Xihou and came to the map, pointing to Fuling City on the map:

"The areas of Qingyang, Taihe, and Xingshunchang south of Fuling are high and densely forested, and they have always been a place where bandits gather, and they are just at the junction of the two military divisions in southern Sichuan and eastern Sichuan, considering that the tasks of the various departments in southern Sichuan are relatively heavy, after consulting with your commander Wang, it was decided to draw a brigade from eastern Sichuan to go south, I don't know if Jin Kang is interested?"

"Brother Shen Fu wants to coax the little brother again, right? Let's be honest, where is the destination? "Deng Xihou couldn't be happier.

Wang Lingji smiled and motioned for Xiao Yimin to speak.

Xiao Yimin pointed to Nanchuan: "The destination is here, the early suppression of bandits is also true, once the Yunnan army enters Sichuan from northern Qianbei, you will lead the troops to launch a heavy blow from the flank, but before that, it must be strictly confidential, this brigade led by you is a strange soldier we secretly arranged, and the 12th brigade stationed in Qijiang is bright and dark, closely cooperating, and must not let the Dian army know any news, once you receive the order to go south, you must walk day and night, and keep it strictly secret, can you do it?" ”

"No problem at all, it's just ...... What if the Yunnan army or the Yunnan-Guizhou coalition army does not go north from this direction? Deng Xihou voiced his worries.

Xiao Yimin explained: "We expect that if the Dian army does not come, it will be enough, as long as it enters Sichuan, it will definitely take this road, and your Commander Wang has concluded that Dai Huan, the commander of the Guizhou army appointed by Tang Jiyao, will lead his troops to take this road, and it is very likely that Liu Cunhou, who suddenly left Yanjing twenty days ago, will also come to join in the fun."

"The Dian army is always very particular about making a momentum, as long as Liu Cunhou comes to Cai Songpo's side, he will definitely get the opportunity to lead the troops again, in order to prove himself, he will gladly accept it, and the Dian army will also use him to publicize him for the sake of fame, and then say something beautiful like 'the revolutionary alliance of the three provinces' and 'the general trend'."

Deng Xihou was slightly surprised, he didn't expect Xiao Yimin's understanding of people's hearts to be so meticulous, and he didn't have time to think about it, and immediately made a loud promise: "As long as the Yunnan-Guizhou coalition army dares to enter Sichuan, his subordinates will dare to personally lead his troops to clean him up, our army has been training hard for more than half a year without actual combat, just use them to train troops, although Dai Jian is not worth mentioning, but his troops are always a little stronger than bandits, just right!" ”

Everyone burst into laughter when they heard this, and Xiao Yimin couldn't help laughing out loud - seeing that Deng Xihou was full of confidence, he could be regarded as having removed a big concern, and suddenly felt at ease.

Although the provincial political axe and the ambitious civil officials in the same bed still gave him a headache, the stability of the army gave Xiao Yimin strong confidence.

(To be continued)