On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the city of Guangzhou, the flow of people is like weaving, jubilant, everywhere is filled with the festive atmosphere of the festival, rows of shops and foreign shops are still prosperous, girls holding flowers and well-dressed young men are smiling, the sound of firecrackers one after another is mixed with the faintly audible Cantonese opera, except for the officers and soldiers patrolling the streets and the soldiers on leave can be seen everywhere, everything seems to be no different from the Spring Festival of previous years.

Located on the south bank of the Pearl River, the Generalissimo's Mansion is newly decorated inside and out.

Outside the European-style gate, the elaborate colorful doors are filled with colorful flowers, the guards wearing brand-new military uniforms and white gloves are neatly arranged, majestic and solemn, and the gentry in suits and leather shoes and the majestic lieutenant generals and colonels arrive in droves to participate in the New Year's meeting of the Generalissimo's Palace.

In the center of the lobby on the spacious first floor, a long table is set up, and the white tablecloth is full of dazzling exquisite pastries, seasonal melons and fruits, and famous Chinese and foreign wines. The neatly dressed young waiters, shuttling among the celebrities, greeted loudly and talked and laughed in low voices, accompanied by the fragrance of fine wine.

In the luxurious and elegant living room on the second floor, there was a different scene, Chen Jiongming, Wang Jingwei, Hu Hanmin, Deng Keng, Li Liejun and more than a dozen other military and political dignitaries of the revolutionary party stood solemnly, not daring to look at Generalissimo Sun under the rage.

"Can anyone tell me why the first division of the Guizhou Army stationed in Dayu and Longnan counties was surrounded for three days before the news came? Why did Gu Pinzhen and Fan Shisheng suddenly take away 5,000 soldiers of the Dian Army? And that Guangxi barbarian Shen Hongying, why did he suddenly drive away Li Jishen's department and brazenly occupy Wuzhou? You guys...... You ......"

Ma Junwu, secretary general of the Marshal's Office, took a half step forward and comforted: "Sir, please calm your anger, the reason why so many things have happened is entirely the result of the Sichuan army occupying southern Jiangxi suddenly attacking us. ”

Deng Keng then explained:

The first division of the Guizhou Army led by General Wang Wenhua also strictly followed the orders of the Marshal's Office, and successively gave up Nankang and Xinfeng, and gave up again and again, and finally retreated to Dayu and Longnan in the border area of Guangdong and Jiangxi.

"After the 10th and 12th Divisions of the Sichuan Army entered Nankang and Xinfeng County, there was no sign of continuing southward, which gave us the illusion...... Gu Pinzhen and Fan Shisheng led their troops to leave Ruyuan, firstly, they had been without food and salary for three months, and secondly, they were worried about being attacked by Shen Hongying, the commander of the Gui army."

"It cannot be ruled out that Tang Jiyao sent someone to secretly contact Gu Pinzhen, and the more than 4,000 officers and soldiers under Gu Pinzhen's command are all Yunnan people who have been away from their hometown for a long time, and it is understandable that they chose to leave Qingyuan and go home via Hunan when their food and salaries were not guaranteed and their safety was threatened."

Chen Jiongming, the commander-in-chief of the Cantonese army, who had not spoken before, came coldly like this, which sounded nothing, but after careful consideration, he knew the underlying meaning of his words - the main responsibility was on the Generalissimo's Mansion.

Sun Yat-sen was choked like this, he could only suppress the anger in his heart, and was even more disappointed in the various units of the Guangdong Army who supported the army and respected themselves and excluded dissidents, but no matter how angry and disappointed he was, he could not change the reality that the various units of the revolutionary army occupied the land and the yang was in violation, judging from the fact that the first division of the Guizhou Army led by Wang Wenhua and He Yingqin was surrounded, and the first division of the Yunnan Army led by Gu Pinzhen and Fan Shisheng was forced away, he was the generalissimo.

There was silence in the hall, the atmosphere was solemn and embarrassing, and in the end, it was the chief of the navy, Cheng Biguang, who came out to play a round:

"Other issues aside, the top priority is to solve the difficulties of the first division of the Guizhou Army as soon as possible, I personally believe that with the strong strength of nearly 40,000 officers and soldiers of the Fourth Army of the Sichuan Army, Dayu and Longnan should have been taken a long time ago, since they chose to surround but not fight, it is estimated that they are not willing to do things desperately, looking at the command style of Xiao Yimin, commander-in-chief of the Sichuan Army over the years, he mostly seeks the greatest results with the fastest speed and the smallest cost, and never kills indiscriminately, this advantage is still well-known."

Everyone nodded frequently, echoing in unison, at this time, no one was in the mood to scold Xiao Yimin and Tang Jiyao, who betrayed the revolution, and Yang Shukan, the deputy minister of internal affairs who was in charge of reception affairs downstairs, arrived in a hurry, everyone looked at each other, and quickly got out of the way and stood aside to see what was going on.

Yang Shukan looked around, but still reported truthfully: "When Mr. Gao Ye, the deputy consul general of this book, arrived, the officials of the British, French, American, and Italian consulates called one after another to apologize, saying that they could not come. ”

Hu Hanmin was anxious when he heard this: "Have representatives from all walks of life arrived?" ”

Yang Shukan shook his head: "It's only a third of the time, and it's not good for us to call to ask." ”

Everyone felt a chill, and couldn't help but look at Sun Yat-sen, who was slowly standing up.

Sun Yat-sen took a deep breath, tied his bow tie, and turned to Chen Jiongming: "Jingcun, Dayu and Longnan have been handed over to you to deal with, if it really doesn't work, you can discuss it with Chief Xu and Chief Li to solve it, and order the Fourth Division of the Guangdong Army and the two brigades of the Jiangxi Army stationed in Shaoguan, as well as the Fourth Division of the Guangdong Army stationed in Meizhou, to quickly go north to fight a tough battle, no matter what the cost, you must also rescue nearly 6,000 revolutionary soldiers of the Guizhou Army!" ”

After Sun Yat-sen finished speaking, he strode downstairs, and everyone immediately followed closely, leaving the stunned Chen Jiongming and the disappointed Li Liejun on his face.

After a long time, Chen Jiongming turned to Li Liejun: "Brother Xia Ru, it depends on this matter......"

"Alas! Don't you know what is going on with my two brigades now, it has not been a month since they returned to northern Guangdong after repeated fierce battles, and nearly half of the remaining 3,000 brothers are wounded, how can they fight the wolf-like Sichuan army? My personal reputation doesn't matter, but I can't drag the remaining 3,000 brothers out and send them to death! ”

Chen Jiongming smiled bitterly: "Don't think about anything, let's go to the North Campus together." ”

Li Liejun immediately understood: "Is it useful to find Liu Zicheng and Chiang Kai-shek?" ”

Chen Jiongming smiled: "In addition to asking the two of them for help, what can you and I do?" Can't we just rush to northern Guangdong and then lead our brothers to fight three times the size of the Sichuan army, right? Since the Sichuan army has surrounded it for three days and still does not attack, it is nothing more than trying to disarm, in my opinion, the Sichuan army has gained a firm foothold in southern Jiangnan, and I am afraid that you and I will not have a good time in the future! ”

Chen Jiongming's judgment was very correct, Liu Bingxian and Chiang Kai-shek had already received a call from the generalissimo himself.

Liu Bingxian and Chiang Kai-shek were very enthusiastic when they saw Chen Jiongming and Li Liejun, who were carrying several large gift boxes, and they knew what the two of them were doing without asking.

Chen Jiongming and Li Liejun heard that Liu Bingxian had been ordered to send a telegram to Xiao Yimin, and they immediately felt very uncomfortable in their hearts, knowing that Sun Yat-sen's order to the two of them and Xu Chongzhi, who was still in Meizhou, was only momentarily angry, but they still felt embarrassed and annoyed by this.

Li Liejun, who had been suppressed by Chen Jiongming, didn't react much, and was just about to ask how the situation was, Xiao Yimin's call back had arrived, Li Liejun took the message handed by Liu Bingxian, and after reading it, he was annoyed, and left angrily without saying hello.

Chen Jiongming was so calm that he could still laugh out loud after reading the message:

"Excellent! Now that the two generals, Wang Wenhua and He Yingqin, have led their troops to surrender, our task has been completed, haha! Farewell, two! ”

"Brother Jingcun, please stay."

Chiang Kai-shek took a step forward and said earnestly: "Although the telegram did not go into details, I know the style of the Sichuan army, they will definitely drive all the soldiers of the Guizhou army who have laid down their arms to northern Guangdong, and I am afraid that in the end, they will have to trouble the Shaoguan garrison of the fighting brother!" ”

Chen Jiongming was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and smiled: "It's okay, that's how it should be, they are all brothers in the revolutionary camp, haha!" ”

Chiang Kai-shek watched the car drive out of the gate and said to Liu Bingxian sadly:

"If it weren't for Chen Jingcun and Li Xiaru's constant refusal to withdraw the Guizhou army to northern Guangdong, how could the Guizhou army suffer such a catastrophe? Alas...... I kind of get it! ”

Liu Bingxian smiled coldly: "They won't be proud for a few days, let's wait to see them cry!" ”

Seeing Chiang Kai-shek's puzzled eyes, Liu Bingxian explained: "Yiming never makes loss-making deals, he sent three main divisions to occupy southern Jiangxi this time in a high-profile manner, with only two purposes, one is to exert pressure on Nanchang and lay the foundation for completely sweeping away dissident forces in Jiangxi; The second is to carry out a complete blockade of Guangdong, cut off the trade routes between Hunan and Jiangxi provinces, and cut off the huge profits obtained by the Guangdong army through the export trade of tungsten ore and zinc ore in Hunan and Jiangxi, and finally force Guangdong to chaos without a fight. ”

Chiang Kai-shek suddenly realized: "I should want to get this!" Guangdong's annual profits from the export trade of Hunan and Jiangxi minerals are as high as more than 6 million, and this alone accounts for more than one-fifth of Guangdong's provincial tax revenue. ”

Liu Bingxian was extremely lonely in his heart: "Gu Pinzhen suddenly led his troops to leave Qingyuan and go north to Hunan, it must be the result of Tang Jiyao's secret activities, and I am sure that Tang Jiyao has reached some kind of secret deal with Yiming, otherwise how dare Gu Pinzhen and Fan Shisheng's thousands of old, weak, sick and disabled people go to Chenzhou?" ”

"Which unit of the Sichuan Army is stationed in Chenzhou? Who is the chief? Chiang Kai-shek suddenly asked.

"The reading division directly under the command of the Sichuan Army General Headquarters, the division commander is called Wei Changfeng, the earliest battalion commander of the Sichuan Army, the deputy chief instructor of the special brigade directly under the Sichuan Army, two years ago the Sichuan Army went west to Kangzang, this person disappeared, and soon after the Sichuan Army entered Hunan this person reappeared, two months ago he led a teaching regiment into Chenzhou, and then launched a continuous anti-bandit operation in the six counties of Chenzhou, and successively incorporated the captured and surrendered bandits into his command, and he was also promoted to major general division commander because of this, and he was the only division commander directly commanded by the commander-in-chief Xiao Yimin." Liu Bingxian said with emotion.

Chiang Kai-shek sighed after hearing this: "The Sichuan army is really strong!" Zicheng, it seems that we should also think about our own future, we can't always nest in Guangzhou and endure the exclusion of others, right? ”

Liu Bingxian's heart sank, he knew that Sun Yat-sen had the idea of retreating, and it was time to consider the retreat of himself and his nearly 8,000 brothers: "Chief Xu has always been in contact with you, right?" ”

Chiang Kai-shek nodded, smiled and said frankly: "Chief Xu admires you very much, and he also needs our 8,000 elite soldiers, rather than staying here and being worried about plotting at night, it is better to go to Shantou and Meizhou, maybe you can quickly conquer southern Fujian and create a world of your own, otherwise you can only be assimilated and annexed by others." ”

Liu Bingxian said helplessly: "Yes! For the time being, we have only this way to go......"

(To be continued)