On the main road from Xiaogan to Wuhan, thousands of cavalry of the security army with torches were marching, because it was dark and the sight was not good, so they did not let the horses gallop, but just trotted all the way. Although it was a trot, in the flickering light of the torches, you could still see the flash of a little bead of sweat on the horse's body, which had obviously been running like this for a long time. A distance of about a mile behind the cavalry, followed by the lights of a long line of trucks, discharged more than a dozen miles away. On both sides of the convoy were two trucks marching one in front of the other, escorted by cavalry running with the vehicles, and in the co-pilot seats of these two vehicles sat Xiao Guodong, chief of staff of the Security Army, and Zhang Yafei, commander of the First Division.

After Song Zhewu received Chiang Kai-shek's reply, a stone fell to the ground in his heart, and let his troops enter Wuhan, in addition to the fact that his troops were closest to Wuhan at the moment, it also showed that Chiang Kai-shek had believed in his assurances, believed that he had no intention of getting involved in Wuhan, and even could be considered that Chiang Kai-shek trusted him, although only to a certain extent.

Since Zhang Zhizhong went to Laiyuan, everything he did was to gain Chiang Kai-shek's trust, which was very important to Song Zhewu, and only by gaining Chiang Kai-shek's trust could he seize Shanxi, the base of his post-war war, in the later Central Plains War, and only after gaining Chiang Kai-shek's trust, his legal surname in Shanxi could be recognized by Chiang Kai-shek. Otherwise, Chiang Kai-shek would probably take advantage of the aftermath of the Central Plains War to reorganize his troops in the same way as the Northwest Army and the Jin Sui Army. If his troops were fine in Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan, Chiang Kai-shek would have had no time to pay attention to him for a while in order to encircle and suppress the Red Army in the Soviet area of Jiangxi. But his troops were in North China. After the Central Plains War, hundreds of thousands of troops of the Central Army and Zhang Xueliang's Northeast Army were gathered there, and in order to eliminate a small warlord who was not Chiang Kai-shek's descendant, Chiang Kai-shek would not mind fighting another small-scale battle. If that were the case, all his grand aspirations after crossing into this era would be vanished. In order to realize his ideals and ambitions, he now has to do his utmost to gain Chiang Kai-shek's trust and support.

Therefore, when Song Zhewu received Chiang Kai-shek's telegram, he did not dare to slack off, and immediately ordered Xiao Guodong, chief of staff, to lead the entire First Division, the Third Regiment of the Second Division, the cavalry brigade, and most of the baggage brigade to form a force to march into Wuhan. In accordance with the orders in Chiang Kai-shek's telegram, he himself led the first and second regiments of the Second Division, as well as Yang Tenghui and Li Mingrui's troops who were about to arrive to garrison Xiaogan to prevent Han Fuyu from advancing into Wuhan.

In order to make the troops led by Xiao Guodong rush to Wuhan as soon as possible, Song Zhewu ordered to unload all the trucks and materials of the baggage brigade, and Xiao Guodong and Zhang Yafei led more than 15,000 people from the first and third regiments of the first division, except for weapons and ammunition, and only one day's rations, to take all the vehicles and cavalry brigades to seize Wuhan first; Gao Zhongbao led the 3rd Regiment of the 2nd Division, the 2nd Regiment of the 1st Division, and the Baggage Brigade to follow.

At the same time, he looked for Yang Tenghui, because his troops had been stationed in Wuhan for two years and were familiar with the situation in Wuhan, and asked him to provide a guide team to go to Wuhan with Xiao Guodong. The mission of this guide team is twofold: first, it is responsible for leading the security forces to occupy major traffic routes and important areas and locations; Second, it was responsible for persuading the Gui troops in Wuhan to surrender.

Yang Tenghui went out of the city to meet with Song Zhewu after sending out the telegram, and when he saw all the prisoners returned by Song Zhewu, he was very surprised to see that all the wounded soldiers of the brigade he had eliminated had been properly bandaged and treated, and even some of the seriously wounded had been operated on by the field hospital of the security army, Yang Tenghui was very surprised! He was not only surprised by the strong battlefield treatment ability of the security army, but also surprised by the kindness to the prisoners. You must know that at this time, due to the scarcity and high cost of medicine, even the ordinary soldiers of their own troops may not receive timely and proper treatment, their Gui troops are better, and other troops, such as the Northwest Army, the Sichuan Army, the troops of Yunnan Longyun and the troops of Wang Jialie in Guizhou, he has seen them. Not to mention the captives, who want to be treated unless you are an officer. If you are seriously injured, you can only wait to die. When he heard one of the captured regiment commanders say that they were treated quickly as soon as they were captured, it was not Yang Tenghui who imagined it was after he turned on the electricity. This made Yang Tenghui very grateful. I have repeatedly expressed my gratitude to Song Zhewu!

"This is our civil war in China, everyone is Chinese, that is to say, they are all brothers, no matter how they quarrel and fight, after all, they are still a family, a family is connected by blood, and blood is always thicker than water." My Song Zhewu's troops are not only the same for the Gui Department and your troops, but also for the Northwest Army in the past, and will be the same for any domestic army in the future. Two days later, when Chiang Kai-shek summoned him and Li Mingrui, he told Chiang Kai-shek what Song Zhewu said, and Chiang Kai-shek sat silently for a long time without making a sound.

Although the two sides have just fought a fierce battle, it is a matter of no way for each to be its own master. This time, Chiang Kai-shek agreed to reorganize the Seventh Army and appointed Li Mingrui and him as the chief and deputy commanders, but they now only have one division of Li Mingrui, which has not yet reached Xiaogan, and his division, which lacks almost one brigade, and they need to replenish their troops in order to restore the vitality of the Seventh Army as soon as possible. If they could bring back the troops in Wuhan, they might even be able to gather some of the routed troops, and then their Seventh Army would immediately be strong again.

Therefore, as soon as Song Zhewu said that he wanted a guide team, Yang Tenghui vigorously supported it, and selected more than 50 people, all of whom were grassroots officers below the company level and some staff officers, and asked his chief of staff to personally lead the team to go to Wuhan. There was only one condition: "All the Gui troops who were persuaded to surrender and captured must be handed over to him." Song Zhewu naturally agreed to this condition.

At 3 o'clock in the morning, Han Guang, the commander of the cavalry brigade in front, sent a staff officer to report that he had arrived in the suburbs of Wuhan, Xiao Guodong ordered the troops to stop advancing, and asked Zhang Yafei to send someone to inform the cavalry brigade commander Han Guang, the commander of the first regiment Gao Tianyuan, and the commander of the third regiment Sun Li to hold a meeting. He was responsible for directing the 3rd Regiment and the 1st Regiment of the Cavalry Brigade to deploy defenses along the line from Zhuyehai and Mionen Village to Jintan Lake and Zhujiahe east of Hankou, blocking the road for the Gui system in Huanggang and other places to retreat to Hankou. "Yes." Sun Li agreed loudly. After a few months of getting along, Song Zhewu and Xiao Guodong were very satisfied with Sun Li's calmness, unfazed behavior, and good command, so Xiao Guodong gave him this task.

"Commander Han of the Cavalry Brigade, I order you to take two infantry battalions of your second regiment and the first division and one regiment to occupy Hanyang, with the focus on occupying and protecting the Hanyang Arsenal." "Yes." Han Guang excitedly agreed, and it was the first time he had led his troops on such a mission, although he knew that Hankow did not have several enemies. "The first regiment sent a battalion to control the Hankou airport and railway station, and the rest of the troops were commanded by me and Division Commander Zhang to seize the remaining key points in Hankou and set off immediately." Several people were ordered to run quickly to mobilize the troops, and soon the troops were divided into several parts and rushed in different directions.

It was already a suburb of Hankow, and the road was much better and smoother than the one they had walked before. Zhang Yafei ordered the troops to advance at full speed, but they encountered a few checkpoints on the way, but the Gui army in the checkpoints saw that such a large number of troops, where did they dare to stop, and ran away after firing a few shots, so they rushed into the city without any fighting, and the convoys and cavalry continued to divide small units of companies and platoons at various intersections to rush to various important areas in the city.

In the early hours of the morning, there were basically no pedestrians on the streets, and in a few places, there were policemen who heard the sound of gunshots and the sound of huge truck motors from far and near and ran out, and under the street lamps saw that it was not the Gui army, but the army in grass-green military uniforms that they had never seen or heard of entering the city, and they all turned around and ran back again, hiding back in the police station, or running home. During this period, no matter how much the army occupies a city, it will not be difficult for them to fight the police, because they need to pull to maintain order. Except, of course, for senior police officers with factions.

Wang De's injuries had already healed, and he was now the deputy commander of the first battalion, whose commander Gao Tianyuan sent to occupy the airport and the Hankou railway station. Wang De and the battalion commander divided the work, and he led two companies to the railway station. Entering the urban area of Hankou, Wang De led two companies under the guidance of a staff officer of Yang Tenghui's department, broke away from the brigade, and more than 20 trucks roared all the way to the Hankou Railway Station. At this moment, there was a sudden fierce gunfire in front of them, mixed with the crisp sound of mp18. When he asked the staff officer of Yang Tenghui's department who showed them the way, he knew that the place where the gunshots came to the direction of the railway station, Wang De was a little anxious, he knew that the people of the special brigade had come to Hankou in advance, and the gunshots must be related to them. Although the people of the special brigade have good kung fu and good marksmanship, they are only suitable for small-scale infiltration and sabotage, and they may not be able to fight large-scale battles. Moreover, in such a large Hankou and Hanyang, there will never be many people who can be sent to the railway station.

Under Wang De's constant urging, the convoy soon came to the vicinity of the railway station, and at this time, gunfire rang out in many places in the city, and even machine gun shooting, but the gunfire in the railway station slowly stopped. Wang De became more and more anxious and shouted loudly for the troops to get out of the car, and without waiting for the personnel who had gone to investigate to return, he ordered the two platoons of the first company to pack from the left and right, and he led the brigade to rush to the railway station in an attack formation.

At this time, the gunshots in the train station were already very sparse, and Wang De could hear the unique sound of the 38 style from the gunshots, and his heart was relieved a lot. Most of the men in the special brigade are armed with submachine guns and pistols, but there are also some Type 38.

Outside the station, Wang De met the investigators who had gone out to investigate, and they brought back a member of the special brigade. The special forces team member reported that they were a reinforcement squad that had taken control of the train station. Now there is a train carrying arms on the platform, escorted by a reinforced company of Gui Jun, who is exchanging fire with them.

Wang De listened to the intermittent gunshots in the station, and asked a little strangely: "Guijun's company was solved by you?" The member of the special brigade smiled and said, "Not yet, but it's almost like a solution." ”

(To be continued)