The Battle of Tonglu lasted only a week and ended with the complete defeat of Sun Chuanfang and Meng Zhaoyue's troops, and the Northern Expeditionary Army pursued the victory and took Fuyang, an important town south of Hangzhou.

Seeing that he could not stop the rapid advance of the Northern Expeditionary Army, Meng Zhaoyue, the commander of the Zhejiang Army, wisely led the remnants to abandon Hangzhou after the fall of Fuyang, and retreated north to the line of Jiaxing and Songjiang, and the capital of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, was immediately placed under the front of the Northern Expeditionary Army.

When the news broke, the whole country was shaken, the revolutionary forces rejoiced, and the warlord forces panicked.

In this campaign, the Northern Expeditionary Army captured more than 40,000 Zhejiang troops, the Guards Brigade under the command of Sun Chuanfang, the commander-in-chief of the allied forces of the five provinces, and the brigade commander Wu Ming and more than ten generals and colonels all became prisoners of the Northern Expeditionary Army.

On 17 February, General Bai Chongxi, the former commander-in-chief of the enemy on the Eastern Route of the Northern Expeditionary Army, led his troops to Hangzhou, a famous city through the ages known as the "hub of the Yangtze River Delta" and "paradise on earth." Newspapers throughout the country once again exclaimed, and the General Headquarters of the National Revolutionary Army also telegraphed this exciting victory to the whole country at this time, commending the officers and men of the East Route Army, announcing that the Zhejiang Campaign had officially come to an end, and that the National Revolutionary Army would advance on the victory, inherit the legacy of Mr. Sun Yat-sen, continue the great cause of the Northern Expedition, and strive to unify the whole country as soon as possible.

In the same Tonglu city, battle flags were planted all over the city head and the main symbolic buildings, and the officers and men of the revolutionary army were jubilant and extremely proud, Liu Zhi led more than 20 generals and colonels to happily attend the grand celebration held by representatives from all walks of life in the city, and the commanders of all regiments and battalions all changed into straight military uniforms and attended the banquet in high spirits.

At this time, An Yi, the greatest hero of this campaign, was in the model battalion on the west bank of Tonglu City, discussing with his group of brothers how to deal with the more than 2 million yuan of money and materials looted, and how to store the captured 300 light and heavy machine guns, 41 mortars, and a large amount of ammunition.

In the Beida camp outside Tonglu City, Qu Muchen, Ye Cheng and Xia Jian were also very busy, and after more than 28,000 captives were divided in half by various departments, there were still more than 14,000 people left waiting for them to deal with.

General Cai Zhonghu, commander-in-chief of the artillery headquarters directly under the General Headquarters, was so happy that he had already been accompanied by An Yi and had brought more than 2,500 carefully selected artillery pieces, along with 36 selected German-made artillery pieces, to the Xida Battalion to station, and suddenly increased the strength and equipment of three artillery regiments in January, making Cai Zhonghu a veritable artillery commander and finally able to display his talents with great strength.

In the evening, Liu Zhi, who was very tired after attending the celebration ceremony and running around for a busy day, remembered that he had never seen the shadow of his confidant An Yi from beginning to end, and asked curiously: "Brother Yuexiang, where is this guy Xiao Yi?" Why didn't I see him attend the celebration! ”

Xu Tingyao, whose body had almost recovered, laughed: "This guy must be hiding in his own camp to count the money, even our division headquarters has more than 400,000 cash piled up, can he be missing there?" After the battle was all over yesterday afternoon, the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 65th regiments were all a little unreasonable, and after escorting back their respective prisoners, they occupied all the major military camps in the city, and as a result, the various units of the Reading Regiment finally escorted more than 10,000 prisoners back and had no place, and there was no place for them to come back, and there was no battalion stationed in the city under An Yi's orders, and the model battalion and the fourth battalion crossed the Yuantong Temple on the west bank and stationed, and the teaching team and the first battalion escorted more than 20,000 prisoners to be stationed in the Beida camp outside the north gate. Even the three battalions that maintained order in the advanced city opened the west gate after the various units returned to the city, and stationed in the west camp together with the artillerymen of the minister's brother, and served as the safety and security of the artillery.

At noon today, you went to the Beida camp to inspect, and a few squires came to me to complain, saying that our revolutionary army had robbed all of their shops, and I was furious and immediately sent Rongguang to lead the spy company to check, but Rongguang came back and told me that they were three opium smoke houses, and the boss himself didn't know which part was robbed, and we knew that it was a good thing done by Chen Zhibiao, the shrewd third battalion commander under Xiao Yi, haha! The opium smoke house is not a good thing, if you rob it, you will rob it, it is not considered a violation of military discipline, if you meet the regiments of the first division, the battalion commanders of those [***] soldiers and battalions are estimated to have set fire to it on the spot, Xiao Yi They can be regarded as opening the net. ”

Liu Zhi, who was in a good mood for a series of victories, did not care about such trivial things at all, and the great achievements of the Tonglu Battle washed away the shame of the first two fiascos, so that the Second Division once again became the object of attention of the whole army, and Commander-in-Chief Chiang personally signed a special commendation order to inform all departments of the Northern Expeditionary Army, and only two combat collectives received special commendations, one was Liu Zhi's second division that overcame the dangerous pass all the way and finally won the victory in Tonglu, and the other was the first division of Xue Yue who took the lead in attacking Xindeng and then directly took Fuyang and then entered Hangzhou; There are also two individuals who have received special awards, one is Bai Chongxi, who is far-sighted and uses soldiers like a god, and the other is An Yi, a resourceful and invincible general. The two rare awards are both shared by the second division, how can they not make Liu Zhi and Xu Tingyao raise their eyebrows and feel proud?

Liu Zhi sat down and picked up the teacup, took a leisurely sip, and suddenly remembered that Bai Chongxi left early, and asked Xu Tingyao at a loss:

"Why do you say that Commander-in-Chief Bai hurriedly made a big turn and rushed to Xindeng the night before the siege? Do you think that there is no suspense about the victory of our side in the siege, or is there another reason? ”

"Both! Commander-in-Chief Bai is a very confident person, and the 1st, 21st, and 5th Divisions of Xindeng are equipped with the latest small radio stations, so he is very aware of the progress of the front-line war, so he chooses to leave in advance.

After Xindeng was easily occupied by our army, the focus of the battle situation quickly shifted to the north of Hangzhou, and it was necessary for him to rush over in advance to take command, but he didn't expect tens of thousands of enemy troops on the front line of Tonglu City to flee so quickly. I guess there is another thing that Commander-in-Chief Bai didn't expect, that is, he didn't expect Xiao Yi to be so bold, and he didn't expect the two of us to make such a decision, blocking most of the fleeing enemies in the area within twenty kilometers north of the city and successfully capturing them.

In this battle, our second division made a fortune, and the guns, artillery, ammunition, and materials captured were incomparable to those of previous battles, with more than 28,000 long and short guns and 76 artillery pieces alone.

The principal's special commendation is a good illustration, compared with the first division that also won the special commendation, we have picked up a big bargain, and we have to thank Xiao Yi for this! It is estimated that Commander-in-Chief Bai is unwilling in his heart, and he is embarrassed to say it, so he can only push the boat down the river to fulfill us -- by the way, tomorrow we will give a part of Li Mingyang's Ninth Division stationed in the east of the city, we can't swallow it all, otherwise it will be easy to make enemies! Xu Tingyao was very emotional when she said this.

Liu Zhi completely agreed with Xu Tingyao's opinion, and said in a low voice with a slight groan: "Yuexiang, later, we will jointly send a telegram to the principal asking for instructions, recommending Xiao Yi to be promoted to the deputy commander of my second division, what do you think?" ”

Xu Tingyao nodded: "I have thought of this a long time ago, if I don't get promoted, Xiao Yi probably won't be able to keep it!" In the past few days, Brother Zhuchen has always stayed with Xiao Yi, I am very worried, now Brother Zhuchen is strong and strong, and he will soon be promoted and expanded, if he pulls Xiao Yi away, our losses will be great! Don't forget, Xiao Yi's artillery command level is not low, and the mortar technology praised by the principal and the army elders is thanks to the personal transmission of the minister's brother, and the relationship between the two was very good when they were in Huangpu. Also, the inheritance of the 22nd Division also coveted Xiao Yi, last year's Wuchang battle was Xiao Yi rushed to the moat at the risk of death, and exploded the oil barrel to save the inheritance from the realm of death, for which Xiao Yi himself almost gave away his surname, and compared his heart to his heart, the inheritance must want to recommend Xiao Yi, not to mention that Xiao Yi's surname is so good, he can fight and fight, and he is also magnanimous, who doesn't like to work with such a person? ”

"Without further ado, let's do it immediately, otherwise there will be no time for the troops to rush to Hangzhou tomorrow, Commander Bai is in a hurry, and it is estimated that Songjiang will be attacked next." Liu Zhi stood up and called the confidential secretary.

Xu Tingyao hurriedly said: "Our division's various departments and several main regiments naturally can leave if they want to, and the prisoners collected by each regiment are about 2,000, but Xiao Yi's Reading Force Regiment is still guarding more than 10,000 prisoners and captured materials, and we have to wait for the General Headquarters to send someone from the Lanxi Military Station to receive it, and he can't leave for a day or two, we still have to send a telegram to Commander-in-Chief Bai to be appropriate, and at the same time, I also explained to the principal that the province will give people a handle when they get it." ”

Liu Zhi nodded again and again, and said with a comfortable smile: "I'm much easier to be with you, just do what you want, and we'll draw up a message." ”

That night, Li Yannian received a call from An Yi, and immediately led his spy company out of the north gate with great joy, and An Yi was already waiting at the gate of Beidaying.

The brothers walked side by side and talked for more than ten minutes, and Xia Jian led one hundred and fifty brothers to each lead a horse to the camp gate [***] to the brothers of the fifth regiment, all carrying heavy items covered with sheets on horseback.

Li Yannian happily punched An Yi in the chest, and was grateful to his little junior brother in his heart, the gift of eighty pack horses, seventy war horses, forty-five American-made light machine guns and fifty thousand rounds of ammunition is exactly what Li Yannian urgently needs, with this batch of weapons and animal power, the combat effectiveness of Li Yannian's fifth regiment will be greatly improved, and it will be of great help to the next war, in such a situation, there is nothing more precious than this rich gift and deep friendship.

An Yi returned to Xia Jian's camp headquarters and immediately discussed the issue of prisoners with the brothers, under the current circumstances, An Yi's reading force group would be enough to replenish 1,500 prisoners at most, and any more would not only be seriously overstaffed, but also might attract criticism from others. After discussions, it was unanimously decided that each of the five battalions should be supplemented with 200 men, and the remaining 500 men should all be selected to have a certain cultural foundation, and all the selected recruits must be under the age of 22 except for those who have special abilities.

After deciding, An Yi put down a stone in his heart, and said with a smile: "We don't need to dismiss these more than 10,000 prisoners, otherwise the severance pay alone is a large amount, and we will start the selection in our own way early tomorrow morning, put up several new flags of the model battalion, and after the concentration is completed, first let all the people who do not want to join the army and smoke opium stand up, and the brothers of the first battalion will escort them into the city, and place them in the division headquarters camp to wait for processing, and then pick out those who are in poor physical condition, and let these people go back to the barracks to rest first, so that It is estimated that there are only five or six thousand people left on the scene, it should be very easy to do, Lao Yang gave a lecture on the field, encouraging those with expertise and culture to stand up, and immediately go to the model battalion station on the west bank after the concentration, and Ji Nan and I will deal with it over there, and the rest will be selected by the battalion commanders, and each will take his own people back after the end, and all the rest will be sent to the division headquarters camp in the city by the teaching team, just mix it up and look at it, whoever wants it will let him take it away, and the rest will only wait for the Lanxi military station to send someone to receive it, and there will be nothing for us. ”

"What about so many supplies, and the more than 10,000 guns of various types, Russian-made machine guns, French machine guns, and Spanish machine guns left over from various regiments? That's all money! Chen Zhibiao asked.

An Yi shook his head helplessly: "The more than 4,000 almost brand-new long and short guns and light and heavy machine guns that we have hidden privately are enough, and we can't move any more, and there are several seizures totaling more than five million foreign goods, gold bars, opium tobacco and valuables, I have now let Lao Ding's guards even look at the whole company, plus the logistics of three hundred brothers is barely enough." ”

Ye Cheng thought for a while and suggested, "Xiao Yi, can you let our reading group stay in Jiaxing for two days?" ”

"It should be no problem, our division will stop in Hangzhou for a while, and then we will rush to Jiaxing to prepare for the war, and it is estimated that we will have to stay for about five days at that time. How? What good things do you think? An Yi asked with interest.

Ye Cheng lowered his voice: "Didn't we seize three radio stations?" See if you can contact the German comptoirs, or simply contact Mr. Ou Yaoting, and ask them to help find a 500-ton foreign merchant ship in Shanghai or Ningbo, and sail directly to the wharf of Niuqiao Town, 40 kilometers southeast of Jiaxing, to help us load all the goods and transport them to Nanchang through the Yangtze River and Hukou into the Ganjiang River. There are also four steamboats and more than 20 large wooden boats, which can easily reach Jiaxing, and the remaining 40 kilometers of road are not difficult at all. ”

An Yi was overjoyed, stood up and rubbed his hands, the more he thought about it, the more it made sense, and said excitedly: "What a good idea!" Since that's the case, then we have to occupy a little bit to do it, after this village, there is no such store, after hitting Shanghai, and then going north to fight will not be so rich, it is difficult for us to encounter such a good opportunity again, so no matter what, Lao Tzu has to be ruthlessly corrupt [***] once, Lao Tzu doesn't believe who dares to treat me like this! ”

When all the brothers heard this, they all burst out laughing.

(To be continued)