Xiao Yimin led the Sichuan army to march southward, along the way the car sparkling horses Xiao Xiao, the momentum was huge, he felt that he was not very satisfied, and then ordered all departments to make flags, how to do it, what style he didn't care, as long as each company, each battalion made a flag to prop up, so that more than 10,000 people marching team flags like a forest, incomparably magnificent, everywhere Sichuan people rejoiced, confidence greatly increased.

As the commander-in-chief of this battle, Xiao Yimin is full of ambition and high spirits, everywhere he goes, he will order all the people to rest, he will meet with officials and squires from all over the country, visit the people's weal and woe, talk about a better future, as long as he goes to the county seat or a larger town, Xiao Yimin will promise the excited local people, stop and give an enthusiastic speech, telling all the officials, businessmen, intellectuals and farmers who admire him, what is equality before the law, what is the civil rights that everyone should have, How to develop the local economy in accordance with local conditions, and how to chant the slogan of "this battle will be won" to the people who were fascinated by it, showed his strong belief in invincibility.

As a result, Xiao Yimin was out of the limelight, and the Chinese and foreign reporters who accompanied the army to cover the news were eager for more news to happen, and they were willing to be satisfied, and the ordinary people who knew nothing about military affairs also felt greatly satisfied.

People everywhere were so excited to see Xiao Yimin, who was rumored to be "the destiny of heaven", that they were often greeted by thousands of people who went out of the city to greet him, and everywhere were businessmen, wealthy households, and people brought fine wine and food, and the representatives of officials and businessmen also respectfully and enthusiastically dressed Xiao Yimin in red and green, beat gongs and drums to send the army to jointly raise funds.

Everywhere the army went, it set off a wave of greeting and sending, and everywhere was a touching scene of deep affection between the army and the people.

But the generals and colonels of all divisions and brigades were unwilling, everyone said that Commander Xiao was such a shrewd person, how could he suddenly become so confused? Is it for the sake of his future future, taking the opportunity to absorb the hearts of the people and accumulate political capital? Is it to take the opportunity to scrape the ground to make money? Or is it that the teenager is ambitious and begins to flutter?

However, no matter what the opinions of the generals and colonels, Xiao Yimin is just happy to do it, stop and go, go his own way, from Chengdu to Zizhou more than 80 kilometers away, the army actually walked for three days, no one persuaded it, said that he was in a hurry, who is the commander-in-chief? I almost didn't let the few generals who had the courage to admonish the school be angry.

Peng Guanglie, the commander of the Geng Zhi Second Division, was even more annoyed, and watched as a battalion of the Yunnan army entrenched in the artesian well took away a huge amount of people's fat and ointment, and calmly withdrew to Syria, and seven days later, the army finally reached Neijiang City, and Peng Guanglie, the commander of the Left Route Army, was so angry that he no longer wanted to follow Xiao Yimin, returned to his barracks with a black face, and ordered to immediately prepare for the attack, strive to travel 150 miles south within two days, and lay down the barrier to the north of Luzhou Prefecture in one go, Luxian, which was also the established offensive target of the Left Wing Army anyway.

The heads of the military and political circles in Yunnan were also happy, at the beginning they were all taken aback by Sichuan's huge combat determination, and the telegrams sent from Chengdu to Kunming were all about how strong the Sichuan army was and how the people were united, which made the Yunnan political axe and the headquarters of the Yunnan army extremely worried, causing Cai Ye to issue two orders to withdraw troops, but in the end, he could not help the strong determination and request of the front-line generals, and the Yunnan army also extremely needed to test their true strength through this battle, and Cai Yi, who had long been unwilling, waved his hand, As a result, the various units of the Dian army began to prepare for the big war excitedly.

However, as the follow-up news continued to come, the Yunnan Provincial Political Axe officials and the Dian army all breathed a sigh of relief, and ridiculed Xiao Yimin, the commander-in-chief of the Sichuan Army, who was showing off his might, as a modern version of Zhao Kuo.

All the newspapers in Yunnan changed their attitude of panic and anxiety, displayed an unprecedentedly optimistic spirit, wantonly ridiculed the stupidity of the Sichuan army and Xiao Yimin's deception and stealing his reputation, and unscrupulously pointed out that the Sichuan army did not even have basic modern military knowledge, and allowed dozens of reporters accompanying the army to make a big report, and the military commentator of the "Yunnan Daily" wrote a sarcastic article in a bitter article: It is estimated that we will soon know from the reports sent back by the reporters at the front what color of underwear Xiao Yimin, the commander-in-chief of the captured Sichuan army, was wearing!

Every time a large number of instructors who have returned from their advanced studies talk about Xiao Yimin's "glorious deeds" in the march, they will attract laughter from the full hall of students, and almost all of them are extremely confident in drawing conclusions about the battle between Sichuan and Yunnan, which has not yet begun:

"There is no suspense about the defeat of the Sichuan army, after this battle, he will eliminate my strength, our army will definitely wave its division to the north, point to Chengdu, and say that it can be waited!"

On the evening of the 25th, the Songshan Military Camp in the south of Neijiang City, the general headquarters of the front line of the Sichuan Army.

Wang Lingji, a major general and brigade commander of the Second Mixed Brigade of the Border Army, who had just turned 29 years old, walked back and forth restlessly in the courtyard of the headquarters, not knowing whether he should enter the headquarters to ask Commander Xiao Yimin.

Wang Lingji first as an instructor of the Army Crash School, took the initiative to join the new army to lead Zhong Ying's troops into Tibet to quell the rebellion, after the rebellion returned, the devastated army in Tibet was disbanded, Zhong Ying saw that the situation was chaotic, the general trend had gone, regardless of Xiao Yimin and the generals and colonels, and returned to his hometown in Yanjing.

Before leaving, Zhong Ying specially suggested to her chief of staff, Wang Lingji: "Looking at the Sichuan generals, the only one worthy of your follower is my brother Xiao Yimin, if you don't believe it, you can watch it slowly." ”

Because of this, the bright-eyed Wang Lingji politely refused Yin Changheng's kind invitation and the promise to grant him the post of major general and brigade commander, and did not rush to make a decision when Xiao Yimin was ostracized, but returned to the re-established Sichuan Army Lecture Hall and continued to be his instructor.

After Xiao Yimin skillfully got out of the predicament and won in one fell swoop, he came to Wang Lingji three times to talk earnestly, and while expressing his intentions and goals, he sincerely invited Wang Lingji to join the border army to start a business together.

Wang Lingji, who had been a colleague of Xiao Yimin's Army Crash School, was deeply moved, and resolutely joined the Frontier Army, and in only half a month, the Second Brigade of the Border Army was put under good order, and the three common students of Wang Lingji and Xiao Yimin also showed their talents under the guidance of Wang Lingji, and were deeply respected and supported by the officers and men of all regiments under his command.

Today's Second Mixed Brigade of the Border Army, whether in terms of mental outlook or combat effectiveness, is not inferior to the First Mixed Brigade of the Border Army led by Wang Jian, and Wang Lingji is also deeply trusted and respected by Commander Xiao Yimin and Chief of Staff Bao Jiqing because of his talent and hard work.

In the current battle of Sichuan-Yunnan, the operational plan of the two brigades of the border army to attack separately has long been determined, and this secret plan was only discussed and deduced at a core meeting attended by Xiao Yimin, commander of the border army, Bao Jiqing, chief of staff, Wang Jian, commander of the first brigade, and Wang Lingji, commander of the second brigade, and has always been strictly kept secret from the outside world.

Wang Lingji, who was full of confidence, secretly made up his mind to compare himself with his student Wang Jian, but to this day, the troops were still nearly 100 kilometers away from the front line, and no news was revealed from Xiao Yimin's mouth, which made Wang Lingji very unsure, and he was very worried about any accident in the First Brigade under the personal command of the chief of staff, so he could no longer sit still when he arrived in Neijiang.

Wang Lingji, who was irritable, was just about to take out a cigarette, and saw the chief military attache of the German Embassy in China, Brian, and the military attache of the Consulate General in Chengdu, Sharper, coming side by side, Wang Lingji hurriedly stepped forward to greet him, and took this opportunity to lead the two German [***] officers with doubtful faces into the headquarters, and unexpectedly found that the conference table and more than a dozen chairs had been neatly placed in the middle of the hall, and on the wide wall directly north, a huge military map of southern Sichuan was hung, and several groups of red and blue arrows on it were bright and dazzling.

Wang Lingji knew at a glance that this map was based on the Sichuan-Yunnan transportation map drawn by the Church of England, and was enriched and reproduced many times by the Brotherhood of the Elders in various parts of southern Sichuan, and then enriched and reproduced by the General Staff Office of the Headquarters many times.

The two German military attachés were suspicious because they couldn't see Xiao Yimin's chief of staff, but at this moment, they seemed to sense the solemn atmosphere in the hall, and they strode to the front of the map without being polite, staring intently at the military map that clearly marked the posture of the enemy and the enemy and various symbols.

Xiao Yimin has changed into a combat uniform that is no different from that of ordinary soldiers, wearing an olive-colored soft training cap, wearing an olive-colored military uniform, a two-inch-wide thickened canvas armed belt tightly tied around his waist, a black holster and a group of four black cartridge holders, unpretentious, the delicate handle of his favorite imitation Colt 1911 military pistol is half exposed, the calves and ordinary soldiers are neatly tied with olive green cloth strips, and the feet are also wearing military thick-soled rubber shoes with green canvas surfaces, and the whole person is like a sword out of the sheath, with a smile on his face beforeThere is a world of difference between the image of politicians who speak everywhere.

"Fang Zhou, sit down and have a cup of tea first, Master Peng, they will be there soon."

Xiao Yimin, as usual, naturally called Wang Lingji's character, and poured Wang Lingji a cup of tea.

Wang Lingji hurriedly stood up, took the teacup with both hands, and mouthed the two German [***] officials in front of the map, Xiao Yimin smiled and didn't say anything, and threw Wang Lingji a cigarette after sitting down.

The guards guarding the four corners were motionless, they were used to it, and the commander did not need the officers and soldiers of the guards to do the work of pouring tea and sweeping the floor, as long as they did their jobs, but the adjutants and staff officers needed to do these trivial things.

Brian took a few steps back to Xiao Yimin and sat down, stared at Xiao Yimin in annoyance, and protested loudly in Chinese with a slight Qingdao accent:

"Xiao, you cunning fellow, almost made me run back to Chengdu to sleep in a fit of anger, causing the two of us to be the same as the British, French, and American observers who followed, in addition to enjoying your performance, every day in addition to enjoying your performance, you spend boring time in sarcastic about you and your army, but you laugh all day long, treat us as idiots, and the whole world is deceived by you...... Xiao, you are too insidious, very, very insidious! ”

Sharpler also came over and waved his fists in protest, and the two Germans looked annoyed and angry, making the whole room laugh.

Peng Guanglie happened to come in with his chief of staff and several regiment commanders, and when he saw this scene, he even forgot the salute report.

(To be continued)