At ten o'clock in the evening, An Yi, accompanied by Xia Jian, Gu Lao Er and a seven-person detachment, rode out of the camp gate unhurriedly, and the camp of the General Temple, where the main force had already left, immediately became silent.

The quartermaster logistics, ordnance station, artillery company and other departments directly under the battalion headquarters stayed in the camp, and the elite guard company of the model battalion, which had been fighting for three days and four nights, was also left by An Yi to rest, and the eighth company, which was composed of recruits and soldiers, under the leadership of company commander Mu Remember, undertook the task of security and vigilance in the entire general's temple camp.

At 8:40 p.m., Hu Zi, Yang Bin, Lu Mingdi, and Qu Muchen had already led the fifth infantry, the sixth company, the seventh company, the third and fourth companies of the engineer to the front line by land, and Yin Jinan, Ye Cheng, and Zhang Xiangong led the first and second companies of the engineer to collect civilian boats and boatmen, and under the traction of two small steamers of the Ganjiang River Transport Gaoan Company, they were loaded with materials for building bridges down the river.

At 6:30 a.m., the artillery positions of the two armies of the revolutionary army, which had already been arranged on the west bank of the Ganjiang River, began to roar angrily, and dense shells flew towards the enemy positions inside and outside the city of Nanchang, and the four engineer companies of the model battalion also began to build the first pontoon bridge amid the rumbling sound of artillery.

Due to the thorough preparation and the convenience of obtaining materials, a sandbar with a length of more than 50 meters and a width of more than 20 meters protrudes in the center of the river during the dry season, dividing the broad water surface of the Ganjiang River into two left and right streams that are more than 30 meters wide, and the four well-trained engineering companies can do their work very quickly and easily.

On the east bank of the pontoon construction site, An Yi and seven of his subordinates inspected the defensive positions built by the infantry company, and were quite satisfied with the width and depth of the 120-meter-old arc-shaped trench and the stacking of sandbags, and the two communication trenches that led directly to the rear riverbank were also dug precisely and widely, and in the event of an enemy attack, the officers and men participating in the battle could rush into the entrances of the two communication trenches from the riverbank concealment point in the area of the pontoon bridge head without exposing their bodies, and they could reach the arc-shaped trench in front of them by traveling more than 80 meters to strike at the enemy.

An Yi sincerely admired the choice of the two heavy machine gun firing points: "The location of these two heavy machine guns is very good, the terrain is high, the firing range is open, the use of felled huge tree roots and natural rooting stones to build fortifications, only a dozen sandbags are extremely strong, distributed on the left and right of the position, forming a dense crossfire, nearly two kilometers in front of the position are under the threat of these two heavy machine guns, amazing!" ”

"This is arranged by Lao Yang's command." Beard reported to An Yi.

Yang Bin laughed: "This is not my ability, but the location is good, this area is just on the outer edge of the artillery range of the defenders of Nanchang City, and then our infantry battalion is well-equipped, each company has two heavy machine guns, each platoon has a light machine gun, each company's six platoon commanders and three company commanders have a flower machine gun, most of the rifles in the hands of the soldiers are made in Germany with the surname Neng, and there are mortars from the brothers of the mortar company on the opposite west bank, so powerful firepower few troops can have, To be able to command such a company to fight is exciting! ”

Everyone laughed heartily and was very proud, An Yi laughed and said his goal loudly: "Brothers, don't be so easily satisfied, the firepower configuration of an advanced combat company should be like this, add a machine gun platoon with two air-cooled heavy machine guns and two mortars, each squad of the other three infantry platoons has a light machine gun, one or two excellent marksmen with accurate marksmanship, and two squad leaders and deputy squad leaders each have a flower machine gun, such a combat company is our development goal, and it is only the development goal in two years, Two years later, it will have to be adjusted and supplemented again in the light of the development of science and technology and the latest situation of various Chinese and foreign armies. ”

Yang Bin and the others asked in surprise: "How much does this cost?" Is it possible? ”

"How could it not be? After the defeat of Nanchang Laozi, he will first organize a demonstration company for everyone to see. ”

After An Yi finished speaking, he issued an order: "The artillery battle between the two sides is about to end, and the brother troops will soon cross the river by boat on the river in the north, the defense here is in charge of the fifth company, Lao Yang is in full command, and the seventh company and mortar company on the west bank are under the command of Lao Zhang and Lao Qu." Hu Zi, Lao Lu, you take the 6th Company, take the shovels and steel picks in the hands of the 5th Company to the construction point on the south side, and immediately start the construction of the trench fortifications in the defensive position on the east bank. ”

"Yes!"

The brethren saluted and beat their horses away, and immediately the sound of passwords and the sonorous sound of weapons and equipment sounded in the field.

An Yi called Yin Jinan: "Jinan, I remember when I first arrived, I heard you say to Hu Zi that it was the engineer battalion of the Fourth Division of the Second Army that built the pontoon bridge at the Shengmi Ferry in the north?" ”

Yin Jinan said with a smile: "Exactly, Lao Zhang has been promoted to lieutenant colonel and battalion commander of the engineer battalion of the Fourth Division because of his outstanding performance in the previous battles of the Northern Expedition, and he rode a horse to find me before dawn, saying that they have never built a pontoon bridge more than 70 meters long, and he has no bottom in his heart, I asked him to directly use the bottom pile left after the enemy blew up the bridge for construction, and then sent him a batch of fastening connection accessories, he happily boarded the small steamer we requisitioned and left, saying that after the battle, please go to the best restaurant in the city for a drink." ”

"Haha! Zhang Tianyi, who was said by the dog, followed by their division commander Zhang Huizan and the two brothers, estimated to have made a lot of money, and the Yunnan Baiyao and opium business between them and Ah Biao was getting bigger and bigger, and even Mr. Ou Yaoting's pharmaceutical factory ordered Yunnan Baiyao and other precious medicinal materials from them, so we had to slaughter him once to enjoy it, and by the way, we would sell him something. ”

An Yi laughed happily, happy for his old classmates: "Let's go, let's get off the horse and take a look, the main body of the pontoon bridge has come out, check the pulling rope and the approach bridge at both ends, there can be no mistakes, it is estimated that the artillery will cross the bridge within an hour." ”

Forty minutes later, 14 artillery tractors of the First Army towed a cannon that had not yet cooled to the head of the pontoon bridge on the west bank.

An Yi had already seen Cai Zhonghu, the commander of the artillery regiment, and several seniors of the second phase of the artillery department jumping off the truck and walking towards the pontoon bridge, and hurriedly led Yin Jinan forward to salute: "Hello instructor!" ”

Cai Zhonghu, who graduated from the third phase of the artillery department in Baoding, is only about one meter six tall, surnamed Ge Haoshuang, helpful, his ancestral home is Dongyang, Zhejiang, after the Wuchang Uprising, he joined the revolutionary pioneer Huang Xing, and later went south to Guangdong several times to join the Guangdong army, and served as a major education officer and weapons instructor in the "Xijiang Army and Navy Lecture Hall" sponsored by Li Jishen, and Chen Cheng, who was also born in the artillery department of the Baoding Military Academy, has a deep friendship with Chen Cheng, after the establishment of the Huangpu Military Academy, he served as an artillery instructor, and has instructed the diligent An Yi to practice artillery position construction and position defense and other subjects several times, At this moment, I was naturally very happy to see An Yi: "Xiao Yi, haha!" I already knew I was going to cross your bridge...... How's your injury? ”

"The stomach is already healed, but the back of the left shoulder has not grown well due to the large wound, and the left hand is still unable to move."

After An Yi finished speaking with a smile, he immediately greeted several other seniors, and hurriedly gave way when he saw the time: "Just now, Ji Nan and I personally inspected the pontoon bridge, and we can go over, and when the first artillery passes through the bridge deck on the sandbar in the center of the river, the second artillery can go to the bridge." ”

"Okay, let's meet again when we get down Nanchang, I heard that your kid and the third brother Ming have developed food reselling, so you have to invite me to have a drink, haha!"

After Cai Zhonghu finished speaking, he gave An Yi a salute in return, led his men to run down the dirt road on the riverbank, stepped on the pontoon bridge and looked at it, and strode through with satisfaction.

Immediately afterwards, the second division and the fourth regiment of the general reserve also drove quickly under the leadership of Liu Zhi, Liu Zhi saw that the artillery regiment of the military had all passed, very satisfied, and whispered to An Yi to pay attention to the vigilance along the riverbank, and then led the four regiments to quickly cross the bridge and rush to the city of Nanchang, and the two main regiments commanded by Xu Tingyao and Jiang Dingwen crossed the river by boat to besiege the city.

Lieutenant Ma Pinglin, deputy of the third battalion of the fourth regiment and the third battalion of the team, is also a graduate of the fourth phase of the Huangpu infantry department, and has a good relationship with Yin Jinan.

An Yi looked at the figure of thousands of brothers on the east bank, his mood was extremely heavy, he didn't know how many of the large number of fellow brothers would survive this battle, with the strong surname of Liu Zhi, the second division, which was the main attack in the direction of Deshengmen in Nanchang City, was likely to suffer huge casualties. The height of the wall of the fortified famous city of Nanchang was not below that of Wuchang City, and the defenders in the city were more than twice as many as those of Wuchang City at that time, and they had already been prepared for battle, so it seemed that there was likely to be a great rout that General Bai Chongxi feared.

Regarding the possible rout of this battle, although the far-sighted Bai Chongxi did not mention a word, An Yi still clearly realized from Bai Chongxi's attention to the construction of the second pontoon bridge and the words that quietly reminded An Yi to strengthen the defense of the pontoon bridge as much as possible.

"Jinan, the brothers have enough time to rest, you immediately lead all four engineer companies to the downstream construction site, and build the pontoon bridge as quickly as possible, the stronger the better, no need to save materials, all the accessories can be used as long as they can be used." An Yi ordered in a low voice.

"Yes! I'll go. ”

Yin Jinan, who was as careful as a hair, had already guessed An Yi's worries, and did not slack off, and immediately led the adjutant and guards to leave.

An Yi turned to Zhang Xiangong and Qu Muchen: "Old Zhang, you led the brothers of the mortar company to immediately go south along the river, build a relatively concealed firing position within 300 meters of the pontoon bridgehead, and determine the parameters of each strike area on the east bank as far in advance as possible, and use the mortar range as much as possible to carry out medium and long-distance coverage firing preparations. Tell the brethren of the whole company that they must be mentally prepared to withstand a large-scale attack by the enemy, support the defense of the brethren on the east bank with the best firepower, and ensure the absolute safety of the second pontoon bridge.

Lao Qu, you are in charge here, the 7th Company is under your full command, the south is taken care of by the brothers of our battalion, and behind you are the brothers of a battalion of the Headquarters Guard Regiment watching, you only need to strengthen the vigilance of the area along the river in the north, if necessary, you have to lead the 7th Company to cross the bridge to support Lao Yang and the 5th Company brothers in the defensive positions on the east bank. ”

"Yes!"

Zhang Xiangong and Qu Muchen replied in unison, Zhang Xiangong turned around and ordered the mortar company to assemble, leading more than 100 brothers to carry 12 mortars and dozens of boxes of shells onto horses.

Qu Muchen asked suspiciously, "Xiao Yi, do you think the prospects of this battle are not good?" ”

An Yi sighed slightly: "According to a few of your introductions to Deng Ruzhuo, I have a lot of scruples about this Anhui general who is older than me, this person is deeply involved in the art of war, experienced in a hundred battles, from a small soldier step by step to today's position as the commander-in-chief of the Jiangxi army, by no means comparable to ordinary generals, after more than ten years of warlord melee he can always win more and lose small, Zhifeng in the war several times his command fought very decisive and beautiful, so that the Feng army suffered heavy losses, can only avoid its edge, even Zhang Zuolin also praised Deng Ruzhuo.

Looking at today's [***] world, how many people can be praised by the commander of the Feng army? Feng Yuxiang, who you call 'the defected general', couldn't let Zhang Dabeard take it in his eyes, so you can see how high Deng Ruzhuo's military level is! Therefore, I have been thinking about what Deng Ruzhuo will do in the past two days? Especially since last night, I shudder at the thought of his many possible methods, so let's be careful and do more if we can. ”

Qu Muchen nodded solemnly: "I understand!" I'll keep in touch with all parties at any time by strictly ordering the signal corps to use signal flags to keep in touch with all sides, and I'll immediately lead troops over to help in the fight if needed on the east coast. ”

An Yi nodded, and was just about to lead Gu Lao Er and the others to get on their horses and head south, when he saw several brothers of the guard regiment galloping from a distance, and immediately knew that Commander-in-Chief Jiang had personally gone to the city to supervise the battle. So An Yi hurriedly ordered the seven elites to pull the horse into the forest on the side, and he led Gu Laoer, Qu Muchen and others to wait for the principal to arrive.

(To be continued)