The official residence of the Xiyuan General Headquarters was brightly lit, and the commanders of the various departments who returned to Nanjing from the front line at noon could not take a breath and threw themselves into the tense things.

Commander-in-Chief Jiang slowly put the report in his hand on the table, glanced at the stacks of documents and secret reports piled up on the table, and raised his tired left hand to gently rub his eyes. Seeing that Tang Shengzhi's troops and Zhang Fakui's troops in Wuhan were about to conquer Linying and take Xuchang, and Feng Yuxiang's troops, who were currently dependent on the largest revolutionary forces, were about to join forces, Wang Jingwei, who had ill intentions, was about to win over Feng Yuxiang, who was very important, but the troops in Nanjing under his command had not been able to take Xuzhou for a long time, and Commander-in-Chief Chiang was not in a hurry. If it is not good, the whole of Nanjing will be in the midst of a joint attack by the Wuhan troops and Feng Yuxiang's army.

Secondly, the Third Army under the command of Li Zongren simply ignored the urging of Commander-in-Chief Chiang, and was still slowly attacking and occupying the counties and towns south of Xuzhou, and with 130,000 troops dealing with the scattered defenders of less than 40,000, he still complained bitterly, and asked him, the commander-in-chief, for food, guns, and ammunition, and the 50,000 elites of the Seventh Army under his command stood still. And the 50,000 horses of Wang Tianpei's division of the Tenth Army of the Guizhou Army were also in step with Li Zongren's Seventh Army, and they had obviously been drawn into the camp by Li Zongren, and they actually played a trick with him, the commander-in-chief.

In addition, the noisy "An Yi's remarks" were finally initially fulfilled, and the urgent report sent by the Shanghai side this evening shocked Commander-in-Chief Chiang and all the senior members of the Central Political Axe in Nanjing, and was silent -- Yada, the consul in Shanghai, finally tore through the mask of hypocrisy and held a press conference for Chinese and foreign people in the concession to issue a public statement, strongly announcing that a division of the Japanese army would sail from this to Qingdao, Shandong, and would be stationed in Jinan, Shandong, depending on the situation.

This statement was like a thunderbolt from the sky, and it immediately forced Wu Chaoshu, Wang Chonghui, and other senior officials of the Nanjing Central Political Axe and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who presided over the negotiations, as well as many ministers and vice ministers of the pro-Japanese faction, into an embarrassing situation where there was no way out.

Everyone saw that he had already had a plan to protect Zhang Zuolin by force and block the Northern Expeditionary Army from going north, and they also saw that he had the ambition to take the opportunity to occupy the Shandong Peninsula, and they all knew that the wanton trampling and intimidation of the arrogant and barbaric Yue himself was not because of An Yi's anti-rhetoric, but no one dared to say a word out loud.

Thinking of the "boundless" warning and other shocking predictions in An Yi's remarks about "I will obstruct my great cause of the Northern Expedition", the participants were all apprehensive at An Yi's vicious eyes but helpless, and some people thought that this was just An Yi's luck, but after a little discussion, no one dared to say that An Yi's prediction would not come true.

The clock in the corner of the wall struck twelve times, Zeng Guangqing quietly walked to Commander-in-Chief Chiang's table, put a report on it again, and lifted the crystal pot to add half a cup of warm water to Commander-in-Chief Chiang's cup.

Commander-in-Chief Jiang put down his hand, glanced up at Zeng Kuoqing, knew that Zeng Kuoqing was waiting for his instructions, slowly picked up the report on the table, saw the confidential sign, and asked in a low voice: "What's the bad news?" ”

"It's not bad, but it's not good, it's about An Yi." Zeng Guangqing replied carefully.

"This crow's beak ......"

Commander-in-Chief Jiang muttered a sentence and opened the folder, looked at it for a while and immediately put it down, stared at Zeng Guangqing's eyes solemnly and asked in a deep voice: "Is this serious?" ”

Zeng Guangqing nodded heavily: "Seriously, the students immediately sent a special team to the major hotels after receiving the report, and sure enough, they found the Citroen black sedan of the Seventh Army Liaison Office in Beijing, and the hotel duty officer confirmed that Li Zhifan, the adjutant of General Li Delin, did return to the hotel at 10:25, and his face was very bad. In order to prepare for the principal's questioning, the students have brought Dai Li, a student of the sixth phase of Huangpu who reported the matter in time, who claimed to have been fortunate to meet the principal in Shanghai before entering the school, and the students did not dare to make a mistake for a while without knowing the truth or falsehood. ”

Dai Yunong ...... Li? ”

Commander-in-Chief Jiang suddenly stood up and ordered loudly: "I remember, he is my Jiangshan clan in Zhejiang, and he is really an old man, please come in quickly, I want to see him!" ”

"Yes!"

After a while, Dai Li, under the guidance of Zeng Guangqing, strode into the office, although he was wearing a gray literati robe, Dai Li still saluted uprightly and reported aloud, without relying on the advantages of the world on the Shanghai Stock Exchange with Commander-in-Chief Jiang and Du Yuesheng and others many years ago: "Report to the principal, Dai Li, a junior student of the sixth phase of Whampoa, implore the principal to admonish!" ”

Commander-in-Chief Jiang nodded appreciatively: "Yunong, why didn't you come to me for so long?" ”

"Report to the principal, students went to Guangzhou two and a half years ago to follow the principal, but the students participated in the Whampoa entrance examination several times and fell short, the students were shameless, they could only make up their minds to study hard, and finally got their wish to be admitted to the sixth period of study, but the situation changed abruptly, the students and thousands of students in this issue were ordered to go to the Wuhan Military Academy to continue their studies, but they were isolated because of their opposition to the redness, and the students and hundreds of classmates sought an opportunity to escape from Wuhan and rushed to Nanchang, and I was glad to hear that Senior Brother Zeng was equal to Hangzhou to summon my colleagues in the Huangpu diaspora, and finally returned to the alumni association after several tosses, In the past two months, under the meticulous care of Senior Brother Zeng, the students have used their meager efforts to find and gather their former classmates, and have traveled between Beijing and Hangzhou, only to report on the opening of the Nanjing Military Academy, which is being prepared, to continue their studies. ”

Dai Li's answer was clear and peaceful, and immediately won the great favor of Commander-in-Chief Chiang.

Commander-in-Chief Jiang smiled slightly: "Yunong, you should have come to see me earlier, it shouldn't have been delayed for so long!" Tell me, how did you meet An Yi? ”

"The students originally only heard the big words of Senior Brother An Yi, and have never had the opportunity to meet, the middle of the month coincided with Senior Brother An returning to Nanjing from the front line, and the students were fortunate to meet Senior Brother An in the banquet under the guidance of Senior Brother Hu Zongnan, Senior Brother Zeng, who was also present at that time, and got along well after meeting each other, Senior Brother An's surname was generous and open-minded, which left a very deep impression on the students."

Dai Li replied truthfully, Zeng Guangqing on the side nodded with a smile, and whispered that Wang Shihe, Yu Jishi and other senior brothers in the first and second phases were there.

Chiang Kai-shek smiled slightly: "I didn't expect you to have such a deep relationship with Hu Shoushan, not bad!" Yunong, you are older than An Yi, you served in the General Department of Zhou Fengqi of the Zhejiang Army in your early years, and you have more experience and insight than him, you don't need to call him a senior brother, with An Yi's easy-going and generous surname, presumably he won't let you call him a senior brother. ”

Dai Li smiled embarrassedly: "That's right, this guy sometimes calls the student Lao Dai, sometimes calls Brother Dai, and emphasizes several times that he still does his own thing, and he can only do it." ”

Chiang Kai-shek smiled rarely, motioned for Dai Li to sit down, and then asked kindly: "Tell me about today's events, how did An Yi and the adjutant surnamed Li get together?" ”

From the conversation between the two, the student learned that it was a chance encounter, and in the student's simple opinion, from An Yi leaving the barracks to arriving at the Zhuangyuan Building with Li Zhifan by car, that is, an hour and ten minutes, Li Zhifan is likely to come prepared, and has been waiting for An Yi to be on the way home for easy contact.

With the student's understanding of An Yi, he will not hide anything from the student, the student is unknown, the status is low, and no one guards against the student or how to value it, An Yi's every move is natural and unpretentious, obviously only treating the student as a classmate and friend with courtesy. ”

Dai Li did not sit down, but stood up straight respectfully, pronounced clearly and in a calm tone during the narrative process, consciously or unconsciously showed rigorous thinking and logical reasoning, and skillfully told Commander-in-Chief Chiang of his present embarrassing situation.

Commander-in-Chief Chiang admired Dai Li's shrewd and delicate character and clear and sharp thinking: "Well, what Yunong said is reasonable, tell me what you think about this matter." ”

"Students obey!"

Dai Li quickly sorted out his thoughts and said his analysis calmly: "The students have learned about An Yi's sharp remarks from recent newspapers and rumors in the army, as well as the consequences and punishments they received, and think that General Li Delin saw this, so he chose to quietly implement his recruitment plan when An Yi was full of frustration and hesitation, and did not hesitate to lobby An Yi as a lieutenant general. The reputation of cherishing talents and loving talents can be said to be counted in one fell swoop.

Secondly, An Yi's blow this time was not insignificant, and the student found out that An Yi was drunk and unconscious after General Cai Zhonghu's banquet last night, and apparently had learned the news of the rout of the Reading Master that he brought out single-handedly, so that he was sad and grief-stricken. An Yi said that he entered the Xiaguan camp to train the soldiers without saying a word, and stood silently for several hours, but with Li Zhifan and the students, he behaved politely and decently, and did not seem to be affected, but the students understood the pain in their hearts from An Yi's sighs, and the students were very worried that An Yi would be shaken. ”

Dai Li paused slightly, and continued under the encouraging gaze of Commander-in-Chief Jiang: "However, the students finally found that their worries were purely excessive, and An Yi not only politely declined Li Zhifan's high-ranking officials, but sincerely told him from the bottom of his heart that he would strengthen the ideals of the Northern Expedition, and frankly said that after the Northern Expedition, he would disarm and withdraw from the army.

Again, the Whampoa colleagues who are familiar with An Yi know that An Yi attaches great importance to love and righteousness, and will never give birth to the heart of defecting to others because of a momentary blow, and from the perspective of An Yi's calm acceptance of punishment and willingness to go to the instructor to serve as the head of the supplementary regiment, An Yi is not willing to leave my Whampoa family and leave the reading master he brought up, and his sincere feelings for the soldiers and colleagues under his command are unmatched.

Fourth, with the ability of perseverance and the analysis of the wealth possessed, it is difficult for ordinary people to tempt them with money, and if they start from the perspective of ideals or ambitions, the chances of success will be greater.

Therefore, the only thing that his subordinates are worried about An Yi will be confused by lofty excuses, especially with his excellent ability to lead troops and command ability, he is very eager to have more space and stage to show his talent and realize his ambitions, which has to be paid attention to.

Students believe that the biggest advantage of [***] being able to tempt a large number of young people to join its camp is that they are good at making use of young people's patriotism and emphasizing lofty beliefs and spiritual pursuits such as ideals. ”

"It makes sense, it makes sense, Yu Nong's analysis and discussion are very incisive...... Hum! An Yi, this kid, actually wanted to ignore the noble revolutionary cause, and said such ignorant words as disarming and engaging in business, it seems that he has some resistance in his heart, the reason why I don't see him is to let him reflect on it, sober and sober-minded, it's not that he didn't see his ability and contribution, where did he get education in Huangpu? Where is the spirit of the model battalion that he himself has set up...... Yunong, what else did An Yi say to you in this regard? "Chiang Kai-shek cared very much.

Dai Li replied in a low voice: "The student could see that An Yi was in pain, and before parting, he told the student that the principal was back, but he sighed and left in the middle of the conversation, and the student had no time to talk more because he had to report the situation in time."

Headmaster, please forgive the students for saying bluntly, An Yi is superhuman in both military ability and business talent, since the Northern Expedition, he has been conscientious and loyal, although he is a little younger but has outstanding ability, he has been silently bearing all kinds of unhappiness for a long time without complaining, but this blow is too big, not only the department has suffered an unprecedented heavy blow, but also has to bear the blame and reprimand from the top, so that he is now very depressed, and in the long run, the harm will outweigh the benefits! ”

Commander-in-Chief Jiang slowly stood up, took a few steps and sighed slightly: "You are not the only one who intercedes for him, Yu Jishi, Chen Lifu, Zeng Kuoqing, Wang Shihe and several chief officers of the headquarters have been nagging in my ears these days, Liu Jingfu sent me a telegram three days ago, asking An Yi to be sent to him to make meritorious contributions, Chen Cixiu, Gu Mosan, Hu Shoushan, Cai Xuchen and other generals, as well as Jiang Mingsan and others in Hangzhou all called to intercede for him, and even He Jinhan, who had just returned from Russia, also found me to say good things for An Yi...... It is rare for a person to get the sympathy and love of so many mentors and friends, and it can be proved from here that An Yi is indeed a rare talent, and it is precisely because of his mellow heart and sincerity that he has received so much friendship and love, which I understand all, and, quite impressively, this guy seems to have an extraordinary insight, which is like this on the battlefield, and now it is also manifested in politics, which is very surprising.

This guy has always avoided politics, but he has an extraordinary sense of the international situation and foreign relations, and even those civilian officials who want to beat him to death with a stick are speechless, which is very unexpected to me, from this point of view, we have not used An Yi well, and his ability has not been maximized, I know all of this, I don't need you to say more. ”

"Yes!"

Dai Li and Zeng Guangqing replied in unison.

Commander-in-Chief Jiang turned to Zeng Guangqing and instructed: "From today onwards, Yu Nong will be brought by you, you can arrange Yu Nong into the special group of the Huangpu Alumni Association, and you can also share a little bit of it, according to the current situation, it is likely that you will need to go back to Sichuan again, the task is very arduous, you must be prepared in advance." ”

"Students obey!"

Zeng Guangqing smiled at Dai Li after answering, and Dai Li nodded gratefully and stood up straight, until Commander-in-Chief Jiang waved his hand before he said goodbye and left.

(To be continued)