Li Sichi was silent, just kept smoking a cigarette, as if the cigarette in his hand had an enmity with him. Hu Zongduo knows this old subordinate who has always been with him, no matter what changes in the external situation, Li Sichi will only look at himself; Li Yixuan, Zheng Zheng, and Li Jianhou stared at the map with frowns, as if they were concentrating on the battle situation. But Hu Zongduo knew that they were all planning in their hearts now. Hu Zongduo believed that if he proposed to electrify to the wilderness now, these people would warmly welcome his move. Now it's just that out of the way, no one is embarrassed to betray Li Zongren and throw himself to Chiang Kai-shek; Yoon Seunggang was still fiddling with his beloved cigarette holder, as if his ivory cigarette holder was hidden. Hu Zongduo knew that he didn't care, no matter if he retreated to Guangxi, he didn't follow Li Mingrui and Yang Tenghui to betray Li and join Jiang, so he would naturally be reused by Li Zongren; If he can't go back to Guangxi, he also has Li Mingrui and Yang Tenghui to take care of him, not to mention that the two have been appointed by Chiang Kai-shek as the chief and deputy commander of the Seventh Army, and they urgently need troops.

Hu Zongduo sighed in his heart: "The world is hot and cold, and people's hearts are unpredictable!" ”

The 19th Army was formed by him with the 2nd Division of the former 7th Army and the 15th Army of Liu Zuolong, and now the 1st Division of the 19th Army is the old unit of the 2nd Division of the former 7th Army. The troops are mainly from Guangxi, and Li Sichi is also from Guangxi, but he has always followed Hu Zongduo. When Hu Zongduo was the platoon commander, Li Sichi was the squad leader in his platoon, Hu Zongduo was the company commander, and Li Sichi was promoted to be the platoon commander, so Li Sichi has always been the current division commander. He can be sure that Li Sichi is absolutely with him, and he can't guarantee the others.

Because Hu Zongduo is from Hubei, he is very grateful to Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi for not appointing talents by region, so there are not many Hubei people in his army who are reused, on the contrary, Guangxi people are very reused, he does not have his own team of cronies, if there is, there is only one Li Sichi. Because of Hu Zongduo, although most of the Hubei people in the 19th Army were from Hubei, the middle and low-level officers in several of his divisions were mostly from Guangxi, which was also the reason why Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi were relieved to promote and reuse Hu Zongduo.

So much so that now in the Gui department, the senior generals are dissatisfied with Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi's reuse of Hu Zongduo. But in the 19th Army, most people were dissatisfied with Hu Zongduo's reuse of Guangxi people. Li Yixuan and Zheng Zheng have long been dissatisfied with Hu Zongduo's shoehorned in many Guangxi officers in their two divisions with Hubei people as the main body. Of the more than 50 officers above the regimental level in the two divisions, more than 30 were from Guangxi; Four of the six brigade commanders were non-Hubei, which made them unacceptable no matter what, but they were helpless even if they were dissatisfied in the Guangxi system, which was dominated by Guangxi people.

The attitude of Li Yixuan and Zheng Zheng, Hu Zongduo didn't have to think about it, and they knew that they would never be willing to take these two divisions mainly from Hubei to Guangxi, and they would not have any worries about throwing themselves into the central government, their two old subordinates of Liu Zuolong. If he electrified to go to the field now, the happiest must be these two people.

Thinking of this, Hu Zongduo not only sighed in his heart, although he was very irritable in his heart, he was still very calm on the surface, and said calmly: "The situation has been introduced by the chief of staff, and I think everyone knows that our current situation is very dangerous. We now have only three paths to take: the first way is to cross the river here. Master Zheng has already collected some fishing boats, more than 50 of them, which can cross more than 300 people at a time. However, these fishing boats are far from enough, and it will take five days at the fastest to cross the Yangtze River with our entire army. However, Chiang Kai-shek would never give us so much time, and Chiang Kai-shek's planes would bomb us every day for the past few days, and they would not let us cross the river. What's more, if we withdraw from the front-line positions in Huanggang, their river defense fleet will soon catch up, and it will be very difficult to cross the river safely with such a wide river. The second way......"

Hu Zongduo pondered for a while, walked to the map, and made a heavy stroke with his hand at the position from Zhujiahe to Hankou, and said: "That is, our whole army will break through the blockade of the Fourth Route Army on the first line of Zhujiahe as soon as possible, and go straight to Hankou, where there are enough ships to cross the river, which can ensure that our whole army will cross the Yangtze River within one day, join Commander Tao's 18th Army in Wuchang, and return to Guangxi through Jiangxia, Xianning, and Pingxiang to Shaoguan." Although He Jian's troops blocked along the road, I believe that the rabble of the Zhu and Mao bandits who were hiding on Jinggang Mountain, lacking clothes and ammunition, could not even defeat them, would never be the opponent of our two armies. Then there is not to enter Hankou, to retreat straight to western Hubei, and to return to Guangxi through Sichuan."

Hu Zongduo looked at the several division commanders whose expressions were still the same, and couldn't help but shake his head slightly, and said a little bitterly: "Of course, there is another way, you don't know yet, Chiang Kai-shek has already asked people to send me a message, as long as I send a telegram to the field and hand over the troops, he will not blame me for the past, and he can also send me a large sum of money to go abroad for investigation." Tell us all which path we choose to take. ”

Hu Zongduo noticed that when he said that when he went to the field, except for Li Sichi, the expressions of the other people changed significantly, as if they were all relieved. Hu Zongduo sighed softly and returned to his seat and sat down.

After being silent for a long time, Li Sichi took two puffs of cigarettes that were about to burn his fingers, and said loudly: "I don't have anything to say, what the army commander says I will do Li Sichi do, everything is only the order of the army commander." ”

As soon as Li Sichi spoke, the others couldn't be silent anymore, Li Yixuan hesitated for a moment and said: "I'm the same as Sichi, everything is up to the military commander." He solemnly groaned for a while and said: "I also listen to the commander, although crossing the river here is limited in ferries, and the whole army has this to cross the river, so naturally it cannot be completed." However, it is no problem to cross one division in one day, can you cross one division first and return to Wuchang. ”

Everyone understood the solemn words, he wanted to cross the river first, and then make plans. Although he did not say that his division crossed the river first, the ferries were all collected by his troops, and his troops had been fighting for a long time, with more than 1,000 casualties.

Hu Zongduo was noncommittal, and turned his gaze to Yin Chenggang, who did not speak, although Yin Chenggang seemed to be concentrating on fiddling with the cigarette holder in his hand, but a pair of ears had been listening attentively to everyone's speeches, and even paying attention to the expressions of everyone in the observer's tent with the corner of his eye, he quickly discovered Hu Zongduo's somewhat piercing gaze.

Yin Chenggang put down the cigarette holder in his hand, looked at everyone, and then said to Hu Zongduo: "Commander-in-Chief Hu, my brother thinks that now that the whole army is back to Wuhan, it is not easy to cross the river from Hankou. First of all, the enemy's fighting power that blocked our way was very strong, and it is very telling that one of Commander Zheng's divisions had attacked for a long time without making the slightest progress. It's good to be able to take this position tonight. And even if it is taken down, the casualties of the troops will by no means be small. The distance from Zhujiahe to Hankou is not far, since the Fourth Route Army can block our army here, it means that Hankou is also in their hands, and this Fourth Route Army has more than 70,000 people. Even if we do not enter Hankou, but make a detour to the west, it is very likely that we will encounter Han Fuyu's Third Route Army, which also has more than 100,000 people. Even if we rush over, will Liu Xiang lend us the road? Although the combat effectiveness of the Sichuan army is average, after a series of bloody battles, we must have been wounded by the time we arrive in Sichuan, and we may not have the upper hand in fighting against the Sichuan army, which has a favorable location. ”

Yin Chenggang took out a cigarette and put it on the cigarette holder to light it, took a deep breath, and continued: "Therefore, my brother thinks that this road is extremely dangerous and must not be taken. I agree with Division Commander Zheng's opinion, while the central river defense fleet has not yet arrived, we should immediately cross the river here now, and we should not stop after the past troops converge with Commander Tao, but immediately turn to Guangxi, so as not to have too many dreams at night, and as long as we return to Guangxi, we will add a force to the two commanders, Li and Bai, to hold on to Guangxi. ”

Yin Chenggang pondered for a moment and said slowly: "Of course, if there are other ways, my brother will not object." ”

Everyone understood what Yin Chenggang meant, and he did not agree to recapture Hankou and cross the river, nor did he agree to go west to Sichuan and return to Guangxi. He believed that neither of these roads would work, and that it would lead to heavy casualties and even the annihilation of the army. Li Yixuan and Zheng Zheng also have the same idea, but they are both Hu Zongduo's subordinates, so it's hard to say it directly. Yin Chenggang's last words were even more explicit, other ways, where are there any other ways? If there was, it was Hu Zongduo who sent a telegram to the wilderness, and they accepted Chiang Kai-shek's reorganization of the Central Army to protect the troops.

During the Republic of China, there was an unwritten tacit understanding in the domestic melee, that is, no matter how tragic the killing of both sides, the senior generals of the losing side were very tolerant. Zhang Zongchang was deceived by Han Fuyu to go to Jinan because he killed Jin Sheng in Jinan, and was killed by Zheng Jicheng, the son of Jin Sheng, at the station, Feng Yuxiang didn't even Zheng Jicheng publish a booklet to praise his actions of avenging his father.

After Yin Chenggang finished speaking, except for Li Sichi who snorted heavily, the people in the tent fell silent. Li Sichi, as Hu Zongduo's old subordinate, would never and did not want to force Hu Zongduo to go into the wilderness, but Li Yixuan and Zheng Zheng pretended not to understand Yin Chenggang's meaning and remained silent, but in Hu Zongduo's opinion, these two people were looking forward to him electrifying to go into the wilderness, so as to protect their troops, as well as their status and power.

In all fairness, everyone, including Hu Zongduo, thinks that Yin Chenggang is absolutely right. Hu Zongduo nodded and said: "Division Commander Yin is quick to talk, well said, I think so, Division Commander Yin immediately led your troops across the river, Li Mingrui and Yang Tenghui betrayed Li and Bai, as long as the elder brother returns to Guangxi, they will definitely reorganize the Seventh Army, and this position of army commander belongs to the elder brother." ”

Zheng Zheng, who was originally paying attention to crossing the river, opened his mouth and wanted to speak, but Li Yixuan lightly touched his foot below, and held back again.

At this time, the staff officer on duty came in and reported: "Wang Zhihe, chief of staff of Yang Tenghui's department, and a lieutenant colonel of the Fourth Route Army ask to see the army commander. ”

(To be continued)