The river is surging, and the moon is shining.

Far away from the war, Yichang City, lanterns are hung high, laughter is endless, the air is wafting with the fragrance of osmanthus and wine, more than 10 years, more than 80,000 people inside and outside Yichang City, for the first time can live a stable and peaceful Mid-Autumn Festival.

On the south bank of the river, covering an area of more than 700 acres, the brand-new camp by the mountains and rivers does not have the slightest festive atmosphere, and it has been under strict alert since its completion, and the people of Yichang only know that this is the Yichang recruit training camp and transit station of the Sichuan Army, and the sign outside the gate above the military wharf clearly reads "Yichang Garrison Command Training Base".

The people who set up a consulate in Yichang, the British, the French, and all the forces in the country knew more about it than the common people, but they only regarded this ordinary military camp hidden in the green trees as a bridgehead and a springboard for the Sichuan army to advance eastward, symbolizing the ambition of the Sichuan army and showing the military presence of the Sichuan army.

In fact, the newly completed military wharf on the south bank is far more remarkable than the barracks, a military wharf made entirely of steel and concrete, often moored with a few river gunboats and a few fast anti-smuggling boats, and has four loading and unloading cranes that are not inferior to the main wharf on the north bank.

Nestled in the depths of the barracks, there are several two-story reinforced concrete buildings under the col, and there are only two boulevards within a radius of 100 meters, and the existence of this building is not even visible from 100 meters away.

Among them, the main building backed by the hill, the appearance is square and unpretentious, but the interior is beautifully decorated and well-equipped, several imported rubber cables are connected to the high-power transceiver antenna erected on the hillside of more than 80 meters behind, and two American diesel generators are set up in the basement to provide abundant power for the whole building.

In fact, this is the Yichang Headquarters of the Sichuan Army, which is second only to the Chengdu General Headquarters, and in order to be safe and concealed and to facilitate overall command, Xiao Yimin, commander-in-chief of the Sichuan Army, moved here from the Yichang Garrison Headquarters on the other side of the river three days ago, and Xiao Yimin was accompanied by Deputy Commander-in-Chief Wang Lingji, the new Chief of Staff Zhang Sike, and four staff groups.

At this moment, there are only three generals in the small conference room at the east end of the second floor of the main building, Xiao Yimin, Wang Lingji, and Zhang Sike, who was transferred from the post of deputy chief instructor of the staff section of the military academy a month ago, and has already entered the role, and he has very calmly summarized the information in front of the two commanders.

The three folders were passed back and forth in the hands of Xiao Yimin and Wang Lingji, and after more than ten minutes, both of them put down their Chinese documents.

Xiao Yimin motioned for Zhang Sike, who was about to get up and pour tea, to sit down, and asked a question with a rather solemn expression: "It seems that General Zhiquan and President Feng Dai are determined to fight, if we follow General Zhiquan's advice and watch from the sidelines, do you think that with only seven divisions of the Hunan Army, can you withstand it?" ”

Under the encouragement of Wang Lingji's gaze, Zhang Sike straightened his waist and boldly expressed his judgment:

"Judging from the composition of the Hunan army's strength and weapons and equipment, it is difficult to resist the attack of the five divisions of Cao Kun and Zhang Jingyao, although the Hunan army has obtained three divisions of weapons and equipment from us, and has enough shells, rifle bullets and military salaries to deal with a major battle, but the composition of the Hunan army is too complicated, except for Tan Yanmin's first division and Cheng Qian's second division, which are mostly composed of veterans, the remaining four divisions are all composed of local militia groups and recruits, and the quality and overall strength of officers and soldiers are too different from those of the divisions of the Beiyang Army. Coupled with the chaos of the Hunan army in the supply of military supplies and the old grievances between the various departments that have not been eliminated, it is very likely that there will be disagreements and even internal strife when the war is not going well, so the subordinates believe that if our army does not intervene in this battle, the Hunan army will have no chance of winning even if it defends on all fronts, and whether it can hold Changsha is a problem, let alone talk about taking the initiative to attack. ”

Xiao Yimin nodded appreciatively: "Si Ke has a broad vision and extraordinary knowledge, good!" ”

Wang Lingji smiled: "It's long overdue to transfer Si Ke out." ”

"Thank you to the Commander-in-Chief and Deputy Commander-in-Chief for their encouragement." Zhang Sike humbly thanked him, without any color on his face, knowing that the words of the next two commanders were very important, he immediately picked up his notebook and prepared to record.

"In the face of the various units of the Beiyang Army that are in battle formation, the Hunan side has still not asked us to help in the war, I feel that there seems to be a problem within them, what do you think of this Ark?"

Xiao Yimin turned to Wang Lingji.

Xiao Yimin's indecision on the Hunan side made Xiao Yimin very worried, and the Beiyang side's combination of soft and hard measures damaged the face and interests of the Sichuan army, causing the Sichuan army to lose the conditions for implementation of a number of plans prepared in advance, and the Sichuan army then fell from initiative to passivity, and the rapid change of the situation made Xiao Yimin and Wang Lingji feel tricky and helpless.

Wang Lingji took off his military hat and put it on the table:

"Judging from the information obtained in recent days, there are far more internal contradictions in the Hunan army than we expected, and even Tan Zu'an can not effectively control the overall situation, there is a Zhao Hengti who is swaying between the enemy and us on the side to fight for power and profit, plus a large number of revolutionaries sent by Sun Yat-sen to win over and divide, I am afraid that Cheng Songyun will not be able to speak, this may be the reason why the Hunan side is unwilling for our army to enter Hunan to help the war, we can only temporarily watch from the sidelines, and wait patiently for the opportunity."

Xiao Yimin nodded, and suddenly asked a question: "If I call the whole country and invite Premier Duan Qirui to Yichang, will it have a positive impact on the overall situation?" ”

Zhang Sike was taken aback, and the pen in his hand almost fell to the ground.

After Wang Lingji was stunned, he suddenly showed a knowing smile: "You really have to make up your mind to break with Guangzhou?" ”

Xiao Yimin sighed, leaned heavily on the back of the sofa, and said very annoyedly:

"I finally know what kind of people from the revolutionary party are, we are very sincere to put aside political differences, through concrete actions, actively improve bilateral relations, in order to strengthen their military strength to put an end to the encroachment of the Cantonese army, do not hesitate to send an elite of the teaching regiment from Daye south to support them, who knows that they changed their minds halfway, if we did not deal with it in time, ordered the teaching regiment to turn around and go north to occupy Shangli, and then by attacking Liuyang, which the Beiyang Army and the Hunan Army could not take care of, it is very likely that we will fall into an extremely passive situation. Not only will it be attacked by the xenophobic forces in the Hunan army, but it will also give Beiyang a political handle to chase after us and beat us hard. ”

Wang Lingji and Zhang Sike nodded again and again, and after this incident, the only remaining goodwill of the revolutionary party in their hearts faded.

Xiao Yimin continued to vent: "There is another problem that has always haunted me, that is, the unclear cooperation between the revolutionary party and Yue himself has not only seriously damaged the interests of the country and the nation, but also seriously damaged our use, whether it was our friendship with Yue Ben a year ago, or the confrontation in Wuchang in the first half of the year, and finally the acquisition and mortgage of Han Yeping Company, they were all openly and secretly opposed by the revolutionary party, and even framed and slandered. In comparison, Beiyang is much better than them, at least Beiyang is not as dark and shameless as they are politically! ”

Zhang Sike's heart beat faster when he heard it, and at the same time, Xiao Yimin said such sensitive and important words in front of him, which undoubtedly showed that Xiao Yimin completely accepted him and gave him enough trust and respect.

Wang Lingji solemnly looked at Xiao Yimin, who was quite excited:

"Yiming, this matter is too important, should you quickly ask Governor Zhang and Chief of Staff Bao to discuss together? After all, General Duan Zhiquan is now the prime minister of the country, and his every move, word and deed is under the attention of all walks of life at home and abroad, if he really comes to Yichang, it will undoubtedly cause a sensation, and it will affect the situation of the two lakes without saying a word, how can we explain to Tan Zu'an and Cheng Songyun at that time? ”

"Yes, yes! I'm just assuming. ”

Xiao Yimin stood up helplessly, took two steps, and suddenly turned around: "But, we can't wait like this, right?" In Europe, the Germans have shown fatigue, the United States has intervened in the war in all directions, the world war will end in a year at most, plus the post-war clean-up and the distribution of profits, leaving us only two years. Two years later, the resentful British, as soon as they have their hands free, will take strong revenge against us! ”

Speaking of this, Xiao Yimin sat down again and waved his arms excitedly:

"Although we can use the card of Kangzang, which has taken the initiative, to launch a counterattack, but this card does not carry much weight, and our ultimate goal is not Kangzang and India, but how to save the whole country that is in constant war and in dire straits, otherwise, once the British and Yue himself join hands again, they will strongly intervene in North China, East China, South China and Qionghai region, and then completely block our development path.

"If we can't break the political limitations before this, we can't establish a strong political position and have a sufficiently deterrent army, we will be suppressed and even subverted by the foreign powers in all directions, so I ....... I'm anxious! We can't stop suffering from gains and losses. ”

Zhang Sike looked at Xiao Yimin with a flushed face blankly, only feeling that his heart was surging and his blood was boiling, this was the first time he came into contact with Xiao Yimin's lofty ideals and beliefs buried deep in his heart.

Wang Lingji pondered for a long time, raised his head and asked solemnly:

"Yiming, this is a big gamble! Even if Britain is freed up after the end of the world war, we can protect ourselves through partial compromises, diplomatic mediation, and temporary economic concessions.

"Of course, if you can achieve your goal by joining forces and connecting verticals and horizontals, I will also unswervingly support you, after all, we can't stay neutral for a long time, and we can't always profit from the left and right.

Xiao Yimin was moved, and his eyes shone brightly: "In this case, let's invite a few old brothers, if we continue to wait so hard, the initiative will be lost instantly, not to mention anything else, as long as the Beiyang Army captures Hunan, our situation will be passive, not only will we not be able to touch the two lakes at that time, but I am afraid we can only retreat to Yichang." ”

Wang Lingji smiled: "Not necessarily, I think it's okay to think differently, for example, what if the Hunan army wins?" Or did the Beiyang and Hunan armies fight to the death and fail to distinguish between a winner and a loser? What are the pros and cons of the situation? ”

Xiao Yimin thought for a moment, and then rejoiced: "Understood!" Thank you, Brother Ark...... Scott! ”

"Here!"

Zhang Sike jumped up almost subconsciously.

"Call General Tan Yanmin: Brother Junjian, within five days, the second batch of weapons and equipment will be sent to Changde, how will my brother hand it over? Brother, Yimin. "Commander, didn't the second batch of weapons be sent a long time ago?" Zhang Sike reminded puzzled.

Xiao Yimin said with a smile: "Just like that, General Zu'an will understand." ”

"Yes!"

Zhang Sike handed over the telegram and asked Xiao Yimin to sign, and walked out of the conference room to understand: The commander is going to send troops to help Tan Zu'an!

(To be continued)