Under the condition that the morale of the revolutionary army was divided into six routes, Sun Chuanfang, who knew that the general trend was gone, urgently ordered his headquarters and Meng Zhaoyue's Zhejiang army to abandon southern Zhejiang, and the whole line was reduced to Tonglu, Zhuji and Shengzhou in central Zhejiang, and the 26th Army of General Zhou Fengqi and the 14th Army of General Lai Shihuang took Jinhua lightly without encountering decent resistance, and then advanced northward in both directions according to the order of Bai Chongxi, the commander-in-chief of the former enemy, and successfully captured Yiwu in the next day, and Zhuji, a famous city in central Zhejiang 49 kilometers to the north, was immediately placed under the muzzle of the revolutionary army.

The 2nd and 3rd Route Columns under the personal command of Bai Chongxi completed the Tanglan Campaign and rested for a while, and then took the 1st Division led by Xue Yue of the 2nd Column and the 22nd Division led by Chen Jiji, who succeeded Tu Sizong who succeeded Gao Sheng, as the division commander as the right flank, and the 2nd Division led by Liu Zhi and the 21st Division led by Zheng Zheng as the left flank, advancing in unison, and the front of the troops pointed to Tonglu, a strategic point in central Zhejiang, 85 kilometers to the north.

As long as Tonglu is captured, the terrain will become more and more open all the way to the north, and Sun Chuanfang and Meng Zhaoyue, who have suffered huge losses, will not be able to suppress the offensive of the revolutionary army at all.

The only difference is that according to the order of the division headquarters, the reading regiment does not need to go north with the main force in Lanxi, but directly crosses the Qujiang River and advances northward, passing through Mohuan Town and Bailingkeng directly into Jiande County to occupy it, and serves as a pioneer reconnaissance mission, the whole 63-kilometer road passes through most of the water network hilly areas, and many sections of carriages cannot walk, but An Yi's reading group must arrive within 48 hours.

Under such circumstances, An Yi could only entrust his regimental artillery company and the only six artillery pieces to Cai Zhongwat to help lead it, and selected 150 young and strong recruits to enrich the artillery company, and asked Cai Zhonghu to train him along the way.

Cai Zhongwat happily agreed, with only one condition: if there were prisoners in the next battle, he would be given priority. An Yi asked, what if there were no prisoners? Cai Zhongwat replied with a smile: Who doesn't know that you An Yi is like a ghost in battle, if you don't capture others, you won't have a captive.

The 63-kilometer march began immediately, and the "guard company" led by Hu Ziqin assumed the heavy responsibility of pioneering the way.

The new "guard company" has been expanded exponentially, the new company commander Ding Zhicheng has been promoted to colonel, the company deputy Dou Fang has been promoted to captain, and all the original 36 elites who have been promoted to the first rank and 70 top-notch men selected from the whole regiment under his command have formed the most powerful special combat company under An Yi's command, with 12 light machine guns, six French-made 81mm mortars, 50 flower machine guns, a nine-man sniper squad, and officers and men each equipped with a Colt 1911 pistol or German-made barge gun.

Followed by the model battalion, the regimental departments, the officers and soldiers of the first, second, and third battalions, and the fourth battalion of Gu Laoer's new battalion was arranged to postpone the training and march on the other hand, so that the hundreds of brothers in this newly formed battalion could vent their vigorous energy to the fullest, according to An Yi's words: Just ensure the safety of the whole regiment, if you have spare strength, even if you run back to Longyou and run back, I don't care.

A large number of middle- and low-ranking commanders have been promoted after the three major wars from Quzhou to Youbu, and they have grown from ordinary soldiers to battalion and company commanders.

Thanks to the arduous efforts of An Yi and his think tank, hundreds of senior and coarse people were basically able to read the newspapers, and through the special education that An Yi racked his brains to unremittingly combine advanced military concepts with practice, and experienced actual combat verification and systematic summarization again and again, all the qualities of all middle- and lower-level military commanders have made a qualitative leap, and they are also quite unusual: they can't say a word in Tang and Song poems, but they can come up with strange strategies and practical tactics that surpass their opponents several times when they start a war.

An Yi did not give in to politeness this time, and the promotion application reports of five colonels, 47 lieutenants, and 262 non-commissioned officers were approved within two days under An Yi's skillful efforts.

Liu Zhi and Xu Tingyao, who were apologetic and needed to rely on the Reading Force Regiment in the next series of operations, were very happy this time, and they just held a meeting to make a show and signed and approved, the appointment and promotion of the chief officers below the regimental level were completely decided by the two of them, and An Yi was very smart this time, none of the regimental commanders of the Reading Force Regiment appeared on the merit report, and all the people who were promoted were middle and low-level military backbones, so that some people who were jealous and slandered in their hearts could not catch any attack.

In fact, An Yi has foresight in all aspects than the commanders of the Second Division, and under the current extremely chaotic and flawed army management norms, An Yi has grasped the essence of "there is no such shop after this village", and he felt very early on that after the capture of Nanjing, countless middle and low-level officers with real talent and rich combat experience, but no diploma or even no culture, it is difficult to get better promotion opportunities than now, if we do not take the opportunity to let batches of veterans who constitute the backbone of the Reading Force Regiment be promoted to the rank of captain or above as soon as possible. Their development will come to an end here, and they will be replaced by thousands of young graduates who have received relatively regular military education and are assigned to various armed forces from military academies every year.

More importantly, even if a young officer with a professional background grows up rapidly, or even excels and comes from behind, he may not have the loyalty and steadfastness of the old brothers who have gone through life and death with him and started a business side by side; instead of passively accepting it at that time, it is better to take precautions, and while persisting in self-training, he quietly sends batches of veteran subordinates who have military merits, education, and potential to military academies and political training schools at all levels for further study, and after they come out, they still return to their original posts, and they are decent, justifiable, and impeccable.

An Yi knew that doing this was no different from the warlord forces that pursued mountaineering, but he had to do it, otherwise it would be difficult for him to go further in the face of internal and external troubles. In such a filthy vat, anyone who tries to clean himself will be overwhelmed by the cruel reality.

At 2:50 p.m. the next day, the former enemy headquarters of the Northern Expeditionary Army in Lanxi.

The radio station suddenly received a telegram from An Yi's reading group, and although the chief of the communications section was surprised, he did not dare to slack off, and immediately delivered the telegram to General Zhang Dingfan, chief of staff, after repeated verification.

Zhang Dingfan was taken aback, and even asked the section chief if he had made a mistake, and after receiving a definite answer, he immediately returned to the meeting venue and quietly handed the telegram to Bai Chongxi, the former commander-in-chief of the enemy, who presided over the emergency meeting.

Bai Chongxi's two delicate long eyebrows raised slightly, turned to Zhang Dingfan, who was sitting beside him, and asked in a low voice, "Confirmed?" ”

"Yes, the Reading Force was equipped with a portable German radio station before departure, and their radio instructors were temporarily dispatched by our headquarters, and the Communications Section of the headquarters has repeatedly verified that the radio sequence and number are exactly the same, and it is certain that the telegram of the Reading Force is from the An Yi Reading Group." Zhang Dingfan replied in a low voice.

Bai Chongxi nodded, handed the telegram to Liu Zhi at the bottom left, glanced at the division commanders and staff chiefs who were sitting solemnly in front of him, and said loudly:

"Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to tell you a good news, the Reading Force Regiment of the Second Division has been stationed in Jiande City as a whole 15 minutes ago, and has successfully disarmed about one battalion of local armed forces in the city, and has now completely controlled the area of 20 kilometers around Jiande, and the Model Battalion of the Reading Force Regiment is driving along the west bank of the Xin'an River to Xiaya Town, a transportation hub 11 kilometers north of the city, and the third battalion is marching along the east bank to the north, echoing the model battalion, and the second battalion has occupied the tea plantation in advance, an important town at the mouth of the Xin'an River, eight kilometers west of the city. This speed is greatly unexpected, which shows the combat power of the Second Division's Reading Force, and it is worthy of being the creator of the spirit of the model battalion! ”

Man Tang suddenly exclaimed, he didn't expect the An Yi Regiment to travel so fast on the rugged roads covered with mountains and water networks, a full eighteen hours ahead of the original time, and completed the deployment of troops and launched an attack on Xiaya Town, a major communication artery in the north.

The commander of the 21st Division seriously exclaimed, "Incredible," and many generals looked up at the large map behind Bai Chongxi and sighed.

Liu Zhi couldn't hide the smug look on his face and shouted for battle: "Commander-in-chief, since An Yi's regiment is in place in advance, his subordinates suggest: You can order An Yi's reading regiment to rush to the aid of the two divisions of the Second Army on the left flank as soon as possible. ”

"No, no! An Yi regiment acted quickly and successfully occupied Jiande, but it was also invisibly placed under the nose of the enemy in the direction of Tonglu, not to mention that its original task was to occupy Jiande and hold on to it, playing a role in containing the enemy. Zhang Dingfan is very cautious.

The serious voice that has always been steady echoed casually: "What the chief of staff said is extremely true, not to mention the difficulties in bypassing the Xin'an River, the surrounding areas of the Xin'an River and Lake are all terrain with staggered water networks and dense lakes, and the An Yi Regiment is already a tired division at this time when it arrives in Jiande, if it insists on doing it, I am afraid that it will not be able to achieve the effect of attacking the enemy by surprise, and it will not be able to relieve the siege of the fourth and sixth divisions of the Second Army with fewer strikes and more attacks." ”

When the generals heard this, they echoed it, and Liu Zhi no longer insisted when he saw this, thinking that it would be better to save Lao Tzu's troops from useless consumption.

Cai Zhonghu, who was sitting diagonally opposite Liu Zhi, and his elder brother Chen Cheng beside him did not express any opinions, and the two only bowed their heads to talk, ignoring the reaction of the congregation generals at all.

Bai Chongxi, who was quiet, saw everything in his eyes, and asked Xu Tingyao very calmly, "What is Brother Yuexiang's opinion?" ”

Xu Tingyao smiled, held her glasses and replied calmly: "Everything is arranged by the commander-in-chief." ”

Bai Chongxi smiled slightly, but he was quite annoyed in his heart, but he was helpless in the face of Xu Tingyao's humble smile in the officialdom, so he had to turn to Chen Cheng on the right and ask, "Brother Cixiu, what do you think of Brother Jingfu's proposal?" ”

The upright Chen Cheng raised his head, glanced around and said his opinion truthfully: "Since entering Zhejiang, the subordinates have all led their troops to participate, and they are deeply impressed by the combat effectiveness and flexible and effective tactics of the An Yi Reading Regiment, and it is not surprising that the An Yi Regiment arrived in Jiande City so quickly and in advance, because the subordinates have never forgotten the predecessor of the An Yi Regiment, that is, the 'Model Battalion', which is known as a model for the whole army, and the superb professional engineering skills of the 'Model Battalion' seem to have been forgotten. As far as his subordinates know, the level and efficiency of any infantry company of the An Yi Reading Regiment pulled out alone to engage in engineer operations are not lower than the professional engineers of any division or regiment, and secondly, the An Yi Regiment has more than three times the captured war horses and pack horses of the ordinary infantry regiment, so the marching speed of the An Yi Regiment cannot be measured by normal standards at all. Therefore, his subordinates believe that the terrain around the Xin'an River has little impact on them, and as for how to make decisions, please ask the commander-in-chief to decide. ”

After listening to Chen Cheng's words, the generals suddenly remembered and nodded in agreement. If he got what he wanted, Bai Chongxi also smiled with satisfaction, he didn't need to ask for any more opinions, so he listed the advantages of An Yituan one by one:

"Ladies and gentlemen, the so-called knowing soldiers are better than generals, and the suggestions made by Brother Jing Fu at the beginning are based on a deep understanding of the troops under his command, and I think that Brother Jingfu's suggestions are feasible.

First of all, you only see the strong offensive ability and athletic ability of the An Yi Regiment, and ignore the fact that An Yi Reading Regiment has the same excellent blocking ability. Secondly, from a series of deployments after the occupation of Jiande by Regiment Commander An Yi, we are pleased to see that Regiment Commander An Yi is very cautious, in order to guard against the possible attack of the enemy in the north, he sent the model battalion with the strongest combat strength under his command, and went out to seize the strategic town of Xiaya Town in the north, and at the same time ordered his third battalion to cross the river and coordinate the northward march along the river. Third, the Anyi regiment successfully completed its reorganization four days ago, and the total number of officers and men in the regiment has reached more than 4,800 people, which is equivalent to an infantry division or a mixed brigade of the Zhejiang army, and in addition to not being able to carry artillery, its firepower is far superior to that of the Zhejiang army.

Summing up the above conditions, An Yi's regiment is not at all afraid of a possible attack by the enemy in the north, not to mention that the elite of our 1st and 21st divisions have already advanced along both sides of the Qujiang River to the Sanhe line 20 kilometers to the north. Moreover, Li Mingyang's regiment, which arrived west of Lanxi yesterday, could immediately set off for Jiande, so that even if An Yi's regiment as a whole started to rush to the aid of the Second Army, Jiande City would be foolproof. ”

All the generals suddenly realized that they were all admiring Bai Chongxi's advance arrangement like an unpredictable prophet.

Liu Zhi and Xu Tingyao looked at each other and smiled, knowing that it was a foregone conclusion that they would send An Yi regiments to rescue the two trapped divisions of the Second Army. But after thinking about it, the two still couldn't figure out why Bai Chongxi specifically suggested sending the An Yi Reading Force Regiment to directly insert into Jiande and garrison to listen to orders, but used the other three regiments of the Second Division as reserves to stay in the rear, instead of letting the closer and more convenient Second Division be stationed in the current position of Li Mingyang's Regiment, so as to cope with the An Yi Reading Force, which is also a part?

At the same time, it was less than three hours before Dai Yue, the commander of the Second Army, sent an urgent telegram for help, and An Yi also sent a telegram to occupy Jiande in advance. If it was really foreseen, why not notify the Second Army in advance? Could it be that he wanted to use the Second Army as a bait to disperse the main force of Sun Chuanfang's troops stationed on the line from Tonglu to Fujiang, so as to facilitate the rapid breakthrough of the middle and right flanks? If so, wouldn't the Second Army be a cause for concern? Even the rescue operations of the An Yi Regiment are full of dangers and uncertainties?

The meeting dispersed in Bai Chongxi's unfathomable subtle smile, and the telegram of An Yi's regiment to rush to the aid of the Second Army was also sent.

(To be continued)