Xuzhou City, the headquarters of the commander of the fifth theater.

Qiao Anbang, Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi and others gathered in front of the giant map in the war room, Bai Chongxi held a wooden command pole and pointed to the Qingdao area on the map and said: "According to the latest battle reports from the front, tens of thousands of the retreating Yue army from Xuzhou have withdrawn to Jiaoxian, the gateway of Qingdao (later Jiaozhou). ”

"Among them, the 6,000 troops who were the first to withdraw here have been identified, and they are the elite troops directly under the division of the Fifth Division of the Japanese Army, to which Itagaki Seishiro belongs."

"So, our troops have also caught up to Jiaoxian? The Battle of Jiaodong is about to begin? Qiao Anbang said thoughtfully.

Bai Chongxi nodded and replied.

Qiao Anbang suddenly turned his head to Li Pinxian behind him and asked, "Brother Heling, how is the repair work of Xuzhou Airport progressing?" ”

"It is expected to be completed within three or two days, and it will be put into use within five days!" Li Pinxian thought for a while and replied.

"Five?" Qiao Anbang frowned when he heard this, the Battle of Jiaodong was about to start, and the first strategic point on the offensive road of the [***] team -- Jiaoxian is located on the north shore of Jiaozhou Bay, and the Jiaoxian army can get the super firepower assistance of its navy and air force anytime and anywhere, if the air force of the Tiger Ben Army cannot be in place in time, then it will definitely be difficult to take Jiaoxian!

Therefore, Xuzhou Airport must be completed as soon as possible, thinking of this, Qiao Anbang immediately said to Li Pinxian: "Brother Heling, please immediately send an order, mobilize all forces to repair Xuzhou Airport at all costs, and ensure that the airport is put into use within three days!" Remember, at all costs! ”

"Good!" Li Pinxian nodded in agreement.

"Plus!" Qiao Anbang turned his head to Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi and said, "Two commanders, all the units of our army have been fighting continuously and pursuing for a long time, and they must have been very tired, I think it's time for the front troops to rest for a while." ”

"General Qiao, what you said is not unreasonable, but now our army is in full swing, and it is like a bamboo all the way, and it should take Jiaoxian and Qingdao in one go, once the offensive is stopped now, it will be equivalent to giving the army a chance to breathe, which is a great disadvantage to our army!"

Li Zongren said with some hesitation.

"General, the battle of Jiaodong is not a battle, if you want to win this battle, you must be fully prepared, and you must be psychologically prepared to fight a war of attrition with the army. Just as you said, even in the past few years, our army has pursued all the way like a bamboo, but the ammunition, physical strength, and rations of the pursuing units have reached the edge of the limit, and the troops have been left far behind by the baggage artillery units in order to pursue lightly, and our logistical supply lines have been hundreds of kilometers long.

In addition, the army has been operating in Jiaodong for a long time, and has strong naval and air force fire support, so it can only fail in a hasty attack.

Therefore, I suggest that the offensive be postponed to buy time for our heavy artillery units and baggage supply units and air force, and for the exhausted soldiers to rest and recuperate, and then launch a fierce attack on Jiaoxian when everything is ready! Qiao Anbang patiently explained and suggested.

Li Zongren thought about it carefully, what Qiao Anbang said was indeed reasonable, so he nodded and agreed: "Okay, just do what Brother Anbang said, Jiansheng, you can convey the order immediately." ”

Bai Chongxi just wanted to turn around and leave, but suddenly saw Wang Gensheng, the head of the Huben Army Guard Regiment, striding in in a hurry, and when he arrived, before he could salute, Wang Gensheng hurriedly said to Qiao Anbang: "The main seat is not good, Zhou Hao, the commander of the airport garrison battalion, sent an urgent telegram!" ”

Qiao Anbang saw Wang Gensheng's nervous face, thinking that something was wrong at the airport, and immediately asked in a hurry: "Tell me quickly, what does the telegram say?" ”

"The telegram said that Old Man Qiao was kidnapped by unknown forces last night!" Wang Gensheng said with a miserable face.

"What?" Qiao Anbang's face changed drastically when he heard this, and Li Zongren and the others also changed when they heard it, and their faces were full of horror.

At this time, Qiao Anbang was shocked, his father was robbed, who could have done it? Ordinary robbers are definitely impossible, first of all, the guards in their own family are not general.

And ordinary robbers don't have the courage to go deep into the pheasant and the city to kidnap him Qiao Anbang's Lao Tzu.

Thinking about it this way, those who have the ability to rob their own Lao Tzu in Pheasant and Ji are most likely to be devil agents and military commanders, and the suspicion of military commanders is much greater than that of the army.

After all, the military has an innate advantage.

If it is really a military commander, then their intention is nothing more than to use their father to contain themselves, then their father's surname should be worry-free, but if it is themselves, then their father Qiao Siyuan will be in danger.

Qiao Anbang fell into deep thought, but Li Pinxian next to him asked Wang Gensheng: "Head Wang, what's going on?" Hasn't the Qiao family's compound always been protected by security forces? How did the robbers get in? ”

"I heard that it was sneaked in, and our guards didn't notice it at all, so it must be not easy for this group of robbers to be lowly!" Wang Gensheng replied.

When Wang Gensheng said this, the shock in everyone's eyes undoubtedly aggravated, and after they glanced at each other, they turned their eyes to Qiao Anbang.

Feeling the eager eyes of everyone, Qiao Anbang turned around and looked up to Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi and said: "Two chiefs, loyalty and filial piety cannot be both since ancient times, and now it is at the critical juncture of the war, it stands to reason that Anbang should put the country first and stay here to fulfill his duties, but Anbang has lost his mother since he was a child, and it is not easy for my father to raise the three of us brothers with hard work, and I promised to take good care of my father for him when my second brother died, so I want to rush back immediately to organize an investigation of my father's whereabouts and rescue!" ”

"Well, filial piety comes first, as a child, it should be so, it just so happens that there has been a truce on the front line these days, Anbang, you can rest assured to rescue Ling Zun! Just me and Kensheng here. Li Zongren nodded solemnly.

"Thank you for your understanding, sir!" Qiao Anbang saluted Li Bai and the others, and then turned around and strode away with Wang Gensheng.

Out of the theater headquarters, Qiao Anbang was anxious and rushed out of the city with the guard regiment, and galloped along the road in the direction of Pheasant and Ji.

………………………………………………………… Pheasant and set, at this moment inside and outside the county has been all under martial law, the four city gates and the battlement walls are all full of loaded tiger soldiers.

Everyone was allowed to enter and not to leave, and many local people who did not know why began to talk about it.

The Qiao family compound located in the city was even more heavily guarded, and hundreds of tiger warriors surrounded the entire Qiao family compound.

In the main hall of the compound, Qiao Wu, the leader of the Qiao family's guard platoon, knelt in front of Qiao Anguo, who had just rushed back, and said with great self-blame: "Young Master, it's all Qiao Wu's poor protection, which caused the old man to suffer this catastrophe, his life and death are unknown, and Qiao Wuwan is to blame!" ”

Saying that, Qiao Wu pulled out the gun on his waist and was about to commit suicide.

"Fifth uncle, what are you doing here?" Qiao Anguo hurriedly snatched the gun from Qiao Wu's hand, and just wanted to say something to comfort Qiao Wu.

There was a sudden sound of hurried footsteps in the courtyard, and when I looked up, I saw the second brother Qiao Anbang walking with Wang Gensheng striding towards him.

"Second brother, third young master!" Qiao Anguo and Qiao Wu shouted at the same time.

Seeing Qiao Anbang, Qiao Wu's guilt in his heart became even more serious.

Qiao Anbang saw Qiao Wu kneeling on the ground, and hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Fifth uncle, what are you doing here?" Get up! You're breaking the birthday of our brothers! As he spoke, Qiao Anbang helped Qiao Wu up.

Qiao Wu was moved and cried guiltily: "Third Young Master, it's all my dereliction of duty!" It's because I didn't protect the master! I'm ashamed of my lord's life-saving grace! ”

"Okay, fifth uncle, don't talk about this now, in the eyes of me and my eldest brother, you are our uncle, and you can't be blamed for the fact that my father was robbed!" Qiao Anbang also said with a sad face.

"The third brother is right, fifth uncle, you don't have to blame yourself too much! Our top priority now is to discuss how to find my father's whereabouts and then rescue him! Qiao Anguo nodded in agreement.

"Hmm!" Qiao Wu choked and nodded.

"Big brother, how is the matter of me asking you to order the blockade of all imports and exports in the base area?" After appeasing Qiao Wu, Qiao Anbang turned his head and asked.

"The order has been fully conveyed, not only the regular troops left behind in our base area, but also all the militias in all villages and towns have been mobilized, and if there are suspicious people, they will report it immediately!" Qiao Anguo replied.

"Hmm." Hearing this, Qiao Anbang nodded a little reassuring and analyzed: "Dad has not been robbed for a long time, and it is definitely not so easy for those people to withdraw from the sphere of influence of our base area, plus we have blocked the entire base area, and they are even more difficult now, so I think they must not have gone far yet, it is very likely that they are nearby, or even in the Pheasant and Jicheng." ”

"What? Just in the pheasant and set? How bold these robbers are! Wang Gensheng said angrily.

"The most dangerous place is often the safest place!" Qiao Anbang paused, and said: "Big brother, Gensheng, the two of you will immediately lead people to search the whole city door to door, even if you dig three feet into the ground, you will find out the secret stronghold of the enemy hiding in Pheasant and Ji, and completely destroy it!" ”

Obviously, whether it was the military commander who kidnapped his father Qiao Siyuan, or himself, they all had a stronghold in the city, otherwise how could their agents who were not familiar with the land quietly rob their father from the Qiao family's compound?

"Yes, yes!" Qiao Anguo and Wang Gensheng responded at the same time, and immediately turned around and left.

Seeing the two leaving, Qiao Wu hurriedly stepped forward and pleaded with Qiao Anbang: "Third Young Master, the master was robbed from me, so you can let me go too." ”

"Fifth uncle, don't worry, I have other tasks for you!" Qiao Anbang said and said to Qiao Wu: "You get up and go to Shanghai immediately......"

(To be continued)