At seven o'clock in the evening, An Yi and his mentor's Whampoa colleagues had the honor to attend the grand dinner held by Commander-in-Chief Jiang for his generals and colonies, because late at night and the vast majority of the generals and colonies present will rush to the front line to command the battle, the wine supplied at the dinner is very limited, and the generals are also very self-disciplined, and they cherish this rare opportunity to get together.

The generals of the First Army did not gather at the same table as An Yi thought, but separated in twos and threes, and sat together with the generals of the headquarters or other generals, He Yingqin and Bai Chongxi, the two commanders-in-chief, naturally got together with Commander-in-Chief Jiang and the two chiefs of staff, Zhang Zhizhong, and An Yi sat next to Jiang Dingwen, who had been absent for a long time, and honestly listened to the whispered conversations of Gu Zhutong, Chen Cheng, He Jinhan and others.

Before the dinner began, An Yi got the reinstatement document stamped with the seal of the First Army and the General Headquarters, although he did not restore his military rank to the original Major General Street, but the position of division commander was really back, as the youngest division commander in the hall, An Yi listened more and said less to abide by his duty, if it wasn't for discussing private business with Jiang Dingwen for more than half an hour, he really felt that time was difficult.

After talking with Chen Cheng, who had successfully persuaded Principal Jiang to serve as the commander of the 21st Division again and lead the Northern Expedition, Gu Zhutong turned to An Yi and asked him in a low voice what his plans were after he returned? An Yi replied that he had some ideas, but they were still in the making, and he could not make a decision until he found out the enemy situation on the front line.

Gu Zhutong said sympathetically that the distance between the two divisions was too far and the combat direction was different, otherwise they would have cooperated with the Reading Division to defeat Si County, thinking of the successful cooperation of the two divisions in the Battle of Gaoyou in Yangzhou and the current predicament of the Reading Division, Gu Zhutong shook his head helplessly, complaining that it was too unreasonable for the Reading Division to go out of the northwest direction.

As soon as these words came out, Jiang Dingwen and Chen Cheng echoed them, saying that they could not understand the meaning of Commander-in-Chief Bai's move, and Commander-in-Chief Bai would rather temporarily transfer General Ye Kaixin's 44th Army to the First Route Army to cooperate with the battle, rather than put the half-crippled Reading Division back to the First Army, which attracted a complaint from the generals.

An Yi suddenly remembered the relationship between Bai Chongxi and Li Zongren in his heart, and gradually realized the strangeness in it, Yu Jishi came over at the right time and whispered to Principal An Yi that he was invited, An Yi quickly put away his thoughts, respectfully followed, and came to the table of Commander-in-Chief Jiang and stood straight and waited for orders.

Commander-in-Chief Jiang motioned for An Yi to sit on the vacant seat opposite the big round table, and asked gently: "Just now, several of us were speculating, how you will attack Si County after you go back, and what method will you use to attack Si County, Commander-in-Chief Bai joked that you will definitely have a way, but he can't guess your thoughts, so your mentor suggested calling you here and listening to what you have to say in person." ”

An Yi sat up straight and was quite offended, and after listening to Commander-in-Chief Jiang's words, he looked at Bai Chongxi, who was smiling slightly, and Zhang Zhizhong, who was full of hope, and then looked at Ge Jingen and He Yingqin, and replied in a worried whisper:

"Report to the principal and the chiefs, the subordinates are incompetent, and even the future is thinking hard about countermeasures, but so far there is still no clue, ashamed!"

The generals in the audience didn't expect that the famous An Yi was helpless, but then saw that his expression was so honest and panicked, and he didn't seem to have reservations, so they all smiled at An Yi with understanding.

Ge Jingen admired An Yi's whimsical and endless tactics very much, and guessed that An Yi must have been overstretched because of the lack of strength in his heart, so he thought about it for a while and whispered a few words to Commander-in-Chief Jiang.

Commander-in-Chief Jiang nodded and looked at An Yi's eyes cordially: "I know that your reading force has lost nearly half, and its combat power has been greatly reduced, but now all roads are in intense preparations, especially the Second Route Army to which you belong, because of the transfer of the 44th Army, the strength has become weak, coupled with the continuous advancement of the battle line, it takes a lot of troops to stay behind, it is difficult to replenish your troops, and the recruits recruited from Nanchang, Hangzhou, and Shanghai are still on the way, and they can't go to the battlefield without training, Only a breakthrough in the First Route Army of your commander He Jingzhi can relieve the pressure you are facing, therefore, everything still needs to be done by yourself, and the General Headquarters can only give you the greatest support in terms of military resources and weapons and ammunition, and you must have the preparation to face difficulties and the confidence to overcome them. ”

An Yi nodded honestly in agreement, but he was so angry in his heart that he wanted to scold his mother, how could the reading force division with less than 5,000 soldiers left conquer the fortified city occupied by two mixed brigades of 12,000 defenders? Isn't this forcing people to hang themselves? But An Yi wanted to think about it, but he didn't dare to show the slightest dissatisfaction on his face, seeing Principal Jiang picking up the cup and hurriedly getting up to say goodbye, thinking about it, he quietly turned to his mentor Zhang Zhizhong and whispered a few words, Zhang Zhizhong wiped his hands and apologized to everyone, and walked to the aisle with An Yi to listen to the opinions of his beloved disciples.

I saw that Zhang Zhizhong was puzzled and then hesitant, but An Yi was full of pleading and talking, and finally, Zhang Zhizhong nodded reluctantly, and returned to his seat as if nothing happened, An Yi also returned to Jiang Dingwen's side, and the brothers and sons once again buried themselves in secret business to make a fortune.

The dinner party dispersed, and the generals from all walks of life rushed away in their own cars.

An Yi, who was almost the last to leave, was stopped by Yu Jishi and got into the car parked at the edge of the stairs together.

After a while, the car drove to a stop in front of Commander-in-Chief Chiang's official residence, and the two of them said hello to Wang Shihe at the door of the small conference room and entered the room, where Commander-in-Chief Chiang, Zhang Zhizhong, Jiang Dingwen, He Yingqin, Liu Zhi, and the two chiefs of the General Staff Office were already sitting in it drinking tea, and the colonels and staff officers of the two General Staff Offices had already hung a large military map of the Xuzhou Theater on the wall.

Commander-in-Chief Jiang motioned for An Yi to sit down: "I know that you guys have something to hide, so I don't want to ask more at the table, let's say it, tell your true thoughts, everyone here is your division commander, there is nothing to hide, speak boldly!" ”

"Yes! In the absence of reinforcement and friendly coordination, it is really difficult to accomplish anything with the 5,000 weakened soldiers of the Reading Division, so the students need to send two regiments of instructors to help, at least the officers and soldiers of these two regiments have touched the guns, even if they stand there in a row and do not move, it is scary enough for 4,000 people to be stretched into a kilometer long. ”

An Yi's honest answer caused everyone to burst into laughter.

Commander-in-Chief Jiang put away his smile: "Very good, I know that using your prestige as a reading force to scare people is an extremely clever battle of the heart, which is worthy of recognition." It's just that several regiments of the instructor have never been on the battlefield, so why should you promise your mentor that they will be returned after the battle? ”

The generals were very curious when they heard this, and felt that it was incredible for An Yi to make such a guarantee, and An Yi stood up unhurriedly:

"Principal, commanders, my subordinates would like to put forward a little immature idea about the current troop deployment and current situation of the Second and Third Route Armies of our Northern Expeditionary Army, and I implore the principal and commanders to correct them."

The generals all came to the spirit when they heard An Yi say this, today's An Yi is not the An Yi of the past, a series of victories and classic examples created have long been impressive, at this time listening to him say this, no one will feel that he is arrogant and does not know the depths, but attaches great importance to standing up and walking to the large map together, even Yu Jishi, Wang Shihe, and He Jinhan, who are standing by the door, can't help but approach.

An Yi took the baton handed by the colonel's staff officer and thanked him politely, and slowly raised it and pointed to the south of Xuzhou and Suzhou:

"Principal, sir, the Third Route Army of the former Commander Li Delin sent General Wang Tianpei's Tenth Army to attack Suzhou from the west and south, but only confronted the defending enemy on the front line outside the city, and did not launch a large-scale offensive, others such as General Xia Wei's First Division, General Liu Dingjia's 15th Army and Second Division, Chief Yan Jing's Reading Brigade, Bai Wenwei's predecessor's 33rd Army, and General Wang Pu's 27th Army, all of them were attacking the city or garrisoning and occupying the area, sweeping Mengcheng, Wuyang, Maozhou and other counties and towns south and west of Suzhou. The 10th Army of General Wang Pu, the most sudden advance, advanced to Dawangji east of Maozhou, and only the 2nd Division of General Hu Zongduo's 7th Army occupied Guzhen in the southeast of Suzhou, and the 33rd Army of Bai Wenwei's predecessor was simply left in Bengbu.

However, in this way, because the theater of our Second Route Army was relatively wide, it was not surprising that it had to move slowly to garrison at every strategic point, from Chuzhou to Xuyi to Mingguang and Wuhe. And General Li Delin seems to be waiting for our Second Route Army to arrive as soon as possible, and did not launch the rapid offensive and movement warfare that the Seventh Army is good at, and it is very normal to focus on finally solving the enemy in Xuzhou in order to reduce consumption, but if Suzhou is not taken for a day, the enemy can use the troops of up to 50,000 on the front line of Suzhou to block the waist or harass from the flank and rear of our troops attacking Xuzhou from all directions, which is enough for my two Route Armies to launch the Battle of Xuzhou wholeheartedly, so taking Suzhou is the key to capturing Xuzhou. ”

The generals nodded frequently and felt reasonable, but Commander-in-Chief Jiang vaguely heard another implicit meaning from An Yi's words, that is, Li Zongren's Third Route Army should not abandon its roots and divide its troops to attack the surrounding counties and towns hundreds of kilometers, but should solve the Suzhou problem, as long as Suzhou is taken, a large-scale battle of Xuzhou can be launched.

Commander-in-Chief Jiang nodded slightly, and had a deeper understanding of An Yi's delicacy and insight.

I only heard An Yi continue: "Back to the offensive direction of my Second Route Army, according to the pre-war and current battle plan, our Second Route Army is to occupy Suqian in the north as the strategic goal, at present, Chen Tiaoyuan's predecessor's 37th Army has just opened to Xuyi, General Yang Jie's Sixth Army two divisions in coordination with Chief He's First Route Army to attack Jinhu and Baoying in the east, and finally point to Huai'an, Chief Gu's Third Division, Chief Deng's First Division, and General He Yaozu's 40th Army are still in Yangzhou, Chuzhou and the counties and towns to the north. If we do not mobilize the second-line troops as soon as possible to take over the defense, so that the above main divisions can withdraw to the north, our troops are far from enough, as long as our subordinates can get the support of one division, we can be sure to take Si County, and this is also the hardship of our subordinates who have to ask their teachers to lend their two regiments.

Further, even if the subordinates take Si County, it is also a lone army to go deep into the enemy on three sides, and the situation is extremely difficult, so the subordinates have been worried and uncertain, but if they can take Si County, the Lingbi in the west is almost impossible to rely on due to the decay of the city wall, and the subordinates only need to take Si County at the same time, lead a full division to launch a fierce attack to the west without pause, and a charge can take Lingbi!

Principal, commanders, please see, if you successfully take Lingbi in one go, you will be able to form a line with the second division of General Hu Zongduo under General Li Delin, and echo with General Wang Tianpei's 10th Army, which is facing the enemy in the south and west of Suzhou, and form a three-sided encirclement of Suzhou, how can the enemy in Suzhou sleep peacefully?

90,000 soldiers launched a fierce attack from three sides at the same time, how did the defenders of Suzhou parry? General Li Delin should not wait for the arrival of most of the main force of our Second Route Army before giving the order to attack Suzhou, right? ”

An Yi's voice fell, and there was silence all around.

(To be continued)