At noon, the cool breeze of Nanjing Xiyuan with a new owner, there is a beautiful lotus pond in Xiyuan, the flowering period has passed, the lotus leaves are slightly damaged, it is difficult to see a few complete lotus flowers on the graceful branches, and the original green broad-leaved leaves lose their vivid color in the sun.

There is a stone boat in the lotus pond, and there is a delicate plaque on the front cabin of the intricately carved and beautiful, and the three words "not tied to the boat" are said to have come from the hand of the Qianlong Emperor who toured the south of the Yangtze River several times. There is a flat stone platform at the front of the stone boat, and under the tall weeping willows on the adjacent shore there is a quaint maroon coffee table, on which is placed a Yixing pottery pot and two exquisite porcelain cups, and on the side of the coffee table are two rattan chairs, one of which sits a calm Admiral Junyi, who wears rimless glasses, quietly stares at a broken flower bud on the edge of the lotus pond, on which a red dragonfly is dormant and does not move.

"Jiansheng, the willows are hanging down and the lotus fragrance is fragrant, and the mood is good!" Li Zongren, who was short and stocky, was dressed in a military uniform, and his steps were very light, and he came to sit down opposite Bai Chongxi, who was staring at the dragonflies in the pond.

Bai Chongxi retracted his gaze and turned around, picked up the teapot and poured tea for Li Zongren: "The freshly brewed lotus heart tea will relieve the heat...... Brother, do you know the real situation of the gunfire that rang out at dawn today? ”

Li Zongren sighed: "Before I came here, I just learned that He Guiyan (He Yaozu) called me, I was taken aback at the time, put down the phone and checked the map, it is indeed incredible!" It's just that it's too late to ask An Yi about himself and the current situation of the department, and it's not good to ask too directly. ”

An Yi fainted and is still being treated in the church, and the condition of his injuries is unknown. He went so far as to invite more than 40 European and American doctors who had gathered in St. Paul's Church to escape the war to go to the Xiaguan military camp to treat the soldiers under his command who had been sent back after nine deaths.

Judging from the report submitted by his subordinates half an hour ago, there were only about 1,100 people left in the headquarters of An Yi's division, of which more than 500 were wounded soldiers, and in the fierce battle from dawn to about 9 o'clock in the morning, An Yi's division was attacked by tens of thousands of enemy troops from three sides, leaving more than 2,000 corpses on Litouzui and Bagua Zhou, and only then withdrew the remnants with the help of the officers and men under Gu Zhenglun and Chen Chengshi, avoiding the annihilation of the entire army. ”

Bai Chongxi put down the teapot and motioned for Li Zongren to drink tea.

Li Zongren took a sip of the teacup: "Jiansheng, I'm worried that An Yi has already guessed the reason, or he will learn about the specific transfer before the retreat from the generals who have a good relationship with him, so you have bothered a lot in this regard." ”

Bai Chongxi shook his head slightly: "It doesn't matter, the order to call An Yi to go north to block Sun Jun was given by Commander-in-Chief Jiang, at that time, Ye Kaixin's 44th Army was guarding the flank and south of An Yi's division, Ye Kaixin didn't know that An Yi's division needed him to go north before and after receiving the order for his younger brother to retreat, even if An Yi really wanted to investigate, it was because of the defeat of Commander-in-Chief Jiang's left flank that forced my right wing to retreat on the whole line, originally he could have retreated from the Lingbi line in the southeast, but Gu Zhu's division and Deng Zhenquan's division retreated on their own under the rapid attack of Sun Chuanfang's army, made his back road completely cut off.

I am very relieved at this point, even if An Yi knows that he is calculated, he can't use this to provoke disputes, he is a smart person, he will not be obsessed with this and be bored, at most he is dumb and grudges. ”

"Well, I'm relieved."

Li Zongren nodded: "The next question is how to deal with the aftermath, this son has gone through this great difficulty, I don't know how his mind has become?" It's worrying! ”

Bai Chongxi let out a long sigh: "Alas, this is also the worry in the heart of the little brother!" An Yi started from the north to the end of his escape, what kind of battle he went through, which route he traveled, we don't know, we can only be sure that the Chuzhou train collision incident that shocked China and foreign countries was his doing, only from this analysis, this son has become unscrupulous and terrible, the little brother is really worried that he is crazy! ”

Li Zongren nodded heavily: "Or ...... Send a telegram to He Jingzhi, who went to Changzhou to inspect the front line of the river defense, and ask him to clean up the mess.

Now that Lao Jiang is in the wilderness, He Jingzhi is obsessed with taking over military power, and before Lao Jiang has left, he is eager to go to various places to inspect the departments of the First Route Army under his command, why not let him deal with this problem that is already under his jurisdiction? ”

"The younger brother is exactly this idea, please ask the elder brother to come to specifically ask for instructions on this matter, and the elder brother will call He Jingzhi, he will definitely return quickly, and the younger brother is almost equal to him, the name is not right!" Bai Chongxi said with a smile.

Li Zongren laughed: "Jiansheng must not say such an outrageous thing again, you see...... This stone boat, the Loutai Xuanxie over there, and the entire Xi Garden, most of them are built by Hong Yang (Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom), they have gone through hardships and dangers, and it took a thousand hardships to hit the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, we started from Guangxi to occupy Wuhan to sweep the southeast, it took a year and a half, and the area occupied far exceeded the territory occupied by Hong Yang that year, and it can not be said that it is the result of God's protection and our full efforts! Now that the ambition is ready to be revived, you and my brothers need to work together to make a step forward, why are you so humble and polite? ”

Bai Chongxi smiled knowingly, nodded gratefully, saw Pan Yizhi coming in a hurry and hurriedly put away his smiling face, took the information handed over and raised his hand slightly to signal him to retreat, opened it and handed it to Li Zongren with a smile:

"It turns out that An Yishi actually has another part that escaped from the predicament, and this time we don't have to spend time trying to guess how they fought back."

After reading the information, Li Zongren raised his eyebrows: "This is good news, this regiment commander Chen Zhibiao, who led the only remaining 500 officers and soldiers under his command to defect to our army, can he know Jiansheng?" ”

"Not only do I know it, but I know it well! This person's ancestral home in Hunan Province, born in Hunan Jiangwutang, is a rare fierce general, the Northern Expedition began to follow An Yi's conquest, from the commander of the engineering company step by step to the colonel commander, almost experienced all the battles of An Yi's division, witnessed every process of An Yi's division's growth, familiar with An Yi's training methods and combat characteristics, is a rare talent! ”

Bai Chongxi happily introduced, and then reminded Li Zongren to look at the name behind:

"Brother, please pay attention to the teaching captain Chen Kan, An Yi's teaching brigade is equivalent to the teaching regiment and officer corps that are usually kept by all armies, as far as the younger brother knows, An Yi's teaching brigade is specially designed to train company platoon commanders for each main regiment, and the non-commissioned officers of the department are selected from among the outstanding soldiers, the lowest rank is corporal, the training method used is very unique and efficient, our army has Chen Kan as a talent to surrender, and its significance is extraordinary!"

Li Zongren immediately realized the value of Chen Kan, and made a decision without thinking: "Jiansheng needs to take time to meet this Chen Kan, and if I can, I will appoint him as the commander of the Seventh Army Teaching Corps." ”

Bai Chongxi smiled knowingly: "Brother is really a corporal, love is like life!" I know how to do it! ”

Li Zongren smiled happily, stood up and patted Bai Chongxi's shoulder, and said in a low voice: "Let's go, let's have a light meal together, we want to make some plans for He Jingzhi to come back." ”

Bai Chongxi stood up happily and walked side by side with Li Zongren to Xiyuan, discussing the aftermath in a low voice as they walked.

…… On the morning of the third day, Zhou said.

A melodious chant fluttered around under the accompaniment of the organ, rising to the top of the pointed church bell tower, An Yi, who had been unconscious for three days and two nights, moved his eyes and let out a slight moan of pain, he desperately wanted to open his heavy eyelids, his scabbed lips squirmed slightly, and his face was full of pain.

The woman lying on the edge of the bed on An Yi's waist raised her head suddenly, subconsciously combed her messy long hair and threw herself on top of An Yi, supported the head of the bed with one hand, and gently stroked An Yi's face with the other trembling, and whispered anxiously and worriedly:

"Xiao Yi, do you hear my sister's voice? Do you hear that......"

The door was opened quickly, Shen Fengdao motioned to Lin Yaodong, Chen Mian and Chen Yu behind him to stop, walked to Gong Qian's side gently, stared at An Yi on the bed, heard An Yi's even breathing and saw An Yi stretch out his tongue and lick his lips, Shen Fengdao smiled slightly at Gong Qian, who straightened up:

"Eldest sister, don't worry, Xiao Yi will open his eyes soon, don't worry, he can't open his eyes for a while after sleeping for too long, just for a while. The younger brother is out, and the eldest sister is sitting. ”

Gong Qian, whose eyes were red and swollen, nodded, and when Shen Feng Daoli immediately sat on the edge of the bed, he picked up An Yi's left hand, put it on his face and whispered.

Shen Fengdao gently closed the door and motioned for the guards to leave farther away, he had great respect for Gong Qian, who had just known him for three days, not only because Gong Qian was An Yi's sister, but also because of Gong Qian's meticulous care and deep affection for An Yi for three days and two nights.

From the moment she learned that An Yi had fainted to the moment just now, Gong Qian had been by An Yi's side with tears, moisturizing An Yi's cracked lips with a cotton ball dipped in water, cleaning every wound, taking urine for An Yi, who was unconscious and unconscious, and wiping his body.

Every time she wiped a scar, she cried bitterly, and the mournful tears that flowed out made the doctors, nurses and priests grieve for it, she waited by An Yi's side every day, and when she was tired, she lay on the edge of the bed and took a nap, An Yi's every moan made her anxious and extremely looking forward to it.

Shen Fengdao and the doctors all knew that she was waiting, waiting for her brother to wake up, wanting to hear her brother speak and see his brother's open eyes.

The chant disappeared in the faint accompaniment, An Yi opened his eyelids with difficulty, blinked a few times and closed them again, and after a while, he opened his eyes again, and saw a pale face full of tears, An Yi's lips trembled a few times, and he called in a low voice: "Sister...... I'm not in a dream...... right."

Gong Qian was so excited that she cried, holding An Yi's sallow and emaciated face, shaking her head again and again, choking and answering: "Xiao Yi, Xiao Yi, you scared your sister to death......"

"Sister, don't cry......"

An Yi raised his scabbed left hand and gently wiped away Gong Qian's tears with his fingertips, but he couldn't wipe them away.

Gong Qian held An Yi's hand in the palm of her hand, snorted a few times, held back her tears, and asked in a low voice, "Are you thirsty?" ”

An Yi shook his head and struggled to sit up, looked at the unfamiliar room and the cross on the entire wall, suddenly remembered something, quickly raised his foot on the bed, fell to the ground as soon as his legs were weak, Gong Qian exclaimed in surprise and hurriedly helped him up but was pushed away, An Yi stood up in a panic and threw himself against the wall with both hands, his body swayed, and he muttered anxiously: "I want to go back!" I'm going to see my brethren, I'm going back......"

Gong Qian struggled to get up from the ground, caught up with An Yi who was walking towards the door, pulled An Yi's body hard, and flew up and hit An Yi hard in the face, making a crisp echo.

An Yi looked at Gong Qian in astonishment, Gong Qian had already thrown herself into An Yi's arms, hugged his waist tightly and cried: "Xiao Yi, are you still injured enough?" Do you want to hurt yourself and everyone? When will you learn to calm down......"

An Yi looked up at the stained glass of the room above, suddenly hugged Gong Qian's trembling delicate body, and howled......

(To be continued)