At the end of the meeting, An Yi did not joke with the senior brothers of each regiment as usual, but turned around and followed a few inconspicuous division staff officers out of the lobby, and as soon as he arrived at the courtyard, he strode towards his war horse, and as soon as he raised his foot and stepped on the stirrup, Li Yannian stopped him behind him.

The two walked side by side, talking as they went, stopping at the intersection of the city and talking for a while before parting.

Back at the regiment headquarters, An Yi immediately called Yin Jinan, Hu Zi, Yang Bin, Ye Cheng and Qu Muchen to tell in detail what happened at today's meeting, so that the brothers could brainstorm and analyze what went wrong.

The brothers pondered for a moment and expressed their opinions to each other, most of whom regarded Bai Chongxi's move as a ploy to beat Liu Zhi and others, and praised An Yi's quick response and appropriate response.

"Don't praise it, I'm still confused. Come to think of it, Commander Bai just arrived yesterday, even if he listened to the report of the serious commander of the 21st Division when he stayed in Changshan, and learned some about the battle from Commander Chen Cheng, who came with him, he shouldn't have mentioned the fact that the principal had specially rewarded us with 50,000 oceans in front of so many generals!

I didn't know that I had this 50,000 yuan bonus before, I thought it would be great to get enough medicine, weapons and ammunition, and the principal didn't write any letters to my little head at all, if it wasn't for Senior Brother Li Yannian quietly stepping on me, I wouldn't have been able to react. From this, I wondered, always wondering what Chief Bai wanted to do? It won't be as simple as knocking on Shizuo and others to establish their own prestige, right?

Everyone knows that the commanders of all armies and divisions, including our second division, are not clean in terms of money, even if the division really swallows our money, he will compensate us later, but why did Commander Bai mention this? He is just the former commander-in-chief of the enemy and the commander of our third column, and he only cares about the military and can't manage our family affairs, so why does he want to mention it? An Yi was puzzled.

When the brothers heard An Yi say this, they also calmed down, and Yang Bin took the lead in expressing his opinion: "The day before yesterday, you handed me the application documents of the Nanchang Recruitment Office, and I read the two big seals below the approval opinions above, and suddenly understood something, it stands to reason that after the failure of the first attack on Nanchang, the division took the initiative to resign from the position of acting army commander, and at the same time, this military seal should be handed over, although Commander He, who served as the commander-in-chief of the East Route Army, was on the front line in Fujian, but half of the military department still followed Commander-in-Chief Jiang, It is completely possible to hand over the Great Seal and the acting position together without temporary management, which shows that the division is very concerned about this position of army commander in his heart, and it is estimated that he will not make a mistake at this critical moment.

Secondly, the incorruptibility and self-discipline of the division seat and the chief of staff have a good reputation in the army, and there are very few opportunities for people to catch the pigtails, and the big deal is to eat some empty salaries like the commanders of various armies, and cleverly set up false reports of expenditures to enrich themselves, but it is indeed intriguing to swallow 50,000 yuan in one bite like this time, you must know that 50,000 yuan is not a small amount, it is enough for three regiments to pay and spend for a month and a half, so I think there are other reasons for this.

As soon as Chief Bai arrived, he came out and said this, obviously through some channel to learn about it, otherwise Chief Bai's surname would never be like this, this shows another problem, and then Chief Bai is afraid that there will be further actions, if you want to find out the true meaning, you can only wait patiently. ”

The brothers nodded frequently, and Ye Cheng, who was nicknamed "Zhiduoxing" by the brothers, added:

"That's what I mean, but I can think about it from another angle, isn't Chief Bai worried about offending a large number of people by doing this? Whether it is to ask our Reading Group what is the basis for making the judgment of the enemy's plan in advance, or to ask about the 50,000 prize money, it is a very fatal thing for Xiao Yi and our Reading Group, if Xiao Yi does not deal with it properly, if it is any one of us, I am afraid the consequences will be unimaginable. Therefore, I want to ask, Xiao Yi, did you inadvertently offend Chief Bai or anyone else before this? ”

"Impossible! Lao Tzu has never worked with Chief Bai, and he has been one of the few times he has met each other, and he is still very kind, he was originally from the Gui Army, and I can't fight together, and he is the deputy chief of staff of the General Headquarters, and there is no bullshit relationship with each other before the Nanchang Campaign, how can you offend him? What's more, from Guangzhou to the present when he set out to participate in the Northern Expedition, Lao Tzu has only suffered losses and has never made any advantage to anyone, except for the enemy, of course. An Yi waved his hand again and again.

The brothers were confused, and they couldn't figure out the reason for this, and they couldn't get the gist of it after discussing and analyzing it, and they all seemed to have forgotten one point: Bai Chongxi, who exercised the right of chief of general staff as the deputy chief of general staff of the whole army, and was praised as "Little Zhuge by most of the veterans and generals in the army" for his extraordinary military talent after the Northern Expedition, could these middle and low-level officers who could only be said to be at the entry level could see through the art of war and strategy?

In the end, An Yi was calm and fearless, seeing that the brothers were racking their brains and still didn't figure out a clue, he simply ordered everyone not to think about it, and put all their energy into the replenishment of soldiers and military training: "After this battle, our reading force regiment has a shortage of nearly 1,000 personnel, plus Huang Yingwu will lead half of the instructors and half of the company's teaching team non-commissioned officers in the past two days, and escort more than 300 injured brothers who can move back to Lao Nanchang to form a recruitment office, and the troops will be lost by one-third at once, and we have to replenish the soldiers in the shortest possible time. Otherwise, the next battle will not be easy to fight.

Judging from the current situation, especially based on the analysis of Commander Bai's words and deeds today, I am afraid that every next battle will move us to the front, and if we cannot replenish the source of troops and carry out strong training within ten days, the casualties in the future will be even greater. ”

"I agree with Xiao Yi." There is no second sentence for the beard.

Qu Muchen asked, "Isn't it that from tomorrow onwards, there will be five regiments of recruits to replenish one after another?" ”

"Recruits? Don't think about it, five new regiments are not enough to divide the three main regiments that have suffered heavy losses! In this situation, how can we be embarrassed to deal with those senior brothers anymore? This time, we received 1,000 guns of various kinds and 200,000 rounds of ammunition specially allocated by the principal, which has already made others jealous...... Well, in this way, it is better to adopt the old method, mobilize his brothers to go deep into the surrounding villages to publicize and mobilize, and recruit a soldier to pay people a settlement fee of five oceans, only in this way can the recruitment be completed as quickly as possible, and we must hurry up while other regiments are too busy, otherwise there will be no good soldiers. Yin Jinan touched his right arm, which was pierced by the bullet and was in a faint pain, and said angrily.

"Do you have enough cash in your pocket?" Beard said again.

"That's enough, but after spending this large sum of money, there won't be much, and the 20,000 oceans that Huang Yingwu brought back to Lao Nanchang can't be moved, otherwise how can I buy the land east of Chengbi Lake? How do you build a house for a brother who is going to marry a wife? If you are tight, you will get through it by gritting your teeth, and when you get to a big city with a foreign bank or a Chinese bank, we don't have to worry. Yin Jinan replied.

An Yi shook his head: "Don't bring a single child back to Huang Yingwu, didn't we seize hundreds of guns?" Among them, there are 12 French light machine guns and some bullets, and we have about 200 long and short guns this time, you ask the brothers in the repair shop to work overtime immediately, all of them are disassembled and packed, and in the past two days, I will find the military department to transport troops and materials, and ask the buddies of the transportation company to help us bring people and things back to Lao Nanchang together. When they arrived in Lao Nanchang, let Gao Mingde and a few of them renovate and reinstall them, and then sell them all quietly, so that at least 20,000 oceans could be returned, and the extra part would be divided among the injured brothers. ”

All the brothers laughed, all agreed with An Yi's opinion, and then discussed the issue of conscription, and soon reached a consensus and immediately convened a meeting of the platoon commanders and above of the whole regiment.

The next day, more than 500 officers and men put on neat uniforms, held high the banners of 10 model battalions, divided into 10 groups, and marched into the surrounding towns and villages to begin a 10-day period of revolutionary propaganda, military performances, and conscription.

February 2, 1927, the first day of the Lunar New Year.

After a 13-day rest, the headquarters of the Third Column of the Northern Expeditionary Army and the Second Division of the National Revolutionary Army held a solemn Spring Festival group meeting, and after all the ceremonies held at the division headquarters were completed, the headquarters and the commanders of the Second Division were divided into five groups and went to the four barracks inside and outside the city and the Sixth Regiment in Jiangshan County to offer condolences.

In the early morning of the same day, 300 officers and men of the guard company and machine gun company of the model battalion, under the leadership of company commanders Gu Changfeng and Shi Junren, circled behind the enemy in advance and laid an ambush in the southeast and northeast of Longyou City.

The officers and men of the Reading Regiment, who had succeeded in the first blow, were not satisfied with this, and the 2nd Battalion of Ye Cheng and the 3rd Battalion of Chen Zhibiao, who had already driven to the west of Longyou City to ambush, quickly passed through the city, and once again set up an ambush on both sides of the Mabao Bridge 6.8 kilometers east of Longyou City, and almost wiped out Yang Shijun's infantry battalion and another machine gun company that had hurriedly set off from the Youbu battalion to the aid of Longyou County.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, the four team leaders who went to inspect and pacify inside and outside the city returned to the division headquarters, and Liu Zhi suggested that all of them go to An Yi's Reading Force Regiment for the New Year, and half-jokingly and half-seriously told Bai Chongxi and others that the food of the officers and men of An Yi's regiment was second to none in the First Army, and a Hui chef had recently been recruited. Xu Tingyao also said happily that the chef's halal dishes were really good. Bai Chongxi, who was born in the Hui nationality, happily went, and An Yi, who had received the notice in advance, emptied the regiment headquarters and put two different hot pots on the Hui and Han sides, and specially instructed the Hui brothers under Lao Han Tou to take out their housekeeping skills and make a table of sumptuous halal dishes.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, Bai Chongxi, Liu Zhi, and more than a dozen other officers who had been patrolling the camp returned to the dining room arranged by the regiment headquarters and sat down.

Liu Zhi and Xu Tingyao spoke separately, and Bai Chongxi stood up with a smile at the kind invitation of the generals of the Second Division, raised his glass and delivered a speech happily:

"Ladies and gentlemen, today is the first day of the new year, and I am very happy to have the privilege of celebrating the Spring Festival with my colleagues from the Second Division and the brothers of the Reading Group. Since the Northern Expedition, the Reading Regiment has made great achievements in war, is well-known throughout the army, and has truly played a vanguard and exemplary role......

Before Bai Chongxi finished speaking, he was interrupted by bursts of cheers from outside the house, Liu Zhi saw Bai Chongxi stop speaking, frowned slightly, and immediately turned to An Yi and asked in a deep voice: "What's the matter?" ”

Before An Yi could answer, Gu Changfeng, Ye Cheng and Chen Zhibiao, who were covered in gunsmoke, rushed in and saluted the chiefs with a smile on their faces, causing the eyes of the elders in the hall to look at them in surprise.

Under the signal of Gu Changfeng and Ye Cheng, Chen Zhibiao took a step forward and reported loudly with pride:

"Report to the chief: In view of the provocation and blockade of various units of our army by the enemy company, 1,300 officers and men of the guard company, the second battalion, and the third battalion of the Reading Regiment, in accordance with the instructions of the regimental commander, decided to retaliate with a tooth for a tooth, and marched covertly at 10 o'clock last night, successfully lurking on the east and west sides of Longyou City, and at 6:50 a.m. today, launched a surprise attack from behind the enemy guarding Longyou City, and after defeating a battalion of enemy troops in the city, they again marched rapidly to both sides of the Mabao Bridge at 6.8 kilometers east of the city to set up ambush reinforcements. Successfully defeated the reinforcements of one battalion and one company of the enemy's Yang Shijun Division, and achieved a total of more than 430 enemy annihilation and capture more than 320 enemy soldiers. The captives and captives had just been escorted back to the camp, and they were all gathered in the camp to await processing. ”

The chiefs were taken aback, Bai Chongxi put down his wine glass and immediately turned around and went out to check, and Liu Zhi and the others hurriedly followed.

An Yi hurriedly stepped forward and quietly grabbed Xu Tingyao's hand and pleaded in a low voice: "Chief of Staff, my subordinates are cutting first and then playing this time, please bear with me!" When I ask you later, I will tell you a lie for my subordinates, and I will say that it was with your consent, and I will deal with it for the sake of secrecy, even if it is a New Year's gift from my subordinate reading group to all the senior brothers, okay? ”

Xu Tingyao laughed: "What a New Year's gift!" Yes, this is good news, a good sign...... Okay, if Chief Bai picks a bone in his egg, I'll carry it for you! ”

The 900 recruits of each battalion, led by the veteran squad leader, excitedly surrounded the prisoners, looked enviously at the triumphant veterans who had returned victoriously, and pointed to hundreds of long and short guns and a few light and heavy machine guns neatly placed on the ground.

Seeing Bai Chongxi and other generals coming quickly, the star officer on duty hurriedly grabbed the whistle and blew it violently, and the brothers immediately closed their mouths and stood upright to salute.

Bai Chongxi walked up to the captured guns and glanced at them, raised his head to look at the more than three hundred and twenty captives who were shrinking and shiny and did not dare to look in front of him, and nodded with satisfaction: "Commander An Yi——"

"Here!"

An Yi stepped forward quickly and stood up straight.

Bai Chongxi pointed at the captives and said with a smile: "Commander An has managed the army well, especially in transforming the prisoners, and has found another way, now, let's ask Commander An to show us." ”

"This ......"

An Yi looked at Liu Zhi and Xu Tingyao, who were overjoyed, and then at a group of officers who were smiling and expectant, turned to Bai Chongxi and asked in a low voice:

"The chief praised it falsely, his subordinates are all nonsense, and they can't be put on the stage, if the chief is not to blame, his subordinates will be ugly, but I just implore the chief to authorize his subordinates to dispose of it with full authority."

Bai Chongxi said with a smile: "The prisoners captured by your subordinates are, of course, at your disposal. ”

"Thank you, sir!"

An Yi saluted Bai Chongxi side by side, and then saluted Liu Zhi and Xu Tingyao, and took a few steps forward and said loudly to the captives: "Brothers, Happy New Year!" Ha ha...... I'm sorry everyone, but my brothers are in a hurry, and I don't ask for your opinions, so I hurriedly invited everyone to come over for a drink on the first day of the new year, haha......"

The brothers in the audience burst into laughter, Bai Chongxi and Zhang Dingfan beside him glanced at each other in surprise, and turned to An Yi again.

An Yi raised his hands, signaled the brothers to be quiet, looked at the captives who raised their heads and watched suspiciously, and said loudly:

"Just now our second battalion commander Ye Cheng told me that most of your more than 300 brothers are from northern Zhejiang and neighboring Anhui counties, and I tell you here that there are many brothers in our reading force group who are fellow villagers with you, especially the second battalion under the command of Battalion Commander Ye, almost all of them are from Anhui, Zhejiang, to put it bluntly, everyone is from the township, and even the commander-in-chief of our Northern Expeditionary Army, Jiang, is also from Zhejiang, haha!

So, brothers, don't be nervous, since you are here, you are all your own brothers, especially today's big joy, which is a festival that our descendants of Yan and Huang have to celebrate, so ah, there are no enemies today only friends, everyone is brothers, what is there tomorrow, drink well today, talk about nostalgia, haha...... That one...... What about Camp Commander Ye? ”

"Here!"

Ye Cheng trotted in a few steps to An Yi.

An Yi pointed to the brothers around him who were loaded with guns and ammunition and ordered: "Please ask Chen Zhibiao and his brothers to put away their guns, and at this time they are insulting Sven with guns, haha!" Then let the brothers from Anhui, Zhejiang Province of your two battalions stand up, and lead these more than 300 fellow villagers back to their camps, eat and drink well, and have a safe and happy New Year's Day, the battalion guards and city defense have me leading the regiment to be responsible for the various departments, model battalions and a battalion, you have worked hard, just rest for two days, there is nothing to accompany the new more than 300 brothers in these two days, and celebrate the festival, haha......"

"Yes!"

Ye Cheng saluted and left, and together with Chen Zhibiao, he ordered the brothers to put away their weapons, and then asked the officers and soldiers from Anhui in Zhejiang to stand up and lead the stunned captives back to their respective barracks to drink.

After An Yi dealt with it, he walked in front of Bai Chongxi and happily resumed his life, Bai Chongxi, Zhang Dingfan, and Pan Yizhi looked at each other, and finally they all laughed.

Liu Zhi and Xu Tingyao laughed even more happily, the two were familiar with An Yi's surname, knew An Yi's unique charm, and knew that An Yi's almost innate affinity was not something that could be learned if they wanted to, so after laughing, Chunfeng proudly invited Bai Chongxi and the others to go back and continue drinking.

That night, Bai Chongxi, Zhang Dingfan, and Pan Yizhi, the three brothers who graduated from the Baoding Military Academy, were still around the fire, and had a special discussion on An Yi and his reading group.

Bai Chongxi once again remembered the conversation between himself and Li Zongren in the small pavilion in Jixi, northern Jiangxi, and he secretly decided to let An Yi be the vanguard from the next battle, and at the same time consume his strength and separate his connections between the first army and the second division, he can better observe and test the ability and potential of this delicate son in the army.

(To be continued)