After drinking a little wine, An Yi wanted to go out to try the new gun, but before he left, he saw the communications staff officer rushing to hand over the telegram to the section chief Zhan Huanqi.

"Everyone, let's try the gun again in the future, I'm afraid no one will be able to sleep tonight, especially Lao Ding and Beard."

An Yi beckoned the brothers to enter the east conference room and sit down: "The commander-in-chief has arrived in Bengbu at this moment, and he will arrive in Xuzhou at noon tomorrow, and according to the order of the headquarters, my reading division will send two companies of officers and soldiers to participate in the commander-in-chief's security mission, and we must arrive at Xuzhou Station before 9 o'clock tomorrow morning. ”

Yin Jinan said with a smile: "It seems that General Feng Yuxiang has agreed to meet in Xuzhou, according to the plan, the principal should have come to us the day before yesterday to inspect, and the reason why it was postponed to tomorrow is probably because General Feng Yuxiang has not made the decision to go south for a meeting." ”

Yang Bin said: "Recently, it has been rumored that the Wuhan army is actively preparing for the eastward expedition to Nanjing, and Miss Gong came to my house to visit my wife and children the night before yesterday, and talked about the news that General Zhang Fakui's Fourth Army and the Eleventh Army had all withdrawn to Wuhan, and this time Wuhan political axe did not hesitate to sacrifice more than 16,000 soldiers to give up all the Henan territory to Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army, all of them withdrew to Wuhan and went to eastern Hubei one after another, and at the same time announced the appointment of the commander of the eight front armies of the Northwest Army in a high-profile manner. I am afraid that some kind of tacit understanding has been reached with Feng Yuxiang, and it seems that the vigorous Northern Expedition may be about to give up halfway. ”

"Ah...... Lao Yang, don't scare me, it's not so serious, is it? Ding Zhicheng asked.

"It's not that I'm scaring you, the situation has changed abruptly, and we are helpless, I don't believe you to ask the master." Yang Bin took a sip of the teacup slowly, put down the cup and sighed faintly.

An Yi nodded: "Ladies and gentlemen, Chief of Staff Yang's analysis is very reasonable, although we don't want to see such a result, but the development of the situation is not up to us!"

Judging from the recent report from the headquarters and the information we have learned, General Zhang Fakui's troops did show signs of advancing eastward, and the 35th Army of He Jian and the 36th Army of Liu Xing under Tang Shengzhi were withdrawing from Henan to Hubei one after another, and it is very likely that they would move south to eastern Hubei and advance to Huainan.

Fortunately, I will be able to see the commander-in-chief tomorrow, since the commander-in-chief still dares to leave Nanjing and go north to Xuzhou at this time, and General Li Zongren still has no sign of moving south to defend his territory, I think it is unlikely that Wuhan will attack the Nanjing army, which is also a revolutionary army, in the near future, especially after Wang Jingwei and Feng Yuxiang telegraphed to the whole country to limit the power of [***] and strictly ordered to stop the trade union movement of Chen Duxiu, [***] and others, the multi-party joint political axe in Wuhan will definitely be in chaos. There's really no need to worry too much about that. ”

The brothers agreed with An Yi's analysis, and Hu Jialin asked, "How will tomorrow's task be arranged?" ”

An Yi replied, "Beard, you have to personally take charge of the security to show the solemn attitude of my reading master to this order.

Lao Ding, you go back later, immediately gather the three hundred brothers of the guard battalion, bring the necessary equipment, and rush to Chen Zhibiao's second regiment overnight to rest, among which half of the brothers must ensure that they have war horses, and immediately rush to Xuzhou City early tomorrow morning, and the entire security work is fully responsible for Hu Zi, Lao Ding, Dou Fang, and Li Fuqiang's sniper detachment responsible for peripheral monitoring. ”

"Yes!"

Ding Zhicheng and deputy battalion commander Li Fuqiang replied in unison.

An Yi turned to Yin Jinan: "Jinan, you are on duty at the division headquarters, mobilize Chen Kan to teach the brigade to take on the task of martial law and security maintenance in the division headquarters, and be responsible for the management and command of the logistics department.

Lao Yang, you and Huan Qi are responsible for the training and supervision of each regiment, and at the same time secretly order the guard companies of each regiment to take on the task of guarding the station, so that it can be loose on the outside and tight on the inside, and there must be no potential safety hazards. ”

"Yes!"

Yin Jinan, Yang Bin and Zhan Huanqi received the order.

The beard asked, "Why are you going?" Do you want to greet it first? ”

"Yes, I will have to lead the guards to Xuzhou later, and work out tomorrow's security procedures with the headquarters personnel who will arrive tonight, it is estimated that I will have to accompany the principal to inspect together, and only our reading division is a descendant of the Whampoa army in this war zone, so you don't need to think about it to know the meaning of the headquarters' arrangement."

Jinan, at 7 o'clock tomorrow morning, you will issue an order to the Second Regiment for first-level combat readiness, and the party representative and Chen Zhibiao, who are temporarily stationed in the Second Regiment, will be responsible for carrying it out, and the Second Regiment's station is only 15 kilometers away from Xuzhou, and if there is an emergency, the response speed will be faster. ”

An Yi stood up after speaking, and suddenly remembered something and hurriedly instructed Hu Jialin and Ding Zhicheng: "You will go to the logistics to get a new military uniform later, don't wear tactical vests and new training uniforms for the time being, just keep in line with other friendly forces, don't let others think that the commander-in-chief has any special care for us, but the three hundred brothers must carry sufficient weapons and ammunition in accordance with the requirements of wartime." ”

"Understood."

At noon the following day, the special train on which Commander-in-Chief Chiang and the officials of the Nanjing Central Committee were riding slowly stopped at the Xuzhou platform, and the military band of the Seventh Army and the two military bands of the guard units directly under the General Headquarters played music together.

General Li Zongren, wearing a straight general's dress, led more than 30 generals and colonels of the Third Route Army to greet him, and thousands of representatives from all walks of life in Xuzhou held high colorful flags and slogans and lined up on the small square in front of the railway station.

After General Li Zongren delivered a warm welcome speech, the majestic "Song of the Northern Expedition" was played again, and Commander-in-Chief Chiang, accompanied by Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi, shook hands with the commanders of the various theaters and greeted them with a kind and cordial attitude.

An Yi, who was wearing a straight major general's uniform, stood at the end of more than 30 generals such as Li Zongren, his tall figure and young face were very conspicuous, and Commander-in-Chief Jiang and Lieutenant General Liu Dingjia, deputy commander of the 15th Army in front of An Yi, finished saluting, and came to stop in front of An Yi, who was energetic and raised his hand to salute, and looked at An Yi quietly, his eyes were full of pride and concern.

Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi gave An Yi a salute in return, and made a joke with Commander-in-Chief Jiang in a low voice, Commander-in-Chief Jiang smiled slightly, and the atmosphere immediately became a lot more lively. When a large group of reporters saw this rare scene, they all "crackled" and took pictures, including Ye Qing, a beautiful reporter from the Central Daily, and photographer Lao Zhuang.

Commander-in-Chief Jiang shook hands with An Yi and ordered in a low voice: "You follow me and go to the Pengcheng camp to visit the Seventh Army and the officers and soldiers of all armies." ”

"Yes!"

An Yi saluted, quietly followed behind Commander-in-Chief Jiang and Li Zongren and other commanders, and walked side by side with Commander-in-Chief Wang Shihe: "Senior brother, why did you suddenly change your itinerary?" ”

Wang Shihe glanced around, and said quietly: "The principal is a sign of respect for General Li Delin and the officers and men of the Seventh Army, and it was decided on an impromptu basis before getting off the car, and Elder Jing also agrees." ”

"Elder Jing is here too?" An Yi asked in surprise.

"The party headquarters and the headquarters are here, and General Feng Yuxiang will also arrive in Xuzhou tomorrow, the time is very urgent, and our task is not light!

You've got to be with the headmaster for the past two days, and you've got to mobilize your guards and special forces officers and men to the inner line, and you've got to go to various meetings with the staff, understand? ”

Wang Shihe made the drastic changes clear in a few sentences.

An Yi nodded: "Understood." ”

An Yi didn't have time to ask in detail, so he walked out of the station with the huge procession, Commander-in-Chief Jiang stood on the steps, waving to the cheering crowd frequently, dozens of generals and high-ranking officials of the party headquarters and the headquarters all stood in two rows, waving to tens of thousands of people, but An Yi and Wang Shihe walked to the station, quickly called the head of the headquarters guard regiment and the deputy commander of the reading division Hu Jialin to assign tasks, and then immediately returned to Commander-in-Chief Jiang and stood straight.

After the short ceremony, Commander-in-Chief Jiang and dozens of dignitaries got into the car, Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi accompanied Commander-in-Chief Jiang to board the third car, An Yi under the leadership of Wang Shihe, had already got into the second black car, and An Yi was a little more relaxed after the convoy set off, who knew that after a while, he arrived at the Pengcheng camp, where Li Zongren's headquarters was located in the city, and hurriedly followed Commander-in-Chief Jiang, who gave Li Zongren enough face, to review the officers and men of the Seventh Army.

When I returned to the Xuzhou Office at the foot of Yunlong Mountain, it was already half past two in the afternoon, and An Yi, who had been tossed from early in the morning to the present, was so hungry that he finally entered the parliament hall where dozens of tables of feasts were placed, and he had to stand straight to listen to General Li Zongren's speech, the welcome speeches of local celebrities and leaders of the old alliance, and the thank-you speech of Commander-in-Chief Jiang.

The ensuing procedure was still so torturous, and the incomparably energetic Commander-in-Chief Chiang went to the auditorium of the office after eating and delivered a speech to the generals and academies and representatives of all walks of life.

An Yi, who was addicted to cigarettes, quietly walked outside the auditorium and lit a cigarette, chatting in a low voice with Hu Zi and Kang Ze and a few Huangpu brothers to pass the boring time.

"An Yi!"

Ye Qing suddenly appeared behind An Yi and screamed crisply.

An Yi turned around and hurriedly threw away the cigarette butt: "Sister Qing, the junior brother saw you and Lao Zhuang just now, but there were so many chiefs present, and the junior brother didn't dare to say hello to you." ”

"I'm content with your words...... Come closer, I'll help you buckle up the discipline, how unserious. ”

Ye Qing stepped forward with a charming smile, naturally buttoned up the wind and discipline for An Yi, finished caressing An Yi's clothes, and said with satisfaction:

"I'm tanned again, and I've lost a lot of weight, but I'm still very energetic, and I deserve to be the idol of countless pure girls in Nanjing."

An Yi was shocked when he heard this, and when he saw Hu Zi and Kang Ze and Zheng Dongguo smiling and squeezing their eyebrows and looking at them with ambiguity, they were very embarrassed, lowered their heads and said helplessly to Ye Qing:

"Sister Qing, so many people will be embarrassed by the little brother, look at it, the little brother is already a general now......"

"What's wrong with the general? Which of the generals I see every day is not higher in rank than you? If you weren't my little brother, and my eldest sister told me to take care of you more, I wouldn't be in the mood to pay attention to you! Don't look at it, there are so many people around, why do I only care about you, sister? I'm ashamed, I think you just haven't grown up, hehe......"

Ye Qing gave An Yi a slap, and then walked quickly to Lao Zhuang who waved his hand, and followed Lao Zhuang to run from the side door to the backstage to take pictures.

An Yi exhaled turbidity with relief, and did not chat with Hu Zi and the others again, but walked to Wang Shihe on the edge of the auditorium, and then went to the welcome dinner held by the Third Route Army, and had to hold a meeting after eating, but this time An Yi did not appear as a general of the defense team, but was named by Commander-in-Chief Jiang as a staff officer to attend.

An Yi didn't know what the reason for this arrangement was, but he was very willing to participate in it, at least to have an understanding of his future tasks as a licent.

(To be continued)