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Chapter 431 Countermeasures

The battle of Zhangde (Anyang) was still raging, and the two front armies and the Feng army invested by Feng Yuxiang were gritting their teeth and desperately, and on the whole, Feng Yuxiang's troops were still at a disadvantage. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Fan Zhongxiu, the general who was originally attached to Feng Yuxiang, could not bear the exclusion of Feng's department, suddenly turned his face, took advantage of the emptiness in the rear of Feng Yuxiang's department, led two armies to defeat Feng Yuxiang's Tongguan defenders, and approached Luoyang, Shaanxi's Li Yunlong Department also echoed from afar, slammed Xi'an, Feng Yuxiang was in a hurry, and hurriedly dispatched Song Zheyuan and Shi Jingting to rescue Luoyang urgently, and at the same time sent a telegram a day, begging Li Zongren to let the troops go faster, even if they couldn't help themselves out of the siege, they would join the Zhangde battlefield as soon as possible to defeat the Feng army.

The First Army, under the command of Chiang Kai-shek, continued to advance according to the set objectives, and on 27 April, the First Army, under the leadership of Chiang Dingwen, captured Tai'an; The next day, the 37th Army of Chen Tiaoyuan's Second Army captured Mingshui Town and cut off the Jiaoji Line, and the 26th Army Chen Zhuo's Department attacked Longshan, a strategic town on the Jiaoji Line; On the same day, Song Zheyuan and Shi Jingting defeated Fan Zhongxiu's troops on the front line of Luoyang, and the main forces of the two armies turned around and headed north for the Zhangde battlefield.

Seeing that Zhang Zongchang's general trend had gone and his flanks were empty, the Feng army could only order the two corps that had been fighting on the front line of Zhangde for more than ten days to quickly retreat north and leave the battlefield.

Feng Yuxiang was in great spirits, and immediately rushed to the mailbox from the front line of Lanfeng, and commanded the army to quickly pursue north. The vacillation of the southern front of the Feng army directly affected the battlefield on the western front, Yan Xishan seized the fighter plane and went to Niangziguan to supervise the battle, and the morale of the Third Army immediately sounded the horn of a counteroffensive.

Under the infection of one good news after another, the general headquarters of the First Group Army in Yanzhou was full of joy, but An Yi did not have a smile on his face.

However, An Yi did not detach himself from the masses because of this, he was polite to everyone, never had any impatience, and would not criticize any staff officer who made a mistake, he worked diligently for 15 hours a day, analyzing the battle situation and checking the implementation of the plans of the various regiments, and every little mistake on the front-line battlefield seemed to be unable to escape his eyes, and he would personally draft telegrams and hand them to the confidential staff officers of the headquarters to send to all armies and divisions to remind the front-line commanders to pay attention.

An Yi's outstanding command ability and rigorous and diligent work attitude have won praise and admiration from all levels of the headquarters, and in addition to admiration, the staff officers and chief officers of various departments who are much older than An Yi are also more and more in awe of the young chief of staff who is young and old-fashioned and has deep eyes.

Commander-in-Chief Chiang tensed his nerves every day, and his sworn brother, Huang Ying, foreign minister of the Nanjing Nationalist Government, issued a statement sternly refuting the so-called reason for the Japanese government to send troops to Shandong, and then left Nanjing with Yang Yongtai, chief adviser to the think tank, and sent a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek when he arrived in Xuzhou, reporting that he had "discussed the inside situation with Matsui Ishine, director of the Second Department of the Japanese General Staff Headquarters, and Yada, the consul general in Shanghai, and that Shandong was going to negotiate with Japan with Zhang Qun."

In the face of battle reports and intelligence flying like snowflakes, Chen Bui, Chen Lifu, Ge Jingen and other assistants were busy with sweat. The First Group Army's two corps and four corps have already reached the 35-kilometer range of Jinan, and now they can occupy Jinan with just one order.

After careful Chiang Kai-shek thought about it repeatedly, he finally recruited An Yi, his proud protégé and who had just been nicknamed the "leader of the Shaozhuang faction" by the generals of the First Army.

"At this point in the war, Jinan must be occupied, in order to avoid diplomatic disputes, it needs to be properly handled, and it is prudent, we have discussed it, and we have made a preliminary decision, and now I want to hear your opinion." After Commander-in-Chief Jiang finished speaking, he pointed to the rattan chair beside An Yi.

An Yi continued to stand: "Principal, in the humble opinion of the students, the sooner Jinan is occupied, the better, at this time, the departments of our army are seven kilometers away from Jinan, and the farthest is less than forty kilometers, as long as the principal nods, Jinan can go down with a drum, and then, order General Chen Tiaoyuan, the commander-in-chief of the Jinan Campaign, to hold a ceremony to enter the city, leaving a symbolic station, and then all the main forces will march to the west and north, so as to prevent the Japanese army from seizing the opportunity to create incidents and trigger fierce army conflicts, thereby harming the lives and property of the people of Jinan."

If the Japanese army provoked, the students suggested that they should not even stay in the symbolic garrison, and that all of them should be transferred to continue the Northern Expedition, and that the rest should be resolved by diplomats. If the Japanese army dares to pursue us and beat him again in the field, the Japanese army will not pursue us and continue to walk, and it will not be too late to come back and clean him up after taking Beijing, otherwise the exchange of fire will lead to disasters for the innocent civilians in the city, and the consequences will be unimaginable. ”

Chiang Kai-shek looked at An Yi with some surprise, he didn't expect that An Yi, who had always been the best, was suddenly willing to make such a big concession, after thinking about it carefully, he suddenly understood An Yi's thoughts, sighed and said in a low voice:

"Sit, sit down and talk slowly. It can be seen that you have been thinking about this matter for the past few days, and I can also understand the distress in your heart, these opinions of yours basically coincide with mine, although some interests are temporarily sacrificed, but we can ensure the smooth progress of our Northern Expedition process to the greatest extent.

There is only one difference between me and you, that is, we must not give up the military occupation, Foreign Minister Huang, Cai Gongshi, and other government officials are about to arrive, and we will consult with the Japanese through various channels, and as long as we are polite and courteous, and do not take the initiative to provoke, the Japanese will not dare to risk the world's condemnation and cause trouble.

Over the past half month, we have repeatedly stated that we will protect the security and interests of overseas Japanese in Shandong and will not harm the current rights and interests of European and American countries, and the whole world knows this, and our diplomatic channels are also unimpeded, and all countries in the world do not want the Japanese to dominate Shandong and North China. ”

"Headmaster, please forgive the students for being bold, some words have been buried in my heart for too long, and it is very uncomfortable not to say them. Principal, over the years, that bullshit League of Nations has deceived us more than once, and it has always favored European, American countries and the Japanese in terms of China's rights and interests. Not to mention the humiliation during the Opium War to the Sino-Japanese War and then to the Xinhai Revolution, the League of Nations had not yet been established at that time, and we have no way to blame, but from the time the Beiyang warlords were in power to the present, when did the League of Nations help us? The League of Nations, which appeared to be fair after the last world war, was in fact a pack of vicious wolves in sheep's clothing, a powerful group composed of great powers for the purpose of coordinating how to divide up weak and small countries, and as long as they completed the distribution of interests among themselves, they would never remember the so-called justice, the so-called democracy and equality, and we absolutely could not pin our hopes on the League of Nations. After An Yi finished speaking, he still stood quietly with his head bowed.

Ge Jingen, Chen Lifu, Chen Bui and more than a dozen other high-level staff members all put down their work and looked at An Yi who spoke boldly.

Chiang Kai-shek frowned, slowly lowered his head, slowly closed his palms and crossed his fingers, quietly watching his hands without speaking, and the air was filled with nervousness. The atmosphere in the whole office is getting heavier and heavier, and people seem to be breathless.

Chiang Kai-shek was silent for a long time, raised his head and said calmly: "An Yi, the political problem is very complicated, you have to strengthen your study and training in this area, if your political level is half of your military level, I, the principal, will be satisfied...... Well, I know that you have been very uncomfortable during this time, you have not rested for three days and three nights for the Battle of Jinan, from Xuzhou to Jinan, your command has become smoother and smoother, the overall situation is very good, and it has been praised by the generals of all armies, and all departments of the headquarters and I are very satisfied.

However, at present, the overall situation has been decided, the second phase of the war is about to end, and the finishing work of each army corps is also under the command of General Zhu Yizhi and General Chen Xuexuan (Chen Tiaoyuan), and the third phase of the war is about to be carried out according to the plan. In view of this, I would like you to take a trip to the front line to survey the route of our army's upcoming crossing to the north, the iron bridge over the Yellow River north of Jinan is not safe, just in case, it is necessary to survey several other river crossing sections in the plan, otherwise I will not worry. ”

An Yi was extremely sour in his heart, he knew that Chiang Kai-shek was worried that he would cause trouble, and that his attitude would affect other Whampoa comrades and officers and soldiers in various armies, which would affect the upcoming Sino-Japanese negotiations, and even cause an uncontrollable war, so he would support himself in the northwest direction away from Jinan.

An Yi was very sad in his heart, but he didn't complain, and still respectfully agreed without changing his face: "The student obeys!" Ask the headmaster to allow the students to lead the independent divisions under his command to take the lead and make a forward stop for the legions. ”

"Agreed, if you don't say that I will also let the independent division follow you, if the strength is not enough, I can also transfer one or two divisions to you, there are still many remnants of the Zhilu Army on both sides of the Yellow River to the west and north of Jinan, everything must be careful, I will let the logistics and other departments of the headquarters strongly support you." Chiang Kai-shek looked at An Yi with concern.

"It's enough for the students to bring an independent division, there is no strong enemy on the northern front and the western front, and the students can't even use the artillery regiment and convoy, let them stay just in case, if the situation in the direction of Jinan changes abruptly, the artillery regiment may be able to be used by the principal's side. Students will complete the survey as soon as possible and will never disappoint the principal's expectations! ”

After An Yi finished speaking, he took half a step back and stood on his legs, saluted a standard military salute, and strode away with the steps of a soldier.

Chiang Kai-shek watched An Yi leave, did not turn his head until he could not see the figure, sighed deeply, grabbed the cup on the table, and the school resumed work, the room was quiet, and the slight sound of turning the paper could be heard.

Chen Lifu gently walked to Chiang Kai-shek, who was quietly drinking water, and sat down: "Principal, is the suggestion of his subordinates excessive?" ”

Chiang Kai-shek shook his head slightly: "You are right, you can't leave An Yi here, his mood has been very low these days, and I can see that he is very worried about the changes in Jinan." From the Northern Expedition to the present, he did not have any good feelings and trust for the Japanese. His words just now were very rational, and being able to compromise with humiliation and burden was already a big improvement.

An Yi is a jealous and hateful person, far from being as kind and quiet as he seems on the outside, as long as you recall his cruel methods of annihilating the enemy's Anhui Army's Ninth Division, you can see his character. He was so ruthless to the warlords, let alone the Japanese army that had been holding him back for years? Just in case, it was right to let him leave temporarily, and if he couldn't control his emotions, his fierce generals couldn't control it. ”

"My subordinates always feel a little sorry for him." Chen Lifu sighed.

Chiang Kai-shek raised his head and looked into Chen Lifu's eyes: "Lifu, those who achieve great things must be able to endure humiliation and burden, and endure what ordinary people can't endure." You should trust your own judgment, not be swayed by your feelings, and you must consider the overall situation in everything, and you must not lose the big because of the small.

Only by overcoming the immediate difficulties can we successfully complete the great cause of the Northern Expedition and complete the reunification of the country, and only after years of arduous efforts can we bear fruit.

Even if it is only a nominal reunification, it can legally cut off the separatist dreams of the great powers, as long as we take Beijing, the northern government will perish with it, and we can sever the open ties between the governments of the world and the separatist forces, and force them to recognize us, and the government of the Republic of China can be regarded as the real legitimate government, do you understand? ”

"The subordinates remembered ......"