Behind a small hill a few miles east of the Zhujia River, dozens of military tents appeared on the originally quiet flat land, one of which also had a radio antenna erected high on it, and many officers went in and out of these tents, and there were more soldiers on the periphery of the camp, which was the military headquarters of the 19th Army.

Not long after Hu Zongduo arrived, after he learned last night that Li Mingrui had taken away his troops and sent a telegram to Chiang, he knew that the gap that Li Mingrui had suddenly conceded was blocked by him in a short period of time, and he did not have so many troops, which not only meant that the defense line in the east of Wuhan had been declared broken, but also that the loss of Wuhan was a foregone conclusion. Since the defense line has been broken, there is no point in staying here, Hu Zongduo, who originally received the news of Yang Tenghui's telegram, still wanted to wait for dawn to lead the whole army back to Wuhan, and had already sent the solemn third division to rush back to Wuhan in advance, and waited for the opportunity to defend Wuhan.

Now it is impossible to defend Wuhan, because he doesn't have so many people, as soon as Li Mingrui telegraphed to Jiang, the two armies of the Gui department that were originally in Jiangbei were left, and only Hu Zongduo's 19th Army and the 7th Army were left.

At this moment, in a large tent with a large military map of the Wuhan area hung in the middle, around a temporary table in the middle of the ground, there are some general-level officers, and the soldier with the rank of lieutenant general sitting opposite the door is Hu Zongduo, and the others are Tao Rong, chief of staff of the 19th Army, Li Sichi, commander of the First Division, Li Yixuan, commander of the Second Division, Zheng Zheng, commander of the Third Division, Li Jianhou, chief of staff of the Seventh Army, and Yin Chenggang, commander of the Third Division of the Seventh Army. They were approached by Hu Zongduo to discuss the direction of the army's march.

Yin Chenggang and Li Jianhou, because Li Mingrui was afraid of leaking the news last night, did not dare to inform them, and when they knew that Li Mingrui had taken away the troops and telegraphed to Jiang, the two were so angry that they scolded Li Mingrui for not talking about friendship, and when they were about to pull the troops away to chase Li Mingrui, Hu Zongduo's 19th Army was already on alert, and they couldn't leave if they wanted to, so the helpless two had to take the troops to return to Wuhan with the 19th Army.

Hu Zongduo glanced at everyone with his gaze, only Li Sichi, the commander of the First Division, met his gaze, and the others avoided him intentionally or unintentionally. Yin Chenggang didn't even lift his eyelids, but was absentmindedly fiddling with his ivory cigarette holder.

Hu Zongduo knew that in this situation, not only Yin Chenggang, but also Li Yixuan, commander of the Second Division, Zheng Zheng, commander of the Third Division, Li Jianhou, chief of staff of the Seventh Army, and even Tao Rong, his chief of staff, might be thinking differently.

Hu Zongduo received a telegram from Tao Jun, commander of the 18th Army on the south bank of the Yangtze River, last night, who told him that Chiang Kai-shek had sent someone to him to tell him that as long as Tao Jun, Hu Zongduo, and Xia Wei telegraphed to go to the field and hand over their troops, Chiang Kai-shek would not be blamed for the past. You can fund them to go abroad for investigations, and after a period of time, they can also bring troops.

Only he and Chief of Staff Tao Rong know about this matter now, and after the telegram, Chiang Kai-shek did not blame him in the past, and he also believed that he went abroad to investigate, even if he asked them to lead troops after he returned, he would not believe it in any case. If he handed over the troops so easily, and handed over these troops that the two old commanders Li and Bai relied on, he felt deeply sorry for Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi, who had the grace of knowing him. Without these main forces, Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi have almost lost all the capital to fight against Chiang Kai-shek, and it is absolutely impossible to return to the glory of the past, and he will never see the two old commanders again.

Hu Zongduo is a native of Huangmei, Hubei, after graduating from the fourth phase of the infantry section of the Baoding Army Military Academy, he joined the Gui Army, starting as a platoon commander, and under the promotion and reuse of Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi, he successively served as the commander of the Seventh Brigade of the Seventh Army of the National Revolutionary Army, the commander of the Second Division, the commander of the Third Column of the Third Route Army, and the commander of the Nineteenth Army. Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi's heavy use of Hu Zongduo for him has long aroused the dissatisfaction of the Guangxi generals in the Gui family, so much so that there are rumors in the army that "Guangxi people fight the world, and Hubei Yankees sit in the world."

For these messages, Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi have been resisting the pressure, unmoved, and continue to trust him. This time, Li Zongren left Wuhan, and even handed over the entire Central China army to him, and handed over the Wuhan political branch of which Li Zongren was the chairman to him as his agent.

But he is likely to disappoint the two old chiefs, now there are two armies of Liu Zhi and Song Zhewu in Jiangbei alone, and more than 100,000 people are flanking him before and after, and there are 50,000 people who have no reliable rear support, even the blind can see that they have no possibility of victory. The only thing he can do now is to find a way to bring these more than 50,000 people across the Yangtze River, join Tao Jun, Xia Wei and others and withdraw to Guangxi, and hand over the main forces of these Gui factions to the two old chiefs. But this is not easy to say, not to mention Liu Zhi, who was chasing closely behind, even the Fourth Route Army in front of him surprised him a lot. Zheng Zheng's division was the main division of the Gui system, and it attacked for half a day, with nearly 1,000 casualties, and did not make the slightest progress, which could not but make Hu Zongduo both surprised and frustrated.

What is surprising is that this Fourth Route Army has only been in army for more than two years, and it actually blocked the way of his 50,000-strong army with a strength of more than one brigade (the establishment of the security army is very large, and Hu Zongduo mistakenly thought it was a brigade), and such combat effectiveness could not help but make him feel deeply surprised! Frustrated, he thought that although the Fourth Route Army occupied Hankou, his 50,000 Gui main force could defeat this small accomplice of Chiang Kai-shek, who was beyond his strength, and recapture Hankou, and thus cross south to Wuchang would not be a problem. But now it seems that it is very difficult, and even his own army of more than 50,000 is very likely to be planted in the hands of Song Zhewu.

If the division commanders under him can unite and be of the same mind as Hu Zongduo, Hu Zongduo will still have confidence in recapturing Hankou.

However, now most of the generals in the Gui family are complaining about the "Hunan case" he launched, and there are many complaints, and even Bai Chongxi, who was far away in Hebei at that time, was very dissatisfied with him. In fact, they knew that this was completely instructed by Li Zongren to do it, otherwise he would not have dared to dismiss and expel Lu Diping, the dignified chairman of Hunan Provincial Political Axe, appointed by the central government, in his capacity as a lieutenant general and acting chairman of the Wuhan Political Branch.

Afterwards, Li Zongren said that he had no knowledge of the incident beforehand, and he understood this, so that Li Zongren would have more room for maneuver, which would be more conducive to the Gui faction and Chiang Kai-shek. But now everyone thinks that it was he, Hu Zongduo, who caused this monstrous disaster for the Gui family, and recorded all his resentment on his head, even the division commanders under him also complained about it. In order to make Li Zongren, an old chief who had the grace of knowing him, have the moral upper hand in the debate with Chiang Kai-shek, he could endure the resentment of his colleagues and was willing to bear this black pot for the old chief.

In fact, even if there was no "Hunan case", Chiang Kai-shek would have found other reasons to take action against the Gui system, and as soon as the Second Northern Expedition ended, Chiang Kai-shek had already begun to attack the idea of the Gui system. In June last year, Chiang Kai-shek even sent people with huge sums of money to Wuhan to win over him and Tao Jun, two outliers in the Gui family, thinking that these two Hubei people would not be of the same mind as the Guangxi people. But what Chiang Kai-shek didn't expect was that they not only sternly rejected Chiang Kai-shek's wooing, but also told Li Zongren about it. Li Zongren's questioning made Chiang Kai-shek very embarrassed.

However, Li Zongren believed that Chiang Kai-shek would never give up until he achieved his goal, and that Chiang Kai-shek, as the principal of a small Whampoa Military Academy, was able to stand out step by step in Guangzhou, where there were many Kuomintang veterans and many powerful bigwigs, precisely because of his indomitable spirit.

Since he had already begun the idea of attacking the Gui faction, he would never give up easily, and it was only a matter of time before he attacked the Gui faction, and sooner or later there would be a battle between the Gui faction and Chiang Kai-shek. In this case, it is better to fight late than early, and if Chiang Kai-shek is ready for everything, the Gui family will definitely be defeated. That's why he secretly instructed him to launch the "Hunan Case". Challenge Chiang Kai-shek's authority and test the bottom line of tolerating the Gui line. If Chiang Kai-shek is patient and retreats, it means that he is not ready, and the Gui family can take the opportunity to rectify the two lakes and consolidate Central China, and once he and Chiang Kai-shek make a good move, they will be in a favorable position. Moreover, if Chiang Kai-shek backs down, then he will lose his prestige, and some wavering powerful factions will fall to their Gui faction.

When the disarmament conference was held in Nanjing last year, he and Feng Yuxiang had reached a consensus that Chiang Kai-shek would take action against them and Yan Xishan in Shanxi, and that no matter who Chiang Kai-shek did to them, they would help each other. Li Zongren even looked forward to Chiang Kai-shek not being able to swallow the breath of the "Hunan case" and fighting against the Gui family, so that he could join forces with Feng Yuxiang to drive out Chiang Kai-shek again, and he would have the opportunity to return to the core of the central government again and have the opportunity to win the throne of the highest power that affected the situation in China.

Because of the last time their Gui faction was the main force, Chiang Kai-shek hated him, the head of the Gui faction, and after re-emerging from the mountain, he continued to suppress their Gui faction. For example, Feng Yuxiang was appointed as the premier of the Executive Yuan and Yan Xishan was appointed as the Minister of the Interior, although neither of them went to Nanjing to perform their duties, and they were both handed over to their subordinates to act as agents, but after all, the Northwest Army and the Jin Sui Army shared part of the rights of the central government.

On the contrary, Chiang Kai-shek was very stingy with him and Bai Chongxi, and the two of them are still white in the central government, if it were not for the nearly 300,000 troops of the Gui Department, I believe that Chiang Kai-shek would have kicked them away long ago. Looking at Chiang Kai-shek's resentment against him in this way, it is absolutely difficult to dissolve, and he will want to put him to death as soon as possible. Instead of sitting and waiting to be killed, it is better for Suo to give it a go. It's just that the old chief seems to have miscalculated, not only Yan Xishan was the first to jump out to support Chiang Kai-shek's crusade against the Gui family, but also sent Song Zhewu's Fourth Route Army; Even Feng Yuxiang, who wanted to take advantage of the fisherman, couldn't bear it, and sent a telegram last night to support Chiang Kai-shek's crusade against the Gui system, and Han Fuyu's 100,000 troops who had stopped at Wusheng Pass for nearly a month must have been out of the customs now.

He, Hu Zongduo, acted according to Li Zongren's orders, contacted Tao Jun and Xia Wei to support He Jian in the name of the Wuhan Political Branch, and expelled Lu Diping. Even he was sure that Xia Wei must have been instructed by Li Zongren, otherwise, a Guangxi general of the Gui family like Xia Wei would never listen to him. It was because Li Zongren could not rush to Wuhan to take command this time and hand over the military power to him, if it were not for Li Zongren's repeated strict orders, he would have been able to command Xia Wei with all difficulties.

Chief of Staff Tao Rong's cough interrupted Hu Zongduo's thoughts, and Hu Zongduo saw that everyone present was looking at him with complicated expressions, knowing that his expression might have caused them to misunderstand. I couldn't help but stand up and look at everyone with a majestic gaze. Hu Zongduo knew that at this time, they must not be allowed to see their pessimism and frustration. In that case, without waiting for themselves to be powered on, these people will run out of troops with their troops.

Hu Zongduo cleared his throat and said in a slow but firm tone: "Ladies and gentlemen, the current situation is very grim, and there is a section of the Fourth Route Army Song Zhewu to intercept it; Later, Liu Zhi's Second Route Army was in hot pursuit, which was very unfavorable to our army. The 18th Army of our unit and Commander Tao was separated by the Yangtze River, and they could not support each other, and they were in danger of being broken by each other. Now it is no longer possible to talk about holding on to Wuhan, what we need to do is how to bring these tens of thousands of main forces back to Guangxi safely, so as to live up to Chief Li's years of cultivation and kindness. Now, ask Chief of Staff Tao to brief his family on the situation of the war. ”

Tao Rong, chief of staff, stood up and walked to the hanging map, pointed to the map and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, according to intelligence, since Cheng Qian and He Jiantou Jiang Hou Commander Tao of the 18th Army led his troops to withdraw to the Wuchang and Hongshan areas, and set up blocking positions on the front line of Chashan, Jiufeng Mountain, and Qingshan to prevent the Third and Fifth Armies of Zhu Peide's division from advancing westward into Wuchang. At the same time, Li Shiqiao's division was sent to Wuchang to receive our troops from Hankou to Wuchang; Send Lin Yisheng's division south to Jiangxia, capture Xianning, and ensure that our army retreats south after crossing the river. He Jianbu has already occupied Changde and Yueyang, intending to prevent me from going south to Guangxi. Since we withdrew from our position last night, Liu Zhi's Second Route Army, with Hu Zongnan's 1st Brigade as the vanguard, has crossed the position I abandoned in Huanggang this morning, and is chasing our troops at the end of the journey, and it is estimated that it will be able to engage our troops in the rear of the palace before tonight. In front of us, there was a section of the Fourth Route Army blocking our army's westward advance into Hankou on the front line of Zhujia and Hechenjiayu, and the number of the blocking force was unknown, with about 15,000 people, including about one brigade of infantry, one regiment of cavalry, and one regiment of artillery. Although the force is limited, the firepower is very strong. In addition to a mountain artillery regiment of about 24 75mm mountain guns, there are also a large number of 60mm and 82mm mortars, which are far more than a corps of the Central Army in terms of artillery fire alone. Our army solemnly attacked for half a day, but no progress was made for the time being. The location of the rest of the Fourth Route Army is unknown, and it is estimated that the surnames in Hankou and Hanyang may be larger. After Feng Yuxiang released the telegram last night, it is estimated that Han Fuyu's 100,000 troops have already left Wusheng Pass, and the specific location is unknown. ”

After Tao Rong introduced the situation, he returned to Hu Zongduo and sat down, several people in the tent were depressed by the battle situation introduced by Tao Rong, although most of them already knew about these situations, but they still had some heart palpitations after listening to it.

Hu Zongduo silently observed everyone's expressions, and he wanted to know the mentality of these generals who were picked up by Chief Li at this time.

(To be continued)