The snowflakes fluttered down again, and after a week of rushing, An Yi gained a lot, but he was deeply puzzled by the strange aura faintly wafting out of the army.

With the blue sky and white flag planted at the head of Nanchang City, the power of the two major warlords Wu Peifu and Sun Chuanfang, who had been rampant in China for many years, had been greatly weakened.

At this time, the main forces of the two warlords had been broken one by one, and they were on the verge of a dead end, and the seven provinces of Guangdong, Hunan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Jiangxi, Hubei, and Fujian under the occupation of the national political axe had been connected into one, and the two provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan and the northwest, Jin, and Sui were attached to the revolution echoing each other from afar, and the prestige of the revolutionary army and the unstoppable revolutionary wave swept through half of China.

Just when the prospects for the great cause of the Northern Expedition were bright, all kinds of noises were also disturbed by the tremendous changes in the situation, and the major forces holding high the same banner began to make a subtle change from quietly practicing internal skills to galloping with great ambitions, and the first military force that was rapidly expanding and no longer willing to give in finally came forward: General Tang Shengzhi, who was appointed by the Kuomintang as chairman of Hunan Province and commander in chief of the Eighth Army, immediately issued an application for the expansion of the Eighth Army into four armies a few days after the headquarters of the National Revolutionary Army was stationed in Nanchang. Determined to win, the names of the four army commanders, Li Pinxian, Ye Qi, He Jian, and Liu Xing, were listed.

A piece of telegram was like a boulder, instantly breaking the seemingly peaceful and calm lake, and the layers of waves stirred up ripples and rapid spread, and the Fourth Army of the famous Iron Army, which had worked hard and made great achievements, was ready to immediately echo the voice, and sent a clear telegram to the General Headquarters and Commander-in-Chief Chiang, requesting that the Fourth Army be expanded and the Eleventh Army added.

For a time, all departments of the army and even all major forces in the country focused their attention on Nanchang to see how the General Headquarters dealt with these two major military blocs that had already secretly completed military expansion and only needed to obtain official names to justifiably compete for hegemony and expansion.

The rapidly growing Tang Shengzhi Department benefited the most in the entire Northern Expedition, the Eighth Army, which was originally defeated all the way and only had two divisions left, first recovered Hengyang and Changsha with the support of Li Zongren's Department of the Seventh Army to recover its vitality, and then obtained a large number of weapons and ammunition in the First Battle of Yueyang, and fully accepted tens of thousands of prisoners who were cut off by the Fourth and Seventh Armies, and secretly attacked Hanyang when the armies attacked Wuchang, and drove into Hanyang and occupied Hankou under the guidance of Liu Zuolong, the Hanyang defender of the Surrender Revolution. Quickly occupy the country's largest ordnance production enterprise Hanyang Arsenal as its own, and immediately send the main force to Wuchang when the city of Wuchang is broken.

After the Northern Expedition entered Jiangxi, Tang Shengzhi's troops quietly expanded their strength, and their strength swelled sharply, and the number of officers and soldiers in the whole army increased sharply from more than 10,000 to more than 80,000, and finally included the three towns of Wuhan, and it became the most powerful military group among the various departments of the National Revolutionary Army.

Chiang Kai-shek, commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army, immediately understood everything when he received the telegrams, and he pinched the two telegrams as if he were pinching two scorching coals, which burned his heart and burned his heart, knowing full well that as soon as this wind opened, the entire revolutionary army would lose control, and that the major forces in Yunnan, Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Jinjin, which were still in a wait-and-see state, would inevitably support their own troops and wantonly expand, and seriously questioned the authority and ability of the General Headquarters of the National Revolutionary Army and the Central Committee of the Kuomintang, even at the juncture of the crisis of the National Revolutionary Army. By once again using various pretexts to telegraph the whole country to break away from the revolution in order to safeguard its own interests, the victory of the Northern Expedition that had been achieved with great effort would be completely lost, and the dying lineage and Anhui would take the opportunity to breathe and resurge, and the great cause of the revolution would be immediately extinguished.

If Chiang Kai-shek did not agree to the demands of Tang and Zhang, the entire revolutionary military force would immediately undergo irreparable changes. He knew very clearly that Tang Shengzhi, who had already received great help from external forces and had begun to secretly interact with the political clique, was already full of fledgling, and that he would inevitably rely on his rapidly expanding military strength to climb to the top of the Wuhan Tower and raise his arms and create a split in the form of a separate Kuomintang Central Political Axe.

Zhang Fakui, the general of the Guangdong Army who fought like a tiger but was short-sighted in politics, had already shown his proud surname, and his confidence and political ** were rapidly inflated in the troubled times, and in the face of the temptation of huge political and economic interests, he had developed to the point of ignoring the qualifications and authority of Li Jishen, the commander of the highly respected Fourth Army, and was bent on snatching the number of the Fourth Army into his own hands, without considering the feelings of Li Jishen and his colleagues who stayed in the base camp in Guangdong, and the other two division commanders and colleagues, and calmly and generously released the rumors. He asked Shimono's friend Wang Jingwei, who had used medical treatment as an excuse, to leave Paris as soon as possible and return to China to preside over party affairs.

According to the analysis of Zhang Fakui's surname, in order to achieve his goal, he will definitely do his best to support Tang Shengzhi, and no matter which side of Nanchang or Wuhan gains power, Zhang Fakui, who has no fear, will benefit from it, and if he is satisfied, he will be able to continue to expand justifiably, and if he is not satisfied, he will unite with Tang Shengzhi, hold high the "revolutionary banner" to welcome Wang Jingwei back to power, and set up another central political axe, and the overall force of the national revolution, which is already in the same bed and dreaming, will immediately split and disintegrate.

Under irretrievable circumstances, Commander-in-Chief Chiang Kai-shek put away the disappointment and anger in his heart, and after a day and a night of secret discussions with his think tank, he immediately convened a military meeting with a pleasant face and agreed to the request of General Tang Shengzhi and General Zhang Fakui for enlargement, and immediately sent a telegram of commendation, highly appraising the great achievements of the two armies in the Northern Expedition.

As a result, General Tang Shengzhi's headquarters got his wish and was officially expanded into General Li Pinxian's Eighth Army, General Ye Qi's Eighteenth Army, General He Jian's Thirty-fifth Army, and General Liu Xing's Thirty-sixth Army.

General Zhang Fakui, who had made brilliant achievements in battle, was also satisfied; General Chen Keyu, deputy commander of the Fourth Army, who had led the 10 th and 12 th divisions of the Fourth Army to participate in the Northern Expedition, resigned due to a sudden illness and returned to Guangdong more than a month ago to recuperate, and Zhang Fakui took over the post of deputy army commander.

After receiving the telegram that the expansion was approved, General Zhang Fakui, who was determined to succeed in this expansion, expanded his 12th Division into the Fourth Army within one day, and General Zhang Fakui, who had worked hard and made great achievements, was successfully promoted to commander, General Huang Qixiang, a fierce general of the Fourth Army, was promoted to deputy commander and commander of the 12th Division, and General Zhu Yuehui was appointed commander of the newly formed 25th Division. The 10th Division, which had already set up a framework, immediately became the 11th Army of the National Revolutionary Army, and its commander, General Chen Shuming, was promoted to commander of the 11th Army, and the deputy commander was General Jiang Guangding, which consisted of the original 10th Division, the 24th Division and the 26th Division, which were newly organized before and after the defeat of Wuchang.

As a result, Chen Jitang and Xu Jingtang, commanders of the Fourth Army Li Jishen who remained in Guangdong, were forced to call the General Headquarters of the National Revolutionary Army to ask how to determine the number of the headquarters of the headquarters because they overlapped with the number of the Fourth Army of General Zhang Fakui in the front. Commander-in-Chief Chiang received the telegram and knew that he would convene the meeting again, and soon half of the Fourth Army that remained in the base camp in Guangdong was given the title of the Eighth Route Army by the General Headquarters.

The rapid expansion of the two major military forces of Tang Shengzhi and Zhang Fakui immediately triggered a chain reaction that affected the whole army, and the intensity of the reaction far exceeded the expectations of the General Headquarters and Commander-in-Chief Chiang himself:

The Second Army of Lu Diping's Division, the Third Army of Zhu Peide's Division, and the Sixth Army of Cheng Qian's Division, which had just taken Nanchang and were resting in Jiangxi, were in an uproar, and General Li Zongren's Seventh Army felt deeply unfair because it could not be expanded.

Among them, only the outstanding performance of General Li Zongren of the Seventh Army pleased the General Headquarters, and under the earnest teachings of General Li Zongren, the generals and colonels of the Seventh Army closed their mouths one after another, and slowly withdrew to the front line of eastern Hubei to station, far away from the whirlpool.

General Li Zongren, who was well aware of the great achievements in the great righteous war, entered Nanchang several times, talked with Commander-in-Chief Chiang on his knees, and tactfully criticized the commander-in-chief for not approving the requests of General Tang Shengzhi and General Zhang Fakui for expanding the army. And set an example and publicly stated: In addition to changing the subordinate brigades into divisions in accordance with the norms of the National Revolutionary Army, the Seventh Army will not ask for the expansion of the number number!

For a time, General Li Zongren, who had made great achievements in the Northern Expedition, won praise and praise from all walks of life inside and outside the army for his noble demeanor and lofty moral sentiments that he deeply understood the righteousness and was humble and open-minded.

At this time, General Bai Chongxi also took advantage of the power of the deputy chief of the general staff to play a beautiful game and distributed more than 30,000 guns, hundreds of light and heavy machine guns, and a large amount of ammunition captured by more than 30,000 enemy troops in the "Battle of Makou" to the second, third, and sixth armies stationed in Jiangxi.

At a time when the military and political circles of the National Revolutionary Army were bustling but there was an undercurrent surging, the First Army under Commander-in-Chief Chiang was also the same as General Li Zongren's Seventh Army, loose on the outside and tight on the inside, and cultivated hard.

When the generals and colonels of the two armies, who were so busy that their buttocks were smoking, completed the arduous task of expanding their bodies and raised their heads and looked around, they suddenly found that an inconspicuous reading regiment had been quietly born, a supplementary regiment that had been temporarily organized without a number, and had been officially included in the sequence of the fighting units of the National Revolutionary Army in silence, and when the various departments were greatly relieved, they quietly closed the large battalion and launched high-intensity intense training.

This young combat collective is the supplementary regiment of the Second Division of the First Army of the National Revolutionary Army a few days ago, and the Reading Regiment of the Second Division of the First Army of the National Revolutionary Army today.

Under the ardent expectation of Commander-in-Chief Chiang's cordial care, An Yi, the head of the Reading Force, first succeeded in obtaining 12 French 81mm mortars, 8 Maxim water-cooled heavy machine guns, 500 German-made rifles, 200 flower machine guns, and 50 Colt military pistols.

Two days after this batch of equipment quietly arrived at the old Nanchang military camp, An Yi again obtained 6,000 mortar shells, 450,000 rounds of machine and rifle bullets, 50,000 rounds of barge guns and Colt military pistol bullets, 300 boxes of German-made grenades, and 1,200 sets of infantry and cavalry equipment and other materials.

From the second day after An Yi's department determined the establishment, he reported to the military headquarters of the First Army on time at 8 o'clock in the morning every day, saluted the ministers and officials solemnly and respectfully, and then began to report on his work and ideological awareness.

Most of the apologetic bosses of the First Army's military headquarters were leaders or instructors of various departments of the Whampoa Military Academy, and these teachers were full of emotion in the face of An Yi, a good student with a sad face and thin clothes, who was still hanging a wounded arm, and they could only grit their teeth and send 7,000 sets of winter clothes, 4,000 pairs of high-top field shoes, 4,000 military quilts, and 3,800 military blankets to the Reading Force.

An Yi thanked him for his unanimous salute and was inexplicably grateful, which ended his revolutionary action of "reporting to the military headquarters every day on time to pursue progress".

Seeing An Yi coming with a smile, Xu Tingyao didn't want to immediately pick up a pen to sign the official declaration document, and wrote down a note and handed it to Liu Zhi together.

Liu Zhi took it with a wry smile, and quickly signed without looking at it, rewarding 20,000 of the 50,000 yuan bonus won in the Nanchang Campaign to the Reading Power Regiment at one time, and from this month onwards, in accordance with the standards for military salaries and military subsidies for Class A combat units, a strict system for regular cash distribution and handover will be determined.

An Yi made a beautiful time difference in the chaotic situation, and finally got his wish, raised his eyebrows, and immediately took out gold bars worth 10,000 dollars to secretly point out and thank him, such a beautiful hand won the great favor of the ministers under the General Headquarters and the heads of the first army, and the middle and upper echelons of various interest departments all regarded An Yi as a good young man who was affectionate and righteous, and knew how to repay his kindness, and deeply admired him for having such a thoughtful and delicate style of doing things at such an age.

After completing all the tasks and completing all the formalities, An Yi did not stop his diligent steps, made a complete report to the principal and submitted the two valuable reports of "Reading Force Training Plan and Phased Goals" and "Theoretical Exploration of Special Operations", and returned to the station in the president's happy eyes and earnest teachings. It has paid a huge price to increase its own gastrointestinal load and damage the health of brain cells, and has won praise and enthusiastic support from all walks of life in the station.

At night, the east wing of the old Nanchang County Ya Hall is brightly lit, all the furniture in the room of more than 80 square meters has been emptied, the beautiful Bogu frame and sandalwood color shell screen in the middle of the two rooms of one large and one small have been removed, the center of the room is a large sand table of two meters by three meters, and the walls on the north and south sides are hung with a military topographic map and the administrative region map of eastern Jiangxi and southern Zhejiang.

An Yi, who had just completed the bilateral tactical deduction, and the brothers settled the gambling money, and the spring breeze proudly walked out of the war room and came to the lobby to sit down and drink tea one after another.

Huang Yingwu, the instructor of the model battalion, asked loudly: "Regiment commander, when will the beautiful collar badge just sent by the division headquarters be issued to the brothers?" ”

An Yi asked unhurriedly: "What?" Now I want to hang up the new collar badge, won't I be in a hurry to go to Xiaoyao Lou to drink flower wine and show off, right? ”

The brothers laughed when they heard this, and Huang Yingwu, who had already cultivated to perfection, smiled indifferently and said: "Don't laugh, except for the head of the regiment and Deputy Hu Tuan, who of you dare to touch your chest and say that you haven't been to Huxi Road to visit the kiln?" ”

"Parrot, are you looking for death?" Yin Jinan put down the teacup and scolded unhappily.

Huang Yingwu came back to his senses and smiled at Yin Jinan: "Oops, I forgot to count you for a while...... In fact, you are much more honest than the regiment commander and the regiment deputy. ”

Everyone laughed again, and Huang Yingwu saw that his beard was not good, so he quickly stood up and walked to the backyard, and said with a smile as he walked: "I'm patrolling the camp!" Let's talk slowly, haha......"

Seeing that the time was not early, the brothers also took their leave and returned to their respective camps one after another, and after a while, only An Yi, Hu Zi, Yin Jinan, Yang Bin and Qu Muchen were left in the hall.

Qu Muchen moved to sit next to An Yi and said softly to the three of them: "I'm afraid that the guard company of the tiger head will only come back tomorrow, the two teams led by Ding Zhicheng and Dou Fang are estimated to have entered the front line of Changshan in western Zhejiang, and the instructors of each section of the teaching team have gone two-thirds, and there are only six regular subject instructors left, let's see if you can adjust the curriculum and training items?" ”

An Yi patted his head: "I forgot to tell you just now that tomorrow morning, the military observation group organized by the headquarters will come to us to visit and investigate, and all the armies in Jiangxi have also sent people to participate, and the military headquarters and division headquarters have asked us to show three projects: queue training, obstacle course, and engineer road construction." The queue training is handed over to your teaching team, and we have ready-made facilities behind the show jumper, so you can just let the brothers of a company of the model battalion go out and go around.

Although the second company of engineers who had just been transferred from the model battalion had not completed the run-in, it was enough for this group of generals to see, Weijiaxi on the edge of the camp was the site selected by the textile factory, and a road needed to be built between the high and low yellow mud gang and the main road on the east side of the creek. There is only one requirement, that is, all officers and men should wear old clothes and shoes, as long as they are not tattered or worn neatly, and they must not do stupid things such as beating up swollen faces and becoming fat. ”

Yin Jinan looked at his watch: "So I have to send a messenger to inform each battalion one by one, otherwise I'm afraid the brothers won't have time to prepare." ”

An Yi nodded: "Lao Yang, you personally go to the second camp in the east of the city, tell Lao Ye what we mean, and he will understand, I am worried that a group of generals can't help but go in and see when they pass by their second camp, the scenery of the Dong Gong Temple where the second camp lives is too good." ”

"In this way, I will let the brothers of one company of the second battalion leave behind to watch the house, and the other three companies and the platoons of the companies directly under the battalion headquarters will all be taken out for a cross-country training, and tomorrow morning they will run to Dutou Village, 15 kilometers to the east, in full armor, and carry out the newly equipped mortars and heavy machine guns, and come back when it gets dark, so that all the brothers will not be willing to put on new clothes." Yang Bin is worthy of being an old fritter, and a small idea can eliminate possible problems.

Hu Zi smiled slightly: "Then I'll go to Chen Zhibiao's third battalion, let's also have a cross-country training plus shooting training, and drive to the line of Puguan Temple, eighteen kilometers southeast, where the mountains are high and the lake is wide, which is most suitable for shooting guns and artillery." ”

"You're all gone, aren't you?" Yin Jinan asked worriedly.

Yang Bin shook his head: "Isn't there still your model camp?" If it weren't for the equipment in these two days, the whole group would not be exhausted from training one day, normal! According to the established plan, the training will be even harder. ”

An Yi laughed heartily: "Jinan, let all the brothers in the model battalion wear old clothes, and all the officers above the company commander wear new clothes, and they all have to hang up the collar badges that have just been issued, and greet the VIPs in good spirits, haha!" ”

The brothers were stunned for a moment, and then immediately understood An Yi's meaning, and they all laughed heartily.

(To be continued)