On the morning of the 2nd, that is, when Sun Li was inspecting the position, outside the Deming Hotel (now the Jianghan Hotel) in Hankou, the security guards were lined up with heavy guards, and sandbag fortifications were piled up on the street in front of the gate, on which several machine guns were erected, and this was now the station of the Wuhan Forward Headquarters of the Fourth Route Army.

The hotel is a typical French-style three-storey building with a sloping roof covered with bucket-shaped iron tiles and black asphalt linoleum. The circular dormer windows on the floor and the pilasters on the façade are distinctly French-style, as well as floor-to-ceiling windows that open onto the garden, and the entrance is a circular revolving door. Xiao Guodong and Zhang Yafei set their front fingers here, not for the sake of grandeur and comfort, but because they asked for a quiet and spacious place, the people from the staff office directly brought them here.

In a conference room on the second floor, Xiao Guodong and Zhang Yafei were listening to Ye Changgui, Chu Feng, Wang Xinggang, Han Guang, Gao Tianyuan, Chief of Staff Feng Jianmin, and others report on the completion of their respective tasks. According to Song Zhewu's idea, he wanted Chu Feng to concentrate on civil affairs, so as to prepare for him to have a territory in the future, and this time he was sent to bring troops to let Chu Feng participate in receiving a big city like Wuhan and accumulate experience.

At this moment, Hankou and Hanyang have been completely controlled by the security forces. After the special brigade infiltrated the city last night, it took small units to control important areas and important departments, and when Liu Dayong, chief of staff of the Fourth Group Army, and Xia Wei, commander of the Seventh Army, crossed the river, they had just arrived at the dock and had no time to stop them. At present, most of the areas under its control have been transferred to the First Regiment, and only the Hankow Telegraph Office, Jiji Hydropower Co., Ltd., Huilong Bank, Macquarie Bank, HSBC, Profitabiner, Banque de France, Liru Bank, Agarshorn Bank, Deutsche Wah Bank of Germany, Crédit Agricole CIB, Doshen Bank of Russia, Zhengjin Bank, China Commerce Bank, Bank of China, Zhejiang Industrial Bank, etc., in Hankow, as well as foreign foreign banks headed by Jardine Matheson. In particular, more than 200 passenger and cargo ships controlled by them are still controlled by special brigades; In addition to taking over the military and administrative departments and munitions depots in the city, the troops of the First Regiment stationed in Hankou set up a cordon on the periphery of the Russian, French, and Japanese concessions along the Yangtze River, arranged corresponding troops to guard the Hankou railway station, Dazhimen terminus, and the airport, and arranged troops to guard all roads, wharves, major blocks, and intersections entering and leaving Hankou. Wang Xinggang's pickets and the cavalry of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade Regiment formed more than 100 patrol teams in squads, patrolling all over Hankou City to maintain order; The troops stationed in Hanyang focused on controlling the Hanyang Arsenal, the Hanyang Iron Works, and the Hangang Bridge connecting Hankou and Hanyang, and set up positions on Guishan; Song Zhewu's thoughts were only understood by Xiao Guodong, so as soon as he entered Wuhan, Xiao Guodong handed over the guard troops he brought to Chu Feng a battalion and asked him to take over municipal affairs immediately. Chu Feng did not disappoint Song Zhewu, and quickly arranged the water and electricity supply and transportation in Hankou and Hanyang. Liu Wendao came forward and persuaded the chief of the Hankou Police Department to order all the police officers to hand over their weapons and maintain order on the streets with only batons with the cooperation of some members of the special brigade. With the active cooperation of Liu Wendao, a relief center for the victims was set up in the First Special Zone (formerly the Hankou German Concession) and the Racecourse of the Six Nations Foreign Merchants in the north of the concession, and the porridge farms were set up, and grain and a small amount of money and materials were distributed, mainly to the victims from Shaanxi. Now that the personnel for the relief of the victims have been in place, just waiting for the food to arrive, this matter is what Song Zhewu explained to him that he must handle. What puzzled him was that Song Zhewu repeatedly stressed the need to publicize with great fanfare that Song Zhewu, commander-in-chief of the Fourth Route Army, was acting in accordance with Chairman Chiang's orders. Now, at the suggestion of Song Zhewu, more than a dozen trucks equipped with megaphones are repeatedly paraded around Hankou and Hanyang, reading out the notices of the Fourth Route Army's entry into Wuhan and the notices of relief to the victims.

Finally, Feng Jianmin, chief of staff, reported on the situation: "In Hankou and Hanyang, a total of 36 warehouses belonging to the Gui army were found, including 12 weapons and ammunition depots, mainly rifles, machine guns and various bullets and shells. It is initially estimated that there are more than 70,000 rifles, more than 400 machine guns, tens of thousands of 60mm mortar shells, and more than 30,000 75mm mountain artillery shells. In addition, there are 12 92 infantry guns, which are new and not yet in use, they should have been shipped recently, and 12,000 rounds of shells for the 92 infantry guns. The other warehouses were filled with grain, Gui army's clothes, cloth, medicine, and hundreds of barrels of gasoline. In addition, 7,400 7,400 79 rifles, 1.2 million rounds of 7.92 pointed bullets, and a large number of other military supplies were found in the warehouse of the Hanyang Arsenal. ”

The figures reported by Chief of Staff Feng Jianmin surprised everyone except Xiao Guodong, Xiao Guodong, as the chief of staff of the security army, knew that the things in his warehouse were not much less than here, and he already had immunity. But the others are different, their first thought is to get rich! The security army has made a fortune! This time Wuhan is definitely not in vain!

Seeing everyone's surprised looks, Xiao Guodong wanted to tease a few people, but now the time is very tight, and there are still many things that need to be done immediately, not only Hu Zongduo's 19th Army is about to arrive in Hankou, but even the Central Army will also arrive soon. He now had to not only block the Nineteenth Army, but also transport away the many captured materials before the Central Army entered Hankow. After all, in front of the Central Army, it was a bit inappropriate to transport such a large amount of materials outward.

Xiao Guodong coughed, everyone knew that Xiao Guodong was going to assign tasks, so they all quieted down. Xiao Guodong said solemnly: "Since last night until now, all the actions have been carried out smoothly, everyone's tasks have been completed very well, and I will report all everyone's performance to Wenge when I go back." However, what I would like to remind you now is. Speaking of this, Xiao Guodong accentuated his tone: "Our task has not been completed yet, according to the intelligence of the Central Army transferred by Wen Ge, Hu Zongduo's 19th Army has broken away from its position last night and is rushing back to Hankou at the same time; Although we have captured so much material, we can make up for our losses to a large extent, and even make a lot of money. But I want to remind you, this is also Wenge's fear, as long as the central army enters Hankow, these supplies will not be ours, and only if we transport them away before they arrive, then it will really belong to us. The trucks of the Baggage Brigade are now transporting the troops led by Division Commander Gao to the east of Hankou to support the commander of the 3rd Regiment Sun in blocking the 19th Army back to Hankou. What we need to do now is as follows: First, under the command of Division Commander Zhang Yafei, the first regiment, the cavalry brigade, and the special brigade are responsible for maintaining law and order in Hankou and Hanyang, and pay close attention to the enemy's movements in the direction of Wuchang, and make preparations to block the enemy's crossing of the river. Second, all the materials captured by the Gui army were transported away, and the 7.92 caliber bullets from the warehouse of the Hanyang Arsenal were taken away, and the rest of the materials were not touched. ”

After a pause, Xiao Guodong looked at a few people slowly and seriously and said, "For anyone who dares to challenge the authority of our security forces, they will be punished on the spot and will not be tolerated. I draw your attention to the exact words of the telegram sent to me by Wengo. ”

Xiao Guodong, who has always been kind, gave orders in a rare tone, and everyone had already raised their spirits, and when they heard what Song Zhewu meant, they didn't dare to slack off. Zhang Yafei stared at Xiao Guodong and asked, "Chief of Staff, can I understand that no matter who you are, as long as you hinder us from maintaining law and order, you can do this?" Xiao Guodong hesitated for a moment and nodded: "It can be understood in this way." ”

Seeing that Zhang Yafei was silent again, Xiao Guodong continued: "Division Commander Zhang will send a company to Chu Feng to immediately transport grain from the Guijun Grain Depot to the Six Nations Foreign Merchants Racecourse to help the victims, and take as much as they need. "In addition, Xinggang, Wen Ge explained your recruitment, you have to handle it immediately." Xiao Guodong looked at Wang Xinggang and said.

Wang Xinggang said: "Chief of Staff, arrangements have been made for going to various universities and recruiting soldiers among the refugees, but the people we sent to recruit soldiers at the Hanyang Ordnance College of the Ministry of War at the Hanyang Arsenal have encountered trouble. The principal said that they were subordinate to the Nanjing Ordnance Industry Bureau, and they were also from the central government, and we were not allowed to recruit people from him. Zhang Yafei glared and said dissatisfiedly: "I said Director Wang, this matter is also troublesome to the chief of staff?" When I turn around, I'll send someone to arrest him first, and then you can recruit him. ”

Xiao Guodong thought for a while and said: "There is something special here, Chairman Jiang's telegram to Wen Ge specifically said that it is necessary to protect the Hanyang Arsenal. In my opinion, in this way, the vehicles of the baggage brigade will arrive in the afternoon, and as soon as the vehicles arrive, you will arrange for people to hurry up and load the vehicles, and all the materials must be transported away tonight, and if the vehicles are not enough, you can think of a way in Hankou. Tomorrow morning, you will find that principal to come to Hankou, no matter what method you use, just don't let him go back to Hanyang tomorrow, Xinggang will recruit people tomorrow while he is not there, the treatment Wenge has already said, you can decide for yourself to be higher, everything is for the purpose of recruiting people. ”

Xiao Guodong saw that everyone had no problems, and asked, "I understand everything, then go and arrange it immediately." ”

As soon as everyone left, Mengxi, the chief of operations, came to Xiao Guodong with a telegram, which was sent by Sun Li, reporting that he had exchanged fire with the vanguard of a brigade of the 19th Army of Hu Zongduo of the Gui Army.

Xiao Guodong frowned and asked Mengxi: "How long will it take for them to reach Zhujiahe, Senior Master?" "It will take two hours at the earliest." Mengxi replied.

Xiao Guodong looked at his watch, it was now 8:10, thought for a while, and ordered: "You immediately send someone to ride a horse to tell Division Commander Gao that he should rush to Zhujiahe as soon as possible, if it is late, the third regiment is afraid that it will not be able to withstand it, it is a division of the army and the Seventh Army." ”

Xiao Guodong, who hadn't slept all night, just wanted to lean back on the chair and squint for a while, Zhang Yafei pushed the door in, and said with a bitter face: "Chief of Staff, I didn't want to disturb you, but you have to do this thing." Zhang Yafei is a very optimistic person, it is very rare to have such a bitter face, Xiao Guodong hurriedly said: "What happened?" Zhang Yafei said: "The US Consul in Hankow, Willy, asks to see him. "U.S. consul? Did he say anything? Xiao Guodong was a little surprised, could it be that there was a diplomatic dispute?

Zhang Yafei said: "I asked him, but this big nose didn't say anything, just said that he must see our top commander, then you can only come." However, I heard from the translator that there was something very important, and there was also a telegram from Situ Leiden, the president of Yenching University in Peiping, to Wenge, asking us to forward it to Wenge. ”

(To be continued)