Just after nine o'clock, the rain had stopped for five hours, and the sun shone through the gaps in the clouds, slanting down the verdant mountains and the moist earth.

Yu Jishi, who concurrently served as the commander of the Second Security Division in the capacity of the Provincial Security Division, Ma Zhizhai, chief of staff of the Provincial Security Command, and Chen Shizheng, who was officially promoted to the chief of staff of the Second Security Division, rode into Maopailing Village, followed by Yu Jishi's guard battalion, and the other two regiments had returned to Wanfang Town in the north of Nancheng to rest after the battle at the East Pass.

Wu Ming led the regimental staff officers Zhang Dongning, Dai Ziran and the first battalion commander Yin Dizhong to meet the Sanhekou in the east of the village, Yu Jishi rarely turned over and dismounted, and saluted Wu Ming who came forward to salute in return, after listening to Wu Ming's brief report, threw the reins to the guards behind him, and walked back to the village side by side with Wu Ming.

Zhang Dongning and Dai Ziran hurriedly stepped forward to greet Ma Zhizhai and Chen Shizheng, and accompanied the two smiling Shangguan back to the village.

Yu Jishi looked as he walked, and only after walking more than a dozen steps did he look at the gray military uniform on Wu Ming's body, and joked in a low voice: "Your current military uniform is far from the spirit of last night." ”

Wu Ming "chuckled" in his heart, and immediately knew that his spy company was remembered by this Shangguan, so he smiled and changed the topic, and explained the words prepared in advance:

"Division, last night we found out that the main force of the communist army has been withdrawn, the temporary headquarters in the village, the south of the village, the west of the village two key crossings each have one or two companies to guard, four o'clock in the morning is the time for our teams to attack, who knows that around 3:57 suddenly thunder, and a long time of lightning and thunder, touched the west of the two squads were found under the lightning, the communist army immediately fired guns to attack, all the enemy was alarmed, and the reaction was very fast, because our firepower is fierce enough, most of the assault teams hide in the shadows, Under the simultaneous attack from all directions, the communist army made an error in judgment and quickly retreated southward, and due to the heavy rain, we were not enough to pursue and did not achieve any results. ”

Yu Jishi patted Wu Ming on the back, and said with satisfaction as he walked: "I am already very satisfied with the recovery of Maopailing, which is of great strategic significance, and I am not afraid to tell you that the battle of Maopailing is the only key to the entire encirclement and suppression army so far, and General Wu Qiwei is also full of praise for the combat effectiveness and fighting spirit of your department, and I believe that the commission will also be pleased to receive the battle report." ”

Wu Ming was taken aback: "Commission? ”

"Not bad! After your first battalion, engineer company, and machine gun company rushed to the pass, we knew that the battle had been won, and not long after we received the good news that you had taken Maopai Ling, General Wu Qiwei and I immediately reported the battle report to the commission. Don't look at Maopailing is just a small mountain village, the radius is only five miles, with the development of the war, its geographical location is becoming more and more important, it is impossible not to see this key point. Yu Jishi explained in detail.

Seeing that Wu Ming was still a little nervous, Yu Jishi smiled and said: "Don't worry, although you haven't achieved any results, it is a great achievement to take Maopailing, and you have also rescued more than 300 captured brothers, which has done a good job." I regret that there is only one cadre under my command, Wu Ming, although I brought four regiments, but only you Wu Ming can really use it, and it seems that we have to pay close attention to army construction in the future! ”

Wu Ming explained: "There is no need to worry about the division, our four regiments have not fought before, and it is already good to have the performance now, I believe that after the battlefield experience, the brothers will grow up quickly, just a little training, and then pull out the Lu to fight a few battles, after experiencing the war and experience, they are the main force." ”

Yu Jishi nodded slightly: "The credit for this battle belongs to your five regiments...... You and your spy brother are a blockbuster, and it's impressive! It is estimated that the commendation order of the commission will arrive soon, and you are still the lieutenant colonel, right? It's time for a change of rank. ”

Wu Ming was quite grateful: "Thank you for your support!" ”

"Don't thank me, this is what you deserve, let's go, take me to see the brothers of the Fourth Regiment who died in battle, and have a memorial ceremony."

"Understood!"

######

Fuzhou, the general headquarters.

Chiang Kai-shek, who had not slept all night, was still writing a book, his face and mental state were very poor, and the destruction of two divisions finally made him feel powerless, and he also realized that this large-scale encirclement and suppression operation could no longer continue, if it is said that with absolute superiority in troops and superior equipment, occasional defeats can still be tolerated, but repeated losses of troops and generals, and even the collapse of the overall situation, it is not a matter of tactical thinking, and it is necessary to profoundly review the strategic mistakes and find the lessons of failure from the roots. This is the conclusion that Chiang Kai-shek came to after a night of hard thinking.

Outside the door of the lenient office, Ge Jingen, director of the First Department of the Military Commission, Chen Yi, director of the Second Department, and Zhu Shaoliang, who succeeded He Yingqin as director of the Jiangxi Pacification Office, and other generals stood silently and solemnly, deeply worried that Chairman Chiang Kai-shek would not be seen behind closed doors, and were about to discuss how to deal with it.

Chen Yi, who had a good personal relationship with Chen Bui, hurriedly greeted him: "Yan Ji, what's the new news?" ”

"The telecommunications room has just received good news, and Wu Qiwei and Yu Jishi of Nancheng jointly sent a letter to defeat the three main regiments of the Red Army, recover the strategic location of Maopailing, and the threat of Nancheng and Yihuang's flank has been lifted in one fell swoop."

Chen Bui is honest, he doesn't know where the Maopai Ridge is, but he understands that the arrival of this good news can somewhat alleviate the current oppressive atmosphere.

Thanks to the blessing of the fiasco of a regiment under Yu Jishi's command, Chen Yi and the others are now very clear about the location and significance of Maopailing, and when they heard this, their spirits were lifted, and several people got together to discuss a few words, and immediately sorted out the military appearance, and Chen Bui knocked on the closed office door.

There was a knock on the door three times, and Chiang Kai-shek, who had finished writing a paragraph, finally put down the brush: "Come in." ”

Chen Bui walked unhurriedly towards Chiang Kai-shek, and the four generals behind him walked forward with their heads held high, neatly lined up in front of the wide desks, waiting for Chiang Kai-shek's orders with apprehension.

Chen Bui has already handed over the telegram: "Commission, Nancheng good news." ”

Chiang Kai-shek, whose face was gloomy, was slightly surprised, turned his head to look at Chen Bui, reached out and took the telegram in his hand and put it on the table, after a glance, he pondered for a moment, stood up and strode to the large map on the left wall, Ge Jingen, Chen Yi and others hurriedly followed.

After reading the map, Chiang Kai-shek's face looked much better, and he turned around and glanced at everyone: "Lost and regained, good job!" Yan Ji, please bring the message, the content is too long, I haven't read the rest of the part, see how they cut down the dangerous pass east of Maopai Ridge. ”

Chen Bui hurriedly took the telegram, and Chiang Kai-shek nodded slightly after reading it: "Yu Jishi is not bad, he is brave after shame, he commands properly, and he fights very skillfully, I didn't expect that there is such a strong spy company in his security forces, who crossed the mountains and mountains on a rainy night, eliminated all difficulties, and successfully infiltrated the heart of the main force of the communist army in Maopai Ridge to carry out a surprise attack, very good!" Inform the whole army, give this spy company a commendation, reward 50,000 in cash, and the officers and soldiers will be promoted to the first rank, and the leading officer Wu Ming mentioned in the telegram will be promoted to the third level! ”

Chiang Kai-shek didn't know what he said later, which made Wu Qiwei, who received the telegram, so worried, Wu Ming's current military rank is lieutenant colonel and regiment commander, if he is promoted to three levels in a row, he will directly become a lieutenant general, and he, the commander of the Fourth Army and the commander of the 90th Division, will be on an equal footing, so how can he do this? There has never been such a ridiculous thing in the army.

But if it is treated coldly, and the mistake of silently correcting the general is only promoted to the first level by Wu Ming, Wu Qiwei is worried that the general manager of the unknown situation will soon inform the whole army, and he will definitely make jokes in the future, and Yu Jishi went to Maopailing at this moment, and there was no one around him to discuss.

Wu Qiwei hesitated again and again, so he had to truthfully report Wu Ming's situation urgently.

From the dispatch of the commendation telegram to the dispatch of Wu Qiwei's explanation telegram, the whole process took less than 20 minutes, and Chen Bui took the telegram hurriedly handed over by the director of the telecommunications office, and immediately asked if the commendation telegram informing the whole army had been issued. The telecommunications director said no, but it was sent quickly, and Chen Bui immediately told him not to send it for the time being, waiting for the notice, and rushed to Chiang Kai-shek's office after speaking.

Chiang Kai-shek was holding a summary meeting with more than a dozen generals such as Ge Jingen and Chen Yi, who had gathered together, and Ge Jingen, who read out the summary report, saw Chen Bui hurriedly come in, and knew that there was something urgent, so he had to stop reading it out and sit down slowly.

Chiang Kai-shek glanced at Chen Bui with displeasure, took the telegram and read it quickly, and soon stared at the telegram, as if recalling something.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is estimated that before the meeting, everyone heard about the good news of Maopailing in the west of Nancheng, but there is a situation that I am afraid that everyone does not know, before, I gave the officer who led the spy to attack the communist army headquarters overnight to be promoted to the third level of the notice and commendation, I didn't expect that this leading officer named Wu Ming is the lieutenant colonel of the fifth regiment of the Zhejiang Security Division, which can't give him a promotion to the third level, Wu Qiwei called to explain, obviously to me to correct my mistakes, I accepted."

Everyone laughed, and then heated discussions with interest, deeply surprised that there was such a special service company in the security forces, and praised the courage and level of this regiment commander named Wu Ming.

Chiang Kai-shek turned to Ge Jingen: "Marquis Zhan, this regiment commander named Wu Ming, is it the teaching captain who was widely publicized in the military and political circles in Zhejiang two years ago?" ”

Ge Jingen was stunned for a moment, recalled for a moment, and said uncertainly: "There are many famous generals and schools in the Zhejiang army, but there are only a few Liu Rulin, Fang Youchun, and Ma Zhizhai who have real talents. During the Songhu Incident, his subordinates were ordered to supervise the Zhejiang army, when Wu Ming led a battalion to guard the first line of the bluestone bridge at the west gate of Hangzhou, assisted Liu Rulin, deputy director of the security department, to formulate a defense plan, and also came up with a rapid construction method of fortifications and fortresses. ”

"Also, the two basic military textbooks compiled by Wu Ming have been promoted in the Zhejiang army, and later his subordinates took back Wu Ming's two textbooks and let the German advisers evaluate them, and the German advisers' evaluation was 'concise and easy to understand, quite creative', and then listed these two booklets as reference textbooks for the Central Military Academy, so the subordinates estimated that they should be the same person."

The generals attending the meeting were surprised after hearing Ge Jingen's words, an officer with such attainments can be called rare in all departments of the Central Army, how can he be mixed up in the local security forces? He even personally led a special service company to raid the headquarters of three regiments of the Red Army on a rainy night?

If that were the case, what a good officer he would be!

Chiang Kai-shek pondered for a moment, then turned to Chen Bui, who was waiting for the meeting, and whispered: "Wu Ming has been promoted to the rank of colonel, and the bonus has been increased from 50,000 to 100,000. ”

"Understood."

Chen Bui immediately retreated, and closed the door smoothly after leaving the city.