On a cold spring morning, the rising sun on the eastern peaks did not bring a little warmth to the earth, and the frost that had not yet melted could be seen everywhere on the march, and the white mist was still wrapped around the mountainsides of the mountains on all sides.

Due to the rolling and trampling of a large number of heavy vehicles and horses, the newly expanded road south of Fuzhou has become potholes, and the roadbed of many sections of the road has collapsed, and it is muddy under the soak of the stream.

Yu Jishi crossed the narrow marching procession, climbed a gentle slope at the turn of the road ahead, and the war horse stationed in Shenjun looked at the clear sky, greedily took a deep breath of fresh air with the fragrance of grass, and looked down condescendingly at the southbound procession.

At four o'clock yesterday afternoon, Yu Jishi led four security regiments under his command to arrive at Fuzhou a day and a half ahead of schedule after a five-day rapid march, and was immediately received by Chiang Kai-shek, who had been on the front line to clean up the mess.

Chiang Kai-shek did not expect his protégé and nephew Yu Jishi to come so quickly, and after inquiring, he happily commended him, and according to the latest adjustment of the General Command, appointed Yu Jishi, director of the Zhejiang Provincial Security Division, as the commander of the second column of the Zhejiang-Jiangxi-Anhui border encirclement and suppression, and generously agreed to Yu Jishi's request to form the second division of the Zhejiang Security Forces, and immediately ordered the quartermaster of the headquarters to allocate 50 Czech machine guns, 300 boxes of grenades, and a large amount of ammunition to Yu Jishi, and the food and salary of Yu Jishi's department were naturally among the priority supplies.

Looking at the marching procession that stretched for several miles, Yu Jishi's face became extremely solemn, and the reason why he took the initiative to call Chiang Kai-shek to ask him to lead his troops to participate in the war was not only to sincerely share Chiang Kai-shek's worries, but also to test the combat effectiveness of the security forces under his command.

However, it now seems that the performance of the vast majority of officers and men has greatly disappointed Yu Jishi, and the 218 kilometers from Shangrao to Fuzhou are all provincial-level highways that have been newly expanded in the past two years, and the four regiments under his command have walked for a full five days, and now they continue to rush south to Nancheng, which is 70 kilometers away, and the officers and men of each regiment have suffered serious fatigue, and the entire formation has become sparse and sparse when they leave Fuzhou, and their speed has also dropped greatly, and they dare not talk about any morale.

Only Wu Ming's Fifth Regiment did not disappoint Yu Jishi.

From the beginning of leaving Shangrao, Wu Ming's fifth regiment was designated as the vanguard regiment, Yu Jishi hoped that Wu Ming's regiment would bring up the overall speed, but on the first day it did march 60 kilometers, but the next three regiments complained bitterly, almost unable to keep up with the speed of Wu Ming's regiment, under the advice of Ma Zhizhai and Chen Shizheng, Yu Jishi had to transfer Wu Ming's regiment to the rear team, assist the temporary patchwork of the baggage operation to deliver weapons and ammunition, and collect the officers and soldiers who had fallen behind.

During the five-day march, Wu Ming's regiment not only successfully completed its task, but also appeared very relaxed, assisting the baggage battalion to march smoothly while not leaving a single officer and soldier behind, and its overall performance was even better than that of the guard battalion that had followed Yu Ji for many years.

This result made Yu Jishi deeply gratified, and Chen Shizheng and others, who had not liked Wu Ming before, also secretly admired it, and after seeing that Wu Ming and all his officers were marching like ordinary soldiers, no one laughed at Wu Ming for giving up his war horse to carry ammunition and materials, and riding on foot like an ordinary soldier.

Nowadays, almost every officer agrees with the chief of staff Ma Zhizhai's statement: "All the officers of Wu Ming's regiment are not unaware of the comfort of riding horses, but they choose to share weal and woe with the soldiers and make the soldiers feel comfortable, so the speed and morale of Wu Ming's regiment have always been the same." ”

The golden morning sun shone silently on the gentle slope, facing the sunshine Yu Jishi couldn't help but half-close his eyes, Chen Shizheng, who was standing beside Yu Jishi, was even more worried about the shape of the marching army and the mental outlook of the officers and soldiers, he hesitated for a long time and finally raised his horsewhip, pointed to the marching team below Lu and whispered: "Move Wu Mingtuan to the front, this situation in front of you is worrying!" ”

Yu Jishi nodded slightly: "I also plan so, the sixty-five kilometers of the journey down are basically within the war zone, while we are marching, we must also be ready to fight at any time, the small harassment troops of the communist army are elusive, and there is no one after a few cold shots from afar, thousands of mountains and mountains stretch, even if you see it from afar, you can't pursue, if you continue the current state of marching, we will have to spend the night in the barren mountains and mountains tonight, and the danger will increase exponentially." ”

Chen Shizheng asked, "The 10th, 14th, and 90th divisions of the second column are all in Nancheng, right?" ”

Yu Jishi smiled bitterly: "Don't expect them to be able to compress the communist army south of the entire defense line, last night the principal heard that the headquarters of their three divisions were located in Nancheng, and he was angry at that time, so it can be seen that these three divisions were not divided and deployed according to the latest combat plan, it is estimated that the fiasco of the 52nd Division and the 59th Division frightened many people, and the morale is worrying!" ”

Ma Zhizhai on the other side sighed: "Our four regiments have never fought, and it is not easy to be the reserve of the second column, maybe we will have to go up at any time to help them fill the holes." ”

Yu Jishi nodded helplessly: "Let's put these things aside for a while, and rush to Nancheng as soon as possible, herald!" ”

"Here!"

The young herald flew off his horse and ran in front of Yu Jishi.

"Inform all regiments to stop moving forward and rest in place, and then call Commander Wu Ming." Yu Jishi issued orders loudly.

"Yes!"

Chen Shizheng, who was the deputy chief of staff, was very unaccustomed to it, and after hearing the chief of staff Ma Zhizhai say that the provincial army has not been equipped with marching kettles and lunch boxes, Chen Shizheng was embarrassed to say anything, so he could only turn over and dismount with Yu Jishi and others, sit on the gentle slope, and discuss in a low voice the adjustment of the march and the investigation and vigilance affairs.

Soon, the three war horses quickly crossed the officers and soldiers on the side of the road, turned the horse's head down the gentle slope and rushed to the top of the slope, Chen Shizheng saw Wu Ming's tall and ugly-looking zebra from a distance, so he didn't need to look to know that Wu Ming was coming.

Wu Ming turned over and dismounted ten meters away from the commanders, threw the reins to the guard captain Han Tiecheng, strode to Yu Jishi to report, and politely ordered Yu Jishi to sit on the grass at the head of Ma Zhizhai, lowered his head and took out a cigarette, lit it alone and listened quietly.

After Yu Jishi summed up, he made a decision without hesitation: "Considering the actual situation of each regiment, the reconnaissance and vigilance tasks on the march should not be the responsibility of each regiment on its own, from now on, the division headquarters guard battalion will be responsible for the security of both flanks and the rear of the marching line, and the reconnaissance task will be handed over to the fifth regiment of Commander Wu to be responsible, and the fifth regiment will be transferred to the front and continue to serve as the vanguard regiment of the march." ”

Wu Ming was quite surprised, glanced at the people who reacted differently, and agreed before he had time to think about it.

Regiment Commander Chen, who belonged to the Quzhou Security Force, hurriedly called out and begged Wu Ming not to go so fast, otherwise he would have to drag several other regimental brothers to death.

As soon as these words came out, they immediately won the support of the other two regiment leaders, but they made Yu Jishi and Chen Shizheng depressed.

After the meeting ended, Yu Jishi left Wu Ming alone and asked Wu Ming about his plans, and finally asked with satisfaction: "What help do you need from me?" ”

Wu Ming, who learned that Yu Jishi had obtained a batch of sophisticated equipment, said with a smile: "If the commander allows, give us some weapons and ammunition." ”

Yu Jishi also smiled: "The equipment of your regiment is already very good, especially your special service company, all American Thomson machine guns, everyone has the latest American Colt M1911 pistol hanging from their waists, and even my guard battalion is not comparable!" ”

"How is that possible? There are a total of 160 brothers in the subordinate special service company, only 56 officers and men of the assault platoon are equipped with Thomson machine guns and Colt pistols, the remaining 100 officers and men are rifles, and there are only three Czech machine guns in the whole company, and the machine gun company is even worse, except for the eight old French Bayi mortars, there are only six Czech light machine guns that are fast to erase rifling, not to mention other infantry companies. Wu Ming suddenly cried out bitterly.

Chen Shizheng on the side strode up: "I said Commander Wu, didn't your regiment still have eight heavy machine guns before?" Where have they gone? ”

Wu Ming helplessly pointed to the mountains on all sides: "In this kind of place, in this kind of terrain, it is difficult to use a heavy machine gun weighing more than 50 kilograms in a rapid march, and based on the analysis of the equipment level and flexible and rapid combat characteristics of the communist army, even if it encounters it, there is no need to use a heavy machine gun, and it is estimated that before we can lift the heavy machine gun, the communist army will have disappeared." ”

"Secondly, since the establishment of the Fifth Regiment, it has not been built as the main infantry regiment, to put it bluntly, it is just a security regiment in a garrison place, after a few years of hard work, there is less than a company that can operate heavy machine guns, and there are even fewer who can repair machine guns and troubleshoot, in such a situation, the heavy machine guns that are inconvenient to move and consume greatly are like chicken ribs!"

"Well, if it doesn't work, don't give us light machine guns, give us fifty boxes of grenades, right? It can also reduce the burden of the baggage camp! ”

Chen Shizheng knew that Wu Ming was quibbling, but he didn't know how to refute it, although Wu Ming's reason seemed far-fetched, but it made sense and was very realistic when he thought about it.

Yu Jishi showed his generous side at this time: "I heard that this guy of yours is from a business background, it seems that it is really true, ha, haha!" It seems that I can't do you some good, so let's give you ten Czech machine guns, 500,000 rounds of ammunition and 50 boxes of grenades, and I'll ask the quartermaster to accompany you to get them later. ”

"Xie Lu, Sir Xie!"

Wu Ming thanked loudly with both legs, finished walking towards the quartermaster behind Yu Jishi, and pulled the helpless quartermaster on his horse and left.

Chen Shi shook his head again and again at Wu Ming's back: "This Wu Ming, isn't he afraid that receiving so many weapons and ammunition will affect the speed of the march?" ”

Ma Zhizhai, who had been watching from the sidelines, said with a smile: "Wu Mingtuan's usual field training is very frequent, usually after completing the training of the recruit stage, it immediately enters the second stage of intensive training, which is mainly based on marching training and tactical training, and the heavily armed weight-bearing marching training is once a week, and it has been unremitting for several years...... For example, if they were able to travel 40 kilometers from Quzhou to Changshan, they would be able to go back and forth on the same day, and such training would be commonplace for them, so I dare say that if you gave him all the weapons and ammunition in the baggage camp, he would be able to carry a thousand of his brothers on his shoulders, and not a single bullet would fall. ”

Yu Jishi was very surprised, he originally thought that he already knew Wu Mingtuan very well, but he didn't expect that there were so many specific training situations He didn't know, and he didn't expect that Wu Mingtuan's training intensity was so high, that it had far exceeded the main force of the Central Army.

Chen Shizheng seemed to be a little unconvinced, but Ma Zhizhai needed to hurry up with a change plan and had no time to deal with him, Chen Shizheng had to look at Yu Ji, who was also puzzled, and thought about it and made a request: "I want to march with Wu Ming...... I want to see with my own eyes whether Wu Mingtuan is as good as Ma Zhizhai boasted. ”