Gu Zhutong was really anxious, and in a fit of rage, he actually intended to mobilize the first and second group armies to suppress the anti-Japanese national salvation army in southern Anhui.

However, Gu Zhutong forgot that in this area of southern Anhui, in addition to Xu Shijiu's Southern Anhui Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army, there is another army that also does not listen to commands and greetings, that is, the New Fourth Army led by the Communist Party

Shangguan Yunxiang's group army had originally entered Jing County and completed the arc-shaped encirclement of Yunling

But now that Gu Zhutong has given the order to go to Longkou to enter and suppress the Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army in southern Anhui, all armies and divisions of the First Group Army will be in a hurry, and the encirclement that was originally worthy of formation has also been loosened.

After learning of this situation, Zhu Maozhou, in the name of the Party Central Committee, sent an unprecedentedly stern telegram to Xiang Ying, secretary of the Southeast Bureau, ordering him to take the military headquarters of the New Fourth Army, the Teaching Brigade and the Jiangnan Detachment to retreat across the river to the north, and formally warned Xiang Ying not to become a sinner in history.

At this time, the vast number of commanders of the New Fourth Army also realized that it was not a good policy to continue to stay in Jing County.

This is because Yunling, where the military headquarters of the New Fourth Army is located, has been surrounded by the Shangguan Yunxiangdi Group Army, and it is extremely difficult to turn around, let alone develop outward, in the long run, the teaching brigade and the Jiangnan detachment can only be trapped alive by the Kuomintang army, and if you jump to Jiangbei, it will immediately be a different situation, not only because the Jiangbei Kuomintang army Liliang is weaker, but also because Jiangbei can get the support of the Eighth Route Army.

In view of the fact that Zhang Yunyi, Zhou Zikun and other backbones of the New Fourth Army were all in favor of crossing the river and withdrawing north, Xiang Ying could only accept the reality.

The reason is very simple, if Xiang Ying no longer recognizes the situation and continues to insist on going his own way, it will inevitably seriously weaken his leadership authority.

However, when choosing the retreat route, Xiang Ying had a very serious disagreement with Ye Ting, and Ye Ting insisted on transferring from the direction of Qingyang.

Originally, Shangguan Yunxiang's first group army had completed the encirclement of the New Fourth Army on all sides, but because of the previous filthy relationship between Gu Zhutong and Xu Shijiu, Shangguan Yunxiang was forced to mobilize two armies to enter and suppress the anti-Japanese salvation army in southern Anhui, which made a gap in the newly formed encirclement, and the gap was in Qingyang County.

However, if you break through from other directions, you will inevitably be blocked by the Kuomintang army.

Of course, the retreat from Qingyang to the north was not a smooth road, because not only did it have to pass through the Japanese-occupied area, but it was also necessary to collect ships.

The good news is that the main force of the small Japanese army is now fighting with Xue Yue's First Corps in the Shanggao area, and there is no need to worry about anything else, and at this time, the Japanese army's blockade of the north and south banks of the Yangtze River will definitely weaken somewhat, so it is completely possible to find an opportunity to cross the river from Tongling to Chikou.

From a military point of view, Ye Ting's proposition is undoubtedly correct, and it has also been recognized by most commanders such as Zhang Yunyi and Zhou Zikun.

However, unfortunately, in order to show his leadership authority, Xiang Ying categorically rejected Ye Ting's suggestion, and chose to go directly to southern Jiangsu by Maolin and Ningguo to join Chen Yi and Li Yu's Eastern Detachment.

In the face of the doubts of most of the commanders led by Ye Ting, Xiang Ying's reasons also appeared to be very sufficient.

Su Yu and Chen Yi defeated more than 30,000 Han Deqin in the battle of Huangqiao, the Eastern Detachment of the New Fourth Army, with less than 1,000 and 5 people, gave many commanders of the New Fourth Army an illusion that the combat effectiveness of the Kuomintang army was no more than that, so although the Kuomintang troops gathered around Yunling had exceeded 80,000, Xiang Ying and most of the New Fourth Army headquarters did not take it to heart.

80,000 Kuomintang troops sound like a lot, but when they are evenly distributed in all directions, there are only 20,000 or 30,000 people in each direction.

Li Yu and Chen Yi's Eastern Detachment is less than 5,000 people, and they can defeat Han Deqin's more than 30,000 people, and now the headquarters of the New Fourth Army, the Teaching Corps, and the Southern Anhui Detachment are gathered in Yunling, which is nearly 10,000 people, can they still break through the blockade line built by the 20,000 or 30,000 Kuomintang troops?

There were serious differences of opinion between the two principal leaders of the New Fourth Army, and they could only convene an enlarged meeting of the party committee to hold a democratic vote.

As soon as the resolution was made, the officers and men of the New Fourth Army's military headquarters, the teaching corps, and the Jiangnan detachment quickly began to assemble and prepare to go to southern Jiangsu via Maolin and Ningguo.

The sudden change in the New Fourth Army caught Gu Zhu off guard

Even Chairman Chiang, who was far away in Chongqing, was alarmed, and sent an urgent telegram to Gu Zhutong overnight, ordering him to cancel the offensive against the 19th detachment of the Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army in southern Anhui and instead go all out to encircle and suppress the New Fourth Army.

Gu Zhutong didn't dare to slack off, quickly changed his deployment, and ordered the First Army to turn around and go all out to encircle and suppress the New Fourth Army.

(Dividing Line)

Shu Tongwen held Xu Shijiu's hands, unwilling to let go for a long time, and sighed and said, "Captain, if I say goodbye today, I don't know when I will see you again." ”

Shu Tongwen came from Yan Yi to say goodbye to Xu Shijiu.

Before Shu Tongwen set off to Longkou, Liang Daring had already taken the Qingyang Independent Regiment to Yunling, and by tomorrow at the latest, the Qingyang Independent Regiment would arrive at Yunling to join the main force of the New Fourth Army, and then move to the direction of Maolin together.

Time was really tight, and Shu Tongwen only had time to say goodbye to Xu Shijiu, Gao Shenxing, Liu Chang and others in a hurry.

"Arwen, take care all the way." Xu Shijiu held Shu Tongwen's hand, and he was quite regretful in his heart, he didn't even have time to make money for Shu Tongwen.

Gao Shenxing endured it for a long time, but finally couldn't hold it back, and asked Shu Tongwen: "Awen, there is a sentence that I have been holding in my heart for a long time, you know that the Kuomintang army has been hoarding heavy troops in the east, south, and north directions, and breaking through to Maolin, you can only get into the arms of the Kuomintang army, and only by breaking through in the direction of Qingyang can you jump out of the encirclement, why don't you go to Qingyang?" ”

Shu Tongwen shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Old Gao, this is a decision of the Party Committee of the Southeast Bureau, and we can only obey it." ”

As a regiment-level commander, Shu Tongwen can of course see that there is a great risk hidden in going to Maolin, but as he said, this is a collective decision of the Party Committee of the Southeast Bureau of the Communist Party of China, and as the political commissar of the Qingyang Independent Regiment, he can choose to reserve his opinion, but he cannot go against the resolution, and it is even more impossible to order the Southeast Bureau to change the decision

Xu Shijiu beckoned, and Liu Dagu brought two horses.

These two horses were specially selected by Xu 19 from the military horses captured by the cavalry battalion, not only are they tall, but also have super endurance, they can be described as one of the best horses in a hundred, for the belonging of these two horses, the cavalry battalion commander Peng Wu even had an awkward relationship with Xu 19.

"Awen, parting is imminent, and I don't have anything good to give you." Xu Shijiu took the reins of the horse from Liu Dagu's hand and handed it to Shu Tongwen, saying, "These two Oriental horses are even my farewell gift to you, you use them to travel, so as not to exhaust you by crossing the mountains and mountains." ”

Shu Tongwen's eyes lit up suddenly, what the independent regiment lacked the most was a war horse, so he happily took the reins of the horse at the moment, and said with a smile: "Captain, our independent regiment is now short of war horses, so I might as well obey my fate if I respect it." ”

"You and my brother, what are you polite?" Xu Shijiu said with a smile, but there was too much bitterness in his smile

The old brothers who came out of the Songhu battlefield back then, withered away, and left, there are not a few left

Shu Tongwen felt the gloom and loneliness revealed by Xu Shijiu, and immediately said with relief: "Captain, don't think too much, you and my brother are just parting for the time being, and we will definitely meet again soon, I am very sure of this." ”

Xu Shijiu nodded and said with a smile: "Awen, send you a thousand miles, and I will not send you again if there is a farewell."

Shu Tongwen suddenly stood upright, saluted Xu Shijiu upright, and then turned over and walked away.

Seeing the figure of Shu Tongwen disappearing on the back of the mountain beam in front of him, Gao Shenxing let out a long sigh and said: "Old Xu, I have a very unpleasant premonition that the New Fourth Army will suffer a big loss when it goes to southern Jiangsu this time. ”

"I'm afraid Brigade Commander Gao is thinking too much." Liu Chang on the side said, "The First Army has already fought with us, and its combat effectiveness is pitifully weak, if the New Fourth Army breaks through with all its might, they may not be able to stop it." ”

Gao Shen said: "No matter how bad the strength of the first army is, there are more than 80,000 ants biting elephants to death."

Liu Chang retorted: "In the battle of Huangqiao, Han Deqin had more than 30,000 horses, but Li Yu was defeated with less than 5,000 people, and although Zhang Wenqing had 80,000 people, he might not be able to occupy much advantage in the face of the main force of the New Fourth Army of more than 9,000 people

Gao Shenxing said: "That's different, in the battle of Huangqiao, Li Yusheng can flexibly choose the battlefield, more than 30,000 people of Han Deqin's 59th Army did not enter the battle all at one time, but entered the battle one by one, so they were broken by Su Yu, but now, the power to choose the battlefield is in the hands of Zhang Wenqing, and the first-mover advantage of choosing the battlefield is too great." ”

Gao Shenxing also felt that the reason why the Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army in southern Anhui was able to completely annihilate small Japan in the first battle of Hulu Valley and independently mixed into the main force of the 14th Brigade was not also to rely on the first-mover advantage of battlefield selection? If the decisive battle were to be fought in another location, the Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army in southern Anhui would not have the first-mover advantage in the choice of battlefields, and even if it only faced an infantry brigade of the 14th Brigade and Regiment that was independently mixed, it did not dare to say that it would be stable.

"Alright, you two don't fight." Xu Shijiu interrupted impatiently, "Go back"

Gao Shenxing saw that Xu Shijiu was in a bad mood, so he snorted at the moment and stopped arguing with Liu Chang.