Chapter 103: First encounter with Tiejun

At five o'clock in the afternoon, a convoy of seventeen brand-new Ford trucks, loaded with officers, soldiers and artillery shells, towing fourteen Krupp 75 field guns, drove into Yanjiawan from south to north. There were also more than a hundred cavalry and

Two battalions of infantry followed.

After receiving the report, An Yi put down his job and rushed to the bridge, where he stood and waited in front of a new guard post set up dozens of meters away from the bridge.

The first truck slowly drove to the inspection crossbar and stopped. A dark and thin captain in his early thirties in the front of the truck opened the door and jumped out of the truck. Without even looking at An Yi and Hu Hu at the sentry post on the roadside, he ran to

The sentry raised the red pennant and shouted an order in front of him:

"Make way for me immediately, you are the only one who will delay the military plane!"

A row of ruffian sentries had already lost control under Beard's special training. Although they were only corporals, they were unmoved by the captain's orders. They lowered their pennants and moved the fancy machine guns on their backs to their chests, coldly.

Said to the captain:

"Accepting the order from the right column headquarters, any department passing the bridge must show their ID. Sir, please show your army mobilization order, otherwise, our department will not let you pass!"

"Ignore your mother..."

The captain was furious, but when he saw two heavy machine guns and six machine gunners standing ready on the simple forts on the high ground on the left and right sides of the road, he could only turn around and run back to report to the larger commander.

An Yi and Hu Hu in front of the post already knew from the nameplate and accent of the unit that it was Huang Qixiang's 36th Regiment under Zhang Fakui's 12th Division of the Fourth Army. They also knew that Li Jishen's Fourth Army had the closest relationship with his First Army.

Well, many division commanders and regimental commanders in the Fourth Army have served as instructors in various subjects at the Whampoa Military Academy, and many graduates from the first to fourth phases of the military academy have also served as battalion and company commanders in the Fourth Army. But the grumpy captain and deputy battalion commander An Yi in front of him

I have never met him and Hu Hu, so I wanted to step forward and explain him in a friendly manner. After hearing his swear words, I felt annoyed and ignored him. I wanted to see what this guy was capable of.

After a while, seven or eight colonel officers riding tall horses crossed the convoy and quickly dismounted in front of the crossbar. The middle-sized and energetic colonel in the middle looked around, and walked towards An, surrounded by several dusty colonels.

Yi.

The sharp-eyed An Yi saw the nameplate on the colonel's chest clearly, and quickly stepped forward to salute: "Hello, Commander Huang! The Engineer Battalion of the Second Division of the First Army was ordered to repair the broken bridge. After completion, in accordance with the order of the right column headquarters, guard the bridge and

We set up checkpoints to check passing pedestrians and troops. We apologize for any inconvenience caused to the commander's department!"

"An Yi? Haha..."

Captain Huang Qixiang, who has thick eyebrows and a handsome square face, returned the salute, then stretched out his hand to An Yi, shook it tightly, and asked kindly in Cantonese: "I didn't expect to see you here, how about this?"

How was the time?"

An Yi was quite surprised. He didn't know why Huang Qixiang, who met for the first time, was so enthusiastic about him. He smiled slightly and answered politely in Cantonese:

"You have been following those lonely guys from the Eighth Army, and you can't even get a single bullet from your rifle. Haha... Chief Huang, didn't you drive to Daliling via Huangsha Lake? How did you enter the war zone of the Seventh Army?

?”

"The north of Dali Ridge is full of lakes and swamps, making it impossible to advance. We can only join the Seventh Army, concentrate artillery fire, and attack Tingsi Bridge with superior force." Huang Qixiang laughed: "I received the order to go to Guantangyi in the morning.

At around ten o'clock, I personally came here to inspect the broken bridge. When I saw that it was impassable, I had to return to the Huangshafan station in the south. I asked the division headquarters to send the engineer battalion to repair it as soon as possible, but our division's engineer battalion was still fifty meters behind.

We couldn't make it from the remaining kilometers, so we reported the situation to the headquarters. The headquarters called back at 1:00 noon and told us that we would be able to pass at about 6 pm. I was anxious and drove over in advance, haha! How long have you been here? When

Repairing the bridge in front?"

An Yi replied: "Arrived at 12:40 noon and repaired at 4:50 pm. We just had lunch ten minutes before you came."

"So fast?" Huang Qixiang looked at An Yi in surprise: "Come on, show me."

"OK."

An Yi and Huang Qixiang walked side by side to the bridge. A group of surprised captains followed behind and kept talking. They said that they had seen the broken bridge in the morning and felt that it would be difficult to repair it in a day. The headquarters informed that traffic would be restored at 6 p.m. Everyone was still worried.

Sure enough, I didn’t expect that An Yi’s engineer battalion was repaired in just four hours. It was indeed a model company for the entire army personally taught by Commander-in-Chief Chiang Kai-shek. It seems that the rumors about An Yi’s third company in the army were not exaggerated.

Walking onto the restored bridge deck, the meticulous Huang Qixiang carefully inspected every major connection at both ends. He also leaned down on the edge of the thick and flat bridge deck and looked down, carefully inspecting the stress points at the bottom of the bridge and the eight bucket-thick supports.

Liang got up and praised An Yi loudly:

"Amazing! It is indeed a model company in the entire army. Such quality and speed are really surprising! No wonder Uncle Li admires you so much. He has told our subordinates several times about your pioneering and innovative spirit. It is really well-deserved! Xiao

Yi, why not come to our Fourth Army? We will be expanding soon. With your ability, you are more than enough to be a regiment leader, how about it?"

Only then did An Yi realize that the reason why Huang Qixiang was so kind to him was because of his relationship with Li Jishen. Almost all the generals in the Fourth Army affectionately called Commander Li Jishen Uncle Li, and Li Jishen treated An Yi like a nephew.

, so it is not surprising that the generals of the Fourth Army regard An Yi as his brother.

After hearing Huang Qixiang's half-joking and half-serious words, An Yi laughed and responded affectionately: "Thank you, Brother Xiang, for looking up to me. If one day I can't survive in the army, I will definitely look for you. When I arrive,

Brother Shi Xiang, don’t forget what you said today.”

Huang Qixiang laughed loudly, and then shook his head helplessly: "Forget it, who doesn't know that you are Commander-in-Chief Chiang's favorite disciple? In a few years, I am afraid that my official position will be greater than that of my eldest brother, haha! I won't say it anymore, I

Ask the adjutant to show you the telegram, and we will set off immediately. We will arrive at the destination early and have enough time to prepare."

As he walked, An Yi carefully checked the telegram handed over by Adjutant Huang Qixiang. After reading it, he politely went back and asked Huang Qixiang: "Brother Xiang, how come you have so many brand-new Krupp 75 field guns? Ordinary everyone

An artillery battery is only equipped with three to four guns, and your regiment only has fourteen guns, which can be considered a full artillery battalion."

"This is due to the great love of Commander-in-Chief Chiang. He said that our 12th Division fought well all the way and was praised as the Iron Army by the advisory group and a group of bosses at the headquarters, so he deployed the newly arrived batch of German original goods and 20 American trucks.

Our twelfth division, as a reward for our division, felt that our artillery fire had no advantage, so all of them were assigned to my vanguard regiment for centralized use, hoping to suppress the enemy's artillery fire north of the Tingsi Bridge. It is estimated that after the Tingsi Bridge was captured, we would score more points.

If you pay more than half of it, the other groups will be jealous!"

At the beginning of the Northern Expedition, Huang Qixiang, who went all the way to Zhanpingjiang in Keli County and defeated Wu Peifu's three mixed brigades, was quite emotional. Under the current conditions where an army has only one artillery regiment and a division has only one artillery company, if he wants to expand his artillery advantage,

It's really difficult.

An Yi and his party returned to the bridge head and began to release the goods. The first truck without towing artillery slowly drove across the repaired wooden bridge deck. It passed smoothly and safely under the nervous gaze of many officers and soldiers. The strong repaired part easily withstood the load of nearly five tons.

After being crushed by the truck, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and the faces of the brothers in the engineer battalion were filled with proud smiles.

Seventeen trucks passed smoothly, followed closely by the infantry. A dozen battalion, company and platoon commanders who knew An Yi in the team greeted An Yi warmly when they passed by the bridge post. The brothers in the engineer battalion were surprised when they saw this.

I didn't expect that my battalion commander was so popular.

Huang Qixiang looked at the machine gun positions on the commanding heights on both sides of the highway and said with admiration: "Not only are you good at building bridges, but you are also very capable of warning. You have chosen the right points and the distribution is very reasonable. If there is a fight, it will be difficult for both battalions to take them."

Come on, more than a dozen light and heavy machine guns are almost catching up with my main battalion. It seems that Commander-in-Chief Jiang is treating you well, Xiao Yi!"

"Brother Xiang, please don't get me wrong! Except for the five light machine guns that are issued to these sixteen light and heavy machine guns, the others were all seized by my younger brother in the mountainous area south of Yanglousi two days ago. Even my younger brother's

This 500-man manned barracks was fully staffed by the transfer of more than 100 people last night, and I haven't had time to divide these more than 100 people into three companies yet."

An Yi quickly explained that he did not want people to think that he had received much benefit from Commander-in-Chief Chiang. This was unfair to himself and to his brothers.

Huang Qixiang looked at An Yi in surprise. Seeing An Yi nod honestly, he believed: "Old mother... When we get to the headquarters, brother, I will definitely ask your battalion to be my reserve team. Anyway, I need engineers for these trucks and cannons."

Assistance, if Shangfeng agrees, Xiaoyi, you can’t refuse.”

An Yi laughed: "Brother Xiang is out of business. I can't ask for such a good thing! It's definitely my luck to be able to study with you!"

Huang Qixiang laughed happily, said not to regret, then hurriedly mounted his horse, leading a group of adjutants and captains to fight north.

An Yi watched Huang Qixiang and his entourage cross the wooden bridge and speed away. He smiled at Huzi and Yin Jinan beside him and said, "Brother Xiang is probably interested in our engineering battalion. However, if he wants to convince our division commander to let us serve as his reserve team, he must

There is no hope. First of all, our Second Division came here as the reserve of General Li Zongren's Seventh Army. It is impossible to follow the Fourth Army, which has grown rapidly. Secondly, there is no need to let the Seventh Army and the Fourth Army fight together.

Our engineering battalion is behind them. The three main regiments of our Second Division have long been ready. It seems that we have to continue to follow behind the large army. We don't have much to do in this battle. We are too far away.

Ha ha!"

Huzi also agreed with An Yi's analysis. Yin Jinan thought for a while and said: "Brother is right. The Fourth Army is indeed tough, especially Brother Xiang's Thirty-sixth Regiment. In any battle, wouldn't they be at the front? Those who follow behind them are probably

It's very dangerous. The other main regiments of our division will have to go with them. However, I just saw so many of their trucks and artillery. It is really convenient to have the assistance of engineers in this lake and swamp area. I am worried that if the headquarters and

Our teacher was really impressed by Captain Huang..."

"It's not that much, just in case, let's eat quickly. I'm hungry and I'm busy just eating a few bites all day. After dinner, we three brothers will have a good discussion, and we'll also call a few brothers from each company.

, let’s see how to allocate people and horses appropriately.”

After An Yi finished speaking, he quickly walked across the road towards the camp. He was indeed very hungry.

An hour later, An Yi, who had finished lunch and dinner, gathered the platoon leaders of each company to discuss. He had just divided the more than a hundred new brothers into two combat platoons and an engineer platoon, and selected the platoon leaders and squad leaders of each platoon, as well as the division headquarters.

The two heralds galloped over on horseback, handed An Yi an order signed by Liu She from the general command, saluted and hurried back.

An Yi bathed in the sunset and after reading the order, he immediately began to cry out in pain:
Chapter completed!