Under the morning sun, Zhang Hongluan, the commander of the Second Division of the Zhili Department, was riding a bay-red horse. His face was extremely anxious, and he was urging his officers and soldiers to speed up at the top of his lungs. When a group of lieutenants saw that their exhausted men were still running slowly, they galloped out in anger.
He raised the whip in his hand and whipped it out without thinking, causing the soldiers to cry and run away, and the entire team's escape speed slowly accelerated.
"Master, we found a group of more than 20 cavalrymen due north, keeping a distance of 300 meters from us and moving in the same direction. They are probably Tang Shengzhi's pursuers. They must be watching, waiting for the large force to catch up with us.
"A lieutenant rode up to Zhang Hongluan to report.
Zhang Hongluan was extremely anxious: "Fourth brother, you lead your brothers and rush over to kill them! The first group immediately seizes the slope in front, covers the retreat of the brothers and is responsible for breaking up the rear. The rest of the troops will run for me!"
"As you command!"
The cavalry company commander known as Lao Si shouted to his remnants. More than 40 cavalrymen quickly gathered around Lao Si. After hearing the order, they picked up their carbines and rode their horses to rush north quickly behind Lao Si.
The sound of horse hooves shook the ground and made dust and smoke rise everywhere.
When they were more than 200 meters away, Lao Si was surprised to find that all the twenty or so Tang Shengzhi cavalrymen who were watching him had dismounted. Seeing this opportunity, Lao Si roared, drew his saber and charged with his troops, intending to attack this group of unknown cavalrymen.
He learned a profound lesson from the bastard of animals, and all his brothers were in high spirits. They all thought that just one attack could wipe out the entire army of the stupid opponent.
Just as Lao Si and his men were rushing to a distance of 100 meters at high speed, the other party's dismounted cavalry suddenly picked up five machine guns on the ground and opened fire. The dense bullets hit more than 40 cavalrymen on their backs. In the blink of an eye, half of them were gone.
There are only five survivors within ten meters.
Knowing that he was going to die, Lao Si ignored the fact that his left shoulder was pierced by a bullet. He threw away his carbine and held the knife in his right hand. He aimed at the opponent's leader who was standing on the dirt bag and rushed in without fear of death. He was determined to fight to the death and never escape.
The distance was getting shorter and shorter. The fourth man raised his saber high and was about to shout and prepare for a thunderous strike. The officer on the dirtbag had already pressed the trigger. There was a "pop" gunshot and a red bullet hole appeared on the fourth man's forehead. However, due to the distance, the
The momentum of the horses approaching was very fast. The rushing war horses rushed towards the dirt bun like lightning. The officer on the dirt bun was so frightened that he threw down his gun and fell down. He barely managed to avoid the hoofs of the war horse that made a gust of wind. When he got up in embarrassment, he saw the fourth man.
The corpse had fallen off the horse, with one right foot hanging tightly on the stirrup. It was pulled dozens of meters by the rushing horse before it stopped.
This man with accurate marksmanship but was forced into a panic was none other than An Yi. He got up from the ground, regardless of looking for his hat and rifle, and loudly ordered a team to stay to clean the battlefield and monitor it. He jumped on his horse and led his beard and
Sixteen brothers from the fifth platoon began to harass the enemy non-stop. One moment they rushed up on their horses and killed more than a dozen broken soldiers with light machine guns. After one successful attack, they immediately ran away. The next moment they rushed to the front and used accurate shooting to force the enemy to retreat.
The army scattered and fought back.
The enemy division commander Zhang Hongluan and a group of officers were filled with hatred and did not dare to leave their headquarters to give it a try. After repeating this process several times, Zhang Hongluan finally despaired: groups of rapidly approaching pursuers appeared on both sides of his unit, and seven or eight fully loaded vehicles appeared.
Revolutionary officers and soldiers rushed across the uneven grassland with trucks equipped with heavy machine guns on top, trying their best to seize a favorable position in front, while the pursuers from two or three miles behind were rushing towards them in black.
Thousands of defeated soldiers finally understood their situation and stopped in unison, looking at their commanders and the enemies surrounding them in horror.
Zhang Hongluan jumped off his horse in anger and habitually raised his left hand to give the order to fight to the death. The adjutant beside him quickly stepped forward to hold down his left hand, pointed at the big flag due south and shouted loudly that this is not Tang Shengzhi.
Zhang Hongluan was stunned for a moment and took a closer look, and finally knew that this unit was Commander-in-Chief Chiang Kai-shek's First Army. The adjutant continued to point at the officers and soldiers of the Second Division who had seized favorable terrain on all sides and were ready to dissuade them patiently. Zhang Hongluan sighed and finally gave in and gave
More than 3,800 of my brothers issued an order to surrender: all lay down their weapons and assemble in company units.
Liu Zhen, Hu Shusen, and Xu Tingyao, surrounded by a group of captains and dozens of guards, rode their horses through the officers and soldiers who laid down their weapons one after another, and came to Zhang Hongluan and others. They jumped off their horses and met each other in a friendly manner:
"I, Liu She, Commander of the Second Division of the First Army of the National Revolutionary Army, welcome the officers and men of your army to lay down their arms and surrender to prevent the recurrence of fearless bloody deaths."
Zhang Hongluan, who was tall and square-faced, returned the salute: "I, Zhang Hongluan, the commander of the Second Division of the Hunan Army, broke through Tang Shengzhi's defense line in the east of Yueyang City early this morning and fled here. I am willing to lead the 3,800 brothers under my command to surrender to your army. I sincerely request you.
Treat our officers and soldiers with the dignity they deserve."
Liu She nodded: "We all know that General Zhang's Second Division is a powerful force. It once served as the main forward of the Hunan Army and drove General Tang Shengzhi's troops out of Hengyang. This combat capability is admirable! General Zhang, we are all straightforward people. If there are any unnecessary words
I don’t want to say that General Zhang must have also known that our friendly forces have occupied the area south of Tingsi Bridge. Your troops have retreated to Wuhan. The road to Xianning has been controlled by me. It is estimated that General Tang Shengzhi’s troops are also at Wulipai, which is 12 kilometers ahead.
We are waiting for you on the front line. Therefore, I suggest that you lead your troops to join the First Army of our Revolutionary Army. We, Commander-in-Chief, will never treat General Zhang and the surrendered brothers badly."
Zhang Hongluan sighed: "Now we have no choice. Our brothers fought fiercely all night and then rushed here. We are hungry, horses, ammunition and food... General Liu, I have a request for you to make."
"General, please speak!" Liu She replied politely.
Zhang Hongluan, who looked lonely, pointed to the brothers around him: "These brothers are all veterans who have fought with me for many years. Please treat them well, general. I have decided to be discharged and return to the field to enjoy my family life. I will never step into the military again in this life. Please be considerate of my difficulties, general."
Liu She and Hu Shusen looked at each other for a while, with regrets on their faces. Finally, they solemnly agreed to Zhang Hongluan's request, allowing him to leave with his squad of guards and two school officers who were sworn to accompany him to death.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Hongluan took a few steps and then turned back and made another request to Liu She: "General Liu, I want to see the officer who first caught up with our army and carried out non-stop harassment."
Liu She smiled slightly and ordered the guard company commander to call An Yi.
An Yi, who had returned to the first blocking point to count the seized horses and guns, didn't know why he called himself, so he could only get on his horse and follow Liu She's guard company commander on horseback to the crowd of thousands of people, and report to Liu She as usual.
Liu She took An Yi's arm and walked to Zhang Hongluan: "General Zhang, this is the person you want to see, An Yi, the commander of the third company of our engineering battalion."
"Engineer battalion?"
Zhang Hongluan looked at Liu She in surprise. Seeing Liu She nodding proudly, she believed it was true.
Zhang Hongluan turned to An Yi and looked at it for a long time, and sighed deeply: "In such a short period of time, he can choose the terrain that is most beneficial to him, repeatedly carry out harassing attacks on the middle and front of our army, and retreat quickly with one successful blow. Such a battle...
It’s very touching that this method comes from the hands of such a young engineer company commander! Young man, do a good job, I’m optimistic about you, haha! Goodbye everyone, see you soon!”
Thousands of people watched Zhang Hongluan and his entourage go south, and they all felt reluctant to leave. An Yi sighed softly and begged Liu She in a low voice: "Master, can you add soldiers from a company of prisoners to our work?"
Barracks? In this way, our engineer battalion does not need to be escorted by the division commander."
Liu She looked at An Yi sideways: "Go away! This matter is not decided by you or me. It must be reported to the military department first."
"Master, why are you so honest? You..."
An Yi stomped his feet uncomfortably, saluted listlessly and turned to leave, thinking that since I couldn't succeed in my plan, I had to keep the thirty-odd horses that my brothers had sacrificed their lives for.
An Yi rode his horse back to the first blocking point one kilometer north. The cheerful brothers led by Hu Hu had already gathered the horses and hung more than 30 carbines, six rifles and sabers on each of them.
An Yi praised this and that with satisfaction, and then asked Huzi to lead the brothers and run back quickly. Huzi didn't dare to neglect when he heard this, so he shouted a few times and led the brothers who were riding on the tall horses, and each of them led a few horses.
Detour back.
An Yi breathed a sigh of relief, mounted his horse and found his brothers in the second and fourth platoons. He led everyone to the first blocking point and ordered the six killed horses to be taken back to the cooking class. Dozens of brothers had not eaten for two days.
When it comes to the meat, upon hearing the order, he immediately pulls out his knife and pounces on it like a fly.
An Yi rode his horse up to the small dirt bag in the south, and saw the regiment commanders and battalion commanders at the bottom of the hillside carving up the prisoners in a chaotic manner. The bosses Liu She and Xu Tingyao rode up to the south hill, ambitiously guiding the country and An Yi.
Yi could only shake his head in pain and drive back to the camp, thinking that if he had captured more than thirty war horses, I would have wanted to hang myself.
In the evening, the camp of the third company was filled with cheers and the aroma of horse meat. Old Hantou happily announced that nearly a thousand kilograms of meat had been half marinated, and half of the carefully prepared meat was ready for the brothers to eat with open stomachs.
An Yike was not in such a good mood. He sat under the willow tree with Hu Hu and Yin Jinan and lamented repeatedly, saying that our combat company dream was shattered. Let's not talk about the promotion for now. We just said that according to our original plan, "
The goal of gradually transforming from engineers to combat troops with engineering capabilities seems to be getting farther and farther away.
Hu Zi and Yin Jinan also felt bad. How could they not feel distressed when they saw such a good opportunity slipping away from them?
The three of them were silent, chewing the fragrant horse meat, as if they had a grudge against horse meat.
"The chief of staff has arrived—"
The sentry outside the camp announced loudly.
An Yi was very surprised. He quickly threw down the bowl and led Huzi and Yin Jinan to trot forward to greet him. Hu Shusen, Xu Tingyao, Jiang Dingwen and seven or eight familiar battalion commanders and lieutenants rushed in and happily praised the food of the third company.
good.
How could An Yi still not know the meaning of these words? After giving the order, Dong Yazi and several others hurriedly brought the stones and planks, and quickly set up a large and stable dining table. Old Han leader led his fire-headed army and immediately sent four
Horse meat is cooked in a basin of yellow, orange and oily sauce.
Hu Shusen and others raised their chopsticks to eat without any politeness. They ate five or six pieces before loudly praising them. Old Han was so happy that he left with his head fluttering. In the blink of an eye, he brought back two large basins of horse meat porridge sprinkled with green coriander and chopped green onions.
A group of officers had eaten and drank enough, and then they remembered to wipe their hands and mouth, and returned to their usual solemn and precious appearance.
Hu Shusen laughed and turned to An Yi: "Captain An Yi, don't you know the military order that all seizures must be handed over? Even if you have merit in the seizure, you must obtain the approval of the superiors before you can obtain the right to distribute the seized materials. You
Having received an upright military school education and being a model company commander in the entire army, don’t you understand these basic military orders?”
An Yi and the other three secretly complained in their hearts, thinking that you, the grandsons, can't do enough to eat and drink enough, so you don't want to give me men and horses, but you actually come to seek the dozens of horses that the brothers exchanged for their lives. What's the law?
But in the current situation, it is impossible not to give it. These top bosses must have come prepared, and they have openly raised the banner of military law. You can't help but bow your head...