At 6:30 in the morning on the 29th, bursts of earth-shaking cannon fire came from several miles north, shaking the vegetation inside and outside Xianning City, the ground floating, and the tiles on the roof were attacked by the sound waves and hot air currents all over the sky.
There was a "tacking" sound, and they slid down one after another. The window panes kept shaking "squeaking", and the steaming bluish-gray gunpowder smoke covered the entire sky. The smell of gunpowder in the air became stronger and stronger.
The streets are deserted and people are fleeing in fear. No one knows what their fate will be in the next moment.
Commanded by General Li Zongren, with the approval of Commander-in-Chief Chiang Kai-shek and Northern Expeditionary Army Deputy Chief of Staff General Bai Chongxi, and with the presence of nearly a hundred generals including a Russian advisory group, the Battle of Hesheng Bridge began.
Nearly 50,000 highly motivated officers and soldiers from the main regiments of the Fourth Army, the Seventh Army, and the First and Second Divisions of the First Army were all deployed on the battlefield. Support departments such as rear munitions transportation and medical teams traveled back and forth between the major camps and the battlefield.
During the shuttle, only the departments and departments of each army and headquarters and a few rest and recuperation troops remained in the rear. An Yi's engineering battalion was one of them.
At 10:40 in the morning, after more than four hours of fierce fighting, the heroic main force finally defeated the southern position of Hesheng Bridge held by 40,000 heavy troops of Wu Peifu's Chen Jiamo Division, Zhang Zhan'ao Mixed Brigade, Song Dapei and Dong Zhengguo.
The Fourth Army, which had been invincible since the Northern Expedition, marched forward bravely in the face of rain of bullets. Chen Shuming's 10th Division passed through the left wing of the railway and beheaded the generals, taking the lead in approaching Hesheng Bridge. Zhang Fakui's 12th Division destroyed the three enemy positions on the right wing of the railway and followed closely. The officers and soldiers of the two divisions
Under the fierce artillery fire from the enemy on the other side, the advance was stopped and the position was stabilized.
At the same time, the Seventh Army's Xia Wei Division's first, eighth brigade and Hu Zongduo's second division, the Seventh Brigade divided into two groups, broke through the enemy's heavy defenses in the northeast of Xianning, and defeated the two mixed troops facing them at an alarming speed.
The brigade defended the enemy, and nearly 10,000 enemies were pushed back to the front line of Hesheng Bridge to defend in panic. The left wing of the Seventh Army successfully moved closer to the Fourth Army, quickly increasing its offensive advantage.
While the two main attacking forces successfully stabilized their positions, they responded to each other and coordinated side by side to repel three enemy counterattacks and successfully completed the first strategic goal set by the Northern Expeditionary Army Headquarters.
After winning the first battle, General Tang Shengzhi's Eighth Army, which rushed to the battlefield at three o'clock in the morning, also pressed forward across the entire line, approaching the rear of the Fourth and Seventh Army, bravely shouldering the arduous task of the General Reserve.
More than 2,700 recruits recruited by the Northern Expeditionary Army Headquarters in Changsha also rushed to Xianning by train an hour before the launch of the general offensive. They stationed themselves in the headquarters camp and waited anxiously amidst the roaring artillery fire.
Walk.
An Yi and Hu Hu took three instructors and rode their big horses to the headquarters Dongda Camp quickly. They dismounted at the gate of the heavily guarded camp and negotiated with the sentry. The five people led the horses through the door before turning over and fighting slowly.
The horse walked towards the large school field on the north side.
"An Yi...I didn't expect to see you here, so great!"
Former Whampoa Military Academy instructor Tu Zhiyuan, who is responsible for the allocation of new recruits and has been promoted to colonel and deputy director of the Recruitment Committee of the General Political Department, called out in surprise. Under the gaze of more than a dozen academy officers and recruits, he strode towards An Yi, who hurriedly dismounted and saluted respectfully.
Tu Zhiyuan looked at the nameplate on An Yi's chest and laughed happily: "Not bad! You have been promoted to lieutenant colonel in less than half a year. I know you are never willing to be second to others, haha!"
An Yi held Colonel Tu's outstretched right hand with both hands and said with excitement: "Instructor Tu, the student still clearly remembers the evening when you came to lead our engineering team from the Second District to evacuate from the Zhuxi Pier in Lincun, and you still remember your comments on the boat.
Regarding the historical status of Lincun, I told the students that we should have a good chat when we have time in the future, but I didn’t expect that I haven’t been able to see you again since then.”
Instructor Tu and his former instructor Hu Hu were not very familiar with each other, but they had met each other before. They nodded and said hello affectionately, then turned to An Yi and explained with a smile:
"After the troops returned from the Second Eastern Expedition, I was transferred to the Military and Political Department on the recommendation of Director Zhou, Director Yun Daiying and the head of the advisory group, General Borodin. Until a month ago, I was transferred to the Political Department of the Northern Expeditionary Army Headquarters to be responsible for the recruitment and distribution of new recruits.
, I haven’t had time to go back to school, so I don’t have a chance to get together with you. As soon as the train pulled in here today, I heard that the department that came to ask for people had an all-military model camp. I knew it was your boy’s unit. You personally led the death squad.
The story of participating in the night attack on Tingsiqiao has spread throughout the army and has been reported by major central newspapers. I am proud of you! This time you come to recruit people, there must be many young people who are willing to follow you, haha...
Come on, I will recommend some good seedlings to you later."
An Yi happily followed Tu Zhiyuan towards the more than two thousand recruits sitting neatly, but he was complaining and anxious in his heart. He knew clearly that as a member of the Communist Party, Tu Zhiyuan would give him some good ideas, although he appreciated it very much.
He admires the excellent qualities, high degree of discipline, brave fighting style and hard-working spirit of his fellow Communists and Communist officers and soldiers of all armies. However, An Yi, who has his own thoughts, always carefully keeps a distance from various political factions.
He does not want his troops to have ideological opposition or even split due to this.
Since the Northern Expedition, An Yi has always been among the many Kuomintang generals in the First Army. It can be said that in the minds of all staunch Kuomintang members, An Yi is an outstanding and staunch member of his camp, but An Yi, who looks kind and calm and talks carelessly,
Yi, but he is always vigilant in his heart.
In order to stand out as soon as possible and hold a large army to protect him to achieve his ideals, and to be able to achieve the ambitious goal of developing the military industry to resist foreign humiliation safely and without too many obstacles, and then promote the rise of national industry, An Yi is unwilling to offend any political forces.
He is unwilling to participate in it and makes enemies on all sides. He has always sharpened his head in his own unique way, deliberately opportunistically taking advantage of the situation, and cautiously walking in the gap between the two parties. Now, the instructor who has reunited after a long separation is unexpectedly at such a critical moment.
If you help him, why won't An Yi be frightened?
Tu Zhiyuan had no idea what An Yi was thinking when he held his hand directly in front of the recruits. He came to the front of more than two thousand recruits and proudly said loudly:
"Comrades, I would like to introduce to you a combat hero, an outstanding battalion commander who graduated from the fourth batch of Huangpu Military Academy. He is An Yi, the captain of the death squad of the Second Division of the First Army in the Tingsi Bridge Raid Battle that everyone has been talking about these two days. Everyone.
applaud!"
More than two thousand recruits quickly stood up and applauded enthusiastically. Countless admiring eyes were focused on An Yi, which made An Yi uneasy and could only squeeze out a smile in response.
Tu Zhiyuan happily asked An Yi to bring the recruitment documents and asked the deputy around him to check them carefully. After returning the documents to An Yi, he loudly called out the names of the five great guys and asked them to come first, and then ordered the deputy to immediately allocate another hundred to An Yi.
Fifteen new recruits.
An Yi quickly stopped Tu Zhiyuan's lieutenant colonel's deputy and explained to Tu Zhiyuan with regret on his face: "Instructor, the students did not dare to take away so many people this time because they temporarily accepted the 98 surrendered veterans assigned by the division late last night.
, now there are only twenty-two people left to make up. The teacher and Chief of Staff Hu have repeatedly reminded the students to recruit as many medical staff as possible who know battlefield rescue, logistics personnel who can raise horses, and technicians who can repair firearms. Due to time, this matter
Our division hastily prepared for war with all its strength, and it is estimated that the division headquarters has not had time to report it to the military headquarters.
Now that the students have seen so many outstanding recruits, they are really jealous! If it were not strictly restricted by the establishment, the students would really like to take more than a hundred people back without telling you. It's a pity, who made us an engineer battalion?
Instructor, you also know that our engineers get very few fighting opportunities. Most of the time we have to follow the main force to build bridges and pave roads, or serve the wounded, bury the bodies of fallen brothers, or simply repair guns and cannons.
Something like the battle at Tingsi Bridge the night before yesterday was something I would never expect to see again in my life. In fact, the reason why the students took twenty-nine brothers and followed the brothers from the elite 36th Regiment of the Fourth Army to fight against Tingsi
The reason for crossing the bridge was entirely because the Thirty-sixth Regiment did not have engineers to help cross the river. After much deliberation, we thought it was not safe for us to go there with thirty engineers. It is hard to look back on the past...
I'm really sorry that so many outstanding recruits in front of us can only be used by our army's divisions and the main forces of friendly forces to benefit! Instructor, students, please help us to see if any of the two or three thousand people know medical skills and can raise horses and repair them.
Professionals in firearms and artillery? Students, please!”
The five good guys standing opposite were greatly disappointed after hearing An Yi's words.
These five people are all outstanding party members from various schools in Changsha with both good character and academic performance. They have firm revolutionary beliefs and will, are physically strong, can write and speak well, but none of them can see a doctor or repair a gun. Although they can bear the humiliation and bear the burden of raising horses, they are fine.
It is too far away from the lofty ideals in my heart such as eagerly stepping onto the battlefield to make contributions!
At this time, Tu Zhiyuan's head was also getting bigger. This time he finally came across a perfect opportunity and selected and selected the five best young party members. He hoped that they could grow up quickly after entering the Anyi Model Camp, which is famous throughout the army.
Spreading the revolutionary fire to this increasingly famous model camp eventually started a prairie fire. Unexpectedly, things suddenly changed and caught me off guard. How could I explain this to the organization that had high hopes for this? But the current situation has already changed.
In this way, it was not up to him to make the decision, so Tu Zhiyuan could only laugh, try his best to meet An Yi's request, and secretly made up his mind to use other means to win over An Yi, who was wandering on the edge of the left and right camps.
Tu Zhiyuan soon felt relieved as he walked toward the new recruits. At this moment, he had already thought of a countermeasure and believed that there would still be many opportunities to fight for the model camp that is famous throughout the army. As long as he stayed in this position, he would always have the opportunity to rise step by step.
It is impossible for An Yi to need additional troops.
So, with the efficient cooperation of several subordinates, Tu Zhiyuan quickly found 13 rural guys who knew how to raise horses, a small Chinese medicine doctor who had been a country doctor for generations, and four young people who had worked as machine mechanic apprentices.
.
Tu Zhiyuan whispered to his deputy not to hand over anyone to An Yi yet. He quietly summoned the five good guys from the crowd, asked for their opinions kindly, and encouraged them to bravely face challenges and tests. Unexpectedly, the five usually very good guys
All outstanding young people lowered their heads and shut their mouths. No one wanted to go to an engineer camp with no future for development.
Under the patient mobilization of the good-tempered Tu Zhiyuan, a 21-year-old boy named Li Xiaolong finally raised his head after a fierce ideological struggle and nodded vigorously to Tu Zhiyuan in a very tragic and solemn manner.
Tu Zhiyuan breathed a sigh of relief, and led the angry Li Xiaolong to ask his deputy to pick out four young men who raised horses, and finally gathered a group of not-so-good-looking alternative people together and sent them to An Yi.
An Yi was extremely grateful for the kindness and ordered the three instructors who were full of doubts to take the person back. Together with Hu Hu, they talked to Tu Zhiyuan for a while and then saluted and said goodbye.
An Yi, who was the first to return to the camp, quietly went to Yin Jinan to whisper. When he saw three instructors with doubtful faces walking into the camp headquarters asking why some people were not recruited? An Yi scolded him with a straight face and solemnly ordered to answer this question.
Everyone on the table had to keep their mouths shut and order the meal to be served without explaining why they did so.
As soon as he walked out of the camp gate, he saw the division's herald riding into the camp, looking eager. An Yi did not dare to neglect, and led Huzi and Yin Jinan to stride forward to greet them.