At four o'clock in the morning, four steamships with a speed of 17 kilometers per hour left Changsha Dongshan Pier, keeping a distance of about thirty meters and heading upstream. After five hours of driving, they arrived in Liuyang County at nine o'clock in the morning. They briefly stopped at the dock to replenish their supplies and sailed upstream again.
Go up and drive into the upper reaches of Liuyang River, which is a meandering river.
All four ships were new passenger and cargo transport ships specially recruited by the Commander-in-Chief from the Xiangjiang River Transport Enterprise in Changsha for the operations of the Second Division. These new ships, which could carry as many as 300 people, were in the hands of the Second Division. Liu She took them again.
All four ships were allocated to the engineer battalions that opened the way for the artillery trains of several main regiments, and other regiments followed them from the land route.
An Yi on the second steamer has been admiring the meandering scenery of this clear river since dawn. The beautiful scenery of the green screen and endless scenery on both sides under the golden sun makes An Yi fall in love.
After passing through Liuyang County and belonging to the upper reaches of the Liuhe River, the river gradually narrows and enters the northeastern Hunan region with thousands of ravines. There are endless tributaries among the dense hills on both sides of the bank. Some of them fall from high up like waterfalls and bead curtains.
Some are demure, green and peaceful, like graceful women. At this time, the white dew has passed and the Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching. The lush greenery in northeastern Hunan at the western foot of the Jiuling Mountains gradually recedes, revealing the mountains full of residual red. The clear river water is white mist from time to time due to the increasing temperature difference between day and night.
Ran Ran, almost every scene gave An Yi a sense of overwhelming beauty and pleasure.
The brothers on the ship were not in An Yi's good mood. All the beautiful scenery could not make them feel comfortable in front of them. Except for the police platoon brothers on the first ship led by Huzi, and the gun platoon brothers on the last ship.
Apart from being on guard duty, almost all the brothers were sleeping. It was already ten o'clock in the morning and the autumn sun was shining brightly. The brothers woke up one after another and looked at the villages and shepherd boys that appeared from time to time on both sides of the strait and talked with each other.
First company commander Chen Kan saw the first ship transmitting orders to soldiers waving flags. He quickly took out the beautiful telescope he had just hung on his chest last night and looked at the front of the left bank. He saw dozens of people walking quickly on the bank waving red flags and beating gongs and drums.
Quickly turn to the back of An Yi:
"Battal Commander, we are almost arriving at Gugang Town. The people on the shore are probably members of the local Farmers' Association and Women's Association. It seems they have rushed to the town to greet us."
An Yi didn't care about admiring the beautiful scenery on the right bank. He motioned to Dong Yazi to take the telescope and raised it with one hand to take a look:
"The local party organizations in Hunan have done a great job in the revolutionary work! The villagers in every village and town have already armed themselves. Unfortunately, the weapons and equipment are not very good. Almost all of the young men have spears in their hands, and they rarely even have broadswords. They probably carry broadswords."
They are all officials like captains."
Chen Kan chuckled: "Batalion Commander, if we recruit troops, we will probably gain a lot."
"no!"
An Yi denied it without hesitation.
"Why? Battalion Commander, those on the shore are all hard-working and good soldiers! Everyone supports our revolutionary army."
Chen Kan was very puzzled. When he stopped at the dock in Liuyang County, many Red Guards asked to join the army, but the battalion commander cheerfully declined. Such a good thing is something that no other army can hope for. In addition, before departure,
Instructor Yin received a total of two thousand sets of brand-new military uniforms, shoes and hats. In addition to his own two sets of clothing, each brother also brought two sets of old military uniforms. Why not to recruit soldiers?
After hearing this, An Yi immediately became vigilant and handed the binoculars to the cheerful Dong Yazi. After a second thought, he stood up and turned to the confused Chen Kan:
"Your company has almost 200 men. Isn't that not enough? Our battalion is the leading barracks of the entire division. Not only does it go ahead to build bridges and open roads, it is also ready for war at any time. How can we find time for anything else? Even if we really need to recruit people.
To expand your strength, you also have to recruit on the battlefield. Otherwise, how will you have the time to teach these people who have never touched a gun all the way? Not only will there be no combat effectiveness, but the brothers will also have to devote their energy to taking care of these new recruits. You, the commander of the combat company, are really
Are you willing? It would be better to leave it to the follow-up troops who have more people and strength."
Chen Kan thought about it and it was indeed the case. His doubts disappeared and he smiled sheepishly.
At this time, bursts of clear and pleasant country songs came from the shore, singing about sending his beloved brother to join the army, which showed that the mobilization work of the Women's Association was indeed well done.
The brothers on the boat couldn't sit still when they heard the singing. They all knew that these hot girls from eastern Hunan and northern Hunan were all pretty, generous and energetic, and could sing. So they all stood up and looked at the shore. Even the sleepy-eyed brothers
He also hurriedly got up and looked at the women on the shore one by one, his eyes almost flying across the river.
An Yi saw the appearance of the brothers and joked loudly: "Everyone is drooling on the tips of their shoes, haha! Brothers, it's not me who is destroying your confidence, it's you grandsons who are looking for you.
My wife is useless in this field. None of you can compare to that kid Xia Jian. Look at Xia Jian, he just takes aim and shoots without taking any time. With his skill, he brought back a beautiful girl in two days. You guys
What? Everyone has a thief's heart but not a thief's courage. I look down on you grandsons, haha!"
The brothers laughed loudly, and the instructor in the middle, Huang Yingwu, laughed loudly and asked: "Boss, why don't you show your skills to the brothers?"
When the brothers heard this, they all started to make noises. An Yi replied carelessly: "My mother-in-law is rushing to study at St. John's University in Hong Kong. After studying, she will help me manage the house. Haha! My mother-in-law asked Xia Jian to bring the letter yesterday.
, I wrote a full five pieces of paper. I won’t tell you what I wrote in detail. I can only tell you that my mother-in-law told me that she will never be able to live without me in this life, haha! I only gave it to you before departure.
How about her reply? Everyone is jealous, haha..."
The brothers laughed and were envious. When they heard the singing coming again, they all turned their heads. Dozens of women getting closer and closer on the left bank were walking in the same direction carrying red flags and waving generously to the soldiers on the boat. Brothers.
Everyone opened their mouths wide and raised their dirty paws to meet them. They wanted to jump off the boat and swim over right away.
Huang Yingwu heard the woman on the shore singing the folk song over and over again, and with a thought in his mind, he looked at An Yi who was looking at the left bank and said loudly:
"Boss, I usually hear you humming nice songs, but I guess you don't know how to sing country songs. Just listen... Haha, that's so kind! Boss, please sing one too, so that the ladies on the shore don't dare to
How about looking down on our brothers?"
The brothers immediately started making noises and shouted to the battalion commander to sing a song.
An Yi thought the songs on the shore were very pleasant, and he felt an inexplicable sense of intimacy in his heart. Now he asked Huang Yingwu to stimulate him cleverly. When he saw the brothers on the boat shouting with all their heart, An Yi immediately raised his head:
"You stupid Huang Yingwu, do you think I don't know that you are trying to seduce me? But seeing the brothers' great interest, I won't argue with you. Today I will sing a real folk song, just about the river in front of me.
You country bumpkin has a lot of experience, let the women on the shore hear it, let them know that there is nothing our revolutionary army can't do! Listen..."
An Yi approached the port side and stood upright, holding his injured left arm and letting go of his sonorous singing voice, and blurted out a song with a strong Hunan rhyme:
"Liuyang River, how many turns have you made? Do you have dozens of miles of waterway to reach the Xiangjiang River? What kind of county is there by the river? Who has appeared to lead the people to liberation, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah..."
An Yi's rich and moving singing voice echoed in the mountains and clear waters. This beautiful question-and-answer song made the girls and daughters-in-law on the shore feel so excited that they couldn't help but stop. The boatmen on the boat looked at each other with admiration.
The singing caused the brothers on the four boats to fall silent, with longing expressions on their faces.
An Yi, who was full of pride, was singing with immersion and his brain was spinning fast. Suddenly he realized that singing this song at this time was not right, and it seemed too ahead of his time, so the last part of the first verse was still echoing in the mountains, and he
The second part of singing followed, and he proudly answered the question from the previous part and told all the stunned audience the answer with his extremely charming singing voice:
"Liuyang River, after turning nine bends, it takes fifty miles of waterway to reach the Xiangjiang River. There is Xiangtan County on the riverside. I just won't tell you who happened, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah..."
After An Yi finished singing, he chuckled, returned to the chair, sat down, and asked the intoxicated Dong Yazi to light a cigarette. This made nearly a thousand people on the bank of the river admiring and depressed. He didn't even say the most crucial answer.
The women on the left bank who were stunned didn't know why, they chattered for a while, then suddenly raised their legs and ran forward, causing a burst of cheerful laughter from the brothers on the boat.
Gugang Town slowly approached in front of the clear water. The steamboat slowed down and prepared to dock at this final destination. From a distance, the brothers saw hundreds of villagers on the pier. In front of the crowd, red flags were waving, gongs and drums were beating, and two to three hundred people
People from the Peasants' Self-Defense Force and the Women's Association waved more than a dozen flags of sickle and hammer and blue sky and white sun, and the welcoming formation was even bigger than that of the Liuyang County Peasants' Association.
The first steamer has docked, and the second steamer An Yi is on has also thrown out its cable. An Yi thought for a while and loudly gave an order to Chen Kan: "Send my order, go ashore, unload the supplies, gather them, and immediately drive to the northeast."
Eleven kilometers to Zhangpan Village.”
"yes!"
After Chen Kan saluted, he walked to the side of the ship. When the ship slowly approached the shore, he jumped down to inform Huzi. Huzi nodded and gave some instructions to the two police platoon brothers beside him. He saw four or five farmers' association leaders welcoming him enthusiastically.
Beard quickly stepped forward and saluted:
"The Engineer Battalion of the Second Division of the First Army of the National Revolutionary Army was ordered to perform a mission and disturbed the villagers."
"I see it, I see it, we have seen the banner of the 'Model Camp' for a long time! After receiving the notice from our superiors the night before, our farmers' associations in Gugang and the eight surrounding villages were eagerly looking forward to it, and we were still worried.
The comrades in the model camp were left behind by the county farmers' association, haha! Let me introduce, my name is Yang Dedao, and I am the chairman of the farmers' association in these ten miles and eight villages. This is Comrade Tan Zhenxian, the captain of the Red Guard, and this is Han Ying, the leader of the Women's National Salvation Association.
Comrade." The chairman of the Gugang Town Farmers' Association is a tall man in his mid-thirties, with a dark face and a sincere face.
Huzi heard that the Peasant Association had received a notice from his troops the night before. He was secretly surprised, and because he was not good at socializing, he pointed to An Yi who had just disembarked from the boat at the dock: "That is our battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel An Yi. If you need anything, please
Please contact him. Please forgive me for my busy schedule."
"It's okay, it's okay! I'll leave after lunch later!"
Yang Dedao and others said goodbye to Hu Hu and walked quickly to An Yi. An Yi, who was prepared for it, happily stepped forward and stretched out his intact right hand: "Sorry to bother the folks, haha! I am An Yi, the commander of the engineering battalion, may I ask...
…”
Yang Dedao quickly introduced him enthusiastically, and after that, he led An Yi up to the top of the pier to chat enthusiastically. Around three hundred Red Guards stood upright with spears and clubs in their hands, as if waiting for a review by a revolutionary army commander. An Yi was heart-broken.
I'm afraid all the landlords and wealthy people in these ten miles and eight villages have suffered. The surging rural revolutionary movement has formed a prairie fire in southwestern Jiangxi and eastern Hunan. Now even the name "Peasant Self-Defense Force" has been changed to "Red Guards". Obviously
It is the struggle that has entered a fever pitch.
Several leaders of the farmers' association became anxious when they saw the situation at the wharf below. An Yi's team did not accept any gifts of tea, fruits and food, nor did they intend to have lunch. Instead, they quickly gathered and prepared to set off. Even An Yi
The big dark horse was also pulled aside by Dong Yazi.
Yang Dedao quickly took An Yi's hand and warmly asked him to stay: "Oh, Comrade An Yi, please stay for a while and have a meal to guide the work of our farmers' association before leaving. Several hundred of us and the villagers from ten miles and eight villages are here."
I’ve been looking forward to it for several days!”
An Yi replied very apologetically: "Uncle, as well as Captain Tan, Chairman Han, and my brother, I have military affairs and I have to leave quickly! From the conversation just now, I learned that you also knew in advance that our revolutionary army was going to pass through here.
When it comes to fighting against warlords in Jiangxi, you can also see that our engineering battalion is the front station, building bridges and paving the way for the large forces behind us. Otherwise, those artillery cars will not be able to pass, so we did not dare to stop and rushed to the battlefield twenty miles away.
A bridge has to be built in Zhangpan Village. I heard that the small wooden bridge is about to collapse and even the most important carriages dare not cross it. Is this true?"
"Yes, it's true. One mile ahead of the Zhangpan Village wooden bridge, the dry river wooden bridge can't pass heavy carriages. Oh! It turns out that you engineers are also doing this, so I won't dare to keep you... But
We will definitely help you, Comrade Commander An, please wait!" Yang Dedao urgently discussed with the captain of the Red Guard beside him.
The captain of the Red Guard nodded and immediately gathered his team of more than 300 people: "Comrades, the revolutionary army is going to Jiangxi to fight warlords and local tyrants. Soon there will be many cars and artillery coming from the west side of the town, but Zhangpan Village
The two bridges cannot bear the large vehicles, so I ordered everyone to quickly find hammers, axes, saws, and hatchets. The team leaders of each village sent people to send all the carpenters from each village to Zhangpan Village, and we took action immediately."
In the blink of an eye, more than 300 Red Guards with spears in hand ran away. An Yi discussed briefly with Hu Zi and Yin Jinan who came to him and whispered a few orders. Hu Hu and Yin Jinan left one after another.
An Yi politely thanked the leaders of Yang Dedao and said that the villagers were not rich and we did not dare to accept the gifts. We were very grateful to get the support of the Red Guards.
Under the warm farewell of Yang Dedao and a group of leaders of the farmers' association and the women's association, An Yi, who was wearing a strap on his chest, whistled. His favorite horse, the little black colt, lay obediently on the ground and waited for An Yi to step on it before he stood up firmly.
Nearly a thousand people around him were surprised and envious.
An Yi waved his hand and was about to urge the horse to leave when a clear female voice behind him stopped him: "Comrade riding the big black horse, please wait!"
An Yi turned the horse's head and stared at the beautiful short-haired girl in front of him in surprise: "Girl, is something wrong?"
Han Ying, the president of the Women's Association, quickly introduced: "This is Comrade Yang Suzhen, the president of the Women's Association of Xijiang Village. They have just arrived... Suzhen, this is the camp commander of the revolutionary army. Their mission is urgent and they are about to leave. They are going to Zhang."
Let’s go to Iancun to build a bridge.”
Yang Suzhen, who is fair and delicate and in her early twenties, swept her bangs from her forehead, blushed and asked An Yi loudly: "Comrade An, can you teach me the song you just sang on the boat? It's so nice, but it's a pity that you can only
I sang it once and I was fascinated. How can you sing our Liuyang tune?"
An Yi's head suddenly got big: "Hey, why did you think it was me who sang it? There are so many people on the boat, you must have made a mistake, right?"
"That's right! I just went through the ranks of the Revolutionary Army and found no one with their head wrapped in white cloth and arms in slings. It's just you. Those enthusiastic Revolutionary Army brothers all said that it was their battalion commander who sang it. You can't even think of lying!
"
Seeing the smile on An Yijun's face, Yang Suzhen lowered her head in embarrassment, and then raised it bravely: "It's a pity that I forgot everything when I ran here. I only remember the nice tune at the end. When I asked the sisters, everyone did the same.
I can't remember. Also, you didn't tell us about your last sentence of "Who happened". We all want to know. Just teach me. How about I follow you to Zhangpan Village and you teach me along the way?
I'll come back when I learn."
An Yi laughed, scratched his head, looked at the starting team, and turned to Yang Suzhen: "This song is usually sung by Comrade Huang Yingwu, the instructor of our company. A few days ago, he was humming this song while doing laundry, and I learned a few lines on the side.
Just yelling blindly, I can’t remember everything, so I can only ask Huang Yingwu. He is an excellent political instructor of our second division, let me let him meet you... Parrot?"
"arrive--"
Huang Yingwu, who looked like a man and a dog with a shell gun stuck in his waist, ran over quickly.
An Yi pointed at Yang Suzhen: "This comrade, the president of the Women's Association, wants to learn singing from you. You teach her. If you don't teach her, she won't be allowed to come back. Haha... I'm leaving. Goodbye everyone."
Ten minutes later, Huang Yingwu, sweating profusely, caught up with An Yi who was riding a horse: "Boss, I don't remember that song about someone you sang about someone! I only remember the first sentence and the last sentence. How can I teach you?"
You also know that I can only remember new songs after listening to them at least twice..."
An Yi laughed loudly, and suddenly saw Yang Suzhen leading a group of women to catch up half a mile away. He was shocked and ran away, leaving the panting Huang Yingwu to deal with it by himself.
An Yi rode his horse to catch up with Yin Jinan, and the two discussed for a while. An Yi rode forward, and Dong Yaozi, who had a rifle on his waist and a flower machine gun on his back, followed closely on his yellow gelding.
Yin Jinan rode his horse to the middle of the second and third companies and gave an order loudly: "The second company listened to the order and rushed to the second wooden bridge to the east of Zhangpan Village. After arriving, it immediately began to cut wood and build the bridge; the third company was responsible for the west side of Zhangpan Village.
The first wooden bridge was demolished immediately upon arrival; the first company was responsible for protecting and guarding the construction work of the second and third companies. Everyone pay attention and run forward at a medium speed——"
The entire team immediately picked up speed. Thanks to An Yi's efforts, each company now has twenty young and strong draft horses, and each company commander is also assigned a good horse for transportation. The combat companies with the best equipment are one company at a time.
, three company-level officers and three platoon leaders were all assigned a war horse, so the marching speed of each company was greatly increased.