Li Zongren's Seventh Army on the North Road once again received good news. More than 16,000 soldiers of the Seventh Army, under the condition of lack of supplies, started a decisive battle with the enemy Liu Fengtu and Bi Huadong's two main divisions and another cavalry regiment at the Wangjiapu line.
, After seven hours of fierce fighting between the two sides, Wang Jun, acting commander of the First Division of the First Army stationed in Fengxin for rest, led the main force of two regiments to bypass Baishui and rush for reinforcements. They attacked the enemy from the side and rear, annihilated more than 4,000 enemy soldiers, and seized a large number of guns and ammunition.
As well as mortars, heavy machine guns and a large number of military supplies. The three brigades of the Seventh Army pursued the enemy and rushed to Ruichang before stopping.
The Seventh Army entered Jiangxi and won three victories in three battles. The military power was greatly boosted. Congratulatory messages from the headquarters and the rear government came like snow, and General Li Zongren's reputation once again shocked the whole country.
While the brave and capable Seventh Army achieved a major victory, it also paid a heavy price of more than 5,000 casualties. Generals such as the commander of the ninth regiment, Lu Shouqi, the commander of the second regiment, Lu Yanxin, and the captain of the machine gun battalion, Wu Tieying, fought fiercely.
One-third of the officers were casualties, including more than 70 Huangpu fourth-generation graduates who went to the Seventh Army to serve as trainee officers.
After rest and reorganization, the First Division of the First Army had withstood the test of the Wangjiapu Battle and regained confidence. Commander-in-Chief Chiang Kai-shek was very pleased to hear the news and sent commendation messages to the Seventh Army and the First Division respectively as encouragement. At the same time, he ordered the rest and reorganization.
The completed Sixth Army approached the Seventh Army, supporting each other, and ordered General He Yaozu's independent second division to march to Wangjiapu, while the guard wing was replenishing the resting Seventh Army.
At this point, both the enemy and ourselves were exhausted, unable to continue, and fell into a state of truce and confrontation. At the same time, the headquarters of the National Revolutionary Army in Gao'an City was busy, and a huge "Plan to Clear Jiangxi" was being formulated day and night.
After lunch, the military camp at Jiangjun Temple a few miles north of Gao'an City was bustling with activity. More than 1,600 recruits recruited from counties such as Gao'an, Shanggao, Yifeng, Zhangshu and even Fengcheng, which had been re-occupied by the enemy, were among nearly a thousand soldiers.
The veterans cheered and shouted, divided into teams of a hundred, and ran around the camp.
These new recruits, who had just been in the military camp for a day to five days, were panting one by one and their steps were wandering. They finally crossed the uneven and obstacle-filled camp roads three times, running a total of five kilometers like being driven away.
Only then can you stop.
The thirty people running in front of each team were quickly taken back to their respective barracks by the supervisors of the second and third battalions. They were called by name and paid military pay for the month. After that, they happily received belt rifles and badges symbolizing regular soldiers.
A batch of 480 outstanding recruits have since become members of the Anyi Regiment. The 70 recruits running behind drank water and rested under the warm hospitality of the officers and soldiers of the first battalion. The recruits and veterans chatted with each other, joked and laughed. Waiting until
It was already four o'clock in the afternoon when all the recruits' physical fitness tests were completed, and the rice and pickled pork stew they had just eaten at noon were gone.
The more than 1,150 recruits gathered under the high platform had no idea what was going on. They were divided into ten squares by a group of non-commissioned officers from the regiment's training team and stood in high and low camps, listening to these men with rifles inserted into their waists.
The veteran sergeant with a machine gun on his shoulder read the military discipline loudly. Beard and others on the high platform proudly said that the 115 people in each square can basically be counted as a company. The recruitment results of these ten companies are not bad. It is recommended to give
Each battalion receives heavy prizes.
An Yi sat on the large chair specially made for him by his brothers, looking at the teams in the audience, smiling from ear to ear. The chief officers of each battalion were squatting or standing around him, pointing and making jokes from time to time.
Continuously.
Sitting on the small stool next to An Yi was a young lieutenant with a thin and pale face. He was holding a pen in his left hand and holding the notebook on his knee with his right hand while he was writing nervously. There was no smile on his rather delicate face, and his eyes were filled with a faint smile.
His melancholy but extremely focused eyes stared at every word written in the record book. Only his thumb and index finger were left on his right hand, and half of his palm seemed to have been neatly cut off. However, he did not deliberately hide his shortcomings, but used
The remaining thumb and index finger were holding the large record book firmly. He was Shi Lejun who returned to the army two days ago with more than 120 injured and recovered officers and soldiers of the model battalion. He was killed by An Yi's model battalion in the Battle of Heshengqiao that day.
He was captured and joined the model camp together. An Yi kept his promise and put him in revolutionary army uniforms together with the 26 wounded soldiers who surrendered at the same time, and sent him to the field hospital of the headquarters in Xianning. He was injured before and after the battle of Tingsi Bridge.
More than a hundred brothers from the model camp received treatment together. This treatment lasted for fifty-six days. The day before yesterday, they finally took a military transport truck to Gao'an via Pingjiang and Tonggu.
Shi Lejun, like the more than a hundred brothers who had recovered from their injuries or not yet recovered but were eager to return home, kept their promise and returned to An Yi's model camp.
What moved the returning brothers was that they were warmly welcomed by the brothers as soon as they entered the General Temple camp, and all received new badges for promotion to the first level, as well as generous military pay and subsidies while recuperating. More than a hundred brothers
At that time, they stood solemnly on the high platform in front of the temple and saluted An Yi, who was half-healed from his injury and lying on a chair in the sun. Every brother had a sore nose and tears of gratitude in his eyes.
Shi Lejun finally became An Yi's lieutenant quartermaster and secretary. Lao Chang waited for the half-empty veteran to finally get rid of the increasingly arduous work of military statistics and accounting. He was very polite and caring to the newcomer Shi Lejun, and showed his rich knowledge.
, quick and accurate calculations, and a high level of admiration and respect for the military resources and supplies.
At this moment, Shi Lejun is following An Yi's instructions to record and calculate how much clothing, shoes, hats, military blankets, quilts and food were spent by the recruits who were eliminated in the assessment and will be sent to other regiments during the recruitment and entry into the camp.
It is consumed and only waits for the division commander and the regiments and battalions to come and ask for signatures.
This time, the large-scale recruitment of new recruits did not include settlement fees, but relied on the talents and sharp tongues of instructors and veterans of each battalion and company to encourage and seduce.
As the news that the revolutionary army had occupied most of Jiangxi and was besieging Nanchang City had been widely circulated at this time, more and more people were gradually awakening under the inspiration of the Three People's Principles and the revolutionary spirit, and all armies and divisions were recovering from heavy grief and indignation.
The recruitment work was not started in time, so the recruitment work carried out by An Yi's battalions under the banner of the First Army of the National Revolutionary Army and the banner of the Model Battalion went very smoothly, and each of them completed what they originally thought was a very arduous task.
After a while, the star officer on duty came to report that the division commander led nearly a hundred people on horseback. An Yi put up a pergola and looked to the south outside the camp gate. When he saw the billowing dust, he was immediately happy:
"Lejun, the recruitment publicity fee, the fabric wages for the big red flowers and banners, the carriage and horse fees, and the food consumption should be doubled for me. Grandma, if we don't make some money back, aren't we working in vain? Bonuses for each battalion and company.
I hope I can dig it out from here."
"yes!"
Shi Lejun put down the record book, stood up and strode towards the temple. There were statistical tables that he had drawn in advance. All he had to do was fill in the numbers one by one.
Liu Zhi, Xu Tingyao, the fourth regiment commander Zhang Benqing, the fifth regiment commander Li Yannian, the sixth regiment commander Guo Jun, as well as Li Xianzhou, Tan Fulie and other deputy battalion commanders who graduated from Huangpu's first and second batches. Dozens of people rushed into the camp gate on horseback. A group of generals stood in front of the high platform.
He got off his horse and climbed up to the high platform happily. Looking at the groups of new recruits in front of the high platform with smiles on their faces, everyone admired An Yi and his brothers for their quick reaction, speed of attack, and sophisticated and efficient recruitment methods.
In just one week, more than a thousand young, strong, and highly qualified recruits were recruited. When other friendly forces reacted and hurriedly took action, almost all of the recruited soldiers were carefully selected and eliminated by the An Yi Regiment. The Second Army was so angry that they
The bosses of the political departments of the Third Army and the Sixth Army were scolded. Several bosses of the Second Army and the Third Army went to Commander-in-Chief Chiang Kai-shek to sue the Second Division for trying to cross the border and recruit troops in their defense areas.
"Sit down, there's no need to get up."
Xu Tingyao came to An Yi and pressed his shoulders. He sat on the stool brought by the Huskers and scanned the front with Liu Zhi. Xu Tingyao praised loudly: "You are awesome, these more than a thousand recruits are all top-notch."
Soldiers! No wonder the friendly forces are so dissatisfied with our Second Division, haha!"
An Yi grinned: "Chief of Staff, all the officers and soldiers of our regiment are strictly selected according to the recruitment standards. We don't want anyone who is less than 1.6 meters tall, we don't want anyone who can't carry a hundred pounds, and we don't want bow-legged duck feet.
Otherwise, we can get at least three to five thousand recruits from five counties."
"Yeah, the requirements are so high... Actually, I think the standards can be lowered appropriately. Our logistics department also needs to be supplemented. Those with weaker physiques can be qualified for logistics tasks. But if you have achieved this step, we have already allowed us to
I am very satisfied...look at your group of senior brothers, one or two of them all ran away without any hurry, haha!"
Xu Tingyao was very happy, and Liu Zhi, who was sitting on the other side of An Yi, also had a look of satisfaction on his face. If they knew that these more than 1,150 people were left over by An Yi again, I wonder how surprised the two of them would be.
.
An Yi saw a group of regiment and battalion commanders and senior brothers all jumping off the high platform and walking toward groups of recruits. In a hurry, he sat up straight and shouted:
"Lao Zhang, Lao Li and Lao Guo, grandma, you have to sign the handover before you can take it away! Come back... Master, Chief of Staff, this is not possible! Look, even if it is given for free,
You have to go through the handover procedures with us first, right? This is a team of ten companies... Look, look! The grandson of Lao Li from the Sixth Regiment really dares to take away two companies... Teacher, you have to give
It is my subordinates who make the decision. If they are all gone and refuse to admit their debt, who will be responsible for the large recruitment fees that my subordinates filled in?"
Liu Zhi, Xu Tingyao and other division commanders laughed loudly. Liu Zhi patted An Yi's shoulder lightly and laughed softly: "Don't worry, you can bring the handover form and expense statistics form over later and I'll sign them for you.
I will never let you pay for your efforts, otherwise we, the officers, will be incompetent."
"Hehe! I can rest assured that you have a master."
An Yi was no longer in a hurry after achieving his goal. The heads of the regiments in front gathered together and blushed, which made An Yi laugh non-stop. When the three regiment leaders were still bargaining over who should belong to the remaining company.
, the battalion and company commanders of each regiment have already taken action. The battalion and company commanders of each regiment first led the assigned three companies and shouted commands to drive out of the camp gate, as if they were afraid that Ye Changmengduo would be snatched away by others if he was not careful.
, which made Liu Zhi and others on the high platform laugh.
Xu Tingyao looked at An Yi meaningfully. An Yi felt strange and immediately turned his head to ask for instructions. Xu Tingyao smiled and whispered:
"Xiao Yi, I have to tell you something. The situation is this: Since each regiment is currently equipped with a qualified engineer company with your support, the response of each regiment is quite good. It is said that the engineers trained by the model camp
Not only are their professional skills high, but their military quality is also first-rate. They are better trained than many infantry companies. Everyone is very satisfied.
At the division headquarters meeting this morning, the idea of establishing a division-affiliated engineering battalion was once again raised by the chief officers of each department. Because we will be fighting in areas with dense water networks in the north and south of the Yangtze River for a long time, we urgently need an engineering battalion directly under the division headquarters to provide military supplies.
, building bridges and paving roads for the transportation and distribution of soldiers, etc., it will be very problematic if they are temporarily transferred from each regiment. In the future, each regiment will have heavy combat tasks, and each regiment itself will also need the cooperation and support of engineers.
Therefore, the division commander and I very much agreed with this opinion, and finally decided to remove Cai Guangqing, deputy battalion commander of the third battalion of the Sixth Regiment, and his engineering company, and establish a directly affiliated engineering battalion based on this, with the very outstanding Lieutenant Colonel Cai Guangqing as the engineer
Battalion Commander. But in this case, the Sixth Regiment will no longer have engineers, do you understand?"
An Yi's handsome face was twisted like a cramp for several seconds, and then like a patient who had just had his teeth extracted, he exhaled and inhaled painfully. He finally recovered, lowered his head and stopped talking.
Xu Tingyao and Liu Zhi looked at each other and shook their heads helplessly. They knew in their hearts that they had always owed this capable, hard-working, loyal and generous subordinate too many people. They transferred people from him again and again without giving him any benefit.
He personally went to the principal to get back the cannons, more than a dozen machine guns and more than two hundred flower machine guns. Most of the remaining weapons and equipment were seized by him himself. If An Yi was not too young and lacked qualifications,
With his record and ability, he should not have been sitting in the position of supplementary regiment commander now. If he were in other friendly forces, he would be more reused, and he might not necessarily be the commander of a division now. Therefore,
The apologetic Xu Tingyao and Liu Zhi didn't know what to say for a while, but they both knew that even though their beloved general was heartbroken, he would eventually obey the order with the overall situation in mind.
Just as Xu Tingyao and Liu Zhi expected, An Yi calmed down and nodded in agreement: "I obey the order and transfer the entire fourth company of the first battalion... However, please persuade the commander and chief of staff to convince the sixth regiment not to change
The company platoon leader of this company should not be changed for at least a year, because the fourth company commander Lieutenant Wang Qingbao, company deputy Lieutenant Zhang Yingliang, and instructor Second Lieutenant Huang Yaotong are all old brothers who came here from the Guangzhou West Camp of our Second Division.
, except for Huang Yaotong who can write and count, the other two people are not very literate. They all rose through the ranks by virtue of their military exploits. Among the 150 people in the entire new company, only a few dozen company and platoon squad leaders are proficient in engineer skills. The others
Almost all of them are novices with little experience. If the main technical backbone is replaced, the entire company will be useless.
The subordinates requested that they be given three months to practice hard together. After three months, they will be an excellent engineering company. After more than half a year of practice, they can be divided into two companies, because the subordinates implemented
The system of chief and deputy squad and platoon commanders is prepared for expansion. If you want to expand, you only need to remove the positions of deputy company commander and squad platoon deputy, and they will quickly bring out a qualified engineer company."
Liu Zhi and Xu Tingyao immediately agreed, and the grateful Liu Zhi asked in a low voice: "Xiao Yi, are there any difficulties that you need us to solve for you?"
Seeing An Yi's hesitation, Xu Tingyao immediately said with a smile: "If you have anything to say, just say it. Now in the entire Second Division and even the friendly forces, who won't give you An Yi face?"
An Yi nodded awkwardly and motioned for Liu Zhi and Xu Tingyao to come closer. The three of them murmured with their heads on their heads. Liu Zhi, with a happy face, stood up and loudly ordered all the regiments to return. Xu Tingyao hurriedly asked Yin Jinan to find Yang Bin and others.
, An Yi had returned to normal at this time, and loudly called Lao Hantou to arrange the dinner.