At 9:10 p.m. the next day, Commander-in-Chief Chiang's special train slowly entered the Zhengzhou Railway Station. General Feng Yuxiang led more than a hundred civil and military officials under his command to line up on the platform to greet him.
This time there was no military band, and there were no people cheering loudly with banners and banners in their hands, but looking around, there was a sentry every three steps, a post every five steps, and everywhere you could see teams of northwest military officers and soldiers with guns and live ammunition lined up neatly, showing the war
During this period, there was a strong atmosphere of solemnity and solemnity.
A company serving as an honor guard are all carefully selected outstanding officers and soldiers who stand out from hundreds of thousands of people. Except for the shorter captain who holds a sharp saber, none of the more than 130 members is less than 1.8 meters tall.
of.
Each member of the honor guard carried a shell gun on his waist, a flower machine gun in his hand, a set of beautiful leather magazine holders on his chest, a large-brimmed hat on his head, a wide belt around his waist, and high black and shiny riding boots. The whole team stood majestically.
Majestic.
Commander-in-Chief Chiang saw the glorious appearance of the honor guard in the car, but compared with the special forces brigade he saw with his own eyes, it seemed to lack something, so he shook his head and smiled, not surprised at all.
The train had just stopped, and Chiang Kai-shek quickly got off the train. He stretched out his hands with great excitement and held hands tightly with Feng Yuxiang, who was striding forward to greet him. Dozens of generals around him looked at Chiang Kai-shek and Feng Yuxiang as their affectionate "brothers".
Amidst the calls of "good brother", everyone burst into smiles.
An Yi, who was standing behind Chiang Kai-shek, saw this "deeply touching" scene. He was ridiculed in his heart and couldn't help but be filled with emotion. He admired the superficial skills of the two famous commanders and politicians in front of him. It was originally just a combination of interests.
, now it really seems to be a bit of a "life and death" posture, and I can't help but think of the scene of sworn friendship in Taoyuan during the Three Kingdoms period.
Yu Jishi touched An Yi beside him a little strangely and asked him in a low voice why he was smiling so weirdly. An Yi quickly calmed down and explained in a low voice: Senior brother, look, I am afraid that the honor guard of the Northwest Army will be inspected soon.
Upon hearing this, Yu Jishi immediately looked ahead at the honor guard behind a group of Northwest Army generals, nodded slightly, and smiled knowingly.
After the important generals from both sides paid their respects to each other, General Feng Yuxiang, who was wearing a gray coarse soldier uniform and wearing straw sandals with his toes exposed, accompanied by Commander-in-Chief Chiang, who was wearing a straight general uniform, began to review the guard of honor.
The Northwest Army was the first military group in the country to electrify and support Chiang Kai-shek's return as commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army, and was the first to change its name to the Second Group Army of the National Revolutionary Army. Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek was also the nominal commander-in-chief of the more than 300,000-strong Northwest Army. This symbolic
The review is of extraordinary significance.
After walking the tens of meters of red carpet, the other generals under the coaches of both sides greeted each other. An Yi and Yu Jishi saluted Feng Yuxiang and Lu Zhonglin, quickly returned to the train, and led the guard regiment and special brigade to drive out of the station first.
Walk to the hotel where Commander-in-Chief is staying to take over the guard duty.
Under the dim light, not many people paid attention to the commander-in-chief's guard composed of 1,800 officers and soldiers at first. As An Yi and Yu Jishi led the guard out of the platform, the comments of the soldiers of the Northwest Army became louder and louder. Walking behind Feng Yuxiang and
When the generals of the Northwest Army behind the two commander-in-chiefs Chiang Kai-shek saw Commander-in-Chief Chiang’s guard, they all stopped and watched with interest:
The officers and soldiers of the guard regiment were in high spirits and well-equipped with new machine guns and American pistols. They wore steel helmets, new yellow-green military uniforms, yellow-green leggings, and new green rubber-soled shoes. They marched silently with neat steps.
The 300 officers and soldiers following the 1,500 guards and soldiers have another look. The officers and soldiers are wearing new camouflage combat uniforms without rank markings, and their heads are
The helmets are also covered with camouflage cloth of the same color. Each officer and soldier carries a large camouflage marching bag on his back. At his waist is a pistol wrapped in a green canvas holster and a sheathed dagger. Many of them carry
The weapons were all different. The objects wrapped in camouflage cloth covers on the backs of the officers and soldiers were unknown. At least twenty Czech light machine guns appeared on the shoulders of the soldiers wearing new combat vests.
Another thing that is completely different from the officers and soldiers of the guard regiment in front is that the pace of these three hundred officers and soldiers is not very orderly, but the indifferent expressions of the officers and soldiers and the fierce murderous aura exuding from their bodies immediately made the soldiers of the Northwest Army who were present have experienced hundreds of battles
Their hearts trembled, and no one dared to look down upon this team with weird and unusual equipment. They all stopped to stare at each other and asked each other about the reason. Unfortunately, the team left quickly, and soon they were heading towards the Changchun Bridge ahead of the convoy.
Hotel.
At eleven o'clock in the evening, An Yi and Yu Jishi, Kang Ze, He Zhonghan and other senior brothers and generals from the headquarters were sitting in the lounge opposite the conference room, chatting, waiting for the end of the secret meeting between Commander-in-Chief Chiang and General Feng Yuxiang.
At this time, confidential secretary Chen Brai quickly entered the lounge and called An Yi away. After a while, the two of them entered the opposite door and walked through the spacious conference room to the east side of the living room, where Chiang Kai-shek was sitting on a leather sofa.
, Feng Yuxiang, Lu Zhonglin, Kong Xiangxi, and Chen Guofu watched An Yi come in with great interest.
An Yi was a little surprised at the strange expressions of everyone, but his face was not at all bland. He took two steps forward and stood at attention to report. Feng Yuxiang nodded repeatedly and waved An Yi kindly to sit diagonally opposite. An Yi thanked him respectfully but
He did not move until Chiang Kai-shek nodded, strode to the sofa, thanked him again and sat up straight. This move won Chiang Kai-shek a lot of face.
General Feng Yuxiang smiled and said cheerfully to everyone: "He is courteous and behaves like an excellent soldier. He is indeed a rare talent. No wonder Brother Jieshi is so concerned! Our tiger general fought more beautifully in the two Northern Expeditions.
, Wherever they go, they will be victorious and attack. Sun Chuanfang’s Anhui army and Zhang Zong
The Changzhi and Lu troops were as fearful as tigers and were invincible. The generals from Su, Anhui, Lu, and Hebei who had been famous for many years fell into his hands at the snap of a finger, and they were formidable! I met him once during the Xuzhou meeting last year. At that time, he still had a childish smile on his face and was shy.
In the blink of an eye, he became a calm and famous general, which shows that war can really temper people!"
The whole audience laughed, and Feng Yuxiang’s chief of general staff and former enemy commander-in-chief of the Second Army, Lu Zhonglin, nodded: “General An’s annihilation of the Ninth Division of the Anhui Army and the battle against the Japanese across the Yellow River at the beginning of the month were impressive. Today they are all
It has become the focus of heated discussion among the military and civilians across the country."
Everyone echoed, a proud smile appeared on Chiang Kai-shek's face, and Feng Yuxiang leaned forward: "General An, we asked your principal just now and wanted to know how the First Army's record was in fighting the Japanese across the river in the north of Jinan City at the beginning of the month? Yours?
The principal politely said that we all have our own merits, which immediately aroused our addiction. We all know that this battle was specifically planned and directed by you, the former enemy chief of staff. Can General An tell you in detail?"
When An Yi heard this, he immediately understood that Chiang Kai-shek had not told Feng Yuxiang and others the truth. He changed his mind and said humbly:
"Back to senior, in addition to junior's independent division, senior He Guiyan also participated in the battle on the north bank of the Yellow River that day. There were also two divisions of senior He Guiyan's Third Army and Forty Army. At that time, junior was in Changqing County, fifteen kilometers northwest of Dangjiazhuang.
He did not go to the frontline to command in person. At the end of the fierce battle, the Independent Division withdrew to Jiyang, and two divisions of the Forty Army withdrew to Yucheng to the north. Therefore, the specific situation is not very clear, but it can be known from the battle report submitted by the Independent Division the next day that the Independent Division
Thirty-seven fallen soldiers
One hundred and forty-one people were seriously injured, and 28 of them were permanently deafened by the fierce Japanese artillery fire. The junior then led his troops south to Yanzhou to rest and replenish. The Forty Army hurriedly withdrew north. The battle report has not yet been accurately calculated.
After the three divisions of our army withdrew, the Japanese army still carried out artillery fire on our positions on the north bank across the Yellow River for more than an hour. It was useless to count the battlefield afterwards, so there may be different opinions on the exact number of casualties of our army."
Feng Yuxiang and others were all stunned, then looked at each other and smiled. Feng Yuxiang turned to Chiang Kai-shek and shook his head slightly: "Brother, you are an incredible student. You talked for a long time and seemed to have said everything. When you look back, you said nothing. No wonder
It’s hard to figure out what’s real and what’s not during the war. It’s true that a famous teacher makes a good disciple!”
Chiang Kai-shek didn't care about Feng Yuxiang's words. Instead, he said happily: "Brother, you are so complimented! An Yi is still young and needs good training. This time I let him go north again to follow Rui Bo."
Brother (characterized by Lu Zhonglin) and Brother Yi learn from each other, increase their knowledge, and accumulate experience. The future of the party and the country depends on their generation!"
Everyone laughed again, Chen Bui and Kong Xiangxi secretly nodded at An Yi's quick wit, but Lu Zhonglin, who had an extraordinary demeanor and a Confucian general style, asked An Yi again: "General An, there are more than 300 elites wearing new military uniforms who have just stationed here.
, he’s under the general’s command, right?”
"Back to the general, these three hundred officers and soldiers are the brothers of the independent division teaching regiment under the junior command. Their main tasks are security protection and enemy reconnaissance, so they wear slightly different military uniforms. The purpose is to hide in the grass, which is not so easy in the trees.
To expose the target, due to the special nature of the reconnaissance mission, each officer's weapons and equipment are equipped according to the preferences of the officers and soldiers. This trip north is to take a rare opportunity to go out to learn and exercise and broaden their horizons."
An Yi didn't hide much about this issue. It was Commander-in-Chief Chiang's idea to put the Special Forces Brigade into camouflage uniforms. An Yi felt that Commander-in-Chief Chiang should have introduced it just now, otherwise Staff Officer Lu Zhonglin, whose status in the Northwest Army was only under General Feng Yuxiang
I will never ask this question.
Lu Zhonglin nodded with satisfaction and said kindly to An Yi that they would fight side by side together soon. He was very happy. An Yi quickly thanked Lu Zhonglin respectfully, and Commander-in-Chief Chiang and General Feng Yuxiang also expressed their gratitude.
He stood up, said goodbye to each other for a moment, and went back to his room to rest. An Yi breathed a sigh of relief and went down to the first floor to inspect the security measures with Yu Jishi, Wang Shihe and others.
Commander-in-Chief Chiang returned to his suite with Kong Xiangxi and Chen Guofu and praised An Yi for his outstanding performance. Kong Xiangxi smiled happily and praised An Yi lightly:
"Nephew An Xian is quite smart and alert. He has a good sense of what to say and what not to say. It can be seen that Brother Huan Zhang and Brother Rui Bo are very impressed!"
"Not only was I deeply impressed, but I could also see that they attached great importance to An Yi, otherwise they wouldn't have called him in for a meeting before leaving." Chen Guofu said thoughtfully.
Chiang Kai-shek motioned for everyone to sit down: "This is a natural thing. As the battles are fought one after another, An Yi's reputation is getting bigger and bigger. Not only the Northwest Army has long valued An Yi, the Japanese also value An Yi very much. National News
The world now regards An Yi as the leader of the Young Boys. The Japanese know this very well. One of the conditions proposed by the Japanese in this negotiation is to severely punish An Yi and Brother Guiyan, disband the Independent Division and the Forty Army, and let the two
A public apology to the Japanese military.
I did not agree. I made it clear in my telegram to the Central Party Headquarters and the Central Government that I, Chiang Kai-shek, could apologize, but I could never agree to the Japanese conditions, and I could not succumb to the pressure of the Japanese army to disband the Independent Division and Brother Guiyan's Fourth Army.
The Tenth Army cannot be removed from their posts, otherwise how can I, Jiang, gain a foothold in the national army?
However, due to pressure from the Japanese, the Military Commission finally had to transfer Brother Guiyan back to Nanjing, appointed Fang Boxiong (also known as Fang Dingying) as the commander of the Third Army Corps, and appointed Mao Bingwen as acting commander of the 40th Army. An Yi's position as commander of the independent division was originally assigned to him.
Just let Hu Jialin act as the agent. It would be okay to remove him from his posts as the former enemy chief of staff and commander of the independent division. This time, let him go north as an aide to General Zhu Yizhi. The Japanese would have nothing to do, and it would not be too late to resume their duties after the negotiations are over."
Chen Guofu nodded: "It doesn't matter if you take a step back. The key now is the final battle of the Northern Expedition. Once it is fought, we can declare the victory of the Northern Expedition and complete the unification. The League of Nations, which is discussing our country's affairs, will change its view. The Japanese will try to stop us again."
Unification has no meaning. Governments of various countries will gradually recognize our Nanjing government. The Japanese have little choice but to erect puppets in the three northeastern provinces, unless they dare to brazenly launch a large-scale aggressive war and fully attack China. But this is absolutely impossible.
It is not what the British and American powers want to see."
"Yes, the key now is to let the troops led by Li Delin and Bai Jiansheng go north as soon as possible, so that the whole world can see that more than one million soldiers of the four armies of the National Revolutionary Army share the same hatred. This is the best political declaration.
Brother Yong, after this meeting in Xuzhou, you have to go see Brother Baichuan (characterized by Yan Xishan), bring him this month’s military expenses, and let him lead the Third Group Army to attack Beijing in one go. In this way, in order to obtain
The territory between Zhili and Beijing, Zhao
In order to enhance his political reputation, Brother Huanzhang will definitely order his Second Army to speed up the offensive against the Feng clan. The Northern Expedition will be completed one day earlier, and Li Delin will not dare to stay behind the three armies.
The reputation for giving up halfway.
As long as the four armies gather in the Zhili area, the huge military momentum will be transformed into political momentum, which will be very beneficial to our negotiations and our Nanjing government." Chiang Kai-shek earnestly warned.
Kong Xiangxi nodded: "I understand, I will rush to Taiyuan tomorrow."