Republic of China 1927

Outside the city of Xuzhou in early winter, the weather was gloomy, and the sky was full of thick, low, gray-yellow turbid clouds.The northwest wind was howling, the dead grass and fallen leaves were flying all over the sky, the yellow dust was so thick, and it was so chaotic that it was hard to tell where was the sky and where was the earth.The branches on the side of the road became bare, and the withered grass under the trees also turned from golden yellow to grayish yellow. There were a few large black spots, which seemed to be wildfires set by urchins.

However, the road leading from Xuzhou City to the station outside the city was extremely busy, with groups of dejected soldiers, carriages full of supplies, trucks full of soldiers, cars passing through it... ..., merged into a mighty team, this is the last batch of troops to evacuate Xuzhou.

"Duddu" accompanied by a clear whistle, several black cars separated from the chaotic team and drove quickly towards the station.

At this time, the inside and outside of the station were crowded with people, and the troops who had just entered the station were still boarding the trains, while those who had just arrived outside the station were blocked outside the gate.Today, the security of the station is still in charge of the No.11 Division of the First Army and Marshal Zhang’s Guard Brigade. Sandbags are piled up outside the station gate, and the black muzzles of heavy machine guns are facing the outside. Several commanding heights of the station are also erected with heavy machine guns.

"Line up, line up!"

"Don't squeeze in from the outside!"

"The officers of each army restrain their troops!"

"No troops are allowed to enter the station without receiving an order to retreat!"

……

The guards shouted vigorously, trying to make the order of the station less chaotic.

As senior generals of the Zhi-Shandong Allied Forces, Du Yan and others naturally wouldn't be crowded with these ordinary soldiers, and there was another VIP passage at the station.

"Commander Du came so early!" Just as Du Yan got out of the car, Wu Zhichen, chief of staff of the Guard Brigade, greeted him with a smile.

"Hello, Chief of Staff Wu, how can I be worthy of your welcome here!" Du Yan hurriedly stretched out his hand and said, "How long will it take for the commander to come here?"

"I can afford it, I can afford it!" Wu Zhichen shook Du Yan's arm vigorously and said, "The commander-in-chief is still in the city to meet representatives of public opinion, and it will probably be a little later in the evening. Commander Du, you go inside to rest first, and wait for the arrival soon." I'll call you sometime."

The last time we met in Guide, the young man in front of him had just emerged, but it had only been a month, and now he was a newly emerging powerful faction in the Zhilu Army.Thinking of this, Wu Zhichen suddenly felt like the waves of the Yangtze River were pushing the waves behind.

"Brother Deguang, brother Deguang!" Du Yan and the others were about to walk in when a voice came from behind, when several senior officers came up.

"Brother Guangzhi, you are here too!" Dong Chunke turned his head and saw that it was Xu Guangzhi, commander of the [-]th Army, and his two brigade commanders.

"Brother Deguang, shouldn't your troops withdraw today? Why did you come here to see off the commander?" Xu Guangzhi said enviously. His 4000th Army had only [-] people left after several battles. That's all, maybe he felt that the [-]th Army had lost its combat effectiveness, so he kept his [-]th Army.

"Brother Dong is my chief of staff now, so naturally we have to come together." Du Yan said with a smile: "Mr. Xu, defending Xuzhou requires a lot of your troops!"

"Du, Du, Commander Du, our [-]th Army needs you to take care of us!" Seeing that Du Yan forced a smile on Xu Guangzhi's face and said, he was actually very dissatisfied with Commander Du, if it wasn't for this The boy Chong Da insisted on sticking to Xuzhou so as not to implicate himself.The two brigade commanders behind him made no secret of their dissatisfaction with Du Yan, even willing to say hello.

"It didn't do much for my thousands of people to withdraw to Shandong. I just asked my brother Guanghua to help me take care of it." Dong Chunke said in his words: "The situation of your [-]th Army is no better than mine. We all work together to defend Xuzhou. It's right!"

"Brother Deguang, can you take a step to speak?" Upon hearing this, Xu Guangzhi said to Dong Chunke in a low voice, startled.Before, he only knew that Dong Chunke was Du Yan's fellow villager, but he didn't expect the relationship between the two to be so close that they actually handed over all the troops that the warlords regarded as their lives and fortunes.

"Okay, let's go to the side to talk." After Du Yan gave a possible hint, Dong Chunke led Xu Guangzhi and others to a small room on the side. If Xu Guangzhi can be persuaded, the evening plan can go smoothly point.

At this time, two Ford Model T cars drove in outside the station, and several people got off from the cars.Although the two leaders were wearing golden uniforms, they still couldn't hide their recklessness.The two suddenly found Du Yan in the crowd who was whispering with the people around them, and strode over.

"The two army commanders are here too!" The acquaintances came forward to say hello, but the two just nodded arrogantly. When they came to Du Yan, Mao Sizhong smiled presumptuously and said, "Mr. The two brothers hurry up or stay behind!"

"Brother, you are wrong. Master Du is now promoted to Xuzhou City Defense Commander!" Before Du Yan could reply, Mao Siyi corrected him with a smirk: "But you and I are the immediate superiors!"

"Hey, look at my memory. Commander Du, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Mao Sizhong pretended to be enlightened, and there was no respect in his words.

"The two army commanders are here, and Du is a junior, so I need the two veterans in the military to give me some advice!" Du Yan responded calmly: "Please be sure to honor Taibai Restaurant at night, and it counts as our stay." This is the first meeting of Xu and these people."

"I don't dare to make a point. Commander Du dares to host a banquet for everyone when the enemy's army is overwhelming. For this courage, we brothers should also join us!" Mao Sizhong laughed loudly: "Siyi, don't you think so?"

"We still have to establish a good relationship with Commander Du, lest Commander Du give us small shoes to wear!" Mao Siyi's words became more and more presumptuous, and he didn't take Du Yan seriously.It's no wonder that if Mr. Du hadn't been troublesome, he should have withdrawn to Shandong for a rest.

"Dashuai Zhang is the same, how can you get a little doll to command us!" At this time, a tall and bearded man walked outside the gate, and as soon as he saw Er Mao, he cursed carelessly: "If it spreads, everyone thinks that we are directly Lu Jun is gone!"

"Brigade Commander Hu, you are so ignorant!" Mao Sizhong gloated and said, "Commander Du is a rising star, with illustrious military exploits and invincibility. With Commander Du in Xuzhou City, he is impenetrable!"

"Commander shit, I've eaten more salt than I've eaten rice!" The bearded man said coldly, "Who knows how this kid got here!"

"Brigade Commander Hu, this is your fault. Commander Du is our superior after all!" Mao Siyi glanced at Du Yan and added fuel to the fire, "No matter what, we have to respect him!"

"Bah! If he has real skills, Hu Dahai will obey him, but he has no real skills..." the bearded man patted his chest and yelled.

"You are Hu Dahai, Uncle Hu!" Du Yan felt that the voice was very familiar from the beginning, and only when the person came to report his family name, he happily walked up to greet him and said, "Aren't you in the Haizhou area?"

When Hu Dahai saw a young man with an extraordinary bearing coming towards him, he was taken aback for a moment, then fixed his eyes on him and said happily, "Isn't this Guanghua? When did you arrive in Xuzhou? Master is very good!"

"I haven't been back for more than two months. Yishan's hometown sent a letter saying that everything is fine!" Du Yan enthusiastically shook Hu Dahai's hand and said, "Didn't your cavalry brigade retreat directly to Lunan?"

"Don't mention it. After a battle with the Southern Army, I retreated all the way to the east in a panic." Hu Dahai said annoyedly: "When I just retreated to Xuzhou, I asked Lao Tzu to stay and defend the city. All the boys command!"

"By the way, why did you come to Xuzhou?" Hu Dahai seemed to have thought of something, then looked at Du Yan carefully and laughed dumbly: "No, Commander Du is you!"

"Uncle Hu really hit the mark, but I'm still driving ducks to the shelves. Uncle Hu, you need to help me a lot!" Du Yan smiled and said, "How many people are there in your cavalry brigade?"

"Guanghua, are you kidding me!" Hu Dahai froze for a moment.The last time I saw Du Yan, he was just the head of the Daguan town militia. Even if he broke his head, Hu Dahai couldn't imagine how Du Yan could become the commander of Xuzhou city defense in half a year.

"Uncle Hu, how dare I make this joke!" Du Yan blinked and said mischievously, "But I'm going to lose my head!"

"That's good!" Hu Dahai looked at Ermao, and seeing that both of them nodded in agreement, he couldn't help but overjoyed and said, "How did you do it!"

"It's a long story, I'm afraid it's too late today!" Du Yan pointed to Wu Zhichen who came from outside and said, "The commander-in-chief should be here!"

Sure enough, Wu Zhichen came to greet them, so Hu Dahai had no choice but to let go of his curiosity and follow Du Yan and others outside.

"Grandma, this surname Du Luzi is very wild!" Looking at Du Yan and Hu Dahai who were walking in front, Mao Siyi said bitterly. He originally wanted to stir up Hu Dahai's dissatisfaction and give Du Yan a blow. old acquaintance.

As trucks full of guard brigade officers and soldiers drove in, they got off the station and formed a queue, and the military band also played majestic music.After a long call, Zhang Dashuai's motorcade drove in from outside.Accompanied by Zhu Yupu, Sun Chuanfang, Wang Hanming and others, after getting off the bus, he shook hands with the heads of various ministries who were staying in Xuzhou and said goodbye one by one, and gave a good encouragement to Commander Du.

"Guanghua, I will leave Xuzhou to you!" Marshal Zhang held Du Yan's hand tightly and said, "As long as you guard for a full month, I will personally lead an army to help Xuzhou!"

"Don't worry, Commander, people live in the city, people die in the city!" Du Yan also said impassionedly: "But Commander, don't forget our agreement!"

"Don't worry, as long as I retreat to Shandong, I will immediately deploy a counterattack against Southwest Shandong." Zhang Zongchang nodded heavily and said, "I will never hold you back!"

"Then my subordinates can rest assured, there will be absolutely no problem for a month!" Du Yan assured with confidence, whether he can hold Xuzhou and how long he can hold it, the key is how much Zhang Zongchang can contain the national coalition forces in Shandong.

Dashuai Zhang patted Du Yan on the shoulder and left, but he only took two steps forward before retreating and said in a low voice, "If you can't hold on, you should retreat to Shandong as soon as possible, and I will send someone to meet you!"

"Marshal!" Du Yan was actually a little moved. To be honest, Zhang Zongchang's three years of expropriation and extortion did not make any achievements. There are many people in Qilu who want to eat his flesh raw. He doesn't have much affection.In fact, regardless of these so-called national righteousness, Dashuai Zhang is not bad as a friend and boss, not only generous, but also righteous in everything.

"Woooo..." As Marshal Zhang's armored train headed north, a new era came for Commander Du Yan.