HCB Chapter 128: Keep Working Hard
Chapter 128: Keep Working Hard
After hearing the report from the soldiers sent back by Zhang Wenwu, Chief of Staff Zhao Dong was simply in disbelief. He did not expect that Zhang Wenwu would bring back a regular security regiment of officers and soldiers to the army so quickly. So he hurriedly pulled the confused Division Commander Huang Jinxian out of the ancestral hall and came to the quartermaster department station in the west. They wanted to come and personally comfort these security regiment officers and soldiers.
Lei Dong was directing the military police squad that stayed behind at the quartermaster's office to move bundles of brand new uniforms out of a tent and prepare to distribute them to the security corps officers and soldiers. When he saw Division Commander Huang and Chief of Staff Zhao approaching, he stood at attention and shouted, "Division Commander, Chief of Staff, I am distributing new uniforms to the new security corps brothers according to Deputy Director Zhang's instructions."
"Very good, you go on." Commander Huang and Chief of Staff Zhao were obviously in a very good mood. After smiling and returning the salute, they let Lei Dong go on with his work. The two of them asked the soldier who came to report to call the head of the security regiment over. They wanted to understand the situation and comfort these people.
Soon, Commander Huang learned the specific situation of this security regiment from Commander Zheng who was called over. What made him happy was that this security regiment had a total of 102 officers and soldiers, all of whom had undergone certain basic training. Except for the poor condition of the firearms, there were no other major problems. With a little reorganization, the entire regiment could be pulled to the front line to fight. For the current 656nd Division, this troop replenishment was very timely. Commander Huang immediately asked someone to call Commander Guo Ruixin of the 656th Regiment over. He planned to merge this security regiment as a whole into the 656th Regiment, so that the th Regiment could recover some vitality as soon as possible.
Zhang Wenwu didn't know what Commander Huang was planning, and he was still constantly looking for a suitable security group or miscellaneous troops to lobby. Although there was no shortage of soldiers on the road, there were not many who met Zhang Wenwu's interception conditions, so he could only rely on luck.
Zhang Wenwu only left three cooks and four gendarmes in this temporary recruitment camp, and sent the rest out to find a suitable interception force. He promised everyone that if they found a suitable security team, he would reward them with a box of canned British beef, which made everyone run out excitedly to find a suitable force.
Zhang Wenwu is now casting a wide net and sending people to monitor every section of the road. He believes that there will always be gains. As long as a suitable unit appears, he can think of various ways to lure people to his own unit. He is very confident about this.
During the whole morning, Zhang Wenwu did not see anyone come to report to him that a troop that met the requirements was found. Instead, Japanese planes visited twice. Although they did not bomb Zhang Wenwu's temporary base, they caused the troops marching on the entire highway to panic for a while.
At noon, Zhang Wenwu was having a simple lunch with several soldiers, drinking porridge and dry food, when he saw a military policeman who had been sent out before leading a middle-aged man in the uniform of the security corps and smoking towards him. Zhang Wenwu knew at a glance that this soldier had found a suitable security corps unit.
Zhang Wenwu put the bowl of porridge on the ground, then stood up, simply adjusted his military uniform, and waited for the two men to come over with a warm smile on his face.
"Deputy Director Zhang, this is Captain Xiao, he's my fellow villager." The military policeman introduced him to Zhang Wenwu excitedly.
"Hello, Captain Xiao. I am the deputy director of the Quartermaster Department of the 102nd Division of the th Army. My name is Zhang Wenwu." Zhang Wenwu introduced himself enthusiastically and saluted Captain Xiao.
"Hello, Commander Zhang. I am Xiao Baojin, the captain of the Eighth Security Corps of Hunan Province. Nice to meet you." Captain Xiao introduced himself to Zhang Wenwu in Mandarin with a heavy accent.
After listening to Captain Xiao's introduction, Zhang Wenwu quickly handed him a cigarette and lit it for him, then asked politely, "Captain Xiao, you guys are really fast. You got to Shanghai so early. Haven't you reported to the military station yet?"
Captain Xiao took a puff of his cigarette and said with some pride, "That's right. As soon as my brothers and I received the order from our superiors, we immediately boarded a boat and set off. We took a train from the provincial capital to Sanzhen, and then took a boat to Shanghai. Later, when the boat reached Nanjing, we were not allowed to go any further, so we walked here."
When Zhang Wenwu heard what Captain Xiao said, he immediately knew that the morale of Captain Xiao's security team was very high. They arrived in Shanghai in such a short time, which also showed that the team's discipline training was also very good. This can also be seen from Captain Xiao's proud expression. So he hurriedly said politely: "Captain Xiao is really good at commanding the army. It can be seen that Captain Xiao is a fierce general. I wonder if Captain Xiao is interested in joining our 102nd Division. When the time comes, I will also have the opportunity to ask Captain Xiao for advice on the tricks of leading troops."
After listening to Zhang Wenwu's words, although he knew that Zhang Wenwu's words contained some flattering elements, he still felt comfortable listening to them. He himself was an old soldier. Later, because the previous unit was disbanded, he went to the security group to get a job. Although he was not young, he always felt that he was still young in his heart and had a spirit of not admitting old age. When he heard that Zhang Wenwu wanted to recruit his team, he directly stated the issues he was concerned about: "Thank you for the kindness of Deputy Director Zhang. You can go to the 102nd Division, but you also know that the equipment of our security group is not as good as that of your Central Army. When you get to the army, can you replace some good guns for the brothers, so that when we fight with the Japanese, the brothers will have something to use."
When Zhang Wenwu heard this, he immediately patted his chest and said, "No problem, Captain Xiao, don't worry. After we arrive at the army, I promise to give you all new uniforms and replace some of your guns. In addition, I will pay you all one month's salary according to the standards of the Central Army. How about it?" Zhang Wenwu also took out the same recipe as before, with a familiar taste.
When Captain Xiao heard what Zhang Wenwu said, he immediately nodded and said yes. He could not find any fault with the treatment. As for the reporting matter, he felt that Zhang Wenwu would definitely be able to take care of it for him. After all, they were part of the Central Army.
When Zhang Wenwu heard that Captain Xiao agreed to take the troops to the 102nd Division, he smiled even more brightly and quickly asked Captain Xiao to bring the troops over. He had already prepared porridge for everyone to satisfy their hunger. When Captain Xiao heard that there was porridge to drink, he was very happy. He was worried about the lunch for the troops. The troops were not allowed to make fire and cook during the day, and his troops had been starving for a long time. So he quickly walked to the place where his troops were resting.
Captain Xiao and his brothers were each holding a bowl of porridge in their hands and eating it. They had not expected that the porridge smelled of beef. The fact that they could eat meat for the first meal made everyone feel that the food in the Central Army was really good, and they were glad that they had arrived in a good unit.
After Captain Xiao drank two bowls of porridge, Zhang Wenwu handed him a cigarette and said with a smile: "Captain Xiao, the wartime conditions are not good now. We can't light a fire to cook during the day. We can only ask the brothers to drink some porridge to fill their stomachs."
Captain Xiao also quickly took the cigarette and lit it. After taking a puff with a look of enjoyment, he said, "Deputy Director Zhang, to be honest, this is the most delicious meal the brothers have had on this journey."
Zhang Wenwu also knew that the security corps like Captain Xiao's were local forces, and they usually received food and wages from the local areas. Once they left their places, no one would care about their meals. They had probably eaten up the little food they brought with them along the way. Under normal circumstances, they would only receive certain supplies after they reported to the military station. But even so, they still rushed to Shanghai without hesitation to participate in this brutal battle, which really made people admire them.
After all the members of the security regiment had finished eating the porridge, Zhang Wenwu arranged for two soldiers to lead the security regiment to report to the division headquarters.
After the security team left, Zhang Wenwu took out a box of British canned food from the tent and gave it to the soldier as a reward. The soldier was so happy that he carefully put the canned food into his jacket pocket and ran out to find a suitable unit. As for the other soldiers, they looked at Zhang Wenwu with resentment, because the security team had drunk up all the porridge, and they could only eat some dry food with cold water for lunch.
Li Shangping was shocked again as he looked at the security troops passing by. He couldn't help but take out a cigarette and light it. Did he think Zhang Wenwu had taken over the military station? How could two security troops be brought here in less than a day? This was incredible. Even if Zhang Wenwu used money to buy them from the military station, he couldn't buy so many people. You know, how many troops in Shanghai are waiting for replenishment now? Even the 18th Army, a direct lineage army, only got two security troops. The number of troops Zhang Wenwu brought here in less than a day was as much as all the previous replenishments of the 18th Army. It was really impressive. Li Shangping decided that he would go to find Zhang Wenwu after he got off duty. He wanted to see what method Zhang Wenwu used.
While Zhang Wenwu was busy luring friendly forces, the 655th Regiment was also under fierce attack from the th Regiment. Colonel Tagami Hachiro withdrew the half-crippled st Battalion and sent it to the rear for rest. Only after new troops were added could the st Battalion return to the battle sequence of the th Regiment.
The officers and soldiers of the Second Battalion are in charge of the attack today. The commander of the Second Battalion, Major Hiroshi Nohara, watched the attack of the First Battalion very carefully yesterday. To be fair, Hiroshi Nohara believes that Hirahara Yanagi's command in yesterday's attack had done the best. If it weren't for the Chinese army's sudden artillery assault at the end, the First Battalion would still have a good chance of successfully occupying the position.