Deputy Division Commander Zhou Zhidao and Military Staff Officer Zhou took their leave after lunch, leaving Yang Ling silent with the sealed letter of appointment.
There are many troops in the theater behind enemy lines now, and they occupy a large territory. It seems that they have gained a lot of experience here, but Yang Ling doesn't think so.
Now the little devils have also changed their strategy on the Chinese battlefield, changing it to focus on political inducement and military offensive.
Not only did they successfully lure Wang Jingwei, the number two figure in Chongqing, to surrender, they also transferred a large number of elite divisions from the front to the rear to conduct so-called security operations, in order to clear out the guerrilla zones behind enemy lines.
This trip must be extremely dangerous, but Yang Ling couldn't refuse. After all, he graduated from a guerrilla cadre training class, and the army commander asked him to go behind enemy lines just to add weight to his promotion.
"Huzi." Yang Ling shouted to the door after being silent for a long time.
"Yes!" Huzi ran into the regiment headquarters from outside and said, "Commander, what are your orders?"
Yang Ling said: "Go and notify the chief and deputy battalion commanders of each battalion and the heads of each company to come to the regiment headquarters for a meeting."
"yes!"
Huzi looked at Yang Ling's face solemnly. Although he didn't know what happened, he still carried out Yang Ling's orders thoroughly, turned around and went to deliver the order.
After a while, the battalion and company commanders who were sweating profusely from the training hurried to the regiment headquarters and found benches to sit down in the spacious war room of the regiment headquarters.
"The regiment called us here in such a hurry. Is there going to be another war?" Qin Shou, deputy commander of the second battalion, handed a cigarette to Shunzi, the commander of the first battalion, and asked in a low voice.
Shunzi was also full of doubts, shook his head and said: "I didn't hear the news..."
"Don't make blind guesses. The team members may want to assign new training tasks." Chen Ming wiped his sweat and pulled a bench to sit down.
Wang Huzi and other officers sat down in the war room one after another. The six battalion commanders and deputy battalion commanders, more than ten company commanders and deputy commanders in the regiment, plus the staff officers who had been notified, quickly filled the room.
Many of these officers were personally promoted by Yang Ling, and some of them were officers from Huangpu Military Academy who were recruited.
Although they are all brothers in the same regiment, they have different backgrounds and different circles, so they can be divided into two groups.
Yang Ling heard that the brothers had arrived and walked into the house.
"Team seats!"
Seeing Yang Ling come in, the brothers who were talking and laughing all stood up and saluted Yang Ling.
Yang Ling walked to the front and sat down, and said to the brothers: "Everyone, please sit down."
Liu Yidao and the others were all brothers who had fought with Yang Ling on the battlefield, so they were quite casual. However, the Huangpu officers who had joined in were still a little reserved and sat upright.
"I called everyone here today mainly to announce something." Yang Ling did not mince words and directly took out his letter of appointment.
"Starting from tomorrow, I will no longer serve as the regiment leader and will go behind enemy lines to serve as the guerrilla detachment leader."
Before Yang Ling finished speaking, there was an uproar in the war room. Everyone looked at each other and had not yet reacted to the shocking news.
"Commander, why are you going behind enemy lines to become a detachment leader?"
Liu Yidao and the others were very incomprehensible at first and started shouting.
"Yes, Tuanzuo, we can't agree to this. It's so dangerous behind enemy lines. There are little Japs everywhere..." Qin Shou also echoed, with worry on his face.
"How about we talk to Deputy Commander Zhou? He is our senior commander and he will definitely be able to accommodate us."
"Let's go look for him together. Except for the group leader, no matter who comes to be the leader of our group, I won't recognize him!" Shunzi said angrily.
Yang Ling led them to fight many battles. He neither took free money nor drank the soldiers' blood. He also cared for them very much. Such a good officer was hard to find even with a lantern.
As soon as Yang Ling said that he would not continue to serve as the regiment leader, the whole war room exploded. The brothers were shouting for their disagreement and to defend Yang Ling.
After all, in their view, going behind enemy lines is equivalent to being sent to the frontier. The conditions are incomparable to those now, and there is no future in going behind enemy lines.
"Everyone, please be quiet." Seeing these brothers thinking about themselves, Yang Ling was moved.
But when it comes to fighting Japanese soldiers, whether behind enemy lines or on the front battlefield, you are serving your country. As a soldier, you naturally cannot be picky and don't go there if the conditions are difficult.
Moreover, this time the military sent him behind enemy lines out of good intentions. After all, once an officer is transferred back, his worth will rise.
When the shouting brothers heard Yang Ling speak, they all became quiet again, looking at Yang Ling and waiting for him to speak.
"This transfer to the war zone behind enemy lines to fight guerrillas is a normal personnel transfer. Don't think too much about it. I would like to thank my brothers for their strong support during the time I served as the regiment leader. I, Yang Ling, am here to thank you all."
As Yang Ling said this, he stood up and bowed to his brothers. This was not Yang Ling's pretense, but his sincere gratitude to these brothers.
Following him, he fought with the Japs in a hail of bullets without any regrets. He was very lucky to have such a group of brothers who shared life and death together.
"No matter who the new regiment leader is in the future, I hope you will obey orders as always, shoulder the responsibility of defending our country, and protect the 40 million people behind us from being bullied by the Japanese." Yang Ling warned the brothers.
The brothers, on the other hand, lowered their heads and remained silent.
"What? I haven't left yet, and you don't listen to me anymore?" Looking at the demoralized brothers, Yang Ling deliberately said with a serious face.
"Tuanzu, no... we don't want you to leave." Qin Shou was full of grievances.
Yang Ling suddenly raised his voice: "Cheer up, everyone. The soldiers I, Yang Ling, will bring out will howl like tigers and wolves at all times, instead of being dejected sick cats!"
As soon as Yang Ling said this, the brothers who had drooped their heads and said nothing finally straightened up, but their eyes were still full of reluctance.
"Tuanzu, let's go with you." Seeing that Yang Ling had decided to go, Liu Yidao stood up and requested.
Qin Shou also spoke up and agreed: "Yes, group members, let's go together. We will go wherever you go."
As if they had found their way again, the brothers all asked to go with Yang Ling.
"If everyone goes behind enemy lines, who will be fighting the Japanese from the front? Didn't the Chairman say that we must fight frontally and cooperate with the guerrillas behind enemy lines to fight the Japanese better, so you have to stay..."
Although Yang Ling explained, the brothers still wanted to follow Yang Ling, so he had to soften his tone.
"Of course, when I go to the war zone behind enemy lines, I am on the front line. The situation there is unclear. I can only lead two brothers from the guerrilla company. The people you left behind should train well and fight the Japanese. When the time comes, I will settle down there.
Let's all go over together, let's open up the battlefield behind enemy lines and poke the little devil in the butt."
After hearing this, the brothers' brows finally relaxed and they all chuckled.
"Okay, I won't say any more nonsense. Let the cooking team prepare a table of food and wine for us brothers to have a good drink together in the evening."