Thanks to the free labor force of more than 200,000 people, the construction speed of Baotou Industrial Zone suddenly accelerated. In more than a month, Baotou's power plants, steel plants, cement plants, leather processing plants, and meat product canning
Factories have also been built and put into operation. Only the arsenal has not yet been completed due to its expansion.
The complete set of equipment dismantled from the Ural Industrial Zone is still in Kulun.
In late February, a powerful warm and humid airflow from the southeastern coast invaded the Mongolian Plateau. Perhaps because last winter was too cold, this year's spring came extra early and was extra warm. It was not supposed to arrive until mid-March.
The warm and humid air that arrived late came early in late February.
Overnight, the spring breeze began to thaw on the Mongolian plateau.
Throughout the winter, except for the battle to seize grain in Ulanqab, the Chahar Independent Regiment basically did not participate in the battle. It can be said that it rested for a whole winter. However, during this winter, the Chahar Independent Regiment did not have anything.
On the contrary, the Chahar Independent Group did a lot of work. By late February, the independent group had a completely new look.
The most important task is to expand the dozens of militia brigades under the Baotou Anti-Japanese Democratic Government into regular armies after training. Based on these dozens of militia brigades, nine infantry battalions were formed. These nine battalions,
The strength of each battalion reached 2,000 men, which was actually the formation of a regiment.
When the Eighth Route Army wants to expand its troops, the number of troops has never been a limiting factor. As long as there are enough weapons and equipment, any base area in North China can expand to 50,000 or even 100,000 people in a short period of time. It is precisely because of the serious shortage of weapons and equipment that it is severely restricted.
The Eighth Route Army's troops expanded.
But Xu Rui’s Chahar Independent Regiment does not have this problem.
Because the Soviet Union has promised to assist three divisions with a full set of Soviet weapons and equipment.
Although the equipment of these three divisions is not yet in place, Xu Rui does not think that the Soviet government will break its promise, so he sets up the airs of these three divisions in advance. Of course, Xu Rui himself is just a regiment commander, a
It was obviously unreasonable for a regiment commander to command three divisions, and it would be too irritating to Chairman Chiang Kai-shek, so he could only organize a few more infantry battalions.
In addition to weapons and equipment, there is another factor that will seriously affect the combat effectiveness of an army.
This factor is the combat backbone. If there is not a sufficient number of combat backbones, a unit will not be able to form combat effectiveness in a short period of time. The reason why the Eighth Route Army can expand exponentially in a short period of time after it penetrates into the battlefield behind enemy lines is very important.
The reason is that the original 40,000 veterans were all battle-hardened backbones!
Xu Rui's Chahar Independent Regiment obviously does not have so many backbones.
But this is not a problem for Xu Rui. There is no Chahar Independent Group, but there are many Dameishan Independent Groups!
Long before the Chinese New Year, Wang Husheng submitted an application to Yan'an, requesting that Xu Rui's old unit, the Dameishan Independent Regiment, be transferred from northern Jiangsu to the Baotou base area. Yan'an approved the application. Before the New Year, the remnants of the Dameishan Independent Regiment had been transferred from Jiangsu.
The northern base secretly set off northward. After two months of long-distance march, they finally entered the territory of Suiyuan.
After learning that the Dameishan Independent Regiment had entered Suidong, Xu Rui and Wang Husheng personally led the First Cavalry Battalion to greet them.
The Dameishan Independent Regiment is marching with a large force this time, so it cannot take the secret transportation route to Yan'an. It goes from the northern Jiangsu base area to the southern Shandong base area, then to the central Shandong base area, to the southern Hebei base area, to the central Hebei base area, to the northern Hebei base area.
We walked all the way from the southern base area and broke through more than a dozen Japanese blockades along the way.
However, the fighting power of the Dameishan Independent Regiment was there, so although the journey was far away and they were repeatedly besieged by the Japs, they still entered Suidong without any danger. Although Suidong was the territory of the Kuomintang,
However, Suiyuan Provincial Chairman Fu Zuoyi has a pretty good relationship with the Communist Party, and his safety is guaranteed.
But even so, the Dameishan Independent Group still remains vigilant enough.
Especially He Shuya, this guy's ideas are basically the same as Xu Rui's.
He Guangming was from the Northwest Army, but he still had a good impression of Fu Zuoyi, an old officer of the Northwest Army. He excitedly ran over to He Shuya and said, "Bookworm, the old officer has set up a banquet in Guisui City and invited me and the little demon.
, Lao Zhu, Lao Ji and Gangzi are going to the banquet, so the troops will be left to you."
Ever since Xu Rui was transferred to the Songhu Theater Zone in the Dameishan Independent Regiment, the position of regimental commander has been vacant. Later, after Wang Husheng was transferred to the Songhu Independent Regiment, even the position of political commissar of the Dameishan Independent Regiment was vacant. In fact, it is equivalent to
The regiment-level command structure was abolished, and the New Fourth Army's military headquarters directly commanded the subordinate battalions.
Before the Dameishan base area was destroyed, the Dameishan Independent Regiment broke out to the west in order to cover the military headquarters and teaching brigade. As a result, it accidentally broke out of the encirclement. Instead, the military headquarters and teaching brigade fell into the encirclement and the entire army was destroyed.
The remnants of the Dameishan Independent Regiment temporarily sent their drama to the base area in northern Jiangsu.
Then they received an order from Yan'an, ordering them to go north.
In order to facilitate the command, during the march north, He Guangming acted as the regimental commander and He Shuya acted as the deputy regimental commander.
But along the way, He Shuya was basically acting as the commander. Although He Guangming was older than He Shuya, when it came to commanding skills, among the remnants of the Dameishan Independent Regiment, no one dared to consider himself second among the current Dameishan Independent Regiment.
He recognized the number one position, so He Guangming simply handed over the command of the entire regiment to He Shuya.
He Shuya also lived up to the trust of He Guangming and the entire regiment. Along the way, more than a dozen Japanese blockades of various sizes were penetrated, and no less than a hundred gun towers of various sizes were pulled out, and even more Japanese and puppet troops were annihilated.
It is tens of thousands. What is more interesting is that when the Dameishan Independent Regiment set out from northern Jiangsu, there were only 2,000 troops and only five rounds of ammunition on average.
However, now, when they enter Suiyuan Province, the army has expanded to nearly 3,000 people, and the ammunition has also increased by more than half. In other words, all the way from northern Jiangsu to Suiyuan, the Dameishan Independent Regiment not only has no
After being weakened, he became stronger. He Shuya deserves the most credit for being able to do this.
Therefore, after receiving the invitation from the old chief, He Guangming ran over to discuss with He Shuya.
He Shuya frowned and said in a low voice: "Old He, otherwise it's better not to go."
He Guangming was stunned after hearing this, and said anxiously: "Why? You nerd, don't think blindly."
"Old He, it's not that I want to think nonsense, but that old officer of yours has no good intentions at all." He Shuya shook his head and continued, "If you don't believe it, I dare to bet you that when you enter
Cheng, your old officer will definitely lobby openly and covertly to let you lead your troops back to the Northwest Army."
He Guangming naturally didn't believe it, shook his head and said: "Impossible, Mr. Fu is not that kind of person."
After a pause, He Guangming continued: "What's more, the Northwest Army no longer exists. We just want to return to the order of the Northwest Army, where can we go to build it?"
He Shuya shook his head and said: "The Northwest Army as a big hilltop no longer exists, but the small hills below are still there. Fu Zuoyi's 35th Army is undoubtedly the largest among the remaining hills of the Northwest Army, and it is also the oldest.
It’s a mountain with great appeal. If you want to build it back, you must naturally return to the rank of the Thirty-Fifth Army.”
"I'll go, you nerd, you are overthinking." He Guangming just laughed and said, "If Chief Fu just wants to reminisce about the past, we will reminisce with him. If it is as you said, it will be saved."
If it's not my fault, then I can only say sorry to him, haha, I have already had enough of being a national soldier anyway."
After saying that, He Guangming took Yao Lei, Zhu Chen, Ji Cheng, Tiegang and their respective guards, ten people and ten cavalry, and rushed towards Guisui City. After a while, they disappeared on the snowy field. At this time
, although the snow on the Mongolian Plateau has melted, it has not melted away yet. There is still a thin layer left, so the road has become muddy.
Seeing that it was getting dark and the officers and soldiers of the Independent Regiment were a little tired, He Shuya immediately ordered the camp to be set up. However, he strictly ordered the officers and soldiers of each battalion to dig trenches around the camp and build machine gun bunkers. These were all fortifications built in accordance with wartime standards.
Although the officers and soldiers of each battalion were confused by this, they still carried out the order.
…
At this time, in Guisui City, at the headquarters of the Northern Route Army.
A sumptuous table of banquets has already been set up. It was ordered from the most famous Wanshengyong Restaurant in the city. Wanshengyong is a famous time-honored restaurant in Guisui. It specializes in beef and mutton and other cooked meats, especially the most famous sauce beef.
It also runs restaurants and caters. The officers and soldiers of the Northwest Army like beef and mutton the most, so Fu Zuoyi specially ordered such a table from Wan Shengyong.
It's okay to have a banquet and reminisce about old times, but Fu Zuoyi is still a little worried about what he is about to do.
Glancing at the darkening sky outside the window, Fu Zuoyi said to Ye Qijie: "Brother Xin, is this really good? Let's not talk about whether He Guangming and the others are willing to agree. Even if they agree, do we really dare to accept it? Xu Xu
Once Rui becomes popular, it's no joke, this guy doesn't even give him the honor of being appointed."
Dare Fu Zuoyi invite He Guangming and others to have a drink and reminisce about old times this time, he really has no good intentions. Fu Zuoyi really has the idea of returning He Guangming and others to the old Northwest Army. As for where to return, it will naturally be his three
The 15th Army, no matter what, Fu Zuoyi is now the biggest banner of the Northwest Army.
However, when things came to a close, Fu Zuoyi flinched a little.
There was no way, Xu Rui's intimidation was too great, and Fu Zuoyi couldn't afford to offend him.
When Fu Zuoyi said this, Ye Qijie felt uncertain and whispered: "Okay, then we will act according to the situation, but if there is a chance, I think we can't let it go."