Chapter 10: Sideline Business
Yangcun, the headquarters of the independent regiment.
Li Yunlong was pacing in the yard with a cigarette in his mouth.
"Salute!" Following the guard's command, Zhao Gang walked in angrily.
Zhao Gang is a workaholic. After the meeting with Li Yunlong and Kong Jie yesterday, he turned around and threw himself into his work, going to the various battalions, companies and platoons under him to familiarize himself with the situation.
It took more than two days to visit all the companies and platoons of the Third Battalion and the Second Battalion.
Today was the turn of the First Battalion, but when Zhao Gang hurried to the First Battalion’s base, he found it empty. More than 300 officers and soldiers from the battalion commander down were missing.
When asked the guards who stayed behind, they all said they didn't know what was going on.
Zhao Gang had no choice but to go back to the regiment headquarters to ask Li Yunlong.
"Captain." Zhao Gang walked up to Li Yunlong and stood still. "I want to talk to you about something."
Li Yunlong looked Zhao Gang up and down and asked, "What instructions does Political Commissar Zhao have?"
Zhao Gang said: "I would like to ask the commander, are there any combat missions?"
Li Yunlong said: "Combat mission? No, if there is one, how can I not tell you?"
After saying that, Li Yunlong turned and walked away, but Zhao Gang kept chasing after Li Yunlong.
Then he asked, "Where did the battalion go? Also, Deputy Commander Kong and Xiao Wang are not here either. I want to ask Commander, what happened in the regiment? Why did you hide it from me?"
Li Yunlong smiled faintly and said, "Look at my memory. I forgot about it."
After a pause, he continued, "I'm sorry, Political Commissar, this is what happened. I asked Deputy Regiment Commander Kong to lead the first battalion to do some side business. Because we were short of manpower, I took Xiao Wang with us."
"But don't worry, I will definitely be back before dark today."
"Side job?" Zhao Gang asked, "What side job? Please explain clearly."
Li Yunlong said: "A group of military horses came to Wanjia Town. I asked the first battalion to bring the horses back. It's that simple."
"Wanjia Town?" Zhao Gang's face changed, and he asked, "The cavalry battalion of the puppet army's 8th mixed brigade?"
Li Yunlong was a little surprised and asked, "You also know Wanjia Town?"
"Wanjia Town is next to Zhengtai Road. I just passed by there last week."
Zhao Gang said anxiously: "At that time, there was a county brigade of soldiers protecting me, but I still encountered danger. The enemy situation there was very complicated. How could you..."
Li Yunlong was a little impatient and interrupted Zhao Gang, saying, "Don't worry, my great political commissar. Haha, those puppet troops are just decorations, and those horses are simply given away for free."
"What a good horse! It's just a waste in the hands of the puppet army."
"Captain, how can this be called a side job?" Zhao Gang was furious and said with a dark face, "This is a combat operation! What right do you have to mobilize troops without authorization?"
"Oh, are you seriously violating discipline?"
Li Yunlong also got angry and glared at me, "Zhao Gang, stop glaring at me. When I was fighting in Hubei, Henan and Anhui, you didn't even know where I was."
"I'm telling you, I did it, so what?"
"You're going to report this to the division commander and brigade commander?"
"If you want to kill me or chop me up, I, Li Yunlong, will take it!"
Zhao Gang's anger was immediately suppressed.
Because he realized that arguing with a ruffian like Li Yunlong would not solve the problem, but would only make the situation more tense, which was not the result he wanted to see.
Zhao Gang quickly calmed down and said, "Captain, let's all calm down and stop arguing. Arguing won't solve the problem."
"You are an old comrade. You have more political and military experience than me. I should learn from you. However, what you did was indeed inappropriate in this matter."
Li Yunlong was a little surprised by Zhao Gang's reaction.
This white-faced scholar didn't get angry? He didn't rush to report to his superiors?
Li Yunlong suppressed his anger and said in a deep voice: "Political Commissar Zhao, have you heard of the New 1st Regiment?"
"Of course I've heard of it," Zhao Gang said. "I've heard from the comrades in the Political Department that you, Commander Li, commanded the New 1st Regiment to defeat the Sakata Brigade head-on and killed the Brigade Commander Sakata. Who in our entire Jin-Cha-Ji army doesn't know about this?"
"It's good that you know." Li Yunlong nodded and said, "When I first took over the New 1st Regiment, the troops had not yet formed combat effectiveness. The troops lacked training, practical experience, and most importantly, weapons and equipment."
"There are less than ten light machine guns in the entire regiment, and not even a single heavy machine gun."
"The rifle has an old barrel, made in Hanyang, and the rifling is worn smooth."
"That's it. Neither of them can get a gun."
"I'll go ask the brigade commander for it. Guess what he said?"
"The brigade commander said, if you want a gun, you don't have it, but if you want a life, you have it."
"You, Li Yunlong, think my head is worth a few guns, so you cut it off and use it to exchange for guns."
Zhao Gang imagined Li Yunlong's embarrassment at the time and couldn't help asking, "What are you going to do?"
"That's what I said," Li Yunlong said. "Brigade Commander, I am the head of a regular army regiment after all. I can't be worse than a county brigade, right? Isn't this damaging the reputation of our division?"
"Guess what the brigade commander said? The brigade commander said, I have equipment, what do I need you, Li Yunlong, for?"
"Well, since you are capable of being a group leader, you should be able to handle guns. Otherwise, go home and take care of your children instead of embarrassing me here."
"All right."
"That's what I've been waiting for."
"Let me get a gun? No problem."
"But you can't put a tight spell on me, right?"
"You have to give me some autonomy. You can't let the brigade commander take over everything."
"You want me to get a gun, but you also want me to be a good kid. This is fucking unreasonable."
Li Yunlong's words were interesting, Zhao Gang couldn't help but laugh, and asked, "What did the brigade commander say?"
Li Yunlong said: " The brigade commander said, go, go, go, figure it out yourself, I don't care about anything, I don't ask anything, I warn you, Li Yunlong, don't bother me with these shitty things."
"Just like that, within a year, the new group had everything."
"Type 92 rifle, grenade launcher, mortar."
"If we have a good weapon in our hands, we will be strong."
"Without this kind of wealth, would I dare to fight the Sakata United head-on? Dream on."
"Political Commissar Zhao, you have been to the Second and Third Battalions these past two days. You should be aware of the situation of the Independent Regiment."
"The current independent regiment is not much stronger than the new regiment I just took over. It only has nine light machine guns, not even one heavy machine gun, and only more than 500 rifles."
"There was no sign of grenade launchers or mortars."
"And these bullets, each gun has less than ten rounds!"
"With such a small fortune, we can't even afford a small-scale ambush."
"If we don't do some side business, when will the independent regiment be able to form combat effectiveness?"
After a pause, Li Yunlong said to Zhao Gang, "Political Commissar Zhao, do you understand now?"
"I think I understand a little bit." Zhao Gang nodded and said, "Captain, I was a little impatient just now, please forgive me. But if there is anything in the future, can we discuss it first? It's such a big thing, and I, the political commissar, don't know about it. Isn't it good?"
"No problem." Li Yunlong said, "Let's discuss something."
Just as he finished speaking, there was a sudden sound of horse neighing outside the door.
Li Yunlong suddenly perked up and said, "They're back! Deputy Captain Kong and Xiao Wang are back! It looks like they've made a fortune. Let's go and take a look!"
After saying that, Li Yunlong turned around and ran out.
Zhao Gang was also somewhat expectant and hurried to catch up.
As soon as the two rushed out of the gate, they saw a cavalry heading towards the regiment headquarters.
A dozen half-grown children were shouting, dancing and laughing, surrounding the front of the horse team.
Zhao Gang made a rough estimate and found that this cavalry had at least 300 war horses, and the horses' backs were loaded with heavy wooden boxes and sacks.
The war horses were almost unable to move.
Furthermore, almost all the soldiers in the first battalion carried two guns.
Seeing this, Li Yunlong laughed out loud: "Hahaha, I'm going to make a fortune!"
Zhao Gang was also a little excited, and he had a deeper understanding of what Li Yunlong meant by "doing a side job". It seemed that if the armed forces of the Eighth Route Army wanted to become stronger, doing a side job was crucial!
"Old Kong!" Li Yunlong saw Kong Jie in the crowd and hurried forward.
"Old Kong, please tell me quickly, how much benefit did our independent group get from this vote?"
Kong Jie was in a bad mood. He glanced at Li Yunlong coldly and walked away.
"Deputy Captain Kong..." Zhao Gang wanted to say hello, but was pulled away by Li Yunlong.
"Political Commissar Zhao, don't pay attention to him, he is just a fool." Li Yunlong chuckled.
He knew why Kong Jie was unhappy. How could he be happy when such a huge sum of money had nothing to do with him?
"First Battalion Commander? First Battalion Commander!" Li Yunlong called the First Battalion Commander Guan Dashan to his side and asked, "Tell me quickly, how much benefit did our independent regiment gain from this vote?"
Guan Dashan was in a very good mood.
"Captain, our independent regiment has made a fortune!"
Guan Dashan said excitedly: "We have really made a fortune this time. We have 362 war horses, 9 imitation Czech light machine guns, 260 cavalry rifles, 260 sabers, and in addition to these, we also have 30,000 rifle bullets, more than 50,000 yuan in cash, and more than 100,000 kilograms of wheat and millet! Commander, this year our independent regiment can have a really good year!"
