Chapter 23 Ding Wei
Just as the day was getting light, two horses arrived at the headquarters of the New 1st Regiment. On the horses were two Eighth Route Army soldiers carrying long and short rifles. One of them was carrying a long rifle and a briefcase, and he seemed to be a guard or a communicator. The other had two plain-faced box pistols on his waist, and he seemed to be an official.
Li Yunlong also came out early, and when he saw the visitor, he led everyone in applauding.
"Welcome to the position of Grand Commander Ding Weiding. Let's applaud!"
The people who came were Ding Wei and his guards. When they saw what Li Yunlong had done to him, they knew that he was unhappy and was trying to control himself!
"Old Li, I feel like this is not quite up to par. Why not pave the ground with some loess and have people hold up two signs with one saying welcome and the other saying silence? That would be more stylish!"
Seeing that he failed to control Ding Wei, Li Yunlong snorted, "It's a bit unworthy of your style, Captain Ding. It's not that I'm poor, but I just made a little money, and you, Ding, spent it all on drinking. There's nothing I can do about it!"
Ding Wei knew that he felt bad. After all, they were old comrades-in-arms and everyone knew each other!
Just as he was about to say something, Li Yunlong burst into laughter: "Enough, I'm just teasing you, Old Ding! Do you really think that I, Li Yunlong, am so stingy? Come on, I'll take you to see the situation in each camp and do the handover first!"
Only Ding Wei and Zhang Dabiao who was standing behind Li Yunlong knew that Li Yunlong was really reluctant to leave.
"Okay, don't feel wronged. Even though you are being asked to be the director of a clothing factory now, I think it won't be long before the leader needs you again. We all know this, so don't act pitiful here!"
Ding Wei said a few words to him in an unpleasant tone, and Li Yunlong could only chuckle twice, then took Ding Wei to inspect and take over the camps.
"This is the First Battalion. Its commander is Zhang Dabiao, who was previously a member of the 29th Route Army's broadsword team. He is an expert in hand-to-hand combat and is third in the New First Regiment. No one dares to claim second place in front of him.
But we have to make it clear in advance, if the boss wants me, I have to take this big guy away, and you can't detain him from me!"
Li Yunlong said solemnly, Ding Wei also knew that if the boss used Li Yunlong again, he would definitely not give him a good regiment, just like what the brigade commander said: I have people and guns, what do I need you, Li Yunlong, for...
Therefore, an experienced cadre would definitely be of great help to Li Yunlong.
He nodded immediately and said, "Okay! As long as you lead the troops again, I will take this big guy away with you!"
Li Yunlong nodded with satisfaction and shouted to Zhang Dabiao who was standing beside him:
Zhang Dabiao, what are you standing there for like an idiot?
Come here and tell Captain Ding about the situation of the First Battalion!"
Zhang Dabiao stood straight at attention: "Yes!"
Ding Wei first asked not about the situation of the first battalion, but: "What did Lao Li mean when he said that in terms of hand-to-hand combat, you dare to admit that you are third and no one dares to admit that you are second?
What about the first one?
Zhang Dabiao did not hide it: "A scholar, he couldn't stand watching our bayonet training two days ago, so he knocked down the Third Battalion with a wooden spear, and then my First Battalion. The Second Battalion escaped because they were sent out to perform a mission, otherwise the whole New First Regiment would have been knocked down by him!"
Ding Wei exclaimed: "Is there really such a great man? Since this man is so capable, Lao Li, it would not be your style if you don't recruit him into the army!"
"He was an intellectual who built a school on a hill three miles away. He wanted to be a teacher but didn't want to join the Eighth Route Army. There was nothing I could do about it!"
Li Yunlong was also somewhat helpless. He also wanted to pull Chen Xiao into the Eighth Route Army, but Chen Xiao was like a stone in the toilet, smelly and hard, and could not be moved.
…
After Li Yunlong took Ding Wei to visit the four battalions, he said with some regret: "Originally, there were more than 1,400 people, more than 30 light and heavy machine guns, and three mortars, but now you see, there are only a little over 1,000 people, and there is only one mortar left and it has no shells.
The heavy machine guns are gone, there are only eight light machine guns, and the rest...
Although everyone has a gun, the average bullet reserve is no more than 20 rounds per person.
Food is also in short supply..."
Ding Wei couldn't stand him showing off, so he interrupted him: "From the way I look at you, I feel like you are showing off in front of me, right?
I know that when you first took over the new regiment, there were more than a thousand people and only three hundred guns, and there was only one light machine gun in the entire regiment.
It was you who managed to acquire such a powerful fortune in just half a year, including light and heavy machine guns and mortars, so that you could fight against Itada's regiment, defeat Itada in one blow, and break out of the encirclement head-on.
I understand all of this, and I also understand that I have taken advantage of you, Li Yunlong, by coming here, so I am going to give you a big gift."
Li Yunlong disagreed: "I, Old Li, have known your kind of person for a long time. If you can take out a dollar from your pocket, I will lose. What can you give me as a gift?"
Ding Wei laughed and said, "Old Li, don't be ungrateful. Do you want a cavalry battalion? If not, I'll take it myself!"
A cavalry battalion? Li Yunlong had no other thoughts when he heard this, and hurriedly asked Ding Wei, who then told him that there was a puppet cavalry battalion in Wanjia Town.
As he was speaking, Li Yunlong's guard Hu Zi suddenly ran in and said, "Captain, Mr. Chen is back, and he brought 40 to 50 prisoners with him, and there are more than 200 civilians following him, and more than 100 of them are helping Mr. Chen carry food.
They seized several thousand kilograms of food!
Oh, and we also seized 56 rifles and two Czech-style light machine guns.
They also captured someone. Mr. Chen heard that you hadn't left yet, so he asked Liu Qiang to come and call you, saying that he had something important to discuss!
I ran two steps faster and Liu Qiang was right behind me. "
Although Li Yunlong had some guesses yesterday, it was not until the news came that he was really sure how Chen Xiao planned to meet the students' daily consumption. It turned out that this was his plan.
"This Mr. Chen, is he the scholar you just mentioned?
That guy who is good at bayonet fighting, can he also lead troops?" Ding Wei, who was listening nearby, became interested and asked.
"Haha! Let me tell you, this scholar is not only good at bayoneting, but also very good at shooting. He can hit the target accurately even from 300m away.
In addition, his cannon is extremely accurate. It can hit whatever he points at. He is much better than my superb cannonman Wang Chengzhu.
So, I wanted to recruit him into another unit, but he refused. So I thought of a way to send him dozens of people to learn from him!
Isn't he a teacher? I sent students to him, so now he has opened a school called Scout School, which is just three miles away on the next hill.
But Lao Ding has already said that the soldiers in that school are not part of the New 1st Regiment’s combat sequence. They are the veterans and cadres that I asked Mr. Chen, the scholar, to train for me. You can’t rush to join them!”
Li Yunlong said this in advance, giving Ding Wei a heads-up, to prevent this guy from getting excited when he saw the dozens of students and snatching them away, which would cause trouble.
Ding Wei couldn't believe it: "Is there really such a person?
Is he omnipotent?
He is the best in bayonet fighting, very accurate in shooting from 300 meters away, and better at artillery than the god gunner of the New 1st Regiment. How could such a person be a teacher?
I do not believe!"
At this time, Liu Qiang came over. He had just heard Ding Wei's words outside, and as soon as he came in, he started to retort:
"Our sir is not only good at bayonet fighting, but also good at shooting and cannonballing. He is also very good at picking up food with chopsticks. Killing an enemy with his bare hands is as easy as picking up food with chopsticks!
We attacked the mansion of Zhang Renyi, the chairman of the Zhangzhuang Maintenance Association. Mr. Chen climbed the slippery wall that was more than ten feet thick and killed four guards with his bare hands, then opened the door and let us in .
The entire battle took no more than five minutes, during which only one shot was fired, hitting the hand of a Japanese soldier holding a gun.
Is it so exciting?
Li Yunlong felt itchy after hearing this, and said anxiously: "Hurry up and tell us the whole process of the battle!"
"We were originally just doing long-distance forced march training. After arriving at Zhangzhuang, we happened to run into the Japanese grain-collecting team coming to Zhangzhuang..." Liu Qiang recounted the incident in clear and concise words, shocking the two commanders.
"This is too unbelievable. How can I not believe that he killed four guards with his bare hands?"
Ding Wei snorted. He had already decided to follow Li Yunlong and try to see if this intellectual, who claimed to have killed four guards with his bare hands, was really that tough.
