With such a large contingent of assault columns, it was impossible not to attract the attention of the defenders before reaching Xinyang City.

Qiu Maniac had already made contact with the troops of the First Army under the 17th Army Corps, and when he saw a large group of men and horses arriving outside, the 78th Division of the First Army guarding outside the city immediately sent people to contact the assault column.

The preparatory battalion took the lead, and Zhang Wei had the task of liaison and joint, and the two sides negotiated for a while, and then the preparatory battalion soon came to the designated garrison site under the leadership of friendly personnel, and the preparatory battalion and heavy equipment such as combat vehicles were stationed at the same place, and near was the headquarters of the First Army that was resting and training.

The First Army was Hu Zongnan's unit, which was currently part of the 17th Army Corps. In the battle of Lanfeng, he contributed a lot of troops, and suffered extremely heavy casualties, and now he has withdrawn to the line from Xinyang to Luoshan to rest, and the 78th Division under the First Army is directly close to the camp of the assault column.

When Zhang Wei saw the camp, he had to say that the First Army was very well prepared, all the tents and other facilities were set up, and even the materials for the fire and cooking were prepared.

The preparatory battalion was the first to enter the camp, and then there were heavy equipment such as chariots, these big guys did not have "tents", and they all relied on the clothes and waterproof canvas carried by the charioteers to protect, and for a time the camp was boiling, the cries of men and horses, the roar of chariot engines, and under the guidance of friendly infantry, the main equipment of the assault columns, such as the chariot battalion, the anti-aircraft artillery battalion and the armored search platoon, entered their respective positions.

At the end of the march of the assault column, the liaison and communication between the superiors and the high-level was Qiu Madman's business, and what Zhang Wei had to do was to manage the one-acre three-point land of the battalion prepared by his subordinates, or the old way, after each company arrived at the camp, the number of people should be counted first, and then the accommodation would be assigned.

After the counting, the current situation of the preparation battalion is not very good, Qiu Wei's first company has sixty-nine people, Mu Chao's second company has sixty-two people, Zheng Yiqun's third company has seventy-four people, the largest number is still the heavy machine gun company, the heavy machine gun company directly participated in the battle is actually six machine gun squads, the remaining ammunition and mule and horse soldiers, basically no contact with the Japanese army, casualties are the smallest of several wings of the preparation battalion, the entire company adds up to more than 110 people, three infantry companies, each company now only has about two platoons of strength, The situation is not so good.

After ordering people, Zhang Wei sympathized with the fatigue of the soldiers, and ordered everyone to enter the tent to rest, of course, free movement was prohibited, and it was not allowed to run around, and the three company commanders were called by Zhang Wei to the tent at the battalion headquarters, and now the preparatory battalion and the assault column have arrived in a new place and have a chance to breathe.

According to Qiu Maniac, it would take at least a month for the Japanese army to fight there, which meant a longer rest.

This period of time is long enough, Zhang Wei not only considers the rest and physical strength of the soldiers, but also takes into account the combat effectiveness and personnel of the troops, at present, the whole battalion has less than half of the number of personnel, and there are less than half of the men and horses in his hands, Zhang Wei is very lacking in confidence for the next battle.

"Now there are only more than 200 people in the whole battalion, not even half of the number of establishments, it is not a way to go on like this, there may be a war next, you three are company commanders, you all have to think of a way." Zhang Wei sat on the marching bed prepared by the friendly army, and the three company commanders did not let them restrain them, and they all sat on stools and beds.

"Yes, now the three companies are full and full, and the total strength is only six infantry platoons, and the shortage is too great!" Mu Chao said with a frown.

"Battalion commander, the Japanese army is fighting on Xinyang's side?" Qiu Wei's ability to capture information was obviously better than Mu Chao's, and when he heard Zhang Wei mention that he was going to fight, Qiu Wei's first thought was the attack of the Japanese army.

Zhang Wei: "Well, I forgot to tell you in detail, after the Japanese army finished fighting Shangqiu, it is advancing in the direction of southern Henan, that is, the side of Xinyang, but the speed will not be too fast, and we have a lot of troops in eastern and southern Henan, and the Japanese army is estimated to take a month to fight this area." ”

"Now our most urgent problem is the problem of soldiers, the shortage of troops is too large, there is less than half a battalion left, we must think of a way to solve this problem, otherwise, it will be pulled to the battlefield, even if our battalion has been winning the battle, such a few people will be consumed sooner or later."

Zheng Yiqun on the side thought for a while, and said the most simple and crude method: "Battalion commander, let the above supplement." ”

"Forget it, add? How can our column have the ability to replenish the soldiers, there are so many people in total, even if they are supplemented by you, they are all a group of recruits, where do we have the strength to train them. Mu Chao vetoed Zheng Yiqun's suggestion.

"Don't think about this, Mu Chao is right, we don't have time to train those recruits, this kind of supplemental method is not much different from going to the city to pull strong men." Zhang Weizi disagreed,

The assault column itself does not have the ability to replenish new soldiers, and even if it asks for reinforcements from friendly forces, it is a group of strong men with no military foundation at all.

What is the level of the "recruits" of the national army, Zhang Wei and Qiu Wei are very clear in their hearts, but they are just ordinary people who have changed into a set of torn military uniforms and have just been forcibly pulled from the fields.

What's more, the First Army also had a hard time with the 14th Division of the Japanese Army on the Lanfeng battlefield, and its own casualty gap had not yet been replenished, so it was almost impossible to recruit new recruits for the assault column.

These "recruits," even if they did not take into account the most troublesome problem of the escape of the strong men, it was impossible for the reserve battalion to train them to a level that could fight the Japanese army within a month.

The reserve battalion continues to replenish its strength and restore its combat effectiveness, not those who have not yet been trained, but soldiers who can quickly enter the battle, have combat experience, or have a relatively strict training foundation.

"It's not easy to do, battalion commander, if you want to pull it up, you can fight with the little devil with a gun, it can only be those soldiers who have fought and can use guns." Qiu Wei said: "Hard to find! ”

Several people were silent for a while, where to find soldiers who had fought in battle? Zhang Wei is now very troubled, now the strength of the army, no longer need to be called a reserve battalion, he thinks it can be called a preparation company, and there will definitely be casualties in the war.

Casualties are inevitable regardless of whether they are victorious or lost, and the maintenance of the troops' wartime combat effectiveness depends to a large extent on wartime replenishment, and now the reserve battalion has no way to apply to its superiors to replenish "qualified" soldiers.

Zhang Wei was not interested in opening his mouth to ask for recruits to replenish, and he couldn't do the thing of pulling strong men on the spot, these two things were done in vain, and it was useless to do them. Is it difficult to achieve such a fateful fate?

Led less than half a battalion of men to the battlefield right away? Obviously, it is impossible for Zhang Wei to do this, with such a small number of people and horses, after a few fierce battles, the grinding has been polished.

What he needs is soldiers who have fought in battle, recalling the chaos and battles encountered by the preparation battalion along the way, as well as the riots at the city gate before entering the city, Zhang Wei suddenly remembered something, and then shouted and scolded in the surprised eyes of the three company commanders.

"Damn, why did this old way tell me to forget!"