Let's say that Bai Fei and the others rested overnight in the periphery of Laiyuan City, and early the next morning, they all drove to Fuping County along the horse post. Due to the urgency of time, Bai Fei did not dare to delay, and everyone hurried all the way, crossed the mountains and mountains, and rushed to five or six o'clock in the afternoon before they arrived at the big platform. This place is close to Fuyang, and it is about ten miles away from Fuyang.

Everyone was very tired after a day of walking, especially Zhang Yueqing and Mr. Song and some injured brothers. Although Bai Fei had already spent money on a number of carriages for them to rest on before they set off, they didn't want to say anything about the rush that made them tired.

Bai Fei had no choice but to order Anjing to eat and rest. After the group made arrangements, Li Shuyang turned on the radio station as usual to receive the news. After a lot of effort, Li Shuyang and Wang Weiguo looked happy and came to Bai Fei together.

Bai Fei said: "Why are the two brothers so happy? ”

Wang Weiguo laughed: "Naturally, there are gratifying things. ”

Li Shuyang said: "You can understand by looking at this." As he spoke, he handed over a telegram.

Bai Fei took it and looked at it, and was immediately overjoyed, and said, "It's really sleepy and met the pillow!" This news came too timely, I really didn't expect Chiang Kai-shek to be quite generous this time. ”

It turned out that the telegram was a commendation order issued by the Ministry of Military Affairs of the Nationalist Government. All the participating troops in the Battle of Taihang Mountain were commended, and all the commanders and military ranks of the troops were promoted to one level, and each department was rewarded with 2,000 oceans. Since Bai Fei and the others were not in the government army sequence, they were also given the establishment of a regiment this time, and the rank of Major Bai Fei was also promoted, and everyone else was rewarded.

Wang Weiguo said with a smile: "This time, we can rush to Shanghai with great fanfare." ”

Li Shuyang said: "What I find most incredible is that the Ministry of Military Affairs did not classify us as under the jurisdiction of other troops, and actually gave us a separate name for the Anti-Japanese Protector Army. ”

Bai Fei said happily: "Anyway, this is a happy event, without other people's constraints, we will have a lot less trouble when we act." ”

……

That night, the Protector Army and his entourage rested on the platform. After dawn, the troops returned to the road, all the way from Tang to Zhengding.

After arriving in Zhengding, Bai Fei found that the national army from the north was full of routs, and many people in the city helped the old and the young, and fled south of the city one after another. The whole Zhengding was a mess, it seemed particularly tense and depressing, and even the air seemed to smell a panicked breath, which made people feel very uncomfortable.

Bai Fei's heart sank, and he immediately ordered the troops to be stationed on the spot to rest, and he himself planned to contact the Wang regiment leader introduced by Lu Zhengchao as soon as possible.

Wang Weiguo said: "Tuanzuo, there are so many defeated soldiers here, should we take the opportunity to accept a batch, the Ministry of Military Affairs has given us the establishment of a regiment, don't waste it." "Since the commendation order of the Ministry of Military Affairs was issued, the officers and soldiers of the National Protector Army have changed their names to Bai Fei.

Bai Fei knew his own affairs, because his merits were limited, and there were not too many people who exchanged advanced weapons and equipment. If the weapons equipped by the troops are inferior to the Japanese in performance, they will increase a lot of futile casualties when fighting against the devils, which is not in line with his original intention. As for the establishment of a regiment in the Ministry of Military Affairs, he does not attach importance to it at all, as long as he has a number, if his merits are enough, he will expand the organization of one division and one army, and who can help him? Anyway, he doesn't rely on the Ministry of Military Affairs to support him.

Therefore, Bai Fei said: "Storage is okay, but our total number of people is limited to 500 people." ”

Wang Weiguo was a little puzzled, and Bai Fei said again: "Anyway, we are going to Shanghai to participate in the war, and there are not many troops there who have been broken up by the Japanese army, and I am not afraid that there will be no soldiers to recruit when the time comes." ”

Wang Weiguo nodded. Bai Fei also instructed Wang Weiguo to pay attention to the foundation and quality of the personnel when recruiting soldiers, and required veterans with at least two years of military experience, aged between 18 and 35, and stragglers with less than 10 people, which was not conducive to them to investigate the details of the conscripts. The Protectorate is no longer what it used to be, and its requirements are relatively strict.

Wang Weiguo said: "I know this, don't worry." ”

After Bai Fei finished speaking, he took five or six people, including the dumb man and Li Hu of the special combat team, to Shijiazhuang City. Unexpectedly, I walked to the north gate of Shijiazhuang City and found that a large number of people had gathered here, all of whom were routed by the national army. Bai Fei stepped forward to check and found that these people were clamoring to enter the city, but there were several machine guns at the gate of the city, and a national army officer with the rank of major was shouting: "Brothers, don't come forward again." I was ordered to guard this gate, all the soldiers who retreated from the Baoding battlefield will return to their respective teams outside the city to rest, please retreat as soon as possible, don't make it difficult for my brother, and then step forward, I can only order to shoot. ”

The officer was sweating profusely and shouting loudly, but to no avail. The soldiers of the national army around them neither stepped forward nor retreated, and the two sides began to curse and swear, and so it was a stalemate.

Bai Fei frowned, pushed aside the crowd, walked up to the officer, and said, "This commander, please ask, do you know Wang Jianwang, the head of the garrison headquarters, I have something to do with him." ”

The officer was stunned for a moment, looked at Bai Fei a few times, and said, "Who are you?" Which part? ”

Li Hu introduced on the side: "We are the people of the Anti-Japanese Protector Army, and this is Bai Fei, the head of the 001 Regiment of our Anti-Japanese Protector Army. ”

As soon as I heard the words "Anti-Japanese Protector Army", the noisy voices around immediately quieted down, and everyone's eyes turned to it. The soldiers of the national army, who had been cursing non-stop just now, began to whisper again:

"It turns out that they are from the Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army, I heard that they killed thousands of devils in Taihang Mountain."

"You know a fart, that's the main force of the 691st Regiment of the 53rd Army and the Eighth Route Army, they just cooperate..."

"That's also remarkable, I heard that they only had more than 100 people, and they killed nearly 1,000 Japanese soldiers, and the Central Military and Political Department also specially sent a commendation telegram..."

"How do you say they fight, I think they are also ordinary, they don't have a few more heads than us, how can they beat the devils crying dad and calling mother, we have to be chased by the devils and run away?"

……

The surrounding crowd was talking, and the major of the national army was obviously very surprised, staring at Bai Fei with wide eyes for a long time, and then came back to his senses and said: "I'm really sorry, I lost my temper just now, the deeds of your national protector army have been spread very widely recently, and I have admired it for a long time, I'm sorry before, in fact, I am Wang Jian, I don't know what you are looking for me?" ”

Bai Fei was not polite, and directly took out the letter written by Lu Zhengchao to explain the reason. Wang Jian smiled after reading the letter: "So that's the case, don't worry, this is simple, I'll arrange for you immediately..."

Before he finished speaking, a herald ran out of the city gate and whispered a few words to Wang Jian. Wang Jian was stunned for a moment, and said to Bai Fei: "Director Xu wants to see you, Director Xu will help you arrange the matter of getting on the train." ”

Director Xu? Bai Fei was stunned for a while, not knowing who the other party was.

The herald saluted Bai Fei and said, "Commander Bai, please come with me." ”

Bai Fei was confused and followed the herald into the city gate, and then climbed the city wall, and saw a middle-aged man about fifty years old dressed in a general's costume standing on the edge of the city wall. Seeing that the man had been looking at him, Bai Fei stepped forward to salute and asked, "May I ask who you are?" ”

The man smiled and stretched out his hand to shake Bai Fei, and then said, "I'm Xu Yongchang, and I'm fortunate to meet Captain Bai." ”

Bai Fei was taken aback, it turned out to be Xu Yongchang, who was then the director of the General Office of the Kuomintang-Party Military Commission and later known as the Big Four of the Anti-Japanese War Military Commission.

(Digression: On September 2, 1945, Xu Yongchang led a Chinese delegation to Tokyo Bay to accept Japan's surrender on behalf of the Chinese government. And Xu Yongchang is smart, he was a relatively pure soldier in the Republican period, he knows how to delegate power, he is not as selfish as others, and he has never done anything wrong in his life, he has a certain personality charm, and his favorite classmates can learn about it. ）

"It turned out to be General Xu, disrespectful and disrespectful!" Bai Fei hurriedly said: "I didn't expect to meet a general here, it's really surprising." ”

Bai Fei didn't know why Xu Yongchang was here, shouldn't he be in Baoding? Could it be that the situation in Baoding is really so rotten that even Xu Yongchang came to Shijiazhuang for refuge?

Xu Yongchang seemed to see Bai Fei's thoughts, and said with a wry smile: "I didn't sneak here to take refuge, the current situation in Baoding is tight, although the Japanese army is temporarily blocked in Xushui, Rongcheng, and Anxin, but the soldiers of the national army on the battlefield suffered heavy casualties, and Baoding may not be able to hold for a long time, so I specially came to Shijiazhuang to inspect the city defense armament." ”

Bai Fei felt a little embarrassed, and in order to resolve it, he pointed to the chaotic national soldiers under the city and said, "General Xu, these soldiers are..."

Xu Yongchang sighed and said: "There is a lot of consumption at the front, and many troops have been disabled, and these are all soldiers who have retreated after the troops have been disabled. In order to avoid causing unnecessary panic, they were refused to enter the city. Speaking of which, it was not easy for these people to survive this battle, and now they will be reorganized and continue to fight the Japanese army without rest... Alas... What a helpless move! ”

When Bai Fei heard this, he also felt a little depressed.