After breakfast the next day, in addition to the army of the ** battalion, Li Ling gathered more than 30 brothers from Jinan City, asked Ge Changxing to lead the team, and strictly ordered them to arrange people in every corner of Mount Tai, equipped with rifles and light machine guns, and brought grenades to hide in makeup, ready to deal with emergencies at any time. Since the Japanese came to assassinate him, Li Ling took the first step and cleaned up every corner of Mount Tai.

As soon as the brothers set off, Li Ling received a notice from the military department, asking Li Ling to go to a meeting with the deputy battalion commander and instructor.

For the first time since becoming the battalion commander, Li Ling went to a meeting. I joked happily in my heart: "It is estimated that the military department ordered to come down and commend our ** battalion." This meeting should be a proposal to expand our ** battalion into a regiment, and it may also be directly promoted, so everyone should be ready for promotion! ”

Qin Mushu and Liao Yaohui were also elated, and Qin Mushu said: "The ** battalion has all the credit for this, and it all depends on the battalion commander. I used to be suspicious of you, but this time, if the military department asks the battalion commander to be transferred and promoted, we will not agree to it. ”

"Yes, yes," Liao Yaohui also said: "Our First Army is often promoted by the chief officer. This kind of thing can't happen in our ** battalion. I've always heard that the battalion commander is brave, but since leading everyone, we haven't really fought the enemy together. I think after the attack on Jinan, there should be a fierce battle, and we will fight side by side. ”

The platoon commander of the company under his command because the army commander Liu Zhi personally said that the ** battalion would be expanded into a regiment, which means that everyone was promoted to one level. This meeting of the three of them was full of hope.

When he came to the military station, Li Ling secretly smacked his tongue. It is worthy of being a military-level unit, and just one conference room is the most luxurious place in the local area, which looks magnificent. After the three of them reported in, they saw that the conference room was full of people, and at the lowest were regiment-level cadres.

Jiang Dingwen sighed when he saw Li Ling and others coming, and buried his head in reading the documents. Li Ling suddenly felt bad, and saw that the atmosphere of the many people was solemn, and he felt that something was about to happen.

Seeing that everyone was almost there, Liu Zhi sat on the main seat in the middle, looked around, and said: "Since the beginning of a small place in Guangdong, we have adhered to the Prime Minister's legacy all the way to the Northern Expedition, which has swept most of China in less than two years. What do we rely on? It is our righteous teacher and the strong support of the people of the whole country. ”

Liu Zhi, who has always been gentle, grew louder and louder, and shouted angrily: "But now there are actually some armies who have no kings and no discipline, and let the army slash, kill, rob and harass the people. Could this be our troops! Li Ling, is this the troop you lead? ”

Li Ling, who was originally anxious, suddenly realized that it was the killing of Zhang Datu, so he stood up and said: "Report to the chief, one of my soldiers was bullied by the local hooligan Zhang Datu three years ago, and Zhang Datu took over his wife and killed his parents and young sister. He escaped a catastrophe and heard that the Northern Expeditionary Army was a righteous army for the people, so he resolutely went to sign up for the army. He fought bravely and made countless meritorious contributions, and was promoted to deputy platoon commander before my arrival. His greatest wish in this life is to be able to slash bullies and avenge his loved ones. Now he got what he wanted, and he was willing to go to the soup for the First Army of the Northern Expedition, and he died. ”

Li Ling knew that this matter was big and big, and small and small. Even if he bragged about the Northern Expeditionary Army and explained what happened to Zhao Xiaobei clearly, Liu Zhi would not embarrass himself if he wanted to come.

Sure enough, Liu Zhi's face was a little pale, but he still said: "Even if you have a deep hatred, you have to wait until the court comes to try it, you are the master of sending troops to kill people privately, haven't you considered the consequences?" ”

Li Ling said with some grievances: "I heard that Sun Liangcheng wants to be the governor of Shandong Province, and his subordinate chief of staff is Zhang Datu's uncle. If it is tried in court, I am afraid that I will not be able to judge it in my life. ”

"You ......" Liu Zhi slapped on the table and panted: "Now in the Second Army, some high-ranking generals are clamoring to arrest the murderer, if I hadn't blocked you, I'm afraid there would have been a conflict a long time ago." You are so willful, have you ever considered whether it is something that a military commander should do? The matter has a huge impact and has been reported to the commander-in-chief. The punishment for you will come, go back and wait! In addition, the upgrade of the ** battalion to a regiment will be mentioned later. Go down with the three of you! ”

The three of them returned to the battalion headquarters dejectedly, and a group of officers were waiting for them. When Jia Fugui saw the three of them returning, he hurriedly and courteously served tea and gave up his seat, and asked, "Has the order from above come down?" ”

Li Ling smiled bitterly: "Let's let the instructor tell everyone!" Liao Yaohui was depressed, so he talked about last night's incident and the punishment of the military department. It was not the expected ending, and the officers were disappointed when they heard the news. One by one, they retreated.

About half an hour later, Zhao Xiaobei broke in and fell to his knees: "Battalion commander, I'm sorry for you, it's me who has burdened everyone, I am willing to go to the military headquarters to solve the matter, and I hope the battalion commander will take me there." ”

Li Ling said lazily: "How do you solve it?" ”

"As long as I can forgive the battalion commander and the commanders, I will kill myself in front of the army commander." Zhao Xiaobei said with a sad and resolute face.

Li Ling was startled when he heard this, jumped up from the chair, looked at him blankly, and said, "Good brother, a man has gold under his knees, and he can only kneel to his parents and elders, and no one is worthy of kneeling, including me." Inform the ** battalion to assemble and I want to speak. ”

After a while, after increasing the number of people, the ** battalion of nearly 1,000 people all stood in the middle of the field, Li Ling took Zhao Xiaobei's hand, came to everyone, and said loudly: "Maybe you all have heard, yesterday I ordered someone to avenge our brother Zhao Xiaobei, and the military department will punish us." It is possible that our future will be sluggish, and our position will not be promoted, if there is anyone who blames Zhao Xiaobei, please stand up. ”

Looking at the thousands of people who were not moving, Li Ling's blood surged, and he drank: "No, yes!" That's good, that's all my brother. Not to mention killing Zhang Datu alone, what if Lao Tzu killed his entire family! We are soldiers and soldiers, and we can't avenge our parents with weapons in our hands. Don't be a soldier under Lao Tzu. Commander-in-Chief Punishment? The military department blames? That's all. As long as he bullies my brother, I will poke a hole in him. ”

The words were full of pride, which not only moved Zhao Xiaobei, but also moved everyone present. Everyone cheered and applauded. These are all veterans, and they have never seen any officer dare to disobey the orders of the top, and it is only for the sake of a soldier below, but their battalion commander can do it, dare to do it, and is not afraid of the future and fate, but he just treats the little people under his hands as his own brothers, and he is a person worth following.

Li Ling waved his hand to stop everyone and said, "From now on, which soldier has grievances, tell Lao Tzu, I will call the shots for you." The brother was short of money to spend, so he said to Lao Tzu, I'll give it. That brother was bullied by others, and said to Lao Tzu, I'll call you back. From now on you are not my soldiers, but my brothers, and I will not wronged any of my brothers. ”

At this time, applause and cheers resounded. Originally, many people who were soldiers ate food and received military salaries and were ready to slip away at any time, but at this time, they were really dead set on and had the heart to belong. With tears in their eyes, the old men shouted loudly, covering wave after wave.

Looking at the excited soldiers, Li Ling was greatly satisfied. He has a rebellious temperament, is happy to take revenge, and can't do anything about his boss to oppress his subordinates. If you can blame it from above, this battalion commander will not do it, and when the time comes, he will eat the rivers and lakes and eat the rice of the rivers and lakes, which will be happier than being in the army.

Sun Liangcheng's department of the Second Group Army of the Northern Expedition learned that the prisoners and equipment were intercepted by Li Ling's ** battalion last time, and this time the nephew of the chief of staff was killed, so they sued Li Ling and the ** battalion to Chiang Kai-shek, the commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition.

Because the Japanese landed in Qingdao and sent troops into Jinan to protect the Japanese and overseas Chinese, Chiang Kai-shek was worried about causing a conflict between the two armies. Fortunately, senior strategist Chen Bui blocked it, so Li Ling was demoted.

Three days later, Liu Zhi personally sent a notice to punish Li Ling, demoting Li Ling from the commander of the ** battalion to the company commander, and the battalion commander temporarily had Qin Mushu as his agent.

After the notice came down, it was conveyed to the entire ** battalion, and everyone was not angry. All shouted to appeal, and the platoon commander of the company below seriously protested and demanded that the military headquarters withdraw the order. Liu Zhi saw that everyone was angry, and he didn't understand that Li Lingcai had been so focused in a short period of time. In order to calm everyone, he had to comfort: "The murder in Tai'an has a huge impact, and in order to calm the anger of the Second Army, Commander-in-Chief Jiang has to make a decision. Li Ling's position is only temporarily demoted, if the ** battalion can make meritorious contributions, when this matter has passed for a period of time, when the wind is calm, he can still be promoted! ”

Although Liu Zhi said it well, he had already made up his mind that after a while, Li Ling must be transferred to another place, and he would be sent to another regiment as a deputy head by using the method of rising and descending secretly. After all, the First Army of the Northern Expedition has always been disciplined, and this kind of disobedience to the boss rarely occurs. And the officers and soldiers of this ** battalion actually defended Li Ling regardless of their commander's face. If mountaineering is formed, it is also a threat to oneself.

Li Ling secretly sneered, and accepted the punishment from his superiors. After Liu Zhi took the people away, a strange phenomenon was formed in the ** battalion. Qin Mushu, the deputy battalion commander, did not take office, and the platoon commander below also reported directly to Li Ling if he had something, and Li Ling commanded a ** battalion with a regiment number as a company commander