Zhuang Jihua did not pay attention to the negotiations with the Germans, now he is concerned about weapons and equipment, after the lesson of the barracks, he began to estimate the weapons and equipment needed for reorganization according to the worst result, the so-called worst result is that the troops transferred from all departments of the Sichuan army are not equipped with weapons produced in Yucheng, and Yucheng needs to re-supply weapons and equipment.

The 100,000 army, excluding the total of more than 20,000 rifles purchased by Yang Sen and Li Jiayu from the whole army over the years, needs a total of 80,000 rifles, plus mortars, light machine guns, heavy machine guns, cannons, howitzers, etc., Zhuang Jihua feels that his head is a little big.

According to the establishment of the escort team, the division of 15,000 people has nearly 1,100 light machine guns, more than 300 heavy machine guns, a total of 500 mortars and anti-aircraft guns, cannons and howitzers below the brigade are not matched, a brigade is equipped with a mountain artillery battalion, the division is equipped with howitzers and cannons and a regiment each, each regiment has 12 guns, cannons are divided into 76mm and 130mm, howitzers are also two caliber 105mm and 150mm, it should be noted that these artillery technologies are all from American companies.

After this calculation, Zhuang Jihua felt a little unbearable, so he found Li Zhilong, Xiao Yisu, Hong Junqi, Zhengcheng, Lan Yundong, An Enpu, Liang Dai and others to discuss, and finally decided to downsize.

The original heavy machine guns and mortars at the platoon level were all abolished, and the new establishment was as follows: the number of people remained unchanged, one light machine gun per squad, and a machine gun platoon was set up in the company, and the machine gun platoon was equipped with two heavy machine guns, two 60 mortars, one 82 mortar, two 40 rocket launchers, one radio communication corps, and one newly produced radio communication machine; There are no heavy firearms in the battalion, and each regiment has an additional anti-aircraft artillery company, equipped with six 37 anti-aircraft guns; 82 mortar company, equipped with 12 82 mortars; increase the guard company, special service company, and communication platoon; The brigade has a mountain artillery battalion, equipped with 12 75mm mountain guns (light howitzers), and the directly subordinate units include a guard battalion, a special service company, an engineer company, a communications company, and an air defense company (equipped with six anti-aircraft machine guns); The division has a cannon regiment and a howitzer regiment, the equipment remains unchanged, and the directly subordinate units include a guard battalion, a special service battalion, a communications battalion, an engineer battalion, an air defense battalion (equipped with 12 anti-aircraft machine guns), and a health team; The army has increased the number of field hospitals, and the units directly under it include: guard regiment, special service battalion, engineer company, communications battalion, and air defense regiment (equipped with 12 anti-aircraft machine guns and 6 anti-aircraft guns).

In this way, each division has 945 light machine guns, 270 heavy machine guns, and more than 400 artillery pieces of various kinds.

"It is proposed that each division add an additional automobile regiment and mule and horse teams." Ahn Eun-pu hesitated to make a suggestion, and he did not speak much at the meeting, and it was not until the end that he made this weighty suggestion.

Since An Enpu surrendered, he thought that he would leave the military circles, but he didn't expect that Zhuang Jihua actually came to his house twice to visit him and asked him to go out of the mountains to serve the country, things have reached this level, he had to go out of the mountains, originally thought that he was going to Luhan to be a brigade commander, but the officers at all levels of the 38th Army were appointed and he had no part in it, when he was wondering, an order came from Yucheng and made him the commander of the new 106th Division, and he was actually promoted by one level, which made him feel inexplicable about Zhuang Jihua's bearing.

Zhuang Jihua patted his head and said with some joy: "Enpu has a good idea, a car regiment and a mule and horse team to transport ammunition." ”

"How many cars are in a regiment?" Li Zhilong asked with a frown.

"The establishment of the automobile regiment cannot be a three-three system," seriously added: "What is the current output of the automobile plant?" ”

"Fourteen cars a month, only one hundred and sixty-eight cars a year." Li Zhilong is very clear about these data, there is only one automobile factory, and the output is relatively low.

"Only one hundred and sixty-eight a year?" Zhuang Jihua felt that the problem was more serious, and he had to admit that he had ignored this problem, in fact, the biggest problem restricting the development of automobile factories was skilled workers, the automobile industry was a technology-intensive and capital-intensive industry, and Zhuang Jihua could solve it with funds, but it was difficult for engineers and skilled workers to solve it.

"If that's the case, the size of the car regiment can't be too large." Lan Yundong said, he is a graduate of the first phase of Whampoa, in the school belongs to the kind of inconspicuous character, neither sharp nor backward, participated in the Eastern Expedition and the Northern Expedition, after 412, he also hesitated, once out of the army, although not for a long time but also affected his development in the army, Zhuang Jihua returned to China after he was recruited to the development team, but has been serving as a middle-level cadre, until the expansion of the army did not emerge.

"It's not just too big, I'm afraid it can't be every division." Hong Junqi sighed and said, "Cultural Revolution, you have to leave some for logistics." ”

Zhuang Jihua thought about it and said: "I still have to make it up, if the quantity is insufficient, buy it, go to the United States to buy it, and we will count the number first." Three companies of one automobile regiment, twelve cars per company, a total of thirty-six trucks, and twenty-four cannons and howitzers, which require twenty-four vehicles, adding up to a total of fifty vehicles, fifty vehicles per division, and nine divisions of the three armies is one hundred and fifty vehicles, so we need four hundred and fifty vehicles, and in addition, our logistics in the future is relatively far, and the logistics department needs at least twenty automobile regiments, so that it is seven hundred and twenty vehicles, so we need one thousand one hundred and seventy vehicles. How many cars do we have now? ”

"There's not a single one free." Li Zhilong immediately replied: "All the cars will be handed over to the logistics department when they leave the factory, and there are a total of seventy-eight cars so far." Together with the previously purchased, there are three hundred and twenty-six vehicles in total. ”

"Cultural Revolution, don't fight the idea of the logistics department," Hong Junqi immediately warned: "The logistics department now not only has to bear the burden of Sichuan, but also Yunnan, so many projects, not only can not be reduced, but also increased; The Sichuan-Tibet Highway, the Yunnan-Burma Highway, and the Panzhihua Project transported equipment from Yucheng to various places, and the Sichuan Highway, etc., during the Cultural Revolution, cars were not enough. ”

Zhuang Jihua nodded to understand Hong Junqi's difficulties, to be honest, Hong Junqi is actually the most difficult of them, the formation of the logistics department, responsible for the logistics support of all projects, responsible for the logistics support of all troops, he set up two logistics departments for this purpose, the military logistics department (referred to as the rear of the army, Minister Tan Jianwu), the industrial logistics department (referred to as the rear of the industry, Minister Chen Minsheng), ran all over Sichuan, and now he has to run all over Yunnan.

"It seems that it will take some time for the formation of the automobile regiment." Zhuang Jihua frowned and thought about it and said: "Secretary Gong, send a telegram to Old Man Mei and ask him to buy 2,000 Dodge trucks in the United States, and these trucks will be sent to Yucheng or Yunnan before June next year." ”

After finishing speaking, he said to Hong Junqi: "But Junqi, you have to establish a driving school, and each driver is responsible for taking two apprentices. ”

Hong Junqi was about to nod his head in agreement, but Zhuang Jihua said: "Also, the training of automobile maintenance personnel should also be paid attention to, and you must establish a transportation school and a logistics school." Moreover, in Tian, how is the flight school? ”

"It's been established, the teachers are all hired from the United States, and there are 300 trainees, plus 500 ground handling and maintenance technicians." Li Zhilong replied.

"Then I will give you another task, to establish an armored force school, responsible for training commanders and tankmen, maintenance personnel, teachers from Germany or the United States." Zhuang Jihua said.

The atmosphere of the meeting began to become a little dull, and some of the original optimistic flavor was gone, and after serious hesitation, he asked the question again: "Cultural Revolution, how much time do you think we still have?" ”

This question has been raised many times, and Zhuang Jihua has explained it many times, but everyone is lucky, even serious.

"If I don't fight next year, I'll be thankful." Zhuang Jihua still replied to the old saying, and then said: "We have to hurry." ”

didn't get a hopeful answer, and everyone showed disappointment on their faces, and An Enpu then understood why everyone in the development team was so enthusiastic about their work, it turned out that they all agreed with Zhuang Jihua's judgment that a war would break out next year, which made his heart tense. But then a layer of questions came to him.

"Sir, what is your basis?" An Enpu asked suspiciously.

"You haven't been to Beiping, you can understand once you go to Beiping, except for the people's sentiments, the political axe can no longer afford to retreat." Zhuang Jihua said heavily: "I am pressing step by step, and it is impossible for the central political axe to give up Pingjin, is there any other choice than fighting?" ”

"Division Commander An, our preparations for war are all based on next year as the timeline, and we judge that the probability of a war breaking out next year is as high as 90 percent, and after the 226 incident, the military headquarters has completely controlled the political axe, and the pace of aggression against China will inevitably be accelerated." Li Zhilong explained to An Enpu that after the 226 incident, Zhuang Jihua wrote an article in the "Yuzhou Evening News" to conduct an in-depth analysis, and this analysis was endorsed by a considerable number of experts, and the Southwest Development Team also held a special discussion on the topic of "the 226 incident and China."

An Enpu looked left and right, and he finally understood that these people were not talking, nor were they cutting the feudal domain under the banner of resistance, but they were really preparing for this, so he thought of Zhuang Jihua's words when he asked him to go out of the mountain, he was really accumulating talents for the Anti-Japanese War. An Enpu looked up at Zhuang Jihua and said: "I understand, sir, rest assured, I, An Enpu, will not be a slave to the country, and my blood will be sprinkled on the battlefield of resistance. ”

"Division Commander An, you are a person with a surname in love, a hot-blooded man, the country needs people like you, I invite you to come out to do your best for the Anti-Japanese War, let go and train the troops, there is no difference between Whampoa and Jiangwutang in the escort team, you are the supreme commander of the 106th Division, disobeying your order is disobeying the military order, you can tell me after you deal with it." In the same way, Zhuang Jihua also said in the 105th Division that the Central Army has always respected Huangpu and discriminated against other academies. Zhuang Jihua believed that this would seriously affect the coordination of the troops in combat, so the troops in the Central Army repeatedly issued orders that no factional views were allowed, and that the soldiers must obey their superiors, regardless of whether the superior came from the Huangpu Military Academy or the Baoding Military Academy; For this reason, he also punished two Whampoa students by "killing chickens and scaring monkeys".

In fact, in addition to high-end equipment such as cars, other weapons are still sufficient, such as rifles and machine guns, and now there are eight factories producing rifles, with a monthly output of 30,000 rifles, although only half of them can fall into the hands of the development team, but it is enough to equip a division every month; Machine guns are even more overrun, with more than 4,000 light machine guns and more than 3,000 heavy machine guns per month. To put it simply, Yucheng can basically guarantee the production of one and a half divisions of equipment per month. But this is not enough, China has hundreds of divisions, and the equipment of one and a half divisions per month is still slow.

Berlin reacted quickly, and the next day they replied to Oliver, and the Berlin side agreed to help China build steel plants, tank factories, aircraft factories, gas mask factories, vacuum tube factories, car factories, only in terms of quantity, the number of tank factories was reduced to one.

However, during the negotiations, Zhuang Jihua had another complication, asking Germany to send instructors to help China establish an air force school and a tank school.

Germany is responsible for helping China build a tank factory, an aircraft factory, a gas mask factory, and so on, and a Yunnan iron and steel plant with a designed output of 300,000 tons before December 1938.

By the end of November, the downsizing of the troops was completed, and part of the simple barracks built with wooden planks were completed, and all units of the Sichuan army began to assemble at designated places one after another. All parties and factions immediately dispatched official representatives to negotiate with each other, formulate a common program for national salvation, and establish a unified anti-Japanese regime." As soon as this circular was issued, the Shanghai authorities ordered the arrest of Shen Junru and seven others, causing a sensational case of the Seven Gentlemen.

After the incident broke out, all walks of life sent telegrams to express their support, and social figures in Yucheng also issued telegrams, but Chiang Kai-shek refused to release them. insisted that the Seven Gentlemen betrayed the country and harmed the country, and insisted that the Seven Gentlemen be judged.

Zhuang Jihua did not pay much attention to this matter, although he sent a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek in response to a serious request, asking him to keep people under the knife, and then he threw himself into the training of the troops, in his opinion, these people are not in danger at all, in this kind of climate, Chiang Kai-shek broke the sky and let them go to prison for a few days, and there would be no worries about their lives; However, in his heart, he thought that Chiang Kai-shek had made another very stinky move, and it was useless to catch these people, which would only intensify the contradictions and affect his reputation.

At the beginning of December, Xia Yanglin returned from Xuzhou and brought back seven officers: Wang Geng and Wang Zhi, students from the West Point Military Academy, Wu Jing and Qin Siyuan, students from the Saint-Cyr Military Academy in France, and Zhou Rongxue, Yao Jian, and Gu Jianfeng, students from the Virginia Military Academy.

Zhuang Jihua didn't expect Xia Yanglin's ability to be so outstanding, and he actually poached Wang Geng. This Wang Geng is not an ordinary person, he is the former head of the tax police corps, and he was the chief of staff of Sun Chuanfang's five-province coalition army, if it weren't for the fact that he took the wrong path in the 12.8 Songhu Anti-Japanese War, he was detained by the military police, although he escaped, he was still strongly accused after the war, and was imprisoned for leaking military information.

Wang Geng doesn't look like a soldier at all, extremely elegant, speaks standard Yanjing dialect, and has a mustache on his lips, but talking to him makes Zhuang Jihua feel very awkward, this Wang Geng's knowledge is too profound, both Chinese and Western, he can't catch up, and finally it was easy to find a chance to get out: "General Wang, your military rank was lieutenant general before, I want to ask you to serve as deputy commander, I don't know if you want to." ”

Zhuang Jihua thought that this position was already very high, and Wang Geng should be satisfied, but unexpectedly, Wang Geng said with a sinking face: "I want to lead the troops directly, the division commander and the brigade commander don't care, can General Zhuang agree?" ”

Zhuang Jihua was stunned for a moment, and Xia Yanglin hurriedly explained: "General Wang wants to wash away other people's misunderstandings about him on the battlefield and prove to the people that he is definitely not a Han annihilation. ”

Now Zhuang Jihua understood, but he felt embarrassed, the division commander and brigade commander level commanders of the army have been appointed, and it is not appropriate to change them at this time, he thought about it and said: "The division and brigade level commanders have been appointed, except for the deputy commander, there is no corresponding position for the time being, otherwise, you will temporarily submit to the deputy commander, and I will give you a suitable position in the future, what is your opinion?" ”

Xia Yanglin also persuaded: "General Wang, I think it's okay like this, there will definitely be troops in the future, and General Wang will choose when the time comes." ”

Wang Geng reluctantly accepted it now, Wang Geng's commotion, so that the others felt ruthless encouragement, after they returned to China, they were very excluded in the army, and Zhuang Jihua, a Huangpu officer, was the first to be so polite to them.

"Chief Zhuang, I am a graduate of the Saint-Cyr Military Academy, and I used to serve as a ...... in the Tax Police Corps."

Next, everyone introduced themselves one after another, these highest rank lieutenant colonel, the lowest lieutenant, Zhuang Jihua made arrangements for them one by one, Wang Zhi went to the 106th Division as the regiment commander, Xia Yanglin went to the 105th Division as the regiment commander, Zhou Rongxue served as the battalion commander under Xia Yanglin, Qin Siyuan served as the battalion commander under Wang Zhi, and Wu Jing, who studied artillery, was sent to the 104th Division as the commander of the artillery regiment.

The remaining few Zhuang Jihua were reluctant to let them go to positions such as company commanders, which were extremely easy to sacrifice, so he left them in the military headquarters as operational staff officers.

Zhuang Jihua's report was soon sent to Chiang Kai-shek in Xi'an, Chiang Kai-shek was a little crying and laughing, a little helpless, and a little angry, this Zhuang Jihua is too unlike, if the bright one doesn't work, he will come to the dark, unscrupulously digging people into the corner, Huang Jie doesn't know the value of these people, Chiang Kai-shek is clear, but Chiang Kai-shek is not good at dealing with Zhuang Jihua, because Huang Jie has approved their resignation, and it is normal to resign here and take up a post there.

In the end, it was Lin Wei who relieved Chiang Kai-shek, and he "truthfully" reported Zhuang Jihua's difficulties to Chiang Kai-shek, and suggested that since Huang Jie was unwilling to ask for these students, it was better to get them all to Zhuang Jihua, and there was no shortage of these people anyway.

So Chiang Kai-shek ordered Zhuang Jihua to transfer all the students from the Tax Police Corps, and at the same time, in order to maintain the characteristics of the Whampoa of the army, he transferred from Nanjing the talents he was still polishing, including Liao Yaoxiang, who had not long returned to China. This almost made Zhuang Jihua happy to death, he didn't expect that in his previous life, two famous generals who were so famous that even he, who didn't know much about history, Sun Liren and Liao Yaoxiang, actually ran under his command.

Maybe the happiness is too strong, and the people around Zhuang Jihua feel that he is a little in a trance during this time, and he is always distracted when he talks and does things. On the contrary, she became more courageous in bed, which made Liu Yinshu happy and worried, and secretly instructed Sister-in-law Fang to boil fish soup for Zhuang Jihua every day to recuperate.

Finally, in the early morning of December 12th, the sky was just dawning, Zhuang Jihua and Liu Yinshu were awakened by a strong knock on the door, Zhuang Jihua put on pajamas and just arrived in the living room, Fang's sister-in-law had already opened the door, and the staff officer on duty reported to him panting: "Team....Captain, out....out...out... It's a big deal. ”

"What's the matter? Don't panic, say slowly, what's the matter? Zhuang Jihua roughly guessed what had happened in his heart.

"In the early hours of this morning, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng staged a mutiny in Xi'an, and the chairman of the committee was detained."

Despite being prepared, Zhuang Jihua still shook down, and the staff officer hurriedly helped him to his seat, and comforted him: "Sir, be careful, you can't fall!" At this time, you can't do it. ”

In fact, he was wrong, Zhuang Jihua was not shocked, but the relief after a stone fell to the ground, and the weakness after a tight string broke.

(To be continued)