"Toot-toot-to-doo-"

Hearing the assembly whistle, the companies of the engineer battalion moved quickly and ran in formation from the east, north, and south directions to the battalion headquarters in the center. Since the fighting in Yueyang had stopped, the surrounding villagers who had not been too frightened came out of their homes one after another to watch with curiosity the officers and soldiers rushing to the Dapingba in the village.

An Yi led his beloved horse Little Black Pony and slowly walked towards Pingba in the village, thanks to the careful care of Yin Jinan and Beard and the good horse material prepared by the cooking class Chunsheng, the little black pony gradually regained its vitality, the gray coat color was shiny, the original tired eyes became shining, full of vitality, deep and broad chest, high head, showing an outstanding elegant temperament.

For half a month, no matter how busy An Yi is, every day he will take half an hour to comb the mane of the little black horse, rub his body, and constantly talk to it, the smart little black horse is very sensible, whether it is eating grass or standing and lying down, as long as he hears An Yi's footsteps, he will raise his beautiful head and look quietly, the wide nose keeps contracting and expanding, and he walks to An Yi and rubs his arms and body with his head. Beard said that the little black horse had already recognized the master, and that he was very bold and affectionate, so he could ride and run away with peace of mind.

There is a high platform built of stone in the north of Pingba, a four-corner pavilion is built with wood and thatch above the high platform of three meters square, every harvest season, the old landlord sits on this high platform to drink tea and collect grain to calculate the tenant rent, and now standing on it is Kuang Shimin, commander of the engineer battalion, and Li Zesheng, lieutenant colonel and lieutenant colonel of the division headquarters, and behind the two are several lieutenants and staff officers of the division department.

The three companies of the engineer battalion arrived one after another, Dong Yanzi took the reins from An Yi's hand, and brought the horse to the left side of the high platform, An Yi strode to the front of the three companies and stood quietly, and when the beard was finished, Yin Jinan also strode forward, and the three of them turned around to face the high platform together, waiting for the commander's instructions.

Kuang Shimin saw that there were only more than 40 old and weak people left in the first company and the second company that was taken away by Cao Fuming with a platoon, and then looked at the full third company that was impeccable in both momentum and style, and couldn't help but feel a little sad for An Yi in his heart. Kuang Shimin took half a step forward, unwilling to talk any more nonsense, and as soon as he opened his mouth, he loudly announced that he had invited the division minister to give a lecture, and after speaking, he took a step back and politely asked Li Zesheng to speak.

After Li Zesheng read out the commendation order of the military headquarters for the Second Division, and then read out the personnel order of the division headquarters, after a slight pause, he took out the letter of appointment and ordered An Yi and the three to come to the stage to receive the order, read out the content of the appointment to the three one by one, and saluted one by one.

After An Yi and the three of them took the letter of appointment and retreated to the side, Li Zesheng, who was very political, once again delivered a passionate revolutionary speech, and said many words of encouragement and encouragement with deep affection.

Kuang Shimin looked at the audience and shook his head: "Xiao Yi, I also learned this morning that Li Houcai and Cao Fuming took a lot of people to the main regiment, I wanted to ask the division headquarters, but then I thought about it, I still can't offend those regiment commanders, they have a better relationship with you than me, they must know about this matter, they didn't say anything, I went and I can't be annoying?" I think, let's forget about this matter, anyway, the military salary is paid according to the full number, and no one is indispensable, let's slowly replenish the soldiers, whether those people are gone, it is not easy for people to stay here if their hearts do not stay. ”

"Okay, I'll listen to you."

An Yi nodded respectfully, and then asked, "What about the letter of appointment and the new nameplate of the company deputy and the platoon commanders?" ”

Kuang Shimin pointed to the cardboard box on the ground behind him: "It's all inside, everything here is handled by you with full authority, I have to rush to the division headquarters for a meeting, Li Zesheng just whispered to me, maybe our marching route has changed, we have to go to collect the task of our battalion at two o'clock in the afternoon." ”

An Yi pointed to the audience: "I picked a horse and a guard for you, the guard was trained by me, Hu Zi and Ji Nan, called Zeng Jianzhang, nineteen years old this year, strength and marksmanship are good, it is rare that you don't smoke or drink, people are very courageous, you bring it." Your orderly is not a little domineering, he is only worthy of helping you copy and write, in case something is estimated to run faster than you. ”

Kwong Shimin patted An Yi's arm gratefully, stepped off the high platform, and mounted his horse with the help of the new guard, Zeng Jianzhang. Zeng Jianzhang turned around and saluted An Yi and the three people on the stage, and also rode the horse given to him by An Yi to catch up with Kuang Shimin.

An Yi and the three of them walked to the edge of the high platform and quietly looked at the officers and soldiers under the stage.

The more than 220 brothers of the 3rd Company were neat and mighty, and most of the more than 80 people in the 2nd Company in the middle looked at An Yi with hope, and 70 of them were the brothers who were sent by An Yi in pain. An Yi clearly knew that Cao Fuming, the commander of the second company, did not want to take away these seventy strong soldiers, but could not take them away, because from the eyes of these brothers, An Yi saw a kind of trust, a kind of concern, and an indescribable brotherly feeling.

At An Yi's suggestion, Yin Jinan read aloud the list of company deputies and platoon commanders, and ordered the brothers to rest in place, but not to leave Dapingba.

As soon as the order came out, it suddenly became lively, the brothers of the second company were already in the same vein as most of the brothers of the third company, everyone was once again serving under An Yi, and they were overjoyed, only the forty-three old and young children of the first company sat alone in a semicircle, watching the brothers of the second company and the third company laughing heartily, and guessing their fate in a panic and whispering.

The entire meeting presided over by An Yi took only 15 minutes to put a mess in order, the three companies were completely disrupted and rearranged, and the engineer battalion of the Second Division had a tight three-tier leadership group from then on. Battalion Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Kwong Shimin; Battalion Deputy: Major An Yi; Battalion Staff Officers: Captain Hu Jialin; Political Instructor: Captain Yoon Ji Nam.

The platoon commanders of the reorganized companies were:

Company Commander of the First Company: Captain Hu Jialin (concurrently); Company Deputy: Lieutenant Chen Kan; Instructor: Warrant Officer Huang Yingwu. Platoon Leader: Sergeant Lu Xiong; Second Platoon Leader: Sergeant Qu Tongyuan; Third Platoon Leader: Sergeant Wu Liheng. Among them, all the probationary officers were regularized because of the military exploits of more than 3,800 enemies captured this time, and all platoon commanders and squad leaders were promoted. Huang Yingwu specially recommended Yin Jinan to join the party, plus this person is indeed a good hand at political work, according to An Yi's joke, if a parrot is born in Europe, he will be a scholar who can speak seven or eight national languages. Lu Xiong, Qu Tongyuan and other veterans are all meritorious men who followed An Yi and Hu Zi to attack, this time it is logical to be promoted from sergeant to sergeant, but Wu Liheng belongs to An Yi and the three of them are hidden, but Wu Liheng's prestige among the veterans is very high, and he is a very experienced machine gunner, so this time An Yi and the three secretly wrote his name to report the merit, anyway, no one came to verify, and the commanders would not remember a small sergeant.

Commander of the Second Company: Major An Yi (concurrently); Company Lieutenant: Lieutenant Cai Guangqing; Instructor: Lieutenant Mu Remember. Mu Recall was originally the commander of the fifth platoon of the second company, from the Hunan Army's lecture hall, and was one of the three people Kuang Shimin tried to protect this time. Fourth Platoon Leader: Sergeant Zhu Tao; Sergeant Li Shunping, the fifth platoon leader; Sergeant Zhu Fuguang, the sixth platoon leader. The three platoon commanders and the nine squad leaders were all veterans.

Commander of the 3rd Company: Captain Yin Jinan (concurrently); Company Deputy: Lieutenant Chen Zhibiao; Instructor: Lieutenant Yang Fei. Yang Fei was originally the platoon commander of the second platoon of the first company, and Mu Recall was the same brother as the division, and he was also a talent favored by the battalion commander Kuang Shimin. Under the persuasion of many officers and soldiers of the first company, Yang Fei was unmoved, and his surname was resolute, he believed in An Yi's ability, and longed for the close brotherly relationship between the officers and soldiers of the third company. Seven platoon commanders: Sergeant Su Tieming; Sergeant Qian Bojun, the leader of the eighth platoon; Sergeant Lu Cambridge, the leader of the ninth platoon.

Battalion Headquarters Guard Communication Platoon: Platoon Commander Sergeant Xia Jian.

Since then, the first company has become a combat company of the engineer battalion, responsible for the safety and security of the whole battalion, enemy reconnaissance and other important tasks, and the only five light machine guns and 30 flower machine guns in the whole company belong to the first company. The second and third companies will continue to undertake the tasks of engineers and perform the functions of engineers.

One by one, An Yi handed out new nameplates and certificates of appointment for officers, and asked the brothers if they had any objections. How could this group of brothers who had been promoted to one level and everyone had any opinions, and they all said that they would do their best to bring their brothers well, never let An Yi down, and never disgrace the engineer battalion.

Beard began to perform his duties as a battalion staff officer, jumping on a high platform and blowing the assembly whistle loudly. Yin Jinan read out the company's plan for sorting out the unit and ordered it to be carried out immediately. The six company deputies, instructors, and nine platoon commanders quickly went to their respective company positions, and arranged and combined in a bustling voice, and it took more than half an hour to complete the arrangement. More than 350 brothers were all disrupted, and there was no longer a question of who disliked whom, and the remaining 40 old and young people of the first company were properly cared for, and 11 soldiers with poor physical fitness were assigned to the cooking squad of each company or the police platoon of the battalion headquarters.

Kuang Shimin rushed back from the meeting, the three companies were already lined up neatly, and they were conducting formation drills on the Daping Dam, and the deputy and platoon commanders of each company were sweating like rain and performed their duties well, and the slogans on the field were loud one after another, and the spiritual outlook of the brothers in the whole battalion was completely renewed, and the whole team was completely different from before the assembly.

An Yi stepped forward to grab the horse's head and let Kuang Shimin, who was rusty with riding skills, get off the horse steadily: "Battalion commander, what are the new tasks?" ”

Kuang Shimin took An Yi's hand and walked to the shade of the tree: "The division seat and the chief of staff completely agree with your request to position the first company as a combat company, and the division seat said to me that you did not go to the division headquarters to complain because of Li Houcai and Cao Fuming's inauthenticity, and avoided the filthiness and unhappiness between your brothers, they felt very relieved, and several regiment commanders were also full of apologies!" The chief of staff asked me to convey to you that the establishment of 500 officers and men of the engineer battalion will remain unchanged, and the establishment of the 225 reinforced companies of the third company's 'all-army model company' will not change! We were instructed to capture more prisoners in the next battle to replenish ourselves, and if we were captured, we could intercept them by ourselves except for artillery, so as to enrich the combat effectiveness of the engineer battalion. What do you think? It's a blessing for us to take over this mess, right? Ha ha! ”

An Yi was overjoyed: "Great! Battalion commander, you have earned back the benefits of my battalion! Now that my battalion is full, there are less than 380 people, and there are more than 120 vacancies, and it is estimated that there is no oil and water behind the Eighth Army, and I agreed with Hu Zi and Ji Nan that as long as we drive to the Hunan and Hubei borders, we will have a way to get back a few hundred people back, and if we are lucky, thousands of people will not be a problem, so you have to follow us closely during this time, and immediately go to report for reinforcements from the division as soon as you have a good opportunity, otherwise our current strength may be enough. ”

Kuang Shimin laughed, took out a map from his briefcase, squatted down and opened it, pointed to a red line of march from southwest to northeast on it, and explained in a low voice, which immediately made An Yi's heart bloom.

(To be continued)