In the east wing of the headquarters of the Fourth Route Army in Xiaogan City, Song Zhewu, Xiao Guodong, Zhang Yafei, Gao Zongbao, Ye Changgui, Wu Jin, Li Sichi, Tao Rong, Han Guang, Wang Xinggang and others were sitting together and were reporting to Song Zhewu on the completion of their respective units and tasks.

After Song Zhewu returned from Guishan yesterday to the Deming Hotel, the temporary office of the Fourth Route Army in Hankou, he immediately summoned Wang Xinggang, Ye Changgui, and others to arrange and assign tasks, and with the active cooperation of Lin Wei and Liu Zhi, he organized the personnel and materials remaining in Hankou to leave Hankou in batches. Song Zhewu followed the last group of personnel in the early hours of this morning, evacuated Hankou and returned to Xiaogan.

Seeing that everyone had finished reporting, Xiao Guodong cleared his throat and said to Song Zhewu, "Wen Ge." As soon as Xiao Guodong spoke, the others fell silent.

With the continuous expansion of the army and the improvement of Song Zhewu's status, in the Fourth Route Army, only Xiao Guodong, Zhang Yafei, Gao Zongbao, and Wang Xu are called Song Zhewu, and everyone else is called by position.

Song Zhewu looked at Xiao Guodong's bloodshot eyes, and he was a little unbearable. He heard Wu Jin say that in the past few days when Song Zhewu went to Hankou, Xiao Guodong was busy with the storage of materials in order to integrate the personnel of the troops, and his feet did not touch the ground, and he could only sleep for more than three hours a day.

Song Zhewu stopped Xiao Guodong, who was about to report, and poured water into the cup in front of Xiao Guodong with his own hands: "Brother Xiao, you've worked hard these days!" ”

Xiao Guodong looked at Song Zhewu gratefully and said, "Wen Ge, it's okay." I'll hurry up and report to you, there are many things that you still need to decide. ”

Xiao Guodong took a sip of water, moistened his somewhat dry throat and said, "The troops of Division Commander Li and Chief of Staff Tao have been settled, and with the two of them here, their troops are very stable. ”

Song Zhewu smiled at Li Sichi and Tao Rong and nodded, Li Sichi and Tao Rong hurriedly stood up, Tao Rong said: "Commander-in-chief, I and Senior Commander Li and the brothers who follow us resolutely obey the orders of the commander-in-chief." ”

Song Zhewu motioned for the two to sit down, and said with a smile: "Chief of Staff Tao, Senior Commander Li, we will be a family from now on, and we will talk about your affairs later." ”

Xiao Guodong continued: "The disarmed Li Yixuan's division, after returning with Brigade Commander Han, is now placed in the temporary military camp in Chengxi, these people are a little emotionally unstable, after Chief of Staff Tao went to the military camp to appease, they are much better now, but these people have to find a way to disperse and resettle as soon as possible, otherwise it will not be easy to control." After receiving your telegram yesterday, the Hankow garrison headquarters sent ten columns of troops, five of each of passengers and goods. Last night Xinggang brought back five more columns, which were enough for our troops. All kinds of materials have been loaded yesterday and will be finished this morning. In the afternoon, it will be possible to send out ......"

After Xiao Guodong's report, Song Zhewu said: "First of all, on behalf of the Fourth Route Army, I welcome Division Commander Li and Chief of Staff Tao to join our Fourth Route Army. ”

Song Zhewu motioned for Li Sichi and Tao Rong, who stood up again, to sit down, and continued with a solemn face: "From now on, we will be a family, and there will be no difference between the Nineteenth Army and the Fourth Route Army. ”

Li Sichi and Tao Rong, who had just sat down, stood up again, and Li Sichi said with a straight face: "I, Chief of Staff Tao and the brothers who came with us have long regarded ourselves as members of the Fourth Route Army, and we are sent by the commander-in-chief, and from now on, we will never fight the Fourth Route Army from outside. ”

Since they learned yesterday that Li Yixuan and Zheng Chong's two divisions were disarmed, the two of them privately admired Hu Zongduo to death, and they both felt that Hu Zongduo's decision to ask them to defect to Song Zhewu was too wise, otherwise they would have been disarmed and dispatched like Li Yixuan and Zheng Zheng. Now the only thing they were worried about was how Song Zhewu would treat them and the troops they brought back, although Song Zhewu had a promise at that time, but the two were still a little worried. It's just that no matter how Song Zhewu treats them now, they can't help it, they have thoroughly understood the establishment and equipment of the Fourth Route Army in the past few days, and both of them can't help but secretly smack their tongues. With such troops, I'm afraid two regiments can solve them, not to mention that there are still troops of two divisions and three brigades here.

After the two sat down, Song Zhewu continued to say to everyone: "I am in Hankou this time, and General He Yingqin promised me to add the number of our Fourth Route Army, specifically to cancel our original number, and give us four infantry divisions, one artillery division, one cavalry corps and three brigades from the beginning. The numbers of these units are all given the new number. ”

Xiao Guodong smiled and said: "Wen Ge, you are really good, one more infantry division and an artillery division will come to Hankou, but I am worried about how to arrange the recruited recruits and the recruited troops."

Zhang Yafei and Gao Zongbao were also full of smiles, Zhang Yafei said with a wicked smile: "This time Liang Fang's kid has to be happy, he often says in private that he doesn't want to be the artillery brigade commander, saying that he wants to come to me and Lao Gao's division to be the regiment commander." When I went back, I went to him and asked if he would come to me as the head of the regiment. ”

Wu Jin opened his mouth to say something, but after glancing at Li Sichi, he closed his mouth again. Wu Jin was very envious of Zhang Yafei, Gao Zongbao, Zhang Tao, Wei Guanghui and a few of them, and he had long wanted to go to the combat unit, but at that time, Song Zhewu told him that there was no one to take the baggage troops, and promised him that he would let him go to the combat unit when there were people in the future. But now he can't say it, he knows that Song Zhewu promised Li Sichi about it, and he can't make trouble for Song Zhewu at this time.

Li Sichi and Tao Rong lowered their heads and smoked, it is said that the division commander was going to give him Li Sichi, which was also promised by Song Zhewu when he was thrown into the Fourth Route Army. However, now Li Sichi can't fight for this division commander, even if he doesn't give him something, it's hard to say anything. After all, I am a newcomer, and I have to endure many things.

Song Zhewu saw everyone's expressions, and on the way back from Hankou, Song Zhewu considered how to distribute the new number. The commander of this newly added division must be given to Li Sichi, not only because he promised Li Sichi at the beginning, but also because he had to keep his promise. What's more important is that Song Zhewu wants to set an example for those who will take refuge in him in the future, and want others to know that he Song Zhewu will not treat anyone who sincerely joins him Song Zhewu's Fourth Route Army.

It's just that the affairs of the artillery division are a little difficult to handle, and the artillery brigade was set up mainly because the number of artillery was insufficient, and it could not meet the number of artillery that each division needed to be deployed, so there was no choice but to set up an artillery brigade first. However, Song Zhewu found that he had always had a misunderstanding, that is, he had always only thought about the problem of fighting against the Yue army. But now the firepower of his troops in the country is strong enough, and in terms of the number of artillery pieces of his division alone, his troops are the first in the country. The creation of a separate artillery unit is somewhat redundant. The reason why He Yingqin gave him the name of an artillery division was, first, because he considered that there was an artillery brigade in the Fourth Route Army, and because the Central Army also had the problem of insufficient artillery numbers.

Therefore, he doesn't want to set up an artillery division now, he wants to change the number of this artillery division to an infantry division, it is estimated that He Yingqin will agree, and Chiang Kai-shek will not object, after all, Chiang Kai-shek still wants to borrow himself to help him level the Northwest Army and the Jin Sui Army.

Song Zhewu took out a cigarette and handed it to Xiao Guodong. After Xiao Guodong lit a cigarette for Song Zhewu and himself, he took a deep breath and felt a little more energetic.

Regarding the matter of increasing the number, Xiao Guodong has ideas. Although he knew that Song Zhewu was organizing troops like he was now, it was because he didn't know very well that Song Zhewu was organizing them with an eye on fighting the army in the future. However, he thought that there was no need to keep the formation of the artillery brigade and the baggage brigade, and he wanted to talk to Song Zhewu now, but he knew that now was not the time, not only had he not returned to Laiyuan, but he was likely to have to fight. What's more, he felt that Song Zhewu should maintain the majesty of the superior in his current position, although Song Zhewu respected him very much, but he also had to maintain Song Zhewu's majesty at all times, otherwise it would be difficult to bring these nearly 200,000 troops. For this reason, Xiao Guodong even instructed Zhang Yafei in private.

Song Zhewu took a puff of cigarette, looked at everyone and said: "Except for Deputy Chief of Staff Wang, Commander Zhang of the Third Division, and Commander Wei Guanghui of the Cavalry Division today, the other senior officers of the Fourth Route Army are here. ”

Song Zhewu continued: "I feel that it is a little inappropriate for us to set up artillery divisions, and now the firepower of each division is already very strong in China, and it is a waste of our firepower resources to set up artillery divisions. I mean, abolish the artillery division and replace this number with an infantry division. Although such a change still needs to be reported to Chief He Yingqin He for approval, I think he will agree to it. That is to say, we can now organize two new infantry divisions, this time Division Commander Li and Chief of Staff Tao brought more than 20,000 people, and the disarmed Li Yixuan Division also had more than 10,000 people, plus more than 10,000 recruits recruited by Xinggang, a total of nearly 50,000 new people. My idea is that not only the two new divisions need to be reorganized, but even the original units need to be reorganized. ”

Song Zhewu saw that everyone was listening to him attentively, and then said: "The two newly established divisions are the newly formed Fourth Division and the Teaching Instructor, and the commanders of these two divisions are Li Sichi and Liang Fang respectively. ”

Li Sichi hurriedly stood up and said with some excitement: "Chief Xie commands cultivation." ”

Song Zhewu smiled with satisfaction and said: "Division Commander Li has been in the army for many years, has fought bravely and managed the army well, and I also hope that Division Commander Li will make new contributions in the Fourth Route Army." ”

Li Sichi said solemnly: "Please rest assured that I, Li Sichi, will fight hard and never live up to the commander-in-chief's trust." ”

Song Zhewu smiled and said, "Okay." It's just that the specific formation of the fourth and fifth divisions will have to wait for the army to return to Laiyuan, and before that, Division Commander Li will have to restrain the troops. ”

(To be continued)