"We can build a tent, not only as a stable, but also as a warm shed for everyone." Sun Sicheng proposed.

"It's a good idea, but it takes a lot of materials to prepare, and with the time it takes to build, it's estimated that it will take a few days." Tao Rong nodded and said.

Sun Sicheng said with a smile: "It won't take that long, we can arrive in Zhengzhou in the afternoon, find merchants in Zhengzhou to build sheds, let them find more people, if they hurry up, the stables can be finished tomorrow." Then you can also build some more shelters for people to use as barracks. ”

Mengxi said with some disbelief: "You must know that more than 800 stables alone need to be built, and if you add some simple barracks, there should be about 1,200 rooms, such a large number, just the materials must have a large quantity, where can be prepared in a short time." ”

Sun Sirong interjected at this time and said: "Well prepared, you don't know, because the Pinghan and Longhai railways pass through Zhengzhou, Zhengzhou's economy has developed rapidly, and the number of business travelers and businesses traveling from the south to the north has increased rapidly. However, the first urban area of Zhengzhou is smaller, the population is also small, the original buildings and houses are not enough, in order to emergency, Zhengzhou's scaffolding industry came into being, popular. Later, it developed into the market development of temporary surnames, streets, village fairs, temple fairs, and sheds for various purposes, such as goods sheds, color sheds, pergolas, warm sheds, wedding sheds, and funeral sheds. The workers who build the scaffolding are called "scaffolding workers", commonly known as "scaffolding workers". The scaffolding technique is mainly the tether buckle, which is simple and strong and easy to untie when disassembled. The materials used to build the scaffolding are wooden and bamboo poles, reed mats, and hemp rope. Craftsmen with superb scaffolding skills are bold, quick with hands and feet, can climb high, whether they are flat or on the roof poles, rarely dig pits, horizontal and vertical, firm and reliable. So, not only is there no problem with the materials, but even the shacklers are easy to find, not to mention the sapper battalion. Building a shack is similar to building a simple bridge, and I've trained them a lot during this time. ”

The problem was easily solved, Song Zhewu was in a good mood, and said to Tao Rong with a smile: "Chief of Staff, I think so, you tell Zhang Yafei that when you arrive in Zhengzhou, let him send someone to assist Battalion Commander Sun to gather the shed to prepare materials, and start to build the shed overnight, build the stable first, and strive to let the horses of the Han Guang Cavalry Brigade live in the stable tomorrow." ”——

Zhengzhou is a plain city, belonging to the north temperate continental climate, and the temperature in April can reach more than 20 degrees. Song Zhewu, who lived in Liulin Town, followed the guard brigade out of the morning as usual, and ran at the back of the team with his guard company.

After half a year of training, the veterans of the Fourth Route Army who joined the army before arriving in Laiyuan can easily finish running, but the officers and soldiers of the newly supplemented 19th Army can suffer this time, and they can still keep up with the team at the beginning, and even the artillery regiment dominated by the 19th Army once ran in front. However, after five kilometers, the gap became apparent, the artillery regiment had fallen behind, and the soldiers of the 19th Army who had been replenished by other units gradually fell behind. Whenever Song Zhewu and his company of guards ran past these panting officers and soldiers, they hid on the side of the road with shameful faces.

In fact, in Song Zhewu's view, the physical fitness of these soldiers of the 19th Army is already very good, and it is very telling that they can run five kilometers with the Fourth Route Army without falling behind. Although there are also troops in China who are fully armed for five kilometers of cross-country, Song Zhewu thinks that there will be no such thing as the Fourth Route Army. One is because of nutritional reasons, the physical fitness of domestic soldiers is generally poor, and it is not easy to run five kilometers with weapons, ammunition, water bottles and other items on their backs; Second, the Fourth Route Army has been trained and adapted for more than half a year, and it still eats well every day.

On the way back to Liulin Town, Song Zhewu met Tao Rong, who was following the staff members out of the morning. Tao Rong and more than a dozen staff officers of the original 19th Army also fell behind, although the staff officers were fully armed and only carried pistols, far less equipment than the grassroots officers and soldiers, but these people went out early in the 19th Army, just queues and short-distance bare hands running circles, and they easily did not participate in cross-country. So the physical strength is worse than that of the soldiers who came from the Nineteenth Army.

After barely holding on for five kilometers, Tao Rong, who couldn't run, asked Mengxi to lead the team to continue to go out, and she walked back on foot with a few staff officers who were also tired.

Seeing Song Zhewu running over with a relaxed expression, Tao Rong, who was panting and his face was still a little pale, embarrassed to let go to the side of the road. Song Zhewu instructed the guard company commander to lead the team to continue to go out, and he took Ye Qing and others to Tao Rong's side and walked back side by side with Tao Rong. Ye Qing knew that Song Zhewu and Tao Rong's conversation was to be kept secret, so he immediately arranged for the guards to guard from a distance.

Because since Tao Rong joined the Fourth Route Army, the troops have spent these days in reorganization and marching, and the troops have never been out of the army.

Looking at the officers and soldiers running around her, Tao Rong said with emotion: "Before this, I thought that although the Fourth Route Army was well-trained, it was mainly well equipped with weapons, so its combat effectiveness was strong. Now it seems that although weaponry and equipment are a very important aspect, the most important thing about the combat effectiveness of the Fourth Route Army is that it has been accumulated over time in regular training, and it is obtained through sweat. The physical fitness of the officers and men of our Fourth Route Army and their good tradition of being willing to endure hardships are incomparable with those of the Central Army and the Northwest Army. ”

Song Zhewu looked at Tao Rong and said seriously: "Chief of Staff Tao, the troops have not been training normally in the past few days, and now that there is time, let the troops step up their training and integrate the former 19th officers and soldiers who have newly joined the Fourth Route Army into the troops as soon as possible." In addition, Chief of Staff Tao also took this opportunity to thoroughly understand the combat effectiveness of the troops. ”

Tao Rong nodded and said: "What the commander-in-chief said is that the first division has reported the recent training plan to the headquarters along with their defensive deployment last night, I feel very good after reading it, if the situation has not changed greatly in the past few days, I am ready to go down and have a look, on the one hand, to understand the combat effectiveness and training of the troops, and on the other hand, to familiarize myself with the grassroots officers of the troops." ”

Song Zhewu nodded in agreement and said: "The combat effectiveness of the Fourth Route Army is not only reflected in weapons and equipment, but also in the physical fitness of officers and soldiers, individual skills, tactical coordination, fire support, infantry and artillery coordination, and many other aspects. In fact, the Fourth Route Army did not have any outstanding training means and methods in terms of physical fitness and individual soldier skills, but the amount of training was relatively large and strict, and what could truly embody the essence of the Fourth Route Army's combat effectiveness was in the aspects of tactical coordination, fire support, and infantry and artillery coordination. Only when the chief of staff has a thorough understanding of our Fourth Route Army can he better carry forward the strong points of the Fourth Route Army in his battle plan and ensure that our army's strong points can be brought into full play. ”

"In addition, since we need to strengthen our training, we must ensure that there is enough food, meat and eggs. Zhengzhou's egg processing industry is very developed, and Sun Sirong told me that there are even poultry and egg industry trade unions in Zhengzhou. In Zhengzhou, which has only more than 100,000 employees, there are more than 20 poultry egg processing factories, which can be purchased from them in a centralized manner. Since the officials of the Northwest Army in Zhengzhou did not provide us with supplies, we bought them ourselves, which also provided us with an excuse to be stationed in Zhengzhou. Fortunately, we had a lot of grain in Hankow, and we had a full military salary from Chairman Chiang and three million oceans as a reward, which was enough to support our supply of 60,000 or 70,000 men and horses for several months. I estimate that we will stay here in Henan for two months at most, and the cost is enough without the support of Laiyuan. So the question of money you don't have to save. Song Zhewu explained to Tao Rong as he walked.

Tao Rong took out a telegram and handed it to Song Zhewu. "This is a telegram sent by Yan Xishan in Taiyuan before the departure this morning, and Gao Hongwen, the commander of the 12th Division who has already asked to live in Jinnan, has sent us 300,000 catties of flour and another 500,000 yuan in the ocean. He said that it was inconvenient for the troops of the Jin Sui Army to enter Henan too far, and asked us to send troops to Jinnan to pick up the troops. ”

After signing the telegram, Song Zhewu said: "We will stay in Zhengzhou according to his orders to contain the Northwest Army for him, and if he gives some blood, it should be, so we will order Han Guang's cavalry brigade to cross the river and go north to receive and transport grain." ”

Tao Rong smiled and said, "Commander-in-chief, I really admire you!" ”

"Admire me?" , I have something to admire. Although Song Zhewu said this on his lips, his heart was beautiful.

Tao Rong said seriously: "In the past, when I was in the 19th Army, although the Gui family not only had the territory of Guangxi, but also the support of Guangdong, the military expenditure had never been so sufficient. During the commander-in-chief's trip to Hubei, he not only got all the war materials that the Gui department had worked so hard to get, but Chiang Kai-shek also gave him 3 million oceans, and this time Yan Xishan, an old man from Shanxi, not only gave the commander-in-chief 500,000 oceans, but also sent so much military rations. ”

"Haha!" Tao Rong's words made Song Zhewu laugh. Song Zhewu said happily: "Chief of Staff Tao, you just joined the Fourth Route Army, there are some things you don't know yet, in the future in the Fourth Route Army, the most confidential things can only be me, Chief of Staff Xiao, Chief of Staff Wang, and you Chief of Staff Tao can know, I can tell you about Yan Xishan first, you should also be mentally prepared." ”

So, Song Zhewu talked to Tao Rong in detail about his relationship with his Fourth Route Army and the Jin Sui Army, from Tianjin to Laiyuan's dispatch of troops to Hubei, and finally Song Zhewu said: "Now, Yan Xishan has given us a large amount of ammunition and part of the military expenditure every month, the purpose is to hold me back, and even hand over to us the Henan promised to him by Chairman Jiang......

(To be continued)