On the morning of 16 October, Xiao Zhenlei was marching on the way back to Baoshan with his army, when two fast horses appeared in front of him, one of which was a soldier of his own reconnaissance platoon, and the other was an urgent messenger from the government. Xiao Zhenlei stopped his horse, immediately raised his hand to signal the army to stop advancing, and shouted and asked, "Who is ahead?" ”

After the two cavalrymen stopped their horses, they both dismounted, and the soldiers of their reconnaissance platoon immediately reported: "Report to the chief, this person is the urgent messenger of Su Song Taidao Taifu, we have checked his identity waist card, there is no problem!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei looked at the messenger? He asked, "Are you the messenger of the Daotai Mansion?" ”

The official bowed down and saluted: "See your lordship, the villain is the messenger of the official in the Daotai Mansion, and Lord Daotai Cai has an urgent official letter to the adult!" ”

"Oh?" Xiao Zhenlei pretended to be very surprised, "Take it and take a look at this official!" ”

The reconnaissance soldier took the letter and handed it to Xiao Zhenlei, Xiao Zhenlei opened it and looked at it, his face was as usual, but the light in his eyes flickered.

After a long time, Xiao Zhenlei waved his hand to the official and said, "Okay, the official knows, you can go back!" ”

"Yes, my lord, the villain retires!" After saying that, the official flew on his horse, turned around and galloped away.

Chen Jizu, Wu Shiyou, Zhou Chuandong and others saw that Xiao Zhenlei and the others had different expressions, and they all stepped forward immediately, and Chen Jizu asked, "Commander, what's wrong?" ”

Xiao Zhenlei handed over the letter: "After Jiang Guodong's two battalions were defeated, a lot of weapons, ammunition and baggage left behind by the rout, all of which were obtained by Zeng Qinglin, if Zeng Qinglin was given enough time, he would definitely be able to pull up at least one battalion of men." And even more. Cai Naihuang, that old guy, ordered me to lead my troops to exterminate Zeng Qinglin, and I must catch Zeng Qinglin. If you really can't catch him, you must defeat him and scatter his men. After recapturing the weapons, ammunition and baggage that had been snatched, as well as the more than 400 people under Yang Fei that we had recruited this time, he did not agree after receiving my report, and asked me to immediately disband the third battalion, saying that these people have been bandits all year round, and even if they are recruited, they will be difficult to change their banditry nature, and if they are recruited, I am afraid that there will be more incidents in the future. What do you think about these two things? ”

This order was passed down in the hands of Chen Jizu and others. Wu Shiyou took the lead and said: "I thought this was a trick by Cai Naihuang who didn't want to see us grow, we went to clean up Zeng Qinglin, and we would inevitably have a fierce exchange of fire with him, and Zeng Qinglin's men were all cavalry, acting quickly, coming and going like the wind, and our horses were very few, basically infantry, how could we catch up with Zeng Qinglin's men and horses?" If Zeng Qinglin doesn't want to collide with us. We have nothing to do with him, and if he takes advantage of our unpreparedness and throws off his cavalry to raid, we will surely suffer heavy losses. Moreover, Cai Naihuang asked the commander to disband the third battalion on the grounds that the more than 400 people we recruited were bandits before, on the one hand, it prevented us from growing our strength, and on the other hand, it also made the commander lose his trust. Moreover, these people have nowhere to go after they have been disbanded. In the future, they will inevitably reunite as bandits, and bring disaster to the people. The people don't know the reason, and they will inevitably blame the chief for all the blame, and the person surnamed Cai is really sinister with his intentions! ”

Zhou Chuandong nodded and said: "I think Brother Wu has analyzed it well, this Cai Naihuang is not easy to deal with!" ”

Chen Jizu next to him said with a smile: "Sir, my subordinates think that the chief doesn't have to care about this matter at all, since Cai Naihuang asked us to clean up Zeng Qinglin, then we will lead the troops to clean up, then the military salary, food and ammunition and weapons and ammunition must be sent to us, right?" If we don't send it to us, we won't stop, and we will only start after we have paid food and military salaries, as well as weapons and ammunition, as for when this battle will be fought, it is difficult to say, after all, Zeng Qinglin's subordinates are all cavalry, they come and go like the wind, how can we catch up? As for Cai Naihuang's matter of asking the commander to abolish the third battalion and disband it, disband the third battalion, and then divide these people into two parts and organize them into the first battalion and the second battalion, increase the companies under each battalion to four companies, and replenish the most basic infantry squad with enough numbers to reach full strength, so that such an establishment is completely in line with the establishment of the new army, I think Cai Naihuang has something else to say, but without the third battalion, Brother Zhou, the battalion commander, can't do it, I am willing to give up the position of the commander of the second battalion and let Brother Zhou take office, and I am the deputy! ”

Zhou Chuandong hurriedly said: "No, no, I agree with your method, but I can't do what I want to replace you, I'll continue to be the commander of the guard platoon!" ”

The two humbled each other for the position of battalion commander, and Wu Shiyou was not easy to interject, so he could only watch from the sidelines, and the two argued, but were stopped by Xiao Zhenlei.

"Alright, stop fighting!" Xiao Zhenlei raised his hand and shouted, and then said: "The step-ancestor's method is good, we can drag it out if we clean up Zeng Qinglin, we can't leave if he doesn't give money and food, I will write a letter and send someone to Cai Naihuang to send it over, as for the matter of the third battalion, so many people are arranged into the first and second battalions at once, this will seriously affect our combat effectiveness, in case of a battle, the consequences are unimaginable, but we can't really disband them, since I, Xiao Zhenlei, have incorporated them, I can't disband them casually, Otherwise, wouldn't others think that I, Xiao Zhenlei, am a repeated villain? I really can't disband these three battalions, continue to stay, as for Cai Naihuang, I have my own share to say, he still has to rely on me now, and he won't tear his face with me, otherwise he will force me to be anxious, I will raise the flag to rebel, with the combat effectiveness of these horses and horses in my hands, he will be able to drive him out of Shanghai Beach in a few days, he knows this very well, so you don't have to worry! We quickened the march and rushed to the front of Zhoujia Town before noon to set up camp and make a fire! ”

Chen Jizu, Zhou Chuandong, Wu Shiyou and the other three glanced at each other and saluted: "Yes, sir!" ”

At noon, the army arrived in Zhoujia Town, camped in the open space of paddy fields outside the town, arranged the matters of camping and sent people to the town to buy grain, vegetables and meat. Xiao Zhenlei found the platoon commander of the reconnaissance platoon and asked him to lead the team to the direction of Yanghu to conduct a disguised reconnaissance to see where Zeng Qinglin's gang was hiding now, in case he really wanted to completely exterminate this group of people, it would be better to have a combat goal, so as not to let the army run around like headless flies.

According to various information obtained in advance, after Jiang Guodong's troops were defeated, the defeated and routed soldiers left all their weapons, ammunition and baggage. These things were all obtained by Zeng Qinglin, if Zeng Qinglin's gang wanted to leave with so many things. There will inevitably be clues, and the march will be slower. As long as the reconnaissance platoon finds the place where Jiang Guodong's division was defeated, and then follows the traces left by Zeng Qinglin's gang to track down, it will definitely be able to find Zeng Qinglin's whereabouts.

After lunch, the camp was set up and various defensive measures were set up. In the afternoon, Xiao Zhenlei ordered the two infantry battalions except the third battalion to conduct various tactical training, digest and absorb the combat experience gained in the last battle, and let the machine gun platoon and artillery company continue to study, familiarize themselves with the firing steps of artillery, how to calculate the firing points, and how to adjust the shelling elements. Under his order, all departments were nervously training, and because the third battalion had just completed the reorganization, Xiao Zhenlei asked Zhou Chuandong to take the officer corps team to immediately train them for recruits, and the first thing was to train in the queue.

The first few days of training were all queue training, and these original bandits were still able to eat, eat well, and keep up with their physical fitness.

Dinner was served one night. Eating white rice, pork stewed cabbage, and pickled radish, this kind of food is equivalent to the daily light meal of a middle-class family in this era, and where can ordinary people living at the bottom of society eat this kind of meal? This kind of food made the soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, who had just accepted the change, very glad that they chose to stay.

"Three masters. If I could eat this kind of food every day in the future, I would be willing to die! Zhang Facai caught up with Chu Jianxiong, who had just finished the meal, with a rice jar, and chattered.

Chu Jianxiong was the original third leader of Phoenix Mountain, and Yang Fei led his troops to surrender. After exchanging his own head for the lives of these bandits, he also joined Xiao Zhenlei's army with most of the bandits. But now he's just a recruit.

Listening to Zhang Facai's words, Chu Jianxiong glared at him. reprimanded: "Don't call the three masters, now is not the past, now that you are an officer and soldier, you must have the appearance of an officer and soldier, if you are heard by the commander, you will inevitably be punished, just call me Brother Chu in the future!" ”

"Yes, yes, I remember, Brother Chu!" Zhang Facai hurriedly said.

Deng Jiujin, the fifth master who was walking next to him, said at this time: "If you want to say that this meal really didn't say it, Lao Tzu doesn't have this kind of food every day in the cottage, I don't think the officers and soldiers in other places don't necessarily have this kind of food, the meal is white rice steamed buns, I think even the emperor's personal soldiers have this kind of food!" The food is good, but it's just as bad, the officials are too strict, the training is also hard, standing in the sun every day, one station is two hours, and if it goes on like this, I don't know if I can hold on! ”

Zhang Facai said next to him: "Brother Deng, I don't feel tired from training, the sun is a little spicy, but it feels okay, you probably haven't suffered this before, so you can't stand it!" ”

Chu Jianxiong nodded and smiled: "Yes, nine catties, you haven't suffered this kind of hardship before, it's certain that you can't bear it now, just wait for you to get used to it in a few days!" ”

It turned out that some of the leaders of Phoenix Mountain, except for Yang Fei, who was tied up by Xiao Zhenlei and sent someone to the Daotai Yamen, not all the leaders of some other leaders chose to accept the change, Phoenix Mountain plus Yang Fei originally had a total of nine leaders, except for the third Chu Jianxiong and the fifth Deng Jiujin, everyone else chose to leave, and they did not take anyone away, only a dozen bandits who still had families chose to leave at that time, Xiao Zhenlei did not embarrass them, let them leave, and the other bandits all stayed, Now more than 100 wounded bandits have been brought together, and these people have not yet been integrated into the army.

Xiao Zhenlei knew very well that a team of bandits who had just surrendered would be organized into a battalion, and if they were gathered together, if they were not careful, it might cause a mutiny, after all, these people were all from the original team, and the original leaders were still quite authoritative among these bandits, once these people instigated a rebellion, the consequences would be unimaginable, so in order to strengthen the control of this army that had just been reorganized, Xiao Zhenlei not only sent an officer corps headed by Zhou Chuandong to discipline and train them, but also sent a political work team, Pay close attention to their ideological dynamics, and at the same time announce that after three months of training, a big competition will be held, and those with good training results will be promoted to officers, if they are bandit leaders in the past, if they can't compare with others in terms of training performance, they can't be officers, Xiao Zhenlei announced this news so that many of the bandits at the bottom of the small minions saw the opportunity to come out, they began to compete with each other, in the training you chase me, this situation after a few days expanded the entire third battalion, Except for Chu Jianxiong, who was very threatening before, the others basically disobeyed anyone.

Despite this, as time went on, the training items and training volume required by the officers became larger and larger, and there were still a small number of people in the third battalion who could not stand the increasing amount of training and began to retreat, but the army is not another place, it is easy to come in and difficult to get out, and if you want to be a deserter, it is bound by military law.

Among them, Deng Jiujin, the original five masters of the cottage, was the first to stand it, and then the other dozen or so bandits who were too lazy to eat and couldn't stand the restraint began to gather around Deng Jiujin, they plotted to escape, and after three days of planning, they finally decided to act.

Late at night on October 26, gunshots rang out near a large paddy field in the southwest of the barracks, and then gunshots and shouts spread throughout the barracks.

Soon, Xiaoma and Wu Shiyou, who was on duty, walked into his tent and reported the invitation, Wu Shiyou said: "Just now the patrol team near the paddy field fence found more than a dozen deserters who had crossed the wooden fence and were fleeing in the paddy field, the training team shot on the spot to warn and went to arrest, and then I sent two squads to assist in the arrest, I believe there will be news soon!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei took out his pocket watch and looked at it, it was already more than three o'clock in the morning, and it was soon time to get up, he said: "It's not too early, so let's count the number of people and see which people are missing in each battalion and company!" ”

"Yes!" Wu Shiyou saluted and turned to leave.

At the first shot, the officers immediately blew the whistle and made an emergency assembly, except for the recruits of the third battalion, everyone else was fully armed and ready for battle, but the officers did not issue orders without understanding what was going on, but left the troops on standby. (To be continued......)