January 27, 1932, 9 a.m.

Four inland river passenger steamers and two 400-ton transport ships, loaded with 2,500 officers and men of the infantry regiment and teaching team directly under the West Zhejiang Security Command, were urgently requisitioned by the army, and slowly sailed away from the wharf west of Quzhou in the face of cold wind and snow.

On the wharf in the distance, nearly 8,000 men, women, and children watched the steamer full of officers and men drift away, but none of them raised their hands to wave goodbye to their children and relatives, and every face was full of horror and worry.

It is only now that Quzhou has truly felt that the war is so close to itself.

Wu Ming unexpectedly brought the engineer company with him this time, but instead let half of the infantry company and half of the machine gun company stay in the Quzhou base camp, with four heavy machine guns and one without one, and only half of the twelve French 81MM mortars were taken away, with a total strength of 450 people, which is basically the same as the usual battalion-level establishment of the security forces.

Because the security commander Fang Youchun needed to stay in Quzhou to control the overall situation, it was Ma Zhizhai, the chief of staff, who led the infantry regiment directly under the headquarters to Hangzhou north, and he couldn't help but be slightly surprised when he saw that one of the two freighters in the rear was carrying all the weapons and equipment and horses of the teaching team, and then heard that there were nearly 1,000 catties of sausages and ten boxes of five-spice sauce from Quzhou's century-old Tian Fuji in the whole ship, and he couldn't help but shake his head, and couldn't figure out what was going on in this little brother's head.

Sailing on the river in winter is very annoying, with biting winds, heavy humidity, and snowflakes blowing in the north wind, and no one wants to walk outside the cabin.

However, it is precisely because of this that the military quality and self-cultivation of the officers and men have been fully manifested.

Some of the low-ranking officers and men even took out their flasks and drank in large gulps, which they called to keep out the cold, but after drinking, they were often noisy and foul-mouthed, and even two company commanders were drunk and cried and made trouble, tossing and turning endlessly, and even Ma Zhizhai, who was the chief of staff, could not even control it, and there was a miasma of smoke from top to bottom.

Therefore, in the afternoon of the same day, Ma Zhizhai simply took the five-member staff team to the ship of the teaching team, and came out of sight, planning to go to Hangzhou to garrison down, and then clean up a group of chief officers of the regiment directly under him, and ruthlessly rectify military discipline and atmosphere.

Who knew that Wu Ming, who had always governed the army strictly, instead excused the regiment directly under him, and the reason was very sufficient, and it sounded very reasonable: "The brothers in the regiment directly under the regiment did not have any psychological preparation for war at all, so it is normal for such a situation to occur, and the key now is how to relieve the tension of the officers and soldiers, and how to let them know that if the Dao really fights, the more afraid they will die, the faster they will die, and I am afraid the effect will be better." ”

Ma Zhizhai's adjutant Zhao Heyang looked around and asked puzzledly, "Then why don't you teach the brothers in the team to learn culture in an orderly manner?" Aren't they nervous? ”

Wu Ming glanced at the brothers in the cabin who were discussing in a low voice in the squad, and explained: "They are not learning cultural knowledge, but summing up the valuable experience gained in the last field training and the wrong lessons that have occurred in the last field training. ”

The staff officers nodded and sighed again, everyone knew that this could bring great benefits, and they knew even more how difficult it was to persevere and persevere, and some people even thought of Zhou Wenyan, who had written a detailed plan for the political and ideological education of the headquarters.

Ma Zhizhai was thoughtful, and looked at Wu Ming with blazing eyes: "I heard that the ** Red Army implements this system, so the relationship between officers and soldiers is extremely harmonious, and they are sincere and united in battle, and they are not afraid of death, and they have repeatedly defeated the strong with the weak, and the central army and local armies have lost their armor. ”

"Hmm...... Before, I always felt that your teaching team seemed to be out of place with our other departments, and I didn't know what the specific differences were in addition to the training of advanced science, but now that I hear you say this, I finally understand a little. ”

Lieutenant Colonel Xie Zixuan, the eldest deputy chief of the Operations Section, expressed his opinion worriedly:

"Everyone knows the truth, everyone understands it, but few people know how to do it, and I have to obey Brother Wu! Look at it, Sun Jin, Long Shaogang, and Tan Zhibin, who were transferred from various departments of the headquarters to the teaching team, who would have thought that these veteran ruffians would do such a good job? So aggressive and smart? ”

"In my opinion, the key is still in the selection of generals, and there must be a high-level military commander! Since ancient times, there is a saying that a soldier will bear a nest! If we want to change the current chaotic situation in the army, we must first start by rectifying the commanders at all levels, and we must be ruthless, otherwise everything will not be discussed! ”

Everyone nodded their heads again and again, and thought so.

Wu Ming looked at the thirty-seven-year-old lieutenant colonel deputy section chief in front of him, who was extremely ordinary in appearance and figure, and felt a trace of admiration in his heart, and suddenly found that there were not no talents in the security force he was in, but that there was no stage for talents to play before.

There was no word all night, and at noon the next day, the fleet successfully arrived at the Hangzhou Canal Mouth Wharf.

Affected by the warm and humid airflow by the sea, there is no snow in Hangzhou, but the silent winter rain has been falling, which makes people feel even colder.

Ma Zhizhai led Xie Zixuan and the two chief and deputy heads of the regiment to walk ashore quickly, and saluted the officials of the Zhejiang Provincial Security Department and the Provincial Department of Civil Affairs who came to greet them.

After a few words of greeting, the deputy director in charge of military affairs of the Security Department took out the envelope and ordered in a deep voice: "Chief of Staff Ma, your troops from western Zhejiang don't need to enter the city, after the assembly, they will immediately drive to the front line of Jianqiao Airport in the eastern suburbs to station, and the dispatch order, specific tasks, material supplies and all requirements are in the envelope, if there is nothing else, let's go now." ”

"Yes!"

Ma Zhizhai took the envelope with both hands, took a step back and saluted, turned around and led the team away, and after walking a few steps, he vaguely heard the provincial governors talking about his troops, which mentioned Wu Ming's name, but there seemed to be nothing good to say.

Ma Zhizhai strode to the edge of the wharf, looked at the officers and men of the three ships who were disheveled and shrunk their heads, and suddenly turned blue with anger, and ordered all of them to go ashore with a cold face.

Wu Ming ran to the last berth on the edge of the dock and gave a loud order to carry supplies.

In less than three minutes, the rickety cargo ship was firmly fixed on the wharf by the officers and men of the heavily armed spy platoon, and the officers and men of the infantry company and the machine gun company were consciously divided into two teams, and more than 300 officers and men were lined up from the ship to the depths of the wharf, so as to quickly transfer pieces of equipment and well-packed materials to the wharf like a conveyor belt.

Another team of more than 60 sappers neatly set up a springboard, led 60 war horses and pack horses to the dock in an orderly manner, led them all the way to the side of the equipment and materials that were stacked in class, and began to carry large items onto the backs of 30 pack horses.

Twenty minutes passed, the materials were transported, the 450 officers and men of the teaching team and 60 military horses were lined up, and the 450 people formed four neat squares, standing tall and solemn, standing still, quietly waiting for the officers and men of the regiment directly under the regiment who were shouting and hurrying on the side.

Above the wharf, outside the warehouse temporarily requisitioned by the army as a dispatch room, the civil and military officials of the provincial government wearing brown and yellow tweed coats and black tweed coats all looked at Wu Ming's teaching team in a neat line in surprise at this moment, and the chief of the storage and transportation section of the Civil Affairs Department asked the deputy director of the security department curiously: "That is the famous teaching team directly under the West Zhejiang Command a while ago, right?" ”

The deputy director, who was not tall and had a thin face, nodded, and his deep sunken eyes kept staring at the neat and solemn teaching team in the drizzle, and said appreciatively:

"That's right! It's them...... Sure enough, it is different, the action is fast, the military discipline is strict, the morale is high, and it is exciting! Tut-tut, look at the messy infantry regiments on the side, from the same unit, the gap between them is so big, it's hard to imagine! ”

"Also, the equipment of the officers and soldiers of the teaching team has so many automatic weapons, as if the canvas cover on horseback is equipped with a mortar, such firepower is not under a reinforced regiment of our security forces, it is incredible!"

Insiders watch the doorway, laymen watch the excitement, all the civil and military officials exclaimed, and after a while, someone proposed to transfer Wu Ming's teaching team to the city to garrison, and this proposal immediately attracted the support of most people.