On February 10, 1938, the Nationalist Government issued a commendation order for the whole army, in view of the fact that the 61st Army had bravely resisted the enemy in the previous period of war against Japan and achieved outstanding results. Not only did it completely annihilate the Japanese army's field heavy artillery brigade and capture more than 8,800 people under the Japanese army's lieutenant general brigade commander Ueda Tsubasa and Major General Deputy Brigade Commander Otsuka Iwataro, but also recovered Zhangjiakou, the capital city of Chahar Province, and captured Tianjin, an important port city in North China. The Chairman of the National People's Congress of the Republic of China specially signed Order No. 246 of the Chairman of the National People's Congress to promote Chen Feng, commander of the 61st Army, to lieutenant general of the National Revolutionary Army and add the rank of general. At the same time, Ye Helina, deputy commander of the 61st Army, Yang Yi, chief of staff of the army, Li Wensheng, commander of the 101st Division, Li Yifeng, commander of the 222nd Division, Xu Hu, commander of the 7th Independent Division, and Andrei, commander of the Cavalry Division, were promoted to lieutenant generals of the National Revolutionary Army.

In addition, 17 people were promoted to Shi Jianfei, Wang Hansheng, Xu Bao, Chen Tiebao, Li Bin, Hu Tiesheng, Xu Fufu, Zhang Zhigang, Li Jianhua, Zhou Haisheng, Chen Haitao, Lin Yong, Zhang Jingjun, Victor, Hua Rong, Bobosha, and Sui Jinguang as major generals of the National Revolutionary Army.

At the same time, Chen Feng was awarded the first-class Blue Sky and White Sun Medal and the National Glory Medal; Ye Helina, Yang Yi, Li Wensheng, Li Yifeng, Xu Hu, Andre 2nd Class Blue Sky and White Sun Medal; Shi Jianfei, Wang Hansheng, Xu Bao, Chen Tiebao, Li Bin, Hu Tiesheng, Xu Caifu, Zhang Zhigang, Li Jianhua, Zhou Haisheng, Chen Haitao, Lin Yong, Zhang Jingjun, Victor, Hua Rong, Bobosha, Sui Jinguang and other Blue Sky and White Sun Medals.

In addition, Hailiang, commander of the 306th Regiment of the 101st Division, Xu Haisheng, commander of the 307th Regiment, Hu Haitao, commander of the 308th Regiment, Jiang Haoran, commander of the cavalry regiment directly under him, Zhao Tiezhu, commander of the artillery regiment, Li Yingjie, commander of the air defense regiment, Wang Changsuo, commander of the engineer regiment, Sun Guodong, commander of the guard regiment, and Chen Daniu, commander of the baggage regiment. Wei Changhu, commander of the 309th Regiment of the 222nd Division, Jia Jinyuan, commander of the 401st Regiment, Tie Xiong, commander of the 402nd Regiment, Ge Riletu, commander of the cavalry regiment directly under him, Ao Rigra, commander of the artillery regiment, Zhang Hao, commander of the air defense regiment, Li Erwa, commander of the engineer regiment, Xu Liansheng, head of the guard regiment, and Zhu Xiashui, commander of the baggage regiment. Li Xuezhong, commander of the 404th Regiment of the Seventh Independent Division, Li Qiang, commander of the 405th Regiment, Hairi Khan, commander of the cavalry regiment directly under him, Xu Lang, commander of the artillery regiment, Li Guoyao, commander of the air defense regiment, Chen Youliang, commander of the engineer regiment, Mo Rigen, head of the guard regiment, Wu Yanming, head of the baggage regiment, Li Yang, chief of staff of the Xinghe Garrison Brigade, Zhang Xueying, deputy brigade commander of the Jining Garrison Brigade, Chen Bing, chief of staff of the brigade, Wang Jiming, deputy commander of the Taolin Garrison Brigade, and Ma Xiong, chief of staff of the brigade. , Deputy Brigade Commander of the Air Defense Brigade Liu Haoqiang, Chief of Staff Ouyang Hai, Guard Regiment Ma Cao, Deputy Regiment Commander Long Jian, Commander of the First Cavalry Regiment Ye Baoguo, Commander of the Second Cavalry Regiment Li Haihan, Commander of the Third Cavalry Regiment Li Yisheng, Commander of the Fourth Cavalry Regiment Batel, Commander of the Fifth Cavalry Regiment Wu Zamu, Commander of the Sixth Cavalry Regiment Bazaat. Dorji, Hu Haiyang, commander of the 7th Cavalry Regiment, Wu Debala, commander of the 8th Cavalry Regiment, Liu Xuefeng, commander of the 9th Cavalry Regiment, and others were awarded the Order of the Blue Sky and the White Sun of the fifth class.

Liu Guodong, Zhou Tiedan, Xu Haida, Li Xuezhong, and Li Haiping were awarded the Order of the Blue Sky and the White Sun of the Eighth Class to 389 people.

In addition, the Ministry of Military Affairs of the Nationalist Government also issued a special commendation order, posthumously awarding Xu Jiangang, colonel and commander of the 403rd Regiment of the Independent Seventh Division, who sacrificed his life for the country in the defense of Tianzhen, a major general of the National Revolutionary Army. Xu Jiangang was awarded the Order of the Blue Sky and the White Sun of the Second Class and the Order of National Glory, and the Ministry of Military Affairs specially allocated a special pension of 5,000 oceans to Xu Jiangang's family.

In addition, the 40th Group Army of the National Revolutionary Army was formed with the 61st Army as the backbone, with Chen Feng as the commander-in-chief of the group army, Ye Helina as the deputy commander-in-chief, Yang Yi as the chief of the general staff of the group army, and Sui Jinguang as the logistics director of the group army.

The 40th Group Army has two armies under its jurisdiction, the 61st Army, the 10th Army, and some directly subordinate troops, of which the 61st Army is a type A army with three infantry divisions, namely the 101st Division, the 222nd Division, and the Independent Seventh Division. The 10th Provisional Division is a Type B Division, and the whole division has two infantry divisions, the instructor and the new 2nd Division.

In addition, the Nationalist Government specially allocated 1.5 million legal dollars for military spending for the 40th Group Army. 3,000 new rifles. 50 light and heavy machine guns, 20 artillery pieces and 5,000 sets of new military uniforms.

At the same time, with the full publicity of the Nationalist Government, the details of the Pingjin victory quickly appeared on the front pages of major newspapers. Even foreign media rushed to report on the incident.

February 11th. The Nationalist Government sent another telegram. Chen Feng was appointed chairman of Chahar Province and commander of Chahar Provincial Security, and Chen Feng was ordered to rush to Wuhan by February 25 to attend the National Defense Military Conference and to accept the direct title of Chairman of the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government.

This series of actions of the Nationalist Government really dazzled the outside world, and the old man and the 61st Army were about to draw their swords against each other before. The struggle was even on the table for a time. First, however, the 61st Army donated dozens of captured large ships to the Navy Command of the Nationalist Government free of charge, along with nearly 70,000 tons of supplies, worth no less than 50 million oceans, or even more. Moreover, with the current situation, the Japanese army has captured almost all the large cities in the coastal areas, and at the same time has severely attacked China's external access to the outside world on the ocean, in this case, some things cannot be bought with money.

Immediately after that, the Nationalist Government first gave the 61st Army a rain of medals, and in the shortest possible time, it successively promoted one lieutenant general with the rank of general, 6 lieutenant generals, and 17 major generals.

In fact, at this time of the war, many officers were actually not much interested in promotion, because the officials of the Nationalist Government were too cheap now. Not to mention any lieutenant colonels and colonels, even major generals and lieutenant generals are not uncommon, not only the Nationalist Government has the right to confer generals, but big warlords such as Yan Xishan, Liu Xiang, and He Jian can all be promoted to the ranks of officers in their own systems, and the vast majority of officers in the Jin Sui military system are promoted by Yan Xishan himself.

Therefore, the military rank of the national government is not as valuable as the outside world thinks, and the military rank is still so, let alone a medal. Except for the high-level Blue Sky and White Sun Medal, the gold content of other medals is very limited. In many cases, if the military and political department does not know whether the troops below are lying about their war exploits, but they are afraid that not giving them a certain reward will dampen the enthusiasm of the troops, so they will rain down medals, which can be regarded as an affirmation of their war exploits. But in fact, there is nothing substantive at all, so that many officers and even people outside the military system have lost interest in the so-called spiritual rewards such as promotions and medals of the Nationalist Government.

However, this time was different, and many people's first reaction after reading the telegram was that Lao Jiang had made a bloody investment this time, not only promoting the main officers of the 61st Army, but also making them rich. In addition to giving the 61st Army the number of a group army, it also gave 1.5 million yuan in military expenses and a large amount of weapons and equipment. More importantly, the Nationalist Government actually gave Chen Feng the official position of vice chairman of Chahar Province, and at the same time served as the commander of the security of Chahar Province.

Although there are quite a few anti-Japanese troops now bearing the banner of the Nationalist Government, including many units at the brigade and regimental levels, the Nationalist Government still strictly implements the examination and approval system for the number of divisions and above, and the Nationalist Government has to examine and approve even if one division is added to the troops in other places except the Central Army, not to mention the units at the army level and the units above the group army level. This time, Chen Feng was given the number of the 40th Group Army, which really made many people's eyes fall off, and Lao Jiang was too generous.

Now, not only the senior officials of the Central Military System have seen that the 61st Army has become independent of the battle sequence of the National Revolutionary Army, but even the Chinese, Communist Party and other local factions have also seen that Chen Feng is simply a big warlord who does not hesitate, and his strength is close to the former Northeast Army and Northwest Army, not inferior to the current Jin Sui Army and Sichuan Army, in terms of combat effectiveness, it has even surpassed these local troops, and as for those mud legs in northern Shaanxi, they cannot be compared with others.

It stands to reason that Lao Chiang should have done everything possible to weaken the strength of the 61st Army, but in the end, he actually gave Chen Feng an excuse to expand his army, no, it should be a legitimate reason for expanding the army.

In addition, the chairman of Chahar Province is also very amazing, and the chairmen of the provinces and provinces under the jurisdiction of the Nationalist Government are not military and political leaders of the national government, and even the provincial chairmen of Shanxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Guangxi and other provinces are directly concurrently held by the big warlords of various factions. Although Chahar Province is small and poor, and the vast majority of the territory has fallen, it is still a province after all, if it had been before, maybe everyone would have laughed when they heard it, after all, the vast majority of cities and towns, including the provincial capital city of Zhangjiakou, were under the control of the Japanese, and there was not a single county seat actually controlled by the Nationalist Government.

But now it is different, not only the provincial capital city of Zhangjiakou has been recovered, but also the former Chahar Province of Zhangbei County, Shangyi County, Wanquan County, Huai'an County, Chongli County. Kangbao County has been recovered, and it can be said that except for a few banner counties in the north that are still under the control of the Japanese, 80 percent of the territory of the entire Chahar Province has been recovered.

Moreover, the provincial chairman also serves as the commander of security, which is even more incredible, and it completely gives Chen Feng the right to expand his army freely. It is important to know that the security commander of Ludao is shouldering the responsibility of protecting the territory and the people, which requires that the security command must have strong strength, otherwise how can it protect the territory and the people.

At this time, even if Chen Feng suddenly formed an army of one million, others could not chew their tongues with this, Chen Feng only needed to say that those troops were security regiments or local troops, and it was completely reasonable, of course, Chen Feng had to have this strength. But in any case, the gold content of this provincial chairman of Chahar Province is not ordinarily high. (To be continued......)

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