The Red Army in the Jiangnan base area and the Red Army guerrillas in the provinces south of the Yangtze River were unified and reorganized into the newly organized Fourth Army of the National Revolutionary Army, referred to as the New Fourth Army, under the jurisdiction of four detachments equivalent to the establishment of the C Division, with a total strength of more than 30,000 people. Among the three main armed forces of the Red Party in the early stage of the Anti-Japanese War, the strength of the New Fourth Army was much weaker than the other two armies.

The main force of the Red Third Front Army in the Central Plains base area was reorganized into the 15th Army, under the jurisdiction of the 17th, 42nd and 94th Divisions (originally the original Zhensong Army and the 17th Route Army, after these two troops ceased to exist, Lao Jiang gave these vacant numbers to the 15th Army, and the numbers of several divisions of the Eighth Route Army were obtained from the Northeast Army. These three integrated divisions and one security brigade have a total of more than 100,000 troops, and they are well-armed and well-trained, and they have been tested by war for a long time. The leadership candidates at the military level of the ministry were quickly decided, the army commander was Hu Weidong, the deputy army commander was Su Yu, the political commissar was Zhang Hao, and the chief of staff was Gao Jingting, all four of them were awarded the rank of lieutenant general, and there were 240 yuan of military salary per month (given in legal currency, and two or three percent would be deducted by the handling personnel).

However, the cadres at the division level made Hu Weidong a little worried, knowing that a division at present may become an army or even a group army in a year or two, if the commander's ability is insufficient. It will inevitably seriously affect the development and growth of the team. Moreover, although the previous War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in North China was victorious, the weakness of the insufficient ability of some middle and high-ranking military commanders was also exposed on many occasions, and although outstanding talents continued to come to the fore in the arduous battles, the number could not meet the current requirements of the 15 th Army for the time being

The first is the internal adjustment, which will promote some talents who can be of great use. In order to fill vacancies in higher positions, for example, Hu Lian, the commander of the armored brigade, was promoted to the 94th Division as a division commander. Hu Weidong did this because although Hu Lian made many meritorious contributions during the Anti-Japanese War in North China, he also exposed his weakness of being relatively not good at attacking. And the armored forces are inherently used to attack, and it is a little inappropriate to let him, a person who defends strong and attacks weak, to lead it. And what Hu Lian is best at is field defense. It is even more unique in the use of civil fortifications, and after becoming the commander of the armored corps, this advantage has no chance to be shown. Besides, the professionalism of the armored forces is very strong, and Hu Weidong's previous request for Hu Lian to bring it was actually just an emergency, and it was not a long-term solution after all, and the armored troops would have to be handed over to a professional armored commander sooner or later.

Although Hu Lian had some regrets about leaving the majestic armored troops, he was still very happy to be able to become the commander of an integrated division that was actually equivalent to an army, and he had always wanted to make meritorious contributions. And Hu Weidong's re-promotion of Hu Lian objectively had two effects, one was that the Ling side basically died of the heart to pull Hu Lian back. Hu Lian has already become the commander of the integrated division on the side of the Red Party, and if he wants to be pulled back, he will at least have the position of commander of the group army, which is impossible for Lao Jiang to give, Hu Lian himself knows this very well, and since then he has become more and more desperate; Second, it made domestic talents, including generals, see the meritocracy of the Red Party. This greatly enhanced the attraction of the Red Party to them, and Hu Weidong unceremoniously took advantage of this to poach, which was also his second method to solve the shortage of talent in the 15 th Army.

Of course, Hu Weidong would not be stupid enough to dig up the senior generals, not only has almost no chance of succeeding, but also easily touches Lao Jiang's backlash. At that time, it will not be possible to be charged with the crime of sabotaging the united front, but if the middle and low-level officers at the regimental level or even lower positions are only dug up a few, it will still be okay, and there are so many people who graduate from the Central Military Academy in one year, and Lao Jiang will not particularly care. …,

Although the targets of Hu Weidong's Jihua were only middle and low-level officers at the regimental level or even below the regimental level, because a large number of incompetent veterans occupied a high position before the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, many famous generals in history still have no chance to come out, and these people have become the main targets of Hu Weidong's attack.

The first one Hu Weidong contacted was Sun Liren, who was reluctantly released in order to keep his promises, but although this gentleman is currently a little depressed, he is not willing to eat back grass with a good face, and euphemistically refused Hu Weidong's invitation, Hu Weidong had to give up temporarily, but he did not completely give up, if Sun Liren's future fate is still like in history, he will fall into the biggest predicament in his life in half a year, and Hu Weidong will still have a chance at that time.

The ideological differences are far more difficult to ignore than Hu Weidong, a traverser thinks, and the influence of orthodoxy in old China is really great, even if there is an example of Hu Lian there, Hu Weidong may promise to give them a better opportunity to display their talents, and the generals will basically prefer to continue to be their regiment commanders and battalion commanders, patiently waiting for the opportunity to be promoted. In the end, Hu Weidong only dug up one person, but this one person alone made Hu Weidong feel that his efforts were not in vain, he was the controversial famous general Fang Xianjue in history

If only the comparison of the battle losses of the two sides is considered, the Battle of Hengyang is undoubtedly the most successful battle in all previous battles during the Anti-Japanese War in history, and Fang Xianjue became famous in one fell swoop, but after defending the lonely city for 47 days, none of the 300,000 friendly troops on the periphery came to help, Fang Xianjue thought to himself, "We are worthy of the country, but the country is sorry for us." He was persuaded by his subordinates to death, and finally led his troops to surrender to the Japanese army, how should this move be evaluated, but Fang Xianjue's ability is beyond doubt, and there will be no similar situation in the people's army where a part of the army is surrounded and the friendly army is not saved, so Fang Xianjue is still worth poaching. Moreover, Fang Xianjue is just a small deputy head now, and the possibility of digging it up is relatively much greater, so Hu Weidong naturally will not let it go, and extended an olive branch to him early.

Note 1: Historically, the Red Army guerrillas south of the Huai River were incorporated into the New Fourth Army, and even the New Fourth Army and the Eighth Route Army also developed their own bases with the Huai River as the boundary during the Anti-Japanese War. However, in this book, because of the birth of the 15th Army, only those south of the Yangtze River were incorporated into the New Fourth Army, and after the Anti-Japanese War, they were only responsible for the south of the Yangtze River, which greatly restricted the development of the New Fourth Army. (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to (.) to vote for recommendation, monthly pass, your support is my biggest motivation. )