After the end of the collective and individual competitions of the military pentathlon competition, the live-fire confrontation exercises that followed were particularly intense.

Wu Ming personally pressed the formation, and Deputy Brigade Commander Long Shaogang led 12 officers and nearly 100 staff officers of various sections to form a leading group and a referee group for the exercise, and the exercise, which was originally scheduled to end in seven days, had to be interrupted because of two accidents involving more than five casualties.

Wu Ming and the officers under his command were secretly relieved.

Although five soldiers were accidentally killed and 73 officers and men were injured in the fierce live-fire confrontation exercise, the results achieved were inspiring, and the performance of the machine gun battalion led by Tian Zhenggang was the most prominent; whether the whole battalion fought alone or in coordination with various regiments, the performance of the machine gun battalion was very outstanding; Tian Zhenggang's command was firm, the tactics were properly applied, the officers at all levels of the battalion commanded effectively, and the officers and men had solid and tacit cooperation in their skills, which was highly praised by the officers and men of the whole brigade.

After getting the results, Tian Zhenggang himself was also excited, such an achievement not only dispelled the suspicion and jealousy of some of the old brothers in the army in one fell swoop, proved his strength well, but also earned face for his eldest brother Wu Ming.

After the exercise, all units left Phoenix Mountain and returned to their respective defense areas one after another to rest and recuperate, and a large number of brand-new rifles, light and heavy machine guns, mortars, imitation Colt 19ll pistols, and Thomson submachine guns were also delivered to the regiments and battalions.

Officers above the battalion commander level were left at the training base by Wu Ming to attend a special meeting for half a month to sum up the gains and losses of the confrontation exercise, repeatedly discuss various problems that arose in the course of the exercise, and frequently deduce this until a correct solution was come up.

In addition, Wu Ming also asked the regimental and battalion commanders to adjust the merits of the weaponry, equipment, and personnel allocation of various units in accordance with the most conclusive conclusions made at the meeting, and issued an outline for special training + planning for the spring and summer of 1936, which set clear requirements for the goals to be attained by each regiment and battalion in the next stage.

Within a month after the end of the confrontation exercise, Wu Ming issued formal letters of appointment to the commanders at all levels of the newly formed 10th Brigade under his command, and a large number of company and platoon commanders who had performed well in the exercise were given actual posts and successfully promoted to the first rank, and the first and second infantry regiments reached the level of ordinary reinforced regiments of the Central Army:

It has three full-fledged infantry battalions under its jurisdiction, one of each of the regiment's machine gun company, an engineer company, a baggage company, and a guard and communications company, with a total of 2,150 officers and men.

The battalions directly under the four brigade headquarters have also been strengthened.

In addition to daily training, the machine gun battalion with the most advanced equipment and the largest number of officers and men was officially stationed in the first and second battalions of the Phoenix Mountain base; in addition to daily training, it was also necessary to assist the training base in training outstanding soldiers selected and sent by each regiment to teach the operation skills of light and heavy machine guns and mortars, as well as the skills of maintenance and maintenance.

The stations of the engineer battalion and the baggage battalion directly under the labor-intensive personnel were officially designated as the Changshan barracks, but each company had officers and men stationed at the Fenghuangshan base for a long time to assist in teaching after training, and the blasting training and automobile driving training had to be carried out at the Fenghuangshan base.

The two battalions, like the immediate guard battalions, have adopted a two-month rotation system, so that the officers and men of each company have about four months of rest and recuperation each year.

The new year is approaching, and what Wu Ming was most worried about has not happened.

Yu Jishi, commander of the 58th Division stationed in Yichang, did not ask Wu Ming to return to his command in frequent correspondence with Wu Ming, and the content of the letter about discussing the current situation and the experience of military training became more and more.

In January 1936, Yu Jishi was officially promoted to lieutenant general, and Wu Ming, who saw the news in the internal circular, immediately sent a congratulatory telegram to Yu Jishi.

Yu Jishi's reply soon came, and he asked Wu Ming not to relax in the slightest, and immediately contacted Qi Ke, the supervisor of the Quzhou military station, to find ways to recruit new recruits from the three regiments again for training, and all weapons, equipment, and military expenses were allocated by the military station, and he would rush to Nanjing during the Spring Festival to attend the third meeting of the party congress, and then take time out to meet with Wu Ming as much as possible.

After reading Yu Jishi's reply, Wu Ming immediately fell into deep thought, and then took out the letters from Chen Cheng, Luo Zhuoying, Huang Wei and others to read them repeatedly, thought silently, and finally made a consultation call to Zhou Zhirou, the new director of the Aviation Committee who had just flown back to Nanjing from Sichuan.

After putting down the phone, Wu Ming and Dai Ziran entered the war room of the brigade headquarters and repeatedly analyzed the large administrative map of the Republic of China on the wall.

From the northwest, where Chen Cheng served as the commander-in-chief of the border areas of the four provinces of Jin, Sui, Shaanxi, and Ningxia, they saw the crisis in North China in which the Japanese invaders were pressing Song Zheyuan step by step, and at the last two of them at the same time focused on the Liangguang region where Chen Jitang, the king of the Southern Heavenly Heavens, and Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi of the Xingui faction were entrenched, and soon realized that after Chairman Chiang resolved the problem of the Red Army, I was afraid that the next step would be to move south and recover Guangdong and Guangxi, a country within a state that was nominally subordinate to the central government but actually supported the division of troops

"Report, Commissioner Fang called." Adjutant Sun Chengyuan's loud voice came from outside the door.

Wu Ming returned to his office, picked up the phone and asked, "Is there something wrong?" ”

Fang Youchun's voice was still so low: "Director Xu will be here tomorrow afternoon, and he has designated to see you." ”

"Understood, I'll go over tomorrow morning." Wu Ming replied.

"Would you like to come to the house for dinner tomorrow at noon?" Fang Youchun asked.

Wu Ming patiently explained: "I'm afraid I don't have time...... I'm going to meet Qi Ke at the military station, there is something important, and then I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you, the above call asked to recruit three regiments of recruits again, I'm very struggling here, it is estimated that I can recruit another regiment in the northeast of Jiangxi, and the rest will see if I can think of a way in Longyou, Jiande, and Chun'an counties? If it really doesn't work, I have to offend Lu Zhongxiu again. ”

"Don't, don't go to southern Zhejiang to recruit troops, Lu Zhongxiu is still angry enough, and has complained to Governor Huang many times, but fortunately, Governor Huang knows your details and doesn't say anything, if you do it again, I'm afraid everyone will not be able to speak...... There are many mountains in southern Zhejiang, there is not much land, the population is not large, and his own recruitment task is also very heavy, Lu Zhongxiu is not easy now, don't fight his idea, I'll find a way for you. After Fang Youchun finished speaking, he put down the phone.

Cheng Yuan saw Wu Ming holding the microphone and thinking hard, and hurriedly made a new cup of tea for Wu Ming.

Dai Ziran saw that he didn't have tea, scolded Cheng Yuan, who was favoritism, and then did it himself, returned to sit down opposite Wu Ming, and asked in a low voice: "Big brother, the recruitment task of the three regiments won't make you worried, right?" Are you worried that your headquarters will be transferred to the south to fight? ”

Wu Ming was deeply comforted by Dai Ziran's far-reaching vision, nodded and said: "At present, nearly half of the main force of the Central Army is in Sichuan-Shaanxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui, and one-third is deployed on the line of Shandong and Henan. ”

"Therefore, unless Chairman Chiang does not fight Liangguang, as long as he makes up his mind to fight, the main forces of the Central Army currently stationed in the above areas will not be able to move, and at most a few main divisions can only be drawn from the Lianghu area and Anhui to the south, and most of the remaining troops can only be transferred from the provinces south of the Yangtze River."

"Although our new 10th Brigade is not very eye-catching, it is also a newly organized brigade-level unit under the Central Military System, and many people in the middle and high ranks of the army know that our New 10th Brigade is the best at mountain warfare, which is very much in line with the terrain of southern Jiangxi and northern Guangdong, so I am afraid that we will not be able to hide anymore this time."

Dai Ziran smiled and said, "What are you worried about? After the baptism of a big war, at least let the brothers see blood and withstand the test of actual combat, otherwise training on paper is not a matter after all."

Wu Ming sighed: "Yes, I also know that experiencing a real war is more beneficial to testing the troops than a hundred confrontation exercises, but after all, it is a civil war, seeing that the Japanese army in North China is pressing forward step by step, not only can we not come forward to resist the foreign enemy, but we have to fight in the same room, which makes me feel uncomfortable." ”

"Isn't that the end of a negative response? You are very experienced in this area. "Dai Ziran doesn't have so many things to worry about Wu Ming, and the whole person is very relaxed inside and out.

Wu Ming couldn't help but glance at Dai Ziran: "Aren't you going to marry Chen Yi this summer?" If you go south to fight, I'm afraid you won't be able to get married.

Dai Ziran revealed with a spring breeze on her face: "Big brother, Chen Yi saw that her twenty-five classmates entered our field hospital after graduation, and she also wanted to join our field hospital as a military doctor after the internship period, she said that she likes to wear military uniforms. ”

"Huh? Fooling around...... She studied pediatrics, did she come to our field hospital? Didn't the old man in her family and Wang Daohan open a western hospital in Shangrao County? Returning to Shangrao is not only close to home, but also able to take care of our parents, which is much better than running around with us in the future. ”

Wu Ming refused, not because he didn't want Chen Yi to enter his field hospital, but because Wang Yuehan had been officially transferred to Wu Ming's department, and was currently serving as the deputy chief of the Confidential Section, and was specifically responsible for the construction of radio base stations and file personnel management at the Phoenix Mountain Training Base.

Dai Ziran is not so easy to deal with, he changed his way and continued to pester Wu Ming with a salivating face: "Big brother, why don't you confess to your eldest sister-in-law about the second sister-in-law?" ”

"Go, go, you think Lao Tzu doesn't want to confess? Just finished the matter at hand, I don't want her to get pregnant again, I am happy to raise a fetus at home all day long, and even the quilt factory has been handed over to the Chamber of Commerce, at this time I dare to let her move the fetus? Who is responsible for what happened? ”

Wu Ming was distressed, no matter what situation he encountered, he could easily resolve it, but he had no way to do anything about this matter.

Dai Ziran no longer teased Wu Ming, but admired his face: "Big brother's marksmanship is amazing."

Wu Ming was stunned for a moment, then scolded angrily, grabbed a book on the table and smashed it at Dai Ziran, who turned around and ran away, making Cheng Yuan Ha Lu Ha laugh on the side.