On April 6 and 7, the two divisions of the Anglo-Burmese army all passed through Tonggu and Beiyu and retreated northward by car, but two soldiers from the Gurkha battalion stayed behind and drove all to Tonggu to report to Li Junhao, with a total number of more than 1,700 people, who immediately swore allegiance to Li Junhao after receiving the double salary ($30 per person) from Li Junhao, expressing their obedience to orders and swearing to protect the personal safety of this employer.

This scene made many onlookers feel envious.

Li Junhao accepted the allegiance of the Gurkha soldiers, and obviously told them that from now on, the two Gurkha battalions would be completely separated from the combat sequence of the British army and reorganized into the special regiment of the Allied Indo-Burma Theater Command, which would be directly responsible to him personally.

He promised loyal Gurkha soldiers a wartime salary of $30 a month (twice as much as they received in the British army) and a bereavement pension if they were wounded or killed in battle; Moreover, when the war ended, all soldiers of the special regiment received the citizenship of the United States and other allied forces, and those who died during the war could designate a relative to enjoy this treatment.

In response to this, all the Gurkha people cheered, shouted long live, and their morale was bursting!

In this way, in addition to the New England battalion, Li Junhao has a second real private army, and the process looks a little bizarre, and even Xiaohu, Nick and others are privately reminding him not to trust these Gurkha soldiers too much.

Li Junhao knew that the Gurkha people had a tradition of being mercenaries, and as long as their employers did not break their promises, they were absolutely loyal soldiers and guards. Of course, in terms of closeness, the Little Tiger equation and the soldiers of the New England battalion were closer to him.

——

On April 8, Lieutenant General Du Yuming, deputy commander of the First Route Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force and commander of the Fifth Army, accompanied General Stilwell to Tonggu.

After inspecting the large amount of equipment and materials handed over by the British army, General Stilwell was very happy, hugged Li Junhao's shoulder, and shouted, "Well done"! In addition, he praised the officers and men of the 200th and 96th Divisions, and paid tribute to them for "resolutely carrying out the orders of the Allied Command and completing the task of acquiring equipment."

Du Yuming also said to Dai Anlan, Yu Shao and others in private: Brothers, well done!

After everyone was seated, Stilwell praised Li Junhao again, saying that his achievements as deputy commander exceeded the entire Allied command system in the Far East! Because no matter what the allies wanted to do before, the British would not obey the order and kept making trouble for everyone, but this time General Panson was angry with everyone!

Hearing this, the generals present burst out laughing.

Li Junhao smiled and said, "Joseph, my previous task has been completed, you should also recover your health, right?" ”

"Hahaha! You're right. Stilwell smiled, "Og, this mission has been done well, and now it's up to our ally, the Chinese Expeditionary Force." Ever since he accepted the mission to enter Burma, he has always wanted to command a real battle, to concentrate superior forces and inflict heavy losses on the invading Japanese army in Burma, and now he feels that the time has come.

After informing the Allied units, General Stilwell, who had "recovered from illness," took over the command of the Indo-Burma Allied Command again, and he ordered the Indo-Burma Theater Command to be transferred to Tongkulai, thus starting his long-planned plan for the Battle of Tonggu.

In private, in a separate conversation between Stilwell and Li Junhao, he talked about his battle plan with great interest, claiming that even if all the British troops withdrew from Burma, as long as the Second Route Army followed by the Chinese Expeditionary Force held the line of Wanbanggu and Gandulong, then the three divisions of the First Route Army could block the Japanese army advancing north on the Tonggu line and force it to engage in a battle......

When it comes to campaign-level command, Li Junhao is really inferior to Stilwell now, and he can't make any better suggestions, so he said that he would leave for the time being, and go to the west coast first to see if he can find a new suitable port to find a mooring place for American military aid ships.

Stilwell was stunned for a moment, and immediately agreed, probably in his heart, at this time, he also hoped that Li Junhao would leave temporarily, after all, his identity was too special, and having such a deputy commander was there, so he felt a little unable to show it!

Li Junhao understands this very well, which is one of the reasons why he took the initiative to leave.

——

On April 10, bidding farewell to the generals of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, Li Junhao left Tonggu with the New England Battalion and the Gurkha Special Regiment and marched to Alan Mu in the northwest.

This time, the five college students did not follow, and they were left by Li Junhao at the Indo-Burma Theater Command to work as assistants and translators for Stilwell, so they could be regarded as interns to learn the operation of the regular command structure.

Stilwell was very happy about this, he already liked to train young people and was very willing to be this teacher.

The reason why Li Junhao did this was because he found that the current command system and staff system of the Chinese army were very chaotic, not because there were no professional personnel, but because the overall operation was not standardized. These five college students are interested in military affairs and have not been contaminated by the habits of the old military in China, which is just right for them.

——

Alan Mu is on the banks of the Irrawaddy River, 125 kilometers northwest of Tonggu, but there is no direct road, so he can only go to the riverside highway first, and then go north along the river, the distance is stretched to 180 kilometers, and the road condition is extremely bad, even if Li Junhao's team is all armored vehicles and military trucks, it is extremely difficult to drive, that is, 20 or 30 kilometers per hour.

It was the hot season in Myanmar (March-May), with an average temperature of 35 degrees Celsius and nearly 40 degrees Celsius at noon.

Fortunately, Li Junhao's subordinates are not ordinary people, the New England battalion are all long-trained soldiers, and the soldiers of the two Gurkha battalions are all mountain fighting peoples from bitter backgrounds, and these difficulties are not a problem.

It took more than eight hours to walk 180 kilometres of dirt road before the convoy reached Alamme in the evening, where an Anglo-Burmese infantry regiment was currently stationed.

Li Junhao did not meet the British army, he and his subordinates stopped in the woods on the edge of the small city and camped to rest.

After dinner, several people in the attaché who were responsible for recording the battlefield environment described in detail the geography and terrain of the places they passed through today, and completed today's work. Others are car maintenance, hygiene, etc.

There is also an interesting story in this, Li Junhao took a little effort, and finally developed a better hygiene habit for the Gurkhas, and under the measures of discipline and bonuses, it can be regarded as a preliminary result.

(End of chapter)