Chapter 65: Troop Rest and Reorganization

Huzi completed his mission exceptionally well. With Zhang Wanhe carrying white sugar and medicine to the field hospital to poach talent, the effort yielded twice the results with half the work!

Quite a few soldiers and cadres, whose units had been disbanded and who were recovering from injuries while awaiting reassignment, were easily persuaded by Zhang Wanhe. They took the initiative to submit transfer requests to their superiors, asking to join Li Yunlong’s forces.

When the time came, once the orders were officially issued, they would follow Huzi to escort the military uniforms to Baiwanyu and rendezvous with Li Yunlong.

At the threshing ground in Yaojiayu, all traces of the banquet had long since been cleared away, and the troops were neatly lined up, awaiting Li Yunlong’s arrival.

Today, Li Yunlong was going to hold an enlistment ceremony for Wang Kai and the others, followed by a personnel assignment based on their abilities to expand the size of the unit.

Li Yunlong led Wei Dayong to the front of the formation, looked over the force of more than five hundred men, and nodded in satisfaction.

"Today, let us welcome our new comrades to the unit!"

The enthusiastic applause from the soldiers rang out continuously.

After a long moment, Li Yunlong, with a beaming smile, watched the applause gradually subside. With a single wave of his hand, the soldiers instantly fell silent.

Immediately following that, Li Yunlong raised his raspy voice and shouted with tremendous momentum.

"I, Li Yunlong, don't know how to do anything else, but I sure know how to kill the little Japanese devils!"

"Since you brothers are following me, Li Yunlong, to fight the Japanese, you've got to show the spirit of wild wolves!"

"That kind of beast is fierce and cunning; when a pack of wolves comes, even a tiger has to be three parts afraid!"

"From now on, we're going to let the Japanese know that running into us means running into a pack of wild wolves—a pack of howling wild wolves!"

"In the eyes of our wolf pack, any opponent who dares to challenge us is just a piece of meat between our teeth!"

"We'll eat the Japanese devils' meat, and we'll chew up their bones too! A wolf travels a thousand miles for meat, while a dog travels a thousand miles for shit!"

"Brothers, am I right?!"

The soldiers' morale was thoroughly stirred up, reaching a towering peak as their shouts shook the heavens.

"Wild wolves!"

"Wild wolves!"

"Eat meat!"

"Eat meat!"

With his hands clasped behind his back, Li Yunlong looked at the formation before him with satisfaction. Next came the reorganization of the personnel and units.

Among this batch of rescued prisoners of war, there were quite a few talented individuals. Not to mention the various officers, the majority were platoon and company-level cadres, and the highest-ranking among them was a captain battalion commander who used to be in charge of logistics and transportation. Back in his original unit, he had commanded an entire motor transport battalion.

Furthermore, he himself was an expert in machinery, which reminded Li Yunlong of what Brother Xu had told him—that machinery and equipment could also be procured for him.

Once Li Yunlong learned about the capabilities of this captain named Tang Yun, he took it to heart, intending to set up an ordnance workshop of his own, ensuring at the very least that ammunition could be self-sufficient.

There were also quite a few artillerymen and machine gunners among them, and even a few radio communications soldiers who mastered telecommunication ciphers.

Those few had suffered the most severe injuries, as the little Japanese devils had subjected them to no shortage of torture, trying to extract the Kuomintang's cipher decryption manuals from them.

Of course, Li Yunlong wasn't interested in that; he only planned to hand the cipher manuals over to headquarters, letting the higher-ups figure out their use.

What crossed his mind was that he could ask Brother Xu to get him a few radio sets, which would make communicating with superiors much more convenient in the future.

Moreover, once the unit grew stronger in the days to come, it would make it easier for him to issue orders and command the troops, wouldn't it?

Right now, the entire unit numbered five hundred and sixty-one men, equivalent to an enhanced battalion. Li Yunlong decided to reorganize them into four infantry companies, with one hundred and twenty men per company.

There would be an artillery company of sixty men, while the remaining technical personnel would be incorporated into the battalion headquarters and the logistics squad.

Li Yunlong began issuing appointments.

"Liu Bo, commander of the 1st Company!"

"Zhang Dabiao, commander of the 2nd Company!"

"Huang Tianning, commander of the 3rd Company!"

"Xie Xiaoming, commander of the 4th Company!"

"Wang Chengzhu, commander of the Artillery Company!"

"Tang Yun, leader of the Logistics Squad!"

"All units are to be broken down and redistributed. The troops will undergo two days of integration and rest, and must be ready at all times to set out for Baiwanyu!"

"Missing weapons and uniforms will be uniformly distributed at that time. Carry out your orders!"

At this point, it all depended on the individual skills of the company commanders. Li Yunlong had only said that the men would be broken up and distributed; he hadn't specified which soldiers went where.

Who wouldn't want their subordinates to be elite fighters? The scene instantly became lively as the four infantry company commanders pulled out all the stops to snatch the top-tier soldiers for their respective companies.

Wang Chengzhu wasn't the least bit worried. His artillery company had priority selection rights. Resting on the battalion commander's word, he left the four company commanders completely speechless.

Fortunately, artillery was a technical branch, and since there were already quite a few former Kuomintang artillerymen among the men, Wang Chengzhu finished picking his people in no time. He then imitated Li Yunlong, standing off to the side with a cheeky grin to watch the commotion, occasionally offering some terrible advice and secretly tipping the scales for fun.

After watching the lively scene for a while, Li Yunlong put his hands behind his back and walked back inside his room. Monk Wei, however, stayed behind. He managed to procure a handful of melon seeds from somewhere and cracked them open while watching the excitement.

Li Yunlong sat cross-legged on the kang, snacking on roasted peanuts while calculating his family assets.

There were still quite a few gaps in terms of rifles and submachine guns. As for machine guns, each company was supposed to have six, but they were still short four.

When it came to artillery, Li Yunlong intended to equip each of the four infantry companies with two 60mm mortars.

The artillery company would be rounded out with six 81mm mortars, supplemented by two field guns, covering both indirect and direct fire support completely.

As for the Super Bazooka rocket launchers, the ten units they currently had would be enough for the time being.

Aside from acquiring a few more radio sets, the rest of the needs were hand grenades and various types of ammunition.

The weapons were truly wonderful to use, but Li Yunlong had also experienced the terrifying rate at which ammunition was consumed. Right now, the ammunition reserves within the unit had basically hit rock bottom, which left Li Yunlong feeling deeply unsettled.

Li Yunlong narrowed his eyes. "Brother Xu should still have ten thousand silver dollars left over that haven't been used. Right now, I still have two lieutenant's sabers and one major's saber in my possession; that's another fourteen hundred silver dollars!"

Based on the prices Brother Xu had given him, Li Yunlong pondered the matter.

After a short while, Li Yunlong had a rough estimate in mind. He pulled the communicator from his breast pocket and initiated a voice call with Xu Gaoxiang.

"Brother, how have you been recently? Hahaha—"

"This time, you've got to prepare a bit more ammunition for your older brother here. Also, get me a couple of those good artillery pieces, and..."

Far away near Qixian County, Xu Gaoxiang, who had arrived a step ahead, was resting in a large courtyard. This was the home of a good friend of Master Lin from the Hexingju Firm.

Upon receiving Li Yunlong's voice message, Xu Gaoxiang burst into laughter. It seemed Li Yunlong was just as he had anticipated: not only had the unit's size expanded, but the ammunition on hand was practically exhausted.

"Hahaha, don't you worry! Your brother here guarantees you'll be satisfied. Just wait for me to make a doorstep delivery in Baiwanyu, Big Brother!"

Xu Gaoxiang tapped on the platform and, following Li Yunlong's requests, began carefully selecting reliable radio sets and 75mm field guns.

Considering that Li Yunlong was still primarily operating in mountainous terrain, portability and weight had to be taken into consideration, while firepower also had to be accounted for—at the very least, they needed to be a grade superior to the little Japanese devils' infantry guns and 75mm field guns.

That meant he couldn't bypass the German Krupp models and the American M-series.

Looking at the dazzling array of 75mm field guns on the platform, Xu Gaoxiang first discarded those that exceeded the weight limit or were inconvenient for transport through complex mountain terrain.

This eliminated the majority of the options. Then, after comparing their range and firepower with the Japanese field guns, he deliberated carefully for quite a while.

Xu Gaoxiang looked at the data and description of a particular artillery piece before him and broke into a satisfied smile. "Old Li will definitely be pleased with this!"