"What the hell, is this a unit formed from wounded soldiers?"
A soldier of the Eighth Route Army, wearing a patched blue-gray uniform,
carrying a Hanyang-made rifle and leading a black horse, looked at a group of soldiers in brand-new Eighth Route Army uniforms training in the open space and immediately doubted if he had arrived at Eighth Route Army Headquarters.
It wasn't for any other reason than that these new recruits were truly new.
The clothes were new, and even the guns were new.
He even saw several Type 11 light machine guns.
On the other side, people were practicing using heavy machine guns!
Type 92 heavy machine guns.
Even his original unit, the main force regiment 772nd Regiment, only had three.
But now, he saw one in this village.
Moreover, when he entered the village, he also saw a heavy machine gun set up on the slope at the village entrance.
Soon, a soldier led the communicator to the front of the ancestral hall.
Qin Yangming, along with Sun Zhigang and Captain Luo, stood in front of the ancestral hall to welcome the communicator.
"Little Goudan, long time no see."
The communicator was happy to see Qin Yangming at first.
But upon hearing Qin Yangming call out his nickname, he immediately became unhappy.
He was very familiar with Qin Yangming because Qin Yangming had saved his life.
"No, Brother Qin, can't you just forget about this?"
After joking for a while, they entered the ancestral hall and began to discuss important matters.
"Brother Qin, I came this time to tell you about returning to the unit. You should already know about this, right?"
After taking a sip of water, Goudan spoke first, stating the purpose of his visit.
"Yes, I've already received the news about this.
Where is Regimental Commander Cheng now?
When will we return to the unit?"
Qin Yangming nodded, then asked about the matter of rejoining the unit.
Hearing Qin Yangming's question, Goudan became somewhat hesitant.
"What's wrong?
Is there a problem?"
"Well, Brother Qin, you need to be mentally prepared."
"What happened?
Could it be that the Regimental Commander is in trouble?"
Seeing Goudan's expression, Qin Yangming stood up directly.
"No, no, no, Regimental Commander Cheng is fine.
It's just that you won't be returning to the 772nd Regiment,
but to the newly formed core regiment, the New First Regiment,
Also, the new Regimental Commander wants you to return to the unit as quickly as possible."
Seeing that he had caused a misunderstanding, Goudan quickly explained everything.
"Oh, oh, you scared me.
I thought Regimental Commander Cheng had an accident."
Sun Zhigang, who had also stood up excitedly, breathed a sigh of relief after hearing what Goudan said.
Qin Yangming, hearing that the Regimental Commander was fine, also sat down.
"What?
A core regiment?"
Then Sun Zhigang suddenly realized the key point in Goudan's words.
The 772nd Regiment was a standard main force regiment of the Eighth Route Army, belonging to the National Revolutionary Army.
A so-called core regiment was a unit formed by the Eighth Route Army by drawing deputy positions from various main force regiments.
The two differed greatly in combat effectiveness, weapons and equipment, and establishment.
Of course, there were exceptions to everything.
If the commander of a core regiment had the ability, it was not uncommon for their strength to surpass that of a main force regiment.
After all, the establishment of main force regiments was fixed and not easily changed.
For core regiments, if you had the ability to form a regiment of ten thousand men.
The Eighth Route Army Headquarters would not say anything.
In short, the strength of main force regiments was generally not bad, and their treatment was guaranteed;
for core regiments, it completely depended on the individual ability of the Regimental Commander.
If they had ability, they could drink and eat meat.
If not, then sorry, the Regimental Commander would be replaced directly.
But for these veterans.
The difference between a core regiment and a main force regiment was indeed quite large. A soldier from a good main force regiment.
Suddenly becoming a soldier of a core regiment, anyone would find it hard to accept.
However, for Qin Yangming, there was no difference between a core regiment and a main force regiment.
It was all about fighting the devils anyway, and as for treatment.
There were differences between the main force regiments and core regiments of the Eighth Route Army.
But how much difference could there be?
Especially for someone like him who had been fighting since the beginning, an old Red Army soldier.
There was even less difference.
In the words of later generations: you could bleed yourself dry, and it wouldn't be as red as their sweat!
"What is the new Regimental Commander's name?"
Qin Yangming continued to ask.
"The new Regimental Commander is named Li Yunlong.
He was directly appointed by Headquarters.
I heard he was also a Regimental Commander of a main force regiment before,
but was sent to Headquarters to tend horses for some mistake."
"What?
Li Yunlong?"
This time, it was Qin Yangming's turn to be shocked.
Hearing this name, not only did the memories of his previous life begin to churn,
but the memories of this life also began to churn.
Li Yunlong, this name was incredibly famous.
This name was the protagonist's name in a war drama.
And the Li Yunlong in the drama was also the commander of the New First Regiment.
But in Qin Yangming's memory, there was another person.
During the Red Army's crossing of the grasslands, he was still young.
He had a lot of strength, so he was assigned to the cookhouse squad.
When crossing the grasslands, the squad leader suddenly brought back a handsome young man.
He said that from that day on, he would be the one to carry the large pot.
And the name of that handsome young man was also Li Long.
He was also a Regimental Commander, but it seemed he was demoted for leading troops to seize food.
The reason Qin Yangming was so familiar with this person.
Besides spending a long time together, it was also because someone always brought him food.
Things like beef jerky, and sometimes even a little wine.
Because he was young, the other person took good care of him.
So he often gave him that food.
However, because the memories of his past life were too vast,
and the person in his memory was named Li Long, not Li Yunlong.
This caused this memory to be buried deep and he didn't recall this person.
Thinking that the new Regimental Commander might be the Li Yunlong from the TV series.
Qin Yangming also became excited. The Li Yunlong in the TV series was famous for not following rules.
And he, Qin Yangming, was also not a rule-abiding person.
Now he no longer had to worry about wasting system functions by being unable to act privately to kill devils.
With this thought, Qin Yangming directly said to Sun Zhigang.
"Alright, Squad Leader Sun, it's all about fighting devils anyway, where we fight doesn't matter.
Go gather the troops, we're leaving today.
The headquarters of the New First Regiment is over seventy kilometers away, so if we move fast, we can reach it before dark today."
"Let's go early and leave a good impression on the new Regimental Commander."
Sun Zhigang listened to Qin Yangming's words and rolled his eyes at him.
"With your equipment, a unit of over eighty men,
two heavy machine guns, one mortar,
the Regimental Commander can't help but give you a good impression."
Sun Zhigang grabbed his hat and went to assemble the troops as Qin Yangming requested.
In one month, Qin Yangming's unit, organized into four infantry squads with sixteen men per squad, was formed.
Each squad was divided into two infantry groups and one firepower group,
with five men in each infantry group and six men in each firepower group.
The infantry groups were equipped with rifles.
The group leader was additionally equipped with a Mauser C96 semi-automatic pistol with a 10-round magazine, single-shot version.
The firepower group was equipped with a light machine gun and a grenade launcher.
The light machine gun team had three men, the grenade launcher team had two men, plus one group leader.
The deputy and the group leader were equipped with Mauser C96 semi-automatic pistols.
The machine gun ammunition handler was equipped with a rifle.
Squads One and Two were mainly equipped with Zhongzheng rifles and ZB vz. 26 light machine guns.
Squads Three and Four were mainly equipped with Type 38 rifles and Type 11 light machine guns.
The grenade launchers were all Japanese Type 89 grenade launchers.
This ensured that individual infantry squads could suppress Japanese infantry detachments in terms of firepower.
Qin Yangming also had a heavy weapons squad.
It was equipped with a Type 24 Maxim heavy machine gun,
a Type 92 heavy machine gun,
a 60mm mortar,
and a five-man mule and horse team specifically for carrying ammunition and other supplies.
It could be said that Qin Yangming's main combat personnel reached eighty men.
If it weren't for the fact that the nearby villagers' ability to support them had reached its limit,
and that the more than thirty new recruits had already depleted most of the skilled men from the county battalion and district squad.
Qin Yangming wished he could expand his unit to a company.
After all, he still had 540 points left to use.
In the system's warehouse, there was still a Type 24 heavy machine gun that hadn't been retrieved.
Moreover, the captured Hanyang-made rifles and Type 38 rifles combined were still around eighty.
There were also five captured Type 11 light machine guns,
three ZB vz. 26 light machine guns, and three grenade launchers.
After the troops assembled at the village entrance, the villagers who learned that the Eighth Route Army was leaving gathered at the entrance.
Some villagers were tidying the clothes of some soldiers, trying to smooth out nonexistent wrinkles.
Because some of these soldiers were their fathers,
some were their sons,
and some were their husbands.
The Village Chief of Duanjia'ao, wearing a black long gown, saw Qin Yangming approaching and stomped his cane forcefully on the ground.
"All of you, come back. Your children and husbands are going out to fight the devils.
Don't let your daily trivialities affect them. To be a soldier, one must have the awareness of a soldier!"
When the Village Chief said the last few words,
he turned his head to look at the soldier in the first row, on the far left. He was his son, and the only new recruit present whose family members were not there to see him off.
He was the Village Chief, and also the clan leader. It was only natural for his son to go to the battlefield.
He would absolutely not let himself interfere with his son.
However, his slightly trembling hand showed that his heart was not calm.
Because that was his last son.
Of his three sons, the other two had joined the Eighth Route Army and died on the battlefield.
Qin Yangming walked up to the Village Chief and thanked him.
"Village Chief, thank you and the villagers for taking care of us during this time.
I've left some things for everyone in the ancestral hall.
After we leave, please distribute them to the villagers."
The Village Chief nodded at what Qin Yangming said, then took a bowl of turbid wine from a woman behind him.
"Platoon Leader Qin, who knows how long it will be before we meet again after you leave.
I, this old man, have prepared a humble bowl of wine to see you off. I wish you victory in every battle and success in every attack."
"Platoon Leader Qin, I have only one request.
If any of my Duan family's sons die on the battlefield, please send someone to deliver a message.
Tell me if he fought bravely. As for the corpse..."
"Village Chief, please rest assured, if anyone dies in battle,
I will find a way to bring back their ashes."
"No, no need. Where they die, they will be buried there.
There's no need to bring back their ashes.
I was once a soldier, and you are all soldiers now.
Soldiers should die on the frontier,
why would they need to be wrapped in horsehide!"
"Please drink."