Thanks to Qin Yangming often leading his troops to cause trouble for the Japanese devils.
Each sortie yielded significant gains, so his unit had a large number of mules and horses.
Besides carrying their own rifles and ammunition, all other supplies were carried by the mules and horses.
It could be said that his platoon had achieved mule and horse transport.
To avoid some unnecessary trouble, Qin Yangming did not lead his troops along the main road.
Instead, they advanced rapidly along a mountain path towards the garrison of the New First Regiment.
Along the way, they occasionally encountered other wounded soldiers returning to their units, who joined them.
At first, those wounded soldiers dared not believe that such a well-equipped Eighth Route Army unit was their own.
Only after seeing some familiar faces did they dare to join the group and travel together.
Qin Yangming naturally welcomed these wounded soldiers who joined them.
He wanted these wounded soldiers to witness the strength of his unit.
This was to encourage these wounded soldiers to voluntarily join his unit.
These wounded soldiers were all veterans who had experienced the large-scale sweep.
Their combat effectiveness was much greater than that of new recruits.
During this time, some wounded soldiers also led teams composed of new recruits and joined Qin Yangming and the others.
Qin Yangming also met another platoon leader from the 772nd Regiment.
This fellow had also assembled a team of about thirty men.
It was just that their weapons were not as good as Qin Yangming's.
They were mainly equipped with Old Barrel rifles and Hanyang-made rifles.
Although their weapons were inferior, each person still had a rifle.
As Qin Yangming approached the regimental headquarters, he encountered more and more Eighth Route Army soldiers along the road.
Among them were many organized marching formations.
When these formations saw the unit led by Qin Yangming, they were all greatly surprised.
"Holy crap, which regiment does this unit belong to?
Which Regiment Commander is so generous as to spare such a unit to join the New First Regiment!"
"I heard the Regiment Commander and the Division Commander have a rather special relationship.
Could this unit have been sent by the Division Commander to help the new Regiment Commander save face?"
"My goodness, look, Type 92 heavy machine guns, and mortars!"
"I counted, they have twelve light machine guns and two heavy machine guns.
My goodness, that's almost a regiment's worth of machine guns."
"More than that, I'm from the 771st Regiment.
Our entire regiment only has six machine guns combined.
We only have one Maxim Gun as a heavy machine gun,
and our two light machine guns have barrels so worn out the rifling is almost gone.
Look at their guns, they all look so new.
Especially those ZB vz. 26 light machine guns, they look like they're brand new."
"Holy crap, I recognize the leader.
He's a platoon leader from our 772nd Regiment."
"No way, didn't they say your 772nd Regiment also suffered heavy losses this time?
What's going on?
When did the 772nd Regiment's strength become so formidable?
They just give away heavy machine guns like that?"
"From the 772nd Regiment?
That's possible. I heard that the current Regimental Commander Li is an old comrade of Regimental Commander Cheng.
But Regimental Commander Cheng is too wealthy.
When our Regiment Commander wanted to borrow a light machine gun from the 772nd Regiment back then,
Regimental Commander Cheng wouldn't even lend him one.
Now, for his old comrade,
he's directly sent heavy machine guns,
and so many troops."
As Qin Yangming led his impeccably uniformed troops into Majiagou, the garrison of the New First Regiment, it caused a sensation.
The reason was simple: of all the units that had arrived, only his men had excellent morale and powerful weapons and equipment.
No one suspected that Qin Yangming and his men were wounded soldiers.
After all, it was already remarkable for a wounded soldier to be able to bring back a single rifle.
Let alone to assemble a unit and bring back so many weapons and equipment.
In the regimental headquarters of the New First Regiment, Huzi, the guard of Regiment Commander Li Yunlong, rushed into the headquarters with a smile.
"Regiment Commander, Regiment Commander."
"What, what are you shouting about, what happened?"
A man with a face full of wrinkles, wearing a worn blue-gray military uniform, looking like an old farmer, rushed out of the room.
"Did the enemy arrive?"
"No, Regiment Commander."
"Then why are you shouting so loudly?"
"Regiment Commander, the support from Headquarters has arrived. Please come and see."
Li Yunlong was also puzzled when he heard Huzi's words.
Headquarters had sent him to the New First Regiment as Regiment Commander but hadn't provided him with any support.
The only support he received was from his former division commander, who gave him a guard squad fully equipped with Hanyang-made rifles to help him save face.
Then, some old comrades had given him some equipment and personnel.
Other than that, there was no other support.
Even the soldiers in the unit were basically formed by reorganizing district squads and county Battalions from various areas, along with wounded soldiers returning to their units.
Li Yunlong quickly followed Huzi to the village entrance.
There, a unit of soldiers, who could be described as elite, stood in neat formation at the village entrance.
Beside this unit were over twenty mules and horses laden with supplies.
On the way, Li Yunlong had overheard the soldiers talking.
When he heard the soldiers say that the leader of this unit was a platoon leader from the 772nd Regiment.
He subconsciously assumed that this was support sent by Blind Cheng for him.
"That kid Blind Cheng really knows how to behave.
It wasn't in vain that I taught him how to shoot hand-to-hand. I'll remember this favor, Old Li."
Li Yunlong looked at the soldiers' morale and their weapons and equipment.
Although he found it a bit strange why the 772nd Regiment had such good equipment.
He still remembered this favor in his heart.
When he first arrived, the New First Regiment had just been formed.
There were only a few hundred men, and their weapons were mostly Old Barrel Hanyang-made rifles and the like.
The rifling in most of the gun barrels was almost worn out, and there wasn't even a single light machine gun.
The soldiers were all green recruits.
In terms of combat effectiveness, they probably couldn't even defeat the puppet troops.
Qin Yangming, who had just ordered his troops to wait in place and was preparing to report back to the Regiment Commander, saw a middle-aged man approaching.
Although he hadn't seen him in a long time, Qin Yangming recognized him at a glance as Li Long, who used to carry the big iron pot back then.
Li Yunlong was also stunned when he saw Qin Yangming.
"Well, well, it's you, the brat who used to steal my wine."
"Regimental Commander Li, Qin Yangming, former platoon leader of the First Battalion, Second Company, 772nd Regiment, reporting for duty with my unit as ordered."
"Mm, I know. Let your troops rest for a while first.
You come with me to the regimental headquarters.
Huzi, arrange a place for the brothers to rest and have the cookhouse prepare something good for them."
Li Yunlong nodded and then led Qin Yangming towards the regimental headquarters.
As soon as they entered the regimental headquarters, a man carrying a saber rushed in.
"Regiment Commander, Regiment Commander, assign the newly arrived company to my First Battalion."
"Zhang Dabiao, you're quite well-informed.
They've just arrived, and you're already at the regimental headquarters."
Li Yunlong chuckled as he looked at the man and then pointed him out to Qin Yangming.
"Xiao Qin, let me introduce you.
This is Zhang Dabiao, the Battalion Commander of my First Battalion.
Like you, he was once a platoon leader under me, from the Twenty-ninth Army's Saber Brigade."
"Zhang Dabiao, meet each other.
This Xiao Qin is Qin Yangming, who shared the burden with me during the Long March.
He's currently a platoon leader in the 772nd Regiment,
but now he's one of my soldiers, Li Yunlong's."
"From now on, we'll all be brothers eating from the same pot.
"You two get acquainted."
"Platoon Leader Qin, I am Zhang Dabiao."
"Battalion Commander Zhang, I am Qin Yangming."
After the few men exchanged a few words.
Zhong Zhicheng, the Political Commissar and Deputy Regimental Commander of the New First Regiment, who had gone out to settle the troops, also arrived at the regimental headquarters.
The four of them sat down to talk around a square table.
Li Yunlong, as if performing magic, produced a bottle of liquor and a large handful of peanuts from somewhere.
He poured a little for everyone.
Then, he filled his own bowl and spoke to Qin Yangming.
"You're in for a treat, kid. This is sweet potato liquor I managed to get with great difficulty.
Although the taste isn't as good as the barley wine you stole from me back then, it's still good stuff. Try it."
Qin Yangming took a sip and felt a burning sensation as if he were drinking knives; he really couldn't swallow it.
Seeing Qin Yangming cough from being choked, Li Yunlong burst into laughter.
"Xiao Qin, I knew you couldn't handle this liquor.
Even the watered-down barley wine back then could get you drunk,
let alone this stronger sweet potato liquor."
As he laughed, Li Yunlong began to recount the incident of Qin Yangming stealing his barley wine back then.
This caused everyone present to burst into laughter.
At this moment, listening to Li Yunlong talk about his embarrassing moments back then.
Qin Yangming also felt a unique sense of flavor and joined in the laughter.