Rise from eight hundred.

On the morning of February 1939, 2!

The 29th day of the twelfth lunar month in the Chinese lunar calendar!

The merit-conferring meeting of the Four Elements Regiment was held on the playground of the recruit training camp.

All officers and soldiers of the Fourth Line Regiment, except for the two infantry companies of the escort battalion who were still on armed guard outside the station and around the station and the venue, all arrived at the venue.

The entrance ceremony still maintained the unique style of the Si Xing Regiment. The four major infantry battalions and the various units directly under the regiment entered according to the order that had been set long ago. The only difference was that this time, the entire army was disarmed and was rarely equipped with firearms. Admission.

Sitting in the first row of the venue were the division, brigade and regiment-level officers of the 921st Division and the 22th Army who had been invited by Tang Dao and his wife in the past two days, as well as the 104th Division of the nd Group Army. The Si Xing Regiment Headquarters was headed by Lei Xiong. The four chief officials all sat beside him.

Although Tantai Yunshu and his wife were also invited to participate, the old couple did not want to sit together with the generals who were sitting at attention. In Lao Tantai's words: "Except for Brigadier Cheng, these guys are interesting. Everyone else is They all have serious faces, as if someone owes them money, what's the point of sitting with them, I would rather listen to factory director Xiao He nagging me about funding allocation."

Lao Tantai ran to sit with his students in the military factory, while Mrs. Tantai went to the medical company seating area.

During the time she arrived at the Sixings Regiment, she often went to the medical company where her daughter worked to help, and she had already become involved with the nurses. When she saw her coming, the nurses in white coats surrounded her and used their frail bodies to help her. Mrs. Tantai, who is nearly fifty years old, blocks the cold wind.

No matter how cold the north wind in the Taihang Mountains is, Mrs. Tantai's heart is still warm even though her face is red from the cold.

She knew that these girls, who were two years younger than her daughter, also came to the anti-Japanese front line away from their hometowns and parents. The main reason why they treated her like this was perhaps not because she was the mother of Company Commander Tantai, but because she was the mother of Company Commander Tantai. , they also thought of their mothers.

Just like the girl named Zhuang Damei she met in the medical company two days ago, she was a little distracted when changing gauze for the wounded, causing the seriously injured soldier to sweat coldly in pain, but Tantai Mingyue, who was always strict when she entered the work state, It was extremely rare that he didn't criticize, but just asked her to take a rest first.

After Mrs. Tantai asked, she found out that this girl from northern Jiangsu who joined the Four Elements Group more than a year ago had an uncertain life or death of her only younger brother half a month ago.

Her brother is a sergeant in the third battalion. In just one year, he was promoted from a recruit to a sergeant. He is definitely a brave soldier.

But this sergeant, who was already the deputy squad leader, was seriously injured in the battle of Jiulong Mountain. While protecting the soldiers in his squad, a mountain artillery shell exploded three meters away and injured his internal organs.

Although the regiment had tried every means, and even used a carriage to transport him across the Yellow River to the best hospital in Chang'an, with a doctor and nurse accompanying him throughout the journey, as of yesterday, there was still no good news.

This girl, who lost her grandparents and her father in the war, is about to lose her brother because of the war. She doesn't know how to face her mother, who is still waiting for her in her hometown.

"Poor child!" Mrs. Tantai, who knew what happened to the female nurse, gently held the dazed Sister Zhuang in her arms. "Ji people have their own destiny. I believe your brother will get better."

"Aunt, I miss my mother so much!" Sister Zhuang's eyes were filled with tears, and she curled up in a warm embrace, like a kitten that had been wandering for many years.

The uncertainty about her brother's life and death and the longing for her mother made this strong woman who joined the army for revenge no longer able to hide her vulnerability.

"Just call me Tantai Aniang! You will all be my children from now on." Mrs. Tantai hugged the female soldier and comforted her gently.

The comfort from mother's love created a miracle. Just one day later, there was a call from Chang'an. Zhuang Damei's brother Zhuang Chenglin finally woke up from his coma, which meant that the sergeant of the Four Elements Regiment was gradually recovering.

Sister Zhuang's smile reappeared, and the title "Tantai Aniang" became the exclusive title for the entire medical and female nurses. Mrs. Tantai was also proud of it. At this time, she was naturally more willing to sit with her daughters.

The pampered housewife of a large family may not realize that her change of view on the Six Elements Regiment is not just due to the presence of her husband and daughter and son-in-law, nor is it just that the Four Elements Regiment is strong enough.

After everyone sat down according to the designated areas, the Four Elements Group's merit-conferring meeting officially began.

The first thing to be promulgated was personal military merit.

There were 160 first-class third-class military merit recipients in the first batch. They had to read out both their organization and their names. As the host, Tang Tuanzuo spent half an hour reading out the names.

However, only more than 160 of the 90 people were able to go on stage and wear the medals in person. There were also more than 60 people who were injured or sacrificed and could only be received by their squad leaders or platoon leaders.

The 160 people were divided into eight columns, filling the huge rostrum made of logs.

Those who awarded them the honors were mainly the chief officers of several battalion-level units of the Fourth Line Regiment, headed by Colonel Lei Xiong, plus two other army lieutenant colonels and five army majors, each responsible for one column.

The medals at all levels issued by the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs to the Four Rows Regiment were also brought over by the white-haired general of the 38th Army after their arrival. Basically, these medals awarded to the Four Rows of Regiments also had medals issued by the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs. Simply, one person Hang two.

What you want is this glory.

It is obvious that no matter what the material is, the Eagle Head Military Medal produced by the Four Lines Group is a complete winner in terms of appearance.

Brigadier Kong, who was sitting in the audience, heard Colonel Ye Chenghuan introduce it to him: "The shapes of military medals in the regiment are all designed by everyone in Tantai."

The dignified major general and brigade commander almost had tears dripping from the corners of his mouth.

Tantai Yunshun is a well-known calligrapher and painter in Jiangnan. Regardless of the material or commemorative significance, the design alone is worth his money.

At that moment, Brigadier Kong Da probably had the urge to resign as brigade commander and become a company commander in the Four Elements Regiment.

The Four Lines Group stipulates that regardless of the level of military merit, those above the school level will not be awarded!

From Tang Dao's point of view, no matter how brilliant and stunning battles the school officers lead their troops to fight, that is what they should do as chief officers, and that is just their duty.

The real support for all of this is the grassroots officers and soldiers. Without their sacrifice and dedication, no matter how awesome the military chief's tactics are, they are just words on paper.

In other words, if you want to win military exploits in the Si Xing Regiment, the highest military rank is captain.

For example, Captain Li Jijin and Li Dal stood on the stage. In this battle between Wangwushan and Sizhoushan, this man showed his flexibility to the extreme. It was his interleaved movement that defeated the artillery unit of the Guoqi detachment in one fell swoop. , and used those artillery pieces to directly bury the last confidence of the Guoqi detachment, allowing Leng Feng and the main force of Shangguan Yunbu to be preserved, laying the foundation for the final victory in the Battle of Jiulong Mountain.

If we had fought to the death with the Guoqi detachment at Wangwushan, even if we were to win a disastrous victory, let alone the miracle of conquering Yuncheng and completely destroying the logistics base of hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops and the defensive battle at Jiulong Mountain. There will be a crisis of annihilation in Zhoushan City.

Captain Li Dal, who made this great contribution, was originally rated as first-class military merit by Ye Chenghuan, but veteran Youzi changed his past style of taking advantage of everything this time and volunteered to only have second-class military merit, as long as Ye Chenghuan approved his revenge. The few officers and soldiers of the seventh company who went up had first-class military merit.

When Tang Dao found out, he called the guy over and cursed: "The evaluation of military merit is not like a vegetable market. Those who are very good have to bargain, and those who are very good have to exchange for their own. You are not making things difficult, you are the leader of the good people." The military regulations are a joke. Since you want to surrender to military service, then don’t be second-class and go get a third-class military service."

Veteran Youzi, who was severely criticized for being directly changed from first-class military merit to third-class military merit, was not depressed at all. The originally approved first-class military merit personnel of his 7th company had not changed much, but the number of second-class and third-class military merits were more than before. Four.

As a company commander, he could finally give an explanation to those brothers who died heroically in battle.

Yes, the army is not a market, but he is the company commander of those soldiers. If he can't even get a medal for his heroic death, then he, the company commander, is just a ball.

In addition to Li Jijin, the company-level cadres who won the third-class military merit include Tang Li from the fourth battalion. He led two infantry companies to attract the main force of the Japanese infantry on the high ground. The one with the greatest losses.

Captain Tang, who was originally assessed as having second-class military merit, also made the same choice as Li Jiujin. Although he did not have enough vision for the situation, he ultimately gained benefits for his brothers. "Salute to the commander, to the comrades!" Under the leadership of Captain Li Dal, who had received third-class military merit, everyone on the stage performed a military salute to the audience in unison.

"Return the gift! Salute the hero!" Commander Liu of the 921st Division in the audience stood up with a solemn face and saluted.

Although these soldiers of the Four Lines Regiment are not his soldiers, as the army of China, this famous general still does not hesitate to respect him.

"Shh!"

All the officers and soldiers stood up in unison and saluted the third-class military merit recipients with two medals hanging on the stage.

Tantai Mingjing, who was standing on the side of the stage with Xia Dayu, was stunned as he watched the soldiers on and off the stage salute each other with military salutes, and an indescribable impulse surged in his young chest.

The decision he made earlier seemed to be correct.

Especially when he looked at the little instructor Xia Dayu next to him, his little face tightened, his body standing up straight, and his eyes piercingly staring at the moment on the stage.

If one day, he can become a member of the stage, and let the little instructor who often laughs at him for being a little paicai look at him so solemnly, even if he is lifted up, it will be worth it.

The number of recipients of second-class military merit is less than half, about 80 people.

And there is another characteristic. Nearly half of those whose names were read by Tang Dao did not come out on the spot.

Everyone present knew that many of these soldiers who could not go out on the spot would not appear in the queue.

Some of them have been lying under the cold mud forever, and these golden military medals can only be kept in their relics until the war is over, and then sent to their homes by the Four Elements Regiment.

Others had to retire from active service due to physical disabilities. These military medals were their last memories of the war.

In the end, the sparse crowd to receive awards was filled up by the squad leaders who accepted the awards on their behalf.

In the slightly silent atmosphere, there was also something that surprised the generals present.

It doesn't matter that more than 30 of the second-class military merit recipients were recruits. The Sichuan Army's new regiment was incredibly tenacious in the battle of Sizhou Mountain. Even the veteran general of the 921st Division thought it was a miracle. .

An army composed of only one percent veterans actually blocked the violent attack of a regular Japanese infantry brigade with a one-to-two strength comparison.

Even though there is the word "preparation" in front of the 21st Infantry Brigade, those of the 921st Division who have dealt with it know that its combat power has nothing to do with its preparation. It is definitely the strength of a Category A division.

Otherwise, how could Itagaki Shiro possibly defeat the defense line of nearly 7 troops with 30 troops! No matter how weak the shield composed of an army of 30 people is, if there is no sharp enough sword, it will still take a long time to strike!

The thousands of new recruits of the Sichuan Army's new corps deserve such military exploits.

But what the hell is it that a recruit who has been in the army for less than a month has been awarded second-class military merit? If we calculate based on the time when the Japanese New Year's Day offensive started, this recruit joined the army just a few days after the battle began.

Recruit A Dong stood on the stage, looking at the golden wolf head military medal hung on his chest by Deputy Commander Lei himself, as if in a dream.

A month ago, he was just an ordinary young man from a mountain village. Now, he is not only a Chinese soldier, but also a glorious second-class military merit recipient.

As the newcomer with the shortest time in the entire Si Xing Regiment, A Dong was assigned to speak on behalf of all second-class military merit recipients.

"I promise everyone here that when I fight with the kid in the future, I will run faster with the squad leader on my back!" The young soldier with a red face made the promise in front of tens of thousands of people.

Not to mention Brigadier Kong Da's confused look, even the well-informed white-haired general was dumbfounded.

I wonder if this man who has won military exploits can run fast? What's even more outrageous is that not only did he run, but he also ran with his squad leader on his back. This was obviously inconsistent with the Four Lines Group's usual style of head-on confrontation!

It wasn't until Li Jijin, who was wearing two medals, explained to these generals with a happy face that they knew why the recruit said he was running fast with the squad leader on his back.

The first infantry squad of the Sixings Regiment, which had Tian Can Di Que's squad leader and deputy squad leader, showed unparalleled combat effectiveness in the battle between Wangwu Mountain and Sizhou Mountain. Under the command of Tu Yunsheng, the whole class was like a sharp arrow shot by the archer Li Jijin. , nearly indestructible.

A 20-man infantry squad killed 69 enemies in the frontal breakthrough battle and ranked first among the three infantry companies with 58 kills in the pursuit battle.

And Adong, this new recruit, was not only the most important guide for the three infantry companies to successfully make a roundabout route to the Japanese artillery positions, but also not only was this small humanoid tank running wildly with Tu Yunsheng on his back in all battles, he was not even wearing any In the subsequent battle, the small tank in military uniform actually killed 6 Japanese soldiers with a Black Star pistol given by Tu Yunsheng.

But his kill record was actually 7. It was a Japanese soldier who smeared himself with blood and hid in the pile of corpses, waiting for an opportunity to launch a sneak attack on the officers of the Fourth Army Regiment who had already captured the position. The target of the sneak attack was because it was dark. The company commander Li Jiujin was unaware.

The Japanese army was only two meters away from Li Jiujin. If nothing unexpected happened, Li Jiujin, who was caught off guard, would be severely wounded by the Japanese army holding a 38 bayonet even if he did not die.

As a result, recruit Dan Zi A Dong just happened to report to Li Jiu Jin behind Tu Yunsheng's back. Several veterans had just reacted. The mountain village youth who had been seeking a life in the mountains since childhood actually had a keener intuition than the veterans and sensed murderous intent. At the moment when the Japanese army stabbed Li Jijin hard with his bayonet, he kicked him fiercely.

It's not for nothing that it's called a small humanoid tank. That kick actually kicked away the Japanese sergeant who jumped up. The recruit, who was still carrying his squad leader, didn't give up. He pounced on him and punched him. When several veterans approached, the irritated recruits beat a strong Japanese sergeant to death with their fists.

Good guy! At that moment, Li Jijin, who had just escaped from the gate of hell, looked at the somewhat naive A Dong, with little stars twinkling in his eyes.

With this reaction, physical fitness, and courage, all he needs to do is to be trained by Ming Xin or Uncle Han, the marksman instructor, and he will become a super warrior!

Moreover, the record of killing 7 Japanese soldiers in just one week after joining the army is probably the only one in the history of the Four Lines team building.

Niu Er, the recruit at that time, was very good. Under the guidance of Tang Tuanzuo, he was able to kill countless Japanese invaders with just one shot. However, Niu Er had been in the army for more than three months.

Mingxin, who had been in the army for a month, participated in the battle for the first time with one person and one sword. He killed most of the Japanese infantry squad on the bank of the Bi River. Guy, who can treat such a weird-level sergeant as a normal person?

Of course, there is no shortage of dazzling recruits in the Four Lines Regiment, such as Boss Cao, who killed dozens of Japanese invaders by throwing grenades as a humanoid mortar after joining the army for several months. However, A Dong, who has only joined the army for a week, has 7 Compared with A Dong, who has a record of killing Japanese invaders, he is still not as good as him.

Taken together, Adong's second-class military exploits are well deserved!

"This is the soldier of your company commander Li!" Brigadier Kong Da gave Li Jijin a thumbs up sincerely and glanced at the Eagle Head Medal on Li Jijin's chest with envy, expressing his ambition without concealment. "I have the Blue Sky Medal here, can we exchange it?"

"Sir Kong, please don't harm me. If I wear your medal when I go out, I'm afraid my Li Jijin's head will not be worth 5000 to the Japanese, but will be worth zero." Li Jijin's emotional intelligence is leveraged. He refused outright and did not embarrass Brigadier Kong Da.

"Okay, okay, if I don't ask for it from you stingy guys, I'll ask for it from you Tang Tuanzuo, and I can exchange it for the equipment." Brigadier Kong Da complained angrily.

The white-haired general over there gave him a stern look, "It's a shame this guy can say this. With the current equipment of the Four Lines Regiment, your scraps of scrap metal are worthy of recognition."

But the white-haired general didn't expect that if it had been anyone else, Tang Da Tuan would have rolled his eyes, but this one! You have to look at the Buddha's face even if you don't look at the monk's face. Moreover, the battle at Jiulong Mountain proved that he was worthy.

Wang Xiaoqiang, who was silently eavesdropping over there, rolled his eyes, and an intuition told him that what Brigadier Kong Da said casually seemed to be possible.

A major general and brigade commander is not enough. If you add your own brigade commander Cheng Da, and then bring along a small party like yourself.