Rise from eight hundred.

Chapter 1456: High Profile

6 Month 21 Day!

It was 10 days after Tang Dao was attacked!

As the 40th Division chose to retreat, several infantry divisions withdrew and returned to their bases.

The theater of operations specially hosted a welcoming ceremony for senior officers above the rank of major general from several infantry divisions that participated in the war.

Although the 4th Line Regiment was unable to participate in the battle because its leader Tang Dao was attacked and injured, the theater command still extended an invitation to the 4th Line Regiment in order to ease the emotions of all officers and soldiers of the 4th Line Regiment.

This actually has more symbolic significance than practical significance, representing that the theater command regards the Four-Line Regiment as the main force. This was the case in the past and it is still the case now.

Because Tang Dao was attacked earlier, and up to now, except for a colonel-level senior staff officer in the General Staff who was suspected of being a Japanese spy, the Military Police Department arrested people everywhere for questioning, but failed to catch other people who were in contact with the Japanese inside the war zone.

Although it has been confirmed by the Military Intelligence Bureau that the Japanese had been lurking in China for 25 years and was actually a high-level spy for Japan, this Japanese spy, no matter how powerful he was, was only able to obtain confidential documents. It was difficult to explain how 200 Japanese soldiers sneaked into the war zone where the army was stationed, and where the Garand rifles equipped by the killed Japanese soldiers came from. It is still an unsolved case.

Obviously, the current investigation results of this incident will not be satisfactory. Even if the Military Control Commission dismisses and punishes all the senior officials of the action team in the 5th War Zone and transfers all the key personnel, no one will buy it.

Under this background, General Li did not think that the Four-Line Group would send anyone to participate.

The theater command was at a loss, and the Military Control Commission had an ambiguous attitude and was ineffective in its investigation. Anyone would feel like they were being targeted.

But the Four-Line Group actually agreed.

Not only did he agree, but the person who came to the theater headquarters was the current third-in-command of the Four-Line Regiment, Chief of Staff Leng Feng.

However, this time, Leng Feng did not bring just a guard squad like Tang Dao. The Fourth Regiment dispatched 16 assault jeeps, 11 TKS tanks, a cavalry company and a heavy mortar company.

The caravan, war horses, and packhorses carrying heavy loads marched for nearly two miles. It looked like they were going to a banquet, but more like they were going to the front line.

The commotion caused by the Fourth Bank Regiment seemed to be quite loud. Before Leng Feng arrived at Hekou County, where the war zone headquarters was located, the news that the Fourth Bank Regiment had even sent out tanks as guards had spread throughout the headquarters.

"The Four-Line Regiment is here to demonstrate to us! What's going on? Isn't it enough that the scouts and other units in the war zone are in a panic just because a small regiment commander of theirs was attacked by the Japanese? Now, we, the battle-hardened brigade commanders, have to look after their wishes? Cavalry, tanks, jeeps equipped with heavy machine guns, and a young lieutenant colonel, they are really so powerful and impressive! Brother Yuntai, don't you think so?" An army major general snorted coldly in a restaurant in Hekou City.

"Haha! As the saying goes, once bitten by a snake, one will be afraid of ropes for ten years. Last time, Tang Dao was careless and was bitten by the Japanese. He almost lost his life. This time, of course, he should be more cautious. It is also reasonable.

But this is a jeep and a tank, it's really rich and powerful, it's enviable! It used to be just a rumor that Tang Dao and the daughter of Rockefeller Company had an unclear private relationship. Now it seems that the relationship is not unclear, but inseparable! "Tsk tsk!" Another major general of the army did not respond completely, but chuckled and changed the topic to the extremely gossipy relationship between men and women.

"Brother Yuntai, what you said makes sense. I think Tang Dao's fame in the battlefield of North China is only due to his relying on foreign women to obtain some sophisticated equipment. If Brother Yuntai had these equipment, your fame would only be higher." The Army Major General complimented with a fake smile.

"I don't deserve such praise from Brother Haoran. Your army is the principal's direct line. If we need these equipments, of course we will give priority to your army. My 11th Army Group will just follow suit. Remember to support us with the guns that your army has eliminated. I, Xia, will be very grateful!" The praised Army Major General waved his hands repeatedly.

这两位，一个是70军107师139旅的少将旅长，一个是11集团军84军137师下属的旅长。

Originally the two had nothing to do with each other, but today the theater command booked this restaurant, with several division commanders and senior officials of the theater command sharing one room, and the other six brigade commanders who had arrived at the command and Leng Feng who was about to arrive sharing another room.

The major generals and brigadiers of the 67th Army didn't like the 70th Army very much. When the Tang Dao was attacked, the local garrison of the 70th Army was to blame for not being able to provide timely rescue. Naturally, those people would not pay any attention to the major general of the 70th Army.

After observing for a while, the Major General Brigadier General of the 70th Army, who was unwilling to be lonely, could only place the breakthrough point on the Major General Brigadier General of the 11th Group Army, who was also alone.

Little did people know that although this man was young, only 38 years old, his words were very precise. The Major General and Brigade Commander of the 70th Army accepted all the complaints of the Four-Line Regiment but did not blindly agree with them at all.

This may also be related to the death of the lieutenant general division commander who died in the Zaoyi Campaign last year. In the Zaoyi Campaign, the death of General Zhang was an irreparable loss to the Fifth War Zone and even to the whole of China, but the death of lieutenant general division commander Zhong Yi of the 84th Division of the 137th Army was also a heavy blow to the 11th Group Army.

During that period, the entire 137th Division seemed to have awakened, and was the best in the 11th Army in both combat and training.

This major general brigadier was a colonel regiment commander last year. Because his brigade commander was promoted to division commander, he was also promoted from regiment commander to brigade commander and entered the ranks of generals.

The Guangxi clique had always disliked the Central Army, and now the Major General of the 70th Army wanted to find him as an ally, but he had chosen the wrong person.

But obviously, the fact that the major general of the 70th Army failed to find a suitable ally does not mean that no one has any objections to the high-profile Fourth Line Regiment.

For example, several major general-level officers from the Fifth War Zone Command who came to accompany the group didn't say anything, but there was some displeasure in their eyes.

  The displeasure mainly came from the fact that the Four-Line Regiment escorted their chief of staff in such a high-profile manner. Did they look down on the guard troops sent by the war zone?

The theater command learned a lesson from the Tang Dao attack this time. The security division specially dispatched a security regiment to set up defenses outside the headquarters. After entering the county town, there was a sentry every three steps and a guard every five steps. There was a guard company outside this restaurant alone.

If the Japanese still want to launch an attack, they will have to at least send an infantry regiment to infiltrate the war zone to have any chance of success.

In particular, after Leng Feng, escorted by two jeeps equipped with heavy machine guns and a dozen cavalrymen, arrived at the restaurant, this dissatisfaction was clearly written on his face.

How arrogant is Leng Feng? He looked up at the restaurant and the guards standing on both sides. With a wave of his hand, two jeeps arrived at the intersection dozens of meters away from the restaurant. The heavy machine gun belt was not unloaded. The platoon leader of the war zone guards came forward to talk and offer cigarettes, but the heavy machine gunner who had his hand on the heavy machine gun refused.

The dozen or so cavalrymen were even more awesome. The first four who jumped off their horses tied the reins of a dozen strong war horses to the pillars on the side of the road, and then took out equipment from the equipment wrapped in tarpaulins on the backs of the war horses. Not only were there a few machine guns shining with a faint blue luster, but there were also surprisingly small-caliber mortars.

More than 10 cavalrymen carried enough equipment to raze the restaurant to the ground and entered the houses on both sides. They set up machine guns above the houses to guard the area around the restaurant. However, no one knew where they put the small-caliber mortars.

Anyway, for the major general officers who were watching all this in the restaurant, they knew very well that if someone really wanted to rush into the restaurant, the crossfire of several machine guns would be able to shoot the intruder into a sieve, and the two small cannons hidden somewhere would also turn this place into a sea of ​​fire.

This warning firepower is impressive enough, but it is really too much. If you don’t know, you would think that Leng Feng, a small army lieutenant colonel, is the theater commander!

To be honest, even when Commander Li came out to eat, it had never been like this.

However, it seemed that the order was given by Commander Li himself, and the Four-Line Regiment could carry out security and surveillance on the officers coming to the headquarters on their own and signed the order in person. Even the major guard battalion commander in charge of guarding this area could only watch these soldiers setting up guns and using artillery on their own territory.

"It is rumored that Commander Tang has two powerful generals under his command. One is Lei Xiong, who has been promoted to the commander of the Ji'nan Administrative Office's garrison regiment, and the other is Leng Feng, the chief of staff of the Fourth Regiment. When we met today, just by looking at the deployment of the guards, my colleagues and I knew that Chief of Staff Leng's reputation as a powerful general is well-deserved. My name is Zhu Nairui, nice to meet you, Chief of Staff Leng! Nice to meet you!" The Army Major General, deputy chief of staff of the theater and deputy commander of the garrison division, who came downstairs in person to greet him, had a formal smile on his face.

  As the deputy commander of the security division, although he was not personally involved in the preparation of today's security, he was still his direct subordinate. The Four-Line Regiment was so arrogant in front of his subordinates, so it was no wonder that he was a little sharp in his words. He was praising Leng Feng, but the subtext was: You are just a small colonel, and you are being arrogant to us real generals. Aren't you being arrogant to the wrong person?

This person started to mock Leng Feng as soon as they met. If it were someone with a hot temper like Cai Yongguan, he would probably get furious on the spot.

  You are either the deputy chief of staff or the deputy division commander. All the special ones are deputies. Why do you want to jump out and act like a big shot?

There are no cold fronts.

Because, before arriving at the Fifth War Zone, Tang Dao had mentioned the names of more than a dozen noteworthy generals in the Fifth War Zone to the people at the Four-Line Regiment Headquarters, and this name was among them.

This Major General Zhu will become the commander of the main division of the 7th Army of the Guangxi Clique, known as the "Steel th Army" in the future.

To know how powerful the 7th Army was, just look at its combat record. In October 1937, it was ordered to participate in the Battle of Shanghai, inflicting heavy damage on the Japanese army. The price was the death of Qin Lin, commander of the 10th Brigade of the 171st Division, and the sacrifice of two-thirds of the soldiers. Subsequently, Pang Hanzhen, major general and commander of the 511th Brigade of the 170th Division, was killed.

The 170th and 172nd Divisions went to Wuxing and Nanxun in mid-November to deploy defenses and cover the retreat of friendly forces from Songhu. They fought a bloody battle with the Japanese invaders for more than ten days. Xia Guozhang, deputy commander of the 11nd Division, was killed in the Wuxing blocking battle, Wei Jiansen, commander of the 172rd Regiment, was killed, and Xie Zhiheng, acting commander of the 1043th Regiment, was killed. More than seven or eight out of ten troops were killed or wounded.

After the first battle, three major generals were killed in the 7th Army, and only less than 3 of the 2.2 soldiers who participated in the battle were left. The name "Steel 5000th Army" spread like wildfire.

Even if the person who could become the commander of the main division of the "Steel Seventh Army" was not particularly capable, he was still a confidant in the heart of General Li. Moreover, Tang Dao specially added four words to his evaluation: "Patriotic General".

"Reporting to Commander Zhu, following Commander Li's order, in order to prevent the recurrence of the June 6 incident and to avoid the morale of our Four-Line Regiment from being shaken, our unit's alert standard is wartime level one alert. If there is anything inappropriate, Leng Feng would like to express his apologies to all the commanders on behalf of Commander Tang! I hope Commander Zhu and all the commanders will understand!" Leng Feng's face was still cold, but when he raised his hand to salute, he was very polite.

There is absolutely no arrogance or domineering.

And the reason was very sufficient. This was an order from the commander of the war zone, not an attempt by the Four-Line Regiment to act independently.

This is indeed the case. Only those who know the inside story of the Tang Dao attack can understand how much gray hair General Li has lost over the past 10 days because of this incident.

Not only was there a high-ranking Japanese spy hidden in the theater headquarters, but up to now, no reasonable explanation had been given to the Four-Line Regiment. Is it reasonable that the theater commander could not even give a reasonable explanation to his subordinates? This was unreasonable.

Anyone who is not a fool will know that there must be an invisible hand behind this matter controlling everything and gradually obliterating the truth.

At times like this, the nerves of the thousands of people in the Four Columns Regiment were naturally sensitive and fragile. If they were not careful, the string would be completely broken. Even General Li could only maintain it carefully to prevent the morale of the Four Columns Regiment from fluctuating.

"Commander Li has been very protective of the Four Ranks Regiment! How could we have any objection to his order? Chief of Staff Leng, please! I don't know how Commander Tang's injury is. If I have time, I will definitely go to visit him on behalf of my colleagues in the General Staff."

Major General Zhu originally wanted to wait for this cold-faced lieutenant colonel to retort, so that he could take advantage of the inequality in military rank to reprimand him and make the high-profile Four-Line Regiment lose face. However, he did not expect Leng Feng to be so polite and neither humble nor arrogant, and his previous anger was completely eliminated.

As the deputy chief of staff who reads the Shipai battle reports every day, he is probably one of the few people in the war zone who knows best how powerful the Sihang Regiment is.

That was a tough infantry regiment that single-handedly wiped out more than 10,000 Japanese troops!

Take Lieutenant Colonel Leng Feng for example. In Sifang Bay, he led an infantry battalion and actually defeated the Jingu Detachment. According to the report from the staff officer sent by the war zone to inspect the results of the battle, there were more than 2300 Japanese corpses piled in front of the Sifang Bay position alone.

Major General Zhu, who had served as a brigade commander and participated in the Jiangxia Defense Battle, knew how difficult it was to kill 2000 Japanese troops. His infantry brigade fought with two Japanese infantry battalions for five days and nights, but only killed 400 Japanese troops, but at the cost of % casualties.

"Commander Zhu is kind, I appreciate it on behalf of Commander Tang."

Leng Feng then remembered that his superior seemed to also serve as the chief of the First Section of the Operations Department of the General Staff. In this case, this Major General Zhu was Tang Dao's direct superior. For a superior to visit his subordinate in person was a natural expression of closeness.

With this relationship, the two of them instantly became closer from their previous tense relationship.

"This idiot, he got scared when someone said hello to him politely."

The major general of the 70th Army was very disdainful of Major General Zhu's quick change. Even when Leng Feng walked into the hall and saluted him, he returned the salute indifferently without even raising his hand to his cheek.

Leng Feng did not take it as an offense. He spoke a few more words to several major generals of the 67th Army and then stood aside consciously.

After all, this is basically the stage for generals. He is several levels lower in rank. He can be high-profile because of the commander's military order, but his words and deeds here must be low-key.

The headquarters attached great importance to this welcoming banquet and even arranged for opera to liven up the atmosphere before the officers arrived.

There were traditional Peking operas as well as anti-Japanese dramas rehearsed by female soldiers from the theater command's propaganda department. Several major generals who arrived at the restaurant an hour or two in advance watched the performances on stage while cracking melon seeds and shouting "good" from time to time. The atmosphere was very lively.

Leng Feng sat in the corner, sitting upright, looking at the stage very seriously, but his facial expression remained cold.

This really lived up to his nickname of "cold wood". Even a major general of the 67th Army, who had met him once, took the initiative to talk to him, but the conversation fell silent after a few words.

Not long after, Chief of Staff Leng, who had come in an assault jeep and become the focus of the whole crowd, became an unknown figure in this restaurant. Even the Major General of the 70th Army selectively forgot about him.

The banquet officially started shortly after the arrival of the theater lieutenant general chief of staff.

Leng Feng jumped back into everyone's sight.

It was not until then that these army major generals understood why the Four-Line Regiment had appointed such a taciturn chief of staff to attend the welcoming banquet.

Because he is not like Tang Tuanzuo, who is like a peerless sword. One can feel his sharpness just by looking at him. He is more like a sword hidden in a scabbard.

  If you don't pull it out, no one will notice it. Once it's unsheathed, blood will splatter five steps away!

. . . . . . . . . . .

ps: I went to the county to do some work yesterday, and originally planned to come back quickly after finishing the work, but my classmates in the county insisted to stay for dinner. Fengyue is not good at drinking, and with the strong liquor that my classmates brought, I was drunk after just one glass. I went to the hotel, took a shower and went to sleep, and didn’t even take a day off. Sorry!

(End of this chapter)