My client Li Yunlong

Chapter 38 Teaching Camp!
"Captain Shen, the situation in the training camp is not good!"

"Many new recruits are preparing to leave, and even a dozen of them have already left."

A company commander reported to Shen Quan worriedly.

The so-called training camp generally refers to non-combat troops used for training and training. It is actually a recruit camp, with different names.

In the independent regiment training camp, there are more than 500 Central Army prisoners of war who were rescued from the Liao County prisoner-of-war camp not long ago, but to be precise, they are all called independent regiment recruits now.

Currently, Shen Quan is temporarily serving as the commander of the training camp and is stationed in a small village called Xujia'ao on the left side of Yangcun.

Due to a serious shortage of qualified officers, the teaching battalion now only has battalion and company level cadres, including Shen Quan and one company commander for each battalion.

This company commander is usually in charge of the training and instruction camp.

"fine."

Shen Quan, who had just come from the regiment headquarters, smiled and said calmly.

Some people want to leave, and there are quite a few of them, which is to be expected.

Although almost all the prisoners of war rescued by the Liao County prisoners of war joined the Eighth Route Army after hearing the name of the regiment leader and under the propaganda of the political commissar.

But the strict discipline - no one is allowed to take advantage of the masses, no beating, scolding or humiliation of the common people. Violators may be put in confinement or directly shot in the worst case. They must also often help the common people with work. Some of these former soldiers of the Central Army must have difficulty adapting.

Difficult conditions - Yangcun is limited in size, with few houses and most of them are dilapidated. Even if several surrounding villages and an independent regiment of 800 people are added, it is difficult for all soldiers to have dormitories.

Many people can only squeeze together, a dozen or even twenty people squeeze into a house.

There is also a serious shortage of warm clothes and quilts.

The regiment commander brought two hundred sets of military uniforms from the uniform factory at the headquarters, but it was not enough to supply one battalion, let alone more than 500 new recruits, so they all wore the clothes of the prisoner of war camp.

I brought some Japanese clothes and quilts from the prisoner-of-war camp in Liao County, but it was of no avail.

After a few days, many people will inevitably start to waver. Some already want to go and have a look, and some are ready to escape after a while, or look for opportunities to return to the Central Army.

"Didn't the leader say that? If they want to leave, let them go and give them some food as payment."

Chen Quan continued.

Then, Shen Quan said to the cooking class who came with him:
"Start preparing food."

·····
after an hour.

"The food of the Eighth Route Army is really good!"

"No, before it was released, you had to wait in line to eat it."

"Battle Commander Shen is here today. It seems that Political Commissar Zhao is right. Everyone in the Eighth Route Army eats the same."

"If I can eat this every time, even if the weapons are a little inferior and the clothes are not all tatters, the labor and management will be willing to stay here!"

In the simple camp of the training camp, outside the makeshift canteen, groups of prisoners of war wearing shabby winter uniforms of the Central Army squatted on the ground, holding porcelain bowls, and licked the white gnocchi in the bowls with big mouthfuls.

Although basically no condiments were added, the cooking team only added a little salt, and the lard was still in storage, but all the prisoners of war, who should not be called new soldiers of the independent regiment now, ate with gusto and smiled happily.

After a while, all the gnocchi in the bowl went into his stomach, and he even licked the bowl clean.

Not to mention in the Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, even during the Central Army period, during the Battle of Xinkou, they, as the leading soldiers, had never had such delicious food!

White gnocchi!

It was still a whole bowl, and the soup only took up a small part. It was a full bowl of white flour gnocchi. It was estimated that this bowl only used a small amount of white flour. Even the soup in the bowl was not as mushy as the white dough they drank before.

In the Central Army, you have to be a platoon leader to eat.

In fact, as the Central Army, they are different from other Sichuan troops. They have much more supplies. It is impossible to eat plain flour every day, but it is still okay to eat an occasional meal.

However, these former top soldiers of the Central Army naturally knew that even if their superiors ordered it, it would not get into their mouths!

Another recruit drank all the soup in the bowl, licked the bowl again, and said with unfinished content:

"Yesterday I ate white flour steamed buns, and today I ate white flour gnocchi."

“This Eighth Route Army won’t eat white flour every meal, right?!”

"impossible."

The first recruit to speak shook his head decisively, but there was obviously a trace of meaning in his tone.

When they were in the Central Army, even platoon leaders could not eat white flour. They had to be company commanders and battalion commanders. If they were fighting on the front line, only regiment leaders could eat it.

"It's definitely impossible to make white noodles."

"If I can eat two or three meals a month, that's fine."

Licking his lips and feeling his half-full belly, another recruit spoke.

It was delicious. A full bowl of white gnocchi was quite filling, but it was winter and they only had a thin, worn-out military uniform. This bowl could only be considered half-full at best.

But that's enough, the recruit comforted himself.

When I was in the Central Army, not only could I not eat white noodles, but I could only eat half full!

"Come here and add more bowls!"

"Anyone who is not full, come here and refill your plate."

"The group leader has said that starting from today, everyone will be fed every morning, lunch and dinner. If they are not full, they will come over to refill their bowls. However, waste is not allowed. Anyone who dares to waste food will be punished by running five kilometers cross-country."

Suddenly, the voice of the cooking squad leader came from the kitchen.

"Can I add more bowls?"

The recruits were shocked.These big-headed soldiers, not only can they eat white flour, but they can also add more bowls?

The food in the army shouldn't be available to those who are quick but not to those who are slow. How can we still add more bowls?

He even said that the commander of the regiment gave an order that starting from today, the independent regiment would be in full control?
Almost everyone was stunned, subconsciously thinking that they heard wrongly, so no one went to add a bowl.

Really, this is incredible.

"No one wants more bowls?"

The sound of the cooking squad made all the recruits wake up from a dream and rush to the temporary kitchen.

···
After a hearty meal, all the recruits who had just escaped from the prison camp and joined the independent regiment were all smiling.

How long has it been since you had a full meal?

Some soldiers counted on their fingers and found that they had never had such a good meal since joining the army.

Even though they were formerly part of the Central Army, they were so-called direct descendants.

"When I was in the Central Army, the officers said every day that the food on the Eighth Route Army was poor, worse than pig food."

A recruit touched his belly, pinched his teeth, and cursed:
"Pure this fucking liar."

"Do you believe what they say?" A recruit immediately answered in a disdainful tone: "Those people also said that they got five yuan of military pay every month, but in the end it all went into their own pockets, and our Mao didn't even see it. One stick.”

"I think what those officers said is right." Some recruits said angrily: "What we eat now is indeed not as good as what those pigs eat, but they have meat every meal!"

"Hahaha····"

The surrounding recruits were stunned for a moment, then understood the meaning of this sentence and burst into laughter.

"Damn it, labor and management are here to stay."

"Stay here and follow Captain Li to fight the Japanese!"

After the laughter ended, the recruit with the toothbrush at the beginning suddenly said loudly:

"Even if the equipment is a bit inferior, at least you can have enough food every day. Even if you die, you will still be a starved person."

"Yes, labor and management will continue to work here."

After a full meal and the promise of having enough to eat in the future, a large number of people in the teaching camp decided to stay.

But there are still some people who are still hesitant - even though they have only been in the Independence Regiment for two days, they have already seen that the Eighth Route Army's weapons are indeed very poor, and their clothing is also very poor. Only a few people are wearing new military uniforms, and most of them are wearing new military uniforms. They were all tattered military uniforms.

"gather."

After a 10-minute break after the meal, Shen Quan, who was in charge of the training camp, gave the order to assemble:

"As a platoon, come and collect your military uniforms."

An hour passed again.

All 501 recruits in the training camp put on new military uniforms and lined up neatly in the open space outside the entrance of Xujiacun.

In fact, at the beginning, 517 Central Army prisoners of war joined the training camp, but after more than a day, more than a dozen of them had left.

In front of the open space, Li Yunlong stood upright with a loud voice:

"From the moment you put on this uniform, you will be soldiers of the [-]th Brigade Independent Regiment of the Eighth Route Army."

"He is my brother Li Yunlong."

"In the words of our Eighth Route Army, we are all comrades!"

"From now on, you will follow me, Li Yunlong, and together we will fight against the Japs with their machine guns and cannons."

Next to Li Yunlong, Zhao Gang frowned subconsciously when he heard Li Yunlong say it was all brothers, but when he looked at the more than 500 recruits under the stage, his brows gradually softened.

The longer Zhao Gang stayed at the grassroots level, the more he felt that the implementation of many rules and regulations cannot be rigid.

"You must have all heard of it."

"I, Li Yunlong, once led the new regiment to defeat the Sakata Regiment head-on, and also killed the old Japs Sakata."

"But you also need to know."

"In that battle that lasted less than two hours, more than 200 soldiers of the New Regiment fell under the Japanese bayonets, and more than [-] soldiers were injured, most of them seriously injured, including the New Regiment First Battalion Commander Zhang Dabiao.”

"The total strength of the new regiment is only more than 400 people."

"In just two hours of fighting, one out of every three soldiers in the new regiment was injured or fell under the gunfire of the Japanese."

After the words fell, the recruits in the training camp, still immersed in the brand-new and warm new military uniforms and new military shoes, fell into silence.

The group of people in front of me are all veterans.

They all fought against the Japanese in the Battle of Xinkou, many of them killed Japanese soldiers, and most of them had rich combat experience and had served in the Central Army for more than a year.

So many people know what a brutal battle it was with a one-third casualty rate in just two hours.

"Now, I can give you a chance."

Li Yunlong said calmly:

"If you want to leave and take off this military uniform, I, Li Yunlong, will never make things difficult for you, and I will even give you some food as payment."

"But if you decide to stay, you must be prepared to fall under the gunpoint and bayonet of the Japanese."

(End of this chapter)