The beacon of youth

Chapter 421 Liberation of Xi'an

The surrender of the [-]nd KMT Chariot Regiment relieved Li Yong, Wang Chengde and others of a big rock in their hearts. The painstaking efforts of so many days were finally not in vain. According to Wang Chengde's words, Dayong might be carrying out reconnaissance in the city of Xi'an I have been thinking about this tank regiment since then, and today it finally came to fruition.

Accompanied by the new assistant Jiang Tiexiong and a large number of officers from the former Second Tank Regiment, Li Yong and a group of independent brigade commanders went to inspect the weapons and equipment of the Tank Regiment to see what interesting things the newly acquired Tank Regiment had. Looking at it, the brigade commander Li Yong couldn't help frowning, but he didn't say a word as the brigade leader when the other cadres and soldiers were all in high spirits.

Among the Kuomintang officers who surrendered, only the head of the regiment, Jiang Tiexiong, put on the uniform of the People's Liberation Army. Although he is now the brigade commander's assistant, he is still very sensitive to Li Yong. Without a happy smile, he asked cautiously: "Sir, what do you think of the equipment of our chariot regiment?"

Li Yong: "I said Lao Jiang, don't call me an officer. It's not popular in our People's Liberation Army troops. You can call me Lao Li or Dayong, or you can call him Brigadier Commander."

Jiang Tiexiong clicked his lips, this title is really a problem, the People's Liberation Army troops are not allowed to be called officers, so what is it called?Called Dayong?No, this is not called by those of us who have just surrendered, and we dare not call it, Lao Li?No way, considering the age of the brigade commander, he was just in his early twenties, and Lao Li couldn't say anything, so he still called him brigade commander.

When Jiang Tiexiong was thinking about how to call Li Yong, Li Yong was also thinking about how to call Jiang Tiexiong: "Hey, I said Lao Jiang, why do I feel so awkward when calling you, Lao Jiang, Lao Jiang, it feels a bit like calling Jiang Jieshi Ah, don’t you have any relationship with Chiang Kai-shek’s family?”

Li Yong's inadvertent joke made Jiang Tiexiong break out in a cold sweat. Although he has no relationship with Chairman Jiang of the Nationalist Government, he does know the second son Jiang Weiguo, and the relationship is not bad (the second son Jiang Weiguo is the deputy commander of the Kuomintang's armored forces. , is also the actual person in power, and the officers above the regiment of the tank corps basically know each other): "The brigade commander is joking, how can a small person like me have relatives with Chiang Kai-shek, the only surname is Chiang, this can't be changed, hehe hey-hey."

Li Yong also smiled: "I said, Lao Jiang, I'm anxious for you, even if you have relatives with Chiang Kai-shek, so what, now you are a soldier of our People's Liberation Army, you are our own people, and our People's Liberation Army doesn't talk about implicated people. , Others are others, I am myself, I, Li Yong, have the surname Li, so I have something to do with the current acting president of the Kuomintang government, Li Zongren? That’s not the case.”

Li Jia, the communication platoon leader who was next to Li Yong, also made a rare joke: "Commander Jiang, the two health captains of our brigade are both named Hu (Hu Xiaolian, Hu Xiaoling), and they have nothing to do with Hu Zongnan. I also have the surname Hu." Li, also has nothing to do with Li Zongren."

A burst of laughter relieved Jiang Tiexiong. Being able to be the commander of the armored force also showed that this guy's head is good. Then he asked again: "Brigade Commander, what do you think of our regiment's equipment?"

Li Yong sighed: "It's not that good, they are all old guys, or they are light ones. I have looked all the way, and they are either m3a3 Stuart or Soviet T26. I said Lao Jiang, do you have any better ones in your regiment?" goods."

Brigadier Li Da frightened Jiang Tiexiong and the officers who surrendered. At first, these officers thought that the People's Liberation Army Tubalu, who had never seen the world, could understand something. Praise these tanks to the sky. I didn't expect this little brigade commander of the People's Liberation Army to understand tanks so well?

They were surprised, but the old man of the independent brigade was accustomed to everything, hum, what is this, our brigade commander doesn't know anything, let alone your tanks, our brigade commander even understands the planes in the sky, the warships in the sea ——I guess I also understand.

"It's nothing. Our independent brigade had a few Stuarts before, with a caliber of 37 mm and two vehicle-mounted machine guns. It's not bad. The Soviet T26 turret has a circle of steel bars welded on it, and there are four in the walking section. The supporting pulley has obvious characteristics, and anyone with a discerning eye can understand it at a glance. The gun has a caliber of 45mm, a dead weight of [-] tons, and a trench-passing capacity of [-] meters. The firepower is slightly stronger than Stuart, but the armor protection ability is average. Said that the performance of these two tanks is similar, high-end goods, but fortunately these tanks have on-board wireless communicators, which is very convenient for the coordinated operations of the armored forces, which is much better than the previous little devil tanks.”

Li Yong's explanation and evaluation made these officers and soldiers of the tank regiment who thought they were superior to others feel ashamed. Jiang Tiexiong replied a little embarrassed: "Brigade Commander, our regiment originally had some good tanks, but they were transferred to * * during the Huaihai Campaign. *The Li Yannian regiment was destroyed, and was later wiped out by your army on the battlefield."

Wang Chengde, the political commissar, interjected: "Old Jiang, at this time, there is no such thing as your army and your army. They were wiped out by our People's Liberation Army."

Jiang Tiexiong nodded hurriedly: "That's right, it was wiped out by our People's Liberation Army during the Battle of Huaihai."

Li Yong: "What type of tank did your regiment seconded to Li Yannian's regiment?"

Jiang Tiexiong: "The m4a4 of the two battalions are all new."

Li Yong: "The caliber of the gun is 75 mm. It is a medium-sized tank made in the United States. Its firepower and protection are much stronger than that of the Stuart. This is the real good thing. It's a pity."

A former tank regiment officer next to Jiang Tiexiong said: "Report sir, our regiment still has four M4s."

Li Yong nodded: "Four is four, just enough for a tank platoon, and we will use this tank platoon as a sharp knife in the future."

After some careful counting, although the KMT’s Second Chariot Regiment is known as a tank regiment, it actually only has the combat capability of one tank battalion, and only has more than 900 personnel. The two new m4 tank battalions as the main force have been transferred away. The remaining tank battalion is also dominated by the old Stuart and T26, the latest m4a4 only has four, and the total number of several tanks is more than 30, which is not bad. , the supplies left by this tank regiment are very rich, with sufficient fuel and ammunition, and a large number of modified armored vehicles, the number is more than 50. Although they are not as powerful as tanks, they are invincible against infantry and cavalry on the Northwest battlefield. It exists, no matter what, the independent brigade is considered a fortune, and it can be called a rich household and local rich man in a division-level army in the field.

After solving the problem of the tank regiment, Li Yong and Wang Chengde freed up their hands to post safety notices throughout the city, announcing the discipline of the People's Liberation Army. Although there are more than 9000 people in the whole brigade, it is not a small number, but in Xi'an City of Nuoda, it is like spreading pepper noodles. No, although there are few people, the key places still have to go to the Kabu post to maintain the law and order of the city, and the whole busy foot hits the back of the head.

Li Yong didn't want to do such a mess of local security for a day, but he couldn't help it. So far, Xi'an has only one unit of the People's Liberation Army. If they want to hand it over to other units, it will take the next day at the earliest. According to Li Yong's control According to historical data, the Independent Brigade was at least responsible for the defense of Xi'an for one night, but anyway, Xi'an was officially liberated, and the time was the afternoon of May [-], [-], when the Independent Brigade entered the city.

The next day, that is, the morning of May 49, [-], the Sixth Army of the Second Corps arrived, and the vanguard was the [-]th Regiment of the Sixteenth Division.

The soldiers of the 49th regiment launched an attack team outside the city, using various terrain and features as cover, and attacked the west gate of Xi'an.

It's getting closer, it's getting closer, the soldiers of the 49th regiment are getting more and more strange, the entire city defense force of Xi'an has no reaction to the approach of their entire regiment of troops, and the soldiers standing guard at the gate not only did not make any tactical moves, but seemed to be He was laughing like he was watching the excitement.

When we get closer, everyone understands that the guards standing in front of the city gate are not Kuomintang troops at all, but PLA soldiers in gray uniforms like them.

How is this going?Besides our Sixth Army, who else moves so fast? The soldiers of the 49th Regiment climbed up from the ground in a panic. The guards at the gate were all their own people. Needless to say, Xi’an must have been occupied. The soldiers shouted to each other: "What are you doing lying on the ground?" Making people laugh? Get up quickly."

A jeep drove over with a wave of loess from the back, and a commander jumped out of the car, and asked the soldiers standing guard with a bad face: "Hey, let me tell you which unit you belong to? When will you come here?" of?"

The soldiers of the Independent Brigade standing guard in front of the gate don't care whether the commander looks good or not. Our Independent Brigade came out of war, not because we were frightened, it doesn't matter who you are.

The warriors standing guard got more energy, and answered aggressively, "The Second Army Independent Brigade arrived yesterday afternoon. Xi'an has been occupied by us. Which part are you from? You are late."

The commander was annoyed by the soldiers of the Independent Brigade: "From the Sixteenth Division of the Sixth Army, I am the commander of the 49th Regiment. Where is your brigade commander?"

"I'm sorry, it's not for you to ask where our brigade commander is. Your level is not equal to our brigade commander. If you want to inquire about something, ask your division commander to come."

The soldiers standing guard at the gate are all soldiers of Zhang Jinsong's reconnaissance battalion. These boys usually do a lot of reconnaissance work, and they are very courageous. They choked when they saw that the head of the regiment spoke with disrespect for his brigade commander. went back.