novelAbuy Chapter 40 Arrival in Nanjing, Entering the Headquarters
Chapter 40 Arrival in Nanjing, Entering the Headquarters
"What about ammunition reserves?"
Commander Tang asked as he paced back and forth.
"Weapons and ammunition are also in extremely short supply."
Most soldiers even lost their guns in the process, and with all the stored ammunition distributed, each soldier only received about ten bullets.
Chief of Staff Xiao Shen was still talking about the current predicament.
At this moment, Commander Tang realized that it had been somewhat hasty to say that he would hold out here for more than half a month.
With no guns, no soldiers, no ammunition, and not even reinforcements or backup, he couldn't understand how to fight this battle.
Which military units still have relatively complete organizational structures?
Commander Tang asked, explaining his plan to disband some units and integrate the remaining troops into more fully organized units.
This facilitates unified command, which is much better than a chaotic mess where even orders cannot be relayed.
Chief of Staff Xiao Shen listed the names of several units, and suddenly discovered that there was a newly registered unit on the last page.
"Commander, there is another unit that just arrived this morning."
According to reports, they were fully staffed, even overstaffed, and had a large number of trucks, artillery, ammunition, and high morale.
Chief of Staff Xiao Shen said with some delight.
This is one of the few pieces of good news we've had in over ten days.
Upon hearing this, Tang Shengzhi, who was pacing in the command post, suddenly stopped and turned to look at Xiao Shanling.
Which unit?
As a commander himself, he naturally knew that maintaining the integrity of a unit's structure in the event of a major defeat required considerable skill from the commander.
Moreover, this unit is even overstaffed.
It's likely that they gathered a lot of defeated soldiers along the way, which would make their abilities even greater.
"It's the Provisional Third Regiment, and the regimental commander is Li Jianghe."
Chief of Staff Xiao Shen handed over the intelligence report as he spoke.
Commander-in-Chief Tang pondered for a moment, then said:
"Is Li Jianghe the same Li Jianghe who broke out of the Sihang Warehouse?"
"That's right, it's him. I never expected that he not only broke through the Japanese army's encirclement, but also held out all the way to Nanjing."
As Chief of Staff Xiao Shen spoke, he felt both surprised and admiring.
Frankly speaking, if he were replaced by Li Jianghe, he knew he wouldn't be able to lead that isolated army out of the fray.
Commander-in-Chief Tang had an impression of Li Jianghe; after all, not everyone had the ability to outmaneuver the Ninth Division.
Moreover, the fact that he was able to lead the troops out alive, and even maintain the integrity of the entire unit, is nothing short of a miracle.
"You say it's fully organized, how many people does it have?"
Commander-in-Chief Tang turned around and asked.
"When they reported it, they said there were more than 3,300 people."
"How many?"
Commander-in-Chief Tang thought he had misheard, since a regiment in the National Revolutionary Army usually had fewer than two thousand men.
Of course, the Tax Police Corps is a separate matter. This force, built with real money, has a regiment with a strength of 5,000 people, comparable to a full brigade.
"More than 3,300 men, more than half of whom were deserters, but they were in good spirits and each of them had a weapon."
Chief of Staff Xiao Shen replied.
After listening, Commander-in-Chief Tang nodded and said:
"Have him come to headquarters to see me."
In Nanjing, Li Jianghe's troops had only been in the city for less than three hours when they set up camp in an open area.
Long Wenzhang handed over the registered personnel list.
"Commander, you're actually qualified to be a brigade commander now!"
After listening, Li Jianghe glanced at the list, which also included military personnel.
Currently, the entire Third Provisional Regiment has a total of 3,300 people.
Among them were Yang Ruifu, the commander of the 1st Battalion; Lin Yongzhi, the commander of the 2nd Battalion; Wang Dayong, the commander of the 3rd Battalion; Long Wenzhang, the commander of the Guard Battalion; Wang Chengzhu, the commander of the Artillery Battalion; and the regiment's directly subordinate supply battalion.
The troop composition of each battalion is quite sophisticated, making it a kind of poorly equipped version of a combined arms battalion.
Each battalion has an infantry company, an assault company, a fire support company, an engineer company, and a motor transport company. The number of personnel is far greater than that of a typical infantry battalion, with a total of around 700 people.
As for the artillery battalion, it had around four hundred men and a large number of mortars, field guns, anti-tank guns, and other weapons.
However, since there are many defeated soldiers among them, they still need concentrated training to gradually improve their combat effectiveness.
Fortunately, there is still some time. The Japanese army began its fierce attack on Nanjing in early December, and it is only early December now, so Li Jianghe still has some time.
These defeated soldiers actually possessed basic combat skills and rich experience; what they lacked was morale, the will of the people, and a commander willing to lead them in another desperate fight against the Japanese.
Xu Dingguo, who was standing nearby, came over and said with great emotion:
"Jiang He, other troops are getting smaller and smaller as the fighting goes on, but your troops are getting bigger and bigger. You're really bringing honor to our Guangxi Army."
In fact, his troops have expanded considerably, basically returning to their peak size, and their ammunition supplies are even more abundant than before.
Just as Li Jianghe was about to speak, a jeep pulled up outside the camp, and an officer got out.
Upon seeing the man's rank, the soldiers in the camp immediately stood up straight, and their salutes became even more standard than usual.
Li Jianghe and Xu Dingguo glanced at the man's military rank.
Major General!
"salute!"
Xu Dingguo was the first to stand still, while frantically giving Li Jianghe meaningful glances.
Xiao Shanling waved his hand, revealing a warm smile, and said:
"Don't salute anymore. Those Japanese planes fly overhead every few days. If they see me, they might just shoot me in the head with their machine guns."
After he finished speaking, he gave a brief self-introduction to the two of them, and then his gaze fell on Xu Dingguo.
"You must be Commander Li."
He asked with a smile.
There are two main reasons why Xu Dingguo is believed to be Li Jianghe.
One is the military rank Xu Dingguo was wearing, and the other is that he looks rather old.
Xu Dingguo took half a step back and said:
"Chief of Staff, he is Li Jianghe."
Xiao Shanling looked Li Jianghe up and down and found that the man was so young, only in his early twenties.
Although there are quite a few lieutenant colonels and regimental commanders in their early twenties, not many of them are able to make a name for themselves on the battlefield.
Of course, this excludes those Communist Party members who became army commanders or division commanders in their early twenties.
The more he looked at Li Jianghe, the more he liked him. He thought to himself, "Truly, heroes emerge from among the young. Such a talented young man is the future of the Party and the country."
Li Jianghe was also sizing up Chief of Staff Xiao.
When Nanjing fell, many Nationalist army commanders abandoned their troops and fled alone.
For example, Tang Shengzhi, the commander of the garrison area, and Sun Yuanliang, the commander of the 88th Division.
Chief of Staff Xiao led his troops to defend Nanjing to the death, and committed suicide by shooting himself at the last moment. He was the highest-ranking general to die in Nanjing.
"Commander Li, would it be convenient for you to come to headquarters? The Commander-in-Chief would like to see you."
Chief of Staff Xiao spoke with a smile, his eyes filled with appreciation as he looked at Li Jianghe, and his tone was quite gentle.
It's like a teacher looking at their most proud student, or a general looking at their most honored soldier.
"convenient."
Li Jianghe answered in a firm voice.
He had absolute admiration for Chief of Staff Xiao, after all, his willingness to sacrifice himself for his country was a testament to his integrity and courage.
They quickly arrived at the garrison command headquarters in the jeep.
The room was in a mess, and the sounds of arguing could be heard.
At first glance, most of the people standing inside were major generals, with him being the only lieutenant colonel.
Li Jianghe subconsciously thought of a song lyric.
I was eighteen that year, at my alma mater's dance, standing there like a lackey.