~.-~ Chapter 201 Hundred Steps to Piercing the Poplar

Under Zhang Zizhong's enthusiastic leadership, everyone entered the command room and in the spacious reception hall of the command center, a sumptuous lunch had been set up. There were fish and meat on the table, and two bottles of white wine were placed. Several orderly soldiers from the 59th Army were busy.

Seeing Zhang Zizhong bringing everyone in, several orderly soldiers next to him quickly saluted and shouted respectfully: "Hello, military throne." Then he retreated silently.

Everyone sat down with the guests. Not only Zhang Zizhong, Zhang Yunfei, Gao Zhihang, Liu Xing, but also the chief of staff of the 59th Army and two division commanders, but the rest of Zhang Yunfei's entourage had already been arranged.

Zhang Yunfei looked at Zhang Zizhong with a good look and thought about what he saw on the road, so he said to Zhang Zizhong: "Brother, I'm blunt, on the way here just now, I saw that the soldiers of our 59th Army were very worn out. What's going on? Although you are not the direct Central Army, you are also the main anti-Japanese war forces, and you will not be able to reach this point."

After hearing Zhang Yunfei's words, Zhang Zizhong smiled bitterly and said, "I don't know anything. Since the Japanese captured Wuhan, several major arsenals in our country have disappeared. Our troops have also experienced a tight supply of weapons and ammunition. The military pay allocated to us by the Ministry of National Defense is getting less and less. The monthly military pay is less than half of what it was before the War of Resistance Against Japan."

Unexpectedly, Lao Chiang's life was not easy. Now all the channels for contact with the outside world were cut off by the Japanese. The main force of the Kuomintang was huddled in several southwestern provinces and lived a difficult life with limited international aid. Nearly one million Kuomintang troops scattered in the occupied areas hid in the deep mountains and forests and fought guerrillas with the Japanese.

Zhang Yunfei pondered for a moment, then said proudly: "Brother, your difficulties are my difficulties. From now on, I will send them to you with planes every month."

"Brother, your weapons and ammunition are not very sufficient. You have a troops of more than 200,000. It is said that you have to bear some ammunition supplies from the 18th Army. If the pressure is too high, forget it. I will think of a way to deal with our weapons and ammunition." Zhang Zizhong said with some concern.

Zhang Yunfei was very happy. The first thing his elder brother thought of was the 36th Army. He didn't want to make things difficult for him. Zhang Yunfei smiled slightly and said, "Brother, don't worry about me. At present, the arsenal in our base is already very large, and all kinds of guns and cannons can be basically produced. If you provide weapons and ammunition to your troops, there is no pressure at all."

After hearing Zhang Yunfei's words, Zhang Zizhong felt a little more happy and said with a little surprise: "Brother, I didn't expect that your arsenal is so large, so I won't be pretentious anymore. To be honest, the weapons and ammunition you gave us last time in Xuzhou were exhausted a few months ago. Now the troops have begun to have a shortage of ammunition, and the Japanese often harassed and attacked us. I am really worried that if this continues, our 59th Army will not be able to defend Yichang."

"That's it. From tomorrow on, we will airlift weapons and ammunition. But your airport is too small. Brother, your top priority is to build and expand the airport to facilitate the take-off and landing of the plane."

"Okay, I'll send troops to expand the airport right away. We in Yichang have a cement factory that can provide a large amount of cement." Zhang Zizhong said happily immediately.

The commanders next to him saw that Zhang Yunfei agreed to airlift ammunition for the 59th Army from tomorrow, so they were so happy that they smiled heavily on their faces. They found various excuses and took turns to toasting Zhang Yunfei in enthusiasm. Zhang Yunfei also refused everyone. For a moment, the atmosphere was very warm.

The meal was 2:00 p.m., and everyone was drunk at 70:00 p.m., but Zhang Yunfei and Liu Xing had practiced the martial arts and although their faces were a little red, their minds were still very clear.

Zhang Zizhong thought Zhang Yunfei was also a little drunk, so he specially prepared the room for Zhang Yunfei to rest. When he returned to the room, Zhang Yunfei immediately ordered Liu Xing to bring the radio station brought by the special forces team members to Datong, ordering the transport planes at Datong Airport to transport 1 million rifle bullets from tomorrow, and transported the only dozens of crooked machine guns and Type 92 heavy machine guns in the warehouse. In addition, the Type 92 infantry cannon and 60mm slap cannon Zhang Yunfei was also preparing to transport some of them.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Zhang Zizhong's cheerful voice sounded outside the door: "Brother, I will take you to see our troops in the afternoon." After an hour of rest, Zhang Zizhong is now in good spirits and his face is very rosy.

Let’s go to the 59th Army to see it. This was also proposed by Zhang Yunfei at noon. Zhang Yunfei wanted to see the ** troops at close range. Although the 59th Army is not the direct line of Chiang Kai-shek, it is also a main force in the anti-Japanese war. It participated in the Battle of Xuzhou, the Battle of Wuhan, and the Battle of Suizao a few months ago. It is also a battle-prone force.

Zhang Yunfei was riding in Zhang Zizhong's black car and, led by the commander of the 180th Division of the 59th Army, visited the garrison of the 612th Regiment of the 180th Division, more than ten kilometers east of Yichang.

The 612th Regiment is a main regiment under the 59th Army. It has all Japanese equipment and most of the soldiers are veterans who have emerged from the war. This regiment has strong combat effectiveness, and the base of this regiment is not far from Yichang City. This is the main reason why Zhang Zizhong brought Zhang Yunfei to this regiment.

When Zhang Yunfei and his party arrived at the 612th Regiment's headquarters, the 612th Regiment's commander, with more than a dozen officers, was already in a neat line. When Zhang Zizhong and Zhang Yunfei got out of the car, the 612th Regiment who was greeting each other shouted loudly: "Salute!"

With a blink of an eye, the officers and soldiers of the 612th Regiment who attended the reception saluted together, and looked at Zhang Yunfei with bright eyes, with enthusiasm and admiration in their eyes.

Not long ago, I received a notice that in the afternoon, my military commander-in-chief Zhang from the 36th Army, came to the army for inspection. Everyone in the entire 612th Regiment, from the commander of the 612th Regiment to an ordinary soldier, were all excited. The name of Commander-in-chief Zhang of the 36th Army was so well-known. As a soldier, no one didn't know Zhang Yunfei. Many of Zhang Yunfei's deeds were talked about. Today, Zhang Yunfei is coming to his 612th Regiment, and everyone's mood can be imagined.

Seeing everyone's eager eyes, Zhang Yunfei also smiled faintly and gave everyone a military salute. Today, Zhang Yunfei was wearing a brand new military uniform and looked very majestic and decent, giving people the feeling that they were afraid to look directly at.

When Zhang Zizhong saw that the officers and soldiers of the 612th Regiment performed well, he was very happy and nodded slightly.

The commander of the 612th Regiment made a snap, stepped forward, then stood attentively, and shouted loudly: "Report to the military pedestal. All officers and soldiers of the 612th Regiment are undergoing daily subject training. Please give instructions."

“Continue training.”

Zhang Zizhong first took Zhang Yunfei to several barracks and the regiment commander to take a look. What Zhang Yunfei saw was that the conditions of the 612th regiment may be better than those of the Eighth Route Army, but they are definitely not as good as that of Lao Chiang’s direct Central Army. Compared with his 36th Group, it is even worse. Zhang Yunfei’s idea of ​​helping his elder brother became even stronger.

More than an hour later, everyone came to the training ground. The training ground was shouting all day long. The officers and soldiers of the 612th Regiment were conducting a lively training. Seeing that the 612th Regiment had a good mental state, Zhang Yunfei was also happy for Zhang Zizhong, nodded secretly, and a smile appeared on his face.

Not long after, everyone came to the shooting range. There was about a company on the shooting range conducting target training. It was not very correct to say that the target training was not very correct, because the soldiers in the training basically only aim but not hit.

Seeing this, the commander of the 180th Division smiled awkwardly and explained: "Commander-in-Chief Zhang, you are laughing. Due to the shortage of ammunition, our shooting training stipulates the number of ammunition per person per month. Each soldier only has 5 bullets of live ammunition shooting per month."

Zhang Yunfei smiled understandingly and said, "It's much better than we were in the beginning. At the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, when I was still a battalion commander in the 18th Group Army, I hid it like a treasure every time I seized a bullet, and I couldn't bear to use it for shooting training. When I went to bed at night, the soldiers even put the bullets in their close pockets."

After Zhang Yunfei finished speaking, everyone laughed loudly together, and the atmosphere was very good.

At this time, the commander of the 180th Division said with some hope: "Commander-in-Chief Zhang, I heard that your marksmanship is very powerful. How about showing us your skills now?"

When Zhang Yunfei was hesitating, Zhang Zizhong next to him also said, "Brother, I, the elder brother, have never seen your marksmanship yet. Today I will show you my skills to open your eyes and see what is superb marksmanship."

Seeing Zhang Zizhong say this, Zhang Yunfei couldn't refuse any more, so he took a Type 38 rifle of a soldier next to him, proofread it carefully, and looked at the magazine. There were exactly five bullets in the magazine. So Zhang Yunfei shouted: "Liu Xing!"

Liu Xing, the special forces captain who had been with Zhang Yunfei, saw Zhang Yunfei calling him, immediately understood it. He took out a black cloth strip from his pocket and skillfully blindfolded Zhang Yunfei.

The officers and soldiers of the 59th Army next to him were secretly shocked when they saw Zhang Yunfei covering his eyes. They thought to themselves, could Commander-in-Chief Zhang be blindly attacked? It was impossible, the target was a hundred meters away.

As everyone's guess, Zhang Yunfei picked up the Type 38 rifle in his hand and fired at the target in the distance. At first, everyone thought that Zhang Yunfei would stay for a moment, think about the approximate location of the target, and then slowly fired.

But Zhang Yunfei fired very quickly, and the muzzle moved quickly and pulled the bolt. "Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang" five consecutive shots, five gunshots, like thunderstorms, which shocked everyone for a long time.

~.-~
Chapter completed!