Chapter Fifteen: The Third Army's Cavalry Artillery Regiment

  The room inside was surprisingly quiet, as if no one had heard He Tianci's words. At this time, Hu Wenyong saw that everyone had no reaction, and he knew to come to He Tianci's side and shouted: "Brothers of Liujiabao! We used to be bandits, our future is dark, we have no future, but the time for us to rise has arrived. Don't you know what kind of person Mr. He is? Don't you want to follow Mr. He to fight against foreigners and protect this place? From now on, as long as we follow Mr. He, opportunities for promotion and wealth will be endless!"

  As soon as the words fell, a sturdy young man of about twenty years old stood out from among the Liu family's bandits, standing tall in the crowd with an air of majesty.

  He took a big step forward and stood in front of He Tianxi, then with his fists clenched and eyes fixed on He Tianxi, he spoke in a loud voice with a thick Northeastern accent: "Lord He, I am Tang Zilong, from Penglai, Shandong Province. I've only been in our Guandong for a short time, but I have some understanding of you. You are indeed a brave and resourceful hero! I'm willing to follow Lord He, from now on, as long as Lord He gives the order, if I can defeat him, Tang Zilong will cut off his head for you; if I lose, Tang Zilong will give his own head, no questions asked."

  As soon as he finished speaking, the atmosphere of the entire mountain stronghold was stirred up. Suddenly, another hundred or so people stood up and shouted: "Lord He, we are willing to follow you!"

  He Tianci listened carefully, and most of these people spoke with a mouthful of Jiaoliao Mandarin, which was really the same as Dalian dialect in later generations. If you don't say they are from Shandong, you would think they are from Dalian. It's estimated that they should be bandits from Shandong who couldn't make a living and joined this group of people going to Guandong. He Tianci said: "Good! Since ancient times, Shandong has produced good bandits, all the masters from Shandong are good guys! You just follow me and do it, I won't treat you unfairly."

  Tang Zilong bowed his fist and said: "Thank you, Lord He, for your appreciation. I will definitely work hard for Lord He like a horse."

  At this time, Hu Wen-yong quietly walked over and whispered to He Tian-ci: "Lord He, these one hundred people were originally from the Shandong bandits, they just arrived at our Liu Family Fortress recently, they are all martial artists, each with excellent skills, especially their legwork, every single one of them is a flying leg, charging forward like Chen are good guys."

  Upon hearing this, He Tianci carefully examined Tang Zilong and the others, each of whom was robust and strong. He hadn't guessed wrong; they were indeed bandits from Shandong Province.

  Just as He Tianxi was stunned, Hu Wenyong brought the artillery team over again. The artillery team usually belonged to Hu Wenyong's command and had twenty people who were specialized in pulling and training cannons inside the village.

  Finally, under the gaze of all the bandits in Liujiapu, one after another stood up, and without exception, they shouted loudly: "We are willing to follow Mr. He."

  Under the leadership of the old soldier, the National Guard shouted slogans again: "National Guard, kill devils, exterminate demons, protect our homes and defend our country, Long live Mr. He, Long live Mr. He"

  He Tianci then had Zhiwu register each person and leave a bound volume.

  He Tianci walked to the front of the crowd again and said decisively: "I, He Tianci, have always been clear about rewards and punishments. Today, Liu Dazi and Zhao Datou, who launched a surprise attack on Liujiabao, are rewarded. The brothers of Liujiabao will be organized into one cavalry regiment and one infantry regiment. Liu Dazi and Zhao Datou will serve as the commanders of the 4th Cavalry Regiment and the 5th Infantry Regiment of the Weiguo Army."

  In addition, Hu Wen-yong had merit in pacifying the Liu Family Fortress and was familiar with its financial situation, so he was appointed as the logistics officer of the National Defense Army. The original artillery team was expanded into an artillery battalion, and Hu Wen-yong concurrently served as the commander of the artillery battalion. In fact, He Tian-xi did this out of necessity to appease Hu Wen-yong by letting him command the artillery battalion, which actually consisted of his former comrades.

  Liujiabao's brothers were also willing to follow him, so He Tianxi let Ji Yuhua prepare for the noon partnership dinner, asking him to slaughter a few more pigs and chickens, and make some signature dishes. However, in this northeastern winter, apart from pickled vegetables, cabbage, and potatoes, there really wasn't much to eat.

  He then had Hu Wen-yong lead the way, making a tour of the whole Liu Family Village to take a look at its layout. Also, he wanted to personally check the warehouses in Liu Family Village, first to confirm and have an idea in his mind, secondly because he would soon go visit his adoptive father Zhang Xi-luan, and incidentally select some gold and silver jewelry for Madame Zhang and Miss Zhang, as well as some antiques for his adoptive father.

  Liu Erhuang Emperor dominated Liujiabao for over a decade, governing in a rather casual manner. Although his troops were far from being elite, the foundation was extremely solid. Liu Erhuang Emperor had already laid a good groundwork for himself, and it remained to be seen how he would build upon this solid foundation to achieve great things.

  After years of operation, all aspects have a good foundation, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Especially with abundant funds, they left themselves 20,000 kilograms of grain and 1,000 mu of land. In recent years, Liujiabao has been expanding its construction, several renovations have taken place, and a deep well over 20 meters deep was drilled to solve the drinking water problem for the brothers. More than 50 brick and wood houses make it look even more magnificent.

  It seems that he has always been favored by the goddess of fortune, not only coming to an era when the Chinese nation is experiencing turmoil, but also from slightly planning to cure Zhang Xun's horse, to obtaining arms from the Russians, and then recruiting soldiers in Heishan, cleverly taking down the Wild Wolf stronghold, and finally easily defeating Liujiabao today, occupying such a good piece of land, having his own foundation for his career. He Tianxi is very proud in his heart, knowing that starting from Liujiabao, he will begin his journey to great achievements from this small piece of land.

  I'm not lacking in money, nor am I short of food or guns. The original soldiers were all equipped with Russian-style rifles, and the newly formed two battalions are also armed with Village 22-type rifles that Liu Erhuang couldn't bear to take out for use by new recruits. What's lacking is well-trained soldiers, not people in general. In the chaotic Northeast, refugees are everywhere, but what I need are soldiers, well-trained soldiers.

  He Tianci prepared to spend several days training the troops before heading to Jinzhou Prefecture to pay respects to his adoptive father, Zhang Xiluan, and show off the troops so that he could gain merit and reward for himself and obtain greater benefits.

  It wasn't yet dawn, the sky was just a little bright, it was a wonderful and vast moment. In the deep and slightly white sky, there were still a few stars scattered about, the ground was pitch black, the sky was all white, the wild grass was trembling slightly, everywhere was shrouded in a mysterious thin brightness. In the east, the mountain valley reflected the bronze-colored edge of the sky, showing off its dark shadow; the dazzling Venus star hung right above the top of this mountain ridge, as if it were a soul flying out from this dark mountain range. He Tianci also accompanied the hazy bright sun, starting his new day's journey.

  To train an excellent team as soon as possible, He Tianci set the rule of three practices a day. Get up at 6:00 in the morning, have tactical training before meals, have lunch at 7:30, start training physical strength and combat killing at 9:00, end after two hours, have lunch at 11:30, train shooting at 2:00 in the afternoon, and end at 5:00.

  This time, He Tianxi prepared to retain part of the training program from the previous Wild Wolf Mountain stronghold. The original Wild Wolf stronghold's gunners, including Liu Dazi, were organized into a shooting instruction battalion with Liu Dazi as the commander. Zhao Datou and Tang Zilong led the Shandong cavalry to form an endurance and combat assassination instruction battalion, with Zhao Datou and Tang Zilong serving as commander and deputy commander respectively. The excellent tactical team members, led by Wu Xiaolin, were organized into a tactical training instruction battalion, with Wu Xiaolin as the commander.