Chapter 42: The Legion's Home Ground

  Liu Hua returned to the garrison without rest, and hastily asked the reporter to inform the heads of various divisions to come to a meeting in the afternoon. During the few hours before the meeting, he brought Political Commissar Guan Xiang to the Logistics Department, where they found Li Qing, the chief administrator of the Red Seventh Army Corps.

  "Director Li, there are no outsiders here. You can tell me and Commissar Zheng the truth. How much of our family property is left in the 7th Army Corps?" Liu Hua and Guan Xiangying then surrounded him with smiles.

  "Commander, and, it's really not knowing the heartache of being at home, the logistics department is almost emptied by you, and you still come to ask for more. I'm telling you, now the logistics department has nothing." After finishing speaking, he himself counted the accounts without giving Liu Hua a glance.

  Liu Hua knew that Li Qing said so because he was heartbroken about the supplies sent to headquarters, although they were all Red Army, but after all, they were the lives of his own soldiers.

  "Commissar, just say it, let me, the regiment commander, have a bottom line when fighting. You've just arrived and don't know much about the 7th Regiment yet, now you should understand more. The party committee of the Red 7th Regiment is just us three people, relying on us to handle such a big mess, haha." He said with a playful smile, looking at Li Qing.

  "Alright, Comrade Commander, you know the gold. You and the Political Commissar will explain later. We only have about 500,000 silver dollars left. As for food, we still have 2 million catties of grain, which is enough for the troops to eat for about ten days. Cured meat, due to the Commander's orders, has not been allowed to be used and only stored. Now we have stored a total of 500,000 catties. There are not many military uniforms left, after issuing one set to each person in the troops, there are only about 2,000 sets left. However, there is still a lot of cloth and cotton. These are all the materials in our logistics department." Li Qing paused and looked at his Commander.

  The political commissar's mouth was wide open at this time, and he did not expect that his army would still have so many supplies in reserve. It was really unexpected that the young army commander in front of him had done such a good job, and the Red Seventh Army actually had so many supplies in reserve.

  "Director Li, this way, take out part of the cotton and fabric from our inventory to continue making military uniforms, we must have an inventory of 10,000 sets. Take out half of the grain and distribute it to the soldiers in each battalion, let them make 5 days' worth of dry rations for use when going into battle, and store the remaining grain without using it again. Now tell me about our remaining weapon and ammunition reserves!" Liu Hua patted the political commissar Guan Xiangying, who was still in shock.

  "Commander, we have 4,000 rifles, 400 pistols and submachine guns, and 50 light machine guns in stock. We've run out of heavy machine guns and mortars. There's still a lot of ammunition left: about 3 million rounds for rifles, 200,000 hand grenades, and nearly 6,000 mortar shells aside from the 100 rounds each battalion has. That's all we have." He spread his hands open to Liu Hua.

  "Commander, Director Li, you're not kidding, are you? Our logistics still have so much ammunition stored up. My god, I've never seen so many things before, it's scary." Upon hearing the political commissar's words, Liu Hua and Li Qing smiled.

  "Alright, Director Li, we're going to start fighting again tomorrow. You know me, there will be a lot of spoils, so we must alleviate the pressure on our logistics. So, Director Li, send someone to take 3000 rifles, all the submachine guns and pistols from our storage to the General Command, to exchange weapons with the guards of several army commanders. As for ammunition, take 1.5 million rounds of rifle bullets, 100,000 hand grenades, and 3,000 mortar shells. Arrange for someone to send them over immediately, we're departing tomorrow."

  "Commander, if we give away so many, what will we use in the future?" Li Qingyu replied gloomily. The political commissar beside him also stared blankly at the commander, clearly not wanting to send them away either. Seeing the looks in their eyes, Liu Hua smiled.

  "Two elder brothers, what's the big deal? We're going to war, aren't we? This means that when we go to war, there will be spoils of war. Trust me, I'll definitely bring all these things back after this battle."

  Seeing the confident expression of the legion commander, the two could only nod in agreement. In this way, under Li Qing's arrangement, Li Xiaowu escorted the supplies to be sent to the headquarters. After arranging all the things, the three partners had lunch together. Although they couldn't drink because of the meeting in the afternoon, the three people were very happy.

  Sitting in the front of the conference room, Liu Hua listened to the comprehensive report of the three instructors, nodding continuously. Through their reports, Liu Hua knew that his three main force regiments' combat effectiveness had already caught up with the original two brigades, so Liu Hua was even more confident about this battle mission.

  "Alright, Commissar, brief us on the enemy situation." Liu Hua looked at his partner Guan Xiangying.

  "Comrades, after reconnaissance, we know that the Hubei army's Zhang Zhenhan has a division stationed in Taoyuan. This division is the ace unit of the Hubei army, with three regiments and nine battalions, well-equipped. In addition, there is also a mountain artillery battalion, and during the battle, they can have air support at any time. However, the division commander said that even if planes come, it doesn't matter to us in this mountainous terrain, and it won't pose a threat to us. Moreover, two battalions of Zhang Zhenhan's division are stationed in Yujia Ping. There is another issue: Zhang Zhenhan is a regular military academy graduate, who looks down on our Red Army, haha, that is, he should take us lightly. This trick should be very useful for us. Next, please let the division commander give us combat tasks." He then sat down.

  "Alright, everyone already knows the enemy situation. This time our Seventh Army Corps' operational strategy is to target Zhang Zhenhan's underestimation of the enemy and use that as a weakness, giving him another encirclement and annihilation campaign. My orders are:"

  "Sun Xingbang, you lead a division to attack Yujia Ping from the front. I don't require you to take Yujia Ping, just make the two regiments inside hurt so that they will ask Zhang Zhenhan for help. Can you complete this task?"

  "Yes, Legion Commander, mission will be accomplished."

  "All other troops were led by me to bypass Yujiaping We still ambushed Zhang Zhenhan at Taozi Creek."

  "Comrade Commander, back at Peach Creek, where we ambushed the 15th Division last time, will they fall for it again this time?" The political commissar reminded.

  "Heh heh, Commissar, I know I've committed a major taboo in the military. Think about it, even when we were stationed at Peach Creek, you didn't think of it, let alone Zhang Zhenhan who underestimated the Red Army." Liu Hua said, looking around at the silent crowd.

  "Alright, since no one has anything else to say, this meeting is adjourned. Go back and assemble the troops immediately. We will depart at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning. Dismissed."

  "Reporting to General He, Commissar Ren is studying the map. Suddenly, a report startled him awake. He saw the young man in front of him."

  "Commander Li, what brings you to headquarters?" General He asked with a puzzled tone.

  "Report to Commander He, Ren Zheng is the political commissar. I am the commander of the Insanity Brigade and the political commissar's order is to escort a batch of supplies and ammunition to be handed over to headquarters." Several people in the command center looked puzzled.

  "What goods? Let me take a look." After finishing speaking, He Zong took the list of goods from Li Xiaowu's hand.

  "My goodness, Comrade, that little Liu Hua has sent us gifts again. Look at this, so many things! I really don't know where he managed to get all these supplies from." General He said with a smile.

  "3,000 rifles, 400 submachine guns and pistols, 15 million bullets, 100,000 hand grenades, 3,000 mortar shells. So many." Seeing the numbers on the list, Ren Zhengwei was also shocked.

  "Heh heh, Director Ren, I'll make a bet with you. That kid Liu Hua should still have some stock left, believe it or not." General He said with a smile, seeing the surprised look on Director Ren's face.

  "I'm sure of it. With his kind of stingy personality, he wouldn't have emptied his own pockets. It seems we were shortchanged the last time we went drinking."

  ............

  Li Xiaowu stood there watching the two commanders go over there to joke around, and he really had a feeling of wanting to laugh. He knew that this time they took out so many because the army commander wanted to clear out enough mules to transport the spoils of war from this battle. The two commanders were both wrong.