Chapter Thirty-One: Mobilizing the Army and Preparing for Battle

  The convoy set out from Wuhan and had a relatively smooth journey. Although the Taxation Police General Team was not Chiang Kai-shek's direct line, everyone knew who the boss behind the scenes was. The guards on the road let them pass one after another when they saw the laissez-passer with the big seal of the Taxation Police General Team in Li Tao's hand. The convoy arrived at Xiaowangzhuang area on the third morning amidst the bumps along the way.

  After returning to Xiaowangzhuang, Chen Jifan didn't have time to rest and found Vice Captain Zhong Dingcheng that afternoon to ask about the recent enemy and our situation.

  Zhong Dingcheng introduced that the total number of troops in this section has reached over 700, plus those brought from Wuhan, totaling over 820. However, only one-third of them have combat effectiveness, and the rest are still in training. In terms of weapons, there is no shortage for the time being. There are two infantry cannons, six mortars, 30 grenade launchers, and various types of shells that are relatively sufficient. Additionally, there are two Type 92 heavy machine guns, 18 light machine guns, 84 submachine guns, 62 shotguns, 16 sniper rifles, nearly 800 rifles, over 2,400 hand grenades, 500 landmines, and 100 kilograms of explosives.

  "Lao Chen, after you went to Wuhan for more than a week, the surrounding enemy situation has undergone significant changes. Our eastern Zhe County, southern Quanjiao and northwestern Dingyuan have all been occupied by the Japanese army. The Tianjin-Pukou Railway along the east coast has also become the devil's domain. It can be said that we are already surrounded by the devils. Moreover, our activity area is too small, so once the devils recover their strength to deal with us, the situation will be quite terrible."

  What Zhong Dingcheng said is true. In order to achieve the strategic intention of advancing north and south along the Tianjin-Pukou Railway, the Japanese army started from January 1938, and the 13th Division first crossed the river from Nanjing, successively occupying cities such as Mingguang, Dingyuan, Fengyang, and Bengbu north of Chuzhou, and then took the opportunity to attack the northern bank of the Huai River. The reason why "Shenying" was able to win one or two battles without suffering a larger-scale counterattack from the Japanese army is that the devils didn't care about small civilian armed forces like "Shenying".

  "The devils attempted to cross the Huai River, coordinating with the North China Japanese army from afar, but were met with fierce resistance from the defenders of the Fifth War Zone. The National Army and the Japanese army are now facing off on both sides of the Huai River. Guess who is commanding the Nationalist forces north of the Huai River?"

  "I don't know, are you implying we still know each other?" Chen Jifan shook his head.

  "I don't know him personally, but he's very famous, his name is Zhang Zizhong." Zhong Dingcheng replied with a smile.

  "I said, the National Army was retreating step by step, why did they suddenly clash with the devils on the Huai River? It turned out that General Zhang was there, a tiger-like general. If I had the chance, I really wanted to meet him." Chen Jifang admired General Zhang Zizhong.

  "They are a general's family, we're at most a regimental officer, and that's even self-proclaimed. Want to get acquainted with General Zhang? Maybe in the future."

  "Alright, let's not talk about that for now," Chen Jifang walked to the map and asked, "The devils haven't crossed the Huai River, so Dingyuan wouldn't become their rear base on the riverbank? It's too close to us. The 13th Division has participated in the Nanjing Massacre, just because of this, I won't let them be at peace."

  "Yes, according to the intelligence we have, there is a brigade headquarters of the 13th Division of the devils in Dingyuan City, with an unknown number of troops. However, the devils only occupied the county seat and haven't had time to occupy the countryside yet." Zhong Dingcheng replied.

  "Old clock, the situation is grim! We have a large number of people, but our combat effectiveness is simply not strong. The devils only need one battalion and we'll be chased around like rabbits. Not to mention taking the initiative to look for trouble with the devils."

  "The people you brought from Wuhan should be fine, just a bit injured." Zhong Dingcheng said.

  "They are the wounded of the Taxation Police Brigade, which is a well-trained unit in the National Army. I value this point, but these people can't be used immediately. On the one hand, they are all still injured and need some time to recover, on the other hand, most importantly, these people also need retraining." Chen Jifan said.

  "I think it's not just them, the whole unit probably needs to be rectified. In addition to military technology, they should also be rectified ideologically and disciplined. To be honest, sometimes I really miss the past when the discipline of the troops could be seen from their internal affairs. The current 'Divine Eagle' is still far behind." Zhong Dingcheng understood what Chen Jifan meant.

  "Starting from tomorrow, we will first reorganize and then the several of us will go down to the bottom to conduct rectification training on discipline and ideology for a month! At most one month, we must raise the combat effectiveness of our troops, we must make 'Divine Eagle' become more elite than the government army! By that time, we will make the devils look good."

  "Lao Chen, while you were away, I came up with a reorganization plan. Take a look." Zhong Dingcheng handed over a sheet of paper.

  Chen Jifang finished reading the results quickly and said: "I agree to reorganize into a battalion, but I want to concentrate these people I brought with me and reorganize them into a regiment directly under the assault team, as the spearhead and strategic reserve of the entire regiment. For now, I will temporarily serve as the commander of the assault team, and Su Jingwei will be the deputy commander. All members of the team are equipped with submachine guns and Japanese-style hand grenades, with 86 members in total.

  Zhong Dingcheng had no opinion on the proposal of the assault team, but he asked what would happen to those student soldiers?

  "What to do? First, all participate in reserve training, at least learn how to shoot and throw hand grenades? It's settled then, tomorrow morning we'll hold a meeting to announce the reorganization order."

  The next morning, all the cadres of "Divine Eagle" including Dr. Wu and Li Tao attended the meeting. The meeting began with Zhong Dingcheng introducing the situation between the enemy and us over a period of time, then handed over to Chen Jifan.

  Chen Jifang continued: "In the previous period, we achieved a small victory, not because the devils were not good at fighting, nor because we were very strong. It was because the devils were busy with battles in the north and had no time to take care of us here. I hope everyone has a sense of crisis. Our top priority now is to survive in the gap between the devils and seize the opportunity to strike the devils in coordination with the national army's frontal resistance. Therefore, each of us should have a sense of crisis and work hard to practice our internal skills. In response to the current situation and enemy situation, the regiment has decided to reorganize the existing troops."

  "Announcement of orders: China's 'Divine Eagle' Anti-Japanese Special Operations Team is reorganized into a battalion, with Battalion Commander Chen Jifan, Deputy Battalion Commander Zhong Dingcheng. The battalion staff includes Confidential Secretary He Chunxiang, Advisor Li Tao, Logistics Director Deng Fangshun, and Military Law Officer Gao Huanjie."

  A direct subordinate to a special warfare reconnaissance company, Company Commander Zhao Jun, Deputy Company Commander Wen Chuanhao; A assault team leader Chen Jifan, deputy team leader Su Jingwei; An artillery company, Company Commander Li Anju, equipped with infantry guns and mortars. An internal guard company, Company Commander Gao Huanjie; Machine gun company, Company Commander Wang Dazhu, the whole company has 40 people, equipped with all light and heavy machine guns. A communication squad, Squad Leader Zhang Xiwan; A cooking squad. In addition, there is a militia work team and a logistics company, Company Commander Deng Fangshun. The hospital belongs to the battalion headquarters, headed by Wu Qing as the director.

  The regiment has four infantry companies: The First Company, with 142 men, is led by Captain Song Guantao; the Second Company, also with 142 men, is led by Captain Hu Yunfeng; the Third Company, again with 142 men, is led by Captain Luo Yugang; and the Fourth Company, once more with 142 men, is led by Captain Shang Changfu. The machine gun platoon, led by Lieutenant Wang Dazhu, has 40 men and is equipped with light and heavy machine guns as well as rifles. All infantry companies are equipped with Type 38 rifles and grenade launchers. The regiment has approximately 800 men.

  "After announcing the complete reorganization order, Chen Jifa said: 'After the meeting is dismissed, the troops will be reorganized within two days, and then the flag-giving and gun-giving ceremonies will be held. All military commanders must grasp the training of their respective teams after taking office. The training outline and assessment outline will be formulated by the battalion headquarters and issued later. This is the internal order of the battalion headquarters, and all units must execute it immediately after distribution. Are there any questions?"

  "No!" Everyone stood up.

  Finally, Zhong Dingcheng added: "We have at most one month to train the troops and improve their combat effectiveness. Within this month, we must not only train the troops but also complete the transformation from guerrilla forces to regular army. One month later, units that fail to pass the assessment will continue to stay here for intensive training and cannot participate in combat operations. In addition, each company should quickly report the list of platoon leaders to the battalion headquarters."

  After the meeting, Chen Jifan and Zhong Dingcheng left Su Jingwei alone, mainly to discuss the matter of the assault team. Chen Jifan told Su Jingwei that he wanted all members of the assault team to undergo separate training, hoping that he would bravely take on the responsibility.

  Su Jingwei had just arrived at Xiaowang Village, and the energetic "Divine Eagle" was infectious to him. He had no ideological objections to Chen Jifan's request and quickly agreed.

  The flag presentation ceremony was scheduled to be held on the third day after the opening, and these three days were mainly for each company to supplement new soldiers according to its establishment, receive military uniforms, and then select squad leaders and report to the battalion.

  For Li Tao, who served as a liaison officer, the past few days have been shocking. He had thought that the so-called "Divine Eagle" was at most just a guerrilla team, and although General Sun highly respected Officer Chen, this did not mean he could train an elite unit in a short period of time, especially in the mountains surrounded by Japanese troops. However, he was wrong. From the military rules and orders written on the walls to the diverse training subjects on the training ground, everything made him unable to believe that this was a civilian militia, with everything being more strict than the national army. There was also the radio station at the battalion headquarters, which Li Tao swore he had never seen before. Although the tax police's radio station was already very advanced, Li Tao believed that this was the most advanced military radio station he had ever seen.

  When the latest barracks order was first issued, many people including Li Tao were stunned because the opening clauses of this so-called order were actually about folding blankets! There were also regulations on the placement of various items in the barracks and so on. No army unit had such requirements, and it was not possible to meet such requirements in reality. Because the attention of officers at all levels was mainly focused on training. Li Tao did not believe that folding blankets could be promoted until he saw Captain Chen and others skillfully fold the blankets into a neat square block.

  On the third day, when Li Tao sat on the rostrum, he finally saw the military flag of this unit. The flag unexpectedly used black as the base with yellow edges, and embroidered a male eagle spreading its wings to fly, symbolizing the vigorous spirit of this unit. The military flag is one of the symbols of a unit's regularization, and Colonel Chen's passionate speech further strengthened this concept.

  Chen Jifan didn't have time to pay attention to Li Tao's ideas for the time being, and after the troops were reorganized, he started even busier work. In order to alleviate the logistical pressure on Xiaowangzhuang, only the headquarters, internal guard squadron, special reconnaissance squadron, and assault team remained stationed in Xiaowangzhuang. The other four companies, artillery company, and machine gun company were respectively stationed in several villages around Xiaowangzhuang for training. He had to go down to each company frequently to inspect the training situation, and after returning, he also had to formulate assessment standards with Zhong Dingcheng.

  As for the 88 assault team members brought from Wuhan, Chen Jifan only arranged for them to do some formation training and recovery activities under Dr. Wu's guidance, after all, they were lightly injured, as long as they were properly nursed back to health, it wouldn't take a month for all the wounded to recover.

  However, for the assault team, they had more ideological training content than other troops. At first, it was teaching songs like "We are soldiers" and "The March of the Volunteers", later it was about how big Japan is, where Japan is, why Japan wants to fight China, and then discussing why we should fight and so on. Although the training volume of the assault team was larger or smaller than that of other companies, the internal affairs made everyone miserable, with some people learning to fold blankets for several days in a row, not only that, Officer Chen often blew that damn assembly whistle in the middle of the night, making everyone's heart skip a beat. More importantly, they would be severely criticized by their superiors every time, and the reason was of course that their military uniform was not neat. It's true, if the devils suddenly attacked, the assault team would definitely lose.

  Under the guidance of professional doctors, the wounded recovered quickly. Half a month later, the entire assault team began formal training. Chen Jifan did not arrange intense physical training but instead took the assault team to the village to play hide-and-seek games, which was actually training for urban warfare tactics. In the urban warfare drills, each member of the assault team had to cover and cooperate with each other in groups of three. Those who came last in the drill would go hungry that day.

  Compared to the assault team, the treatment of the special warfare reconnaissance platoon was much worse. They were always in the deep mountains and old forests, either practicing pulling exercises or carrying heavy loads and running, or climbing and surviving in the wilderness. The sniper squad had to practice stealth skills in addition to participating in the above subjects. Jin Suo did not disappoint his deputy platoon leader, as a hunter, Jin Suo's familiarity with the mountains was far beyond that of ordinary people. He excelled in both shooting level and stealth techniques, which made Wen Chuanhao very satisfied.

  This month, the movement of the surrounding devils is what Chen Jifan is most concerned about. He requires Gao Huanjie to keep monitoring the devil's radio at all times, and even if he can't decipher the password (deciphering passwords is not that easy), he must analyze some clues from the devils. However, the devils seem to have thoroughly forgotten the small troops of Xiao Wangzhuang who once brought them painful memories, and there has been no action against "Shenying" for a whole month. Chen Jifan speculates that it may be because the battle at Tai'erzhuang in the north has started, and the Japanese army is definitely not gaining any advantage.

  We must take advantage of the enemy's focus on Taierzhuang to develop in all directions, especially towards Dingyuan.

  As the month-long mobilization was about to end, Chen Jifang and Zhong Dingcheng finally formulated a plan for their next move.