After attending Lao Li's wedding at noon, Li Qiufan settled down on Lao Li's territory.
"Brother, please tell me what's going on. You're making me feel like a cat is scratching you!"
Li Qiufan's behavior made Lao Li very confused. He brought a company of soldiers to the banquet in a good manner. Something must have happened.
"Haha, brother, don't be anxious. Let me tell you something. Tonight we..."
At night, Lao Li went to the bridal chamber happily, while Li Qiufan took the guard company and hid in various places in Zhaojiayu.
"Tap, step..."
A figure sneaked out of the village, unaware that his actions were under the eyes of others.
"Haha, as expected, Zhu Ziming has rebelled after all."
Li Qiufan looked at that figure and murmured.
He told Lao Li about it during the day. Lao Li didn't believe it at first, but he couldn't bear Li Qiufan's tough words and finally agreed to let Li Qiufan's guards join forces for defense at night.
Not long after Zhu Ziming went out, a group of people sneaked in. It was Yamamoto's special agent team!
Yamamoto walked at the front, still a little confused as to why there wasn't even a sentry.
When all the Yamamoto agents were revealed, the silent night was broken by an angry shout.
"beat!"
Li Qiufan shouted, and then the whole village rang out with dense gunshots, and half of Yamamoto's special agent team fell instantly.
"Bagh Yalu! Damn Zhu Ziming!"
Yamamoto cursed angrily and began to retreat with his men, but how could Li Qiufan let him escape? He directly pursued him with his company of guards.
However, due to the obstructed vision at night and the mediocre cross-country ability of the soldiers of the guard company, Yamamoto was finally allowed to escape.
"This old guy runs really fast!"
Li Qiufan spat on the ground and cursed, it was a pity that Yamamoto was not left behind.
"Brother! Brother!"
Li Qiufan was cursing, and Lao Li ran out with others.
"Brother, what's going on? Did you leave everything behind?"
Lao Li really believed Li Qiufan this time. He had already seen the Japanese who died at the entrance of the village. The clothes and equipment were exactly the same as those that had attacked Kong Jie, and he immediately broke out in cold sweat.
Li Qiufan shook his head at Lao Li and said, "If you don't catch up with the rest, let them run away."
"Oh, if you don't keep it, then you won't keep it. Today is really thanks to you, brother. Otherwise, brother, I would have let the Japanese take care of me tonight."
Lao Li lamented that since breaking out of the Japanese encirclement, his independent regiment had suffered heavy losses. He simply dispersed the troops and let them develop on their own, leaving only a guard platoon and a signal corps.
"Okay, what time is it? You should go back to the bridal chamber quickly. I will keep vigil for you tonight!"
Li Qiufan waved his hand. Although he didn't keep Yamamoto, at least he could keep his wife for Lao Li.
Nothing happened all night, and Li Qiufan said goodbye to Lao Li early the next morning and returned to the station with the guards.
"Qiu Fan, you are back."
As soon as I returned to the station, I saw the brigade commander taking a walk, and the brigade commander also saw Li Qiufan.
"Hello, Brigadier!"
Li Qiufan stood up straight and saluted with a military salute.
The brigade commander waved his hand to Li Qiufan and said: "Stop standing here, come in with me, I want to tell you something!"
With that said, the brigade commander took Li Qiufan to the house, and then took out a piece of paper from his arms.
"Yesterday, a message came from the headquarters not long after you left. Do you want to know what it is?"
The brigade commander took the piece of paper and did not hand it to Li Qiufan, but looked at him playfully.
"News from headquarters? Is it related to me?"
Li Qiufan was a little confused, but since the brigade commander called him in, it probably had something to do with him.
The brigade commander smiled and nodded, and then said seriously: "Li Qiufan, commander of the independent battalion, obey the order!"
Upon hearing this, Li Qiufan stood at attention and waited for the brigade commander's order.
"After the Eighth Route Army General Headquarters decided, the Independent Battalion will be expanded from now on to the 22nd Regiment of the Southern Hebei Anti-Japanese Base Area, directly under the command of the 386th Brigade, with Li Qiufan as the regiment commander and Zhao Gang as the political commissar!"
"yes!"
After hearing the brigade commander's words, Li Qiufan knew that he had been promoted, but according to the current strength of the independent battalion, he had already been promoted to the regiment level.
"Haha, you appoint the other cadres of the 22nd Regiment on your own. Just send the list to me when the time comes. Get out!"
After reading out the appointment, the brigade commander raised his hand and drove Li Qiufan out.
After Li Qiufan returned to the Independent Camp, he directly found Zhao Gang and told him about the expansion of the army into a regiment. Then the two discussed the details of the expansion and the appointment of cadres.
The next day, on the school field of the Independence Camp.
At this time, the school field was full of people, and all the soldiers of the independent battalion were gathered.
"I have something to tell you. Starting today, our independent battalion will be expanded into a regiment, the 22nd Regiment of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army!"
Li Qiufan was now in front of the soldiers, with Zhao Gang standing next to him.
When they heard that the group had been expanded, smiles broke out on everyone's faces.
"Now I order that the original 4th and 5th companies will be merged into the 123rd company. The 123rd company will be expanded into a battalion starting from today. The former 123rd company commander will be promoted to the battalion commander."
"The original machine gun company was reorganized into an artillery battalion, and other structures remain unchanged!"
Li Qiufan changed the machine gun battalion back to a pure artillery organization because he assigned all heavy machine guns to the infantry, ensuring that each company had a heavy machine gun.
After the reorganization, the organization of the 22nd Regiment was changed to three infantry battalions, one artillery battalion, one cavalry company, one reconnaissance company, and one guard company.
Each of the three infantry battalions has about 400 men, and each company under its jurisdiction is equipped with a heavy machine gun.
Although today's artillery battalion does not have heavy machine guns, it does have three Type 92 infantry cannons and sixteen mortars, which are higher artillery configurations than a Japanese Army's Type A brigade.
Then Li Qiufan appointed Heizi as deputy commander, told everyone that Zhao Gang was promoted to political commissar, and then disbanded the unit.
But the peaceful days did not last for a few days, and Lao Li still provoked the Battle of Pinangrad, which shocked the entire bright sword world.
The reason is that after Li Qiufan left, Lao Li became more and more angry. The Japanese took advantage of his marriage to try to steal Lao Li's bridal chamber.
In a rage, Lao Li immediately sent people to reconnoiter Yamamoto's whereabouts, and then assembled the entire independent regiment.
Not long after the troops were assembled, the soldiers sent for reconnaissance brought back the news that Yamamoto retreated to Ping'an County.
Old Li was overjoyed to receive the news, and with the confidence of nearly 10,000 troops, he immediately ordered an attack on the county seat.
With his attack, the entire northwest of Shanxi was immediately thrown into chaos. Japanese troops from various places began to reinforce toward Ping'an County, and all Eighth Route Army units passively entered the battle.
Li Qiufan did not escape either. Li Qiufan, who was studying the training plan, was called to the brigade headquarters by the brigade commander, and then received the order.
At all costs, block a Japanese regiment coming for reinforcements from the direction of Taiyuan.
