Hearing the teacher's question, Li Qiufan nodded helplessly and sighed secretly in his heart.
"How did you get it? There are several howitzers. Tell me the situation. Don't lie!"
At this moment, the teacher's expression was very serious, and his eyes were fixed on Li Qiufan.
There was no other way. Li Qiufan could only explain the process to the division commander, but he only reported six of the twelve howitzers and only 150 rounds of artillery shells.
"Haha, you brat is dishonest!"
The teacher smiled and looked at Li Qiufan with wise eyes.
"Well, I...I'm quite honest."
Li Qiufan's claws were a little numb, and the pressure from the teacher was too much.
"Hmph, I guess you have at least eight howitzers, or even ten! As for the shells, even doubling them is not enough for me!"
The teacher snorted coldly and expressed his guess.
This guess made Li Qiufan break into a cold sweat. He didn't expect the teacher to be so smart, and his guess was almost the same.
"Okay, you can stay here first and wait until I tell the boss about your situation and see how I can arrange it for you."
After speaking, the division commander called in a security guard and took Li Qiufan to his residence.
The news came quickly, and the division commander sent someone to call him over the next day.
"After staying one night, have you decided how much you want to pay?"
As soon as Li Qiufan entered the door, the teacher asked with a smile.
Li Qiufan's face turned pale when he heard this, and he really wanted to beat himself up.
"Teacher, I will pay as much as you ask me to pay."
Li Qiufan felt that his heart was bleeding, and he was about to hand it over before he had enough fun.
"Humph, look at how stingy you are!"
"I'm just teasing you, keep those howitzers to give birth to their offspring!"
The teacher snorted coldly and was very dissatisfied with Li Qiufan's performance.
"What? No need to pay anymore?"
Li Qiufan didn't hear the division commander's dissatisfaction. He only heard that he didn't need to hand over the howitzer, and he immediately became happy.
"What a child!"
The teacher shook his head helplessly and smiled bitterly.
"There's news from the boss, do you want to hear it?"
The teacher picked up a piece of paper on the table and shook it at Li Qiufan.
"think!"
Li Qiufan nodded heavily, with an expectant look on his face.
"Order! The 22nd Regiment will be expanded into an independent brigade, directly under the leadership of the 129th Division Headquarters. Li Qiufan will be appointed as the independent brigade commander, and Zhao Gang will be appointed as the political commissar of the independent brigade. Other positions will be appointed by yourself. After the appointment, the list will be submitted to the division headquarters!"
Li Qiufan didn't expect that this piece of paper turned out to be a letter of appointment, nor did he expect that his 22nd regiment would be expanded and he would be promoted.
"What? You don't want it?"
The teacher looked at Li Qiufan playfully and asked.
"think!"
Li Qiufan came back to his senses when he heard the teacher's voice and quickly agreed. Just kidding, a cook who doesn't want to be a general is not a good tailor!
"Look at you like that, take it!"
The teacher pretended to be disgusted and handed the appointment to Li Qiufan.
"By the way, Commander, I have something else to ask of you."
After accepting the appointment letter, Li Qiufan suddenly remembered something.
"What's the matter? You tell me first."
"I'd like to ask you for a telegraph operator."
That's right, Li Qiufan remembered those two radio stations and wanted to ask the division commander for a telegraph operator so that he could contact the division headquarters more easily in the future.
"Well, if you don't tell me, I will send it to you. Why, do you think you have your own radio station?"
"Well, two were seized, but they don't have our frequency or code book, so they're useless."
Li Qiufan told the truth, he did not dare to lie to the teacher anymore.
"Hey, you have a lot of good stuff. I didn't ask you to hand over the howitzer. Please hand over the radio station. I'll match it for you as a telegraph operator."
When the teacher heard that there were two books, he immediately opened his mouth and took one.
Li Qiufan could only nod his head, thinking that he couldn't leave without leaving something behind.
Then the division commander arranged for a telegraph operator for Li Qiufan and then released him back to the station.
After returning to Shanglin County, Li Qiufan went straight to the county seat to find Zhao Gang. He wanted to tell Zhao Gang about the expansion of the 22nd Regiment first.
"Old Zhao! Old Zhao!"
When they arrived at Zhao Gang's office, Li Qiufan started shouting before he even entered the door.
"Can you be more steady!"
Zhao Gang walked out of the room and looked at Li Qiufan helplessly.
"Ahem, from now on, please call me brigade commander, Comrade Zhao Gang!"
Li Qiufan cleared his throat and spoke to Zhao Gang seriously.
"Brigade commander? The division headquarters transferred you?"
Hearing Li Qiufan's words, Zhao Gang was shocked, thinking that the division headquarters had transferred him.
"Well, I'm afraid we won't be able to fight side by side in the future. Old Zhao, take care of yourself!"
Seeing Zhao Gang's reaction, Li Qiufan became more playful and said with a gloomy expression.
"You...what will happen if you leave the 22nd Regiment! How can the division headquarters transfer you!"
Sure enough, when he heard Li Qiufan admitting to being transferred, Zhao Gang became anxious and his eyes were a little red.
"Old Zhao, don't worry, I'm just teasing you! I didn't transfer him!"
Seeing Zhao Gang's true feelings revealed, Li Qiufan became upset and hurriedly opened his mouth to explain.
"Are you kidding me? Li Qiufan belongs to your uncle!"
When Zhao Gang heard that he was teasing him, he immediately kicked Li Qiufan and looked at him angrily.
"What are you doing, Lao Zhao? It's just a joke, don't do anything!"
Li Qiufan rubbed his kicked butt and muttered.
"Hmph, what about the brigade commander you're talking about?"
Zhao Gang didn't look good on him and asked about the brigade commander.
"Now, show it to yourself."
With that said, Li Qiufan handed the appointment letter to Zhao Gang.
After Zhao Gang saw it, he understood what was going on, and then he became happy. After all, he had also been promoted.
"Let's go, Old Zhao, let's go back to the 22nd Regiment to announce the news."
Li Qiufan took back the appointment letter and said to Zhao Gang.
"No, it's back to the Independence Brigade!"
Zhao Gang corrected Li Qiufan seriously, and then walked out of the office with his hands behind his back.
Li Qiufan looked at it for a moment, then shook his head helplessly. As expected, scholars are the best at pretending.
Arriving at the headquarters of the 22nd Regiment, Li Qiufan first announced the news of its expansion into an independent brigade, and then appointed some cadres.
As expected, Heizi was promoted to deputy brigade commander, and the most unexpected one was promoted to chief of staff.
The five battalions under his jurisdiction totaled nearly 3,000 people, and they were organized by Li Qiufan into three regiments, each with about 1,000 men.
The artillery battalion was expanded into an artillery regiment, which currently has only 500 people.
There were no changes to the reconnaissance battalion, and the previous deputy battalion commander was promoted to battalion commander.
The guard company was expanded into a guard battalion, and the monk served as the battalion commander.
After the appointment, Li Qiufan looked at Zhao Gang: "Old Zhao, the next step is up to you!"
"Look at me? Haven't they all been announced?"
Zhao Gang's face was full of confusion and he didn't know what to look at him.
"Damn it, soldiers! We are a brigade! We only have less than 4,000 troops. If we bring them out, we will give the Eighth Route Army a discount. Hurry up and recruit troops!"
Li Qiufan patted his thigh. Unexpectedly, Zhao Gang didn't think about it and quickly explained it to him.
Hearing Li Qiufan's words, Zhao Gang's mind was filled with dark thoughts, "Why don't you serve as a political commissar for you all day long? It's just recruiting troops!"
