In the days that followed, Li Qiufan focused on the recovery of his troops.
His troops suffered a lot of casualties in this blocking mission, but fortunately they also captured a lot. Previously, they had captured more than 20,000 national soldiers in Mancaoping.
Through Zhao Gang's leadership in doing ideological work for the prisoners, and the recruitment of new soldiers, each unit quickly returned to full strength.
"Qiu Fan, all the troops are now full, and there are a lot more people. What do you think of the arrangements?"
In the headquarters, Zhao Gang asked Li Qiufan with a roster.
"Let's wait and let them train with the troops first, but we won't make any arrangements for the time being."
Li Qiufan thought for a while and then said to Zhao Gang that there was no news coming yet, so he decided to wait.
Zhao Gang naturally knew what news Li Qiufan was waiting for, and he nodded in agreement. This matter was indeed not urgent.
While Li Qiufan was training troops here, there was a huge quarrel in another place.
The reason is that Li Qiufan's application for promotion to the Corps from the Independent First Column was opposed by many people.
There will naturally be support among those who oppose it, and the boss is the one who supports Li Qiufan.
Moreover, the boss withstood the pressure and after more than a dozen meetings, the application was approved.
It was already half a month later when Li Qiufan received the notice. At this time, he and Zhao Gang were handling the work of the army at the headquarters. Suddenly, the telegraph operator ran in with a telegram.
"Commander, a telegram from the boss!"
The telegraph operator handed the telegram to Li Qiufan, and both Li Qiufan and Zhao Gang were attracted by the telegram.
"Qiu Fan, the result is here!"
Zhao Gang turned to look at Li Qiufan and said to him with a smile.
"yes!"
Li Qiufan sighed with emotion when he heard Zhao Gang's words, and then reached out to take the telegram and read it.
"Hurry up and tell me what the result will be, you're so worried about me!"
Seeing Li Qiufan staring at the telegram without saying anything, Zhao Gang urged impatiently.
"The First Corps of the Northwest Field Army!"
Li Qiufan's voice was trembling, and he mechanically turned his head and said to Zhao Gang.
"real?"
After hearing what Li Qiufan said, Zhao Gang couldn't believe it. Unexpectedly, the application was approved and their column was really reorganized into a corps.
Li Qiufan nodded heavily to him, and then handed the telegram in his hand to Zhao Gang, while he looked at the sky outside the door in a daze.
He didn't expect that the boss actually did it. You should know that this was the first formation of the corps after the establishment of the field army, and it actually fell on him.
And the designation turned out to be the First Corps. This was supposed to be the position of General Wang Beard, but he didn't want to get there first.
"Really! It's true, Qiu Fan!"
After confirming the news on the telegram, Zhao Gang excitedly grabbed Li Qiufan's shoulders and shook him.
"Huh~"
"Summon cadres above the regimental level for a meeting immediately!"
Li Qiufan took a deep breath, and then asked the security guard at the door to notify cadres at all levels of the meeting.
It didn't take long for everyone to arrive at the headquarters. After seeing Li Qiufan and Zhao Gang with smiling faces, everyone was very confused about what happy event was going on.
"Brother, what's the meeting today?"
Heizi walked up to Li Qiufan and asked him. Li Qiufan had given him the recent training mission of the army. Heizi, who was not at the headquarters, didn't know what happened.
"Everyone is here, please take a seat first. I have something to inform everyone today."
Li Qiufan didn't speak. Zhao Gang waved his hand and said to everyone.
After hearing Zhao Gang's words, everyone quickly found their seats and sat down, waiting for Li Qiufan to speak.
"Now that everyone is here, let me announce the news, that is, our independent first column will be officially reorganized into the first corps of the Northwest Field Army from today!"
Li Qiufan looked around at everyone, and then told the news about reorganizing the column into a corps.
As Li Qiufan finished speaking, the entire command center was silent, so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
"Dude, is this true?"
Everyone was shocked by the news. Only Li Yunlong reacted and asked Li Qiufan with wide eyes.
"Of course it is true! I will be the commander of the First Corps, Lao Zhao will be the political commissar of the First Corps, Heizi will be the deputy commander of the First Corps, and will be the chief of staff of the First Corps. I will prepare a list of other positions and report them to the Northwest Field Army headquarters. "
Li Qiufan nodded towards Li Yunlong, and then talked about the appointment of the troops.
After confirming that this was true, the entire command headquarters burst into cheers instantly, and everyone stood up and hugged the people next to them.
After Li Qiufan and Zhao Gang saw this scene, they looked at each other and shook their heads helplessly.
In the following days, after discussions between Li Qiufan, Zhao Gang and others, adjustments to the entire army began.
After the army was reorganized into a corps organization, the troops under its jurisdiction were also upgraded from division level to column level.
After the adjustment, Li Qiufan decided to establish a four-column organization, in which the former Second Division was split.
The Second Division was divided into two and was supplemented into the First Division and the Third Division respectively. As the commander of the Second Division concurrently, he also stepped down from this position.
The appointment of commanders of each column was finally decided after many discussions.
They are Erhu in the first column, Lu Ming in the second column, Li Yunlong in the third column, and Li Xiping in the fourth column.
After the first and second columns were replenished, the strength of both columns reached about 24,000.
After being replenished during this period, Li Yunlong's three columns now have more than 25,000 troops.
The Fourth Column has improved its original strength and expanded it to 25,000 men.
The composition of the heavy artillery division has not changed, but a new independent artillery regiment has been added. The main weapon of this artillery regiment is the flying thunder cannon, and its strength has also expanded from the original 15,000 to more than 18,000.
In addition, Li Qiufan also formed a new security brigade, which is mainly responsible for the security of the corps headquarters and other issues, with a total strength of about 10,000 troops.
After such additional adjustments, the entire First Corps has a total strength of 130,000 troops. It has reached such a point just after it was established, which makes Li Qiufan feel a little unrealistic.
After the unit was reorganized, Li Qiufan took a guard battalion and went straight to the headquarters of the Northwest Field Army to meet his boss.
After traveling for more than a day, Li Qiufan finally arrived at the headquarters of the Northwest Field Army, and was then taken to see his boss.
"Hey, isn't this Commander Li? Why do you have time to come to my place for a stroll?"
As soon as they met, the boss started teasing Li Qiufan.
"Boss, please stop laughing at me, I'm here to give you the roster!"
Li Qiufan scratched his head in embarrassment, took out the name list from his pocket and handed it to the boss.
"Haha, why don't you know how to tease me? It's so boring!"
The boss pointed at Li Qiufan and shook his head, then took the roster from his hand and read it.
