After knowing the escape direction of the 57th Army and the reorganized 36th Division, Li Qiufan immediately redirected the troops to Yanchuan, and at the same time ordered Heizi to lead the third and fourth columns south to the Liangyan area.
But it was a step too late after all. Before Li Qiufan led his troops to Yanchuan, the 57th Army and the reorganized 36th Division had already left the Liangyan area and rushed to Yichuan.
Reluctantly, Li Qiufan had no choice but to give up the idea of pursuit and ordered the troops to start cleaning up the remnants of the national army and bandits in the Liangyan area.
After more than half a month of cleaning up, the Liangyan area was finally completely liberated, and the Yanchang Oil Mine was also in control.
After finishing the work in the Liangyan area, Li Qiufan sent a telegram to his boss to inquire about the next arrangements for his First Corps.
The boss quickly responded and asked him to set up his station in the Yanchang area to protect the oil mines and prevent the enemy from moving north.
Then Li Qiufan sent a telegram to Zhao Gang, asking him to meet him at the extension date.
It was a few days later that Zhao Gang arrived with his troops. Except for the finishing division that had been left in Suide, the guard brigade that Zhao Gang transferred to Zhao Gang to escort the prisoners were all brought here.
At the same time, Zhao Gang also brought a group of fresh troops. During the period when Li Qiufan attacked Yan'an and recovered Liangyan, he was not idle. In addition to doing ideological work as prisoners, he also recruited troops in the Suide area.
This time when they came to the Liangyan area, in addition to the original organized troops, they also brought one and a half divisions of new soldiers.
Seeing these new recruits, Li Qiufan suddenly remembered something. When they parted, Zhao Gang said he wanted to give him a surprise. It wasn't until this moment that Li Qiufan suddenly realized it.
In the days that followed, Zhao Gang began to deal with the work in the Liangyan area, especially the operation of the Yanchang oil mine.
Li Qiufan, on the other hand, managed the troops and made some adjustments to the troops again.
There are no changes in the adjustment of the heavy artillery division and security brigade this time, and they are still the original structures.
The other four columns all expanded their troops, and Li Qiufan crammed nearly 20,000 new soldiers into each of the four columns.
Among the previous four columns, Li Yunlong's third column had the largest number of troops, about 26,000 people, and the other three columns all had more than 24,000 people.
After successive battles during the southward movement, each column had a certain amount of attrition.
From this, Li Qiufan supplemented them all. The new soldiers brought by Zhao Gang and Li Qiufan also asked the troops to recruit troops on their own. In the end, the strength of the four columns was controlled at about 30,000.
Li Qiufan's First Corps now has four columns, a heavy artillery division and a security brigade.
The heavy artillery division and the security brigade are not conventionally organized forces. Although the heavy artillery division is one division, it has about 17,000 people.
Because the number of captured artillery pieces continued to increase, Li Qiufan continued to add people to the heavy artillery division, and unknowingly reached this strength.
Although the garrison brigade is a brigade-level organization, its strength is about 10,000 people. Because it is often used as a reserve force, Li Qiufan expanded its strength.
Calculated in this way, the four columns, plus a division and a brigade, already have nearly 150,000 people.
Looking at the final summary on the roster, Li Qiufan couldn't help but feel a little emotional.
"What are you looking at? You are so fascinated!"
Li Qiufan was looking at the roster when suddenly Zhao Gang walked in from outside the door and asked Li Qiufan.
"See for yourself, now I can be considered a wealthy landlord!"
Li Qiufan looked up when he heard Zhao Gang's voice, and then handed over the roster in his hand.
"Good guy, 150,000 people?"
Zhao Gang read the list after taking it, and couldn't help but exclaimed when he saw the final summary of the number of people.
"Yes, please be polite when talking to me in the future! I am a person of status!"
Li Qiufan smiled when he saw Zhao Gang's reaction, and then put on airs and said to Zhao Gang.
"Haha, I'll go back and report this list to the boss. Let's see how you can ask for something from the boss!"
Zhao Gang curled his lips disdainfully, and then threatened Li Qiufan.
"No, Lao Zhao! You are my political commissar, and you can't turn your elbow outwards!"
When he heard that Zhao Gang was about to give him a report, Li Qiufan couldn't sit still at that time. He stood up and helped Zhao Gang sit down.
"Didn't you ask me to be polite? How come this doesn't show your identity?"
After Zhao Gang sat down, he looked at Li Qiufan playfully and said.
"Old Zhao, what are you talking about? How can I put on airs with my own political commissar!"
Li Qiufan immediately waved his hand towards Zhao Gang, as if the words he said before were not his.
"The way your face changes is faster than turning the pages of a book!"
Zhao Gang looked at Li Qiufan and shook his head helplessly.
"Stop talking about this, how are you busy at work over there?"
After joking, Li Qiufan asked Zhao Gang about his work there.
"Everything is on track, and the oil mine has returned to production. This period of time has exhausted me!"
Speaking of his work, Zhao Gang reported to Li Qiufan with a tired face.
"Who is that! Xiao Wang, go and tell the cooking team that we will have pork stew as an extra lunch. I want to make up for the political commissar!"
When he heard that the oil mine had started production, Li Qiufan immediately beamed with joy and immediately shouted to the guard outside the door.
"Okay, don't bother! Don't you know how many taels of rice you can eat? Stewed pork!"
Zhao Gang glared at Li Qiufan angrily when he heard what he said, and then stopped the guard who was going to the cooking class to convey the order.
"I didn't want to reward you, but you still refused!"
Seeing that the guard was stopped, Li Qiufan knew that he would not be able to eat the pork, so he spread his hands and said helplessly to Zhao Gang.
"I'm not..."
"Commander, a telegram from the boss!"
Zhao Gang was about to say something more when suddenly a correspondent came in and said to Li Qiufan with a telegram in his hand.
"A telegram from the boss? What happened again?"
Upon hearing the telegram from his boss, Li Qiufan immediately stood up, took the telegram, and then began to read it.
"What's going on?"
Seeing Li Qiufan looking at the telegram without saying anything for a long time, Zhao Gang asked him doubtfully.
"The boss asked me to take you to the military headquarters for a meeting!"
Hearing Zhao Gang's voice, Li Qiufan came back to his senses, then turned to look at Zhao Gang and said.
"It's just a meeting. Why did I think it was going on?"
Hearing that they were asked to go to the military headquarters for a meeting, Zhao Gang said angrily to Li Qiufan that he thought something big had happened.
"I usually go by myself, why did I bring you with me this time? Why do I feel so unsure!"
Li Qiufan frowned and looked at the telegram again, muttering in confusion.
"What, I can't take it? Or are you afraid that the boss will poach me away?"
Hearing Li Qiufan's muttering, Zhao Gang raised his hand and punched him on the shoulder.
