"Then thank you, sir!"
Li Qiufan nodded after hearing what the teacher said, and he also expressed his understanding about the tank.
"You don't need to thank me for this, but I want to thank you properly!"
The teacher waved his hand towards Li Qiufan. Li Qiufan's troops who destroyed the 12th Corps were the main force, but they took advantage.
"Stop talking about this, sir, we just won a big victory. Is it okay for you, old man, to treat me to a meal?"
Li Qiufan didn't want to thank him back and forth, so he skipped the topic and asked the teacher to invite him to dinner as a joke.
"Hahaha, of course no problem, let's go!"
After hearing what Li Qiufan said, the teacher laughed loudly and then pulled him away.
After the soldiers cleaned up the scene, the teacher held a welcome ceremony for Li Qiufan, and then discussed Li Qiufan's request for a tank with the senior management of Zhongye.
The Twelfth Corps has a tank battalion with a total of twenty-four American light tanks.
Of these twenty-four tanks, only three were intact after the battle, and the other twenty-one were damaged to varying degrees.
At this time, the midfielder can't even talk about repairing tanks, even if he can drive a tank.
After some discussion, given that Li Qiufan gave up all the captured weapons and equipment and heavy artillery, the senior management of the center and field finally decided to give all these tanks to Li Qiufan.
Li Qiufan was overjoyed when he heard the news. He originally thought that just a few cars would be enough, but to his surprise, the teacher gave them all to him.
Although only three of them were intact, he could repair the other ones that were broken. At most, he could cobble together seven or eight tanks using parts from three or four of them.
Li Qiufan, who originally planned to retreat to the northwest if nothing happened, ended up staying in the Central Plains to repair tanks.
In the following time, the army was managed by Heizi, while Li Qiufan concentrated on building the tank.
This repair lasted more than a month. While repairing, Li Qiufan taught the automobile soldiers transferred from the heavy artillery division how to operate the tank and maintain it.
It took Li Qiufan more than a month to finally complete the project. There were originally 21 tanks with varying degrees of damage, but Li Qiufan repaired 15 tanks by patchwork.
With the fifteen repaired tanks plus the three intact tanks, the First Corps now had eighteen tanks, which exceeded Li Qiufan's expectations.
He originally planned to get about ten tanks together, which would be good, but after observing the damaged tanks, he found that a few had only their tracks broken off, and there was no big problem at all.
After that, the training of tank troops began, and then a tank company was established, with eighteen tanks incorporated into it.
The time has come to 1949. Li Qiufan spent the New Year in the Central Plains area, and then received a telegram from his boss.
"Heizi, assemble the troops immediately, we are going back to the northwest!"
After reading the telegram from the boss, Li Qiufan said to Heizi beside him.
"Are we going back?"
After hearing Li Qiufan's words, Heizi widened his eyes and asked him.
"Yes, the boss ordered us to return to Xi'an immediately!"
Li Qiufan nodded towards Heizi and confirmed.
"I'm going right now!"
After receiving Li Qiufan's confirmation, Heizi immediately ran out to gather troops.
Li Qiufan gave the order to set off after the troops were assembled. He did not go to greet the teacher and the old brigade commander because the troops in the middle field had been transferred.
After traveling for seven or eight days, Li Qiufan finally returned to Xi'an with his troops and met his boss.
"You brat, where's the tank?"
When Li Qiufan was about to arrive in Xi'an, the surrounding soldiers in charge of guarding reported the news to the boss, and also reported that Li Qiufan was bringing more than a dozen tanks.
When he heard that there was a tank, the boss immediately led his people to meet Li Qiufan.
Li Qiufan originally thought that the boss would come to greet him, which made him feel a little embarrassed.
But after hearing the boss's words, Li Qiufan's heart suddenly turned cold.
"Boss, you came here just to see the tanks?"
Li Qiufan asked the boss with a grimace.
"Nonsense, is it possible that I'm still here to greet you? Are you so stupid?"
The boss glanced at Li Qiufan with disgust and then continued to search for where the tank was.
"Come on, boss, I'll take you to see it!"
Li Qiufan shook his head helplessly after hearing the boss's words, and then led the boss to the location of the tank company.
"Good stuff, really good stuff! I didn't expect that we also have a tank!"
Looking at the eighteen tanks in front of him, the boss sighed with excitement.
"It's just eighteen tanks. Boss, don't get too excited. There will be more in the future!"
After Li Qiufan heard the boss's emotion, he said it nonchalantly, and then was kicked by the boss.
"Are you so stupid? You've even given me a piece of cake. I'm in need of your bite!"
The boss glared at Li Qiufan angrily, and then started to deal with madness.
Li Qiufan was even more helpless, but as he knew the boss's temper well, he immediately kept his mouth shut and waited for the boss to finish venting his anger.
"Why don't you talk, you idiot?"
After cursing for a long time, the boss frowned and asked Li Qiufan when he saw that he was silent.
"Um, boss, I have realized my mistake and am reflecting on myself!"
Upon hearing the boss's inquiry, Li Qiufan quickly spoke.
"Hmph! Are you so stupid that you still reflect on yourself?"
The boss just snorted coldly, not believing Li Qiufan's words at all.
"By the way, boss, what's going on over there in Xinjiang? Lao Li didn't do anything wrong, right?"
Seeing the boss's reaction, Li Qiufan quickly changed the subject and asked the boss about the situation in Xinjiang.
"Xinjiang has been completely liberated. That guy Li Yunlong did a good job this time!"
"And your political commissar, while presiding over the work in Lanzhou, actually mobilized a force of more than 20,000 people, which made great contributions to the liberation of Xinjiang!"
Hearing Li Qiufan ask about the situation in Xinjiang, the boss's expression improved a lot, and then he praised Li Yunlong and Zhao Gang.
"What? Old Zhao raised an army? More than 20,000 people?"
Li Qiufan's eyes widened immediately after hearing the boss's words, and he asked the boss in disbelief.
"Yes, that was originally the foundation responsible for the defense force in Lanzhou and surrounding areas."
"After Li Yunlong arrived in Lanzhou and learned that he was going to liberate Xinjiang, your political commissar was worried that there were not enough troops, so he directly raised an army."
"This has solved a big problem for me. People are being used everywhere now, and the troops I have are also a bit stretched. Fortunately, your political commissar has solved the urgent need!"
The boss nodded towards Li Qiufan, and then told the origin of this unit. Li Qiufan was stunned.
