However, the commander's heavy mortar platoon was not something he carried with him. When the artillery platoon received the order and then set off to the train station, more than half a day passed. So until the early morning of February 5, a column full of soldiers and The weapons and equipment train only departed from Taiyuan Railway Station. Due to the large amount of equipment and logistics supplies, only one passenger car was allocated to Zhou Wen as the command headquarters, and the others were all truck cars.
However, Zhou Wen had inspected it before. Although the stuffy tank car had simple facilities and was actually covered with a thick layer of hay, the environment was still clean. The soldiers spread out their marching blankets, opened several vents, and lay down The carriage was not crowded or stuffy.
This time the mercenary group went out in full force, including the logistics team. Uncle Wu, unwilling to stay behind, also came with him. Naturally, the logistics team was left to him.
Feng Tianpei and an American doctor named Monte who volunteered to participate, and ten nurses headed by Cui Xiaolu formed a field medical team. Half the carriage was filled with medicines and equipment, some of which were for personal use, and many purple clear and red medicines were donated to the Nineteenth Army. The road army's. Even the field ambulance that had never been on the battlefield was put on the train to experience the baptism of the first war.
Originally, Old Henry also wanted to join in with great interest, but considering his age and the fact that the Beautiful Hospital had to open as usual, Zhou Wen declined his kindness, leaving Old Henry unhappy and repeatedly saying that Zhou Wen was not a friend enough.
The military train first arrived at Shijiazhuang via the Zhengtai Railway, then changed to the Pinghan-Han Railway to Zhengzhou, then took the Longhai Railway to Xuzhou, and then took the Jinpu Railway directly to Nanjing.
Along the way, there were dual instructions and advance arrangements from the Party Headquarters of the Central Committee and the Military Commission. Changing trains did not change carriages. We only stopped at a few designated major stations along the way to let the soldiers get off to eat and rest. It took two full days and two nights. We arrived in Nanjing in the early morning of February 8th.
At the Xiaguan Railway Station in Nanjing, several elders from the Central Party Headquarters personally inspected the military appearance of the mercenary regiment and held a simple awarding ceremony.
Because the more than 1,000 people in the second detachment were temporarily formed units, Zhou Wen did not have time to submit the list and application for military ranks. Before this expedition, he submitted the list to the provincial party headquarters and the Military Commission, because during combat, military ranks were not marked It is very important, especially since there are many friendly neighboring troops, which can largely avoid confusion and losses when commanding and coordinating operations.
The Central Party Headquarters is as generous as ever in this regard. It doesn't cost money anyway. After reporting to the Military Commission, the Military Commission will naturally not be evil. People are going to the battlefield to fight the Japanese. How can you still be reluctant to part with it? A military rank of captain?
Therefore, Zhou Wen's military rank was raised one level from colonel to colonel due to his repeated meritorious service in Shanxi over the past year, and became the actual rank of colonel. The original officer ranks of the other first detachment remain unchanged. Meng Yuting and Chen Wanli of the second detachment both have the rank of captain. The other officers, including the company commander, are all lieutenants, the platoon leader is second lieutenant, the squad leader is all sergeant, the deputy squad leader is corporal, and the soldiers are all First class soldier.
Even Feng Tianpei got the rank of second lieutenant, and several nurses became sergeants.
After the title conferment was completed, several big bosses naturally encouraged and made speeches again, which was as expected. Finally, they actually announced on the spot that the provincial party headquarters would grant a one-time combat fund of 200,000 yuan, and handed over a 200,000 yuan ticket on the spot. Dayang's HSBC cashier's check was handed over to Zhou Wen. This move won warm applause from the soldiers and indeed played a role in boosting morale.
What really surprised Zhou Wen was that he actually met Chief Qian, whom he had not seen for more than a year. As a representative of the Military Commission, he came to inspect the newly established Shanxi Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army of the Central Party Headquarters and sent a message from the Military Commission and The radio communication frequency band and password of the 19th Route Army Headquarters.
This time the Military Commission also specially sent a telecommunications team and a radio station to follow Zhou Wen to Shanghai to be responsible for contacting the Military Commission. Until a higher-level Central Army commander arrives, the telecommunications team will be assigned to the new commander. leadership.
After several senior officials from the provincial party headquarters left, Chief Qian hugged Zhou Wen warmly, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Good brother, I haven't seen you for more than a year, but you have grown taller again. It's amazing. In a short period of time, you have grown taller again." He brought out so many elite soldiers and generals."
Zhou Wen also happily recounted the farewell to Chief Qian. Only then did he realize that since Chief Qian retired bravely and returned to the principal's attendant's office as the military officer again, the principal's scruples had indeed been eliminated, and he gradually began to let him Participate in some major decisions.
Chief Qian finally sighed: "If the war hadn't broken out in Shanghai this time, I would have been assigned to lead a delegation to Germany to inspect the German Air Force. Brother, you saw it clearly at the time. The principal asked me to pay more attention to the Air Force recently. development, I guess I will be transferred to the Air Force to serve."
Zhou Wen said: "A war between China and Japan is inevitable in the future. The development of the Chinese Air Force has a long way to go. It is the time for the eldest brother to show his talents. If you seize this opportunity, the eldest brother's status in the future will be stable. The air force and the army are different. The necessary professional knowledge and battlefield Commanding requires time to accumulate and accumulate, and it cannot be changed just by changing it."
"Oh? Brother, you mean that China and Japan will not go to full-scale war this time?"
It is no wonder that Chief Qian asked this question. You must know that at this period, the Nationalist Government did not know the purpose of the Japanese army in provoking the war in Shanghai. In fact, it was to divert the attention of the international community that had been paying attention to the Northeast in order to satisfy the long-term control of Northeast China. The purpose is arrogant and ambitious, and it is not ready for a full-scale war with China.
Zhou Wen said with a smile: "There will definitely be a war between China and Japan, but it won't be now. As far as I know, Japan is also suffering from the Great Depression of the world economy. Their current domestic financial situation is no better than China's. Where to go? Today's Japan cannot afford the military expenditures of a full-scale war. By then, we will only need to fight against them for a period of time, and their country will go bankrupt."
Chief Qian was silent for a while thoughtfully, then sighed and said: "I have hundreds of generals on the Military Commission of the National Government, but none of them has your insight. Brother, you don't know that until now, the principal has It was thought that Japan wanted to control my country's Yangtze River Basin and the purpose of the war was to occupy Nanjing. Therefore, all military deployments were made around defending Nanjing, and they were even prepared to move the capital to Luoyang."
Zhou Wen quickly said humbly: "Brother, you are exaggerating. The principal and the others are responsible for the fate of the country and the nation. When looking at problems, they naturally have to plan for the worst outcome. Besides, little Japan has always been bold and arrogant. If we don't suppress the arrogance of the Japanese army in Shanghai, There is no guarantee that they will not take advantage of it and peek further into our hinterland of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which is also the purpose of my invitation to fight this time."
