Huang Ke received Batu from afar in his own line on Fenglin Road.

As soon as he saw Batu, he explained his intentions to him.

"Mongolia is part of our country, and I don't need to say anything more about the fact that every inch of land is contested. You are a Mongolian, and I sent you there because you are more suitable, there may not be many battles on the surface, but there are many fights in the secret, you have to be careful. ”

Batu leaned on his heels, "Commander, don't worry!" ”

Huang Ke said again, "I'll tell you the bottom of it, the troops sent to you this time are the remnants of Zhang Xueliang." After the last defeat, this army is now in a low fighting mood, and there is a shortage of soldiers, saying that it is three group armies, in fact, it is less than 50,000 people, I have no extra soldiers to give you again, but it is still claimed to be 100,000 elites to the outside world, which you have to understand. ”

Batu paused this time, he didn't expect it to be like this, in fact, this was also Huang Ke's helpless move in order to win support in the Standing Committee.

"Commander, can I take some of my old troops with me?" After a moment's hesitation, Batu made a request.

Huang Ke also thought for a while, "Your old army will be sent to Kham to prepare for entering Tibet in the future." ”

After speaking, Huang Ke changed his mind again: "Forget it, I'll give you three regiments, no more." ”

"Okay, three regiments are three regiments." Batu was not hypocritical, and patted his chest with a loud sound, "Commander, please rest assured, with Batu here, no one will want to separate a single grass from the Mongolian steppe." ”

"Well, I've got you a partner." As he spoke, Huang Ke pressed the microphone and said, "Let Du Yuming come in." ”

"Du Yuming?" Batu couldn't help but say. He naturally knew this person, he knew Du Yuming when he was in Xiguan Military Academy before, but the two were not speculative, and their friendship was very average. However, Batu also knew about the many battles he commanded, and he was a brave general. It is precisely because of this that Batu is a little worried, both of them used to be military commanders, and this time let him be his deputy, I am afraid that there will inevitably be a little estrangement sometimes.

Huang Ke didn't seem to feel anything wrong, he said bluntly: "Well, Du Yuming has previous combat experience in commanding large-scale mechanized troops, and he is more cautious in character, these two points can just make up for your shortcomings." Come to think of it, I think it's best for him to work with you. ”

Batu didn't say anything, and after a while, Du Yuming walked in, he was wearing a pulp-washed turned-up military uniform, with a cowhide armed belt tied around his waist, and a big-brimmed hat buckled around his waist, which was completely different from Batu's big belly.

"Report! Du Yuming came to report. When he entered, he leaned on his heels and gave a standard military salute.

Huang Ke smiled heartily: "Guangting, the staff has already told you about the intention of coming to you, right?" ”

"As already said, it's going to the Second Army of the Expeditionary Force." Du Yuming replied.

"Well, get to know me, this is your partner, the Mongolian man Lao Batu." As he spoke, Huang Ke introduced Du Yuming to Batu again.

The two shook hands in top hats, without too much greeting, which was the first time they cooperated.

"Sit down." Huang Ke pointed to the sofa in front of him and motioned for the two to sit down, while he himself leaned in front of the desk, holding a cigarette in his hand, "You should all know the specific situation." There were many differences between the way the Mongol expedition and the First Army of the Expeditionary Force, but the purpose was the same. I won't say much about the big truth, are there any questions? ”

Batu looked at Du Yuming, pondered for a while, and then asked, "Commander, when will the recruits assigned to us by the recruitment office arrive?" ”

Huang Ke also did not hide it, "I'm afraid it will take some time, and now the front-line soldiers are very tight." However, I will let the logistics and equipment department try to meet the weapons and ammunition as much as possible. ”

"Then ......" Batu hesitated for a moment, and then simply said, "Then we can recruit troops ourselves to make up for the lack of soldiers?" ”

Huang Ke glanced at Batu, although all ministries had the practice of recruiting troops on the spot, but the central government strictly ordered private recruitment, first, this will disrupt the country's overall military service system, and second, private recruitment will inevitably lead to behaviors such as pulling strong soldiers, not to mention that private recruitment is easy to cause personnel to eat empty salaries and other behaviors, so after the Anti-Japanese War, the Ministry of National Defense issued a clear regulation: all troops are prohibited from recruiting troops privately, and recruitment is carried out by military stations.

It is reasonable for Batu to make this request this time, but Huang Ke does not intend to make an exception.

"No way!" Huang Ke's tone was unmistakable.

Batu bowed his head and said nothing.

Du Yuming glanced at Batu and said: "What should we do with this expedition if it encounters the Soviet Red Army?" ”

"In our country, if you encounter any resistance in the process of marching, you don't need to ask for instructions, and you will be eliminated on the spot!" Huang Ke's tone was more firm this time.

……

Recalling the scene when he saw Huang Ke again, Batu sighed many times in his heart. Since the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, he has never led his troops to fight, and the proud iron cavalry has also changed into willow hats, carried shovels and pickaxes to become engineering soldiers, although weapons were also issued later, but after all, they are not regular combat troops.

This time I was able to carry the sword again, so I naturally couldn't slack off.

After returning to Kunming to pack up briefly, Batu flew to Guisui, where his army had already begun to assemble and stand by.

Batu had brought nothing with him on the march, except for a saber and a faded cavalrymane. The cloak is a little faded, but the knife is still sharp. Batu took his cloak and sword and set out on the journey again.

But it was a little different from what he imagined, not long after he arrived at the Guisui military station, he encountered the problem that the troops could not be assembled, so he gave the death order.

Du Yuming on the side obviously understands Batu's mentality, he has not participated in the war for a long time, and when he regains military power, he naturally wants to perform quickly, but fighting is not a good family, not to mention that the troops are not in place, even if they are in place, they cannot be pulled out immediately, so just now he did not shy away from the presence of everyone and denied Batu's order on the spot.

Batu didn't argue with Du Yuming on the spot, after all, this is not very good. He waved his hand and said, "If there is any problem, let's discuss it later." ”

Du Yu knew that it was interesting, and he didn't say more.

"What are those people up there doing?" Batu pointed in their direction and saw a group of men in uniforms standing crookedly at the other end of the line.

A lieutenant colonel from the military station leaned over and said, "Commander, that's the prisoner in charge of building the military station." ”

"Re-education through labor prisoners?" Batu didn't seem to know.

The lieutenant colonel explained: "It is the prisoners who are sent here for re-education through labor. ”

It turned out that since the Anti-Japanese War, there has been a gradual shortage of labor. In order to compensate for the shortage of labor, the Ministry of Justice approved the participation of prisoners in the construction of military installations. The logistics department of the Second Army of the Expeditionary Force, which was responsible for building the military station, applied to its superiors, and the Ministry of Justice gave special approval, and before Batu and the others arrived, they successively requisitioned more than 7,000 young and strong prisoners aged between 18 and 45 from prisons across the country to Guisui to participate in the construction of the military station here.

Of course, they are not free labor, and if they perform well in the labor reform at the military station, the military station will give them corresponding certificates, and they can commute their sentences according to these certificates after they go back.

"This is a group of newly arrived prisoners, and the policy and management have not yet been explained, so it seems a little messy." The lieutenant colonel explained that there was no silver three hundred taels here.

After he said this, Batu understood it. He paused and said, "Although these people have made mistakes, they can still return to society through labor reform. Don't be too them, settle down with food, clothing, shelter and shelter, and don't overwork. ”

"Yes, yes." The lieutenant colonel's head is like pounding garlic.

"Isn't there no division system yet? In my opinion, we should divide the personnel according to the size of the troops. It is also convenient to manage the division according to the battalions, companies, platoons, and squads. Batu said happily again.

The prisoners all stared blankly at Batuu, only to see him pointing fingers. They didn't know that his arrangement had already decided the fate of these more than 7,000 people in the future.

After a brief inspection, Batu went to the equipment office to see the new equipment. Huang Ke really did not break his promise, this time he allocated a large amount of mechanized equipment to the Second Army of the Expeditionary Force, including the new Benniu tank, Cuihua rocket artillery, wheeled armored vehicles, three-wheeled motorcycles, and the * of the Hanyang Factory, and also transported a large number of canned beef, beer and instant noodles, in short, there is no need to worry about weapons and food for the time being.

Before he entered the army, Du Yuming was already very busy.

After returning home, Du Yuming, together with the comrades of the equipment department, began to distribute equipment according to the original establishment of each unit. The Second Army of the Expeditionary Force had two regiments, a tank regiment, a rocket artillery regiment, and four artillery battalions.

This time he was busy until more than nine o'clock in the evening, Du Yuming had not finished it, and when he was shouting to the orderly to let him make some instant noodles and send it, Batu came over with a bowl of steaming beef soup.

Du Yuming hurriedly got up, "General Batu, you are ......?"

"Brother, you've worked hard today." Batu put the beef soup down and changed his cold expression during the day.

Du Yuming looked at it, "General Batu, it's good to let the orderlies do these things, why bother you to do it yourself?" ”

"Huh? Brother, you and I don't have to be so polite, we are at the same level, just call me Batu. If you don't mind, I'm a few years older than you, just ask me to be older, you can call me 'big brother', and I will call you 'brother'. Batu pulled out a chair and sat down, lighting a Mohe cigarette.

"This ...... Well, let's be brothers in private. With that, Du Yuming picked up the chopsticks and prepared to taste the freshly cooked beef.

He picked up a piece of beef, hung it in the air but didn't put it in his mouth, and then he put down his chopsticks and said with a smile: "Brother Batu, since you and my brother are welcome, let's talk about something directly." ”