12dz Chapter 236 Leaving
Chapter 236 Leaving
On December 1942, 12, the gloomy-faced brigade commander walked quickly into the military fortress's operations meeting room.
In the conference room, Li Yunlong, Zhao Gang, Wang Meng and Lin Shubing were all present.
The noisy scene in the meeting was gone, and the expressions on everyone's faces were very ugly.
The brigade commander felt unhappy when he saw the depressing scene.
"Come on, talk it out! You can't just sit there until dark!"
Li Yunlong took a breath and supported himself on his knees with both hands.
"Commander, Chongqing has gone too far this time. There is no chance for us to attack Taiyuan in such a short time! Isn't this a waste of our soldiers' lives?"
"Don't talk about these useless things. I know better than you that if we don't attack Taiyuan, we will be accused of disobeying the central government! Chen Bulei has repeatedly criticized us in their newspapers!"
"No matter if he can do it or not?"
"No! Public opinion is now leaning towards Chongqing. Maybe we can't avoid it this time."
The brigade commander sighed and found himself in a dilemma. On one hand were the lives of tens of thousands of people in the independent column, and on the other hand was the possible breakdown of the cooperative war of resistance.
"Alas, the head of the headquarters has come up with a solution that is not a solution. Please think about it carefully!"
After a long ideological struggle, the brigade commander finally spoke out this "worst idea".
"The independent column is separated from the 386th Brigade! Separated from the Eighth Route Army!"
"what!"
Li Yunlong and his three companions all stood up. They were part of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army. How could they be separated from the 386th Brigade and the Eighth Route Army?
Li Yunlong was the first to express his stance, saying that he had followed the organization since the Red Army era. Now he was asked to leave? Impossible!
"I don't agree! The tens of thousands of soldiers in the independent column won't agree either!"
Zhao Gang pulled Li Yunlong, whose face was flushed, and signaled him not to get excited.
"Brigade Commander, Lao Li is right. Our team has been branded. How can we break away from it?"
Wang Meng and Lin Shubing had the same idea. This situation was unheard of.
"Everyone, sit down! I am still your brigade commander. Do you want to rebel?"
Li Yunlong and the other three sat down unwillingly, but they were all still very emotional.
"Brigade Commander, we really can't figure it out. The worst that can happen is that we can just break up with Chongqing and do our own thing!"
"No, now is the critical moment of the war of resistance. We must unite to face the enemy and never do anything that will make our relatives sad and our enemies happy! Your independent column is indeed strong, but can your team kill all the Japanese in the country? We can't waste time on internal strife any more!"
How could Li Yunlong and the other three not know such an obvious truth?
However, they found it difficult to accept parting ways with their comrades who had fought side by side for so long, at least in name only.
"Unless there is a better way, we will follow this policy! We can't joke with the lives of our soldiers!"
The air in the war conference room froze again. Everyone felt as if a huge rock was pressing on their chest, making it hard to breathe.
"The four of you should figure this out first! Then, get the following work done! Just consider this as the last order I, the old brigade commander, give you!"
Having said that, Li Yunlong and the other three nodded silently.
"Commander, we are separate individuals but not family. On the surface, our independent column has separated from the Eighth Route Army, but we are still a family and we will obey your command! You can't abandon us!"
"Of course, even if you, Li Yunlong, are Monkey King, you can't escape from my grasp!"
The brigade commander took off his glasses and wiped his wet eyes.
From a personal perspective, among the five main regiment leaders at the time, he scolded Li Yunlong the most, but he also protected him the most, which goes without saying.
From a business perspective, the combat effectiveness of the independent column was obvious to all, and he felt bad about parting with such a powerful team.
"Okay, in that case, we will officially call Chongqing tomorrow, and then spread the message to the whole country! You don't need to move any of your existing mines and bases, but you have to be on guard against Chongqing!"
"Also, the head of the headquarters raised his hand, and the New 1st Regiment, the New 2nd Regiment, and the Independent Regiment were also incorporated into the Independent Column. You can't let your old brothers down!"
"Really?"
"Yes, I've already communicated with them. Li Yunlong, from now on, we can only address each other as friendly forces, but you must not forget your identity!"
The joining of Ding Wei, Kong Jie and Xing Zhiguo finally brought a glimmer of hope to this bad news. At least these old friends have not separated yet.
After the brigade commander finished speaking, he took one last look at the military fortress and feared that from now on, people could only come in under the pretext of visiting and studying.
"Let's go! Take care of yourselves!"
"Wait a minute, Brigadier General!"
Li Yunlong and three other men discussed it and decided to take out all the supplies except those needed for war preparedness and hand them over to the brigade commander.
"Commander, I'm really not used to you not blackmailing me. I'll take the initiative to hand it over!"
Li Yunlong handed over a list of supplies with both hands:
G43 semi-automatic rifles: ;
92 pistols: ;
MG32 general-purpose machine guns: ;
50mm platoon mortars: pieces;
81mm company-level mortars: pieces;
75mm infantry guns: pieces;
5 million rounds of ammunition of all kinds;
20,000 rounds of artillery shells of all kinds;
Penicillin 1,000 bottles;
Radio 100;
Walkie-talkies: 100;
Trucks 50;
Fifty motorcycles.
There are also various other civilian supplies, including gasoline, steel bars, cement, etc.
"Li Yunlong, I really don't dare to accept your initiative this time. I can't take the blame for you anymore. You better be careful!"
After the brigade commander finished speaking, he walked out quickly against the wind and rode on a tall horse.
"The winter wind is really strong. It hurts my eyes."
The brigade commander wiped his eyes and quickly disappeared over the horizon.
Faced with unprecedented changes, Li Yunlong also began to divide the work to ensure a smooth transition.
Li Yunlong was responsible for contacting the New 1st Regiment, the New 2nd Regiment, and the Independent Regiment, and was preparing to immediately set up a cadre brigade to ensure that these three regiments could be integrated into the Independent Column as soon as possible.
Zhao Gang was responsible for organizing a meeting of military and political cadres to announce this order, and required all troops and governments to do a good job in ideological work and avoid any chaos.
Wang Meng was responsible for the temporary alert mission and raised the alert level to the highest level, especially to guard against the Chongqing troops and Yan Laoxi on the other side of the Yellow River, who might take the opportunity to cause chaos.
Lin Shubing immediately organized the loading of materials and ensured their safe delivery to the designated location.
Li Yunlong and the other three were unsure of themselves. They had never encountered such a serious situation before. It was far more difficult than when the Japanese army was approaching.
It is equivalent to starting from scratch again and rebuilding prestige.
It is also unknown whether the independent column can accept such a huge change.
However, the matter is done and the independent column must get through this hurdle.