Zhang Xinghan led the cavalry battalion, marching northwest from Changchun, and arrived at Songyuan County that night.

After resting for a night in Songyuan, the next day, Zhang Xinghan led the cavalry regiment and began to withdraw to the Tongliao base area with the integrated Songyuan duli regiment.

At the same time, Liu Cuigang also led fifteen planes back to Tongliao Airport.

Since more than a thousand infantrymen from Songyuan Duli Regiment were accompanying them, Zhang Xinghan and his group's marching speed was greatly reduced.

It took four days, that is, the morning of December 7, to return to the Tongliao base area.

After four days of marching, both the cavalry and the infantry were very exhausted, and they were trapped and ran out of horses.

After handing over a thousand recruits of the Songyuan duli regiment to Huang Xiansheng for rest.

Zhang Xinghan also returned to the bedroom and took a nap. Although there were many things waiting for him to deal with, he had hardly slept soundly once during the ten-year journey.

After sleeping for five hours, Zhang Xinghan was woken up by Zhao Zhenfan.

"Chief of Staff, what's the matter?" Zhang Xinghan asked, rubbing his temples.

Zhao Zhenfan looked very excited and said humbly: "Master, I didn't want to wake you up so soon and let you have a good rest, but I can't help but report this news to you immediately."

"What news? About the Japanese Army?" Zhang Xinghan patted his forehead, got out of bed and started to put on his military uniform.

"No, it's the Huolinhe Mine. Xie Wu sent news that they have successfully mined coal. He also said that the quality of the coal in Huolinhe is much better than that in Benxi. It can be sold for power generation or to railway companies.

A very good price." Zhao Zhenfan said excitedly.

"Really?" Zhang Xinghan was very happy when he heard this and lit a pipe: "In the name of the division, we will electrify and reward all the miners. All the miners will receive an extra 1 yuan in salary for this month. In addition, Xie Wu will be rewarded with 100 yuan in reward."

Zhao Zhenfan's face suddenly turned a little ugly.

Zhang Xinghan noticed something unusual and asked in confusion: "Brother Guoping, what's wrong?"

Zhao Zhenfan said bitterly: "Master, we don't have much money brought from Shenyang anymore. Since the September 18th Incident, the army has not been paid for more than two months."

"How much is left?" Zhang Xinghan frowned and asked.

Since the September 18th Incident, I have really not paid any military pay to my subordinates. In the past, when I was in Shenyang, I was in danger, and I was united as one to fight against the Japanese invaders and defend Shenyang.

It is understandable that military pay was not paid.

Now the troops have withdrawn to Tongliao, and with them there are hundreds of thousands of Shenyang people, including many family members of local officers and soldiers.

Even if they don't need to receive military pay, they still have enough money to support their families, because no one who is a soldier doesn't want to live a better life because of their relatives.

In addition, the expansion of the army also made it inevitable to pay on time.

Not to mention the two main regiments of the original garrison brigade and the original 7th brigade of duli, it is absolutely impossible to recruit new soldiers locally in Tongliao without paying military pay.

Because they were all locals who came to serve as soldiers, their families lacked strong laborers, and their family members might even be able to live on their military pay.

Zhao Zhenfan took out an account book, carefully checked and calculated it for a while, and said: "Currently, the gold, jewelry and other properties left in the division are all equivalent to about 200,000 oceans."

Afraid that Zhang Xinghan would not understand, Zhao Zhenfan added: "Although there are still more than 200,000 yuan, the army has been owed for two and a half months. Ordinary soldiers are calculated as three yuan per month for two months. At present, we have 12,000 soldiers."

The remaining income is 60,000 yuan, and the civilian salary for officers and non-commissioned officers at all levels is more than 2,000 yuan. The minimum basic salary is only 78 yuan, and the amount for officers above the captain is tens or hundreds of yuan. In this way, at least 100,000 yuan is needed.

Ocean.

In addition, there are the salaries of the more than 10,000 workers and technicians in the arsenal, food for the troops, horse materials for the cavalry, and other daily living expenses, and the remaining 100,000 yuan is simply not enough."

"Does military pay cost so much?" Zhang Xinghan looked at Zhao Zhenfan in surprise.

Zhao Zhenfan patiently explained: "Master, have you forgotten that our Northeast Army's military pay is generally higher than that of other local troops in the pass, especially our seventh brigade, which is higher than that of the central army. If nothing else, Master

You should still remember how much your monthly military salary was when you were a battalion commander, right?"

Zhang Xinghan suddenly understood and nodded. He remembered that what Zhao Zhenfan said was true. In recent years, thanks to the efforts of the Zhang family and his son, the Northeast's finances have become much better than before.

The military treatment was very good, and Wang Yizhe was appointed as the brigade commander of the 7th Brigade of Duli. During the period when he led the troops to be stationed there, he organized the officers and soldiers of the entire brigade to open many small industrial factories and workshops.

The profits were huge, which gave the officers and soldiers of Du Li's 7th Brigade very high salaries.

A captain and company commander can entertain his colleagues in the best tavern in Shenyang every week, which shows that his military salary is large.

From this point of view, the 200,000 yuan I have is really not enough.

Zhao Zhenfan said: "This does not include the 25 new fighter planes that our commander paid for for us. If we count them all together, our division can now be described as heavily in debt. It is not an exaggeration at all.

.

Now that the young marshal has cut off our military pay for two months, and the Nanjing government only provides personnel but not military pay, our top priority is to find ways to raise military pay as soon as possible."

"Well, it seems we have to think of a way to raise military pay." Zhang Xinghan nodded thoughtfully: "Let's cancel the rewards for the mine workers first, and then reward them when our finances are strong."

Zhao Zhenfan nodded.

"By the way, Chief of Staff, how many extra weapons and ammunition do we have now? Especially the RI-type weapons produced by the director of the Shenyang Ice Factory that we eliminated and no longer used and how many captured RI-type weapons are there?" Zhang Xinghan suddenly asked.

"The warehouse of the Shenyang Arsenal originally stocked approximately 150,000 to 60,000 rifles and pistols, with millions of rounds of ammunition almost intact. During three battles with the Japanese army, we seized a total of more than 20,000 rifles and more than 200 light and heavy machine guns, large and small.

There are more than a hundred artillery pieces, all of which are now stored in the temporary warehouse in Tongliao Town, the arsenal." Zhao Zhenfan thought for a while and replied.

"Oh, we don't need these weapons and equipment for the time being. You can send them to sort them out. I'll ask my father to contact the buyers and we will sell them to raise military funds and pay for the troops." Zhang Xinghan instructed.

"Master, are you going to resell arms?" Zhao Zhenfan was a little surprised.

"Yes, in the future, excess weapons and equipment can be sold to other local troops. Firstly, it will strengthen the combat of other local troops and improve China's national defense strength as a whole. Secondly, we can also get huge profits, which can solve our problems.

Financial crisis." Zhang Xinghan thought for a moment and said, "Therefore, the arsenal needs to rebuild its factory buildings as soon as possible and resume production as soon as possible."

"Well, this is a good way to get the best of both worlds." Zhao Zhenfan nodded when he heard this.

"By the way, how is the recruitment going these days?" Zhang Xinghan asked.

"It's going well. In the past half month, I have recruited more than 1,500 people. Most of them are Mongolian compatriots who are good at riding and shooting. Many of them still have war horses with them. We can continue

A cavalry regiment has been formed." Speaking of recruiting troops, Zhao Zhenfan said with some excitement.

"No, one cavalry regiment is enough, not to mention that each regiment has been assigned a cavalry company directly under the regiment. In the future, our assault troops will mainly be composed of tanks and armored troops, and the cavalry will be completely reduced to an auxiliary force, and will eventually leave modern warfare.

The stage." Zhang Xinghan said.

"That makes sense."

"Well, the newly recruited Mongolian soldiers are allowed to ride horses when marching, but they need to dismount and fight like infantrymen riding in cars when fighting. After all, they have just joined the army. If they are not allowed to ride horses as infantry, they

It will inevitably be a bit difficult to accept psychologically, and we will have to wait until they gradually integrate into our army before we can carry out regular unified deployment and reorganization."

"Well, I understand."

…………………… Lushun Japanese Kwantung Army Headquarters.

Lushun was hit by an air raid, causing heavy losses to the army, navy and air force, and a large amount of military supplies, which shocked the whole country of Japan.

It also shocked officials of the Navy Ministry and Navy Ministry who had never advocated expanding the war against China.

If the previous successive defeats of the Kwantung Army were due to underestimation of the enemy and the stupidity of frontline commanders, then this long-distance and super-intensity air raid.

It was enough to prove that the threat posed by Zhang Xinghan's troops could no longer be ignored, especially after their air force in the Northeast was wiped out again.

It aroused the urgent attention of the base camp. Through investigation and discussion, the base camp came to a correct conclusion.

That is Zhang Xinghan's air force based on the Northeast Army Air Force, which is already very powerful.

And all this was less than three months before the war broke out, which shocked Japan's top brass.

In just three months, Zhang Xinghan's troops have grown to such a powerful level. If they are not wiped out in time, wouldn't it be a serious problem for the empire if time comes?

As a result, the Navy and the Army Ministry had a rare consensus of opinion.

Increase preparations and investment for the war against China, deploy a large number of sea-based aviation, land-based aviation, and large-scale air defense forces.

In addition, Japan's local aircraft manufacturing plants are also operating at full capacity, working overtime day and night to produce new fighter jets.

At the same time, the new machine gun and rifle samples previously seized by the Kawamoto Special Forces were sent back to Japan by the Kwantung Army.

Japan's military industry experts are very interested in this and have conducted research on it.

Naturally, the news that Japan was deploying a large-scale increase in troops to prepare for landing could not be concealed from the eyes and ears of the Nanjing Secret Service Headquarters.

Under Chairman Chiang's instruction, the agents reported this information to Zhang Xinghan.

After Zhang Xinghan received the notice, he made a decisive decision to continue the air attack on Port Arthur and delay the Japanese troops' assembly and landing with a powerful air attack.
Chapter completed!