You were tasked with guarding the Sihang Warehouse, and you brought out a Tiger tank?

The fact that Liu Yongnian led the remnants of the Independent 45th Brigade to defect to the 33rd Army Corps could not be kept secret.

The news spread rapidly among the various miscellaneous armies surrounding Pengcheng, triggering a huge chain reaction.

Those remnants of the Northwest Army and Sichuan Army, who were used as cannon fodder and suffered from hunger and cold on the outskirts of Xuzhou, had long been fed up with the Central Army's humiliation.

After their unit designations were seized by Jiangcheng authorities under a pretext, many irregular troops spontaneously headed north, heading straight for the Jiaodong Peninsula.

In just half a month, the Qingcheng Port area gathered more than 10,000 defeated soldiers from various places.

Meanwhile, with the battle in the central Shandong mining area coming to an end, Lin Feng had led his command team back to the Qingcheng Port base camp.

That evening, Lin Feng decided to host a welcome banquet for Liu Yongnian and several other brigade and regimental commanders from the Sichuan and Northwest armies who had come to join him, along with the high-ranking officers of the 33rd Army Corps.

The spacious banquet hall was brightly lit, and a dozen large round tables were laden with sumptuous dishes and wine.

There weren't any particularly elaborate dishes; the main dishes were roast chicken, braised pork hock, large chunks of braised pork belly, a whole pot of pork stew with vermicelli, and baskets of steaming white steamed buns and rice.

Liu Yongnian and the others sat there, looking at the table full of delicious dishes and smelling the rich aroma of meat, their mouths watering.

These people on the front lines certainly didn't get to eat anything good; even a little bit of oil was hard to come by. Faced with this kind of situation, they seemed rather uneasy.

Lin Feng picked up a full glass of Qingcheng Port beer and stood up.

The noisy banquet hall immediately fell silent.

"Generals, brothers."

Lin Feng raised his wine glass, his gaze sweeping over the various ragtag military commanders present.

"You are all very righteous, bringing your troops to Jiaodong to fight against the Japanese invaders. I, Lin, on behalf of the 33rd Army Corps, welcome you."

Once you arrive at Qingcheng Port, you've arrived at your own home.

All the grievances and hunger I suffered in the past are now behind me!

This glass is a toast to everyone!

After saying that, Lin Feng tilted his head back and drank the wine in his glass in one gulp.

Liu Yongnian's eyes reddened with excitement, and he quickly picked up his wine glass and stood up.

"Commander Lin is righteous. We poor people who have no mothers to care for us will now sell our lives to the 33rd Army Corps."

Dry!"

The other generals also stood up and drank their wine in one gulp.

After a few drinks, the atmosphere in the banquet hall became completely lively.

The generals let loose, eating meat and drinking wine heartily, releasing their fatigue and frustration from the past few days.

After the welcome banquet, Lin Feng kept the core members of the 33rd Army Corps in the conference room.

"We've gathered the men, but they're over ten thousand ragtag troops, a mixed bag, so we definitely can't send them straight to the battlefield."

Lin Feng sat in the main seat and lit a cigarette.

"Zhang Wenzhong, Li Dadao."

"arrive!"

Zhang Wenzhong, the newly formed commander of the Eighth Army, and Li Dadao, who had just taken over as commander of the 100th Army, immediately stood up at attention.

These two are veterans who have fought alongside Lin Feng since the days of the Security Brigade, and they know the rules of the 33rd Army Corps best.

"The task of identifying and organizing this ragtag army is entrusted to the two of you."

Lin Feng exhaled a smoke ring and gave instructions.

"Establish strict screening camps."

Pick out all those opium smokers, gambling addicts...

Give each person two silver dollars for travel expenses and tell them to get lost.

Our 33rd Legion doesn't want this kind of trash.

Those who remain must be healthy, able-bodied veterans who have seen blood on the battlefield.

"Understood, mission accomplished!"

Zhang Wenzhong and Li Dadao loudly accepted the order.

Lin Feng turned to look at Lin Peiji sitting next to him.

"Uncle Peiji, this adds another 10,000 mouths to feed, which puts a lot of pressure on logistics."

You are in charge of coordinating the issues of food and clothing.

Lin Peiji stroked his beard and nodded with a smile.

"Don't worry, young master, our Qingcheng Port granaries are full now."

"Don't even mention ten thousand people, we can afford to support another twenty thousand."

The next morning.

Lin Feng, accompanied by Lin Peiji and several guards, personally drove to the temporary encampment outside the city for inspection.

The camp was filled with tents, and soldiers in tattered uniforms were everywhere.

Dozens of large iron pots were set up on the open ground, and the cooks were simmering a thick soup of mixed grains and meat.

The newly recruited soldiers lined up, holding worn-out enamel bowls, their eyes fixed longingly on the bubbling meat in the pot.

Lin Feng walked through the camp, looking at the soldiers.

The vast majority of them were pale and thin, with prominent cheekbones, their military uniforms torn to shreds, and the soles of their straw sandals worn through.

But their eyes revealed a fierce aura, as if they had crawled out of a pile of corpses.

Lin Feng estimated that as long as they were fed and given good guns, they would still be heroes who could fight the Japanese to the death.

"Uncle Pei-ki, please make a note of this."

Lin Feng stopped and gave instructions to Lin Peiji beside him.

"These newly incorporated troops should first be given food supplies and allowed to recover their physical condition."

Otherwise, they'll all be so thin and pale that they can't even hold a gun steadily.

Lin Peiji held his notebook and quickly took notes.

"In addition, there are also a number of Hanyang rifles, Czech light machine guns and Maxim heavy machine guns in the warehouse."

After Zhang Wenzhong and his team finish their screening, they will reorganize these newly recruited troops into three independent brigades, and then these weapons will be issued to them.

The weapons Lin Feng mentioned were naturally the weapons that the three system units designated as guerrilla divisions replaced during their upgrade to German-equipped elite units.

He had considered it in his mind.

Although these weapons are not as good as the 98k and MG34, they are still something that these ragtag troops, who once couldn't even provide every front-line soldier with a gun, could only dream of.

This is enough to allow them to quickly form a fighting force.

"What about the Japanese weapons we captured?" Lin Peiji asked.

"Those Type 38 rifles and Type 91 machine guns were mainly issued to local militias and newly established police forces in various places to maintain public order."

Lin Feng continued walking forward, looking at the tattered uniforms of the soldiers.

"Also, in Qingcheng Port before, we confiscated a lot of raw cloth and dyes from the Japanese capitalists' yarn factories."

We ordered the clothing factory to work overnight to produce the new uniforms for our 33rd Army Corps.

Give these troops a uniform makeover and replace all the tattered rags they wear.

"Once you put on our uniforms, you'll be part of the 33rd Army Corps."

Lin Peiji nodded repeatedly, noting down Lin Feng's instructions one by one.

As Lin Feng issued his orders, the logistics and reorganization machinery of Qingcheng Port sprang into operation.

This ragtag army, originally intended as cannon fodder, is undergoing a remarkable transformation.

-----

Meanwhile, Old Tang on the other side is sitting here in his twilight years.

At that moment, shells fired by the Japanese artillery were exploding continuously around his command post, making the teacups on the table buzz.

Old Tang was pacing anxiously in the command post, sweating profusely.

He discovered that the ragtag troops he had originally deployed on the perimeter as a buffer had all deserted.

Yes, Jiang Cheng left their unit numbers to reinforce his 20th Army Corps, and also sent him reinforcements, officers, weapons, and pay.

He originally wanted to follow Lin Feng's example, letting the ragtag troops take the brunt of the damage while he led the main force to encircle and annihilate a part of the Japanese main force from the outside, thus winning a brilliant victory.

But now, even the ragtag military units have simply run away!

This resulted in his elite Central Army troops being directly exposed to the Japanese army's attacks.

The main forces of the Japanese 10th Division, which was advancing south, were bombarding his defenses relentlessly.

This resulted in heavy casualties for his 20th Army Corps, and its defensive line was on the verge of collapse, completely unable to stop the Japanese offensive.

Most importantly, with such a huge mess made of incorporating the ragtag army, what will that person in Jiangcheng think of him?

You have to understand, Old Tang got to where he is today because of the trust and favor of that person in Jiangcheng.

At this moment, he was truly in a state of utter confusion.