Chapter 37: Swindling the Polar Bear out of a Five-Million-Ruble Interest-Free Loan; The Official Establishment of the Longya Arsenal

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Was the world upside down, or had he finally gone mad?

Their commander!

They had only just met these two men, and one of them was already being offered the position of special forces captain.

The other had been promised command of a regiment.

The reason Zhang Dabiao had invited Su Changqing was that he believed the two men did possess a certain amount of talent.

But in Zhang Dabiao’s view, Su Changqing would at most give them positions as junior officers. There was no way he would place them in such high positions right from the start.

It was like a group of newly graduated university students. No employer would promote inexperienced graduates directly into leadership positions from the very beginning.

But—

But who could have imagined that, the moment Su Changqing arrived, he would offer two conditions so astonishing that everyone was left speechless?

Captain of the special forces.

The king of soldiers among the king of soldiers—just like that, the position had been given to a monk from Shaolin Temple.

Regimental commander!

That was a position on the same level as the Iron Triangle.

With a single sentence, he had handed a regimental command to this “liar” who talked nothing but nonsense.

The world really had gone mad!

Zhang Dabiao pinched the philtrum beneath his nose.

At least he had taken part in the Battle of Xifengkou, where he had fought the Japanese invaders in genuine life-and-death combat.

Moreover, before joining the Rainbow Army, Zhang Dabiao had already held military rank.

So it was not particularly astonishing that Su Changqing had promoted him to command a battalion.

After all, the First Column was currently expanding at breakneck speed.

It was growing explosively!

According to Su Changqing’s plan, before August 1937, the First Column had to expand to approximately thirty-five thousand men.

And the expansion had to be carried out in secret.

No one in the First Column could understand why there was such an enormous demand for troops.

But Su Changqing possessed supreme authority within the First Column.

That was the greatest advantage of his leaving Yan’an: he had far more freedom in handling affairs.

Of course, in addition to rapidly expanding the army, the base area also had to grow to at least two hundred thousand square kilometers before August 1937, encompassing more than fifty counties.

This was the first-stage plan Su Changqing had established, and it was what the base area was currently preparing to carry out.

It seemed impossible. But with Su Changqing as their guiding force, everyone still had hope.

After all, their commander was truly a man capable of creating more miracles than anyone could count.

Even so, the position of regimental commander was not something one could simply hand out like this.

No wonder everyone had been left dumbfounded.

In many people’s hearts, it was as though ten thousand grass-mud horses were stampeding past.

Damn it!

If only becoming a regimental commander had been this easy back then. Had I known, I would have been this bold years ago!

Just as everyone had been so shocked by Su Changqing’s promise that their tongues had tied themselves into knots and their minds had gone completely blank, the corners of Su Changqing’s mouth lifted slightly.

Become a regimental commander?

Of course he could!

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With Long Wenzhang’s ability and talent, becoming a regimental commander would naturally pose no problem at all.

But Su Changqing was reminded of Liu Bang, whom his superior had once praised as the most formidable emperor in the history of the feudal dynasties.

That seemingly scoundrel-like founding emperor had pulled off more than a few outrageous maneuvers.

Han Xin—essentially the larger account behind Long Wenzhang—had likewise been appointed Grand General by Liu Bang.

Yet after Han Xin became Grand General, Liu Bang would constantly strip away all the elite troops Han Xin had painstakingly trained, leaving him with a mob of old, weak, sick, and disabled soldiers.

But the God of War was still the God of War.

Han Xin had managed to forge an army from those old, weak, sick, and disabled men. He had even slaughtered Long Ju, the most capable general under the Western Chu Overlord, Xiang Yu.

At the time, Han Xin had commanded no more than fifty thousand troops.

Long Ju, one of Xiang Yu’s most important generals, had commanded two hundred thousand.

Xiang Yu was finally brought to ruin after those two hundred thousand elite soldiers under Long Ju were annihilated.

Long Wenzhang did bear some resemblance to Han Xin, the God of War.

Of course, Su Changqing had not reached that conclusion from their appearances.

In the television series, the regiment commanded by Long Wenzhang was a cannon-fodder regiment—

a regiment made up of a rabble of defeated soldiers.

Yet once such a regiment had been handed over to Long Wenzhang, its combat strength had soared.

That alone demonstrated Long Wenzhang’s ability.

“Long Wenzhang, there’s no problem with making you a regimental commander.”

“However!”

“You’ll have to recruit the soldiers yourself.”

Su Changqing looked at Long Wenzhang with a deeply calculating expression.

The moment Su Changqing finished speaking, Zhang Dabiao and the others suddenly understood.

So that was it.

The commander wanted to make this fellow retreat in the face of difficulty.

The Rainbow Army soldiers who had just been regretting that they had not been bold enough immediately felt relieved.

Recruit them himself?

Where would he get the charisma to gather an entire regiment of soldiers?

Just as everyone assumed Long Wenzhang would give up, an unprecedented light burst from his eyes.

“Commander!”

“Long Wenzhang guarantees that he will complete the mission.”

“I will definitely recruit a full regiment of soldiers.”

Boom!

It was as though a bolt of lightning had struck Zhang Dabiao directly in the forehead.

Zhang Dabiao’s mouth hung open so wide that a whole chicken could have been stuffed inside.

The others were just as dumbfounded.

They stared, open-mouthed, at Long Wenzhang, the madman.

Only Wei Monk patted Long Wenzhang on the shoulder.

“Ha! I knew our Brother Long had ambition.”

“I believe in you!”

“You’ll definitely make a fine regimental commander.”

“You’ll definitely be a good commander.”

Su Changqing, however, was not surprised. He understood Long Wenzhang rather well.

Otherwise, he would never have proposed such a condition.

“Good!”

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“In that case, I appoint you commander of the New First Regiment. Every soldier in your unit—”

“You recruit them yourself!”

“Recruit as many as you can, and you will receive weapons, provisions, pay, and uniforms for that many men.”

“Yes!”

Long Wenzhang straightened his body and saluted Su Changqing.

“Very well!”

“Zhang Dabiao, I’m taking these two men.”

Having finished everything, Su Changqing left without another word.

He left behind only Zhang Dabiao, who was in charge of recruitment, standing dazed in the wind.

“Xiao Wu!”

“Do you think I heard wrong? Do you think I’m hallucinating?”

Zhang Dabiao turned to his assistant.

“Battalion Commander Zhang!”

“I think I may have gone insane.”

“How about you slap me so I can find out whether I’m dreaming?”

The two men looked at each other. From the bewildered expressions on their faces, they confirmed that what had happened was real.

“This world—”

“It’s gone mad!”

“Xiao Wu, you oversee the recruitment work,” Zhang Dabiao instructed his assistant.

“Battalion Commander Zhang, where are you going?”

“I’m going to ask the commander whether he can promote me to brigade commander.”

Zhang Dabiao rose and immediately chased after Su Changqing.

“Battalion Commander Zhang, wait! Wait!”

“I want that too!”

“Just make me your deputy. If that doesn’t work, I’ll be the commander of your guard company.”

“Get lost!”

…

Elsewhere.

Mi Long had completed his mission perfectly.

Under the influence of the system’s “mind imprint,” combined with the power of the gold bars, vast quantities of machinery and equipment, along with a large number of Polar Bear military experts and workers, had arrived at the Wutai Mountain base without making a sound.

Mi Long had brought not only the equipment and a wealth of talented personnel, but also an interest-free loan of five million rubles from the Polar Bear Empire.

Of course, this was also the return Su Changqing had received after using the system to place a “mind imprint” on an old classmate of his who was currently highly favored before the Iron-Fisted Father of the Polar Bear Empire.

An interest-free loan of five million rubles.

That alone had eased Su Changqing’s cash flow considerably.

As coal and iron mines began to be developed, the Changya Arsenal in the Wutai Mountain base was rapidly established in that barren land at a speed beyond imagination.

A large quantity of weapons and equipment also began to be issued to the Rainbow Army soldiers one batch after another.

…