Holding the original shares, they fought all the way to the Korean War!

After Zhou Tianyang finished writing on the paper, he read it over again.

Make sure nothing is missing, then fold the paper and put it in your pocket.

There is still a little over a day before Li Yunlong arrives to replace him.

That was enough for him to complete the exchange.

Moreover, he can use this time to prepare for receiving new recruits in the regiment.

Accommodation and troop formation—everything had to be arranged in advance.

Zhou Tianyang stood up, walked to the door, and called out in the direction of the threshing ground.

"Correspondent!"

"arrive!"

The young soldier ran over again and stood at attention.

"Go and call Zhao Wenlong, Tian Chengjun, and Sun Shengli over. Tell them I have something to discuss with them."

"yes!"

The messenger turned and ran towards the training field.

A few minutes later.

A series of hurried footsteps came from outside the courtyard.

Zhao Wenlong was the first to rush in.

"Commander, you wanted to see me?"

Before he could finish speaking, Tian Chengjun followed him in.

Sun Shengli was the last to enter.

Zhou Tianyang's gaze swept across the three faces, and he tapped his fingers lightly twice on the table.

Then he slowly said:

"I called you here because there's something I need to tell you."

"Commander Li of the New First Regiment just left."

Zhao Wenlong raised an eyebrow when he heard Li Yunlong's name.

"Is Commander Li here to freeload again?"

Zhou Tianyang smiled, didn't respond to that, and continued:

"I negotiated a deal with him, exchanging equipment for a player."

"He gave us 140 soldiers, and I gave him 130 M1 Garand semi-automatic rifles, plus 30 MP40 submachine guns, and a batch of ammunition."

The room fell silent for a moment.

Zhao Wenlong was the first to react, his eyes widened suddenly, and his voice rose several decibels.

"One hundred and forty men for one hundred and thirty rifles and thirty submachine guns?"

"Commander, we've lost a fortune on this deal!"

Although Tian Chengjun didn't react as strongly as Zhao Wenlong, his brows furrowed slightly.

He didn't speak immediately, as if he was pondering something.

Sun Shengli stood up abruptly, paced back and forth a couple of times, and then turned to look at Zhou Tianyang.

"Commander, this account doesn't make sense no matter how you look at it."

"Does Commander Li's 140 men deserve so many guns?"

Zhou Tianyang leaned back in his chair and waited until the three of them had finished speaking before speaking, his tone still unhurried.

"That's not how you do it."

"Think about it, what kind of people were the 140 men Li Yunlong gave us?"

"The current core of his new regiment is mostly veterans brought from the 772nd Regiment, plus newly recruited soldiers, who have been training for some time now."

"He's selective; he wouldn't pick those greenhorns who've only been in the army for a few days to fool me."

"Although Li Yunlong is stingy, he wouldn't do something like this."

"Of these 140 people, at least half have fought in battles and seen blood."

Zhao Wenlong opened his mouth, wanting to refute.

But the words caught in his throat.

He thought about it and realized that what the commander said made sense.

Zhou Tianyang continued:

"One hundred and forty veterans, even if half of them are veterans, that would still be more than seventy soldiers with combat experience."

"These people have been trained, so when they come to our new Second Regiment, we don't need to teach them from scratch."

"They can be directly assigned to a company and keep up with the training pace."

"Just think about it, how long would it take us to train these seventy-odd veterans?"

Zhao Wenlong fell silent.

He lowered his head, his fingers tapping lightly on his knees, as if he were calculating the score in his mind.

At this moment, Tian Chengjun spoke up.

His voice remained steady, but his tone carried a hint of agreement:

"The commander is right."

"It is indeed much faster to directly incorporate 140 soldiers with basic skills into the company than to recruit soldiers from scratch."

"Moreover, although the training methods of the new regiment are not exactly the same as ours, they are generally the same as those of the Eighth Route Army, so it won't be too difficult to integrate them."

Sun Shengli scratched the back of his head and sat back down in his chair.

"That's true."

"Although Commander Li is stingy, he's quite good at leading troops."

Zhou Tianyang observed the changes in the expressions of the three people.

They knew they had grasped the core logic of the deal.

He said something that stunned all three of them.

"And don't worry, I won't touch the equipment in our warehouse for this transaction."

Zhao Wenlong paused for a moment, a hint of confusion flashing in his eyes.

The weapons in the warehouse are the regiment's most valuable assets. If they are used to exchange for Li Yunlong, the regiment will face a shortage of equipment in the future.

"Commander, you mean we need to get equipment from somewhere else?"

Zhou Tianyang waved his hand, offering no further explanation.

"I have my own way."

"You don't need to worry about the equipment."

Zhao Wenlong opened his mouth, as if to ask something else.

But seeing Zhou Tianyang's expression, he swallowed his words back.

Tian Chengjun didn't ask any further questions.

He simply nodded and took over the conversation.

"Commander, what are the arrangements for the new recruits after they arrive?"

Zhou Tianyang had already figured out the answer to this question.

He tapped his finger lightly on the table, his tone becoming more formal.

"Disperse them all and distribute them evenly among the three battalions."

"A battalion is divided into more than forty units, which are directly incorporated into the existing companies."

Zhao Wenlong immediately understood his intention.

"Commander, do you mean we shouldn't let them stick together?"

"right."

Zhou Tianyang nodded.

"One hundred and forty people, if they were organized into a separate company."

"They tend to identify themselves as members of the new regiment, which can easily create a distance between them and our soldiers."

"They were scattered and divided into three battalions, with more than forty people in each battalion, and then distributed to various companies and platoons. They quickly integrated into the unit."

"Living together, eating together, training together, and fighting several battles together."

"Who can tell if you're from the new First Regiment or someone from the original Second Regiment?"

Sun Shengli nodded vigorously beside him, his face showing a hint of excitement.

"The commander's move was brilliant!"

Zhou Tianyang's gaze swept across the three faces, his tone even more certain than before.

"Then it's settled."

"Li Yunlong will be here with his men the day after tomorrow. The three of you should first arrange accommodations, and then be assigned to your respective companies."

"We immediately arranged for them to eat and stay with our soldiers."

"yes!"

The three answered in unison, their voices echoing in the room.

Zhao Wenlong added another sentence, his tone tinged with anticipation.

"Commander, with these 140 men and our current soldiers, the new Second Regiment will have more than 1,500 men."

Sun Shengli also joined in the commotion.

"Over 1,500 men, the entire regiment equipped with American weapons, they wouldn't be afraid to take on a whole regiment!"

Seeing the three of them looking ready to go all out, Zhou Tianyang felt reassured.

"Alright, that's settled then."

The three responded and turned to leave the regimental headquarters one after another.

The sound of footsteps gradually faded away in the courtyard.

Zhou Tianyang sat at the table and listened to the footsteps disappear outside the courtyard before letting out a long sigh of relief.

One hundred and forty soldiers, though not many.

However, for the expansion of the new second regiment, it was a steady step forward.