A courtyard house; Li Yunlong, a subordinate of the deputy director of Harbin Military Engineering I

The second day of my stay in Baoding.

Zhang Renfeng was reviewing the training report at the command post when the door was pushed open. He had just seen the section on the engineers' tunnel operation assessment.

Li Yunlong rubbed his hands together and walked in with a grin, his face beaming as if he had just found a gold ingot: "Commander, looking at the documents?"

Zhang Renfeng glanced up at him, not even bothering to lift his eyelids: "Hmm, do you think I'd look at a piece of trash like you?"

Li Yunlong, unusually, remained calm, his smile unwavering. Instead, he took a half-step forward, his tone slightly ingratiating: "Sir, your entourage has arrived at headquarters. Should we bring them over to meet you?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Renfeng put down the documents in his hand.

It's worth meeting them; I've never met my personal guard battalion, civil servants, cooks, full-time secretary, chauffeur, adjutant, or translator.

This is the standard configuration for a corps-level commander; he's fully equipped.

Full-time document secretaries are usually officers at the company or platoon level. They are responsible for drafting orders, speeches, recording meetings, compiling battle reports, and handling the commander's personal documents. During major battles, additional confidential secretaries are also assigned.

The personal guard team usually consists of six people and belongs to the guard battalion of the Corps. Two of them are personal guards who are almost always by your side. They provide full protection during marches, front-line reconnaissance, and meetings. The mobile guards are responsible for standing guard, vigilance, and night shifts.

A full-time adjutant is typically a company-level officer from a lower-level unit. They oversee all accompanying personnel, arranging itineraries and coordinating accommodations. They act as the commander's chief steward, coordinating the dispatch of secretaries, drivers, medical personnel, and security guards. Two full-time drivers are provided, each in an American-style jeep, with one driving and the other acting as a backup.

The team's medical doctor consists of one full-time military doctor and one medic.

Two civil servants are responsible for cleaning, boiling water, and doing laundry.

A dedicated cook prepares meals for the leaders, ensuring food safety.

There is also a translator who is fluent in Korean and is essential for those going to North Korea.

As for the other, non-essential accompanying personnel, there are two operations staff officers responsible for map drawing; one reconnaissance staff officer responsible for terrain surveying; and a two-person communications team responsible for radio communication.

Zhang Renfeng put down the documents and looked at Zhao Gang sitting opposite him: "Alright, Comrade Zhao Gang is here too, let's call them all in."

Li Yunlong responded, turned and walked out, calling out to the outside from the doorway. A group of people then rushed in.

Zhang Renfeng glanced around and saw more than a dozen people standing in half the room, all of whom were faces he had never seen before.

But there were two exceptions. In a corner of the crowd, Tian Yu stood at the very edge with her head down.

How could I not recognize him? Seeing Tian Yu immediately reminded me of Comrade Yuwen…

Zhang Renfeng frowned and turned to look at Li Yunlong:

"Li Yunlong, Li Yunlong, why are you being so obedient? Are you trying to sneak in your own agenda?" He pointed to Tian Yu, who was sitting in the corner with her head down.

Li Yunlong's smile froze for half a second, then he chuckled and scratched the back of his head: "Commander, I just..."

"Stop with the 'this and that' nonsense." Zhang Renfeng interrupted him, his tone leaving no room for negotiation. "Let her go back. Do you think this is acceptable? Huh! Throwing your wife into the army corps as a medic."

Li Yunlong opened his mouth, wanting to say a few more words, but when he met Zhang Renfeng's eyes, he swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

He actually had a pretty good plan in mind. With his wife by the side of the corps commander, not only would she be safe, but at least... he could use Italian artillery to bombard her whenever he wanted, right?

But to my surprise, the old leader was so serious that he rejected it outright.

Zhao Gang quickly stepped in to smooth things over: "Old Li, you're being ridiculous! Take Xiao Tian back right now!"

Li Yunlong always listened to Zhao Gang. Although he was still a little reluctant, he had already given in: "Alright, alright, I'll arrange for someone to send her back to Beiping."

Zhao Gang turned to Zhang Renfeng and began to introduce the others: "Chief, this is Secretary Pei Zhengqiang."

The young man with glasses took a step forward and snapped to attention in salute.

After introducing the short, stocky, and sturdy adjutant, Zhao Gang then introduced the guard team, driver, doctor, medic, and translator in turn.

When introducing the civil servants, Zhao Gang paused for a moment, gesturing for them to leave first.

After they all left, Zhao just said,

"We did have a Sichuan cuisine chef before, but he had some family matters to attend to, and we didn't dare to make the decision to find someone else on our own. So, we thought it best if you could make the choice."

Zhang Renfeng didn't care about such things. He stood up and gestured with his chin towards Li Yunlong: "By the way, Li Yunlong mentioned in the telegram last time that there's a small ordnance repair factory in Baoding city called Baoding Machinery Factory, right?"

Zhao Gang nodded: "That's right, we're currently in charge of their army's equipment maintenance. And based on the design drawings of the Type 56 assault rifle provided by the commander, we've tried to make a batch of these assault rifles specifically for the Liangshan assault team."

The three legendary weapons in the guerrilla world in later generations were the Type 56 assault rifle, the Type 40 rocket launcher, and the Type 107 rocket launcher.

The first two are actually from Russia; the Type 56 assault rifle is a copy of the famous AK-47.

Later generations of Russians often did things like painting the outer boxes of Type 56 rifles with their own paint and selling them as AK-47s, which wasn't very sophisticated.

Currently, due to limitations in industrial capacity, even if he knew the structure of these firearms, he couldn't mass-produce them. He could only produce a small number to adapt to a special forces unit he had formed in his early years—the special forces codenamed "Liangshan" in Li Yunlong's army.

As early as the War of Resistance against Japan, Zhang Renfeng began to gradually train the corresponding talents and trial-produce some of them.

This is one of the reasons why those high-ranking leaders attached great importance to Zhang Renfeng, this little Red devil.

Why did Brigade Commander Chen have such inexplicable confidence that the alliance between Nie, Chen, and Zhang would be a banner for the military industry...?

This was also one of the main reasons why the old political commissar strongly advocated for Zhang Renfeng's marriage to the Nie family.

"Alright, let Li Yunlong take me to see."

Li Yunlong ran in at this moment, stopped at the door, and his expression showed a rare hint of guilt:

"Reporting to the commander, Xiao Tian... Xiao Tian has been sent to Beiping by me, and he's crying terribly."

Zhang Renfeng was too lazy to pay him any attention. With this guy's temper, if it weren't for Zhang Renfeng or the old brigade commander, he would have died countless times already. He thought it was some kind of survivor bias.

Li Yunlong, quick-witted, added, "Commander, it's like this, I sent Xiao Tian to take care of your wife."

Zhang Renfeng was slightly moved, mainly because Li Yunlong had matured; he had become more capable of handling things.

Seeing that Zhang Renfeng ignored him, and with Zhao Gang giving him a meaningful look, Li Yunlong immediately dropped the subject.

He knew in his heart that his commander had a very explosive temper and was also an expert in military equipment. It would be impossible for him to become the deputy commander of the army corps in his early thirties without some remarkable achievements.

There's a saying, "You can't make a wall out of mud." If someone is truly hopeless, even if someone tries to help them, they won't be able to get up. The Red Seventh Army, the Red Third Army Corps—there were many Red Army soldiers, not just Commander Zhang, but a whole lot of them. But how many survived and were capable?

It was precisely because Zhang Renfeng developed weapons and created many special explosive devices in his early years that the Taiyue Independent Brigade was able to win every battle.

However, some historical reasons cannot be explained in detail. Who could have imagined that their miscellaneous troops, originally belonging to the Taiyue Military Region, would be dispersed by the Central Military Commission and incorporated into the Third Field Army after advancing into the Dabie Mountains?

Even though Li Yunlong and his comrades left their old unit for the 10th Army Corps, Commander Wei still took good care of Li Yunlong when he heard that Li Yunlong was Zhang Renfeng's old subordinate. As they both came from the 7th Red Army, Zhang Renfeng was like their little brother.

Perhaps even Commander Zhang himself didn't realize how precious this young Red Guard was to those veteran leaders. Li Yunlong had inquired around and learned that whether it was the uprising, the counter-encirclement campaigns, or even the most arduous Long March, he always presented a positive and optimistic image. When many were on the verge of collapse, the teenage Commander Zhang stepped forward, his words and actions filled with sunshine and hope! Therefore, everyone regarded him as a younger brother, a nephew, or even a son. After all, in that environment, spiritual strength far outweighed physical strength!

So don't underestimate Zhang Renfeng just because he's young. No one in the army looks down on him because he's a young Red Army soldier with an incredibly strong spirit, a flag bearer among the young Red Army soldiers! How old was he when he arrived in Yan'an?

Sigh... I, Old Li, just don't have that kind of luck.

Fortunately... after Commander Zhang sacrificed himself, he returned to his post. This was a stroke of luck amidst misfortune, and it was also the only chance for Li Yunlong and Zhao Gang to continue their promotions.

Whether it was Li Yunlong or Zhao Gang, they both believed in one thing: by closely following the old commander of the Chen-Zhang Corps, they would never miss out on opportunities to eat, drink, and take advantage of others.

"This time I've caught up, I absolutely can't fall behind again!!" Li Yunlong imagined it all over again.

*Smack!*

A sudden, unexpected slap landed on the back of Li Yunlong's head. "You idiot, Li Yunlong, did you eat sea cucumbers in Fujian Province and ruin your brain? Hurry up and lead the way!"