In order to settle the matter peacefully, the regiment finally made a decision. The 9th Company of the original independent regiment could no longer use the 9th Company number due to a serious shortage of soldiers, but considering the heroic sacrifice of the 9th Company and Liu Jianqiang's tireless efforts, part of the organization was retained and reduced to 9th Squad. Liu Jianqiang temporarily served as the squad leader and was directly under the regiment headquarters.
Although Liu Jianqiang was unwilling, he had no choice but to accept it because the regiment had already made concessions, giving the Ninth Company a chance to make a comeback.
Hu Yi officially became a soldier of the independent regiment and joined the ninth squad. But the most surprising thing was that there was another name "Chang Hongying" on the roster of the ninth squad, which caused an uproar in the whole regiment.
This is the plan of Political Commissar Ding Deyi that kills three birds with one stone. First, Liu Jianqiang doesn't have to toss anymore. Second, Hu Yi is a KMT deserter after all, so he should be placed in the ninth squad first to give him a transition period to slowly adapt to the rhythm and environment of the Eighth Route Army and subtly transform his consciousness. Third, since Xiao Hongying is destined not to leave the Independent Regiment, she can no longer run wild like a wild horse. Sooner or later, she will make a mistake. She should be put in a tight ring to save her trouble.
In the minds of the regiment commander and the political commissar, the ninth squad is both a reformatory and a kindergarten. The regiment commander admires the political commissar's idea very much, and at the same time, he adds that in the future, any troublemakers or problem soldiers can be directly put into the ninth squad, which is convenient for management and saves trouble, once and for all.
Hearing this order, Hu Yi was not surprised. He had known this would happen. What he was most concerned about now was, "Where is my woman?"
Little Hongying was the most excited. Since her parents' sacrifice, her big, cunning eyes became clear for the first time, gradually filled with crystal, flowing into a joyful stream. She choked up and raised her young face, and saluted the regiment commander and the political commissar with a childish but sincere military salute, which lasted for a long time.
After the news spread, the independent regiment was immediately in an uproar, and the focus was not on Class 9, but on Xiao Hongying.
"What did you say? Xiao Hongying became a soldier of the Eighth Route Army? What are the regiment commander and political commissar thinking? She is only twelve years old."
"Child? If we talk about seniority in our regiment, Uncle Niu is first, the regiment commander and the political commissar are second and third, and then it's Xiao Hongying. When we were farming at home, that little girl was on the Long March. Don't be dissatisfied."
"The regiment commander and political commissar are wise. That damned girl should have been tied up long ago. She is causing so much trouble to others."
"Stop arguing. Now that the little girl has become a soldier, this is a big deal. Let's quickly discuss it with the company commander. We have to show our support anyway..."
The grandmothers in the village made two pairs of thick cloth shoes for Xiao Hongying, the women from the Women's Federation rushed to cut a small military uniform for Xiao Hongying overnight, the third company made an exquisite and small cowhide belt for her, the second company gave her a brand new water bottle captured from the Japanese army, the first company gave her a Japanese canvas shoulder bag, the political commissar gave her a pencil, Uncle Niu made a bowl of longevity noodles specially for her, and the regiment commander scratched his head and pondered for most of the day and gave her a grenade.
Class 9 was officially established and held its first class meeting at Hu Yi's residence. The scene could be described as solemn and dignified. Three people sat around a broken wooden table, staring at each other, and no one spoke.
Liu Jianqiang said nothing with a dark face. "Nine squad, nine squad, I've been fooled. What kind of nine squad is this? One is a black-hearted little girl, and the other is a Kuomintang deserter. Isn't this deliberately chilling? If I had known that he was a Kuomintang deserter, I would never have asked him to come. What a waste of my four bullets. Alas—
Hu Yi knew that the job of the ninth squad was to keep things quiet and take care of the children. This job was good, comfortable, and far away from the smoke of war. Now I am also an Eighth Route Army soldier. Next time I see Su Qing, should I call her "comrade"? Will her attitude towards me change? What would her phoenix eyes look like if she could smile? I have never seen it. Alas—
The little girl kept fiddling with her cute new military uniform, and took out a grenade from her canvas bag, fiddling with it for a while, then put it back, paused, took it out again, and put it back in again, and finally couldn't hold it anymore. "I said, runny nose, are you dead? You're already a squad leader, why don't you say a word? Where is your ability to cry?"
Liu Jianqiang immediately stood up and answered angrily: "I don't have time to play house with you here." Then he put on the worn-out Hanyang rifle, without even looking at Hu Yi, and went out to find a place to bask in the sun.
Tilting her head to watch Liu Jianqiang leave, the little girl turned back to Hu Yi and said, "It's better that he left, Fox, let's have a meeting."
Hu Yi recovered from his trance and said, "Huh? Meeting? The squad leader is gone, what's the point of having a meeting?"
The little girl curled her lips and said, "He's just a rookie, and he's still got a bad temper even though he's a squad leader. The affairs of Squad Nine are between us."
Hu Yi was happy, stretched his body, put his hands behind his head, leaned back on the chair, and crossed his legs on the table: "Then let me ask you first, when can you get the news for me?"
"It's only been a few days. How can it be so fast? I have to wait until the signalman goes to the division headquarters before I can do anything." After a pause, the little girl continued, "I am also a soldier now. Fox, don't you think we should also train? Look, everyone is training on the playground, but we are still here with nothing to do. It's boring."
I have been staying at home for more than ten days, and my body is sore, so it would be good to practice. The mission of the regiment is to keep this little girl in check, so that she will not make trouble. The child is active, so we need to find her something to do. So Hu Yi nodded without hesitation, "You are right, we need to train her."
Seeing that her idea was echoed by Hu Yi, the little girl happily came to Hu Yi's side and said, "What do you think we should practice first? Assassination? Or aiming with a gun? I don't want to practice marching, that's too boring."
Hu Yi looked at the pair of impatient eyes and thought that for the sake of this child, he should really teach her something, not to let her kill people, but to give her a chance to survive in this war-torn world. After thinking for a while, he said, "You can't shoot bullets just by aiming. No matter how good you are at assassination, you can't beat an adult, right? I can teach you something else, but I'm afraid that you, a child, can't bear the hardship. Forget it."
Hu Yi understood Xiao Hongying's temper, so he said this deliberately to arouse her curiosity and provoke her.
The little girl really fell into the trap, and immediately slammed the table and said, "Don't underestimate me, you stupid fox. Ask around the whole group, is there any hardship that I, Hongying, can't endure? Tell me, what are we going to practice?"
On this boring afternoon, in this ridiculous Class 9, at this shabby wooden table, Hu Yi suddenly got inspired and designed a training plan for Xiao Hongying and was ready to put it into practice.