The soldier surnamed Lin blushed, gritted his teeth and said, "Sir, what do you mean?"
Xu Rui said: "Do you still need me to say it clearly? Put away the knife immediately and get out of here."
The soldier surnamed Lin said: "Sir, if you want to favor this man surnamed Chen, then I am not afraid of you."
Xu Rui said: "Is this jade pendant of yours an ancestor's? How many years has it been?"
The soldier surnamed Lin said: "It has been passed down from my great-grandfather's generation, at least for more than a hundred years."
Xu Rui chuckled and said, "This is obviously a replica. It is only ten years old at most. It must have been bought from a street stall."
"Sir, you must speak with evidence."
"The workmanship on your jade pendant is clearly from the Republic of China period, and the jade material is average, with cracks and impurities inside. Such jade is worth ten oceans at most, but you actually want ten thousand oceans. You are really blackmailing me." .”
The soldier surnamed Lin blushed and lowered his head. Xu Rui said: "We are also soldiers, but we dare to blackmail our comrades. I will not accept such soldiers here. Get out of here!"
When the soldier surnamed Lin heard this, he knelt down with a plop and said, "Sir, please spare me this time. I won't dare to do it again."
Seeing this, everyone understood that the soldier surnamed Lin was indeed blackmailing people, and they all looked at the soldier surnamed Lin with disdain.
"Get lost! Don't make me say it a second time!" Xu Rui said coldly.
The soldier surnamed Lin was shocked by Xu Rui's momentum and immediately got up in fright. He also didn't want half of the jade pendant and walked away in despair.
"Thank you, sir!" The soldier named Chen was grateful to Xu Rui.
"It's okay, let's all go away." He Shuya said, and everyone slowly dispersed.
"Come here." Xu Rui pointed to the fair-skinned soldier and said.
The fair-skinned soldier came to Xu Rui, and Xu Rui asked: "Where are you from? Do you have a good relationship with the soldier named Chen?"
"I am from San Francisco, and I have never known each other by chance," the fair-skinned soldier said.
"Then why did you pay 10,000 yuan for him?" Xu Rui asked in confusion.
The fair-skinned soldier said: "Brother Chen used to be a worker in my family's company, and we had a relationship with me. Now that he encounters difficulties, I naturally help him. It is convenient for others and for my own convenience."
"It's convenient for others and convenient for you. What's your name?" Xu Rui asked.
"Sir, my name is Hong Zhiyuan."
"Okay, I remember you."
Xu Rui and He Shuya entered the barracks where the recruits were located. The accommodation conditions on Guadalcanal were very difficult, but the recruits did not complain about being tired, which made Xu Rui very happy.
He Shuya asked Xu Rui: "Captain, judging from what happened just now, these new recruits from the United States are very complex in their thinking and are far less simple than soldiers from rural areas in China."
Xu Rui said: "After staying in the business society of the United States for a long time, everyone will become money-oriented and profit-oriented. This is not their fault. However, no matter what, you cannot blackmail your comrades. This is the principle and bottom line of life." , whoever offends, just get out."
"What the regiment leader said is that we must pay attention to the quality of soldiers when recruiting soldiers in the future."
Xu Rui said: "Hong Zhiyuan performed very well today. He was able to stand up for his comrades. He is a malleable talent. Let's observe more in the future."
He Shuya said: "Although this Hong Zhiyuan is a kid from a rich family, he doesn't have that kind of playfulness. I heard that he graduated from MIT. He is a righteous man and is deeply supported by the recruits. I am preparing to promote him to Monitor."
"Squad leader? If you really have the ability, just promote him to platoon leader. Such talents cannot be wasted, even if they are promoted exceptionally." Xu Rui was even more excited when he heard that Hong Zhiyuan turned out to be a college student who graduated from MIT. In order to express his love for talents, he told He Shuya to pay attention to testing Hong Zhiyuan and promote him more in the future if possible.
With Xu Rui's words, He Shuya naturally did not dare to neglect. After that, He Shuya began to focus on training Hong Zhiyuan, and Hong Zhiyuan lived up to expectations. He quickly stood out among the recruits and made many military exploits. However, these were all That’s a story for another day.
Intense training continued. After three months of training, the recruits of the third regiment finally changed and looked like soldiers. Later, Xu Rui organized these recruits into three battalions. As a result, each battalion reached more than 1,200 people.
Xu Rui also changed the guard company into a guard battalion, the artillery company into an artillery battalion, and established a supplementary battalion. In this way, Xu Rui and his subordinates had six battalions, doubling their strength.
Xu Rui's expansion operation received MacArthur's tacit approval, and the required weapons, equipment and logistical supplies were all provided by the Americans. The reason why MacArthur was so happy to help Xu Rui expand his army was mainly because he was impressed by the outstanding performance of the Third Regiment on the battlefield. He, so MacArthur wanted to expand this powerful army and let them play a greater role on the battlefield. Xu Rui also knew this very well. The reason why the Third Regiment was able to expand was because it was in the interests of the Americans.
However, two people had very conflicting feelings. They were Wang Yaowu and Liao Yaoxiang. These two national army generals saw Xu Rui's troops doubled and felt very uncomfortable. They were both China's national defense forces. Of course they wanted China to The army can be more powerful, but Xu Rui's army is part of the Eighth Route Army and a potential future opponent of the national army, which makes them full of contradictions.
Fortunately, this situation will end soon, because a new war is about to begin. This time, with the remaining power of the victory over the Bougainville Islands, the Americans set their sights on the Marshall Islands again.
But before that, the Americans first carried out the Battle of Tarawa. Tarawa is a coral island group in the Pacific Ocean, not far from the Marshall Islands. In the previous Battle of Guadalcanal and Bougainville Island, both were based on the Chinese The expeditionary force was the main force and won, which made the U.S. Army jealous. They felt that the Japanese's combat effectiveness was no more than this. So this time, the U.S. Army took the initiative to propose that the Americans should win the Battle of Tarawa themselves. To prove to the outside world that American soldiers can fight.
Due to strong requests from the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, MacArthur agreed to their request, and the Battle of Tarawa was fought solely by U.S. forces.
However, the course of this battle was beyond the expectations of the Americans. In the previous landing operations, the Chinese and American allies did not encounter much obstacles, but they lost the cooperation of the Chinese, and luck also left the Americans. , before the war, the 4,500 Japanese soldiers guarding the island received sufficient supplies and preparations, so the US military encountered strong resistance from the Japanese soldiers when they landed.
In this battle, the Japanese fought with the Yankees almost to the last drop, causing the Yankees to pay a heavy price in this battle. Within seventy-six hours after the start of the war, a total of 1,700 American soldiers Although he was killed in action, the US military finally won the victory, wiping out the Japanese troops defending the island and capturing 17 Japanese and 129 Koreans.
More than 35,000 troops were used to attack a small island with only 4,000 people, at the cost of 1,700 people. This made the Americans feel frightened. He finally realized once again that the Chinese Expeditionary Force could compete with Japan. The Japs have repeatedly won great victories in battles, and their combat effectiveness is really strong.
After this battle, the Americans were completely convinced by the Chinese Expeditionary Force. Both the Army and the Marine Corps no longer shouted to attack the islands alone. They voluntarily gave up their dominant position in the island landing operations and were willing to join the Chinese Expeditionary Force. The army cooperates with each other to carry out the next battle together.
After the Battle of Tarawa, MacArthur set his sights on the Marshall Islands.
The Marshall Islands are located southwest of the Fengwei Islands and east of the Mariana and Caroline Islands. They are the main islands in the Japanese outer defense circle in the Pacific. The only way for the US military to attack the Caroline Islands and Mariana Islands. Starting in November 1943, the US military began to carry out large-scale air strikes and naval gunfire preparations against the Marshall Islands.
Since Xu Rui's troops had just undergone a large-scale expansion and needed to be strengthened for training, they did not participate in this operation. The New Sixth Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force and two US Army divisions jointly took charge of the attack on the Marshall Islands. The entire operation was commanded by US Navy Admiral Nimitz.
Liao Yaoxiang and Wang Yaowu hurried back by plane after meeting with Chairman Chiang Kai-shek. Liao Yaoxiang's plane landed directly on an American aircraft carrier and directly commanded his troops. Liao Yaoxiang also became the first Chinese person to take off and land on an American aircraft carrier. .
I have to admire the strong production capacity of the United States. Within two years, it produced a large number of warships. The U.S. Navy fleet participating in the Marshall Islands War this time has more than a dozen aircraft carriers alone, and the rest of the support ships There are hundreds of ships and thousands of combat aircraft, but the Japanese have only 200 aircraft and almost no ships. The Sino-US Allied forces have more than 50,000 offensive troops, while the Japanese have only more than 10,000 troops defending the island. , completely out of proportion. Although the Marshall Islands' fortifications are complete, they are at an absolute disadvantage and have completely lost air and sea control.
With absolute army and navy superiority, the Battle of Marshall Islands was a great victory. The Chinese and American Allies suffered about 2,200 casualties, and the Japanese casualties and captures reached more than 11,000. The entire army was wiped out. , the Chinese and American allies opened the way to the Mariana Islands.
Next, all eyes are on Saipan in the Mariana Islands.
Guadalcanal, Xu Rui's eyes looked in the direction of Saipan. He knew that what should come will eventually come. The battle for Saipan must be a big war. The Battle of Saipan in history will last for a long time. , famous for its brutality. Are your three regiments really ready for this battle
Xu Rui knew that whether he was ready or not, he had to participate in this war that would determine the fate of the Pacific War and even Japan...