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Xu Le ignored the missing General Tong and convened a meeting of all officers above the regimental level that day. The content of the meeting was simple: to rectify the military appearance and discipline in preparation for welcoming an important figure.

The next day, Xu Le took Lu Shiyu and several senior generals to Yuci to meet with Commander Yan.

If it weren’t for that person two days later, Xu Le didn’t want to have any contact with Commander Yan again, or at least he was too lazy to go and see him.

But in order to let that person see the brand new 88th Army and let that person know his importance, some things still need to be done.

After a whole day of communication and bargaining, Xu Le once again reached an agreement with Commander Yan, the main contents of which were two.

First, the 88th Army will implement control over Taiyuan City in the next seven days, and all military personnel from the Second War Zone in the city are not allowed to go out unless under special circumstances.

第二，租借太原陆军机场，由88军每月向第二战区提供5门54-1式122毫米榴弹炮为条件，最长期限为2年。

The reason why Commander Yan was determined to return to Taiyuan at all costs was because Taiyuan was not only the core of the entire Shanxi Province, but also had developed business.

There is also one most important reason, which is that there is one of the largest arsenals in the entire Tang Dynasty: Taiyuan Arsenal.

Although the Japanese began to plunder on a large scale after occupying Taiyuan and took away many advanced equipment of the arsenal, there were still thousands of machine tools in the arsenal, which had no problem producing rifles and light machine guns, and could even produce mountain cannons and field cannons, but the production efficiency was low.

With the Taiyuan Arsenal, Commander Yan can protect his troops.

But now that he can produce mountain cannons himself, he naturally looks down on the Bofors mountain cannon.

Therefore, the condition proposed by Xu Le was the Type 54-1 howitzer. Not to mention the Taiyuan Arsenal, it seemed that the entire Tang Dynasty did not have the ability to produce cannons with a caliber of more than 122 mm.

When the military parade was held in Shuitou Town, Commander Yan had already coveted the Type 54 howitzer. However, the Type 54 howitzer was not sold to the public at that time, otherwise he would have bought a few of them even if he had to sell his underwear.

Now when he heard that Xu Le was willing to take out this cannon, he agreed without much thought.

Not only can it enhance the firepower of the artillery regiment, but it can also allow experts from the arsenal to study it. If it can be imitated, it will make a lot of money.

In the 88th Army, not to mention Xu Le, even the lowest-level artillerymen disliked the Type 54 howitzer because its range was too short.

Even the reserve training artillery are the first-line Type 83 and Type 66.

Based on the principle of clearing out the inventory, since we don’t want them anymore, we can just let Commander Yan have a taste of the sweetness and exchange them for what we want.

The army now has 100 Type 54 howitzers in stock. If 5 are taken out every month, that will be enough for 20 months.

The troops might have captured Yangmingbao Airport by then, so the Taiyuan Army Airport would be unusable since it was too close to Commander Yan.

.....

On March 3, perhaps God knew that the 1th Army was going to have a good event, the sun came out for the first time ever. The sun had not appeared in Shanxi Province for at least two months.

At noon, under the leadership of Xu Le, all the senior officials of the 88th Army arrived at Taiyuan Airport, including Jiang Feng, Fang Yue, Wang Dafu, Liu Quanhua, Lu Biao, Dai Ming, Wang Yuanguo, Ge Yuecheng, and even some important figures from the headquarters.

Equipment Department, Military Affairs Department, Discipline Inspection Department, Quartermaster Department, Finance Department, Health Department, etc.

It can be said that the entire core of the 88th Army has arrived.

There are two airports in Taiyuan. Taiyuan Airport is a civil airport under the jurisdiction of Commander Yan; the other is Taiyuan Army Airport leased to the 88th Army.

Actually, we should thank the Japanese. The Taiyuan Army Airport was built by the Japanese. It was the airport for fighter jets directly under the Japanese First Army.

However, during the earliest Battle of Meidong Mountain, all of the First Army's fighter planes were lost, and the airport was almost useless.

Except Xu Le, no one knew who they were waiting for, but everyone knew the temperament of their young commander.

He is the kind of person who would rather sit than stand than sit, and would definitely not sit if he could lie down. He is so ambitious that he doesn't even give face to Commander Jiang.

The person who can make his young commander wait for him so solemnly must be of extraordinary status.

After waiting for almost half an hour, a propeller civilian plane slowly appeared in the sky and quickly landed on the runway.

"Here we are! Let's go and welcome our guests. No, welcome our general!"

Everyone followed Xu Le's footsteps, but they were all shocked.

Admiral?

There are only more than 30 first-class generals and second-class generals in the entire National Guard.

And they heard clearly that the young marshal was talking about our general.

Our young marshal actually brought back a general?

It was not until they saw a figure getting off the plane that they realized that this person was not unfamiliar and many people had even seen him before.

"Commander Wei, welcome, welcome. You kept me waiting for so long, but it was not in vain, I finally got you!" Xu Le immediately stepped forward and gave the other party a hug.

This scene looks a bit funny. After all, Xu Le is only 27 years old this year, while the other party is already in his 40s. It looks like a meeting between father and son.

Commander Wei sighed and said, "Oh, I am so ashamed. Don't mention the commander or not anymore. I am just a commoner now, and I am not worthy of the title of commander! Thank you for your respect, young commander. From now on, I will have to rely on you, young commander!"

Xu Le waved his hand slightly and said, "You are a great general of our Tang Dynasty. You are in your prime, how come you are old and weak? If common people have your ability, then our Tang Dynasty would have dominated the world long ago."

This person was none other than Wei Li, former commander-in-chief of the First War Zone and lieutenant general of the National Guard.

Wei Li joined the army in 912. He entered the Jiangxi Army Cadet Camp at the age of 17 and served as a squad leader in the Guangdong Army at the age of 19. Then, with his own efforts, he became a major general regiment commander at the age of 28. Two years later, he became a division commander. Half a year later, he served as deputy army commander. At the age of 37, he was awarded the rank of Army General.

After the Japanese invaders launched a full-scale invasion of the Tang Dynasty, Wei Li led his troops to fight several major battles with the Japanese invaders and achieved numerous military exploits.

It's just that Wei Li was too close to the guerrillas, and the guerrillas were a thorn in Commander Jiang's side. Xu Le seized this opportunity and used equipment to exchange him from Commander Jiang.

This was obtained in exchange for 100 Bofors mountain cannons and 50 artillery shells. Even though the cannons were precious, Xu Le felt it was worth it. Not to mention 100 Bofors, Xu Le was willing to give even 500.

"Come on, let me introduce you to everyone."

Xu Le took Wei Li's hand affectionately and looked at the officials and said, "I'm sure some of you know the person next to me, but I still want to introduce him to you all. After all, we will all be colleagues and comrades-in-arms in the future.

Now I solemnly introduce to you all, this is our Tang Dynasty’s Army Lieutenant General, the military adviser of our 88th Army, Consultant Wei Liwei!