On June 6, 1889, North American Political Commissar Shen Xin carefully read the latest telegram. Since it was an outline, the content wasn't long. Shen Xin studied it so attentively that the secretary suspected that there was some shocking secret hidden in the few lines of text.
After confirming that he didn't read it wrong, Shen Xin returned to his usual relaxed sitting posture with an expression of disbelief. The telegram said that they agreed to implement a wartime retirement system in North America. But since it was wartime, retirement couldn't completely separate the troops from the war. All retirees had to be incorporated into the reserve troops and stationed on the West Coast for a while.
Shen Xin really admired Military Governor Vaize for being able to convince the people in the Military Commission to agree to this system adjustment. But he didn't have the urge to understand it immediately. As an important member of the Military Commission, even if Shen Xin really didn't want to know what happened, he would still have to study it carefully when the meeting minutes were sent to him across the Pacific Ocean. The more power one had, the less freedom one had.
Once the Military Governor Vaize and the Military Commission made the decision, Political Commissar Shen Xin began to implement it. First, it was naturally for the injured soldiers. Then, it was to determine when the war would end. New soldiers were continuously arriving in North America from Asia. Retirement naturally didn't mean that the soldiers fighting on the frontlines would immediately pick up their guns and leave the battlefield to go home. At the very least, after a large-scale battle ended and both sides stabilized, the issue of troops leaving the battlefield could only be discussed then.
After the initial decision was made by the North American Theater of Operations Command, it was decided to be sent to the frontline command. The frontline command couldn't make the decision themselves. They could only try to find out what was going on. If the battle was intense at this time, the troops would probably be tired of fighting. But at this time, the battle was getting smoother and smoother. The commanders of the troops all hoped that they could achieve more under such circumstances to accumulate merits and raise their status. Now that these people were asked to consider troop rotation, most of these commanders wouldn't agree.
On June 22nd, the 24th Division's commander and political commissar were invited to the frontline command. Everyone who saw these two most popular officers of the various armies had enough respect for them. This was not only because of the combat power displayed by the 24th Division. After the frontline command's suggestion to form an army group was rejected by the war zone command, there was a rumor that the 24th Division's commander, Zheng Minglun, and political commissar, Hu Dakui, were likely to be promoted to the frontline command. His position was not an empty one, but a high-ranking officer in charge of battle planning.
"Old Zheng, what is the Military Commission trying to do? Do you have any ideas? " The head of the frontline command was Lieutenant General Luo Yongfu. As soon as he saw Zheng Minglun and Hu Dakui come in, he immediately asked when he came up to shake hands.
"If you ask me about the matters of the higher-ups, who should I ask?" Zheng Minglun said with a smile. He was already a major general. If the 24th Division performed well in the upcoming battles, it would only be a matter of time before he became a lieutenant general. Although soldiers of the same military rank could differ greatly in their positions, in the Liberation Army, which placed great importance on military ranks, a lieutenant general was already a very glorious thing. Many famous founders of the Liberation Army were only lieutenant-generals their entire lives.
"Old Zheng, you've never made things clear in the past. I'm not asking you to make things difficult for me. Old Hu, what do you think? "Lieutenant General Luo Yongfu said as he shook hands with Hu Dakui.
"Old Zheng and I don't quite understand. Now, it seems like the army wants to increase the number of troops in North America," Hu Dakui said as he shook hands with him.
The other frontline command officers shook hands with the two of them after Luo Yongfu. After everyone sat down, Hu Dakui continued to explain his opinion. After these troops left the frontline, they did not immediately return to Asia. Instead, they stayed in the North American occupied area as a reserve force. Now, the main reserve force was stationed on the West Coast. Some of the operations on the West Coast had been arranged long ago. In fact, at the beginning, the regular army had to participate. However, there was no large-scale resistance on the West Coast and other places as imagined. The reserve force, together with the outstanding Japanese and Korean servants, was enough to complete the planned plan.
"Could it be that the commander-in-chief wants to use the methods in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms?" Lieutenant General Luo Yongfu could not help but ask. This theory had been proposed in the frontline command before. Prime Minister Zhuge Liang had once implemented this rotation system when he was farming in Qishan. However, the main point in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms was that Prime Minister Zhuge Liang was attacked by Sima Yi's troops before the reserve force arrived, and the Prime Minister still arranged for the rotating troops to go home. Those rotating troops who knew that the reserve force did not come felt that Prime Minister Zhuge was a man of his word, so they were united. With the addition of Zhuge Prime Minister Zhuge's tricks, they won the battle in the end.
The decision to leave the reserve force in North America increased China's military strength in North America when a large number of new troops arrived. According to an optimistic estimate, at its peak, North America could have two million active and two million reserve forces, plus millions of Korean and Japanese servants. If they went all out, five million troops could wipe out the entire United States.
"The commander-in-chief is not that bored!" Zheng Minglun immediately expressed a negative opinion. In fact, some people in the 24th Army who were too imaginative had suggested this possibility, but Zheng Minglun had always strongly criticized them. Zheng Minglun felt that the Military Governor Vaize was not playing tricks, nor was he pretending to buy people's hearts. With Commander-in-Chief Wei Ze's rallying power, would anyone really dare to oppose his order? Even if the troops knew that they would die if they continued fighting, no one would dare to escape.
Old soldiers knew that everyone was afraid of death, but there was no absolute equivalence between fear of death and despair. The implementation of the rotation system could effectively eliminate the despair of the frontline troops. Casualties in war were naturally unavoidable, so it was natural to have feelings of fear. However, knowing that they could leave the war with rewards after serving the country was completely different from having to fight to the death on the battlefield. The latter was despair, while the former could be eliminated through many means, and could even eliminate fear to a large extent. Moreover, some people were indeed afraid of war, but many people enjoyed it. More people might not like war, but they really hoped to use the contributions they made in the war to exchange for personal fame and status.
Seeing that Zheng Minglun and the others were so determined, Lieutenant General Luo Yongfu didn't bring up this issue anymore. He said, "Old Zheng, the frontline command hopes that you and Old Hua can come to the frontline command as the deputy chief of staff. Whether or not you want to transfer to the reserves, we hope that the first phase of the war can be completed quickly. So, do you have any thoughts on the personnel issues of the 24th Army? "
Zheng Minglun and Hu Dakui looked at each other, and Hu Dakui said first, "I heard that someone is very dissatisfied with the chief of staff of our army. I don't know if this is true."
Hearing this, the faces of the officers in charge of the frontline command didn't look so good. Hu Dakui didn't care too much and said loudly, "My opinion is that chief of staff Qi Rui is very suitable to take over the position of the political commissar of the 24th Army. If you want me to come to the frontline command, then let Qi Rui take over as the political commissar. If you don't agree, then I will continue to stay in the 24th Army. "
Everyone didn't expect Hu Dakui to say things to such an extent, and a few people's faces turned even uglier.
The frontline command had its own problems, and the 24th Army was also discussing the latest problem. In the hands of a high-ranking soldier. After the 24th Army had excellent results, acting chief of staff Qi Rui's official position became the chief of staff of the 24th Army. The Liberation Army placed great importance on military ranks at the current stage, and chief of staff Qi Rui's rank was still a colonel. But everyone knew that as long as they got rid of Su Sheng Marie's UA Federal Army, Colonel Qi Rui would become Senior Colonel Qi Rui, and he would only be one step away from becoming Major General Qi Rui.
Also, everyone in the 24th Army thought that when the 24th Army's iron hooves trampled over the most important city of the Great Lakes, Chicago, chief of staff Qi Rui would be able to enter the ranks of generals before the age of 30. There were people who were envious, but not many people who were jealous. Chief of staff Qi Rui's transfer of personnel in the 24th Army was favored by the frontline soldiers. Soldiers who were "cautious" and had a conservative style were transferred out of the 24th Army in large numbers, and those who dared to make full use of the motorized military tools and immediately enter the battlefield after arriving at the battlefield were promoted. They would have a great chance to follow this high-spirited chief of staff. This was the general opinion of the officers in the 24th Army who were willing to stand out.
As a motorized unit, other than having a speed that normal infantrymen couldn't compare to, the 24th Army was also much better than other infantrymen in the Liberation Army Military Democracy Conference. Motorized infantrymen weren't a group of traditional infantrymen who drove trucks. The purpose of motorized infantrymen was to push the already intense battle to an even more intense height through high-speed movements. In order to achieve such a goal, every commander needed to be more proficient in combat skills and have a comprehensive understanding of war. And this kind of understanding couldn't be achieved through lectures alone.
So when Qi Rui called all the regimental commanders together for a meeting, everyone thought that chief of staff Qi Rui would do the same as he did these days and invite some basic combat team to talk about battle examples and analyze and discuss them on the spot.
However, the basic combat team they imagined didn't appear. Chief of staff Qi Rui took out a document and read it aloud. "According to the military commission's method of retiring the frontline combat troops, regarding the issue of the qualified members transferring to the reserve forces …"
The group of division commanders and regiment commanders were all dumbfounded. The Liberation Army's official documents were the earliest to use standard modern Chinese written language. After decades of accumulation, the members of the army had a very good understanding of the words used in the army's official documents, and the army didn't allow document writers to create complicated documents.
After understanding the contents of the document, the acting commander of the Second Division, Luo Bin, immediately shouted, "Chief of staff, our troops are now in high spirits and are fighting better and better. Why are we suddenly disbanding?"
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