The 24th Division received the order to retreat on the 10th of August. Before that, the 24th Division strongly requested for permission to leave the Chicago area. When they received the order to retreat, the railway that was completely destroyed by the Chicago Fire wasn't repaired at all. The troops immediately boarded the repaired trucks and left.
Some looked back at Chicago, but most didn't look back at all. After the Chicago Fire on the night of the 25th of July, the 24th Division participated in two things. The first was to save people. A portion of the Merika had nowhere to go, so they ran around. The 24th Division could only capture them and lock them in a concentration camp surrounded by barbed wire.
The second was naturally to destroy. The Merika didn't march fast. The 100,000 federal troops that passed through Michigan to assist Sue St. Mary retreated and the 24th Division participated in the battle to annihilate the federal troops.
The cruel battle continued until the 6th of August. Not only did they annihilate the 100,000 people in the encirclement, but the 24th Division also participated in the annihilation of the other two Merika troops. The 24th Division also participated in the annihilation of the other two Merika troops that came to help. After such an intense battle, the entire 24th Division didn't have the slightest desire to fight anymore. Everyone in the army only had one wish, and that was to leave the battlefield and return to the rear.
Chief of Staff Qi Rui sat on the truck expressionlessly. The people in the truck were all members of the headquarters. Everyone was as expressionless as Qi Rui. The army strengthened all kinds of cultural education. Many people in the North American army had seen the faint aurora during military training. The dreamy beauty that was like the descent of gods would also be explained with calm science. Everyone wouldn't think that the fire tornado that caused the Chicago Fire was the will of God. Moreover, if this was really the will of God, then it was God who wanted to tell the Merika through this giant flame pillar that going against China would only lead to death.
Of course, this didn't mean that this strange phenomenon didn't have any impression on everyone. To the officers and soldiers of the 24th Division, war was like eating a large amount of food with strong taste. The Chicago Fire and the battle that followed were the biggest and most flavorful super dishes. When this super dish was forced into everyone's stomach, no one had the slightest interest in the act of "eating". Everyone's common thought was to escape the "dining table."
The troops returned to Madison first, and then countless requests for retirement flew in like a movie. Not only the officers and soldiers at the grassroots level, but even a quarter of the officers in the General Staff Department took out their own retirement applications and placed them on top of the pile of applications after submitting the large number of retirement applications.
Faced with such a situation, Qi Rui just rolled his eyes and said in a cold tone, "What's the hurry? The evaluation hadn't been done yet! Once we're done with the evaluation and leveling up, I definitely won't stop anyone! "
The Chief of Staff's words were reasonable, and the comrades found it acceptable. Furthermore, the 24th Division was getting further and further away from the battlefield. As long as they could escape from the battlefield, which was a place that they had had enough of, anything could be discussed.
Of course, Qi Rui had no intention of retiring, but he felt that he was not opposed to the idea of retiring. This was not the result of some kind of rational consideration, but the emotional level that dominated his current thoughts was overflowing with such emotions.
"I just want to go home and see my parents."
"I want to go home and have a baby with my wife."
"We have more people and less land in Anhui, and the climate is not as good as North America. I want to stay in North America, but I'm planning to bring my family here. Since we've also made a contribution, my family will work on the farm here, so they won't be bullied. "
"I just want to rest …"
"I want to go back and get a military stipend and go to school."
"I want to enter military school …"
Qi Rui patrolled the troops along the way. Of course, preventing the troops from being too lax was the purpose of Qi Rui's patrol. Chatting with these ordinary soldiers who had a limited age difference, Qi Rui found that the attitude of these soldiers was strangely comforting to him. After experiencing the intense battle, Qi Rui felt that his heart had undergone a huge change. For example, when he thought of Chu Xue, Qi Rui had a strong desire to possess her for the first time. He just wanted to bring the troops back to Nanjing and forcefully make Chu Xue his. Although he knew that he was just imagining it, this impulse had been too many times, and it made Qi Rui feel dissatisfied with himself.
After listening to the ordinary thoughts of the soldiers, Qi Rui naturally felt calm. These ordinary thoughts weren't unfamiliar to Qi Rui, even if his father was Vézé, even if his mother was always pressuring him. But Qi Rui felt that it was good to be able to visit them now. Right now, Qi Rui believed that he could easily deal with the situation when he was facing his parents. As for settling down, it wasn't that Qi Rui hadn't fantasized about living a idyllic life with Chu Xue, where "you weave, I plow, and both husband and wife return home." Compared to the expectations of the soldiers, Qi Rui suddenly realized that he was actually more unrealistic than the soldiers.
The 24th Division handed over all the motorized equipment and heavy equipment to the friendly army that came to receive the equipment. All the troops only brought light weapons out of Madison. They took a train and a boat, and after four to five days, they finally arrived at the starting point, the city on the northern shore of Lake Superior. Seeing the starting point from a few months ago, the troops couldn't help but cheer.
There were no slogans, no speeches, only cheers. Qi Rui could understand the feelings of these comrades. The moment he jumped from the side of the boat to the dock, two words popped up in Qi Rui's mind: "Go home!" A few years ago, Qi Rui would never have thought that the northern shore of Lake Superior, which was already under the control of the Min dynasty, was China's territory, let alone his home. For Lieutenant Qi Rui at that time, the northern shore of Lake Superior was a complete wilderness. But when he left the United States, Qi Rui felt that this wilderness had become his beloved home. Even though he felt that it was funny, Qi Rui could still feel his sincere feelings at that moment.
There were no decent places to live north of Lake Superior. The troops boarded the train again, and it took them more than a week to return to Xinxiang from the front line. These tired soldiers, especially Colonel Qi Rui who had a bright future, returned to Xinxiang. This made Shen Xin, the political commissar of the North American Theater of Operations in Xinxiang, very happy. At least in the next few months, he would no longer have to be on tenterhooks.
This retreat also marked the beginning of the big retirement. The Liberation Army with a total of more than two million soldiers would begin to be organized into the reserve. In the next three years, the total number of active and reserve soldiers in the Liberation Army would reach an unprecedented five million. Japan had already made it clear that they were willing to provide one million servant soldiers. After the Korean government received the money from China, they also readily expressed that they were willing to provide two hundred thousand servant soldiers. With a total of more than six million soldiers, and an army that could be effectively commanded, the Min dynasty had undoubtedly created history. This was the largest army known in the history of China.
As the nominal commander of this largest army, it was inevitable that Shen Xin would let his imagination run wild. Of course, he would not play any tricks to seize the earliest command of this army. Even without the existence of wireless telegrams and wired telegrams, just the system of the Liberation Army being led by the Party alone would make Shen Xin have no chance to seize the command of this army. The members of the Party Committee of the North American Theater of Operations wanted to establish their own great achievements by annexing North America. Would they not care about the benefits that were about to be in their hands? Instead, they risked being beheaded to fight against the Military Governor Vaize whom everyone sincerely admired and had never failed? These members of the Party Committee would probably report the people who proposed a rebellion as soon as possible.
What Shen Xin imagined was his future reputation in history. History would record those active soldiers on the front line. For example, Qi Rui, the Chief of Staff of the 24th Division who would be promoted to Major General in a few days. This young man was invincible and invincible. On the first night of the siege of Chicago, Chicago was burned down by fire. Shen Xin also saw the photos of those fire tornadoes. The grandeur even had a sense of a religious level.
However, as the supreme commander, Shen Xin was commanding from behind the scenes. How would the future generations describe Shen Xin? Shen Xin was curious about this and looked forward to it.
Unlike these subordinates and children who were bursting with romantic emotions, Military Governor Vaize still chatted with Uncle En with the unique calmness of a materialist. Both of them enjoyed this kind of conversation. It was valuable to gain wisdom from each other, and it was satisfying to feel each other's useful materialist way of thinking. For these two guys, knowledge and experience were no longer what they lacked. What these two people lacked in life was the feeling of a very high-quality way of thinking.
"Your Excellency is just withdrawing the troops and launching a stronger attack on the United States. Do you think this is considered a retreat? "Uncle En asked Vézé.
Vézé seemed to be a little distracted. The relaxation brought by talking to Uncle En often stimulated some of his thinking. At least he could really relax. Therefore, he answered, "For now, retreat is retreat. In the future, when the attack starts, it will naturally be counted as an attack. Many years ago when I was young, I used the excuse that bad things were good things. Now, I won't say that I'm waiting. "
Uncle En understood that different things couldn't be confused with sophistry. He just wanted to test if Vézé was a little confused. Seeing that Vézé wasn't confused, Uncle En asked a question that he was very concerned about. "I thought the Americans would start a people's war, but the result of the war between China and the United States surprised me. I don't know what Your Excellency thinks about this problem. "
"Mr. Engels, if you ask me to fight Europe like this, I definitely won't do it. The European people have thousands of years of history in that land. After I fight my way in, I will naturally encounter people's war. If you ask me to cross the Appalachian Mountains and attack the East Coast of the United States, I won't do it. If I fight my way in, I will encounter people's war. But in the western part of North America, the Americans are only a few decades or even a decade ahead of us. They rely on their strongholds. As long as the strongholds of the United States and the scattered farms and pastures close to the strongholds are destroyed, there will be basically no Americans left in those areas. It's not that the Americans can't start a people's war in those areas, but the Americans in those areas are at most immigrants, not people. "
Uncle En also had some thoughts about this before. After hearing what Vézé said, he didn't object. After thinking for a moment, Uncle En asked Vézé, "So what do you think is the difference between immigrants and people?"
"Immigrants, their purpose is to have better land, more convenient transportation, and a better life. And people, no matter how barren the land is, how difficult the transportation is, they think they belong to this land. So they will do everything they can to survive on this land. " Having seen the feelings of the Chinese people for the land, and having set off a wave of immigration in China, Vézé didn't hesitate when talking about the difference between the two.
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