Chapter 10, Blank Quota Rules

  There were only four veterans who came to report, all of whom looked older. The youngest was almost over 30 years old. As usual, they introduced themselves one by one, namely Li Wenqi, the captain of the first team, Wang Lifa, the captain of the third team, Chen Qun, the captain of the fourth team, and Wang Yun, the captain of the eighth team.

  "How come there are just four of you?" Wu Shaotong asked in puzzlement.

  A full-strength company consists of eight platoons, each with ten soldiers excluding the platoon officer, meaning a company should have eighty-nine personnel at full strength.

  "Director Wu is unaware, our mountain character camp was previously called dry character camp, under the command of Guizhou Governor Feng Zicai. It's said that they even fought against the French before. After several twists and turns, our camp was assigned to the Guangzhou defense zone and renamed Mountain Character Camp. From then on, the five sentry posts were never fully manned." The oldest Li Wenqi, who had spent the most time in the sentry post, naturally understood the history of the troops and hastily recounted it at this moment.

  Wu Shaotong was somewhat surprised and smiled: "It turns out that Shanziying is still a heroic unit after all."

  In the 21st century, anyone who has attended middle school knows about Qing dynasty General Feng Zicai's resistance against French invaders. Although this Sino-French War was won under the joint efforts of Feng Zicai and the Black Flag Army, it ultimately gave rise to a proverb that cuts deep into one's heart: "Defeated without being defeated, victorious without being victorious."

  Li Wenqi smiled and said: "Lord Wu, actually everyone has a number in their hearts. The other sentry officers don't want their own sentries to be full either, otherwise they would lose a lot of benefits every month for no reason."

  Wu Shaotong nodded slightly, knowing that Li Wenqi was referring to the matter of eating empty quotas. He took a deep breath and asked further: "How many soldiers are currently in our rear guard?"

  "Sir, currently the first squad has five people, the second squad has four people, the third squad has four people, the fourth squad has five people, the fifth squad has seven people, the sixth squad has five people, the seventh squad has six people, and the eighth squad has four people. Excluding officers, there are exactly 40 soldiers in the entire battalion."

  Wu Shaotong said in surprise, "What's the logic behind this? Since there are only four squad leaders, why not disband the squads without leaders and fill the soldiers into the squads with leaders? The 40 soldiers can form four full squads, which would be much easier to manage."

  The four team officers looked at each other, and then Li Wenqi said: "Lord Wu, we can't help it. Only when all eight teams are under our command can we receive the full amount of silver pay every month. If we merge the eight teams into four teams, we will only be able to get half of the silver pay every month."

  Wu Shaotong suddenly understood, no wonder the old army's quality has been getting worse and worse. The soldiers, in order to get a little more pay, have complicated mechanisms that could have been simplified. A unit like this no longer considers its own combat effectiveness, only seeking to mix up some small profits.

  "I asked you, what about our team's empty quota? How did you allocate it?" He sighed and asked seriously.

  The four officers exchanged glances with each other once again.

  "Report to Lord Wu, previously our battalion had three vacancies: four team leaders, forty soldiers and one platoon officer. According to convention, each of us four would take an additional team leader's vacancy and five soldier vacancies, while the camp officer would take a platoon officer's vacancy, and the remaining twenty soldier vacancies were usually used for miscellaneous tasks."

  Wang Lifa pulled Wang Yun and added a sentence: "Lord Wu, in fact, the remaining twenty vacancies of soldiers, for twelve months a year, at least seven months are taken by the camp officer."

  Wu Shaotong nodded slightly, his face expressionless, and continued to ask: "What about the twenty vacancies usually used for camp duties? What have you all done with them?"

  Li Wenqi, Wang Yun and Chen Qun pointed at Wang Lifa together, saying in unison: "You have to ask Wang Xiuciai about this!"

  Wang Lifa's face turned awkward, and he dryly laughed for a while before saying: "Sir, I've already said that most of the vacancies for those twenty soldiers were also taken by the regimental officers. The little money left over was used to buy some wine and meat for my brothers during festivals, or sometimes to add some bedding in summer and winter."

  Wu Shaotong could see at a glance that Wang Lifa must have embezzled this sum of money, but he didn't expose it. He didn't want to get involved in past affairs and couldn't get involved either.

  "Let's forget about the past, but starting from this month, what are your plans?" He deliberately dragged out his voice and asked, his eyes scanning each of the four officers.

  The four team officers suddenly became awkward, you pushed me and I pushed you, for a while no one dared to stand up and respond.

  However, after a stalemate for a while, the oldest Li Wenqi still stood out and smiled in a flattering manner: "Lord Wu, we have already discussed this among ourselves over the past few days. Since our rear guard has an officer, the camp officer's side will naturally not occupy this vacancy again. Apart from that, every month you can take two team officers and ten soldiers' vacancies on your side... how do you feel about it?"

  Wu Shaotong understood the implicit meaning of Li Wenqi's words. The four of them were now most concerned about the distribution of their own interests in the future. Although these people still knew how to behave, they reluctantly gave almost half of the vacancies to themselves. However, the remaining vacancies that Li Wenqi did not mention actually implied that they would be divided equally among the four of them.

  "What about Li Ying's side? How will they explain it?" he asked tentatively.

  Wang Lifa immediately replied, "Lord Wu, in the past our rear guard did not have a sentinel officer and belonged directly to Commander Qian's side, so Commander Qian's side would embezzle more. Now that we have a sentinel officer, we don't need to make up for this empty quota. Because every month the salary of officers and soldiers below the sentinel officer is deducted by three tenths, nominally called the total camp fee, but in fact it still falls into Commander Qian's own pocket."

  Chen Qun nodded and echoed: "Other sentries are the same, just need to pay the full battalion fee."

  Wu Shaotong smiled and said, "I understand."

  He paused, then said: "As I know, in our fire brigade, a soldier's monthly salary is one or two silver coins, and a team officer's monthly salary is one or two eight cents. The annual allowance for the end of the year is calculated separately. After deducting the total camp fee, a soldier gets seven cents per month, and a team officer gets one or four cents. According to the allocation of vacancies just now, you can get almost three taels per month, right?

  Wang Lifa mentally calculated for a moment and nodded repeatedly: "Lord Wu is indeed a master of arithmetic, it's indeed this number."

  Wu Shaotong suddenly collected the smile on his face, revealing a serious look, and stood up from the ground in an instant. He said with great momentum: "From this month on, there will be no more eating empty quotas. From now on, all the empty quotas of the rear guard will belong to me alone! Do you understand?"

  The faces of the four officers changed suddenly, they thought that the military officers who had stayed abroad would be more honest and upright, and Wu Shaotong had been smiling from the beginning, looking like a man with no greed in his heart. But unexpectedly, the saying "don't judge by appearance" was true after all, Wu Shaotong opened his mouth wide, shattering their illusions at once.

  However, there is no way to do this. The old army's system is that the lower level must obey the higher level. The sentinel officer can appoint or dismiss a team officer without going through the formalities of the general camp, and can issue orders directly. The four of them are not covered by anyone above, if they really want to go against Wu Shaotong, maybe tomorrow they will be fired.

  Wu Shaotong took a look at the disappointed and helpless faces of the four team officers, smiled and said: "Don't worry, I'm not going to monopolize these vacancies. If you want to get more silver pay every month, just listen to my command from tomorrow."

  The four team officers were shocked by these words, what did Wu Shaotong want to do after all?

  Without waiting for others to ask, Wu Shaotong's loud voice commanded: "Today is the last leisurely day for all of you. After lunch, I require all soldiers to change into their uniforms. No matter if your uniform is washed, moldy, or broken, those who can't wear winter clothes should wear summer clothes, and those who can't wear summer clothes should wear winter clothes. Those who can't wear either will have their monthly salary deducted."

  The four of them saw this lineup and immediately realized that Wu Shaotong was a ruthless character with a smile on his face, and they couldn't help but feel a chill down their spines. Having encountered such an officer, they feared that they would not have good days ahead.

  They murmured and nodded in agreement for a while before hastily running back to the camp to pass on the notice.

  At noon, Wu Shaotong did not go to the general camp officer cafeteria for lunch, but instead stayed at the rear outpost and had a meal with the soldiers. He originally thought that the food in the general camp's officer cafeteria was already bad enough, but only today did he discover that the soldiers' food was even worse, with coarse rice paired with big pot dishes, and salt and oil were scarce.

  After lunch, all the soldiers immediately became busy. They rushed back to their respective barracks, changed into their uniforms, and a few soldiers who couldn't wear theirs had to run to other sentry posts to borrow some. In about half an hour's time, the soldiers finally managed to change into their uniforms without exception and reassembled for inspection.

  Wu Shaotong made a simple inspection, and after changing into their uniforms, these people finally had some semblance of being soldiers.

  He stood in front of everyone, with a straight face and said: "I know you all think I'm a difficult person to deal with right now, and maybe even find me annoying or pretentious. It's fine, as long as you don't openly scold me in public, I don't care."

  The soldiers didn't dare to make a sound, but in their hearts they were really unhappy. No other sentry had ever come across such an incompetent officer, and it was as if they themselves had drawn the lucky lottery ticket! As for the future, who knows how they'll get through the days?