Chapter 70: Zhao Shilong's Reorganization Plan

  "Gentlemen, the New Year has passed, and you should all know that the Central Government is going to reorganize the national defense army, right? In order to cooperate with this upcoming reorganization work of the Central National Defense Army, as the commander of the 8th Division, Zhao asked everyone to come over and discuss it." The division headquarters of the 8th Division, Zhao Hengti saw that everyone had arrived, cleared his throat and began to speak.

  "Master, the specific method of this reorganization seems to have not come down yet?" Huang Kaiyuan slightly furrowed his brow and spoke first: "The central national defense army's reorganization, we all support it. However, discussing this matter now seems a bit early; why not wait until the central government's formal order comes down before discussing it again?"

  Wang Xiaozhong nodded in agreement, also feeling that it was too early to discuss this matter now. After all, the news of the National Defense Army's reorganization was just a rumor, and there had been no official order from above. As for how the reorganization would be carried out, and how the various units and officers would be arranged afterwards, there were still no specific measures in place. As a high-ranking officer of the Eighth Division, what he should do now was to calm the minds of his subordinates and make preparations, rather than discussing how to carry out the reorganization.

  But Zhao Heng had another plan in mind, and immediately smiled: "No problem, no problem, the reorganization of the national defense army is a major event for the country, and my eighth division is one of the first batch to be reorganized. To say something unpleasant, everyone from top to bottom is looking at us. Since that's the case, as the commander of the Eighth Division, let's gather everyone to discuss a preliminary plan for reorganization, so that when the formal order comes down, we can speed up the reorganization and complete the task as soon as possible!"

  It turns out that Zhao Hengyu's words are not wrong, after all, Zhao Hengyu is the superior, he made this suggestion as a superior, and neither Huang Kaiyuan nor Wang Xiaozhong can directly oppose it.

  The two deputy division commanders of the Eighth Division, who were second only to him, had no objection. Zhao Hengdi was very pleased in his heart and slightly raised his hand. The deputy officer behind him took out the plan that had been prepared early and handed it over to Huang Kaiyuan and others one by one.

  Looking at Zhao Hengyi's reorganization plan, Huang Kaiyuan furrowed his brow. On the surface, the plan was impressive, but in reality, it was using the banner of reorganizing the national defense army to purge the 8th Division. In the plan, Zhao listed a transfer list, making adjustments to a large number of mid-to-low-level officers in each regiment and battalion. Especially for the 31st Regiment stationed in Shanghai, he proposed merging with the Jiangsu-Shanghai Garrison Regiment to form a new mixed brigade. Additionally, he planned to disband the temporarily formed 33rd Regiment. If this reorganization plan were implemented, Zhao Hengyi would completely control all units of the 8th Division and become the undisputed division commander.

  "I object to this plan!" Huang Kaiyuan raised his doubts: "Needless to say whether the large-scale adjustment of mid-to-low-level officers is necessary, just disbanding the 33rd Temporary Regiment is not appropriate. And as for the merger of the 31st Regiment and the Shanghai Army Regiment, it's probably too much. Although the Jiangsu Governor's Office and our Eighth Division are in a superior-subordinate relationship, the Shanghai Army Regiment and the Eighth Division are two different systems. The merger of the two armies must be approved by the higher-ups, and Commander Zhao is doing this without following the rules."

  The commander of the 33rd Regiment, Li Shimao, who was present at the scene, looked even more ugly. In the Battle of Nanjing, his regiment had almost been wiped out, and although many new recruits had been added after the battle, because Fang Zidao suddenly left office, Zhao Hengyi, as the division commander, had not replenished him with guns and ammunition on the grounds that the 8th Division's overall military equipment losses were too great after the war. Until now, the 33rd Regiment's weapons and equipment are extremely lacking, and more than half of the new recruits in the regiment are using repaired old guns to make up for the numbers, while the combat effectiveness of the 33rd Regiment has dropped from the original first place in the division to the bottom.

  For this matter, Li Shimao had run to the division headquarters and argued with Zhao Hengyu, fighting to the death, bleeding and sacrificing, but in the end, he ended up like this, with a mouthful of bad breath stuck in his chest. Zhao Hengyu was really too bullying! But as the saying goes, "officials are one level higher than the people", and besides, there were still several levels between him and Zhao Hengyu, it was simply impossible to win, the once proud and arrogant Li Tuanzhang had become a nobody, this time Zhao Hengyu's proposal even included the suggestion of disbanding the temporary 33rd regiment, it was clear that he wanted him to get out, it was simply too much.

  Li Jun and He Sui didn't react as strongly as Li Shi Mao, but their faces weren't looking good either. Zhao Heng Yu hadn't touched their foundation for the time being, but it was clear that after dealing with Li Shi Mao, they would be next in line to suffer a calamity. Moreover, under the pretext of adjustment, the temporary 33rd battalion led by Li Shi Mao was disbanded and its personnel were dispersed and reassigned to their own troops, with new company and platoon leaders appointed by the division headquarters. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that Zhao Heng Yu was planting moles in their army, and Li Jun and He Sui weren't fools, so how couldn't they see it?

  Coughing a few times, Wang Xiaozhu felt that Zhao Heng was being too cautious and suggested that it would be better to wait for further instructions from above before making any decisions.

  "No problem, no problem......" Zhao Hengru smiled: "Reorganization is a big deal, my Eighth Division must be at the forefront, and I think this adjustment is very necessary. As for the situation mentioned by Deputy Commander Huang, I don't think there is such a problem. No mistake, my Eighth Division and the Jiangsu Governor's Office Hu Military System are not the same, but the merger of the Hu Military has been approved by Commander-in-Chief Cheng, and as the garrison of Jiangsu and Shanghai, my Eighth Division, it is not inappropriate to do so, I think even if we report to the Ministry of War, they will not object."

  Although Zhao Hengti's words were somewhat strong and unreasonable, they were not entirely unjustified. As the 8th Division outside of the Beiyang system, the Ministry of War did not have direct command authority, and Jiangsu Governor Cheng Dequan was a turncoat who excelled at adapting to circumstances and trimming his sails to suit the wind. Moreover, given their past association as officials in the Qing court and under President Yuan, if Zhao Hengti and Cheng Dequan had come to a private agreement and made a joint proposal, it is likely that Yuan Shikai would not have overly humiliated Cheng Dequan.

  In short, Zhao Hengyi just wanted to take advantage of the situation before the national defense army's reorganization and fully control the power of the 8th Division. Moreover, regarding the rumors about the central government preparing for military-civil separation, Zhao Hengyi had already learned about it. In order to share the military and political powers in Jiangsu with Cheng Dequan, they had secretly conspired multiple times, discussing and deciding to cooperate with each other.

  "Others may not care, but it's absolutely impossible to disband my troops!" Li Shimao was furious, slamming his fist on the table and shouting: "I and my brothers fought to the death in Nanjing, shedding blood and piling up corpses to defend against the enemy. You, Zhao Yiwu, didn't even give us enough ammunition, but now you're going to disband the 33rd Temporary Regiment? Don't you fear that the brothers of the 8th Division will lose heart?"

  "Li Tuanzhang, what are you talking about!" Zhao Heng's face turned cold: "The reorganization of the National Defense Army is a major event for the central government, this is the overall situation! As the 8th Division troops must obey orders! Do you want to disobey the superior command?"

  "Superior, haha, what a joke!" Li Shimao sneered: "The formal order from the Central Committee? Take it out and let me see? I'm afraid not? What kind of calculation do you think Zhao Yiwu has made that we don't know about? Bah!"

  "That's right, Commander Zhao. If there is a formal order from the central government, we will cooperate immediately. But this is just your proposed plan, isn't it too rash to do it this way?" Since Li Shimao had already taken the lead, Huang Kaiyuan and others also spoke up one after another, raising their objections.

  "I don't think so, the central government has its own plans, and our 8th Division should also have its own arrangements. I think Zhao's arrangement is still more appropriate, after merging with the Shanghai Military Group, the strength of my 8th Division will be even stronger, which will be more beneficial to the 8th Division when it comes to formal reorganization." Tao Deyao, as Zhao Hengti's confidant, naturally expressed his support and agreement.

  "You certainly won't object, from battalion commander to brigade commander, Tao Team Leader is a promotion, how can you object? Ah, I also need to congratulate you, Tao... Brigade... Commander!" Li Shimao said with a cold smile.

  "You can't say that, Commander Li. The 33rd Regiment was temporarily assigned to my 8th Division from the beginning. 'Temporary assignment' is just a temporary arrangement, isn't it? Since it's a temporary arrangement, the 33rd Regiment has not been officially included in the 8th Division's numbering system. If the division commander doesn't make adjustments beforehand, when the time comes and the Central Committee issues an order to reorganize, they won't recognize the temporarily assigned 33rd Regiment. What will happen to the thousands of brothers in the 33rd Regiment? Will they all be dispersed and sent home to farm?" Tao Deyao said with a slight smile, speaking slowly and calmly.

  Liu Jianwan nodded in agreement and added, "Commander Tao's words are not wrong. The division commander is also considering the future of our brothers in the temporarily formed 33rd Regiment. In my opinion, the division commander's consideration is still very thoughtful. Moreover, Commander Li's position as regimental commander is still there. Commander Li is a tiger general of our division and made great contributions in the Battle of Nanjing. When the formal order from the central government comes, it is possible that Commander Li will be promoted to deputy brigade commander or even deputy division commander."

  "Yes, yes!" The other several battalion commanders nodded in unison, and Tao Deyao, Liu Jianfan, and others were on the same wavelength, making Li Shimao's face turn iron-green with rage, his hands trembling.

  Huang Kaiyuan secretly called it bad, Wang Xiaozhong, the brigade commander, stood by with his hands in his sleeves and didn't say a word. Even if he opened his mouth, it was just a few perfunctory sentences. He obviously didn't want to stir up trouble. Li Ju and He Sui were somewhat dissatisfied, but they were much stronger than Li Shimao. They might be able to vent their frustrations, but strongly opposing would be difficult. Moreover, Zhao Hengyu seemed to have made up his mind today, and Huang Kaiyuan and Li Shimao alone could not resist him.

  Just as Huang Kaiyuan was about to use the delaying tactic of "dragging out the words" to put off the matter for a few days, Zhao Heng suddenly rushed in and whispered a few words in his ear.

  Zhao Hengyu hastily stood up and smiled at everyone: "Everyone, Commander Cheng has arrived. Let's all go out to welcome him."

  Everyone was stunned, and no one had expected that Cheng Dequan would actually run over at this time.