Chapter Thirty-Five: The Drill (Part One)

  Nanjing Supreme Headquarters

  The supreme leader, wearing a green long shirt, sat in the correct position, looking sternly at the generals on both sides. The generals were all sitting like green pines, waiting for the highest authority's instructions.

  Chiang Kai-shek glanced at Gui Yongqing sitting at the far end and slowly spoke: "Rate true, how is your military exercise preparation going?"

  "Principal, everything is ready!" said Kuang Yongqing, standing at attention in a standard military posture.

  Chiang Kai-shek looked at Gui Yongqing with a satisfied expression, nodded slightly, and a faint smile appeared on his lips: "Well, this matter must be taken seriously. When I have time, I will go and take a look to see how my ninth batch of students are doing. Can they perform better than their predecessors? The domestic situation is becoming increasingly tense, and although the campaign against communism has made significant progress, it's like sitting on pins and needles. Japan's attitude is getting tougher and tougher, and I hope you can cultivate more talent for the party and the country through this exercise."

  "Absolutely will not disappoint the principal's expectations!" Everyone knows that Chiang Kai-shek relied on what to make a name for himself, Huangpu, Central Military Academy can be said to be the birthplace of emperors, and what Chiang Kai-shek likes most is others calling him Principal. Therefore, generally speaking, as long as they are students of Huangpu, they will call him Principal, regardless of their official position.

  At this time, General He Yingqin on the side also applauded and said: "Chairman, since the Central Military Academy was established, it has achieved remarkable results and has contributed many outstanding talents to the party and the country. These are all due to your careful guidance!"

  The highest authorities heard He Yingqin's words and were overjoyed, but only smiled on the surface: "Jingzhi, what you said is also reasonable. Our goal is to cultivate excellent talents for the party and the country, and we cannot let talents be buried. Alright, this matter will be discussed later. Rate true, you go prepare now, and when the time comes, you must give me a good performance, and absolutely cannot give them an inch."

  "Yes, the students will definitely do their best. Please rest assured, Principal." After finishing speaking, Gui Yongqing bowed and walked out of the conference room of the General Command, at this moment he felt that his pressure had suddenly increased.

  In the past, military exercises were just a formality, with one side attacking and the other defending, and basically the attacker would win. But this time, Principal Gui is going to be present on site, which adds a lot of meaning to it. If they fake it, once it's exposed, Gui Yongqing's political career will likely come to an abrupt end.

  But Gu Yongqing still can't guess the true intention of Wei Zuo, and doesn't know which side he hopes will win. This official language is reasonable no matter how you say it. What did Wei Zuo mean by his last sentence, "Don't let water slip away"? Gu Yongqing was now also at a loss, shaking his head in distress.

  The training ground of the Central Military Academy, ten square arrays of students, all standing upright below, waiting for the speech of General Gui Yongqing, Commander-in-Chief of the Teaching Corps.

  After about an hour, a row of cars slowly drove into the training ground. Gui Yongqing and his entourage walked towards the stands under the crowd's escort.

  "Classmates, I won't say much more nonsense. Today, I'm here to tell you that in a few days, my department and yours will be conducting a medium-scale military attack and defense exercise. The purpose of this is to make you adapt to the needs of war, so that you can better command your troops in the future. Originally, our side was supposed to launch the main attack, with the student battalion responsible for defending. However, I've decided to change strategy on a whim, and now my department will defend while you attack. Your ten square arrays will form five companies, and the method of attack is up to you. Any side that occupies the enemy's command center wins. There may be an opportunity to meet with the principal at that time. I hope everyone can seize this opportunity well, strive to perform themselves, and as opponents, we will also spare no effort in creating trouble for you. I hope you won't disappoint me, and don't disappoint the principal."

  Gu Yongqing's words stirred up a thousand waves. The principal met with him, such a high honor is not something that anyone can enjoy.

  Actually, Gui Yongqing had no choice either. If this military exercise was led by them, he would be afraid that in the end, they would defeat those student soldiers who only knew how to talk on paper, and then the principal would get angry, which would make his mistake even bigger. Now, since their side is defending, it's just that the student army can't break through, but they can occasionally lose one or two positions, to humor the principal and not hurt the overall situation.

  "In addition, the captains of the five companies were all recommended by instructors. After the recommendation was completed, as soldiers, they should obey orders. I emphasize here that if you perform well, you will naturally be granted an audience with the commander-in-chief. However, if you perform poorly, be careful that you may not even get your graduation certificate." Gu Yongqing gave a carrot and also gave a big stick, just to prevent several companies from competing for so-called merits, in order to gain an audience with the commander-in-chief, which would lead to the failure of the entire military exercise. If that happens, Gu Yongqing will be furious.

  Guī Yǒng Qīng attached great importance to this exercise, as it related to his future prospects. After hastily finishing the lecture, he began to arrange for two battalions composed of his elite soldiers to conduct a confrontational exercise.

  The Central Army had two regiments, about eight hundred people. This time, because Chiang Kai-shek came to watch in person, the significance was naturally different from usual, so Kwee Yongqing decided to lead the team personally and be responsible for this assault exercise. The troops on Kwee Yongqing's side were all called the Red Army, with red signs on their arms, while the student battalion was the Blue Army.

  The outcome of the military exercise is decided by the judges, and the judging team consists of 20 people from each side. Generally, each platoon has a supervisor to prevent situations where you are hit by blank ammunition but do not "die" and continue fighting, which would make it impossible to end the battle. If such a situation is discovered, it will be seriously dealt with. Therefore, this battle process ensures fairness and justice.

  The Red Army established a command center shortly after Gui Yongqing left, and since the military exercise was held in a suburban area, Gui Yongqing was relatively satisfied with the temporary command center. Their purpose was not to sit back and command, but to prepare for Chiang's arrival to direct the battle. However, their defensive system was still good, with dedicated trenches, city walls for defense, and even Gui Yongqing had brought in a part of a directly affiliated artillery regiment from his own teaching group as a precaution. The Red Army had cannon fire cover, but it wouldn't be fair to use it, and generally, cannon fire was only used when attacking a city, so Gui Yongqing, who was defending the city, would not use it unless absolutely necessary.

  The terrain of the entire exercise is not too complicated, and what is called a city is just some temporary highlands. The firepower configuration is also very reasonable, with heavy machine guns, light machine guns, and rifles, all equipped with German-made equipment. Of course, the student troops are almost the same, with both sides having the same weapon configurations, except for the lack of artillery support. Basically, it's still fair, but this so-called fairness is only relative. Without artillery support, it's actually even more difficult for the student army, which originally had no combat experience.

  Of course, these were all arranged by Gui Yongqing. If the student army received artillery support to attack the city, since this was just a simulated city and not very solid, it would be over with one barrage of artillery fire. What's the point of fighting then?

  This time the city is complex, and after taking the high ground, it's also necessary to destroy the Red Army's command center. The Red Army's command center is heavily guarded and relatively hidden. In order to better coordinate this military exercise, the Red Army has placed its command center at a vantage point where the entire exercise can be observed. The student troops naturally don't have aircraft or anything like that, so this vantage point, combined with the perfect firepower configuration, is almost invincible. Gu Yongqing wants to put himself in an unbeatable position, even if he takes the city, if the command center is not destroyed, he has not lost.

  In fact, the current Gui Yongqing actually hopes that these puppet soldiers will break the city, so they can achieve results and he himself will be in an invincible position, why not?

  The Central Guidance Troupe has mobilized two battalions of veteran soldiers this time. Although the veterans are not as cultured as the student phalanx, nor do they have their commanding ability, they are truly battle-hardened and possess an inexplicable aura, a true killing intent forged in blood and fire.

  These old soldiers have extremely rich combat experience. To put it bluntly, if the student army hadn't received strict military training and theoretical training, these old soldiers could take down a few of them without any problem. Perhaps in the future, these young soldiers can grow into good commanders or generals. However, for now, as ordinary soldiers, they are far from reaching the standards of the old soldiers.

  In the past, military exercises were basically won by the Central Teaching Group. This time, Gui Yongqing didn't know Chiang's true intentions, so he decided to have a real military exercise without going through the motions. No matter what happened, it would be a kind of explanation. In fact, he had long wanted to see if the people trained by the Central Military Academy could meet the needs of future battlefields.

  The central army has never stopped fortifying its positions. In Gui Yongqing's view, although two battalions were deployed this time, one of the companies was an artillery company, which was basically just for show and could only intimidate these students. Second, the Red Army command center must not be lost, so two companies were deployed around the command center.

  The real "city" actually only has a camp of about four hundred people, although Gui Yongqing also knows that the dispersal of troops is a major taboo in military affairs. However, he always believed that the combat effectiveness of these soldiers was not very good, and every year it was like this. Occasionally, a few relatively talented people would appear, but they would be snatched away early on. But one or two people with some talent wouldn't be able to change the overall situation of the war, would they?

  With this in mind, Gui Yongqing prepared to give these students a good lesson, allowing them to accumulate more experience in future battles. In fact, he also learned this defensive system at Huangpu, but he felt that he had already graduated and made some minor changes, which were just a change of soup without changing the medicine.