Chapter 6: Packaging Army

  Due to He Shaotang's special status, although he was just a small captain, his face was indeed full of it. The bigwigs of the Tan family all came out to accompany him, and the banquet was set up at the Xiao Xiang Pavilion in Yangjiaotan, which was Tan Xiaodong's own business. The Xiao Xiang Pavilion was located on a small triangular洲 protruding into the river water on the banks of the Xiangjiang River, hidden behind a bamboo forest. On the second floor, three sides faced the water and leaned against the bamboo sea, with a broad view and elegant scenery. Although it was midwinter, there was no feeling of withering, and the gusts of cold wind made people feel refreshed.

  The land of Xiangxiang, where many literati and elegant scholars reside, has also been visited by numerous local celebrities, so that among the carved beams and painted buildings, there is a rich atmosphere of literature and poetry. Although neither Tan Xiao nor his son are bookworms, unable to appreciate the true flavor, they still feel exhilarated and carefree as they ascend to this scenic spot.

  "Wow, brother has such a great place, I'll have to come here often!" He Shaotang was envious when he learned that this was Tan Xiao's own property. Although he was a high-ranking official, in Nanjing, the capital city, it wasn't anything special, and since He Yingqin himself was quite clean and honest, his nephews didn't dare to show off in the capital, so naturally, they had no properties.

  "In our rural area, it's easy to get a good place, like this house, which is worth only three to five thousand dollars. I like it, so brother will give it to you!" Tan Xiao said: "Brother has been wanting to give you something, but didn't know what you liked."

  "Brother, since we're family, let's not be polite. This house is good, but I'm either stuck in Nanjing or traveling all year round, and it's rare for me to come here. If I occupy this house and make a mess of it, I'll inevitably be scolded by the literary men who live here! It's better if you take care of it, brother. When I have time, I'll come over to stay and play." What He Shaotang said was true.

  When everyone started drinking and toasting, Tan Xiao realized that He Shao Tang was indeed ***, on the one hand responding to this group of people, while also being able to effortlessly navigate among a group of sweet Hunan girls. After seven or eight rounds of wine, his face was only slightly red, but he showed no signs of intoxication. Everyone chatted about all sorts of things, and the topic turned to Huangpu again.

  Originally, according to the academic system of Nanjing University, Tan Xiao and his classmates in the 9th term had not yet graduated. Due to the January 28 Incident and the war, the enrollment of the 9th and 10th terms was disrupted. The 9th term stopped classes for a while, and the 10th term coincided with the outbreak of war, causing recruitment to be interrupted twice. As for those like Tan Xiao who attended a three-month military officer training course and were assigned to a certain term, they were generally in branch schools, mainly to give local warlords' children an opportunity to show their loyalty to the chairman. Nanjing University was relatively strict, and it was rare for someone like He Shao Tang to be assigned to the 10th term without completing his studies and graduating early to become an official, except that he had a strong background, there must have been other reasons.

  He Shaotang was originally a student in Japan, but after half a year, he encountered the September 18th Incident, and Sino-Japanese relations deteriorated. By the time of the Great Wall War, his classmates who had studied in Japan had all returned home. Although he received special treatment from the Japanese government due to his background and did not suffer much, he felt uneasy at heart. In the end, he almost didn't complete his studies before returning home. At that time, the ninth period of students had just been recruited, so he was enrolled as a tenth-period student and attended classes for three months before taking up a post as a staff officer in the Military Affairs Department. It's clear that he differed from those like Tan Xiao who merely mixed with intellectuals to obtain credentials. No wonder when watching the 23rd Division's maneuvers, He Shaotang still had an eye for spotting clever tactics.

  "Brother, this time I came to the 23rd Division for a visit and it's really an eye-opener. To be honest, on the way here, I was thinking about whether I should just apply to transfer to your place. It's not fun staying in the Military Affairs Department, no matter how well you do, you're still just Uncle's nephew..."

  Since it's a real talent, of course, it can be wanted. Tan Xiaozheng is worried that his troops will be transferred to Guizhou to fight the Red Army. If there is He Shaotang as a shield, it may be able to withstand it, and the troop reduction will not affect the 23rd Division for the time being.

  "If you really want to come to our unit, I'd be happy to welcome you, brother. A talented person like you who has studied in Japan is hard to find even with a lantern!" Tan Xiao agreed with a smile.

  "Alright! If my young nephew is willing to come over, this old bone of mine can finally take a break. Following the wind and running after it for a month has made me lose at least 10 pounds!" Ji Ping inserted a timely remark, making his intention very clear: as long as He Shao Tang comes over, the position of Chief of Staff of the 23rd Division will be yours!

  Tan Xiao looked at Ji Ping with a grateful glance, and said to He Shaotang: "I don't know if I temporarily take over the 23rd Division, would you like to come and be humble? If you can come, this chief of staff position is yours!"

  Look at him not having expressed his opinion, Ji Ping said: "Xian nephew doesn't have to worry, this old bone of mine has long wanted to return to the Baoshan trip. Now in this position, I can only do some logistical work and can't help with military affairs at all. To put it bluntly, that's just a title without any real power!"

  "Little brother, I know that the Japanese army, from division level and above, actually relies on a large group of staff officers to operate. The Japanese military system is modeled after Germany's, and their staff quality is extremely strong. This is exactly our military's weakness. I've long wanted to create an excellent staff team, but unfortunately, my expertise lies in training and leading troops. Staff work is technical, and I don't understand it, so I really want you to come and help me out!" Tan Xiao wasn't joking when he said this. In another time and space, he was just a drill instructor on a training ground, and he was indeed very familiar with training soldiers. Relying on his knowledge from later generations, he could probably handle leading troops in battle as well. However, creating a powerful staff team would be a difficult task for him.

  He Shaotang heard this and nodded: "Well, that's settled then. Who doesn't want to lead troops in military uniform? I'm fed up with the Military Affairs Department. This time when I go back, I'll submit a report to change jobs. By the way, is there anything else that needs to be said? Brother can speak directly, after all, once younger brother arrives at the 23rd Division, he won't have so many opportunities to come to uncle's face and grind anymore!"

  "Alright! So, I won't be polite either. Little brother knows that the 23rd Division has just been formed and still lacks training, so first of all, I don't want to use troops within a year, secondly, it's naturally about equipment, supplies, military expenses and other mundane things... By the way, how are your connections with the Hengyang Ordnance Factory? There will be many places that need to rely on you in the future."

  "That's easy to say, the arsenal is originally under the Ministry of Military Affairs, I've been coordinating materials in Hunan for over a year, and I'm as close as brothers with those guys from Hengyang, whatever it is, one phone call can get it done!" He Shao Tang patted his chest immediately.

  Afterwards, everyone became a family and made plans for the construction of the army together.

  He Shaotang suggested that the first thing to do is to send all the young and vigorous backbone of the army to military school for gold plating, regardless of whether it's a crash course or a three-year program, all with the Whampoa brand. In addition, after He Shaotang returned to Nanjing, he went directly to the General School to communicate and strive to bring over a batch of top students from the ninth graduating class. Also, take a look at which students have good grades in school and are currently idle, regardless of whether they are from the General School or branch schools, all will be summoned for an interview with the 23rd Division, and those who can be used will be kept. Strive to build the entire army into a Whampoa-style force within one year.

  Tan Xiao wholeheartedly agreed with this suggestion: because as far as he knew, Huangpu started to adopt a three-year system from the eighth period onwards. The students after the eighth period were actually better in military quality than those in the previous periods. A large proportion of the ninth and tenth period students were inspired by the September 18th Incident and the January 28th Incident to join the army, and these graduates played a crucial role in the anti-Japanese war, basically monopolizing the middle and lower-level officers of the Central Army. Many of those who were recorded by the Japanese as fearless and leading the charge were from this period (Note: The plot requires the ninth period to graduate early, haha).

  Then, He Shaotang proposed that he stay for a few more days to help renovate the military training base, mainly for taking photos. He planned to take a batch of photos about the training life of the 23rd Division, do some packaging, and strive to get the Central Army's first-class divisional reserve number for the 23rd Division. He said that these photos would definitely be shocking, because when he visited the soldiers' barracks, he was shocked by the clean barracks, especially those neatly stacked quilts with four right angles.

  Tan Xiao's suggestions were considered excellent by He Shao-tang, and he immediately accepted them. When the discussion turned to the equipment of the army, Tan Xiao suggested that the rifle should be the Type 38 Arisaka, the light machine gun should be the Czech ZB-26, and the heavy machine gun should be a domestically produced model that combined the advantages of several foreign models, including the Maxim gun. The artillery should include French Schneider 75mm field guns or Krupp guns, with a few Krupp 105mm howitzers if possible. The anti-aircraft guns should be British QF 6-pounder (57mm) rather than the currently popular Type 37 anti-aircraft gun. Additionally, the main firepower of the artillery should come from domestically produced 82mm mortars... Tan Xiao's familiarity with infantry weapons from various countries left everyone in attendance amazed and wondering where he had obtained his information. He even knew about a new type of submachine gun that Germany was testing in its police force, and predicted that it would be revolutionary and widely adopted. When Tan Xiao explained why he chose the Type 38 Arisaka rifle, comparing its advantages and disadvantages with the German Mauser rifle, and proposed an improved cartridge to increase the rifle's power, everyone was no longer just surprised - they were shocked. Especially when he mentioned a type of armor-piercing bullet developed by Americans, which made them shudder at the thought of being hit by such a bullet - anyone who had been on the battlefield knew how tragic that would be.

  "Has brother really seen such a terrifying bullet?" He Shaotang asked in surprise: "Will it still work?!"

  "Of course, the craftsmanship of that bullet is not complicated at all. If you can make regular bullets, you can make it. The Americans didn't sign the Hague Convention back then, so they came up with such a twisted thing. But I think it's really good, should be the cheapest killing tool!"

  He Shaotang felt that he had just met Tan Xiao for the first time - this guy was a war maniac, no, a killer maniac!

  "These bullets are internationally banned!" He Shaotang was still a bit nervous.

  "If we use it to fight a civil war, foreigners won't care. If we use it to fight the Japanese... will foreigners still care? They're already bullying us at our doorstep!!" Tan Xiao raised his voice by eight degrees, very loudly: "This should be our military's standard bullet!" Tan Xiao fiercely swung his fist once.

  He Shaotang and others remained silent for a while, and finally he also agreed: "Okay, but we won't use it in the civil war. If the Japanese come in, we'll use this to deal with them!" After all, having been humiliated by Japan before, whether or not there was a fear of Japan complex, deep down they still hated the Japanese very much. "But this matter must be kept secret, the Military Affairs Department will absolutely not approve it, we have to secretly make these bullets!"

  Hehe, who would have thought of using it for internal conflict? Only our own production is not enough for our own troops. Tan Xiao smiled slyly.

  In the following days, it was all about propaganda and packaging. The whole military camp was plastered with slogans, banners were hung everywhere, and wall newspapers were painted...

  As for Tan Xiao's arrangement, He Shao-tang was shocked again: the main gate of the military region was made extremely wide and grand, with a vertical sign showing the unit number, and above the gate was a huge horizontal plaque with eight characters: "Fear death, don't enter this door!" Above the horizontal plaque was an eight-trigram blue sky white sun flag guarding the big emblem.

  As I walked in, the trees and buildings on both sides of the road had all sorts of slogans, such as "One is not afraid of hardship, two is not afraid of death", "One does not make prisoners, two does not leave prisoners behind", "Soldiers are united with civilians like one family in peacetime and wartime", "Military and civilian relations are like fish and water", "Protect the country and expand its territory"...

  The main road is about 100 meters long and has a large shadow wall, with no slogans on it, only a large map: the map includes Outer Mongolia, North Korea, Ryukyu, Taiwan, Northeast China extending to the Greater Xing'an Mountains, etc. Some special areas are painted in different colors, marked as: Soviet-occupied, Japanese-occupied, British-occupied, etc. In the lower right corner of the map is a bas-relief of a steel helmet, rifle and other infantry equipment neatly arranged with the emblem of the Blue Sky with a White Sun, above which is written six simple words: Think about your mission.

  Behind the screen wall, there are three paths. One leads to the commander's office area, one leads to the ceremonial hall, and one leads to the training ground and barracks. All the roads have slogans, none of which are repeated. At each fork in the road, there are two prominent arrows pointing northeast and northwest respectively, with the inscriptions "Advance towards Tokyo" and "Advance towards Moscow".

  The front gate of the grand auditorium hangs a plaque with Sun Yat-sen's "Tian Xia Wei Gong", and above the chairman's platform is a large portrait of Chiang Kai-shek in military uniform, flanked by eight characters on either side: One country, one head of state, one ideology, one army!

  ……

  "If Lao Da goes to the Military Affairs Department for propaganda, he will definitely be a hundred times more effective! He Shao Tang looked at all the arrangements, which far exceeded his own expectations, and couldn't help but sigh in admiration!"

  Because there were too many things that could be photographed, they even had to send someone into town to buy more film, and it took He Shao-tang a whole five days just to take the pictures!

  In these five days, He Shaotang also gained a deeper understanding of every corner of the military camp and the details of the troops' training life. At first, he was not used to the large canteen-style dining in this unit, but later learned that even Tan Xiao would eat in the canteen when there were no guests. He Shaotang couldn't help but feel a sense of wonder at the food here: two meat dishes, two vegetable dishes, four courses and one soup, all shared equally among officers and soldiers. Compared to other units, those above regimental level lived relatively simple lives, while those below battalion level were incredibly well-off!

  As for the corner of the outer wild training ground, it is always dug and filled, filled and dug. No matter whether new recruits or old soldiers, building fortifications has become a reserved training project, which is also a very special place. In addition to earthwork, there are also a large number of woodworking projects. He Shaotang asked the soldier what the main woodworking project was, and the soldier replied that in addition to building earthen forts and solidifying trenches, they had to learn how to build simple wooden houses. The division commander said that war would bring many hardships to ordinary people, and soldiers should try their best to help the affected civilians build shelters... Tan Xiaokun's image as a killer was overturned again.

  As for the special transportation of disassembling the big guns and bundling them up for soldiers to carry through mountains and wilderness, the camouflage and ambush in the wilderness for three days and nights, and even the mortar gunners using only one light cannon tube for handheld shooting, etc. training entered He Shaotang's vision, he felt that his military school was useless: every conventional training he had never seen before, and the strange and peculiar training methods were actually very effective in approaching real combat training methods. And the arrangement of soldiers' literacy learning or cultural improvement at night also made him praise without stopping.

  What shocked him even more was that simple soldier's manual, which listed all the unequal treaties since the First Sino-Japanese War (including the Tianjin Agreement, which made him particularly uncomfortable) and the amount of compensation, with notes on how many days' worth of food each Chinese person had lost and how many acres of land their descendants had lost. He understood that this could quietly turn soldiers into nationalists, and Tan Xiao himself was undoubtedly an extreme nationalist.