Chapter 22 Jia Wun (Part 1)

  Jia Wang is a large town, and on the edge of the town, there is not only a coal mine of considerable size, but also its own independent power plant. This is not only unique in Xuzhou's towns, but also rare in the entire Central Plains region.

  Before the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, Jiaozuo's prosperity and population density were among the best in the vicinity of Xuzhou, earning it the nickname "Little Xuzhou".

  Since the Japanese army approached Xuzhou, the Jia Wang coal mine has stopped production. This coal mine is the essence of Jia Wang, and now it has stopped, making the whole town of Jia Wang suddenly become desolate. In addition, the wealthy people in the town have fled to Xuzhou or even Wuhan for refuge, and even ordinary families in the town have fled to nearby villages, losing 80% of its permanent residents, leaving Jia Wang almost a dead city.

  Since it has almost become a dead city, then there is still the possibility of revival. On May 6th, 1938, in the afternoon, several thousand soldiers from Taierzhuang entered and settled in Jia Wang, making this small Xuzhou come alive again.

  The best house in Jia Wang Town is naturally the three-story French-style villa built by the boss of Jia Wang Coal Mine who studied in France.

  As the highest commander of this army, Cheng Jiaji was naturally arranged into this small building.

  This small building is not only a French-style villa in appearance, but also has a layout that is thoroughly French in style. The first floor of the villa consists of a spacious hall and a large living room. The second floor has six rooms, including two guest rooms, the master bedroom, and three children's bedrooms. The third floor is a corridor with dozens of oil paintings on display around it, and in the center of the corridor is an office where the owner handles his official duties, as well as a sofa for him to rest on.

  Jiang Jie was arranged to rest in the room on the third floor, but in fact he was busier than when he was on the battlefield.

  The troops only had one day of rest, and tomorrow night at eight o'clock, they would have to set out again for the front line in Taierzhuang. In this one day, there were really too many things for Jingji to worry about.

  For example, the replenishment of ammunition and weapons for troops; the reorganization and completion of new troops that have just joined the 100th Independent Brigade; the merger and reorganization of the original troops of the 100th Independent Brigade who had been basically wiped out to strengthen the combat effectiveness of the company; as well as the operational plan for the upcoming attack by the 100th Independent Brigade. Any one of these things would have given Cheng Jiaji a headache for several days, let alone having to come up with a solution within two or three hours.

  Cheng Jiaji finally managed to sort out most of the things before 5 pm, thanks to the help of Gao Shiying and Yu Juncai. This Gao Shiying may not be a competent battlefield commander, nor does he have much ability to plan a large-scale military operation, but he is an excellent affairs handler. Yu Juncai has some real skills in military matters and is used to commanding troops, making decisions quickly and decisively. And Cheng Jiaji's new terms and strange ideas in his head also left these two old veterans wide-eyed and tongue-tied.

  At 5 o'clock in the afternoon, a meeting of all battalion commanders and above was held in the conference room of the coal mine shareholders.

  According to the Chinese custom, the leader always arrives last in a hurry, as if not doing so would be insufficient to demonstrate the authority of the superior. Program Jiashi is no exception, even though he is now in an independent position. When he arrived at the meeting place, three or four new and old military officers from the Independent Hundred Regiment had been waiting for a long time. As soon as they saw Jiashi arriving at the door with Gao Shiying and Juncai, they hurriedly stood up one by one. Even Wen Songyuan, who was usually somewhat arrogant, behaved in a moderate manner this time.

  The officers' behavior was unprecedented in the 100th Independent Brigade, not only because today three regiments of external troops would officially join the 100th Independent Brigade. More importantly, Cheng Jiaji finally became a general. This was still half an hour before the troops set out from Tai'erzhuang. After learning that the independent regiment had almost annihilated another Japanese cavalry brigade and captured two Japanese brigade flags, the war zone headquarters generously promoted Cheng Jiaji to major general, making him one of the youngest generals in the Chinese army at just 24 years old. At the same time, all officers under Cheng Jiaji's command were also promoted one rank. When Cheng Jiaji received this promotion order, he simply took a look and said, "It would be better to give me two more regiments instead." He then put the promotion order aside. In fact, Cheng Jiaji was already very restrained at that time. What he really wanted to say was, it seems that those guys in the headquarters are preparing for my promotion to lieutenant general. (According to Nationalist Army convention, generals who die in battle are usually posthumously promoted one rank.)

  It was the officials under Cheng Jiaji who were overjoyed, for Cheng's steady rise to power was a guarantee of their own bright future prospects. Needless to say, they too had been promoted one level this time. It was precisely because of such emotions that today's formal occasion came about.

  Cheng Jiaji normally disliked such scenes, but at this time, in order not to hurt the hearts of these basic cadres under his command, he had no choice but to yield to his subordinates.

  Cheng Jiaji learned from the TV committee chairman's action, lightly waving his hand to signal everyone to sit down. The participants seemed very familiar with the meaning of this action and immediately sat down neatly. It seems that in the national army, this action has become a standard gesture for letting subordinates sit down.

  "Chief of Staff, you read it out loud." Cheng Jiaji said to Gao Shiying who was sitting on his left.

  "The troops of this brigade have suffered heavy casualties in a series of battles, and all units are severely understrength. The brigade headquarters has decided to merge the units above the battalion level."

  Gao Shiying said this and stopped for a moment, picked up a glass of boiled water and took a sip.

  When Gao Shiying drank the water, the battalion commanders below did not dare to openly collude with each other, but many of them exchanged meaningful glances. Among these people, the most tense were the three battalion commanders who had just been assigned to the Independent Hundred Regiment. The old troops of the Independent Hundred Regiment had indeed suffered heavy losses in battle and urgently needed to replenish their forces, but where did these soldiers come from? These three battalions had just been reassigned to the Independent Hundred Regiment's establishment and were basically fully equipped and manned. What they feared most was that Cheng Jiaji would take people and guns from their troops to give to those old troops of the Independent Hundred Regiment.

  The original 199th Regiment's 3rd Battalion was merged into the regiment's 1st and 2nd Battalions, with Wu Ziming, the original 2nd Battalion Commander, taking over as Commander of the 1st Battalion. (The original Commander of the 1st Battalion had already fallen on the morning of the 5th.) The original 200th Regiment's 2nd Battalion was merged into other units within the 200th Regiment. (It was fortunate that the Battalion Commander who fell during the annihilation of the 10th Cavalry Brigade was arranged to be so.) Upon hearing this, the three battalion commanders from the Independent 100th Brigade let out a sigh of relief, as long as they weren't split up, it would be fine.

  "The original garrison battalion was transferred to the brigade and renamed as a special task force. The original independent regiment of the third battalion of the Xu State Security Command was renamed as the 199th Regiment, Third Battalion. The original war zone's direct engineering battalion was reorganized into the Second Battalion of the 200th Regiment. Each battalion's officers and men remained in their posts." As soon as Gao Shiying said these words, the three new battalion commanders' expressions immediately relaxed, as long as they didn't disrupt their own unit's organization or lose their positions. Those under the eaves had nothing more to say.

  These few people's expressions were escaping the process of Jia's eyes, looking at the new team leader's appearance that only cared about preserving his own small circle. He coldly laughed in his heart, 'This is good too, there isn't a single person from my hometown in these three battalions, it's just right to use them as vanguards, after all, it's not my own money, no matter how many are lost, my heart won't hurt much. No matter what you think, as long as you fight a few battles, when your troops have casualties, at that time, whether it's transferring people out or transferring people to your troops, this will be beyond your control.'

  Cheng Jiaji had indeed thought of dispersing the three regiments into his own old troops, knowing that the original Independent Hundred Regiment was almost exhausted and lacked soldiers at this critical moment. However, considering that a big battle was imminent, if something went wrong with the troops during combat, it would be disastrous. So he gave up on the idea. In the end, he could only slowly assimilate the three regiments into his own troops intact.

  After the most urgent problem was solved, Gao Shiqi announced some other arrangements for the travel department. Those who left for Xuzhou tonight to receive weapons and ammunition had already been robbed by Wen Songyuan, and Cheng Jiaji also went to Xuzhou to grab more good things from the military arsenal in the war zone. The vacancies left by several soldiers who died or were injured in the 100th Independent Brigade were also filled with a few people from the main force team. More than 200 new recruits brought by the Xuzhou Independent 100th Brigade's garrison department were also assigned to two main force teams.

  It won't take long, and in half an hour, everything that needs to be announced or said will have been said.

  Finally, Cheng Jiaji stood up, he waved his big hand and made a gesture of pointing to the mountains and rivers (the people here didn't understand). He said loudly: "The proper business is done, let's go have dinner together."

  After finishing speaking, he took the lead and walked towards the coal mine's large canteen not far away, followed by a group of military officers in order of their ranks.

  Today the company's boss came to inspect, had to accompany him all day, only started having time to write books after work in the afternoon, but don't worry, I'm still typing away, will have another update around midnight.