Chapter Fifteen: The Arrival of the Purge

  Tang Jingwu was based on this psychology, he arranged his own position very well, and began to selflessly cooperate with Chen Feichen's work, doing what the political commissar should do! Not only that, but he even took over some of the brain-racking tasks! He gave all the spare time to Chen Feichen, so that he could gain a foothold in each camp! To maximize his military literacy! In the army, especially as the leader of a regiment, it is impossible to sit firmly in position without any real skills!

  It's finally a relief now, the three regimental commanders are all very satisfied, and that's enough! Now each regiment of the 18th Division is in intensive training, with many new recruits joining! This also makes each regiment eager to improve their combat effectiveness and become the number one main force regiment of the 18th Division!

  So based on this situation, it also caused the fundamental reason for today's party committee meeting!

  Chen Feichen didn't speak hastily, he observed the situation of the people present like he did when he was a small officer in his previous life before speaking. This way, he had some idea in mind!

  Tang Jingwu cleared his throat, it seemed that a minute or two had passed, and it was time to begin! He said solemnly: "Now please let the team leader preside over our third team's first party committee meeting! Everyone welcome!"

  Everyone present cooperated with applause, Chen Feichen showed a faint smile, and he himself seemed to have returned to the scene of his previous life in the company meeting. He was just sitting in the corner at that time, but now he is hosting the meeting! In his previous life, he had hosted many meetings, so he always had a few tricks up his sleeve!

  Chen Feichen said with a smile: "I am the youngest among those present, but since I have been recognized and appointed as the commander of the third regiment by my superiors, I must live up to their trust in me. I will definitely do my job well! I hope that all of you brothers here can give me your full support!"

  Well, this sounds very humble, putting oneself in a low position, but what's the actual situation? Every sentence can't leave out the superior leader! Chen Feicheng's real meaning is that there is someone above me, Chen Feicheng! Our team leader not only has the support of the division commander but also the support of the number one chief of staff!

  Tang Jingwu sighed inwardly, this captain is really daring to speak! Coming up with such a strong attitude might not be good, right? After Chen Feichen finished speaking, he kept observing the reactions of everyone present. His purpose had another layer, which was to probe and see what they were planning.

  The deputy commander is Liu Guangda, and this division staff officer has also managed to make a name for himself! Originally he was the chief of staff of the regiment, but this position was snatched away by Chen Mingliang! Who let this former Nationalist Party military officer be a regular graduate?! All aspects of map-making work are extremely excellent, which is completely beyond what a guerrilla force like ourselves can match!

  Liu Guangda can also be considered a comrade-in-arms of Chen Fei who fought in the same trench, and he too has been to hell and back. Those who survived the 18th Division's blocking battle all thought they had gained an extra life!

  Liu Guangda did not have any jealous thoughts about Chen Feichen becoming the team leader, he was already very satisfied with being the deputy team leader! People are not so savage! Compared to his previous position, he is doing well enough for himself! What else can he ask for?!

  Liu Guangda thought of this and spoke up, "I'm familiar with the captain's abilities. Anyone who can survive and complete their mission on the 18th Division's blocking position is a good fellow, let alone being the battalion commander? So, Captain, don't be so polite! Mutual help is the way to progress together! Who doesn't have their own weaknesses? Who hasn't had times when they didn't know or weren't good at something?"

  Liu Guangda's words were finished, and the first to support him was Chief of Staff Chen Mingliang. For Chen Feichen, he was convinced that he could successfully block his own army's attack on the battlefield, even if it meant his entire army would be defeated. On this point, he was convinced! Losing is losing, there's no need to make excuses!

  Chen Mingliang also understood that this meeting was not easy to hold, and the team leader must have done a good job in his position. So why didn't he support him? Wasn't his own chief of staff position also a result of the team leader's efforts? For both public and private reasons, he had to support him.

  Chen Mingliang said seriously: "The captain's ability is fully capable of taking on the role of captain, and I will fully cooperate with the captain's various tasks!"

  Political Commissar Tang Jingwu felt truly relieved when he saw this. The 3rd and 4th leaders of the division had clearly expressed their support for Chen Feicheng, the regimental commander. What more was there to say? He turned to Director Liao Kefan of the Political Department: "Comrade Kefan, what's your opinion?"

  Liao Kefan pretended to be muddle-headed and said: "Opinions? What opinions? I fully agree with and support what the captain just said! The captain is sitting there based on his real ability, how many people can let the wild officer directly appoint team-level cadres? I fully support it, no need to say!"

  The meeting has been going on until now and it can be said that everything is clear. Chen Feicheng's team leader has fully implemented his authority, and Chen Feicheng's mood can be imagined, which is very good!

  After the meeting, Chen Feichen still took the political commissar and the chief of staff to carefully study the next training work of the troops. Only by improving the combat effectiveness of the troops can they complete the tasks assigned by their superiors! Completing the task is not Chen Feichen's purpose, but to perfectly complete the task with excellence is what he has been pursuing.

  The 18th Division, 3rd Regiment can now be said to have two factions. One is the traditional and simple Communist Party member, and the other is the former Nationalist Party faction, which has the most people, with soldiers occupying more than half of the troops! Many grievances meetings were held, and many Nationalist Party soldiers had a significant change in their thinking, but this still needs time! Moreover, there are also many military officers involved. Chen Mingliang is a representative of these people.

  The political department has some people doing things, they are all staring at Chen Mingliang and other KMT military officers! The suppression of counter-revolutionaries is a long-term task, capturing and clearing out traitors and spies within the troops has always been a ruthless job! Although this work in the troops has made great progress, there have been many miscarriages of justice, and some things are often ambiguous, but for the sake of one in ten thousand, comrades from the security bureau would rather kill by mistake than dare to let one go! Many comrades ended up like this, the better ones lost their official positions and became ordinary soldiers, the worse ones were directly shot dead!

  There are not a few people who have been wronged and have not fallen, many soldiers and masses still believe in GCD. Some comrades were shot and killed, but they were still shouted as traitors. This is indeed a tragedy!

  Chen Feichen had seen many such TV dramas and memoirs in later generations, so he understood that if he was targeted by some people from the Security Bureau, his life would definitely be difficult!

  Then, Chen Feicheng immediately thought of the division's political department and even the army's political department after learning about some actions in the regiment's political department. Chen Feicheng was furious, but there were some things that anger couldn't help with! He was still a little afraid in his heart, thinking of Zhang Guotao's purges in 1933, thinking of Kang Sheng in the Organization Department now, he was notorious! His own abilities were far from comparable to his.

  However, he thought again and felt that he didn't have such a high status to enter this person's eyes. But, should he let these people go wild? This matter can't be started, otherwise it will be unstoppable!

  Chen Feichen thought for a moment and still found his superior Xiao Fei. After whispering with Xiao Fei for half an hour, Xiao Fei still couldn't give Chen Feichen any guarantee. The reason was simple: who dared to make a promise? Despite the idea of not suspecting those who are innocent and trusting those who are used.

  Chen Feichen left the division headquarters with some disappointment. He still didn't give up and wanted to find the leader of the column, but he thought that he wasn't capable enough yet, and most importantly, he didn't have any connections! Should he go find the wild card leader? But then he thought of the poker face of Leader No. 1, and Chen Feichen retreated!

  Chen Feichen returned to the headquarters and found Tang Jingwu, saying: "I say old Tang, I find that those people in the political department seem very busy now! The grievances meeting has been held, educational work is also underway, but how come I hear from lower-level personnel reports that they are still inciting some people to accuse this and that? This is not good for the integration of our troops! Don't you know that a big war is about to break out, do we not want to take our troops to the battlefield? Do you and I not want to make progress?"

  Tang Jingwu was taken aback, furrowing his brow as he said: "Fei Chen, this is also a requirement of the job, at least it's within the scope of the Political Department's duties. This review isn't child's play; if we're not strict, it'll be chaotic! It's the duty of our comrades in the Political Department!"

  "Bring it on, I think you don't trust me as the regiment commander! I know that when I became the regiment commander, many people were jealous and discontent. Although I passed the test of the Wild Commander-in-Chief! We must understand a fact: in terms of single-soldier quality, our soldiers are indeed inferior to those of the Nationalist Party's Central Army. This is a fact! If it weren't for the internal conflicts and corruption within the Nationalist Party that made their soldiers lose hope, could we have defeated them? I doubt it! Let's talk about the rebuilding of our 3rd Regiment, Comrade Chen Mingliang has made contributions, if not for their support, could our 3rd Regiment quickly recover its combat effectiveness? Could we pass the test of the Wild Commander-in-Chief?"

  "Are you saying someone is accusing Chief of Staff Chen Ming-tang?"

  Chen Feichen looked at Tang Jingwu and said, "What do you think? Do we need to ask about this? What is this? To put it mildly, this is making trouble out of nothing. To put it harshly, this is killing the donkey after it has ground the grain! What impact will this have on our soldiers and mid-to-low-level cadres? Who will dare to rebel in the future? Who will dare to be a captive? Who will dare to come over and sacrifice themselves for us? Revolution, revolution, isn't it about overthrowing comrades like Chen Mingliang?"

  Tang Jingwu's face turned stern as he said, "Comrade Chen Feichen, please mind your words and tone! This is not a joke! This is not what you should be saying! You need to understand that you are now the leader of a team, and you must have the speech and behavior of a team leader! If someone were to spread what you just said, what kind of influence would that have? I'm afraid that would be the worst possible outcome!"

  Chen Feichen was a bit choked up, but he still nodded and said: "Old Tang, I accept your criticism, but thinking about some people doing this, it makes me uncomfortable!"