Chapter 137: Reflection
The next day, early in the morning, Su Yaoyang got out of bed. When he went to the small tent to get the materials, he saw a figure bent over the desk writing something.
He was stunned for a moment, walked over to look, and asked in surprise: “Old Pi… why are you still here? Didn’t you sleep all night?”
“The troops are all about to set off, and I, as the chief of staff, don’t even know the marching route of the troops. How could I sleep?”
Pi Ruoyu raised his head, revealing his bloodshot eyes.
“Even so, you can’t go without sleep.”
Su Yaoyang shook his head repeatedly, picked up the kettle on the table, poured a cup of water and handed it to him: “Moreover, the marching route has already been planned by me and Old Li and the others. If you want to know, you can just look at it on the way. Is it necessary to study it all night?”
“I can’t sleep without studying it thoroughly.” Pi Ruoyu rubbed his sore eyes and drank the water in his hand in one gulp.
He let out a long breath, then continued: “Moreover, the route you and Old Li and the others formulated has some issues. Look…”
At eight o’clock in the morning, the troops began to set off one after another. The first to depart were the tank company and the pontoon bridge company. They served as the vanguard to clear the path, tasked with building roads through mountains and bridging rivers—that was them.
In the tent, Su Yaoyang and several battalion commanders were gathered around the newly appointed Pi Ruoyu, with a huge map hanging in front of everyone.
“Regiment commander… everyone… look.”
Pi Ruoyu, now dressed in the Type 36 German military uniform, stood beside the map, holding a wooden stick and pointing at it.
“At eight o’clock in the morning, the troops begin to advance westward.”
The wooden stick cut through the air and pointed to the west bank of Weishan Lake. “The pontoon bridge company has already built three pontoon bridges at Zhanggu Beach.” The voice of the new chief of staff was like explaining a lesson to students, as the gazes of more than ten officers followed the movement of the stick in his hand.
“After passing Shangqiu, the troops split into two routes: one battalion takes trucks along the Longhai Line, while the rest of the main force goes through Boxian to Funiu Mountain. Finally, the two forces rendezvous in Longquan County, then the entire army goes through Pingxing Pass straight to Wuta County, and takes it!”
The officers listened to Pi Ruoyu’s explanation, their expressions changing constantly with his briefing.
The new marching route formulated by Pi Ruoyu was several levels higher than their original route in terms of completeness and safety.
Not only that, even the order of the troops’ march, the supply arrangements, and so on, were all arranged clearly and distinctly, making everything easy to understand at a glance.
Soldiers are like that: good is good, bad is bad, no room for hypocrisy.
They always respect those who have real ability.
Originally, for this new chief of staff, many people had some doubts in their hearts, even thinking he got in through connections.
But now, hearing him not only completely negate the original marching route formulated by everyone, but also come up with a new one that is not only more convenient, but also greatly improved in concealment and safety.
Especially having the troops go through Hebei, hugging the border of Shanxi, and finally straight to Wuta via Pingxing Pass to enter Shanxi territory—this step was simply a stroke of genius, absolutely able to catch the Japanese troops in Shanxi off guard.
Su Yaoyang also had a face full of admiration. Hiring this new chief of staff was too worthwhile; with him, he could save so much energy.
However, although the other was capable, he couldn’t treat him like a workhorse. After a while, he still needed to assign him a few deputies and a set of staff personnel; otherwise, if he really collapsed from exhaustion, where would he find such a good chief of staff.
He clapped his hands, drawing everyone’s attention to himself.
“Alright, everyone, you’ve all heard Chief of Staff Pi’s plan. I believe you’ve all seen that the marching route formulated by Chief of Staff Pi is far superior to our original plan in terms of safety, detail, and concealment.
So, does anyone still not convinced of Chief of Staff Pi’s abilities?
If not, then execute according to Chief of Staff Pi’s plan. Has everyone understood?”
“Understood!” Everyone responded in unison.
“Good… then everyone, start executing.”
Everyone scattered like birds and beasts with a clamor.
After the meeting ended, Su Yaoyang called Pi Ruoyu to stop.
“Old Pi… this retreat, you go with the field hospital where Song Mei and Little Lu are, so you can take care of your wife and the two kids along the way. I’ll go with the guard company and first battalion. Contact me by radio if anything comes up.”
“How can that work?” Pi Ruoyu was somewhat unwilling. “Regiment commander… I’m the chief of staff, I should go with the troops. How can I mix in with the doctors and wounded?”
“Who says it won’t work?” Su Yaoyang glared. “Your wife and the two nephews aren’t in good health to begin with and need gradual recuperation. How can it work without you, the husband, by her side?
Besides, you’re new here and not yet familiar with many things in our regiment. Take this opportunity to look at more materials along the way, so you can better plan and advise for our Security Corps.
To be honest, we just received an order from the Military and Political Department appointing me as the commander of the Shanxi Security Corps.
I’ve been thinking about how to expand the troops after arriving in Shanxi, to properly fight the little devils there. Use these days to think it over well and make me an expansion plan.”
“This… alright then…”
Pi Ruoyu finally had nothing to say and could only agree.
Actually, he also needed some time to digest everything he had seen and learned from yesterday to now.
No one knew the shock in his heart last night when he flipped through the Security Corps materials left by Su Yaoyang.
Although it was just a rough look, in Pi Ruoyu’s view, the Security Corps, whether in firepower or combat power, had already surpassed a Nationalist first-class division, and could even stand toe-to-toe with a Central Army corps without falling short.
Leaving aside other things, just the twenty-four M2A1 105mm howitzers in their artillery battalion alone were No.1 in the Nationalist army, and all soldiers were equipped with Garand semi-automatic rifles.
As a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, Pi Ruoyu knew too well the benefits of large-scale equipping of Garand rifles.
There were also the M1917 heavy machine guns equipped to each platoon, the two BAR light machine guns in each infantry squad, or the three M2 60mm mortars per company—such firepower was pervert-level on the Asian battlefield.
Pi Ruoyu roughly estimated that, just in terms of firepower, the current Security Corps could already confront a Japanese brigade head-on without being at a disadvantage.
The troops’ weapons and equipment had been upgraded, so the tactics naturally needed to change as well—this was also what he, as chief of staff, should do. Since Su Yaoyang let him spend this time accompanying his family to rest, he could use the opportunity to properly ponder the Security Corps’ future reorganization.
For the Security Corps, this was the most important matter.
