Chapter 348: The Dragon-slaying Youth Becomes The Dragon!
Chen Jun spoke at length, starting from practical matters and moving to playing style, with every word making perfect sense, leaving no room for criticism.
This was the unique advantage of knowing the Russian language; if someone else were translating, the meaning would definitely fall far short.
Russian Major General Andrei was a prime example. He wanted to refute or evade Chen Jun’s words, but after racking his brains for a long time, he couldn’t find a suitable entry point.
Unable to refute the matter itself, he naturally couldn’t continue evading.
This made General Andrei very uncomfortable.
The exercise plan had already been sent to headquarters, and General Andrei knew better than anyone how complicated it would be to change it now.
Creating trouble for no reason was something General Andrei truly resisted.
With no other choice, General Andrei could only grit his teeth and force out: “It’s not that I don’t want to help you; even if I apply to the superiors, the plan you mentioned definitely won’t be approved.
The troops participating in the exercise need unified scheduling; that’s the highest order from above, and even headquarters must follow orders.”
Unable to evade himself, Andrei used his superiors as a shield.
It was a common rejection tactic.
Chen Jun was very skilled at handling such petty tricks and said confidently: “Just report our plan upward; I believe your superiors will agree.
On the contrary, if you don’t report it and they find out later about a better plan you didn’t use, I dare say your superiors will hold you accountable then, and you’ll be in trouble.”
“Hmm?”
Chen Jun’s confidence left Andrei baffled; his brows furrowed, and he couldn’t help muttering to himself: Could the superiors really agree?
The leader’s thoughts were inscrutable to those below, and Andrei really didn’t dare to gamble.
Seeing that Andrei had been bluffed, Chen Jun immediately pressed the advantage: “The latest plan we applied for doesn’t change your overall combat layout; it only requires changing the combat for my Chinese forces.
You can completely shift your thinking and position our troops as foreign support troops, joining the exercise in that capacity, which would be more meaningful for both our countries’ armies.
To be honest, our troops came from thousands of miles away, also with an attitude of learning, wanting to refine the unit through this exercise and make it more mature.
If it’s just putting on a show for you, and one with no presence at all.
Our side definitely won’t be satisfied with the exercise results, and the higher-ups will inevitably hold another round of talks; at that point, let alone you, even your superiors probably won’t be able to account for it.”
Chen Jun’s final trump card was intimidation, elevating it to the level of relations between countries.
General Andrei was truly scared.
As a mid-level officer in the Russian troops, he knew the value behind this exercise; if it were messed up, the consequences would indeed be severe.
The more he thought about it this way, the more afraid Andrei became.
He had completely fallen into Chen Jun’s trap and had no choice but to follow Chen Jun’s rhythm.
“Alright, I’ll help you this once.”
Temporarily undecided, Andrei had no choice but to accept the Chinese forces’ application and send the new plan proposed by the Chinese side to the directing staff headquarters.
Having achieved their purpose here, Chen Jun and Fang Zijian left the branch satisfied.
“They’ll really agree?”
On the way back with Fang Zijian, Fang Zijian was still very uneasy.
After all, the modifications they requested this time differed greatly from the original plan, especially in completely changing the positioning of the Chinese forces.
From originally being under the Red Army flag, only accepting unified scheduling from the Red Army commander.
Basically no freedom, purely acting as NPCs.
Changed to Steel Seventh Battalion belonging to the Red Army but not accepting any scheduling orders from the Red Army.
Becoming a maneuver combat unit that could independently decide all combat plans, assisting the attacking Red Army troops to defeat the Blue Army and achieve victory.
It was exactly as Chen Jun had said at the end, letting Steel Seventh Battalion return to its original identity—
Foreign support troops from China!
Foreign troops coming to help the Russian army fight; although both sides were indeed on the same Red Army camp, they definitely wouldn’t be under Russian command.
Only with this identity could Steel Seventh Battalion completely shed the handcuffs and shackles in the exercise and unleash its maximum combat effectiveness.
However.
This plan was perfect for the Chinese side but exactly the opposite for the Russian side.
Allowing Chinese forces free action would make the exercise uncontrollable; the already planned exercise could very well encounter changes.
Moreover, Chinese forces not under Red Army control would also cause great dissatisfaction from the Red Army commander.
No one wants a disobedient subordinate.
Fang Zijian had thought through all these aspects; as an officer who grew up in the apparatus, he understood the ins and outs even better, and precisely because he understood, he was worried.
Chen Jun was the complete opposite of Fang Zijian; he had no pressure at all in his heart.
Only full confidence.
Chen Jun believed that as long as the plan was reported upward, even if the Russian army high-level didn’t want to agree, thinking of what they wanted, they would ultimately have no choice but to agree.
Because the Russian army high-level wanted to learn from Steel Seventh Battalion; giving Steel Seventh Battalion greater freedom in combat authority was even more in line with the Russian army high-level’s demands.
For this reason alone.
The Russian army had no reason to refuse.
As for the Russian army wanting to steal techniques, Chen Jun had no worries at all.
JW, as the army’s highest institution, outsiders need not doubt their intelligence and methods; from the moment they were willing to dispatch Steel Seventh Battalion, it was enough proof that they had already anticipated and known the Russian army’s intentions.
Since they knew the Russian army’s intentions and still sent Steel Seventh Battalion to participate.
There must be a reason for doing so.
As a mere deputy battalion commander, Chen Jun didn’t want to speculate on the existences at the pyramid’s tip, so he fundamentally didn’t care and hadn’t thought of reporting this matter upward.
The only thing he had to do was one thing—
That was to fight this exercise well, to show the unyielding iron backbone of Chinese soldiers, to demonstrate Steel Seventh Battalion’s military soul and strength.
In vulgar terms.
It was to beat the Russians soundly and vent the anger pent up in his heart for so long.
With the crucial issue of modifying the exercise plan resolved, there were still three days until the official exercise, and next came various miscellaneous trivial matters.
For example, coordinating combat plans with the Red Army.
Although the new plan meant both sides fighting independently, there were still many things to do, like planning respective camps, confirming both sides’ troop configurations and personnel, etc.
For example, the receipt and allocation of logistics supplies required precise docking between both sides.
Also, for example, in the few days before the exercise started, issues like food, drink, and daily needs for Steel Seventh Battalion’s nearly a thousand people needed to be handled by the Russian army.
Although Steel Seventh Battalion had prepared fully before coming, those were emergency supplies.
They wouldn’t be used unless absolutely necessary.
Handling all these big and small matters was very time-consuming, and unknowingly, a day had passed.
Steel Seventh Battalion was busy all day, and the Russian directing staff high-level side was also quite busy.
Busy with meetings!
With only two days left before the exercise began, the Chinese forces proposing to modify the exercise plan at this time indeed exceeded the Russian army high-level’s expectations.
Especially the new plan proposed by the Chinese side, which could be said to completely overturn the original plan.
For the Russian army high-level, it was indeed a major matter.
Without surprise, it split into two factions.
But after their heated discussion, they ultimately agreed to the Chinese new plan, merely making a few symbolic modifications for face.
And the reason the Russian army agreed to the new plan was exactly as Chen Jun had anticipated.
The events in Kuwait had indeed awakened the whole world; the Chinese army began military reform from then on, and the Russian army did the same.
The Russian army’s modernized army reform was also underway, and synthesis was one of their reform directions.
Inviting China to participate in this military exercise was, as Chen Jun guessed, because they had seen the Chinese military reform in full swing with remarkable results in a very short time.
The Russian army was envious!
They wanted to “seek scriptures”!
But for face, they couldn’t do it openly, so they limited the invitation to just one battalion’s scale to participate in the Russian army’s large-scale strategic exercise this time.
With just one battalion’s troops coming for the exercise, even if outsiders had something to say, it could be easily covered up.
After all, the scale was so large, and the influence was negligible.
Now that the Chinese side proactively proposed modifying the exercise plan, the Russian army high-level was very pleased about this, as it allowed them to steal more technology and experience.
But they were also worried that without restraints on the Chinese army, this scripted “acting” exercise would head toward an uncontrollable ending.
A large portion of the Russian army high-level had very traditional and rigid thinking; they only sought stability in doing things—no problems meant success.
Simply put, muddling through.
It was this group of traditional and rigid Russian army high-level who strongly opposed the new plan submitted by the Chinese side.
However, in this era of technological explosion, the army couldn’t stay stable at all; stability would only lead to extinction in silence—only charging forward could bring the future.
Fortunately, there were such new forces among the Russian army high-level; they knew that only by breaking stability could they keep pace with the times.
Moreover, all Russian army high-level unanimously believed this was a large-scale exercise with ten thousand people; the Russian troops participating included a full six regiments, adding up to over a dozen battalions.
The East had only one battalion participating in the exercise; even giving it absolute freedom of combat authority.
It couldn’t turn the sky upside down!
Could a mere reinforced battalion, with freedom of combat authority, grow wings and fly, and take down a reinforced regiment?
Impossible.
The Russian army high-level wouldn’t believe it even to death!
They could gain more value from it, and the cost was within acceptable range.
So this wave could proceed.
Thus, after a heated discussion, they voted to let the minority obey the majority, and the new plan submitted by the Chinese side was approved by the meeting.
The third day in Russia.
That is, April
Chen Jun and Fang Zijian, representing all of Steel Seventh Battalion, formally had their new exercise plan submitted to the Russian side approved and officially transmitted to Steel Seventh Battalion.
“Heh heh, now we’ve got something to play with.”
With all restraints removed, Chen Jun couldn’t help grinning.
Those pearly white teeth.
At this moment carried a hint of ferocity.
And Steel Seventh Battalion officers like Gao Cheng and Man Guangzhi, upon receiving the news, were all smiles, their eager mood almost turning into flames bursting forth.
In this impatient and fiery atmosphere, a day seemed to pass especially quickly.
In the blink of an eye, it was April
At 6 a.m., after finishing breakfast early, the exercise entered the final preparations before starting.
“All units head to the exercise area, depart!”
With the directing staff’s order issued, all Red and Blue sides’ troops set off from the training ground.
Under the guidance of the directing staff’s staff, each unit headed to their respective exercise areas and took positions.
Over ten thousand troops moving out collectively was truly a shocking sight, far beyond what movies or TV dramas could convey.
Steel Seventh Battalion was assigned to area 506, which would serve as their exercise station.
Under the directing staff’s staff guidance all the way, after more than an hour of marching, they arrived at the exercise station position just after 8 a.m.
It was a basin between two mountains, plus several nearby hilltops, all allocated to Steel Seventh Battalion’s area.
Upon departing for this place, Steel Seventh Battalion received a topographic map of the exercise area, showing the entire exercise zone’s scope.
Each unit could only operate within the exercise boundaries and was not allowed to exceed the areas specified on the map.
From all they had seen and heard along the way, Chen Jun and Steel Seventh Battalion’s officers and soldiers all realized that their exercise area was mountainous terrain.
Seeing this mountainous exercise ground, Chen Jun thought of the mountain exercise with old A back then.
At that time, Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment was a heavy armored regiment; fully mechanized troops were very limited in mountains—if not for Chen Jun, they would have lost miserably.
Now the Russian army’s exercise was also set in mountainous jungle terrain.
For fully mechanized Steel Seventh Battalion, it would indeed have some impact.
But at this moment, the “grown-up” Steel Seventh Battalion was no longer the novice it was; mountain warfare posed some difficulty for them, but it was completely controllable.
Even, by making good use of the mountainous terrain characteristics, it could make Steel Seventh Battalion’s tactics even more elusive and varied.
It must be known.
Steel Seventh Battalion’s most perverted aspect was that, as a combined arms battalion, it surprisingly had special operations forces, and even a special reconnaissance company that had undergone special warfare training.
When a standard special operations platoon led an entire company of “semi-special forces soldiers” in this mountainous terrain, how terrifying would that be.
With the natural cover of mountain jungle, wouldn’t the Russian army be infiltrated to pieces?
Thinking of this, Chen Jun couldn’t help laughing.
And seeing this jungle-covered highland, Gao Cheng also showed a happy smile, because seeing it reminded him of back then.
“Old Chen, don’t you think this Russian army’s troops are like Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment before the reform? And our Steel Seventh Battalion like the Blue Army’s old A back then? If we play like old A did? Wouldn’t that be interesting? Heh heh.”
As Gao Cheng spoke, he seemed unable to hold back, his eyes gleaming with mischievous light.
