Chapter 38: Reorganization
“Come on… one portion per person, no one take more.”
In the church that had been blasted with a huge hole, the soldiers who had fought fiercely for a morning and the military police troops who had just arrived as reinforcements were all lining up to get their meals.
Although Su Yaoyang had the material converter this golden finger, he who deeply understood the principle of keeping a low profile and developing steadily did not provide the soldiers with lavish fish and meat, so the soldiers’ meals were just one bowl of sorghum rice, two steamed buns, one portion of Spam luncheon meat, and one portion of vegetable stew per person.
For Su Yaoyang who had grown up with extremely abundant supplies since childhood, such meals were already quite meager, but to his surprise, after the soldiers received their meals, the smiles on their faces never stopped, and they praised the abundance of the food while eating heartily.
Seeing this scene, Su Yaoyang found Lu Shaobin and quietly asked.
“Company Commander Lu… what do you think of our meals?”
“Of course they’re very good.”
Lu Shaobin said vaguely while eating heartily: “I’ve been a soldier for seven or eight years. In the past, except for the times when we used our pay to have a little extravagance, the days with meat were fewer than the fingers on one hand, let alone during wartime.
Moreover, Commander, you also gave cigarettes to the brothers. Such treatment is second to none in the National Revolutionary Army.”
Su Yaoyang continued to ask: “Then, if I tell the brothers that from now on they will all have such meals, with full monthly pay issued, and ask them to follow me, would you and the brothers agree?”
“Absolutely!” In excitement, Lu Shaobin’s hometown dialect came out again.
“Just for your meals, Commander, my brothers and I will definitely follow you.”
“What about those military police? Do you think they would follow me too?”
Hearing this, Lu Shaobin hesitated for a moment, then slowly shook his head: “I’m not clear about that department. Those military police are all very arrogant, so it’s really hard to say.”
Su Yaoyang slowly nodded; Lu Shaobin’s words made sense.
These military police were all elites in Old Jiang’s hands; it was indeed unrealistic to win them over to risk their lives for him with just a few cans of luncheon meat.
However, Su Yaoyang was not discouraged. He believed that once these people got used to the slow erosion of his “sugar-coated bullets,” they would willingly follow him.
Of course, this did not rule out that some with firm resolve who were wholeheartedly following Old Jiang would leave, but for him, their departure would actually be a good thing, as it would indirectly purify the team, benefiting him with no drawbacks.
After lunch, and after changing outfits for the newly arrived military police troops, Su Yaoyang gathered Li Gaoyuan, Lu Shaobin, Huang Guantao, Zhang Zhihao, and Xiong Junfeng together.
Sunlight streamed into the church through the huge blasted hole, with intersecting light and shadow.
The towering vaulted ceiling now had a corner collapsed, dust floating in the air.
In the northwest corner of the church, a long table was placed in front of everyone, its surface covered with a thin layer of dust, but the faded tablecloth could still be faintly seen. Around the long table were placed a row of benches.
“Everyone, sit down.”
Su Yaoyang was the first to sit in the seat at the head of the long table.
Seeing Su Yaoyang sit down, the others also sat down one after another.
Sitting in the main seat, Su Yaoyang observed everyone’s actions and noticed something interesting here.
Even though they were now in a combat period and everyone was a group temporarily pieced together, all of them could accurately find their own seats.
For example, the highest-ranking Li Gaoyuan and Huang Guantao sat on his left and right sides respectively, Lu Shaobin, Xiong Junfeng, and Zhang Zhihao sat together, and the rest were Wang Shouxin, Li Qingxiang, Xu Dapeng, and other temporarily appointed lieutenant-level officers.
After everyone sat down, Su Yaoyang spoke: “Gentlemen, I called you all here for no other matter but to make an adjustment to the personnel in our team.”
At this point, everyone’s expressions tightened.
Looking at the entire world history, probably no nation’s people are more interested in official positions than the Chinese; this can be seen from everyday greetings, walking positions, even the order of name announcements, and other small details.
“I’m sure everyone has seen that currently, our team has gathered too many people.
There are people from 103rd Division, Training Corps, Military Police, 41st Division, 103rd Division, almost assembling half of Nanjing’s garrison.
Everyone is a soldier; everyone knows what consequences there would be in a small team gathering so many units with different designations.
Now I plan to disband all units and reorganize them. I assume everyone has no objections?”
Everyone was silent for a while, then Li Gaoyuan spoke first: “Commander Su is right. Now the Japanese are pressing with heavy troops; we’re all trapped in this small church.
To fight our way out alive, we must twist everyone into a single rope. I personally support Commander Su’s proposal.”
After Li Gaoyuan spoke, Lu Shaobin also agreed: “Commander Li is right. I support it.”
Seeing the two express their stance, the others had no objections and all voiced agreement. In the end, only the deputy regiment commander of Military Police 2nd Regiment, Huang Guantao, remained silent.
Although Su Yaoyang’s expression was calm, it would be false to say he wasn’t nervous inside.
This Huang Guantao could be said to be the strongest among them besides him and Li Gaoyuan. After all, he now controlled over seven hundred soldiers of Military Police 2nd Regiment. Once he explicitly opposed, this reorganization would be meaningless.
He took a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, first offered one each to Li Gaoyuan and Huang Guantao, then tossed the pack onto the table.
“Come on… everyone, have a smoke and relax.”
Almost no soldier doesn’t smoke. Seeing Su Yaoyang distribute cigarettes, everyone relaxed, took the cigarettes one after another, and soon the large church was filled with cigarette smoke.
Huang Guantao took the cigarette, and Li Gaoyuan next to him lit it for him with a lighter, casually saying as if offhand: “Old Huang, you’re the deputy regiment commander of Military Police 2nd Regiment, and one of the highest-ranking among us. If you have any thoughts, feel free to speak directly.”
Huang Guantao exhaled a long puff of thick smoke, then said: “In principle, with the national crisis at hand, we soldiers should be united in serving the country and not quarrel over petty gains, but I still have some doubts I want to clarify in advance.”
Li Gaoyuan and Su Yaoyang exchanged a glance, then said seriously: “Brother Huang, please speak.”
Huang Guantao asked: “I came this time only on Deputy Commander Xiao’s orders to support you, but not long after arriving, you want to reorganize my team.
If we really manage to fight out of Nanjing City later, how should I explain to Commander Xiao?”
Li Gaoyuan fell silent. Did Huang Guantao’s words make sense? Of course they did. He had kindly brought his troops to reinforce, yet they wanted to reorganize his team—how could that be justified?
“That’s easy to handle.” At this moment, Su Yaoyang spoke.
