Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 114 Medals and Military Merits

The General Staff was mainly responsible for the statistics of military merits. When the meeting officially began, Liu Pu handed Li Mingyuan a thick record book and said, "Prince, according to the size of military merits and the rank of the meritorious personnel, the military merit statistics are divided into four categories. The first category is the military merit statistics of officers above the rank of general. There are relatively few people at this level, including the four division commanders of the Chinese Independence Army, the commander of the cavalry brigade, the first mixed brigade, the second mixed brigade, the commander of the special command, and the general staff, including his subordinates, nine chief officers.

The second category is the colonel-level officers, including the battalion and regiment-level commanders and the assistant officers of the divisions and mixed brigades, with 585 meritorious service. The third category is the lieutenant-level officers, with 2,647 meritorious service. The last category is the ordinary soldiers, with 50,000 meritorious service.

"It is an effective method to classify military merits according to military ranks, but it is unfair to classify soldiers with significant military merits together with ordinary soldiers just because their ranks are low. I think it would be better to set up a military merit review department under the General Staff. The military merit statistics reported by various units will be reviewed and determined by the review department. At the same time, the size of the soldier's merit will be determined based on the significance of the soldier's military merit to the battle."

Li Mingyuan took the four military exploits record books handed over by Liu Pu, and first opened the one that recorded the military exploits of ordinary soldiers, read the first few sections of the records of meritorious soldiers, and then roughly looked through the other three books of meritorious service.

It said, "Sniper Sergeant Wang Chenglin killed a Brazilian major and three captains in the battle to attack Orisin. When he captured the armored warship, he killed the Brazilian officer on duty who wanted to report the news, thus preventing the failure of the surprise attack by the troops:

In the pursuit of Garcia, a Brazilian colonel and two majors were killed.

The combined significance of so many offensive efforts is greater than that of destroying a battalion of the enemy. However, Wang Chenglin, who made great contributions, was listed together with ordinary soldiers in his merit record, and his merit reward was lower than that of most colonel-level officers. This is too unfair to Wang Chenglin. There is also Gao Dahai, a corporal in the artillery brigade, who blew up the enemy's command post with a single shot during the siege of Orixin, causing the Brazilian defenders to lose command and eventually be annihilated by our army. There are many such examples, so I will not list them one by one.

The role played by Wang Chenglin, Gao Dahai and others in a certain battle had a huge impact on the war situation. We cannot reduce their contributions just because they have low positions. This is unfair to those soldiers who fought bravely, and is also very detrimental to the development and growth of the entire Chinese Independence Army. Therefore, I hope that when evaluating the soldiers' military merits, the officers of the General Staff will consider the impact of their military merits on the war situation and decide the size of their military merits after a comprehensive assessment. "

There were more than 100,000 people in the Chinese Independence Army. Liu Pu was only responsible for the general standards for assessing military merits, while the specific work was handled by the staff officers below. It was inevitable that some mistakes would occur in the accounting work of more than 100,000 people. Regarding the problems pointed out by Li Mingyuan, Liu Pu also felt that it was a bit one-sided to calculate the size of military merits solely based on the soldiers' ranks. However, it was easy to find problems, but finding suitable solutions was another matter.

Liu Pu listened carefully to the question raised by Li Mingyuan, and said awkwardly, "It is not fair to evaluate the merits of some soldiers simply based on their military ranks. However, the two soldiers mentioned by the prince just now had great contributions to the battle at that time. It stands to reason that according to their contributions, it is not excessive to promote them to be battalion commanders or regiment commanders. However, their strengths are that they are particularly excellent in a certain aspect. For example, Wang Chenglin's sniping skills are among the best in the 100,000 Chinese troops. There is no problem in letting him perform sniping missions. However, if he is promoted to battalion commander based on his contributions, his advantages will not be brought into play, and a battalion under his leadership will find it difficult to exert its original combat effectiveness."

What Liu Pu said made sense. It was not reasonable to promote them to command positions without dividing the military merits according to their military ranks. These words were useful, but Liu Pu was the chief of staff and his duty was to give advice to Li Mingyuan. The problem raised by Li Mingyuan was not solved, and he still felt embarrassed no matter how reasonable his explanation was.

Li Mingyuan did not blame Liu Pu for his poor performance. Instead, he thought about the difficulties Liu Pu had mentioned in the practical operation of determining the size of soldiers' military merits. After a while, he had an idea in his mind.

"Chief of Staff and everyone here, I have come up with a solution and I'd like to share it with you all."

Li Mingyuan paused and said, "Soldiers like Wang Chenglin have special skills, but it is not appropriate to promote him to a command position. Therefore, I want to design a medal system to be awarded to individual soldiers or officers who have made important military achievements."

Medals were implemented relatively late in mainland China, but the senior generals of the Chinese Independence Army who had dealt with many people of European descent were no strangers to medals. When they heard Li Mingyuan talk about designing the Chinese Independence Army's own medal, some officers couldn't help but shine their eyes, looking forward to what kind of medal they could get.

"I have already come up with some general grades for the medal design, which are divided into four grades and thirteen levels in total.
First Class Taiping Medal: The highest honor medal, implying that the Chinese Independence Army developed from the Taiping Army, made of precious jade

Second-class Cloud Dragon Medal: It is divided into first, second and third class Cloud Dragon Medals and is made of gold.

Level 3 Restoration Medal: divided into three levels, made of silver

The fourth-level Baoding Medal: divided into three grades, made of copper.

The specific criteria for awarding each medal will be determined by the General Staff later."

"It is most appropriate to reward meritorious soldiers like Wang Chenglin with medals. After the meeting, I will ask the staff of the General Staff to formulate a medal plan." Li Mingyuan solved the difficult problem he raised, saving Liu Pu the trouble, and he could not help but admire Li Mingyuan's decisive thinking. It only took him a short while to think of using Western medals to reward soldiers with outstanding military achievements, while others did not think of this.

"The medal system is not unique to the West. During the Han and Tang dynasties, the monarchs awarded their subjects dragon robes and swords, which were essentially the same as medals. The only difference was that dragon robes and swords were awarded to court officials, not to all soldiers like medals."

"Medals made of gold and silver are good things. Now that there are no more wars, it would be nice to keep the medals awarded by the prince as a family heirloom." Chen Guozhu said with a smile.

"A medal made of gold is good, but it is not so easy to get. Although the Chinese Independence Army has no war to fight for the time being, Brazil will not sit idly by and watch us occupy Rio Grande do Sul. There will be wars in the future. If you want to get a medal made of gold, you must work hard to gain military merits."

Li Mingyuan joked with the generals present, and after the generals below laughed, he continued, "It will take some time to design the medal, but the distribution of land cannot be delayed. Twelve thousand Paraguayan women have been placed in the western district of Porto Alegre. Soldiers in and out of the city run to the western district several times a day. I think if we don't find husbands for them soon, the overly excited soldiers will make mistakes."

"Twelve thousand women of military age are still fewer than the Chinese Independence Army, and it's hard to evenly distribute them. It's better to first determine the number of people who have won various medals, and then let the soldiers who have won medals give priority to the women they like, and then according to the size of military merit and rank, from high to low, they will be eliminated in order until all twelve thousand women of military age are distributed."

Liu Pu suggested.

"The design of the medal and the selection of candidates for the medal must be completed as soon as possible. Also, the Paraguayan women who are married home must be treated well and not beaten or abused without reason."

"Don't worry, my lord. All men and women in the world are the children of God. Your brothers will marry them home and love them so much that they won't abuse them."

"In Heaven, many sisters fought side by side with brothers, especially Su Sanniang. The women soldiers under her were no less capable than the men. Our Taiping Army brothers don't look down on female sisters like the Qing demons do."

"The Qing demons are so hateful. More than 100,000 sisters in the Heavenly Kingdom were abused and tortured to death by Zeng the Barber's men. This great hatred must be avenged!"

"The Qing dynasty is unjust, and the Qing demons and traitors killed the brothers and sisters of the Heavenly Kingdom. One day, they will be made to pay with blood."

Most of the senior officials of the Chinese Independence Army were former remnants of the Taiping Army. When talking about the Qing Army, the topic inevitably shifted from discussing Paraguayan women to the Qing Army's killing of Taiping women. Although Li Mingyuan did not truly experience the tragedy of the death of Taiping women, he could also feel the brutality and bloodiness of the Qing Dynasty from the mouths of the old Taiping Army soldiers around him. He did not understand how many innocent people the Manchus killed. When they raised their butcher knives, they had no mercy at all. Faced with such a group of Tungus wild boars with the blood of Han people on their hands, how could the experts and professors of later generations sing their praises for them!
Chirp, old Qin, restore our land. The blood will not dry, the death will not end, the west has the great Qin, rising like the sun. A hundred years of national hatred, the vast sea is hard to calm.

Have you not seen that the Han Zhongjun, at a young age, tied up the enemy and asked for a long rope,
See you, Ban Dingyuan, Jueyu Qingqi urges Zhanyun!
The smoke and dust of the Han family is in the northeast, and the Han will resign from the family and be broken.

A man is naturally self-respecting and domineering, and the emperor especially favors him!
The Qin Dynasty, the Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty, where have gone the confident and masculine sons of the Han family who used to be so determined, angry, and determined to avenge their parents and uphold the righteousness of the Spring and Autumn Period?

Time flows, and thousands of years have passed. Perhaps the brave warriors have been buried by the yellow sand, and the burial place of the Han soldiers who went on the expedition has become the territory of other countries. Time has eroded the civilization and spirit of the Han people, leaving only the weak sheep who are humbly calling themselves slaves and negotiating with the barbarians. Li Mingyuan cannot change the entire Han Chinese, but he will never allow such slaves to appear in the Chinese Independence Army under his rule.

Waving his hand to stop the excited officers, Li Mingyuan said, "The hatred between the brothers and sisters of the Heavenly Kingdom is irreconcilable. The Manchu Tartars, Zeng the Barber and other Tartar traitors will not let them go. When our Chinese Independence Army becomes strong, I will lead the brothers to capture the Manchu Tartar thieves and Zeng the Barber. Then we will use the same method they used against the brothers and sisters of the Heavenly Kingdom on them!"

"The Tartar emperor was skinned alive and his head was shaved by slow slicing." An old Taiping Army officer shouted, and the others responded with an angry roar.

The crowd was indignant, and the atmosphere for the subsequent land division was not as enthusiastic as at the beginning. The meeting ended after a rough division of land was made for each section.

(End of this chapter)