From the 7th Steel Company to the Synthetic Division

Chief of Staff Shen, standing in his position, was certainly right to make such a decision.

Enabling the troops below to communicate directly, share everything without reservation, and sit down together to discuss will definitely promote the growth of both sides.

Unfortunately, if the angle were lowered, the picture might not be the same.

Chen Jun, standing at a point below the standard, was well aware of how much Wang Kezheng and Chu Zhangang resented the Seventh Steel Brigade at that moment.

If the two sides don't fight when they meet, it's a miracle they can even have a calm and in-depth discussion.

Seeing that Chief of Staff Shen had given the order, Chen Jun could only try his best to persuade them: "This shouldn't be a good idea. 708 and 909 were both defeated by us. If we take the initiative to go to their door, won't it seem too ostentatious? Won't they misunderstand and think that we are here to provoke them?"

"If you have that kind of thinking, then you're wrong."

Chief of Staff Shen disagreed and said seriously, "Why did the theater army form specialized combined arms brigades? It's to use your actions to prick up this boil of peacetime complacency."

The officers and soldiers of the troops must always be aware that war could break out tomorrow.

The People's Army is loyal to the Party and ready to go to the battlefield at any time. This is the motto of our theater army. But are our troops really ready? Can we win as soon as we go out to fight?

Obviously not.

Otherwise, why would the 708th and 909th Brigades have suffered such a crushing defeat in this battle?

This isn't about saving face, nor is it simply about winning or losing; it's about absolute loyalty to the Party. I believe they wouldn't be that foolish.

After Chief of Staff Shen finished speaking, he looked at Chen Jun, mainly to dispel Chen Jun's concerns.

Since Chief of Staff Shen had already said so much, Chen Jun really had nothing to say. Even though he still had concerns, he couldn't continue to refute him.

Wang Qingrui and Tian Baoguo are not the main characters, so it's even less appropriate for them to say anything.

Seeing that no one had any further questions or wanted to continue the discussion, Chief of Staff Shen stood up and said, "Alright, you can all go back and prepare now."

"Yes, Chief."

Chen Jun, Wang Qingrui, and the other two stood up, saluted, and left Chief of Staff Shen's office together.

Watching Chen Jun and his two companions leave, Chief of Staff Shen sat down and leaned back in his office chair, muttering to himself, "It seems the officers of the Seventh Steel Company still only understand this exercise superficially, focusing on winning and losing."
The missions of specialized combined arms brigades and specialized adversary units are not very clear.

Although many people agree that the hypothetical enemy force and the Zhurihe professional blue force are similar in that they both serve as whetstones for the troops.

But how to sharpen the knife, how to sharpen it well, and how to sharpen it quickly, is still a question that needs careful consideration.

……

708 Brigade Headquarters.

Wang Kezheng and He Yazhou were walking on the track when He Yazhou said with a smile, "Old Wang, so many days have passed, and no one in the army has given you any good news?"

“Good news? No,” Wang Kezheng replied.

"Really not?" He Yazhou didn't believe it.

"Absolutely not," Wang Kezheng insisted.

"Well, shall I give you a little hint? Do you want to hear it?" He Yazhou asked, trying to pique his interest.

"Old He, stop teasing me and just tell me," Wang Kezheng urged impatiently.

"I heard that the military has already vacated the office for the newly appointed deputy chief of staff."

He Yazhou's words were like a bombshell, making Wang Kezheng overjoyed and her heart race. She eagerly asked, "Really?"

“Really.” He Yazhou nodded affirmatively.

"Why didn't you let a word of it slip through the ranks?"

Wang Kezheng grinned from ear to ear, exclaiming, "I knew it! This morning, before dawn, a magpie was calling out outside my window. Oh, that's what it was about. It really is good news!"

"I was wondering why our Commander Wang Kezheng, who's been working tirelessly for over ten days, not only organized morning exercises today but also started chanting slogans, haha," He Yazhou laughed.

They both thought the position of deputy chief of staff was prepared for Wang Kezheng, and they were both in a very good mood.

"I suddenly remembered something. The exercise summary you wrote last time was a bit too much. Could you revise it?" Wang Kezheng said with a smile.

"Change? Change what?" He Yazhou asked in astonishment.

"Don't write '30 years behind,' just write '2 or 3 years behind,' that's enough. I wasn't even promoted 30 years ago, this is too embarrassing. I graduated from the National Defense University, right? You're making us look like uncultured bumpkins," Wang Kezheng bargained.

"What I mean by 'lagging behind' is not 'falling behind.' Lagging behind is relative, while falling behind is absolute. Not being aware of lagging behind means not being able to see the gap."

After He Yazhou explained and corrected the statement, he put his hands on his hips and said, "Didn't you say that I was in charge of the summary? What I wrote is what you wrote, you said it yourself."

"The principle hasn't changed. How about this, we'll give it a 50% discount and postpone it for 15 years. If the leader doesn't approve, we'll add another two years, making it 17 years, right?" Wang Kezheng said with a forced smile.

"Old Wang, is this how you do a summary? It's like you're setting up a street stall." He Yazhou said helplessly.

With progress made in both the division commander position and the deputy chief of staff position in the military region, Wang Kezheng and He Yazhou were in high spirits, and the two chatted enthusiastically.

Little did they know that their good days were about to end, as the head teacher was already on his way.

……

909 Brigade Headquarters.

The brigade headquarters officers and their battalion-level officers all gathered in the brigade's conference room for a meeting, mainly to summarize and report on the exercise.

The first item on the agenda when the meeting officially began was for the battalion and regimental level officers to give their summaries.

After Hong Yi and Commander Zhu finished speaking, Chu Zhangang came out and said, "What everyone said was correct, and it all makes a lot of sense."

I also need to do a deep self-reflection. This was a strong earthquake and a storm for our 909th Brigade, which made me much more sober.

Commander Zhu and Captain Hong believed that we underestimated the Blue Army, especially its awareness of modern battlefield tactics.

Yes, it was indeed a case of carelessness leading to defeat, and that is my responsibility. However, we cannot let a single setback on the exercise field make us look bad and demoralize the troops.

So what should a military unit do when it faces setbacks and difficulties?
I believe we must never lose our fighting spirit. If we lose heart, the next battle will be even more devastating. Therefore, I also believe that for our 909th Brigade, the debriefing should be balanced at 30/70.

What do you mean by a 30/70 split?

Hong Yi couldn't stand Chu Zhangang's long-winded speech, which only made empty promises and didn't get to the point. He frowned and interrupted him directly, clearly dissatisfied.

Hong Yi is a stubborn and headstrong man who always dares to confront the brigade commander directly.

"Less than three, score seven."

Although Chu Zhangang was somewhat displeased that his words had been interrupted, he still answered, deliberately raising his voice. "The brigade commander means..."

Commander Zhu immediately stepped in to smooth things over, saying, "If we can catch up with these three points, we might be able to win the next victory."

"cut."

Hong Yi sneered disdainfully, turned his head to the side, and rolled his eyes to the sky.

He couldn't stand this kind of sycophancy.

"Hehe, what do you mean by 'possible'? I mean it's definitely going to work."

Chu Zhangang banged on the table, emphasizing the weight of his words, and continued, "Of course, that's how it is in theory, but it's not so easy to accomplish. We need to actively promote it, do in-depth work, and consolidate and establish confidence in defeating our opponents."

“No problem at all, we can do it,” one of the battalion commanders immediately pledged his loyalty.

Hong Yi looked disdainful but didn't say anything more.

"Actually, everyone from the leaders to the grassroots level could see it."

Chu Zhangang nodded in satisfaction and continued, "In this exercise, our 909th Brigade was only one step away from victory. It is not easy for us to achieve such results under the conditions of lacking favorable timing, location, and popular support."

Shouldn't we take this moment to build up our confidence in self-reliance and self-improvement?

Therefore, we must first acknowledge the achievements…

"I think."

Hong Yi couldn't stand it anymore and interrupted, "You should say the opposite: three parts achievement, seven parts deficiency."

Hong Yi emphasized the last four words, in particular.

Seeing that Hong Yi was trying to sow discord between him again, Chu Zhangang was immediately annoyed, his face fell, and he was about to retaliate fiercely against Hong Yi.

Unexpectedly, someone was faster than him.

"Captain Hong."

Commander Zhu fired the first shot, saying, "Our artillery regiment has won several battles along the way."

We made a large outflanking maneuver of over 150 kilometers to shake off the Red Army, blocked them at Tongling Mountain and went straight to Anxidu. At Anxidu, we destroyed an artillery company of the 7th Steel Brigade and severely damaged their mechanized infantry company.

Our artillery regiment gave it our all; we did our best. To be honest, if we deny these achievements, I will have no face to face my soldiers in the future.

What Commander Zhu said was all true; he did not exaggerate.

But he couldn't persuade Hong Yi.

"But you wasted three days in total at Anxi Ferry. These three days of delay caused the final offensive to fall into chaos, and before we even had a chance to launch the final offensive, we were wiped out in one fell swoop."

Hong Yi was genuinely angry; he glared at her, puffed out his neck, and roared an accusation.

"Captain Hong."

Commander Zhu was also furious after being scolded, and he retorted at the same rate: "You can't say that, you're just talking without understanding the situation."

"Then how should I say it? Ah~~" Hong Yi shouted.

"You flew to Langshan in a civilian plane and stayed there comfortably for five or six days, waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out. But what about us? We suffered so much along the way, and now we're stuck fifty kilometers away. Can you blame us? We're the biggest victims of receiving false orders," Commander Zhu roared.

"That's why we need to analyze these issues. How did we receive false orders from the Red Army? How did the Red Army manage to control our communication network for five or six days? How did we lose control of information to them? If we don't solve these problems, how can we possibly win this battle?"

Hong Yi slammed his fist on the table, getting straight to the heart of the matter, finally silencing Commander Zhu, who lowered his head and remained silent, no longer engaging in the cockfight.

But the battalion commander, who had been the first to flatter them, stood up and challenged them, saying, "But we can't deny that our equipment and facilities are inferior to theirs."

"Moreover, the 7th Steel Brigade is willing to use any means necessary to achieve victory, disregarding morality, rules, and discipline. Coupled with the commander's favoritism, can this kind of fighting style still be called an exercise?" another battalion commander said.

The two battalion commanders and Chu Zhangang are all the same kind of people; they all want to shift the blame for the failure of the exercise and are unwilling to admit that the reason for the failure lies with themselves.

Hong Yi is a very practical person. He hopes to find the cause within himself and then solve the problem.

Instead of turning the summary and discussion conference into a self-deceiving blame-shifting session.

Conflict is inevitable.

The second battalion commander's words were too direct, which led to his capture by the Red Army. He received several vivid lessons in the hotel, and Political Commissar Xu Xiaocun, who had realized his own problems, could no longer stand idly by.

"Your statement is incorrect. Modern warfare is fought according to the rules of modern warfare. How can the enemy talk about morality and rules with you before the war starts? If they are one step ahead in morality and you are one step ahead in evil, the commander will definitely praise you."

Xu Xiaocun's words didn't sound like they were directed at anyone, but it was clear that he was on Hong Yi's side.

Their core ideas are basically the same.

"But we did break through the 535 defense line, some troops were already on the front lines, and we even captured the Red Army command post. That's an indisputable fact."

As soon as a lieutenant colonel finished speaking, Hong Yi sneered and mocked, "Don't even mention it. The reason we were able to breach the 535 defense line wasn't because we were so great, it was all because they deliberately let it in."

As we climbed the slope, our every move was under their watchful eyes; they were watching us the entire time, deliberately letting us into a trap.

Hong Yi is a very intelligent man. He realized all of this when his command post was blocked.

Saying it out now is tantamount to revealing the truth.

"Captain Hong, everyone is aware of the issues you've raised, so let's not talk about them anymore. It's certain that we'll learn from this experience, but any complaints or feelings of inferiority are unacceptable."

Xu Xiaocun's words still had some effect on Hong Yi, and he didn't want to see the argument continue, so he first calmed Hong Yi down before addressing the others: "Actually, the brigade commander is right. The next step is to boost the morale of the entire brigade."

Strengthen the development of information-based countermeasures capabilities, and devote more energy to the research and training of information-based warfare to avoid repeating the same problems.

Since Political Commissar Xu Xiaocun had made his point so clearly, it was indeed difficult for the people present to continue arguing.

The uproar has finally subsided.

"I have a proposal."

When Chu Zhangang heard Xu Xiaocun talk about boosting morale, he came up with a plan on the spot and announced to everyone: "In the future, if we encounter the Steel Seventh Brigade again, our 909th Brigade will never show mercy."

Furthermore, whoever manages to capture Chen Jun alive will be awarded a first-class merit; I mean what I say.

Upon hearing that capturing Chen Jun would earn a first-class merit, everyone present, except for Hong Yi who dismissively curled his lip, had their eyes light up.

It is very difficult for officers to advance each step, but the weight given by a first-class merit is very significant.

Who wouldn't be tempted! (End of Chapter)