Military career: Starting with a recruitment letter

Chapter 321 Joint Experiment, This is Going to Turn the World Upside Down!
Upon hearing the greeting, Xu Dong and his companions all secretly spat, their mouths almost turning to the back of their heads.

They had all memorized Chen Mo's information; if the previous stereotype was that he was a troublemaker...

Now, we should at least add "cunning and greedy" to that description.

How old are they? How can they be so concerned about food for more than ten years?

Aren't you afraid of making a fool of yourself while bragging? A corn growing on your chin?
Chen Mo didn't have time to pay attention to the people dawdling behind him.

These guys, as bodyguards, are stuck in headquarters all day and can't even leave. They even have to eat specially prepared nutritious meals. What kind of local delicacies could these country bumpkins have ever tasted?

They simply don't know how to enjoy life.

Arriving at a stall selling mutton offal and donkey meat pies, Chen Mo sat down decisively and said, "Boss, one bowl of mutton offal and three pies, please."

"Okay."

The stall owner, wearing an apron, saw customers coming in and quickly packed up. Before Xu Dong and his group could even arrive, a steaming bowl of mutton offal soup was already placed in front of them.

Chen Mo took a sip and found it quite fresh, without the gamey taste often found in inland areas, which suited his palate.

It wasn't until he had drunk half a bowl of the drink that Xu Dong and the others arrived.

"Chen Ying, I just inquired and found out that the Blue Army's train arrived in the middle of the night."

Xu Dong pointed in the direction of the train station: "They should have started unloading their equipment about half an hour ago, they're probably about to depart."

"will not."

Chen Mo chewed on his pie and looked around. Not seeing any soldiers, he knew that the company commander must have given the order not to move around.

Otherwise, how could local delicacies so close to the train station, steaming hot in the early morning, not arouse curiosity?

"We have orders to wait until we regroup before we can set off. Let's eat first, there's no rush."

The military region's intentions are unclear for the time being. They sent their Blue Army battalion across the main battlefield. Although there was no sound of artillery fire at the moment, the faint smell of gunpowder was still lingering in the air.

It seems the battlefield isn't far away.

Chen Mo arrived early and ate quickly. He watched as Xu Dong and the others, who had been so reserved just moments before, now wolfed down their food, almost swallowing their tongues.

"Boss, how much is it?"

After imitating the owner's accent in a strange and unrecognizable way, Chen Mo paid the bill, lit a cigarette in his mouth, and wandered around the neighborhood, calculating the number of food stalls.

The result of this calculation was truly shocking.

The town was quiet, but there were plenty of stalls, enough to feed the entire Blue Army battalion more than just breakfast.

Even soldiers who are fighting in the middle of a battle come to eat?
As Chen Mo thought about the upcoming battle, a rough plan began to take shape in his mind.

He wasn't familiar with the Zhuri River, but some people were, like the vendors.
After Xu Dong and the others finished their meal, Chen Mo waved, and the group got back into the car and headed along the railway in the direction provided by their fellow villager.

After traveling about two or three kilometers, military trains came to a stop on the railway, and shadowy figures were busy unloading the cars.

Chen Mo and his four companions parked the car on the side of the road, quickly changed into their military uniforms, and got out of the car.

The soldiers patrolling and guarding the area spotted them.

"Hello, Battalion Commander!!"

The platoon leader in charge had originally seen a car approaching and wanted to check what was going on, but when he saw Chen Mo get out of the car, he immediately stood at attention and saluted.

"Hmm, what's the current situation?"

Chen Mo looked up and gestured to indicate the direction of the military train.

"Reporting to the battalion commander, we arrived at 2:17 a.m. The chief of staff ordered all companies to rest first and begin unloading the trucks after dawn."

"Okay, go ahead and get busy."

Chen Mo waved his hand, turned his head and saw that several of the food stalls he had eaten at the train station had actually followed the military train to the vicinity.

The boss sat there listlessly, watching the soldiers unload the truck, seemingly hoping to land a big job after he finished.

Have you had breakfast yet?

"No." The platoon leader, who had already turned to leave, shook his head decisively when asked.

"Go tell the mess platoon that breakfast will be canceled for now. Each company will unload the trucks, and whoever finishes their task first will take turns eating. There are breakfast stalls nearby, right? Take turns eating, each shift is twenty minutes long. Go on."

"Yes!"

Upon hearing this, the platoon leader on duty's eyes practically lit up with greed. He had been smelling the odor since 3 a.m., for over four hours straight. Even someone who wasn't hungry would find it unbearable.

Moreover, these are people who have traveled a long distance.

The news spread.

The unloading process in each company noticeably sped up.

Not long after, Cheng Dong, Fang Peijun, Qin Xiaojun, Xu Zhanqi, and Man Xuexi rushed over.

I spotted Chen Mo.

Cheng Dong grinned and punched him: "You finally decided to come, huh? You've got more prestige than I've built up over half a month with just one order, making them take turns taking leave."

"I've become the bad guy."

"When they are transferred to a new place, there's no stopping them, so let them eat their fill."

Chen Mo smiled. Even he himself couldn't handle it when he first arrived, so why make things difficult for the people in the camp?

"How's the camp lately? Nothing's happened, has it?"

"No, everything is fine."

Several company commanders shook their heads in unison. Now that the battalion commander is back, the backbone of the company is back, so what problems could there be?

"Hello, Battalion Commander!!"

"Hello, Battalion Commander!!"

Several soldiers who were taking turns eating greeted each other with smiles as they passed by.

Then he rushed toward the train station in the distance.

Because the nearby stalls were already packed with people, it was impossible to squeeze in. The soldier stood in front of the stall, clutching his change, while the owner was all smiles.

"Go over to the train station and tell the mobile vendors that they can set up their stalls here, so that other people don't have to make a trip."

Chen Mo gave a reminder to the soldier who had just left.

"okay!!"

A group of veterans took off their hats and ran wildly, waving their hats in response. In the blink of an eye, they were more than a hundred meters away.

Cheng Dong and the others moved away before he lowered his voice and said, "Something's not right about coming to Zhurihe this time. That bastard Lao Man said that since we came here during the exercise, we might get involved."

As he said this, Man Xuexi was eavesdropping, and after hearing it, his already dark face turned even darker.

"Chief of Staff, I'm still here."

"Battalion Commander, I think we need to make preparations in advance. This troop redeployment at this time is not without reason."

Man Xue's expression returned to seriousness; he couldn't be ambiguous about important matters.

Chen Mo nodded slightly: "I guessed it. By the way, the military region said we have officers accompanying the team. Where are they?"

"They're all in the carriages at the front. They don't really do anything; they just report our movements to us."

Cheng Dong offered an explanation.

After learning the situation, Chen Mo stopped asking. He had originally planned to call the military region to sound them out after arriving here, but now that Cheng Dong had said this, the military region knew everything about their itinerary.

There's no point in making another call.

Furthermore, judging from Cheng Dong's serious demeanor, he probably doesn't know that the accompanying officers also carry mobile suits.

Even the military region isn't in a hurry to get them involved in the war, so why are we in such a rush?

"Well, each of your companies should go and count how many local soldiers are in our battalion. Do the counting first."

"Yes!"

The company commanders didn't think there was anything wrong with the order, after all, they had just been transferred to a new post and it was normal to collect information on the local troop strength.

Company Commander Zheng Wenbo hesitated for a moment before asking, "Battalion Commander, we have a soldier in our company surnamed Bai, whose real name is WLTQQ and whose real name is Bai Sheng. Is this considered local?"

Company Commander Zheng is a veteran artilleryman, about the same age as Cheng Dong, but he is more skilled in the field.

He had no ulterior motives; he was only focused on leading the artillery company well. The reason he asked the question was that he didn't understand what Chen Mo meant by "local area"—what exactly constituted "local area."

"Yes, as long as you can describe the characteristics of your hometown, if it's on the grasslands, it counts."

Chen Mo nodded very affirmatively.

Let's not even talk about what happened in Jinyang before. Small vendors and hawkers don't play a big role in the exercises. The battlefield area is very limited, often not even enough for the air force to enter, so there's no need to use those disguise reconnaissance or poisoning methods.

Now that we're on this side, the situation is different.

In localized battles, even a small act of sabotage can often throw the enemy's rear into complete chaos and severely impact the fighting capabilities of the main forces at the front.

If you don't use it, you won't use it.

The Blue Army battalion can overwhelm the enemy in terms of scale and range by relying on its information-based equipment, but if it fights too many times, it will eventually be guarded against by the opponent.

Mechanized commanders are not to be trifled with; if the new system does not reach a certain scale, it will be easily targeted.

For example, the 61st Division's response during the Northwest military exercises, and the 188th Division's response during a war of attrition.

Both can, to a large extent, counter the "detect and destroy" advantage of information-based warfare. Tactical diversity is not shameful.

Upon Chen Mo's arrival, the first thing they did was arrange for him to take turns eating, and then they asked him to compile a list of local recruits.

Cheng Dong frowned: "Shouldn't we start pre-battle preparations first?"

"If we are ordered to participate in an exercise and fight an unprepared battle, we will be at a great disadvantage."

"It doesn't matter."

Chen Mo shook his head, then pointed to the vast grassland: "I just arrived here and smelled gunpowder as soon as I got out of the car. I guess the exercise here has been going on for quite a while."

“That’s true.” Cheng Dong also admitted: “I heard sporadic artillery fire last night. The fact that they can still fight at night means that the main forces of both sides have already entered the later stages of the battle.”

"Yes."

Chen Mo remained noncommittal: "In such a large exercise area, I heard from the political commissar that the commander-in-chief of the 27th Army is also stationed here. With him here, there will be no shortage of participating troops."

"At this scale, if we want to reorganize the battlefield, consolidate the battle situation, gather the main forces of all parties, and prepare again, it will take at least two days."

"With that effort, all the pre-war preparations could be taken care of."

"Alright, I'm going to find a carriage to sleep in. I was sitting in the back all night and lying down, and it's been so uncomfortable."

"After the local lists are compiled for each company, ask them who knows how to make mutton offal soup or mutton pies. If they don't know how, ask their families if anyone knows how. Let them learn on the spot. Approve funding so that the comrades can also have a good meal. It doesn't matter if it tastes good or not, as long as they can eat it."

"This vast battlefield is a great place for disguised reconnaissance."

After giving his instructions, Chen Mo chuckled and went to find a place to rest.

The military region only provided the route for the movement, and the political commissar also said that after the rendezvous, the troops would leave immediately.

But the tanks haven't been completely unloaded yet, and the long-distance maneuvers haven't been maintained, so there's no rush.

Having an accompanying cadre constantly reporting on the progress actually made things easier.

Seeing that Chen Mo knew there was going to be a war, yet he could still sleep.

Cheng Dong clicked his tongue. At this moment, even he had to admit that this guy was quite ambitious. If he were in charge of the work, he probably wouldn't be able to do something similar.

However, Cheng Dong also knew the answer in his heart.

Chen Mo wasn't in a hurry because he had enough intelligence to know the scale of the military exercise, which allowed him to analyze how to deal with the current situation.

But this time.

Chen Mo overlooked one point. His analysis was correct: in a large-scale military exercise that had reached its later stages, it would take at least two days to regroup the troops and formulate a completely new plan.

The problem is that two days ago, the main combat unit here received a message from the experimental information-based auxiliary combat unit.

In other words, the other party had already made preparations for the two days that Chen Mo had anticipated.

otherwise.

There's no need for Wang Songhe, Tang Haodong, and Wei Jin'an, three officers at the division level, to arrive at Zhurihe two days in advance.

. . . . . . .

now.

Just as Chen Mo went to rest.

Operations conference room inside the Zhurihe camp.

Wang Songhe, Tang Haodong, and Wei Jinan, who came from Jinyang, have arrived.

Headquarters requested the Kyoto Armored Regiment to conduct a preliminary test of the scale of information-based auxiliary warfare in the Jincheng Military Region to determine how much combat capability could be enhanced.

This is no small matter.

This relates to the claims of the other side, those who support reform.

When the three of them arrived, most of the senior officers of the 27th Army were already in the operations conference room.

Yan Zhongyi stood in front of a map, studying it intently.

Although the 27th Army no longer has division-level units, its combat effectiveness should not be underestimated.

When the results were tested at the beginning of the third phase of mechanization reform, among more than a dozen army groups, the 63rd was at the bottom, but the 27th was in the top five.

Although the situation of the 63rd Army was understandable, most of the military expenditures, highly educated grassroots cadres, and even veterans from various units were transferred in large numbers to prioritize the development of the Blue Army battalion.

This led to its own lagging development and disastrous results.

But as I said before, the field army doesn't believe in excuses.

No matter the reason, poor is poor. If these soldiers who fight wars have to make excuses, then the atmosphere will be ruined.

Once this door is opened, there will only be more and more excuses in the future.

Therefore, headquarters ruled out having the 63rd unit conduct the experiment, and instead used the 27th Army unit. Old Man Yan felt there was no problem with that, and it was his duty.

He certainly had the confidence to back it up.

Last year, during the second phase of mechanization reform and the annual military exercises, the entire army achieved remarkable results.

The benefits of achieving good results naturally materialized at the beginning of this year.

The number of honorary awards and officer promotions across the military increased by 5 percentage points compared to previous years.

Don't underestimate these five percentage points. It is precisely because of this, coupled with the fact that they did not have an information technology demonstration camp dragging them down, that they were able to maintain their strong momentum in the third phase.

The corresponding score improved by 6 coefficients.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that all the units under the military region have been in a state of jubilation recently.

Have no idea.

Abundant benefits mean a bright future for the entire army.

The rate of new recruits who joined the army at the end of last year receiving awards and commendations was higher than that of recruits from other military regions.

Five promotion points, that's even more impressive.

Officers who graduated from military academy and were assigned to the 27th Army have already been promoted, while their classmates who were assigned to other military regions are still stuck in the same place.

Military rank is a perk that can lead to rapid advancement and a completely different atmosphere throughout the military.

Happiness requires comparison.

This assistance to the Jincheng Military Region in its experiment will also allow our own unit to gain an early understanding of both information-based main combat and auxiliary combat scales.

He thought it was a win-win situation.

I looked at the map for a while.

Old Man Yan turned around, his sharp, tiger-like eyes sweeping over the many officers in the conference room.

"Comrades, I believe you all understand the orders issued by headquarters."

"The Northern Sword military exercise will continue, and this time we will add a new member, which is the former Kyoto Demonstration Battalion, now the Kyoto Military District Information Mechanized Combined Arms Independent 1st Regiment. They have the title of regiment, but in reality there is only one battalion, a thousand people."

"Everyone may have heard of this demonstration battalion, but they don't know much about them. To be honest, when the information technology experiment first appeared, especially with the 63rd Army providing substantial support, it dragged down their own development. I had doubts about this move."

"But looking back now, I realize how shallow my understanding was."

Wow!
Upon hearing the commander-in-chief's words, which sounded like an admission of guilt, the many senior officials present were in an uproar.

Everyone knows what Old Man Yan is like.
He won't praise you if you do something right, that's to be expected. But if you do something wrong, he'll berate you mercilessly, leaving you trembling with fear, showing no mercy to anyone.

With that kind of personality, how could he possibly admit his mistakes?
Yan Zhongyi looked at the expressions of the cadres present and did not find it strange, because the Northern Sword military exercise and the Blue Army Battalion's performance in the 63rd Army almost overlapped in time.

The people here have no idea about the specifics of the battle.

Yan Zhongyi didn't intend to remind him; the caution he was being taught was better experienced firsthand on the battlefield, which would leave a deeper impression.

He simply raised his hand to quell the murmurs and continued, "Standing at the crossroads of history, I still cling to old-fashioned mechanized thinking and have resisted regulations such as information-based integrated combat, auxiliary combat, vertical exchange, visual digitization, and the staff group assisting grassroots combat training."

"Therefore, I personally need to offer a self-criticism."

As Yan Zhongyi spoke eloquently on the stage, the three division-level officers sitting at the back of the conference room exchanged glances.

From an outsider's perspective, they understood.

Old Man Yan's preemptive self-criticism is tantamount to a veiled reminder to the main combat troops below that they must be extremely cautious when facing information technology.

After all, even the commander-in-chief had given a pre-battle self-criticism.

On the battlefield, if any unit is careless, it will lose the initiative.

Or if they are caught off guard by information technology, they will inevitably face a storm of angry rebukes and rectification after the exercise.

Wang Songhe and the other two knew that Yan Zhongyi was doing this so that the army could learn enough experience.

It would be somewhat unethical to deliberately fail to mention the Pyrrhic victory of the 188th Division and instead present the disastrous defeat of the 7th Brigade.

However, the three of them were outsiders after all, so they just listened attentively at the meeting and didn't offer any opinions.

Finally, when Old Man Yan announced that the 235th Motorized Infantry Brigade under the 27th Army, together with the armored regiment, would become the Blue Army, including the military reconnaissance battalion, the engineer regiment, and the long-range rocket artillery battalion, these directly subordinate units were designated as the Blue Army.

When facing all the other main combat brigades and regiments in the entire army, a group of cadres who had been assigned to the Red Army were full of pride and had an air of certain victory.

Old Wang knew that these people were going to be careless, because they were up against that damn scholar.

The Blue Army battalion was already comparable to a main battle division in terms of combat capability, and now it has the support of the army's direct subordinate units and the motorized infantry brigade.

Wouldn't he turn the world upside down?
If you're careless now, you might not even have a chance to cry later.

(End of this chapter)