Military career: Starting with a recruitment letter

Chapter 365 Sand Table Practice, Mobilizing External Aid

"Come on, Chen Ying, what are you standing there for?"

At the entrance of dormitory 202, Zhou Kaiwei, the captain of the security team, urged Chen Mo impatiently. Chen Mo wasn't a member of the academy, so a little delay wouldn't hurt.

The call from the battle building was directed to their duty room; the principal was still waiting, and he didn't dare to refuse.

"Okay, wait a minute."

Knowing he couldn't escape, Chen Mo turned around and went into the bathroom, splashing cold water on his face repeatedly to try and clear his head.

There's no other way.

If it's a test on combat theory, you can just sit there and focus on the test paper, which isn't aggressive or particularly complex.

It can be completed within the specified time.

However, real-world simulation is different. The opposing team consists of experienced officers. In the heat of battle, if you misjudge the situation even once, you will be relentlessly pressured by the enemy.

Two mistakes were almost tantamount to a collapse.

This thing is incredibly energy-consuming, even more so than commanding a battle.

In actual combat, there is a time buffer between the deployment of logistics, the main force engaging the enemy, and even reaching the designated location.

The commander has some time to make adjustments.

The sand table is only a tiny space, so there's no time buffer. All calibrations are done according to the time ratio specified before the actual operation.

After a quick wash,

Chen Mo walked back to the door and glanced at Zhou Kaiwei, who looked anxious. "Captain Zhou, are you leaving me to do the sand table exercise alone?"

"What do you mean? Was the call only to you?" Zhou Kaiwei frowned.

"Then who will compete against me?"

"Oh, you'll see when you get there." Captain Zhou didn't care about your opinions and pushed Chen Mo downstairs without saying a word: "Don't worry, no one will compete with you. I'll compete with you. Just hurry up and get there."

You want to fight me?

Chen Mo grinned, somewhat speechless.

The study of warfare is not something that can be mastered by just any cadre, especially those in the mid-training stage.

Look at the entire Kyoto Military Region, with a total of over 200,000 people and thousands of units, only a little over 300 were selected, and more than half of them were eventually eliminated.

Although Zhou Kaiwei is a lieutenant colonel, which is higher than my rank, he may be in charge of police duties, which means he is in charge of the academy's duty posts and disciplinary teams. But when it comes to actually competing against me in a sand table exercise.

It's not that Chen Mo looks down on him, but Captain Zhou is really not up to par; even if he stood on the sidelines watching, he might not be able to understand the game.

Otherwise, Zhou Kaiwei wouldn't have been in charge of security duties; instead, he would have been assigned to a field unit as a military commander.

The dividing line between mid-level and intermediate-level cadres is that clear.

Only when you reach the senior officer level, such as deputy division commander, can you just pick one from any front-line field unit, because the other side has already fought its way out of the enemy's encirclement.

Otherwise, no matter how powerful someone is, no one would dare to let someone who doesn't understand warfare act as a front-line commander and lead troops into battle; it's not child's play.

This is why the Zhongpei course requires all participants to study combat tactics uniformly; there is no other reason for this.

Zhou Kaiwei also understands these principles.

He understood the implication in Battalion Commander Chen's words, but he didn't care. He simply dragged Chen Mo to the passenger seat and shouted, "No matter what you think, just come with me to the battle tower now."

"You're not a member of the academy, but I still have to work there. Stop dawdling. Just do me a favor this time, and I'll be in your shoes. From now on, all the disciplinary officers under Commander Lu will avoid you, I promise!!"

"make a deal!"

Chen Mo laughed jokingly, knowing that Captain Zhou was just kidding.

Within the Lu Zhi Academy, it's always been the red-card trainees who fear the inspectors. Who among the intermediate or advanced trainees would be afraid of such things?

Those involved in teaching are all renowned professors in the academy. Given their status, even if the disciplinary officers catch some minor problems with their subordinates, would you, the captain of the security team, really dare to complain to the professor of military science?
Furthermore, the purpose of the academy's disciplinary inspection is simply to correct the students who have passed the college entrance examination, supervise them, and maintain military discipline.

The officers who came for training were all seasoned veterans, and the academy's disciplinary team completely ignored them.

The two traveled by car to the battle tower.

Meanwhile, in the dormitory area, whether they were officers who had already passed the first theoretical assessment or trainees who hadn't yet received their results, they all rushed downstairs towards the battle building after hearing the commotion.

The practical training session for the Blue Army Battalion Commander of the Kyoto Armored Regiment was quite appealing.

After all, the so-called "Devil's Battalion of the Frontier" had two division-level units, a combat assault division and a Class A motorized infantry division, that had suffered defeats at the hands of the enemy.

There were countless examples of brigade-level units, such as the 7th Armored Brigade of the 63rd Army, the 80th Motorized Infantry Brigade of the 27th Army, and other mechanized infantry brigades, many of which had their command posts destroyed within half an hour.

Many messages, even if they are not made public, are only kept from the rank-and-file soldiers; they cannot be kept from these cadres, most of whom come from directly subordinate units.

. . . . . . . .

the other side.

The Land Command's Operations Department building houses a large sand table simulation room.

The interior was brightly lit, and Li Yazhong had already ordered people to prepare the tools for sand table practice.

At this moment, several of Chen Mo's acquaintances from the Army Academy, located five kilometers away, were also rushing towards this location by car.

A dozen or so experts in operational strategy from the mainland also came. Some of them were there to see Chen Mo, others were there simply to watch the spectacle, or perhaps to see just how outstanding the younger generation was in operational strategy.

Some people came to see what the old principal had given them, specifically the score of 80.

Don't think it's an exaggeration.

The comprehensive exam on combat theory is not the same set of questions used by other students at Zhongpei. Anyone who can get 70 points is an absolute genius.

Many front-line field units have an average score of less than 70 for officers at the division level, while Chen Mo was able to score 80, which is certainly partly due to his age.

But without a doubt, even if there's a lot of padding, 80 is still 80. To date, there are very few people who can be evaluated with such a high score, even within the Kyoto National Defense University.

As for a score of 90, we need to talk about two war gods in the history of the field army.

A perfect score of 100 doesn't exist.

Because any academic problem, when multiple complex issues arise, cannot possibly gain the approval of all academic experts. To achieve the approval of 90% of people is already considered a genius.

While an 80 is impressive, the combination of theory and practice is the foundation of field command; mere eloquence is insufficient.

It must be put into practice.

When Chen Mo arrived at the sand table simulation room, more than a dozen senior professors from the Lu family had already gathered there.

Li Yazhong is also here.

Just as Chen Mo was about to step forward to salute, Old Man Li waved his hand.

It points directly to the sand table on the side.

Chen Mo looked in the direction the finger was pointing.

On the stage, there were four small flags piled up densely: red, blue, cyan, and black.

There were so many flags that they almost occupied one corner of a giant sand table.

It's worth noting that a giant sand table, by standard, is approximately 6 meters long and 4 meters wide.

With so many flags, each representing a unit, wouldn't it be exhausting to carry out this in practice?

In addition, a scale, a small shovel, and other tools are all available.

When Chen Mo saw these things, he was almost speechless. He stared blankly for a long time before asking uncertainly, "Commander, do we have to start the sand table practice from the beginning?"

When he said "starting from scratch," he meant that the construction of the sand table and the deployment of troops were all done by the trainees.

Instead of the academy pre-setting the sand table terrain, climate, and troop deployment, which the students then operate, the academy provides a pre-set sand table.

Starting from scratch is not something that trainees in the Central Training Program can handle. Just the first task, building a sand table, is a challenge; out of more than 300 trainees, it would be difficult to find even one capable individual. I've never seen a battalion commander go into battle without studying maps, instead of building a sand table to simulate battles.

This is not to say that battalion-level operations are unfit, but rather that the positioning of battalion-level combat groups dictates that they cannot extend their battle lines too far; they are only capable of regional tactical deployments.

There's enough map; there's no need to waste time building a sandbox.

Only at the division level, a unit of operational scale, where the command is responsible for a defensive line and the operational area is too large for a map to be effectively represented.

That's why they would choose a more three-dimensional sand table to assist in combat.

In routine exercises, even brigade-level units rarely use sand tables. This is partly because the scale is insufficient and unnecessary, and partly because the staff members of a brigade-level unit are unlikely to be able to support a sand table simulation.

If this sand table exercise involves building the sand table from scratch, then it means that the forces that can be mobilized in the next battle must be at least at the division level.
This would be like ruining yourself completely. How much computational work would it take to complete such a project on your own?
"Is there a problem?"

Li Yazhong, with a stern face, instructed someone to turn on the large screen in the sand table simulation room.

The screen displays the pre-listed simulation requirements.

Campaign Subject: Sand Table Simulation.

Location: Large-scale sand table simulation room at Shicheng Luzhi.

Military operation content: Working in groups, creating sand tables according to terrain and combat conditions, and simulating the course of war.

Terrain: The terrain for the Army's unified examination covers highlands, plains, mountains, beaches, islands, swamps, and dense forests.

Weather: The weather changes once per unit of time, in the following order: storm, heavy rain, dense fog, and snow.

Chen Mo looked up at the practical requirements, swallowed hard, and was so frightened that he was wide awake, let alone sleepy.

“Principal, isn’t there a problem? It’s a huge problem. If this were the second part of the entrance exam, no one from this training program would be able to stay.”

Chen Mo responded with great certainty.

"Don't give me that nonsense." Li Yazhong glared at him: "I know your background very well. Weren't you the commander-in-chief of the Blue Team in last year's Northern Sword A military exercise?"

"You answered the questions on the test paper about the automatic command system of an army group quite well, didn't you?"

"You can command a brigade in a real military exercise, but in a war game simulation, you can't deploy an entire corps?"

Check it out!

Look how easily this old man makes it sound.

They even assigned an entire army? What the hell do I deserve? I'm leading a Blue Army battalion, not the Blue Army itself.

Under the watchful eyes of a group of elderly professors with gray hair, Chen Mo refrained from further criticism.

He simply changed his approach and said, "Principal, even if I can set up this sand table, who will be my opponent?"

"Can anyone at Zhongpei achieve this scale of simulation?"

Hear the words.

Li Yazhong and the group of old men present were all stunned for a moment.

Yup!

I was so focused on pulling the person over that I didn't think about what would happen afterward.

Chen Mo alone cannot complete this deduction. The four-colored flag means that three more people need to come out and compete.

At this moment, the cadres who had just come from the dormitory to participate in the training had arrived at the sand table simulation room.

There were probably around fifty or sixty people.

Most of the cadres in the training program are not very proficient in using sand tables, but that doesn't mean they don't understand them. They have seen them in their units before, and those who have had the opportunity have also learned how to use them.

A group of people rushed in and saw the giant sand table inside, with various flags displayed on it, numbering four or five hundred at a glance.

Everyone's expression immediately changed. Who could handle a sand table simulation of this scale?

You'd have to recruit your own division commanders or chiefs of staff; they can't handle this scale.

The old principal's gaze swept over the group of people, and none of the fifty or sixty dared to meet his eyes, let alone step forward to accept the challenge.

Everyone present knew this was a chance to shine.

As long as you stand up, even if your grades aren't good, you'll be remembered by the old principal; it's a rare opportunity.

But here's the thing.

When opportunities present themselves, one must have the ability to seize them; otherwise, one will only bring shame upon oneself and achieve the opposite effect.

Fortunately, Li Yazhong also knew that making the trainees face off against Chen Mo was indeed too difficult for them.

Chen Mo led the Blue Army battalion, a pilot unit that attracted the attention of the entire army. The resources he had access to were unparalleled by ordinary cadres.

There are indeed geniuses in this world; they can outshine others by leaps and bounds in a particular area of ​​talent.

Whether Chen Mo is a genius or not, the old principal cannot be certain, but even an ordinary person would become extraordinary if given a massive influx of resources.

You can't blame the other trainees for lacking courage; after all, they've had very little exposure to different things.

He pondered for a while.

Li Yazhong then said, "Go, call Old Man Yan's 27th Army combat readiness duty room."

"Take our college for example, we need three colleagues who are good at sand table simulations to come and assist with the work. We need them to arrange for people to come as soon as possible."

"Yes!"

Most of the units under the 27th Army are stationed near Shicheng, so it shouldn't be a problem to borrow a few cadres.

Of course, there are also officers in the Lu Commandery, but the Lu Commandery is the former Staff College. If a group of old professors were to go up there, not to mention whether it would look good or not, would it be suspected of bullying the younger ones?

The main issue is that they're assigning positions to older generations, and they can't really assess Chen Mo's abilities.

Their main purpose is to observe his actual performance, not to cause the trainee to fail miserably.

After arranging the opponents.

Li Yazhong looked at Chen Mo again: "Alright, your opponent will be here soon."

"You can start now."

"Yes!"

Seeing that there was no reason to refuse, Chen Mo stopped making excuses. The old principal was determined to have him conduct this practical simulation.

As for the reason, he knew it perfectly well.

This practical exercise is to verify the answers given in the previous test. The previous test was a written exam, and now we are going to show our true abilities.

He was indeed unfamiliar with sand table work, which he had to admit, even though he had only seen it a lot in his previous life.

But I haven't tried it myself.

Chen Mo first walked to the sand table, selected the blue flag from the four-color flags, and roughly counted 116 of them.

A combat unit with more than 100 flags is considered to have army-level firepower.

The military-level simulations did indeed reach the scale of campaign operations, involving an enormous amount of physical calculations, dynamic calculations, and offensive and defensive transitions.

Before the opponent arrives, Chen Mo must first make arrangements for his own side.

After all, the early bird catches the worm.

Who knows who the next three opponents will be?

You should know that if Principal Lu asked the military region to borrow people, even if the military region wanted to save face, they wouldn't send over someone who was only half-baked.

His opponent will be strong, so we must be careful!

(End of this chapter)