The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 465: The 28th Year of the Republic of China

Just like the Special Agent Company recruiting soldiers in Sanlong Village, each recruitment team of the Assault Corps was adopting the same recruitment method at the same time, and all achieved good results.

On the one hand, He Wei was generous and directly allowed each recruitment team to recruit soldiers with cash. For those farmers in the rural areas who had to work in the fields every day to make a living and could not earn a few cents throughout the year, the attraction of hard currency like dollars was too great.

Secondly, many of the recruiting groups intentionally or unintentionally blurred the policy set by He Wei when they were giving their recruitment speeches. According to He Wei, he was going to implement the recruitment system in the two counties instead of conscription. However, many recruiting officers deliberately blurred the point of not conscription when they were preaching to the public, so that many people mistakenly believed that even if they did not take the initiative to join the army, they would still be at risk of being drafted in the end. This mentality led many people to make up their minds and take the initiative to become recruits, so that at least they could get some money. After learning that some recruiting groups deliberately blurred the recruitment policy of the assault corps, He Wei did not express any opposition.

Compared with the actions of other regiment-level areas that day when they rushed into people's homes and directly conscripted young men, his methods were already very gentle. Therefore, he had no psychological burden for such behavior of blurring the policy. The army needed soldiers to fight, and he could not just consider the people. The construction and expansion of the assault corps would always be the top priority.

Of course, the most important reason for the smooth recruitment of soldiers by the assault corps was its suddenness and secrecy. The sudden recruitment completely caught off guard the village and township headmen who controlled the most basic governance power. With their complicated network of relationships and ability to cause trouble, once the news that the assault corps changed conscription to recruitment reached the ears of these insects in advance, they would inevitably ruin He Wei's plans in secret.

On the other hand, the village and township headmen would naturally unite to pretend to obey the assault corps' plan to recruit soldiers, and would certainly threaten the villagers and households in their jurisdiction in various ways to prevent them from enlisting.

But He Wei launched a surprise attack, catching them off guard, which put them in a very passive position. Those bastards who tried to make money by conscripting men only realized that their good deeds had been ruined after the recruitment team of the assault team came to the village. Facing the group of soldiers armed with live ammunition, how could these baozhangs and jiazhang dare to act rashly? They could only sit back and watch the recruitment team of the assault team successfully recruit soldiers.

As for waiting for the hype to pass and then secretly sabotaging the assault corps' recruitment plan, it was even more impossible. With the full support of the two county governors of Ba County and Fuling County, and He Wei's own connections, the black materials and various details of the headmen of the village and township were all in his grasp, and even the details of their families and children were known.

Therefore, after the recruitment began, many officers leading the recruitment teams made physical threats to those village heads and headmen who seemed uncooperative and their families. Once this threat was made, even the most rampant people became obedient and no longer dared to think about how to ruin the assault corps' recruitment plan.

After all, killing people is not a big deal these days. Some village heads and captains have killed people themselves. These guys who are used to committing crimes do not dare to doubt at all that the ferocious soldiers of the assault corps dared to kill people.

As a result, the assault corps' recruitment plan went on smoothly. The village chiefs and the headmen who were ready to make a fortune from the conscription had no choice but to give up their plans in the face of He Wei's thundering tactics, and let He Wei's recruitment plan be smoothly implemented in Ba County and Fuling County.
Once we get busy, time will fly quickly. Almost a month has passed since the recruitment began, and the wheel of history has also moved from December of the 27th year of the Republic of China to the end of January of the 28th year of the Republic of China.

The playground of the assault corps camp was crowded with people. More than 2,000 newly recruited soldiers were gathering there. All of them were wearing newly issued gray cotton uniforms, standard caps of the National Army with the blue sky and white sun emblem sewn on them, leather belts around their waists, standard leggings on their legs, and newly issued rubber shoes on their feet. They were already dressed like soldiers.

These two thousand people are the result of the assault corps' recruitment in the past month. Thanks to He Wei's advance preparation and layout, the implementation of the recruitment was much smoother than he had imagined. It must be said that the silver bullet offensive was really useful. As long as those in each village dared to apply on the spot, they would be given a meal of meat. Those who passed the initial screening on the spot would be given one dollar on the spot, and another five dollars would be given after passing the second physical examination in the assault corps camp. Such temptation was really too great, enough to tempt many people to work for it.

As a result, the effect achieved by the assault corps in recruiting soldiers was even more gratifying than He Wei had predicted. In just one month, the number of people who had volunteered actually exceeded 4,000. However, He Wei did not accept all of them. Since he was spending money to recruit soldiers, he naturally had to select the best. He Wei eliminated all the applicants who did not meet his physical requirements, and ordered Major Ling Zhi, the captain of the corps' direct medical team, to further screen the applicants who passed the physical test but might have hidden diseases or infectious diseases, and eliminated another batch of them.

In addition, a group of applicants who met the physical requirements were screened out, for example, those who did not have a clear household registration in Ba and Fu counties and those who looked like "professional able-bodied men" were screened out.

He Wei did not dare to recruit people without clear household registration. To put it more darkly, many of these people were refugees who came from nowhere and exiled civilians evacuated from the front line. They had not settled down in Ba and Fu counties, and many of them did not even have families. If these people with no worries were recruited, if they became deserters one day, He Wei would have nowhere to catch them.

To put it more darkly, what He Wei wants is a recruit who can be controlled by him, has no worries, and is concerned about his family and dare not desert easily.

As for professional able-bodied men, it is even more impossible to have them. This group of people make a living by replacing others as able-bodied men. The families of the conscripted men will pay them to replace them, and these people will go to serve as able-bodied men for others. After the able-bodied men are recruited into the army, this group of old hands will look for opportunities to escape, and make money by replacing others as soldiers, escaping, and then escaping again.

These people came to the assault corps to recruit soldiers naturally in order to get a few dollars. When the time was right, these professional men would definitely desert. Therefore, He Wei could not accept this group of people. After finding out, he recorded them all in the book to prevent them from sneaking in again in the future, and finally drove them all out of the barracks.

After selecting the best from the best, the remaining two thousand or so men all have good physiques, families, and are from good families in Ba County and Fuling. They are obedient, simple and durable, and can be considered good soldiers. Of course, at present they are just in appearance, as can be seen from their current formation. They can barely be considered to be standing in a queue, and there is no military posture. Their standing postures vary, and many of them are whispering to each other.

These people are far from meeting the standards of new recruits. After all, these new recruits have been undergoing various inspections and physical examinations since entering the camp, and have not yet started training. It is already very good that they can barely stand in formation. On the command platform of the assault corps camp, He Wei stood high up and looked at his recruitment results. He said with satisfaction: "Not bad, Brother Yuan Ling, it seems that our recruitment is still effective. Although this batch of soldiers is untrained, they have a good foundation. I think they are all farmers who can endure hardships. Very good."

Wang Yuanling agreed, "Indeed, they are all good soldiers from good families. They all live in the local area and have families and children. The probability of them deserting is very small. If they are trained well, they will definitely be a group of good soldiers who can be used."

"Well, Brother Yuan Ling, we'll have the trucks from the Third Battalion of the Independent Motor Vehicles take them home. The New Year is coming soon. They have just joined the army, and I'm afraid they won't have much chance to go home for the New Year after they are released from the army. Let them have a good New Year. Have you distributed the money?"

Wang Yuanling patted his pocket and said, "Don't worry, Captain. Each new recruit has received five dollars. Not a penny less. Haha, don't you see those guys down there are all smiling like flowers? They have vegetables and meat every day during the time they have been in our headquarters. I'm afraid they have never eaten so well in their lives. They have really felt the treatment of being a soldier in our headquarters. The money has also been distributed. I think when they go back, the reputation of our headquarters for recruiting soldiers will spread even more. By then, there should be more and more people applying. I think we can have no problem recruiting eight battalions, let alone five battalions of new soldiers."

"Everything is difficult at the beginning, Captain. We have made a good start in recruiting soldiers. Our good reputation has spread. It will be much smoother to recruit soldiers in the future. Hehe, I heard from the two county heads of Ba County and Fuling County that our team's recruitment treatment is now well-known and has spread to other counties. In addition, it is said that those township heads, village heads, and village heads who originally wanted to make money by recruiting soldiers have become as obedient as chickens after being frightened by our brothers. They are in a state of panic all day long, fearing that our brothers will do something bad to them. This group of people should not pose a threat to our recruitment in the future."

Hearing Wang Yuanling's description of the decadent appearance of those village heads and captains, He Wei also laughed. He Wei was extremely annoyed with these parasites who made a fortune from the national crisis during the conscription. Now that he saw this group of people being humiliated, he was of course very happy.

"Okay, okay, that's good. However, although these people are honest now, they are blinded by greed and might do something secretly in the future. We must keep a close eye on them and send people to scare them when there is nothing to do. We must not let them do anything to disrupt the recruitment or endanger the families of the recruits under their jurisdiction."

Wang Yuanling showed a playful smile and said, "Don't worry, Captain. These people have made a lot of money by being village chiefs and headmen. They value their lives very much. If you scare them, they will definitely behave themselves."

He Wei nodded slightly and said, "That's good. Let these new recruits go home for the New Year as soon as possible, and then bring them back after the New Year according to the list. When they come back, the training and education of our Officers' Education Battalion and Sergeants' Education Battalion will be almost completed, and our new recruits and new recruits training tasks should also be organized. I now have an idea. After the training of the Officers' Education Battalion is completed, why not let those newly assigned Whampoa 13th and 14th batches go to the new recruits to serve as platoon leaders. The company commanders and battalion commanders of the new recruits can be served by the instructors of the Officers' Education Battalion. These instructors were originally company and platoon leaders of our headquarters, so it won't be a problem for them to serve as company and battalion commanders of the new recruits.

"The same is true for the Sergeant Education Battalion. Let those sergeants who have completed training go down to the recruit units to serve as squad leaders and deputy squad leaders. This way, we can train the recruits while also giving these officers and sergeants some training. I think this training method is very good. Of course, the specific formation and organization of the recruit units and the formulation of the training methods are still the responsibility of your General Staff Office. I am just providing you with a reference. In short, come up with a practical training plan for me as soon as possible."

Wang Yuanling's face straightened, and he said, "Captain, I understand. We will formulate it as soon as possible."

The roar of an engine spread out, immediately attracting the two men's attention. They saw that cars of the Third Independent Motor Vehicle Battalion drove into the camp of the Assault Corps one after another and stopped in front of the team of recruits. Then, one by one, the smiling recruits climbed onto the truck compartments under the command of the car soldiers.

Soon, military trucks loaded with new recruits started moving again, driving out of the assault corps camp one after another, and in a joyous atmosphere, they sent batches of new recruits, who were carrying money and were eager to go home for the New Year, back home.

The Spring Festival is approaching, and not only the newly recruited recruits are looking forward to the New Year, but the officers and soldiers of the Assault Corps are also full of expectations for the Spring Festival. After a year of experiencing life and death, a year of trials in blood and fire, and witnessing countless deaths, after killing and being killed, the officers and soldiers of the Assault Corps are in a state of considerable fatigue and tension both physically and mentally.

Even though they have now reached the rear, after a short rest, the troops were once again engaged in the combat readiness and expansion tasks of the temporary capital. The burden on the officers and soldiers of the corps is actually quite heavy.

For He Wei, he actually has no real sense of the span of time and the upcoming Spring Festival.

After all, recently he has been busy enough with recruiting soldiers, training officers and sergeants, and properly dealing with the wounded. In addition, the Military Commission has also issued an order for He Wei to report the meritorious officers of the Assault Corps in the Yangxin victory, give suggestions on the promotion and advancement of the meritorious officers, and report on the current expansion status of the Assault Corps. Many things have come at once at the end of the year.

In this case, He Wei had no time to think about other things. So, although the Spring Festival was here in a flash, he didn't really feel anything. But he also saw the state of his subordinates. Therefore, he would definitely celebrate this year with the officers and soldiers of the Assault Corps.

Just before the New Year, He Wei also received good news. Ding Lunshi, whom he sent out to explore ways for the rear industrial construction of the assault corps, finally made progress.

(End of this chapter)