Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 19 So I've become their superior?
"Yes... it's that simple, just because you give them silver dollars!"

Li Gaoyuan leaned over, closing the distance between himself and Su Yaoyang.

"I've been a soldier for so many years, I know all too well what these brothers are thinking, especially in miscellaneous units like the 112th Division."

They were originally reorganized from the Northeast Army. Ever since their young marshal was placed under house arrest by Chiang Kai-shek, they have become children who are neither loved nor cared for by their parents.

Everything you talk to them about is meaningless; only the real money matters. Therefore, it's only right that you become their leader, understand?

"My……"

Su Yaoyang was also dumbfounded. Heaven help him, he just wanted to follow Li Gaoyuan and these Nationalist soldiers to sneak out of Nanjing.

They fled to Sichuan or some safe rear area to live a peaceful life, and while ensuring their own safety, used their special abilities to contribute to the war effort.

Of course, it wouldn't be impossible to try the life of having multiple wives and concubines in the evil old society.

As for personally going to the battlefield and risking his life in a hail of bullets to fight the Japanese devils, that was not part of his original plan.

Li Gaoyuan's sudden appointment of him as the leader of these defeated soldiers was truly unexpected.

Seeing Su Yaoyang looking somewhat at a loss, Li Gaoyuan rubbed his nose helplessly.

Most of the Chinese army today comes from the old-style army and still believes in the principle of "whoever feeds them is their mother." Whoever provides them with military pay and weapons, they will listen to and fight for.

Su Yaoyang not only distributed weapons and ammunition to the defeated soldiers, but also carried out a basket of silver dollars to give them as a reward. He even promised to give them a pension after his death. In the eyes of all the soldiers and officers, this was a clear invitation to recruit them and to tell them that following him would bring them a lot of money.

Since all the officers and soldiers, including Lu Shaobin, accepted the reward, it meant that they were willing to serve under Su Yaoyang and risk their lives for him.

Everyone knows this, but the person involved seems unaware of it and remains confused. This won't do, and Li Gaoyuan believes he needs to enlighten him.

Fortunately, Su Yaoyang was still intelligent enough to understand. Seeing Li Gaoyuan's indescribable look, he finally realized what was going on.

Pointing to his own nose, he tried to say, "Old Li, are you saying that just because I gave Lieutenant Lu and the others a reward, it means I'm recruiting them?"

Li Gaoyuan nodded slowly. "That's exactly what I mean."

"But...but that's not what I meant!"

Su Yaoyang became a little anxious and stammered, "I just... I just..."

"Just what?" Li Gaoyuan frowned and said, "You're giving them rewards and promising compensation, what else could it be but to recruit them? Is it just for fun?"

Su Yaoyang was stunned for a moment, then slowly came to his senses.

Yes... not only now, but even in the 21st century, bosses pay their employees to work like beasts of burden for them. Do you think it's just for fun?
Thinking of this, Su Yaoyang tried asking again, "So that means I'm now the commander of Lu Shaobin and those defeated soldiers, and they'll all listen to me?"

"Yes!"

"But I don't know how to fight!"

"Who told you that being a leader guarantees fighting?" Li Gaoyuan retorted, then added meaningfully, "The brothers below don't care whether their commander can fight or not; they only care whether they can receive their pay on time. It's that simple. Think about it carefully."

After saying this, Li Gaoyuan left, leaving Su Yaoyang still in a daze. After a while, Su Yaoyang finally came to his senses, looked around, and found Li Gaoyuan, Lu Shaobin, and several other officers directing soldiers to set up defensive fortifications.

Not far from him, several soldiers were filling sacks with soil with shovels. Upon seeing this, Su Yaoyang subconsciously walked over, picked up a shovel to help, but startled the soldiers.

"No, no, sir, you just watch from the side. Let us do this rough work." A senior private who looked like an older veteran quickly snatched the shovel from Su Yaoyang's hand, then kicked a soldier next to him in the buttocks and cursed.

"Monkey... are you blind? How dare you make your superior do your work? You have no sense at all. No wonder you're still a private after all this time!"

Watching the soldiers suddenly speed up their movements, Su Yaoyang suddenly felt uncomfortable, as if he had become a heartless capitalist who exploited his employees.

After looking around again, I felt like I was an extra person here, which made me feel uncomfortable, so I decided to go to the church to take a look.

Upon entering the church, he discovered that, at some point, everyone, including Yu Mo and the group of female students, had changed into German-made Type 36 field uniforms.

Song Mei was even more outrageous. Dressed in a white coat, she was performing surgery on a wounded soldier in the cellar, with Xiao Lu and several female students standing by to assist her. Upon seeing this, Su Yaoyang was startled and rushed over in a trembling voice.

"Stop... Manager Song... Song Mei... What are you doing?"

"Shut up, you bastard!" Startled, Song Mei's hand trembled slightly as she looked up and snapped, "Can't you see I'm performing surgery on the wounded?"

"I...I...you...you all..."

For a moment, Su Yaoyang didn't know what to say.

"Clang!"

Song Mei picked up a bullet and tossed it onto the metal tray with a crisp sound.

Holding the tray, Xiao Lu looked away from the wound and, suppressing her discomfort, explained, "Young Master... you probably don't know, but Sister Song Mei studied at St. John's Medical College in Shanghai, specializing in surgery. She has no problem treating this kind of wound."

"I... fine... do whatever you want with me."

Looking at the busy girls, Su Yaoyang suddenly felt like a useless person, even worse than Xiao Lu and Shu Juan.

At least she can still assist Song Mei and act as a nurse to treat the wounded, while Song Mei can't do anything but watch from the sidelines.

Scratching his head, Su Yaoyang turned and left the cellar, where he found Yu Mo and more than ten other prostitutes from the Qinhuai River, some cooking and others boiling water. Although their movements were still clumsy, they were indeed doing their jobs with care.

"Ugh……"

Deeply affected, Su Yaoyang habitually reached into his pocket and pulled out his cigarette case, only to find that he had already finished smoking all the cigarettes.

"Oh...right...cigarettes..."

Seemingly remembering something, Su Yaoyang looked around and, finding no one paying attention to him, entered a small room.

After a while, he came out of the church carrying a box...

(End of this chapter)