Soldiers Assault: Starting from the 7th Steel Company

Chapter 219 What you fear most is what comes to pass.

In Chen Jiang's view, Zhao Dazhi's car team simply lacked the ability to react quickly, and every aspect of the operation was sluggish and disorganized.

He stood in front of the regimental command vehicle, watching the minute hand on his watch complete another full circle, the veins on his forehead throbbing involuntarily.

He had lost count of how many times he had urged them, but the parking lot still had nearly a hundred trucks that were not yet ready.

"Commander Zhao, we're already an hour overtime!" Chen Jiangqiang suppressed his anger, but his voice still trembled noticeably. "The higher-ups ordered us to assemble and depart within two hours!"

Zhao Dazhi slowly dusted off his shoulder insignia, a professional smile on his face: "Deputy Director Chen, you see, we are doing our utmost. But as you know, many staff members are on weekends off, and this sudden mobilization order..."

"That's no excuse, Commander Zhao! We can't wait any longer, or something terrible will happen!"

Chen Jiang suddenly made a decision, "First, ensure the vehicles are in good condition, then load the supplies immediately. Use as many drivers as you need, and bring in the rest later!"

"Deputy Director Chen, if something goes wrong according to your method, who will be responsible?" Zhao Dazhi said, somewhat angrily.

"It's on me! Let's get going!" Chen Jiang replied decisively.

It took more than three hours for over 300 military trucks to slowly drive out of the parking lot.

After leaving the camp, Zhao Dazhi's car, number 001, was in the lead, but it was only traveling at 50 kilometers per hour, which Chen Jiang, sitting next to him, found unbearable.
"Commander Zhao, how can you possibly arrive on time at a speed of only 50 kilometers per hour?"

“Deputy Director Chen, you don’t understand. We have scientific evidence. It’s 1400 kilometers from here to our destination. At a speed of 50 kilometers per hour, we can complete the journey in 28 hours,” Zhao Dazhi said confidently.

But Chen Jiang felt uneasy upon hearing this. "Commander Zhao, although I am not a driver, I know that driving speed will decrease at night. People also need to rest, eat, drink, and urinate. These 28 hours, or even 38 hours, will be tough."

"Don't worry, I'm a veteran driver, and we've done these long-distance mobilization exercises before. I'll take responsibility if anything goes wrong!" Zhao Dazhi patted his chest and assured him, leaving Chen Jiang speechless.

To put it bluntly, he wasn't a military supervisor; at most, he was just an observer.

Besides, the other person is of a higher rank than him, so he can't command any of their vehicles.

As night fell, Chen Jiang's worst fears came true: due to the negligence of some drivers, a chain-reaction rear-end collision occurred.

There's only one mountain road at night, and it's very narrow. If a vehicle in front has an accident, the entire road will be blocked.

"what happened?"

Chen Jiang and Zhao Dazhi rushed over to inquire about the situation, because the civilian vehicles behind were also blocked, and the impact of such a thing being spread would be too bad.

After understanding the basic situation, Zhao Dazhi immediately told people to drive away quickly, as the minor collision was nothing to worry about and the road should not be blocked.

But one vehicle clearly wouldn't start. Chen Jiang hurriedly asked the regiment about the emergency plan, only to find that this was not included in the plan at all.

Several veterans were sent over to check the situation, and they all agreed that it was a cylinder problem that required a major overhaul.

Chen Jiang suggested that the advance troops set off first, but Zhao Dazhi firmly disagreed.

Now that's settled, everyone waited there for a full three hours before the problem was finally resolved and the convoy continued on its way. After all that commotion, the convoy's speed had dropped to only 40 kilometers per hour. No matter how much Chen Jiang urged him, Zhao Dazhi refused to speed up, citing safety as the reason.

Chen Jiang had no choice but to try to save time by making do with the army's food, water, and fuel supplies. Even so, when they finally arrived at their destination, they found Cheng Guoqiang and a group of military bigwigs waiting for them with dark faces.

Sun Tongfei, who was in charge of the motor transport regiment, had definitely already been reprimanded by his superiors there, so he rushed up to Zhao Dazhi, spitting at him, and yelled, "Zhao Dazhi, do you even know the assembly time?"

Zhao Dazhi panicked upon hearing this; his old superior had never been so fierce before.

"I know."

"You know the time, yet you still arrive so late? Look at the time! Did you even get to your destination on time?"

Zhao Dazhi knew, of course, that he was a full hour and a half late, but there was nothing he could do. Unexpected events kept happening on the road, making it impossible to arrive ahead of time.

"Sir, we've encountered them."

"Don't give me explanations. Do you think the enemy will listen to your explanations on the battlefield?" Sun Tongfei takes any military action very seriously now because he can't afford to lose anymore.

Zhao Dazhi was a soldier he had personally trained, and it was truly unexpected that he would fail at such a crucial moment.

"And look at how many vehicles your regiment was supposed to have, how many actually showed up? Their armored forces have been here for ages, waiting for you! If this were a real war, I'd execute Ma Su today! Zhao Dazhi, Zhao Dazhi, I think you should change your name to 'Unambitious'!"

Zhao Dazhi was so scolded that he didn't dare to utter a sound.

"report!"

Just then, Chen Jiang stepped forward.

"What is it?" Sun Tongfei was in a bad mood, so his tone was naturally not very pleasant.

"I also bear responsibility for the mistakes that occurred in this operation." To everyone's surprise, Chen Jiang actually took the initiative to take responsibility? In fact, this matter had little to do with him.

“I also lacked experience in supervising the mobilization of the motorcade this time, and I did not have effective coordination and communication with Commander Zhao.” Chen Jiang’s attitude surprised Cheng Guoqiang and others.

"I don't want to hear the reasons, I want to hear how to improve in the future!" Cheng Guoqiang is a very pragmatic person. Since the matter has already happened, there is no point in explaining the reasons. It is better to talk about what to do in the future.

Zhao Dazhi spoke first, but his answer was nothing more than going back to hold a meeting, seriously summarizing and reflecting, and then making improvements—all nonsense. Not to mention Cheng Guoqiang, even Sun Tongfei knew it was bullshit.

Meetings? You guys never held them before? What's the use of listening to others? The key is that you, as the "top leader," must have your own ideas!

"Commanders, I believe the root causes of this situation in the motor transport regiment are threefold: insufficient fuel supply in normal times, too few emergency situations encountered, and the lack of a logistical support emergency team in the motor transport regiment."

Chen Jiang spoke up, but he didn't mention Zhao Dazhi's responsibility at all. Instead, he looked for the root cause, which made Zhao Dazhi feel grateful.

"Tell me in detail!" All the bigwigs turned their attention to this; it seemed a meeting was about to be held on-site to coordinate and resolve the issue.

Chen Jiang answered calmly, and the following words were ones he had carefully considered over the past few days:
"First, we must ensure the fuel supply for the motor transport regiment. Fuel is divided into fuel for peacetime training and fuel for reserves, so that we can deploy it when we are in combat and have enough for peacetime training."

"Secondly, we must train more in peacetime. The motor transport regiment has been enjoying peace and prosperity for the past few years and has received too little real combat testing. When we return, we must intensify our training and make everything based on actual combat. At the same time, we must revise the emergency plans for unexpected events to fully guarantee that the motor transport regiment can reach the battlefield in the fastest possible time and to the maximum extent possible in the event of war!"

"Third, we need to further optimize the allocation of resources across the entire regiment. During this mobilization, I found that many drivers were not on duty, so we couldn't guarantee two drivers per vehicle. For such a long distance, we had to rely on the drivers to carry the load. This situation is not normal and must be changed! We must ensure that every soldier in the motor transport regiment is a driver, and that everyone can repair, drive, and handle emergencies! We must have enough related mechanical equipment so that we can replace it directly if it breaks down, instead of wasting precious time on repairs."

Chen Jiang's words were well-reasoned, insightful, and to the point, drawing frequent nods of agreement from the other senior generals.

Cheng Guoqiang was also very satisfied with Chen Jiang's performance; it was clear that he was genuinely interested.

Zhao Dazhi was very grateful, after all, Chen Jiang hadn't pushed all the problems onto him at once, otherwise he would have been in big trouble.

“We’ll need to study what you’ve said again when we get back. You’ll need to submit a detailed research report to us then,” he said, glancing at Zhao Dazhi, who was covered in sweat. “It will be submitted in both your name and that of Commander Zhao.”

The problems exposed by this emergency mobilization were undoubtedly serious. Zhao Dazhi had not yet realized the seriousness of the problem. Only after the military leaders left did he smile and thank Chen Jiang, saying that he had misunderstood Chen Jiang along the way.

Chen Jiang didn't take it to heart, but he had a feeling that Zhao Dazhi's tenure as regimental commander was probably coming to an end.

Sure enough, a few days later, the results of the investigation into the mobilization exercise came out. Zhao Dazhi received a major demerit, but retained his position as regimental commander and was allowed to redeem himself through meritorious service.

After thoroughly studying the materials submitted by Chen Jiang and Zhao Dazhi, Cheng Guoqiang and other leaders reported to their superiors for approval to increase fuel supplies to front-line combat troops, especially the motor transport regiment. The fuel supply was based on actual use and sales, which can be considered as an open supply.

All of this was supposedly the result of Sun Tongfei's reasoned arguments, all in an effort to help Zhao Dazhi turn the tide.

Chen Jiang didn't focus too much on this. He concentrated his energy on how to coordinate the overall operations and live-fire training of the entire army group. Although their department was only a regimental-level unit, they had a lot to manage. In particular, Liao Weiliang had completely entrusted the training work to Chen Jiang, which made Chen Jiang wonder: Is this the operations department or the training department?

Chen Jiang adapted to his role very quickly. He not only quickly understood the entire business process, but also actively conducted in-depth research at the front line. In the past few months, he and all his subordinates have traveled to almost every grassroots unit to understand their difficulties and needs.

Upon returning, he wrote research reports, sought relevant policies and assistance from higher authorities, and solved one practical problem after another, making many military units very welcoming to the newly arrived Deputy Director Chen.

It is worth mentioning that Chen Jiang was the first to propose a new concept that armored forces could closely coordinate with transport support forces.

It should be noted that before this, the armored forces and the transport support forces were two completely independent units.

Chen Jiang pointed out incisively that in actual combat, armored forces rely heavily on logistical support, including maintenance and ammunition resupply, while transport support forces have relatively weak defensive capabilities and also need protection and support from armored forces.

For tanks and other armored vehicles, heavy equipment transport vehicles are not only "ambulances" after they have been severely damaged on the battlefield, but also "armored express delivery vehicles" for their rapid deployment to designated land battlefields. Tanks and other armored vehicles cannot function effectively without the strong support of heavy equipment transport vehicles.

In modern warfare, the battlefield situation changes rapidly. The marching speed and mobility of ground troops are extremely important, and the ability to efficiently transport tanks and other armored vehicles to the front lines can sometimes determine the success or failure of an operation.

For long-range and ultra-long-range transport of tanks and other armored vehicles, the best transport vehicles are ships, trains, and strategic transport aircraft. However, what if the railway in the assembly area is destroyed? In that case, heavy equipment transport vehicles would be needed to transport them.

There are many advantages to using heavy equipment transport vehicles.

First, reduce the motor hours consumed by tanks and other armored vehicles, and reduce the consumption of fuel and maintenance equipment.

Secondly, it avoids damage to roads caused by tanks and other armored vehicles, thus enhancing the stealth of operations.

Third, it reduces fatigue among crew members of tanks and other armored vehicles, maintaining their combat effectiveness. Tanks and other armored vehicles experience significant jolting and low comfort during travel, and prolonged driving puts a severe strain on the crew's physical and mental strength. Using heavy equipment transport vehicles can temporarily "liberate" the crew, ensuring they are in good condition when deployed.

In the last century, China's TA4360 heavy transport vehicle, with its 500-horsepower engine and sturdy leaf springs, became the "hardworking ox" for transporting heavy equipment for the military.

But times have changed. The TA4360 is somewhat inadequate for heavy equipment like the domestic Type 99A main battle tank. A new generation of heavy transport vehicles must be developed.

This enables efficient joint operations using armored vehicles and motor transport, maximizing the combat effectiveness of armored forces.

This novel viewpoint sparked heated discussions at the military region leadership meeting. To be honest, advanced technology and equipment must be discussed at the highest level and then researched and developed by the scientific research department; it cannot be decided by their level alone.

However, they ultimately agreed that Chen Jiang's suggestion was quite good, at least it could effectively improve the combat effectiveness and efficiency of the troops.

Finally, the army group collectively submitted this recommendation to the higher command, and it carried significant weight.

Chen Jiang also visited the armored vehicle testing brigade and chatted with his former squad leader, Shi Jin, who is now a key member of the brigade and has a deep understanding of armored vehicles.

He shared some of his insights with Chen Jiang, which greatly benefited Chen Jiang. These valuable experiences and lessons can provide reasonable and correct support when formulating offensive combat plans for armored forces.

However, just when Chen Jiang was doing well in the operations department, something happened to Zhao Dazhi.

(End of this chapter)