Soldiers Assault: Starting from the 7th Steel Company

Chapter 220: The Investigation Provoked a Disagreement

Chen Jiang heard about it while eating in the canteen. He said that several soldiers from Zhao Dazhi's regiment had actually stolen rabbits from a villager's house.

You must understand that our army has always adhered to the "Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention," and taking even a needle or thread from the masses is not allowed, let alone a rabbit from a villager's home. Such a situation would be an absolute disgrace to the army and would be dealt with seriously.

As the leader of the group, Zhao Dazhi will also be held jointly liable.

The army group attached great importance to this matter and dispatched a team led by Yu Genshan, deputy director of the Z-level political department, to investigate the incident.

Because Yu Genshan was a member of the Military Commission, his investigation findings directly determined the outcome of these people's cases. Chen Jiang was also selected by Yu Genshan to go with him as a member of the investigation team.

The investigation team's involvement put the car troupe on high alert.
Everyone is tight-lipped about it and unwilling to talk about it, which makes the investigation very difficult.

Zhao Dazhi, in particular, was unwilling to talk much about the matter, only mentioning that his management work was inadequate and that he was willing to accept any punishment from the investigation team.

"Old Zhao, I won't go into those empty words. You know our policy: we believe in seeking truth from facts. We won't let any bad people who violate discipline and the law go unpunished, but we also won't wrong any innocent people. So you must tell us the truth."

Yu Genshan only had one letter of denunciation, which stated that soldiers from a certain platoon of the motor transport regiment had collectively stolen rabbits from a villager's house, then stewed and ate them.

As for the other details, they were written very vaguely. Yu Genshan and Chen Jiang discussed it and felt that something was amiss. Going directly to the class to ask might escalate the conflict. It would be better to approach it from the top down, so as to understand the attitude of the regimental leadership towards these matters.

Yu Genshan also strongly agreed with this, so he and Chen Jiang first listened to Zhao Dazhi's opinion.

“Deputy Director Yu, those soldiers are good soldiers. Although they have only been in the army for a year, they have performed exceptionally well in all aspects. As for eating a rabbit, we have already compensated them three times the amount and obtained their understanding. I don’t understand why the higher-ups are still keeping an eye on this matter.” Zhao Dazhi was very resistant to this, and his thinking made Yu Genshan and Chen Jiang both amused and exasperated.

"Old Zhao, what are you saying?" Yu Genshan's face changed drastically, and he slammed his fist on the table. "You know the discipline of our army. Taking things from the people without permission is a serious crime, let alone stealing. Do you know what kind of thing this is? It's enough to make your glorious motor transport regiment be publicly criticized throughout the army, and you, the regimental commander, will be fired!"

Faced with Yu Genshan's desperate shouting, Zhao Dazhi was completely dumbfounded.

He wasn't particularly enthusiastic about studying discipline, so he didn't have a clear understanding of the seriousness of this incident until Yu Genshan's stern rebuke finally woke him up.

"No way? They've already agreed to a settlement!" Zhao Dazhi was still unconvinced.

"Heh, reconciliation?" Yu Genshan mocked the regimental commander for being ignorant and uncultured, saying that he had only risen to his position by relying on Sun Tongfei's favor, and now he was asking such a ridiculous question.

"If reconciliation were effective, and things could be treated as if they never happened, what would be the point of our discipline? To be honest with you, reconciliation can only mitigate the severity of the incident, but it cannot change its nature. Old Zhao, can't you read more books when you have nothing to do?"

Zhao Dazhi panicked completely. "After I tell you, can you give me a lighter punishment?"

"Commander Zhao, you need to understand one thing: the final decision will definitely be made by the higher-ups. We are just reporting the facts. Your matter has alarmed the army-level J Committee. Isn't that enough to illustrate the problem? If it were a minor matter, your regiment could handle it itself, or at most the division level would investigate and verify it. You need to be clear-headed about the current situation and not take any chances!" Chen Jiang spoke up from the side, genuinely unable to stand by and watch.

"Alright!" After a long while, Zhao Dazhi finally made up his mind and began to tell what he knew.

There were originally eight soldiers in this motor transport unit, and they had always gotten along very well.

One of the soldiers injured his leg during an early training exercise. With the crucial moment of whether he should be discharged or stay in the army approaching, if his leg injury didn't heal properly, he would definitely have to leave.

So, in order to supplement his nutrition, everyone tried to find some good food for him, but there were no chickens or ducks to be found around the motor transport unit, so they had to go out into the wild to catch wild game. Coincidentally, a rabbit from a local villager's house had just escaped and was caught by these little rascals. Seeing that it was a grayish rabbit, everyone thought it was a wild rabbit, so they killed it, stewed it, and gave it to the soldier with the leg injury.

As a result, a fellow villager came looking for him afterward, and he realized he had made a big mistake. He pooled together the allowance and compensated the person three times over.

"I don't know which damned bastard reported this to you guys, but if I find out, I won't let that bastard get away with it!"

Zhao Dazhi couldn't help but burst into a tirade of curses.

"Whose father are you?" Yu Genshan was also furious. This regimental commander was a complete incompetent fool. "You keep calling me 'father,' what kind of attitude is that?"

Although everyone was a colonel, Yu Genshan was clearly more imposing, after all, he was a member of the Military Commission. Zhao Dazhi immediately deflated in front of him.

Seeing that Zhao Dazhi had stopped talking, Yu Genshan also controlled his temper. The two of them were actually classmates in a training class for young cadres. However, Yu Genshan was the top student in the class, while Zhao Dazhi was the last in the class, so the two of them did not have much interaction.

But after graduation, one became the head of a motor transport regiment with a thousand or so men under his command, while the other only became the deputy director of the political department. Can you believe it?
However, now that his old classmate is in big trouble, he can't very well kick him when he's down, and he's also thinking of helping him out.

Thinking of this, his tone softened, "Old Zhao, you can't just turn a problem upside down and try to punish the person who raised it instead of trying to solve it!"

"Is the question they raised a false accusation? It's a fact, isn't it? Since it's a fact, we need to think about how to resolve it and prevent similar incidents from happening again! Ask yourself honestly, have you implemented the discipline education for the entire regiment? Have you carried it out thoroughly?"

Zhao Dazhi was speechless upon hearing this. He was a person who valued business over ideological education and usually neglected to educate his subordinates in this regard. In fact, even he himself was absent-minded when receiving such education. If the superior was like this, one can imagine the situation of others.

Seeing that Zhao Dazhi remained silent, Yu Genshan continued to persuade him, "Listen to your brother, figure out the ins and outs of the matter, and do what needs to be done. First and foremost, you must have the right attitude and trust ZZ. He will handle this matter fairly and justly."

Chen Jiang didn't want to say much after listening, because what Yu Genshan said was indeed impeccable, but it was mostly just polite talk, giving the impression that "listening to a wise man's words is like listening to a lecture." He wasn't familiar with Zhao Dazhi, so there was no need for him to be a stickler for the truth.

"Alright!" Zhao Dazhi deflated like a punctured balloon, slumping down. "I'll write up a detailed report and give it to you right away." "Not only your regimental-level report, but also the report on the parties involved; we want to meet with them as well," Yu Genshan requested.

Zhao Dazhi's Party Committee had already summoned the parties involved, and after Zhao Dazhi left, they arranged for the parties involved to come in.

Upon seeing Yu Genshan and the other officers, the soldiers were so ashamed that they didn't dare to raise their heads.

Finally, one of the second-term sergeants spoke up, "Comrades, I am their squad leader. This is all my fault. I didn't find out where the rabbit came from before I killed it. If you want to punish someone, punish me. They are just following orders."

"No, our class monitor didn't know anything about this. I was the one who caught the rabbit. If anyone should be punished, it should be me."

"No, I caught and killed this rabbit, and I also cooked it. It's my responsibility."

"Enough!" Yu Genshan was somewhat moved by their arguing, but his face remained expressionless. "What do you think this is? Trying to steal credit? This is trying to get punished. You might end up losing your uniform. You must be truthful and not take the blame."

When these men heard that they had to take off their uniforms, the young soldier who had claimed to have caught the rabbit immediately became agitated and cried out, "Sir, it's really not my squad leader's fault that the rabbit happened! My squad leader is about to be promoted to third-term sergeant, and he absolutely cannot go back to his hometown to farm. His kids are all waiting for his salary."

"Bullshit, what nonsense are you spouting? No matter how poor my family is, we can still go out to work and earn money to support them. Your dad is in poor health. If you are sent back to your hometown, won't he be furious with you? Take the squad leader's advice, we need to be 'realistic'."

Chen Jiang understood. This squad leader truly cared about his soldiers, taking the blame upon himself and doing his utmost to protect them. This deep camaraderie truly moved him.

Yu Genshan was also moved, but discipline is discipline. Someone must be held responsible for what happened today, without a doubt, otherwise he wouldn't be able to explain it back home.

Discipline among the masses is of utmost importance and cannot be taken lightly; mishandling it can result in becoming a typical negative example.

"Tell me the whole story, word by word." Yu Genshan was very experienced with this kind of thing. If he listened to their nonsense, they probably wouldn't know the truth by tomorrow. He had to write a report based on the actual situation.

As for who should be held responsible, that can be decided by the higher-level leaders.

Chen Jiang wholeheartedly agreed, and just to be on the safe side, everyone in their class took a statement.
Chen Jiang asked the soldier with the leg injury in particular in detail. Although he had eaten most of the rabbits, he was now so remorseful that he wished he could vomit them all up.

If he had known the situation was this serious, he would never have eaten it.

After listening for a whole day, the ins and outs of the matter became very clear.

Although each of them wanted to absolve themselves of responsibility, Yu Genshan simply stated that their job was to investigate, and the specifics would be decided by their superiors. Only Chen Jiang understood that higher-ups didn't have the time to meticulously analyze such cases; the preliminary conclusions still needed to be reached by the investigation team.

On the way back, Chen Jiang and Yu Genshan had a slight disagreement about how to set the tone for the matter.

Yu Genshan believes that the incident was caused by a soldier named Zhao Erxi stealing a rabbit, and he should bear the main responsibility. Squad leader Chen Shun should bear the leadership responsibility, and both of them should be removed from their military uniforms. In addition, other soldiers involved should be punished accordingly.

But Chen Jiang thought that doing so was going too far.

He felt that eating his fellow villager's rabbit was wrong, but understandable because he didn't know it was from his fellow villager's family. Ignorance is no excuse!

It's better to focus on education; I suggest a lenient punishment.

Neither of them could convince the other, and in the end, Chen Jiang could only choose to keep his opinions and suggestions to himself.

After the report was submitted, the higher-ups attached great importance to it and held a special meeting to study the matter.

At the meeting, Sun Tongfei was very dissatisfied with Yu Genshan's conclusions and suggestions, but Yu Genshan addressed the matter objectively, stating that since such a thing had happened, it must be dealt with seriously to serve as a warning to others.

Chen Jiang was only attending the meeting and did not have the right to speak, but Sun Tongfei did not want to punish his old unit's people so severely. He had a deep affection for the motor transport regiment, which was where he had taken off. With such a terrible incident and such a severe punishment, how could the motor transport regiment ever get back on its feet?
So, with the thought of "trying anything as a last resort," he could only ask, "Do any other comrades have any objections?"

Generally, such questions are just a formality, and in most cases, nothing will be said.

However, Chen Jiang had a good impression of the squad leader named Chen Shun. He had read the man's resume and found that during his years in the army, he had earned one second-class merit and two third-class merits. According to his qualifications, he could have been promoted to officer long ago, but he gave the spot he had earned to someone else. He was a truly good person.

He's similar to Sergeant Ma, who took care of Xu Sanduo back then. Such veterans shouldn't be treated like this. Chen Jiang, now a veteran himself, has the obligation and responsibility to stand up and speak up for him.

At the very least, he should be able to act with a clear conscience.

"Yes, I'd like to say a few words," Chen Jiang raised his hand.

Cheng Guoqiang was somewhat surprised after hearing this, because he had read the report and found it to be very detailed, with the cause and effect clearly explained. There was nothing wrong with Yu Genshan's handling suggestions; such problems should indeed be dealt with severely and strictly, which was the usual approach.

Chen Jiang was a young cadre he had high hopes for, and he didn't want Chen Jiang to say anything out of line, so he wanted to remind him, "Little Chen, you can raise your opinions, but what you say in this meeting will be recorded."

Chen Jiang certainly understood Cheng Guoqiang's concern, but he was a soldier, a soldier with a conscience. If he was not willing to speak up for the soldiers on the front lines, then who would?

(End of this chapter)