Soldiers Assault: Starting from the 7th Steel Company

Chapter 229 The New Line of Responsibility
After Sun Tongfei left, the brigade leadership team immediately convened its first plenary meeting.

The first item on the agenda at the meeting was the division of responsibilities among the brigade leaders.

As the brigade commander, Long Kaifeng was certainly in charge of overall operations. In other words, he could manage everything, but the specific responsibilities for each area were delegated to other leaders.

To Chen Jiang's utter surprise, the division of labor they had agreed upon meant that he would not be in charge of the troops' training, but rather of engineering projects and logistics.

In civilian life, this would be the most important division of labor in a unit, but in the military, this division of labor means risk, and it is not what Chen Jiang most wants to do.

Because infrastructure construction is inevitable for new units, especially for a newly formed, diversified force. How much temptation lies within this?

When Chen Jiang returned home and told his wife about his assigned tasks, Chu Ning teased him, "Countless people outside are eager for this 'lucrative job,' but you're not happy about it."

"Oh, please don't be sarcastic. This is indeed a 'lucrative job,' but it's very risky. You don't want your husband to end up in jail, do you?"

Chen Jiang looked troubled. Having lived two lives, he knew all too well the examples of people who made mistakes in engineering projects and eventually fell from grace.

"Could you replace the conduit?" Chu Ning also realized the seriousness of the situation.

No matter what, she didn't want anything to happen to her husband.

Chen Jiang said with a wry smile, "Do you think this is like ordering food in a restaurant, where you can just change the plate if it's not good? This division of labor has definitely been reported and approved by the higher-ups, so it won't be changed easily."

Just as the couple were talking, Chen Jiang's phone rang.
Chen Jiang answered the phone immediately when he saw it was Gao Jianjun calling.

"Xiao Chen, have you finalized the division of labor within the team? How does it go?"

"Thank you for your concern, sir. It's nothing. We'll just follow the established plan and make sure we do our job well," Chen Jiang replied in a very official manner.

“We’re not at work now, so you don’t need to use my title,” Gao Jianjun said in a very gentle tone.

"Okay, thank you, Uncle." Because of Chu Ning, Chen Jiang could of course call him that, but he knew that, not to mention him, even Gao Cheng would insist on being addressed by his rank if he met Gao Jianjun in the army.

Therefore, Chen Jiang has always been cautious and humble.

"No matter what job you are assigned, as long as it is meaningful to the army, you should do it with confidence and boldness. But you must remember one thing: you must never take what you should not take, and you must never do what you should not do. Do you understand, son?"

Hearing Gao Jianjun's elder-like concern, Chen Jiang's eyes welled up with tears. Gao Jianjun didn't usually say these things, but the fact that he made this phone call and spoke to such an extent today showed that he truly considered Chen Jiang one of his own.

"I understand, don't worry, Uncle. I will never let you down. No matter what position I hold, I will do it well!" Chen Jiang said firmly.

Hearing Chen Jiang's statement, Gao Jianjun felt relieved. After exchanging a few pleasantries and asking Chu Ning how she was doing with the child, he hung up the phone.

The next day, Chen Jiang quickly got to work. He called Jin Shunfa, the head of the engineering management department, wanting to go down to the construction site with him to understand the situation.

Jin Shunfa is a major, with dark skin and a lean build. He has always been an expert in engineering management in a certain unit. When the new unit was established, he was transferred here. He also knows very well that Deputy Brigade Commander Chen Jiang is a promising young officer, so he attaches great importance to him.

He was carrying a thick stack of documents and was waiting outside Chen Jiang's office early in the morning.

"Deputy Brigade Commander Chen!" Upon seeing Chen Jiang, Jin Shunfa immediately straightened his back and saluted, his voice booming.

"Section Chief Jin, no need for formalities, please come in and sit down." Chen Jiang returned the greeting and ushered him into his office. "What are these?"

"Reporting to the Deputy Brigade Commander, this is a list, drawings, budgets, and bidding documents for all projects currently under construction and planned in our brigade. I thought that since you are now in charge of this area, you might need to get a general understanding of the situation first." Jin Shunfa carefully placed the documents on the coffee table, his movements practiced, clearly indicating that he was extremely familiar with the materials.

Chen Jiang nodded, having formed a preliminary positive impression of the section chief's efficiency and meticulousness.

He didn't rush to look through the documents, but instead asked, "Comrade Shunfa, you're an expert in engineering, a veteran in the field. In your opinion, what are the most pressing issues in our brigade's current engineering construction and logistical support? And where might the biggest risks lie?"

Jin Shunfa hesitated for a moment, then cautiously replied instead of immediately launching into a boastful statement: “Deputy Brigade Commander, there are quite a few pressing issues. Our brigade is newly formed, and many barracks, training grounds, and warehouse facilities urgently need to be newly built or renovated to meet the needs of training and combat readiness. The deadlines set by higher authorities are very tight. As for the risks,” he paused, lowering his voice slightly, “the main ones are the tight schedule and heavy workload, which makes it easy to make mistakes by rushing the procedures. Also, there’s the issue of project quality, which must be strictly controlled. In addition, many projects require dealing with local authorities, and coordination will be quite difficult.”

Chen Jiang listened attentively, his mind racing with calculations.

He has a good memory; he can basically remember things and then go through them in his mind again. Kim Soon-phak's words were very practical, pointing out the key issues—procedures, suppliers, and military-civilian coordination are all places where problems can easily arise.

“Okay, you can’t see the real problems just by sitting in the office and looking at documents.” Chen Jiang stood up. “Come on, you come with me. We’ll go check out a few construction sites and warehouses without telling anyone.”

"Yes, Deputy Brigade Commander!" Jin Shunfa immediately stood up.

He was somewhat surprised; this young deputy brigade commander didn't seem to prefer listening to reports and reading materials first, unlike some leaders who preferred to go straight to the front lines.

The car drove out of the headquarters compound and headed towards the tank regiment's under-construction comprehensive training ground. Along the way, Chen Jiang casually inquired about the procurement process of engineering materials, acceptance standards, and the performance of the supervision unit. Jin Shunfa answered each question, but was secretly surprised: the questions asked by this Deputy Brigade Commander Chen were very knowledgeable and to the point; he was definitely not an outsider.

Upon arriving at the training ground construction site, a scene of bustling activity unfolded, with machinery roaring and workers moving about. The project manager, having heard the news, rushed over, a hint of tension barely perceptible on his face. Chen Jiang stopped his suggestion to report in the conference room and went directly to the construction site.

He examined it very carefully, stopping frequently to inquire about the concrete grade, the specifications of the reinforcing steel, and the acceptance records of the concealed works.

Jin Shunfa followed behind, answering professional questions while secretly observing Chen Jiang. He noticed that Chen Jiang had sharp eyes and paid particular attention to certain details.

While inspecting a batch of newly arrived cables, Chen Jiang suddenly squatted down to carefully examine the markings and specifications on the cable insulation. He frowned slightly and turned to ask Jin Shunfa, "Is this brand of cable the same one required in our tender documents? The model number doesn't seem to match."

Jin Shunfa's heart skipped a beat. He quickly leaned over to check carefully, then pulled out the procurement list in his hand for comparison. His expression gradually turned grim: "Deputy Brigade Commander, you have a sharp eye! This brand is top-tier, but the model is definitely not the one we specified in the tender. It's a similar one with a slightly lower price. This doesn't comply with regulations!"

The project manager immediately broke out in a sweat and hurriedly explained, "Sir, this is because the specified model is temporarily out of stock, and the construction period is tight, so the construction team..."

"Out of stock is no excuse!" Chen Jiang interrupted him, his tone becoming serious. "Any changes must go through a strict application and approval process to ensure that the quality is not lower than the original standard and meets the specifications. Did you submit a report? Who approved it? How did it pass inspection?"

A series of questions left the project manager speechless, stammering and unable to answer.

Chen Jiang did not react on the spot, but told Jin Shunfa: "Make a note of this situation. Notify the supervision unit to suspend the use of this batch of cables and immediately send them to a third-party testing agency for retesting to ensure that all indicators fully meet military standards. At the same time, thoroughly investigate the entire process of this material change and deal with it accordingly without any leniency."

"Yes! Do it immediately!" Jin Shunfa quickly took notes, gaining a new understanding of the new deputy brigade commander's decisiveness and meticulousness.

It seems that the first fire will start from these seemingly insignificant cables.

The cables on the construction site were just the tip of the iceberg that Chen Jiang discovered. Although he had never been in charge of the construction project, he had heard about many problems that had occurred. Therefore, he went to the road from the training ground to the tank garage. This was a newly poured cement road. According to the requirements of the construction drawings, the flexural strength of the concrete on this road should not be less than 4MPa to ensure that the road surface can withstand the stress generated by the tank rolling over it, as well as the weight and impact of the tank.

"Take a sample and test it on-site!"

Chen Jiang randomly selected a point, and Jin Shunfa had no choice but to comply. Although this random sampling method would temporarily damage the road surface and subgrade, it was the most direct and effective way to inspect the quality of road construction.

Several workers brought out a drilling machine and took out a cylindrical section of the roadbed. The cylinder was about 30 centimeters high, which allowed for a detailed and accurate observation of the roadbed material composition.

Chen Jiang carefully measured with a tape measure and recorded the data, location, and other information in his notebook.

"Sample a few more times. Here and there." Chen Jiang ordered again, emphasizing the need for multiple sampling points to prove anything.

Under Chen Jiang's supervision, the staff dared not slack off and could only follow the instructions several more times. Chen Jiang instructed them to pack all the samples they had collected into bags and label them, as these would serve as evidence in the future.

Chen Jiang also carefully inspected the construction quality of the newly built tank storage warehouse, and humbly asked Jin Shunfa for advice on some points he didn't understand.

Just then, Zhao Zhenguo, having received the news, finally arrived.

"Oh dear, Deputy Brigade Commander Chen, you came here to inspect the work, why didn't you let me know? I had no idea." Zhao Zhenguo no longer dared to treat Chen Jiang as his classmate from military academy. Chen Jiang was his superior, and it would be very impolite not to come out and greet him when he came to his camp.

"Haha, Zhenguo, since your regiment's camp infrastructure was the first to be completed by our brigade, I can only come to inspect it first. You all have heavy equipment, so the quality of the infrastructure project must be up to standard, which is why I didn't give you any notice. Don't blame me for this 'surprise attack'!"

"What nonsense! I'd love for the leaders to pay attention to the quality of our infrastructure projects. My main tank battalion is full of heavy main battle tanks. The tracks put a lot of pressure on the concrete road surface. To ensure that the road surface is not damaged, we must have very high quality standards." Zhao Zhenguo lowered his voice and complained a little. "Our original camp roads were all damaged by my tanks, and we were criticized quite a bit by our division commander."

Chen Jiang smiled slightly after hearing this, thinking to himself, "Can the construction quality back then compare to now? Besides, the latest main battle tanks had just been developed at that time, but the surrounding roads were designed according to the standards of medium tanks. It would be strange if they didn't get damaged."

Of course, he couldn't say these things in front of his subordinates right now.

"Has your tank regiment encountered any difficulties or problems during recent training missions? I'm here today, so please feel free to raise any issues you may have. I'll try my best to resolve them, and for anything I can't, I'll report back to the brigade commander so we can coordinate and find ways to improve the situation!"

Upon hearing Chen Jiang's words, Zhao Zhenguo couldn't remain silent. He seized the opportunity to emphasize that the biggest problem for the troops right now is the lack of opportunities to coordinate operations with other units in the brigade. They can't rely solely on their tank regiment to operate alone; they need more opportunities for practical training.

Chen Jiang wholeheartedly agreed with this. In fact, in his mind, combined arms forces should not continue to maintain so many organized armored units. Instead, the armored units should be dispersed and mixed into various battalions or even companies. This is because with the improvement of the level of system-of-systems warfare, large-scale armored assault operations are becoming increasingly outdated.

If the enemy has drones or armed helicopters, and you send a large number of tanks to attack, what is that if not suicide?
However, the current military is only a pilot program, and many concepts may not be able to be changed all at once, requiring an adaptation process. Therefore, he can only take it one step at a time. Moreover, he is not currently in charge of training, so he should focus on managing his own duties first.

Therefore, he simply noted down Zhao Zhenguo's suggestion without expressing any clear opinion.

Seeing this, Zhao Zhenguo didn't know what to say, so he could only suggest taking Chen Jiang to visit their restaurant and living area.

Chen Jiang gladly went there, where he saw the newly added gym and the modern military restaurant, conditions that were much better than when he was in the Steel Seventh Company.

On a whim, and at Zhao Zhenguo's invitation, Chen Jiang enjoyed lunch with the armored regiment's soldiers who had returned from training. It must be said that the army's food standards have indeed improved significantly, with a very reasonable balance of meat and vegetables.

Their brigade now has its own breeding base, which is sufficient to guarantee the food, drink and supplies of all units in the brigade.

"When I get back, I'll make demands on the logistics department to try to provide everyone with fruit after meals. We must ensure everyone's nutritional balance!" Chen Jiang suggested enthusiastically.

(End of this chapter)