Volume 1 Teacher Chapter 10: Mastery (Part 1)
"Dai is too arrogant. Look, he attacked Captain Ding on the first day. If this continues, how are we going to live in the future?"
After Dai Jiliang explained his assignment to several corps commanders, he hurried home to settle his family. However, Ma Kang and others stayed behind. As a result, Dai's back could not be seen. The second company's deputy Sheng Baoting jumped out. He and Ding Baonian were sworn brothers, so naturally he was very dissatisfied with someone who had hurt his eldest brother.
"No, we must unite and speak to Mr. Lu."
"Speaking of that? Do you know who Dai belongs to?"
Chief Steward Chu Gan said in a sarcastic tone that his cousin was the brigade chief of staff of the Second Division and his family had some wealth, so naturally he was a well-connected person in the Third Battalion and the Guards.
"Just now, I took some time to visit the Second Battalion. Deputy Battalion Commander Zhang told me personally that this Dai is not only a top student of the Japanese Army Academy and the German Berlin Military Academy, but was also introduced to General Duan by the German military attaché himself. It is said that he is also the general's junior. With this relationship, do you think General Lu will take care of you or Dai?"
"Then let's set a trap for him. Dai wants to train his soldiers in three months, right? Let's pretend to obey but actually disobey him so that he can't train them. Then he will be embarrassed and leave obediently."
Ma Kang's deputy Li Dali thought for a long time and finally came up with a bad idea. If everyone followed his wishes, they would be passive and lazy and hold Dai back. Naturally, Lu Jianzhang would punish Dai Jiliang first.
"Confused!"
Ma Kang was very sober and immediately spoke out to stop Li Dali from talking nonsense.
"Training is what General Lu cares about most. Are you trying to discredit Captain Dai or General Lu?"
You know, Lu Jianzhang is in charge of intelligence, so how could he not care about what happened in his own small piece of land? You know, it was because of me that I made trouble for Dai that the soldiers of the third battalion were not trained. By then, I am afraid that there will be no place for me in the huge Beiyang.
The chief officers seemed to be well aware of Ma Kang's thoughts, so no one continued to dwell on this topic and just listened to what the third company's deputy Li Guo said.
"I, Li Debiao, admire Captain Dai's individual soldiering skills."
Although Li Guo graduated from the Tokyo Zhenwu School, he was not successful in the Beiyang government and is now just a company lieutenant. He has some ideas in his mind.
Now that a chief officer with a background as a military officer has suddenly arrived, his mind naturally becomes active.
"However, the quality of a single soldier has little to do with the training of a company or a battalion. I have to see how capable Captain Dai is. If he is really capable, it is not a problem to give him my 180 kilograms."
"When you are a soldier, you eat the same food as your superior officer."
Ma Kang nodded when he heard this. His situation was similar to Li Guo's. Within the Beiyang, the Quick Training Faction was severely suppressed by the Military Preparation Faction. He was also happy to see a powerful chief officer, but he was relatively conservative.
"Brothers, we are all eating from the same bowl. Captain Dai looks quite arrogant, but we have just met him. We have to see how he goes. If he doesn't work, I won't tolerate any sand in my eyes. Since he is favored, I will leave. I don't believe that if I can't stay here, I will go somewhere else."
"Brother Xiaoyou is right."
E Tao saw that everything that needed to be discussed had been discussed, and except for those with ulterior motives and those who spoke without thinking, those who made the decisions were all smart people, so he stood up and added a sentence.
"Maybe they are here to get some experience. We should make friends with people like them, not enemies. You don't know Captain Dai's senior student, Xiao Xu (Xu Shuzheng), right? He is an example of someone who will never give up even the slightest grudge."
After saying this, E Zhichang's Beijing accent came out.
"Okay, let's disperse. Let's do what we need to do. The battalion commander has to go to the company tomorrow. Let's go back and prepare. Don't let people say that we are just eating and drinking."
It was because of E Tao's words that when Dai Jiliang went to the first company the next day, he saw a team that was not yet strong, but had good spirit and vitality.
"Brother Xiaoyou is from Baoding Speed Study School, right?"
As expected, Dai Jiliang mentioned this issue.
"It can be seen that this soldier has a good foundation."
Dai Jiliang and Ma Kang shuttled back and forth among the upright team, occasionally hitting the chest of this private and the back of that private.
"The soldiers in the north are much stronger than those in the south."
"The battalion commander has a good eye. All the soldiers are recruited from Zhili and Shandong."
Ma Kang was still wondering about the purpose of Dai Jiliang's question, so his response was generally conventional.
"I personally selected each one of them."
“How rare!”
Dai Jiliang waved his hand, signaling the officer to continue with normal training, and then the two men walked to the shade of a tree and started talking. It would be an exaggeration to say that they talked, because basically it was Dai Jiliang who asked the questions and Ma Kang who answered.
"How many times a month can we conduct shooting training? How many rows of bullets can we fire at a time? In addition to shooting, how do we usually train our physical fitness? What about assassination and fighting? What about class tactical drills? What about company and platoon joint training? Has the battalion ever held tactical drills for the entire battalion or sand table exercises?"
Ma Kang answered the questions one by one, but the results made Dai Jiliang frown.
“I thought the Beiyang military and training were the best in China, but I never expected that they couldn’t even do one tenth of the basic things that the great powers could do.
With only two meals a day, the soldiers' basic physical fitness could not be guaranteed. They had never conducted cross-country training or long-distance marching training. They only fired five or ten bullets a month, and there were very few assassination and fighting scenes. They just did queue training all day long.
Such soldiers are just show-offs and cannot be used on the battlefield."
Dai Jiliang's words made Ma Kang's face turn red, but this was not just a problem for the Guards Army. Except for a few divisions such as the Third Division that were Yuan Shikai's favorites, other Beiyang divisions also had similar problems. There were even some who were eating the empty salaries and sucking the blood of the soldiers. It could be said that this was one of the cancers that led to the final decline of the Beiyang.
However, even if it is a common problem, Dai Jiliang will try to solve it one by one within the scope of the Third Battalion.
"When I go back this time, I will make a training outline and ask General Lu for instructions. It is unreasonable to have two exercises and one training. We must change it. Brother Xiaoyou, I want to set up a teaching team in the camp first, and draw out the veteran soldiers for training together. I will be the captain. Are you interested in being the deputy captain, Brother Xiaoyou?"
Is this considered as winning over? Ma Kang's mind raced. Dai entered the Third Battalion alone. E Tao was a glass egg and would not approach him easily. Chu Gan had someone behind him and could not be easily moved. Ding Baonian became a tool to establish his authority and would definitely be removed from the Third Battalion in the future. Then he and Li Guo were the targets that Dai would inevitably win over. Should he get on this boat? I'm afraid that if he didn't go, Li Guo would be very happy, right? Thinking of this, Ma Kang nodded.
"Xiaoyou is just trying to learn something from the battalion commander, so it's better to obey than to be respectful."
"That's settled then."
Dai Jiliang smiled and said, "By the way, I have something to tell you."
Dai Jiliang straightened his wrinkled military uniform and spoke seriously.
"From now on, apart from General Lu and other officers who come to the Third Battalion to continue to prepare special meals, from myself on down, all officers must eat from the same ladle as the brothers below them, and they are not allowed to prepare special meals for themselves in private."
Looking at Ma Kang's somewhat surprised face, Dai Jiliang continued speaking.
"Except for the necessary part of the company and battalion's office expenses and special expenses, all the rest will be used to give the brothers an extra meal."
Ma Kang's mouth opened wide, but Dai Jiliang hadn't finished speaking yet.
"If you want to eat well, then train the soldiers. Whoever leads the soldiers well will be given extra food at the battalion headquarters."
Seeing that Ma Kang still didn't understand, Dai Jiliang explained.
"Sun Ziyun said, those who share the same desire will win. If you don't get along well with your brothers, will they work hard for you?"
As for the extra meals, Dai Jiliang gave the following explanation.
"In foreign countries, the armies of the great powers are maintained by honor and victory. Although our guards have never been on the battlefield, we should at least give them a certain amount of honor. Just giving out rewards is not a panacea, and we don't have that much money to give out. So how can we maintain the morale of the army? Brother Xiaoyou, you might as well give it a try. If you are outstanding, please invite us to the company headquarters for a meal and see what the result will be?"
Push away the food and take off the clothes! Ma Kang's eyes lit up and he nodded sincerely.
"Understood, Captain."
"This is a pamphlet of Japanese and German military tactics that I recalled. Take it and have a look."
Dai Jiliang handed over another date.
"Remember, I will promote it comprehensively in the future. Don't lose to the people below you then..."
Dai Jiliang's attitude towards Li Guo from the third company was much rude. The first sentence he said when they met was.
"You studied in Japan, so you should know the hierarchy in the military. So, will you obey my orders?"
"Yes! I will obey the battalion commander's instructions."
Li Debiao stood straight, he knew the opportunity was right in front of him.
Sure enough, Dai Jiliang’s second sentence made him so excited that he was in heaven.
"I now appoint you as the acting commander of the Second Company. If you do well, you will be promoted immediately. If you don't do well..."
"I will take off this skin myself."
Li Guo responded firmly, but he was still a little worried.
"What will we do after Captain Ding comes back?"
"Isn't there a third company?"
Dai Jiliang's move is called service exchange, which is also a method used by a certain faction to add sand in the future. However, it is still a relatively advanced technology at the time, and naturally confused the unsuspecting Li Guo.
"Who will be assigned to the third company?"
Li Guo was still greedy for more.
"Chief Steward Chu Gan."
Dai Jiliang smiled and did not point out Li Guo's little thoughts.
"Let him come down and lead the troops. Let him be a deputy company commander first. If Captain Ding can't come back, and he does a good job, we might as well make him a regular."
Dai Jiliang was not afraid that Li Guo would spread this news. If it were spread, it would be exactly what he wanted.
No matter what, he had to take control of the Third Battalion as soon as possible, and the quartermaster who managed the finances of the First Battalion was one of the top priorities, so he would rather exchange the position for one of his own with a powerful company commander.
Dai Jiliang is very smart. This is his only capital to start his business, so how could he not be careful?
