In front of Zheng Weiguo was a piece of paper about 16 carats, about the size of the certificate of merit he received when he was in elementary school (a small certificate is now rare). In the middle of the top of the piece of paper is a portrait of Mr. Sun Yat-sen, the father of the nation, on the left of the portrait is the party flag of the blue sky and white sun, and on the right is the big red flag of the blue sky and white sun, which is the national flag of the Republic of China.

The text is framed by a large box, starting from the far right, with a vertical line of text written in large letters: Letter of Appointment of the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government. Then another line of small print reads: Zheng Weiguo is hereby sent as the commander of the 33rd Division of the Army, and awarded the rank of Major General of the Army, this state (there is no punctuation in the text, and there are spaces in the comma).

After that, there is another line of big characters, which reads: Chairman Jiang Zhongzheng, and Jiang Zhongzheng's seal is stamped under the signature. Then another line of small letters reads: November 30, 26th year of the Republic of China. The date is also stamped with the large seal of the Ministry of Military Affairs.

In addition to this letter of appointment signed by Chang Kaishen himself, there were also several letters of appointment signed by Wei Lihuang, commander of the 14th Group Army. Yu Laogen was appointed as the deputy commander of the 33rd Division, Duan Shuanghu was appointed as the commander of the 33rd Brigade under the 33rd Division, and Zhang Haiyan was appointed as the commander of the 34th Brigade. Zheng Weiguo, these high-ranking officers, did not have the right to be directly appointed and dismissed, so they had to be signed by the commander of the 14th Group Army.

The four letters of appointment were all brought by Colonel Zhou Yimin of the former enemy command in the Second World War Zone, who wore glasses and looked young. Colonel Zhou explained: "According to the usual practice, the division commanders of these three positions do not have the right to directly appoint and dismiss, so the commander of the guard issued a letter of appointment based on your nomination. The commander said that the other positions of the 33rd Division are up to you, as long as they are determined and reported to the commander's department. ”

Zheng Weiguo flipped through the letter of appointment and said strangely: "I think the position of the chief of staff of the division is also very important, is this also directly appointed by me?" ”

Colonel Zhou got up and gave Zheng Weiguo a standard military salute, and said with a smile: "Master, I will serve under you in the future!" ”

Zheng Weiguo was stunned at first, but quickly reacted and said with a smile: "It turns out that Brother Zhou is the chief of staff of our 33rd Division!" ”

Chief of Staff Zhou smiled: "Exactly! Master, I will ask for your attention in the future! ”

Zheng Weiguo returned a military salute and said, "I won't say more polite words." Chief of Staff Zhou, since Shangfeng has designated the two of us to build a team, we will stir horses and spoons in the same pot in the future, and we will be comrades in the same trench. Here I replace wine with tea, and I hope that our brothers will work together to go to the national disaster! ”

Chief of Staff Zhou hurriedly raised the teacup and said, "There is an order from the division, and you dare not obey it!" ”

After the two of them finished their tea, they both laughed.

Zheng Weiguo said: "Chief of Staff, I won't treat you as a guest. At the moment, there is a big mess of things to do in the reorganization of the troops, and you have to take over immediately. If we finish it early, we can go south as soon as possible to accept the adaptation. ”

Chief of Staff Zhou hurriedly said: "Please command!" ”

Zheng Weiguo picked up the stack of letters of appointment and said, "Let's go, I'll take you to meet your colleagues first." As he spoke, he asked the guards to quickly notify the officers at or above the county battalion level to come to the war room for a meeting. It didn't take long for Yu Laogen, Li Zhen'an, Wang Da, Duan Shuanghu, Zhang Haiyan, Ma Biao, Li Dazhuang, Wu Quanfu, Qi Sixian, and Zhang Changgui to rush over one after another.

Duan Shuanghu's eyes were sharp, and he stretched out his hand to get the letter of appointment, and said, "Tuanzao, what is this?" ”

Zheng Weiguo hurriedly opened his hand and said, "Don't be careless!" There is something important to announce today, so you should each find your seat first. ”

Li Dazhuang curiously glanced at Chief of Staff Zhou, who was sitting on Zheng Weiguo's right hand, and said, "Yo! And the guests! ”

Zheng Weiguo saw that everyone was coming, and said with a smile: "This is not a guest!" Come, let me introduce to you, this is Colonel Zhou Yimin, chief of staff of our 33rd Division, everyone is welcome! As he spoke, he took the lead and applauded a few times, and everyone also clapped a few times in his face.

Zhou Yimin got up and saluted everyone, and said: "My person, Zhou Yimin, I have come to take up the post of chief of staff of the 33rd Division by order of the Commander's Department, and I will ask all my brothers to support my work in the future!" ”

Everyone politely replied, but there were some firsts and then after, which seemed a little messy. Zhou Yimin glanced at Zheng Weiguo a little helplessly, and shook his head with a wry smile.

Zheng Weiguo did not shy away from it, and said with a smile: "They are used to being lazy, and they don't mean to snub you." However, the military appearance and military discipline will be under your control in the future, and I hope you can take responsibility as soon as possible. ”

Zhou Yimin suddenly felt that his head was as big as a fight, but he was not allowed to retreat at this time, otherwise it would be difficult to gain a foothold in the 33rd Division in the future. There was no way, so he had to agree to it.

Zheng Weiguo smiled secretly in his stomach, thinking that it was better to be a leader, and he could push anything to his subordinates. He then briefed Chief of Staff Zhou on the personnel arrangements after the reorganization.

According to the reply of the Ministry of Military Affairs, the 33rd Division is organized into two brigades and four regiments, with one battalion each of artillery, cavalry, engineering, baggage, and communications, plus a special service company and a medical team. Zheng Weiguo intends to directly upgrade the four main battalions to regiments. However, there was no battalion under the regiment for the time being, and it was directly under the jurisdiction of three infantry companies, one machine gun company, one baggage company, and one cavalry company.

Why should the battalion-level system be abolished? After the original unit was expanded by collecting and routing troops, the company-level structure was restored. Each company has three infantry platoons of about 80 people, a heavy machine gun platoon, and a baggage platoon, with a total of about 300 soldiers. At present, there are more than 1,000 people in each main battalion, and it is enough to organize three infantry companies plus other units, and there is no place for the battalion-level formation.

What Zheng Weiguo didn't expect was that as soon as he said this idea, he was opposed by Chief of Staff Zhou, and the reason was very good. Chief of Staff Zhou said: "Divisional seats, the Ministry of Military Affairs will not allow troops to change their establishment without authorization. No matter how good your compilation is, it can't be! ”

Zheng Weiguo then remembered that he was in the Central Army, and he couldn't rely on his own temperament like before. He thought for a moment and said, "Chief of Staff, then how do you say it should be reorganized?" ”

Chief of Staff Zhou said: "It is still necessary to follow the establishment of the Ministry of Military Affairs, with three battalions under each regiment and three companies under the battalion, and so on, to implement the three-three system. Otherwise, it will be very difficult for the Ministry of Military Affairs to pass. ”

Zheng Weiguo talked about the plan to increase the strength of the grassroots troops, and said: "I also want to keep the battalion-level structure, but the problem is that there are not so many troops and not so many weapons. ”

When Chief of Staff Zhou heard that each company had reached an astonishing 300 men, he was very puzzled and said: "Division, although it is a general trend to increase the strength of the grassroots troops, the Military and Political Department is also making efforts in this regard. But isn't that a bit too much? The Teaching Corps is the most well-equipped and well-trained army in the national army, and they don't have 300 people in a company! ”

After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, it was expanded into a division of the three brigades and six regiments, with a total strength of more than 30,000 people and the highest equipment in the country. It's a pity that in the battle of Songhu and the battle of Nanjing, he was blindly commanded by the high-level and was greatly injured, and the number was revoked a year later.

Thinking of this unit, Zheng Weiguo sighed and said, "If I had such good equipment as the teaching corps, I wouldn't have to pile up so many people." If you think of other methods, in short, the plan to increase the strength of the grassroots troops cannot be changed. ”

Chief of Staff Zhou smiled bitterly: "Master, you can embarrass me." As the saying goes, it is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, you only have four battalions, and you have to make up four regiments, what should I do? ”

Zheng Weiguo said with a smile: "We don't have just four battalions, this is just the main force, there are also five battalions of local troops, as well as battalion-level railway guerrillas and engineering troops. ”

Chief of Staff Zhou's eyes lit up and said, "Since there are so many troops, why don't you send the main force to the main force?" ”

Zheng Weiguo said: "Local troops must not be withdrawn, this is a matter of principle. You should have seen it along the way, what a good base this is. If all the troops are withdrawn, who will protect this land when the main force is not there, and who will protect the fathers and villagers on this land? ”

Chief of Staff Zhou thought for a moment and said, "In this case, there is an expedient measure for lowly positions. ”

Zheng Weiguo hurriedly said: "How do you say this? ”

Chief of Staff Zhou said that the local troops were nominally incorporated into the main force, but they did not follow south, but stayed in Ping'an County as the 33rd Division's garrison. For example, the 1st, 5th, and 7th battalions were organized into the 331st Regiment of the 33rd Brigade, and the regiment commander Ma Biao concurrently served as the commander of the first battalion, and the other two battalions nominally belonged to the 331st Regiment, but in fact they were still local troops.

Yu Laogen first agreed, saying: "The chief of staff has a good idea!" Not only do you not need to transfer local troops, but you can also get a military salary for local troops. Everyone suddenly realized and praised one after another.

Once this problem is cleared, the rest of the matter is much easier. Now there are division-level commanders, and then there are division-level units. According to the practice of the national army, the division headquarters has eight divisions, namely, the General Staff Office, the Political Training Office, the Adjutant General's Office, the Military Judge Advocate General's Office, the Intelligence Office, the Secretariat, the Military Medical Office, and the Veterinary Department.

Of course, not every division is so complete. If there were no military horses, there would be no need for the Veterinarian's Office; Without cars, there is no need for a car fleet. However, Zheng Weiguo still hopes to set up all these units as much as possible, on the one hand, it is really useful, and on the other hand, he can ask the chairman for more military salaries, right?