In a tavern in the town of Mazen

Hu Dachuan was sitting at the table drinking old wine with his good brother Zhou Shun, and a few authentic Lu dishes on the wine table were eaten in a mess, just when the wine was hot.

Hu Dachuan was a lieutenant and deputy company commander of the Second Division, and Zhou Shun was a captain and combat staff officer in the division.

coincided with the tranquility before the war, and the two got together for a drink of two glasses; "Ah Shun, have you heard, it turned out that Li Xuanzhu, who participated in the officer training with us, rose to that official position like a rocket, and now he is the deputy regimental seat, leaving us far behind, and people can't help but be envious."

"Hehehe...... I know that Moresby's bloody battle is very cruel, and Li Xuanzhu is also a person with great luck, he has been sent to the hospital several times and has come out alive, waiting for idlers to compare to him, which is also what he fought with his life. ”

Zhou Shun smacked his mouth with emotion, took a piece of fatty fish meat and sent it to his mouth, ate it with relish, and then put down his chopsticks and said; "Seeing that it is about to be pulled, I am better in the division headquarters, Brother Dachuan is a front-line grassroots company, and the bullets in the rain of bullets are not long-sighted, you have to take care of yourself!"

"Hey, hey, hey...... We martial artists with guns in our hands, wealth and wealth have to fight with our lives. Hu Dachuan was very self-aware, took the wine in the cup and drank it all, wiped the corners of his mouth with his hand and said;

"It's safe to hide behind, but there's no credit to be given, and I'm more willing to go to war than to go.

We were all graduates of the 81st officer training course the year before last, and together we were assigned to various units of the Shangri-La Division as second lieutenant platoon commanders, and the Dutch landed in the Moresby area, and the third regiment happened to bear the brunt, which was both a danger and an opportunity.

Our garrison in Jayapura is separated by two or three thousand kilometers, and there is no chance to make meritorious contributions!

Since April 1 last year, he landed in Sanmarinda with the main force of the division, and it has been more than a year since he inserted his fingers.

Over such a long period of time, there have been more than a dozen battles, large and small, but they are all low-intensity sweeping and law and order battles, and there is no credit to be taken, if it were not for the opportunity of this large-scale army expansion, I am still a platoon commander now.

This battle is an opportunity, if you are lucky enough not to die and make some achievements, you can also straighten your waist when you see Chief Li Xuanzhu in the future, after all, we are also gentlemen who have shed blood for the principal, and the classmates of the first session are embarrassed to go too far. ”

"Dachuan, I advise you not to compare yourself with the freak Li Xuanzhu, the officers in our division headquarters also have discussions, this kid may have entered the eyes of the principal, plus his outstanding military achievements, he is a seedling of key training." Zhou Shun patted Hu Dachuan's hand comfortingly, picked up the wine glass again and said; "Our batch of 81st officers, the highest is only the captain, and the higher you go, the more difficult it is to climb, no major is a big pass, don't look at me now one step ahead, it may be necessary to hesitate in this position for a few years to work on qualifications, this time the war is opened, you have a chance, the premise is that you have a life to enjoy, don't forget that you still have two golden cats in your house!"

"Alas......"

Hu Dachuan picked up the wine glass and touched it with Zhou Shun, raised his head and drank it dry, shook his head with a wry smile and said; "From the big truth, it is for the principal to be born and die, to open up the territory and expand the territory, our soldiers are duty-bound, and this life is not regretted on the battlefield, from a selfish point of view, who doesn't want to be promoted and rich, glory in front of people, and don't know that firewood and rice are expensive, my lieutenant officer's salary plus subsidies to raise a few indigenous women is enough, but raising two golden silk cats is stretched, Lao Tzu is still counting on the Hu family, how can I do it without money?"

"Isn't it, I remember you seized a lot?"

"There are a lot of seizures, according to the regulations, in addition to the part handed in, the remaining officers and soldiers are divided into six or four, and the officers take the lion's share, but before the reorganization, I was only a small platoon commander, and the distribution was more than 300 pounds, and our company commander took more than 800 pounds, and the battalion commander didn't know how much to take, I estimated that at least a few thousand pounds, and I could have spare money to buy a large plantation, not to mention three or five golden cats, even if I could afford to raise more, we would waste our strength!"

"This is also what I said, if you want to get more money, you only have to make more meritorious contributions and promotions, I want to go down to the grassroots company when I hear you say this, I am really comfortable in the division headquarters, but there are few opportunities for meritorious service."

"So I advise you Ah Shun, let's report to the company, you can't miss the opportunity of this battle." Hu Dachuan's expression became solemn, and he persuaded from the bottom of his heart; "This war has been fought for a year and a half, and the newspaper says that negotiations with the Dutch have been going on for a long time, and a peace agreement may be reached one day, and when the time comes, the big guys will have no fight to fight and no extra money to earn, only hard qualifications, and there are a lot of old guys with four cavalry guards in front of them, which day will it be our brothers' turn to come out? If you don't fight when you're young, will you eat and wait for death at this time? ”

"This makes sense, the prince of tnd will have a kind of Xiangning, do it, and tomorrow I will report to the next company." Zhou Shun was deeply moved by these words and made a decision immediately.

"That's right, instead of envying the fish in the abyss, it's better to retreat and close the net." Hu Dachuan patted his good brother's shoulder with pride, and said with the other hand holding the wine glass; "Please drink this cup to celebrate you and my brother going to the battlefield together, and hope that one day we can return together in triumph, and we and other iron-blooded men should fight on the battlefield and fight for a bright future."

"Hahaha...... Well said. Zhou Shun raised his glass and raised his head to clean up, turned his hand and lit up the bottom of the cup, and the two looked at each other and laughed.

The military merit system formulated by the Red River Valley is mainly based on rewarding meritorious fields, and those who die in battle and are wounded in battle have a generous pension, as long as they are not particularly losers, enough to worry about food and clothing.

As a new army with a relatively recent history, the Queensland National Guard is full of vitality from top to bottom, without the outdated hierarchy of the old-fashioned army, cronyism and corruption, and is full of opportunities everywhere.

generally speaking

Soldiers can cash in on military merits after retiring from active service, officers can cash in military merits once after being promoted to the rank of deputy battalion, and once after reaching the rank of deputy regiment, and so on.

For example, Li Xuanzhu, who is envied by everyone, because of his many great achievements on the battlefield, when he was a deputy battalion, he obtained a land with an area of 440 acres in Moresby, and hired honest and loyal fellow villagers to reclaim and manage it.

The immigrants from the three surrounding villages and the town all sent labor to reclaim the land for it, and it is said that Li Xuanzhu also obtained some Machen indigenous prisoners of war and left them in the manor as serfs.

Many officers are doing this kind of thing, and because there is no system to follow, the people above turn a blind eye and pretend not to know.

The poor indigenous population of the occupied area, after the devastation of war and the needs of the open, is like water in a pond full of holes, which disappears without a trace to the naked eye.

In the tavern

Hu Dachuan and Zhou Shun were full of wine and food, and after summoning the shop guys to settle the bill, they walked out of the door, and separated after a few greetings.

At night, Machen Town is cool and pleasant, with people coming and going, and it is quite lively.

There are many shops in the town that were invested and opened by the officers of the Second Division, and the business seems to be good when they buy a house, or they share it with their fellow villagers, or let their wives run it directly.

The price of the wooden building on Machen Street is not expensive, and the two-storey building with a large courtyard behind it is seventy or eighty pounds, and the good location is only a little over 100 pounds.

But the price of the beautiful European buildings built by the Dutch is much higher, these buildings with distinct Nordic characteristics are all made of large stones, with high roofs and shiny marble, which are cool and pleasant to live in, but the prices are also very touching, the average one costs three to four hundred pounds, and the mansion is worth thousands of pounds.

Most of these fixed assets were purchased by Huitong Bank from the British-owned consortium, and most of them were sold to military officers and merchants, except for a few for administrative purposes.

In addition, the resettlement agency has been building a large number of buildings in the town of Machen, and while building and improving the sewerage facilities, it has paved solid stone roads, and street after street is being built, which on the one hand has promoted the employment of thousands of immigrants and on the other hand, drained the pockets of officers and soldiers.

It is well known that the 1st Division is stationed in East Kalimantan Province and the 2nd Division is stationed in South Kalimantan Province.

Therefore, when the officers and soldiers have money in their hands, they first buy houses in Machen Town and surrounding towns to settle down for themselves, at least let the robbed ...... Belch...... The woman who was married had a place to live.

Hu Dachuan's home is just down the street in front of him, it is a beautiful three-story wooden building on stilts, and this house costs him a total of 174 pounds with the auxiliary room in the backyard, why is it so expensive?

The benchmark price for a three-storey wooden building is £119, £11 and £8 more with the finely carved window lattices, £4 and £11 for a 6-metre-long and 2.5-metre-wide wooden corridor, and a 1.2-metre-2 fence around the yard is free, and £3 if the fence is to be 2.6 metres tall and made of thickened planks.

It costs £7 13 for each wooden single-storey auxiliary house in the yard (three rooms in all), a medium-sized stable for £4 (for three horses), and 8 pounds and 15 shillings for high-quality wooden flooring......

The total cost of all kinds of things, only this 3-story wooden building cost Hu Dachuan 174 pounds, plus the purchase of tables, chairs, benches, furniture, pots and pans, curtains, mattresses, quilt covers, saddle harness, etc., the money in hand quickly went out like a stream, and got a warm home.

Fortunately, the two golden silk cats didn't spend money, otherwise Hu Dachuan would already be in debt at this moment.

Thinking that his woman was pregnant, Hu Dachuan was in a very happy mood at the moment, and he felt the wind in his steps when he walked, and walked all the way to his home in the distance.

When passing by the front-line headquarters, Hu Dachuan involuntarily turned his head to look over;

It is a tall, four-storey building with distinctly Dutch architecture, and the room is lit with flickering candles and lights, and a grand reception is being held to welcome the Shangri-La Division, which is only accessible to officers above the rank of colonel due to limited space.

Hu Dachuan glanced at it enviously, and hurriedly walked towards his home in the distance, where a warm home was waiting for him, and his figure was hidden in the dark night.