Chapter 356 - 287: Indeed It’s Them

"Major General Jin, Major General Jin, where are you?"

"At the command tent, come over."

"Okay, I’ll be right there."

Having said that, Fang Huai had already arrived near the command tent.

But at the entrance of the tent, he saw a peculiar team.

The area symbol on their backs was very strange.

Lincang Fire Brigade, Kunming Fire Brigade, Nanchong Fire Brigade, Chongqing Fire Brigade, Changde Fire Brigade, Bijie Fire Brigade...

Dozens of people, except for the municipality of Chongqing, which didn’t indicate its district, the rest conspicuously belonged to more than thirty fire brigades.

It’s true that all of China was in Sichuan, but as for firefighting, it should have been assembled by whole corps or detachments, so how could there be so many local fire brigades all in this place?

By now, the second major assembly of firefighters had already entered Sichuan early on, with each detachment sending out at least sixty or seventy people. If there really were that many fire brigades gathered here, that would be at least two to three thousand firefighters, plus the few I saw outside working on the rescue. The relief efforts in the past few days certainly wouldn’t have been so difficult.

Upon closer inspection, aside from the Changde Fire Brigade at the front, which was from Hunan, all the others were from southwest cities.

Unless...

Fang Huai had some guesses in mind and then, with a face too young to be any younger, he walked under the peculiar gaze of the firefighters at the entrance into the tent, where the lowest rank was field officers, announced himself with a "report," looked inside, and then walked in.

Although Beichuan was a severely affected area, the highest-ranking officer at the head table was still just a senior colonel due to the inaccessible roads. However, the military leadership present had very diverse armbands, each coming from different units.

Many of them had arrived on foot. During the dispatch, the aim was to transfer troops from nearby locations, with limited choice in terms of military branches. The fact that even student soldiers from the Armed Police Academy were present spoke volumes.

Still, there were a lot of people. Just the commanders alone filled one table.

The leading senior colonel wore the armband of the Chengdu Military Region, with Major General Jin sitting to the left.

"Here comes Little Fang," Major General Jin said, now seated, looking much neater than when he was on the road, regaining some of his authoritative leadership presence as he pointed at Fang Huai and introduced him, "This is the deputy captain of our explosion assault team, Fang Huai."

Out of respect for this hero team that had solved a huge problem, everyone nodded to Fang Huai in acknowledgment.

Fang Huai paid special attention to the crew-cut middle-aged man in emergency rescue gear seated to the left of Major General Jin.

The middle-aged man had been deep in thought, but upon hearing the name "Fang Huai," he looked up, surprised by Fang Huai’s youthful face and his emergency rescue gear. His gaze met with Fang Huai’s and he nodded back.

The colonel at the head continued:

"Major General Jin, since there are no special instructions from the chiefs at the frontline command for your team, you may proceed as you see fit. As long as the frontline command agrees with your plan, Secretary Song of Beichuan is also here, so you can liaise with each other and start work."

"We have already asked for approval, the command agrees with our plan," Major General Jin nodded, then turned to the secretary in camouflage uniform and said, "Secretary Song, how are your cadres doing now?"

Secretary Song, with his hair in disarray, propped his elbows on the table and tugged at his hair again before responding:

"Currently... those unaccounted for, those who have died, are 428, which is more than half already. Yesterday, our standing vice county chief, Comrade Yang Zesen, didn’t make it through after being trapped in the ruins; he passed away.

Two out of ten county cadres are left.

Right now, every aspect of management is extremely short of people. We have also requested assistance from our peers in the military, but the 13th Army soldiers, who make up the largest number, are taking on the main relief tasks, and Division Commander Wang is also under great pressure. The other units do not have enough people, and it’s difficult for each unit to spread out, so they can only temporarily help us handle some matters.

But at this point, every position is short on people.

With the addition of your 800 people, our county committee’s work can be organized much better, it will definitely have a significant impact!"

His voice was initially a bit dejected, but it became more invigorated as he spoke.

Hearing this, Major General Jin once again felt that Fang Huai’s suggestion was the right one. He slapped the table and announced:

"Good, then later, Secretary Song, please bring the current heads of each department here. Our soldiers, based on their individual skills and a mix of applications and assignments will temporarily fill in various systems to get your county agencies fully operational!"

As he spoke, a fire brigade leader sitting below also nodded and said, "Major General Jin’s idea is very constructive. These past days, we’ve been bogged down by miscellaneous duties. If you could have come earlier... we wouldn’t have had to keep firing those retreat signal flares."

Without taking credit, Major General Jin laughed, "The command also thinks this plan is great! But, it was the idea of the rising star from our fire brigade, Comrade Fang Huai! He played a decisive role in this dam blockage blasting! A talent indeed, an all-around talent!"

Fang Huai smiled without any hurry to comment, as it seemed there were still matters to be arranged.

But the fire brigade leader looked at Fang Huai and said loudly,

"Fang Huai, I know you. You are a trainee in our next training session. I’ve seen your file; despite your short military service, you are indeed a legend. I look forward to your training."

Indeed.

Fang Huai confirmed his own guess.

This group was indeed from the training classes in the southwest region.

Everyone was now looking at Fang Huai.

"Captain Hu, is Commander Fang also a member of your elite firefighter training team?" Division Commander Wang also asked with a smile.

The members of this elite firefighter training team had arrived several days ago and had become familiar with everyone.

They had also marched forcefully into the earthquake area, arriving there just after these units and brought with them some of the firefighting heavy rescue equipment.

On the way in, only one person was seriously injured.

Just one serious injury, and they still managed to carry the wounded into the disaster area.

To describe the roads to Beichuan on the first day of the earthquake in eight words:

Cliffs and steep hills, a rain of falling rocks.

When they entered, four soldiers fell from the cliff, and it was impossible to search for them at that time. Up to now, rescue teams have been dispatched, but even the bodies haven’t been found. If it doesn’t work out, they’ll have to erect empty tombs.

The injured were countless.

And they had come lightly equipped.

With a team of forty or fifty people, carrying their supplies, only one was seriously injured, and they even managed to bring the injured person along, which clearly showed their strength.

Upon entering Beichuan, this special firefighting rescue team also completed many urgent, dangerous, and heavy tasks.

Even this elite who could serve as the deputy commander of the dam burst explosion assault team turned out to be a member of their concentrated training—seems like the firefighters are really getting into special forces.

"Comrade Fang Huai is a member of our next batch of training team members, and he is quite a special case,"

Captain Hu used the word "special" to save some face for the explosion assault team.

In fact, apart from being a private, Fang Huai’s profile wasn’t that special.

But after the earthquake, Fang Huai’s file was going to have a huge highlight.

Fang Huai did not speak out, nor did he refute.

Division Commander Wang and Major General Jin, with thousands of troops under their command, of course had excellent elites among them, so they were not too surprised.

Among the vast People’s Liberation Army of more than two million, there are plenty of special forces soldiers; it’s just that today’s difficulties have brought the firefighting corps as the corresponding rescue forces into unusual focus.

And Major General Jin had a bit of special affection for Fang Huai; his prediction had let him participate in and lead such a high-profile military operation, which he had successfully completed. Fond of Fang Huai, he smacked his lips and praised him highly,

"Fang Huai, you’re talented. If you came to our troops, I’d definitely recommend you for the top special forces selection!"

At this, Captain Hu laughed.

"Among our more than one hundred thousand firefighters, he was selected into our training team from nearly thirty thousand people in the large region; that’s practically the same as being special forces."

Division Commander Wang sensed a whiff of gunpowder.

These two—were they going to have a spat?

He immediately said,

"Hmm, with so many outstanding soldiers here, we should pool our wisdom and efforts to perform better in rescue operations!

In peacetime, the military’s disaster relief function even outweighs its military function, and military disaster relief is also an important part of training troops to enhance combat effectiveness, likewise, it’s also a major test.

In terms of gathering and entering the disaster area quickly, we can consider ourselves qualified, but the results of the rescue are still far from satisfactory!

We are the revolutionary army of workers and peasants, coming from the masses. I hope everyone will work together to take the last three days of the rescue as our final chance to show our capabilities to the disaster area and the citizens of the motherland. Following the instructions of the high command, let’s do our utmost to save lives and not give up any opportunity!"

"Captain Hu, there are still signs of life in the kindergarten. We only have four cranes here, and this afternoon, you may deploy them all. Please do everything possible to rescue the children from Beichuan Kindergarten, no matter their condition."

"Yes! Please assign us two hundred soldiers to assist us!" Captain Hu bellowed.

"No problem!" Division Commander Wang slapped the table and then turned to arrange the next steps.

Fang Huai saw an opening and finally spoke,

"Sir, we’re here for personnel as well!"

"You need people?" Division Commander Wang turned to look at Major General Jin.

You have 800 who haven’t been assigned tasks yet, what do you need people for?

Fang Huai immediately explained, "Our Guizhou Fire Special Duty needs 300 people to search for water sources starting from vegetable markets, water plants, canteens, underground pipelines..."

Fang Huai detailed his thoughts.

"... If we still concentrate our efforts on residential areas, the effectiveness might be minimal."

Upon hearing this, everyone exchanged glances.

A middle-aged member of the National Earthquake Rescue Team pondered for a while and said,

"Commander Fang, there is a mistake in what you said. In fact, on the first night of the earthquake, there was a heavy rain, so the chance of finding water shouldn’t be limited to these places.

However, the places you mentioned do indeed have a higher chance of survival. This morning we were discussing focusing on searching the vegetable markets, but we didn’t think as systematically as you, your idea is right, but we can’t give up on residential areas."

Upon hearing this, Fang Huai was taken aback.

He really didn’t know about this.

"Then fine, I only need 200 people... 150 is fine, too. We’ll divide into 10 teams, each with 18 members, and if there’s a situation, we’ll call for support—that should be enough."

Listening to this, Division Commander Wang made a decision,

"Changing the search and rescue approach is also correct. However, it’s best if our 13th Army soldiers can unify the search and rescue efforts for easier command. Battalion Commander Sun, your troops from Jinan are just over 160, right?

Now that Major General Jin is entering the county committee and county government, you guys will withdraw from the current disaster relief organization and sanitation work and join this search and rescue team, how about that?"

A lieutenant colonel stood up immediately and said,

"Great! To be honest, I really don’t want to do this job of driving the locals up the mountain for another day!

We’ve been spraying medicine every day and haven’t been involved in rescue work. Seeing me exhausted and with medicine on my hands, the locals keep stuffing food into my mouth. My tears are flowing inside, and my heart is almost full with tears!"

"How can you talk like that?" Major General Jin bellowed.

Listening to Battalion Commander Sun’s words, he felt a bit uneasy, knowing he was about to take over these tasks.

"Disaster area epidemic prevention is not just for the sake of the disaster area, but also for the people nationwide! The health of the people across the country is a matter of utmost importance!"

"Right!" Division Commander Wang immediately applauded, "If there are no objections, then let’s..."

Unexpectedly, at this moment, Major General Jin turned the conversation around, somewhat sheepishly saying, "About the epidemic prevention... we don’t have to keep pushing the displaced people, do we? I... can’t really do that job either, ha."