Chapter 395 - 321: The Scaffold Builders Have Arrived

The joyous atmosphere lasted less than two minutes.

It was proven that the instructor wasn’t so easy to deal with.

Just past five o’clock, when everyone should have been gathered in the front yard, bragging and waiting for the happy time of dinner, they were now lying face down on the ground in three rows.

"Hurry up! If you can’t finish five hundred, you’re not getting any food! Count louder!"

Old Teacher He took a cooked rib from the kitchen, ate it, picked his teeth with a toothpick, and watched everyone with slight annoyance.

Today’s events were far from over.

The plan had been viewed by both the Big Team and the Head of the Corps, but the one Detachment that should review it had not yet done so.

As soon as he received a reply, he immediately reported it to the Detachment, completing the procedure.

So, for this afternoon’s meal, there were guests coming.

In the waiting time before the meal, of course, it was perfect to have a round of physical training, to let them know what the Second Squadron of the future would be like, not so easygoing.

Eagerly pursuing promotion isn’t so simple as just the Squadron getting bigger and people increasing in number; the individual capability standards had to be raised significantly.

Although Old Teacher He heard from Boss Wu that personnel support would prioritize the needs of Special Service Squadron 2, he wasn’t naive enough to believe that the Head of the Corps would adjust the top soldiers from other Detachments for them.

Those were the lifeblood of each Detachment.

In the eyes of the Head of the Corps leadership, it was a province-wide game of chess; every place was important, and the real elite of Special Service Squadron 2 could only be picked and trained from the limited personnel resources available.

"Instructor... I didn’t do anything just now..." Chen Zhenghai wailed from the crowd.

With his body type, doing push-ups, his stomach would touch the ground first after doing half of them.

Five hundred of them, it was a torment.

Old Teacher He glared: "You didn’t do anything? Didn’t you join in? You’re lifting me, I think you’re all rebelling, hurry up and do them!"

The other Old Soldiers were the same; they might have good physical ability, but without doing push-ups for a long time, suddenly doing several hundred was equally painful.

There were groans everywhere.

As two Detachment saloon cars entered the Squadron, Fang Huai also finished his five hundred push-ups and got up.

But Old Teacher He had no intention of letting him go.

"Fang Huai, run to the vegetable market and buy me two portions of pork head meat!"

Fang Huai was stunned.

Was he being given extra food?

Seeing his confusion, Old Teacher He urged, "Hurry up, tell them to mix it well, use less vinegar! And get more Chinese gooseberry root and coriander!"

Fang Huai tentatively stretched out his hand.

"What about money... I don’t have cash on me."

"What money!" Old Teacher He glared: "You made my lumbar disc protrude, I’m not lying on the ground extorting you, which is already quite good!"

As he spoke, he fished in his pocket and pulled out a five yuan note, handing it over to Fang Huai: "Buy two pounds, use the change to get me a pack of cigarettes! Hard Zun!"

Fang Huai was shocked.

Two pounds of pork head meat would at least cost twenty to thirty yuan, and with five yuan left, to have enough for a twenty-yuan pack of Hard Compliance Y.

You are quite the character.

You could have just snatched it, but you gave me five yuan.

Old Teacher He had all the vices an Old Soldier should have.

"No need, Instructor, I’ll borrow it, I’ll go and borrow, alright? Your five yuan is too hot to handle."

Saying this, Fang Huai walked over to Han Yong with resignation.

"Lend me a hundred, I’ll pay you back later."

Han Yong was panting from the push-ups and just pointed to the pocket of his camouflage uniform.

Fang Huai bent down, took a stack of bills from his pocket, pulled out one, and put the rest back in for him.

As he was walking out, he encountered Political Commissar Cheng and Zhang Zhongting getting out of the car, stood at attention, and greeted them.

"Good day, Political Commissar! Good day, Regimental commander!"

Political Commissar Cheng smiled and nodded: "Little Fang, you’re getting more and more promising. You’ve just performed a meritorious service; I heard from Li Zhi of Southwest Guizhou that you’ve done it again in Wangmo? I’ve seen you on local channels and CCTV in rotation within three days. Right now, you’re the face of our Detachment!

I think your promotion is a sure thing! Keep up the good work! We’re all rooting for you!"

Upon hearing this, Fang Huai beamed with happiness, standing even straighter.

"Yes! Thank you, Political Commissar!"

Political Commissar Cheng was in charge of promotions; even one grade of cadres’ promotions and appointments were signed by him.

However, Zhang Zhongting had his hands behind his back and asked, "Where are you going?"

Fang Huai couldn’t hold back any longer and complained, "The instructor gave me five yuan and told me to buy him two pounds of pork head meat and cigarettes!"

Political Commissar Cheng seemed a bit amused.

"Oh?" Zhang Zhongting appeared to think for a moment.

Then, he pondered:

"...Is there a place nearby that sells marinated food? Bring me two braised pig tails, cut them short, and if they have tofu sheets, bring some as well."

Fang Huai: ...

Is this how you act as cadres?!

Seeing Political Commissar Cheng also beginning to ponder what he might want to eat, Fang Huai hurriedly left.

Good grief, by the looks of it, if drinking alcohol wasn’t banned in the military camp, this five yuan would end up buying them a couple of bottles of Maotai!

...

The meal was full of joy.

During the meal, they didn’t discuss the plan but brought up someone who hadn’t shown up at the table.

——Little White.

Just when the two leaders came in, it was the female dog’s time to be let out, and Little White was bounding around the Squadron yard with the dog squad leader, La Duo.

La Duo didn’t seem to disdain Little White as much as before.

Perhaps because Little White had become a hero, once back at the squadron, the practical Old Cao finally gave the order to allocate 20 yuan of the daily food allowance to Little White.

From then on, Little White was not only fed well when Fang Huai gave him food, having "risen to the throne" he dined on fish and meat at every meal.

The standard food allowance for a military dog is actually 37 yuan per day, but most military dogs are much larger than it, and as a small dog, it couldn’t eat very much. With a 20 yuan allowance, Little White could even bring some meat back to La Duo every day.

With a fixed "retirement fund," even a dog would be pleased.

During the roll call, both Political Commissar Cheng and Captain Zhang saw it.

Captain Zhang said, many military dogs that returned alive from Sichuan didn’t survive for long and died of overwork, but this Comrade Little White was quite resilient. In Hanwang, it found eight people. Considering its contributions, it definitely deserved to be acknowledged and a formal police dog position could be applied for.

Everyone was overjoyed.

Little White was really going to become a dog squad leader!

Moreover, its photo could be displayed behind the staff list in the squadron!

For a moment, Fang Huai had already decided to hang its picture between his own and Little Black’s.

The Three Brothers.

However, the establishment of the Search and Rescue Dog Team was still underway. Starting this team was the most difficult, as the first lot of staff wouldn’t be in place until the end of the year at the earliest, and the police dogs needed someone to feed them regularly. Fang Huai, with continuous tasks at hand, was certainly not suitable.

Fang Huai immediately recommended Wang Peng.

This task was best suited for a new recruit. Although the other same year soldiers had good relationships with him, in terms of steadiness and persistence at work, Wang Peng was indeed the strongest.

...

After dinner.

The big shots of the detachment, the king of the threes, and soon after, the king of the fours, the Chief of Staff arrived, followed by the Ambitious Overlord, with the meticulous ghosts, clever bugs, and so on, rushing in.

The office, finance department, police affairs department, combat training department, comprehensive guidance department, logistics equipment department, and war duty support department.

The heads of each department, along with a few staff officers of the drill wind level, arrived.

The scene was like a major on-site office meeting.

The two leaders didn’t discuss this matter during dinner. They were waiting for them.

Of course, their purpose wasn’t to debate the plan, but to refine it.

This afternoon, Boss Wu had set the tone, and having built this platform, they were not here to take it apart but rather to secure it by adding stage boards, laying carpet, and installing sound systems.

The squadron alone couldn’t do this; only a detachment had this full set of staff.

The stories of the squadron were just decorations on the stage.

Whether the stage was well-built and how to start the show—whether there would be an audience or applause—all depended on the squadron’s own capabilities.

The squadron’s luck lay in having Fang Huai.

The plan he proposed had gained unanimous support and cooperation from all levels, including the corps, detachment, big team, and squadron, with full backing to ensure that the lights at the squadron department stayed on all night.

...

One-thirty.

"Ahem."

From the couch, Zhang Zhongting cleared his throat, clapped his hands on the armrest, stood up, and pointing at the two blackboards that had been wiped countless times and were covered in writing, he prepared to summarize:

"Okay, now we’ll form our final opinions."

The staff officers and cadres beside him immediately picked up their pens to take notes.

"This reform of Special Service Squadron 2 needs to address the following issues. We have to assign people and responsibilities.

The first one is the issue of funding. I just spoke with Boss Wu and General Luo, and the renovation funds for the whole squadron will be no less than 13 million yuan, including the new barracks building, infrastructure, landscaping, and external walls.

This project may be put out for public bid or an internal bid. The finance department and office must coordinate well. The design and planning can start now; the minimum requirement is to ensure smooth conduct of all training activities.

The second one, staffing issues, will proceed as Boss Wu said. Selection will start in December, concurrently at the detachment and the corps level. The detachment will provide 10 people, the corps 20 people. Combat training needs to conduct the assessments, and for personnel turnover, the squadron can be somewhat consulted."

At this, Cao Yi, Ye Jiahong, Fang Huai, Hao Chengbin, and He Zhijun all perked up.

Zhang Zhongting looked at them:

"The requirements for personnel special skills can be made to the Command Department.

People within this squadron should not be treated lightly.

In the first year, there will only be one major opportunity for personnel support and adjustment.

If you miss it, it’s gone.

You are the ones working. How to work, who will do it, you must have a clear idea. Personnel changes must be justified, and once decided, it’s a soldier’s military future. You’d better be cautious, and not wait for the detachment to give you suggestions."

"Yes!"

The squadron immediately stood up and answered loudly.

Zhang Zhongting nodded: "The third, equipment issues. The logistics equipment department and war duty support department will help them improve. Inventory the stock, make a list.

This needs to be done quickly. I’ll see if I can mention it to the leadership and include the equipment needs in the corps’ bidding list before the July bidding.

At the detachment level, we don’t have much say in equipment procurement; we mostly rely on applications to the corps. With certain specialized equipment, if Minister Wen says there’s no stock at the corps, it’s difficult.

I’ll talk to Minister Wen, but you have to work overtime quickly to get me the list! Squadron, equipment technician, ensure the three reports and one repository about equipment are organized clearly!"

"Yes!"

Below, faces looked bitter.

More overtime.

"The fourth, management issues. The management of the squadron in the future, I believe, is a breakthrough issue.

With our firefighting, with the basis of such limited personnel in the squadrons, we have always been proposing various management suggestions.

However, with societal development and the gradual integration of firefighter contract workers and local trained firefighters into the squadrons, when there are more people, police dispatches get complicated, and how to manage becomes a challenge.

The Special Duty Team is an experimental type of firefighting squadron that uses advanced equipment and management experience. These will be installed across squadrons on a large scale only after your experimental implementation.

To put it plainly, you are the testing ground, the birthplace of new ideas. How to manage so many people is something you need to consider well. If managed properly, future large squadrons will take you as the benchmark.

Of course, we can’t rely on management level alone; it must also be based on a management system.

The Police Affairs Department and the entire Command Department will have to think about solutions for you, consider them carefully, and communicate actively.

There are many difficulties, but we have to resolve them progressively and concentratedly. Step by step, we must create a comprehensive rescue team you can be proud of, while simultaneously enriching the comprehensive level of the whole detachment!"

"Yes!"