Chapter 1446: Reorganization Again

"Zhongneng, greetings, Commander." This was Sun Zhongneng, the boss of the 38th Division, whom he had met once before. He currently also held the position of second-in-command of the New First Army and was Wang Yan's deputy.

"Zhu Jun, greetings, Commander." This was Liu Zhu Jun, the boss of the 28th Division, whom he had never met. After being defeated, he had run off to Hong Kong to do business.

In the jungle twenty kilometers outside Mandalay, after more than half a year of war, Wang Yan finally met the loyal 38th and 28th Divisions.

"We are all our own people, no need for such formalities. Sit down, let's talk while we eat." Wang Yan sat there without moving an inch.

Sun Zhongneng and Liu Zhu Jun thanked him, then sat there with their backs straight, looking quite restrained. Of course, it was mostly an act; they were subordinates, after all, and they knew how to make their leader feel pleased.

Wang Yan fiddled with the foreign liquor, popped the cap, and poured drinks for the two of them himself. Both men were sensible enough to shield their glasses politely.

"Over the past half year, thanks to your concerted efforts, we have finally achieved a favorable war situation. You two have rendered distinguished service and worked hard; I toast you both."

"Commander, you are too kind. It is all due to your brilliant command. Without you taking charge of the overall situation, our Expeditionary Force would never have achieved today's momentum," Sun Zhongneng said, holding his glass and flattering him.

"Zhongneng is absolutely right. It is all thanks to the Commander's divine strategy. We should be the ones toasting you," Liu Zhu Jun said, not to be outdone, also kissing up to him.

Wang Yan laughed heartily, drank a glass with them, and then the three of them began to eat, drink, and chat. They talked about things from the previous battles, with both men expressing their admiration, saying Wang Yan was infallible and his strategy invincible.

After talking for a long time, Wang Yan handed out cigarettes to the two, lit one for himself, and finally got straight to the point: "I intend to reorganize the new army. What do you two think?"

The two looked at each other and remained silent.

Wang Yan's methods were already very clear. He had reorganized twice before, breaking up his own people and mixing them into other units, which ensured both the combat effectiveness of the troops and his control over them.

The implication now was obvious: Wang Yan wanted to hollow them out.

Wang Yan did not urge them, continuing to smoke on his own. He was the superior; these two had to give him an answer.

Sure enough, after only two puffs, Sun Zhongneng spoke: "Commander, the war is urgent now. The New First Army has over 30,000 men and plays a key role on the Burmese battlefield. Is it a bit inappropriate to reorganize the army at this time?"

"Yes, Commander, I think it would be better to postpone it," Liu Zhu Jun echoed, also not wanting to be reorganized.

"You two, you always want others to think for you, but you refuse to think for others," Wang Yan shook his head. "To be blunt, the overall situation in Burma is in my hands now. I don't believe you don't understand the situation, and I believe even less that you don't understand my predicament."

"Playing dumb is pointless. I'll tell you the truth: you aren't counting on living here, and you aren't counting on the troops under your command; you are counting on merit. Once the war is over and you've gained merit, you'll get promoted and get rich."

"After the reorganization, you will still be leaders. Although you will indeed be hollowed out by my people, in times of national crisis, as long as your orders are correct and you aren't sending my brothers to their deaths, you will still be able to command."

"But if we don't reorganize, once the war here is over, how do you expect me to protect myself? There's really no other way..."

Wang Yan let out a long sigh. "You also know that I've been a common soldier for over a decade, and it was by chance and opportunity that I've advanced to where I am today. I'm not afraid of death, and my brothers aren't afraid of death. Since we aren't afraid of death, we must protect the interests of our brothers and let those who follow me live good lives. Whoever makes it hard for us, we'll make them die. Tell me, isn't that the logic?"

"Commander, you are exaggerating. It won't come to that. Our Nationalist Party isn't some monster, and you and I are revolutionary brothers. We are one family, so why talk like we are two?" Sun Zhongneng's face was full of sincerity.

"It seems I haven't made myself clear enough." Wang Yan waved his hand, not letting Liu Zhu Jun chime in. "Let me be clearer: reorganize, and you two live; don't reorganize, and you two die. Can you understand that?"

Sun Zhongneng was so angry his face turned red: "Commander, you..."

Before he could say more, there was a crisp *crack*, followed by a *bang*...

Sun Zhongneng and Liu Zhu Jun stared blankly at the pistol on the table...

"Speak, keep it simple and direct. Reorganize or not?" Wang Yan threw away his cigarette butt and stared at the two of them like a tiger.

"Reorganize!" It was Liu Zhu Jun who couldn't withstand the pressure. "Commander, why go this far?"

"In matters of life and death, there is no room for any nonsense." Wang Yan stared at Sun Zhongneng again.

Sun Zhongneng cupped his hands, snorted, got up, and left the table.

Wang Yan laughed heartily and poured a drink for Liu Zhu Jun: "Come, come, let's drink. I've inquired; his backer is tougher than yours, and he has a pretty good relationship with the foreigners. But so what? Isn't he still afraid of death?"

Liu Zhu Jun smiled bitterly and raised his glass: "Commander, you are cutting yourself off from the Nationalist Party with this."

"They never considered me one of their own anyway," Wang Yan said. "If it weren't for the fact that they need me for the war, even if I had heaven-defying abilities, I wouldn't have been promoted in the Nationalist Army, let alone sit in this position."

"That's impossible, Commander. With your abilities, there will always be a time for you to soar to the heavens."

"That's enough, Old Liu, no need to flatter me. I'm a practical person. You agree to the reorganization and are willing to cooperate with me, then of course, it's good for you, good for me, and good for everyone. You can start pulling strings now; later, I'll lead you to win a few more battles, and you'll be able to get a good position."

"Many thanks for your care, Commander." What else could Liu Zhu Jun say? He really had to thank him.

But he had to admit that Wang Yan was right. On the other hand, he had also lost a loyal unit. After all, if it weren't for Wang Yan, he would still have had some lingering affection for his old subordinates here after he left.

Who knew what heights any of his subordinates might reach in the future? Now, it was all gone. But he had saved his life.

He was also quite familiar with Sun Zhongneng. Why did Sun Zhongneng agree? Why didn't he dare to push back anymore? Because this was Wang Yan, this was a great rebel, and Wang Yan really dared to kill them directly—he was completely unreasonable.

Once people were dead, there was nowhere left to reason.

Besides, if you wanted to reason with Wang Yan, you had to face more than 30,000 troops forged in blood and fire. With that strength, plus his past fierce combat record, anyone would tremble.

Thus, the reorganization of the New First Army was carried out smoothly. Of course, there was considerable resistance.

Aside from the fart-like telegrams of reprimand from Chen De and the Baldy, there were the officers of the 38th and 28th Divisions who wouldn't cooperate.

Unlike Wang Yan's subordinates, most of whom had followed him up, these two units had many factions. The junior officers were fine, but once it reached the regimental and battalion levels, the problems became more involved. These people all had some connections and some ties, more or less.

With their source of power threatened, they were naturally unwilling and reluctant, and even organized their trusted followers to resist quite stubbornly.

So they all died.

Their deaths increased the speed of the reorganization significantly, and everyone became willing to cooperate.

Wang Yan's reorganization plan was very simple: divide his own troops into two, send them to the 38th and 28th Divisions, then divide these two divisions into two, and send half of their men to his command, to be led by him personally.

In this way, he would personally hoodwink and handle those under his command, while the other two units would rely on the old brothers to influence them. After some simple marching training to get the soldiers accustomed to the rhythm, the matter was settled.

After that, as long as they fought a few battles, the troops would stabilize, and they would never be able to pull any tricks again.

As for his old brothers, like Fan La, Si La, and A Yi, they were all promoted by half a rank to become second-in-command of the divisions. Bu La, Yao Ma, and others also reached the regimental level. Mi Long, who had always been by Wang Yan's side as a guard, also logically became the guard regiment commander.

This was already a height they had never dreamed of reaching in their lives.

At the same time, Wang Yan made some changes to the division of labor under his command. The 38th and 28th Divisions were combat units, while the unit he led personally was divided into two parts: one part was for combat, and the other was mainly responsible for logistics, including the guard regiment, the sick battalion, etc. He unified the management of the sick here and was responsible for transporting supplies to other units.

Of course, it couldn't be divided that clearly. If there was an opportunity, they still had to go up. After all, his strength here was not weak to begin with, and it was also a fresh force that could play a considerable role.

"Master Wang, the military doctors from all parts have arrived," the Veterinarian greeted Wang Yan. "They are just waiting for your lecture."

"Good." Wang Yan responded, set off to leave with the Veterinarian, and walked a few hundred meters to the place.

The air here was filled with the smell of medicine and some fishy odors. All the sick in the army had been sent here. The seriously wounded lay on beds, the lightly wounded were responsible for taking care of them, and when they were free, a group of people would gather together to brag and fart, just like the group of cannon fodder in the Chanda reception station before.

At this moment, dozens of people had already lined up, waiting for Wang Yan's lecture.

Wang Yan walked over with his hands behind his back, strolling along. He took a glance and saw eight women, with the rest being men.

His gaze lingered a bit longer on one of the women, because that female military doctor's big eyes seemed to be able to talk.

"I don't have that many grand principles to tell you, I'm just going to talk about future work. The next battle is not far off. I brought you here so that everyone can communicate, exchange what is needed, and train some people I have selected to cultivate and expand our medical staff."

"The purpose is to ensure that after our brothers are wounded, a few more can survive. So for the next half month, everyone will stay here and use these sick people to practice."

"When it comes time to fight, everyone will still have to provide emergency treatment on the front line, stabilize the situation, and then send the wounded to me. So personnel will also need to be reassigned. I see there are five female comrades; it's not easy for you to join the army and go to the front line. Try to take care of them and keep them all at the army headquarters. The other brothers will have to work harder and suffer more."

Wang Yan waved his hand. "Come on, let's look at the sick together, ask about the situation, and determine how to discover problems and how to handle them quickly when fighting. Put the medicine issue aside for now; that's my problem. If you can't make a judgment, that's your problem."

Wang Yan had long since started building up the medical issues in the team, and he had selected quite a few people for training to expand the medical team. When he was free, he would always take these people to learn. Even if they weren't very skilled, they could at least handle some simple problems.

When fighting, if they could handle a few more small problems, it might mean many more brothers could survive.

Thus, Wang Yan led everyone to start discussing, and gradually, these military doctors, who could be considered to have a certain amount of professional knowledge, were all convinced. Because Wang Yan wasn't talking nonsense; he really had substance and understood the principles of both Chinese and Western medicine.

This lasted until the evening, and Wang Yan had dinner with everyone, which could be considered a day that was quite good for everyone.

"Oh my, I really didn't expect that my sick battalion would have such a big day; it's practically a sick regiment," the Veterinarian said, biting on his dry pipe and grinning.

"That's unlucky. If it really becomes a sick regiment, what will our brothers fight with? Might as well wait for death," Wang Yan shook his head with amusement.

"Oh, pui pui pui, the old man just wanted to be simple."

Wang Yan also bit on a cigarette, lazily leaning against a tree. "Anyway, it's right to have fewer brothers die. Old man, you pack up, and in these few days, go back with our brothers who can't fight."

There was no answer.

Wang Yan turned his head to look at the Veterinarian squatting beside him. "What's the matter, you don't want to leave?"

"I have nothing to do. Master Wang, you've reached this position, and in the future, you definitely won't be walking as much as before. The old man can keep up; haven't I been following you all this time?"

"You better think it through; if we fight again, I won't be able to take care of you."

"I've thought it through, I've thought it through," the Veterinarian nodded repeatedly; he just didn't want to leave. "This girl is looking for you."

Wang Yan looked at the girl walking straight toward him; it was the one he had looked at a moment longer before.

"Commander." She walked up close and greeted him very politely.

"If I remember correctly, your name is Qin Moqing?"

"Commander has a good memory; I only said it once and you remembered."

Wang Yan looked seriously at this girl who looked somewhat familiar: "You look good, how could I not remember?"

She really looked somewhat familiar, like Ding Baiying holding a Miao saber, and also like Li Li from the Zhizhen Garden on Huanghe Road.

"Commander is joking."

Wang Yan shook his head: "For such a small matter, why would I joke with you? Good-looking is good-looking."

Qin Moqing said "uh," not knowing how to respond.

"What's the matter looking for me?" Wang Yan took the initiative to speak.

"I see that among our wounded brothers, some are poisoned?"

Wang Yan nodded and said: "The little devils are not human. They use poison gas bombs in battle. The brothers were careless for a moment and still got hit."

"I see their conditions are all quite good, and there is no contagion. Is it because you, Commander..."

"It's me. Didn't I say, I have family-transmitted Chinese medicine, I know how to see a doctor, and I asked for a lot of medicinal herb supplies, plus some medicinal materials here in Burma, so I found the right medicine and barely managed to save them."

"Commander is a miraculous doctor, it's truly admirable. If it weren't for the war, Commander would definitely be a miraculous doctor with a great reputation who saves countless lives."

"You said it yourself, if. I haven't had a single day of peace since I grew up. It's difficult." Wang Yan let out a long sigh and pressed the cigarette butt on the ground to extinguish it. "Do you have anything else?"

"I wanted to ask, has Commander discovered any Japanese poison gas laboratories here?"

"No." Wang Yan shook his head. "I suspect they should exist, and it's very likely they are in Mandalay, but we can't break in yet. Are you very concerned about poison gas?"

"Yes, I won't hide it from you, Commander, I have been conducting related research, and I heard that the Japanese army also has related laboratories in our country, using us Chinese people for live experiments. They have simply done all the evil things and have lost their conscience."

"I've heard of it. It seems there is one in the Northeast. I encountered poison gas bombs there earliest."

Wang Yan waved his hand. "Alright, this matter is too far away. Take good care of the wounded. If there is anything related, I will have someone tell you. Go."

Qin Moqing bowed and nodded, then turned and walked away...

?? Daily thanks to the great brothers who tipped, voted for monthly tickets, recommendation tickets, and read silently!

? (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 1447 =====