Chapter 481: Reassignment

After departing from Beijing, the King's Rescue Army returned to Jin City for the third time.

Jin City put on a grand welcoming ceremony.

From the Fuzhou Governor on down, every prominent figure in Jin City, along with the entire populace, turned out in force, forming a ten-li-long line along the Old Parade Ground.

The elders' excitement was understandable. After all, the largest contingent in the Loyal and Brave Count's force was the Flying Tiger Battalion, formed from local fellow countrymen.

The natives didn't understand what a machine gun was or what combat power meant. The natives only knew that this Cao fellow, the Regional Commander, had relied on us Jinmen risking our lives to beg a big official's hat from the Emperor.

So today everyone was especially happy: a strong army capable of fighting the Tartar Captives had emerged from their hometown — a good thing no matter how you looked at it. Even if the Tartars broke through the passes again next time, the elders wouldn't have to be startled three times a day, right?

As the saying goes, returning to your hometown without wealth and rank is like walking in brocade robes at night. So with the Transmigrators' tacit approval, the men of the Flying Tiger Battalion truly let themselves go today, swaggering into Jin City and putting on a real show.

All along the road, some did handstands on horseback, others bared their torsos and brandished great blades. Cheers rang out continuously wherever they passed — the scene was far livelier and more relaxed than the military parade in Beijing.

Finally, after the troops returned to the long-missed Old Parade Ground, the Regional Commander held one last assembly.

Facing the thousand neatly arrayed cavalrymen on the parade ground, the lord delivered an important speech reviewing the past and looking toward the future. At last, with the "Dismissed!" from the electric megaphone and the unified answering roar of "Kill!" from all the soldiers, the Flying Tiger Battalion was formally disbanded.

Next came the time for rewarding merit and bestowing honors.

Large baskets of silver coins had long been prepared. The battalion troops lined up to mount the platform, each receiving a reward of silver far exceeding the promise made when the great shortfall first began. Overjoyed, the men took turns stepping forward to kowtow to Cao Zong, wishing the lord Duke and Marquis for ten thousand generations, with many blessings and long life.

Next was the victory celebration.

Before this, whether Transmigrators or soldiers, everyone had lived rather cautiously in the politically charged atmosphere of Beijing, fearful of causing some blunder. Now that they were back in Jin City, not only did the natives feel at home, but the Transmigrators also felt a sense of released pressure, so the victory celebration was conducted on a grand scale.

Rows of bonfires were lit on the parade ground, herds of cattle and sheep were driven in, bare-chested chefs began roasting meat, jar after jar of newly brewed erguotou liquor was opened, and the trickling sound of pouring wine became the main melody of the scene.

Besides the soldiers, local Jin City notables, merchants, and officials were also invited to this victory feast.

The high-status bigwigs sat together with the newly titled Loyal and Brave Count on the command platform, drinking barrel-aged liquor and eating sliced, tender, fatty mutton, while the rest of the crowd held bowls of wine on the parade ground and helped themselves buffet-style.

At the same time, the local opera troupe had also been invited. Beneath the erected stage, many first-time guests were astonished to hear the opera music amplified through loudspeakers.

This boisterous victory feast continued until the early morning of the next day, during which the Regional Commander descended the platform many times to toast the brave men, truly treating his soldiers as his own sons and sharing joy with the people.

Another day later, starting from the first day of May, the personnel reassignment and settlement work for the Flying Tiger Battalion officially began.

The moment they were dismissed on the campus before, the Flying Tiger Battalion had essentially already been disbanded. Next, all personnel would face a reassignment, after which a brand new Flying Tiger Battalion would be re-established.

The new Flying Tiger Battalion would be formally established as a standing army, not the hastily thrown-together mercenary model from before.

In other words, the soldiers would become regular troops of the Empire drawing wages and allowances. At the same time, the entire unit's status would be elevated, upgraded from a second-line mixed unit to a first-line cavalry force permanently stationed in the north.

In the morning, still at the Old Parade Ground, the flat, smooth cinder surface was perfectly clean, without a trace of the previous day's victory feast.

Mei Fuxi had already shed that thick green padded coat and changed into a front-buttoned military uniform. At this moment, he was lined up in a long queue, shuffling forward. There were several other parallel queues on the parade ground, all filled with Flying Tiger Battalion soldiers.

At the end of the queues stood a row of houses beneath the parade ground wall. The queues moved very slowly, but the soldiers showed no impatience. Aside from quietly chatting with the people in front and behind, no one disrupted the order, and the linear formation was maintained. Months of training had taught these originally undisciplined men of agricultural society to queue up and obey orders very well.

After smiling and silently greeting an acquaintance to his right with a hand gesture, Mei Fuxi turned his face and cast an appraising glance at the queue to his left.

After observing for a while, Mei Fuxi had roughly figured out the pattern: his own queue was mostly composed of young men who trained seriously in peacetime and were, as the instructors put it, the type "with development potential."

The surrounding queues, on the other hand, were mostly ordinary soldiers, the kind who just followed orders.

Just then, a dark-complexioned man queued behind Mei Fuxi leaned in, bringing his large, round, full-bearded face close, and whispered secretly in his ear: "Young Master, are you off to the south to live it up?"

"Heh heh, who knows? In any case, I just follow the officers' orders. Who's to say my old man might not even allow me to go."

"Heh heh, Young Master, don't pretend. Everyone in the battalion knows you're valued by the Southern lords. I'm telling you, Young Master Mei, when you rise to prominence someday, don't forget your old pal Ha!"

The speaker, the big-faced man, was named Ha Liu.

Although Ha Liu was a local native, his bloodline wasn't pure; he had Menggu ancestry. Ha Liu's forefather was a Menggu military officer who had taken root here with the Jin Three Garrisons back then. Over the years, generations of intermarriage with Han people had long erased the Menggu appearance, leaving only that large, round face.

Like Mei Fuxi, Ha Liu was skilled in marksmanship and horsemanship and possessed high martial prowess. However, unlike Young Master Mei, Ha Liu's branch of the family had long ago lost its post in the garrison. His family lived in hardship, his parents were often ill, so after reaching adulthood, he had no choice but to follow merchant caravans beyond the frontier to earn money to supplement the household income.

Later, after Ha Liu's parents passed away, he was completely unrestrained and severed ties with the Jinwei garrison. So this man raised a band of his own, sometimes serving as a guard for merchants, sometimes acting as a horse bandit beyond Kouwai, his whereabouts unpredictable.

When the Flying Tiger Battalion recruited this time, Ha Liu, for some unknown reason, had actually joined as well, and like Mei Fuxi, he did quite well. Both became Vice Captains of the reconnaissance team and had even fought side by side.

Now, at the time when everyone was going their separate ways, Mei Fuxi hadn't expected that this old bandit Ha Liu would see right through his own thoughts.

"Hey, then many thanks for your auspicious words, Brother Ha!"

Since that was the case, Mei Fuxi simply admitted it. Wanting to go south and broaden his horizons wasn't something shameful. He had actually discussed it with his old father for half the night. After this King Qin Campaign, father and son's confidence in clinging to this powerful patron grew stronger and stronger, so Mei Fuxi was definitely going to continue eating army rations in the Flying Tiger Battalion.

After a few more jokes, the queue kept moving forward, and the next moment, it was finally Mei Fuxi's turn.

Entering the room, Mei Fuxi looked closely and saw three people sitting behind the long table opposite. In the center was Zhang Zhongqi, a Transmigrator who had been formally commissioned by the imperial court as a Mobile Corps Commander General and concurrently served as the Flying Tiger Battalion Commander. Flanking the Battalion Commander on either side were Jin Station Chief Yao Jianshe and a clerk.

After saluting and taking a seat, seeing that the newcomer was the key talent Mei Fuxi, Zhang Zhongqi didn't delay and directly asked the core question: "Soldier, are you willing to continue pursuing a great cause under the Grand Commandant's (the Left Regional Commander is now qualified to be called Grand Commandant) command?"

"Willing!"

"Very good. I formally notify you that you have once again become a member of the Flying Tiger Battalion. You are now granted three days' leave to bid farewell to your family and prepare for long-term enlistment."

"Yes, sir!"

"You may leave."

After a few brief exchanges, Mei Fuxi was sent on his way.

Next, it was Ha Liu's turn.

However, Ha Liu's case was not as easily settled as Mei Fuxi's, where there was a tacit understanding between them.

"My lord, this humble one is unwilling to stay in the battalion any longer."

"Heh heh, the reason." The chief examiner Zhang Zhongqi flipped through the file before him while smilingly guiding Ha Liu.

"It's just, it's just... to be honest, this humble one can't stand all these rules in the battalion."

"Understood." Zhang Zhongqi wore an expression that said he knew it all along: "I'm afraid you still miss the days of running merchant escorts and being a horse bandit, free and unfettered?"

Upon hearing this, Ha Liu gave a wry smile: "Since you know, my lord, this humble one has nothing to hide. But please rest assured, my lord, since Ha Liu joined the Flying Tiger Battalion, he will always be a man of the Flying Tiger Battalion. Should there be any call in the future, just raise a Banner in Jin City, and this humble one will surely bring his brothers to support you, my lord!"

"Heh heh, you are quite loyal and righteous."

At this moment, Yao Jianshe, who was at the side, spoke up. He stroked his clean-shaven, bluish chin with one hand, a playful expression on his face, and said slowly: "In that case, I might be able to arrange a job for you here."

The reassignment work continued in this manner.

In fact, apart from the relatively important core members like those in Mei Fuxi's team, for the rest of the men, the Transmigrators did not make much effort to retain anyone who didn't want to continue being a soldier.

However, these people had undergone training after all, and had participated in the campaign, so they could more or less be considered our own people who held a favorable view of Cao Zong.

So all who were discharged were mostly given new jobs by the Transmigrators in the aftermath. Some went to Commercial Firms as guards, others went to Construction Sites as foremen — in short, these men were also very important, serving as crucial chess pieces for Jin Station's underground work.

By the time all the Native soldiers had been sorted and reassigned, three days had already passed.

At this point, the new Flying Tiger Battalion soldiers had already reassembled at the Old Parade Ground, ready to begin a new round of formal training.

Of course, for an outstanding talent like Mei Fuxi, the only thing to do now was to go to the Army Officer Academy for advanced study. While broadening his horizons and reshaping his thinking, he would study warfare in the age of firearms, striving to become an excellent cavalry commander in the future.

And so, after Mei Fuxi returned to the barracks and waited a few days, he received the notice he had expected — he would be among the first group of personnel to sail south with the ships, to go to the legendary Yizhou for "drilling."

Mei Fuxi, who had long since gotten the details from Chen Erye, knew in his heart that this meant going to the "martial academy" in the south to learn real skills.

But he would certainly not breathe a word of it, because in the Great Ming Dynasty, a frontier general privately establishing a martial academy was a capital crime punishable by beheading.