Rebirth of the Republic of China: The Story of the Chaebol

If a victory is won on the front line, it will naturally be widely reported in South China.

However, unlike Europe where Pegnil was the focus of publicity, although Pegnil's name also appeared in newspapers in the South China Empire, the focus of publicity by major newspapers was still Fang Hongye, who led the African Corps to victory.

This man was already very famous in China, and this time he was even more famous. People directly regarded him as a figure who could be compared with ancient military gods like Wei Qing and Li Jing.

"Fang Hongye has really brought honor to our Nanhua this time. Can you discuss how to reward him?"

In the past, when Sun Tong wanted to promote someone, he would basically send the Crown Prince Sun Jingwen as his representative, and let him discuss a result with the people in the cabinet. Then Sun Tong would make a decision based on the results of their discussion.

But this time it was different. Sun Tong actually took the initiative to summon people from the cabinet and parliament to the palace. It was obvious that Fang Hong had completely caught Sun Tong's eye this time.

"Your Majesty, I suggest that Peg be transferred back to the Ministry of National Defense as Deputy Minister, and then Fang Hongye will take over his position as the commander of the African Corps of the Expeditionary Force!"

"What do you think of Carl's proposal? Xincheng, you are the Minister of Defense, so you speak first."

"I agree with Carl's suggestion. Peg is a talent for domestic affairs. The reason we sent him to Europe this time is just to let him cooperate with Xiao Fang. In fact, if we keep Peg on the African battlefield, it will be the biggest waste of his talents."

"What about the others? Tell us what you think."

"I support Karl's opinion."

"Well, let's follow Karl's advice, Hongxi!"

"Chen is here!"

"Pass on my oral order. Pegnil has made outstanding contributions in the African battlefield. He is now promoted to General of the Imperial Army, Deputy Minister of Defense, Count Caliburn. Fang Hong also performed well on the battlefield and has the style of a famous general in ancient times. To reward him, he is now promoted to General of the Imperial Army, Commander of the African Corps of the Imperial Expeditionary Force, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Defense, Baron Nansong. As for the other soldiers who participated in this battle, the Army Department should come up with a list of rewards as soon as possible. It is imperative that the soldiers on the front line are not alienated from the Empire!"

"We, on behalf of the soldiers on the front line, thank Your Majesty."

"Okay, let's leave it at that for now. Let Peg return home as soon as possible. As for Fang Hongye, tell him to go for it. The Empire will back him up!"

After saying this, Sun Tong walked towards the harem without looking back. He had made an appointment with Wenxi and the others before, that he would accompany them to the beach today. The meeting had already delayed them for a lot of time, and Sun Tong didn't want to go back on his word.

While Sun Tong was out having fun with his wife and children, the Ministry of National Defense was getting busy.

This time, the order issued by Sun Tong was to reward all those who had made contributions on the front line. Ordinary soldiers were relatively easy to deal with. It would be enough to reward them with some money and record a merit in their files. However, how to evaluate the merits of officers would require the Ministry of National Defense to review the battle reports sent back from the front line bit by bit.

It took the Ministry of National Defense a week just to prepare the reward list as quickly as possible. After the list came out, the Ministry of National Defense immediately arranged personnel to go to the African battlefield to read out the rewards.

By the time the envoy sent to Africa to announce the reward list arrived at the battlefield, more than half a month had passed since the battle.

During this period, the African Legion cooperated with the armies of Ying and Gaul to continuously harass the enemy's defense areas. In order to cause trouble for Long Meir, during this period, the coalition forces would drive all the people in each area into their occupied areas whenever they occupied an area.

Whether the people in these places can have enough food is none of their business. What the coalition forces have to do now is to try their best to clear out the territory controlled by Long Meir. They want to see what Long Meir can use to form a cannon fodder force if all the people run away.

I have to say that the effect of this trick by Fang Hongye is quite great.

As the population in the occupied area became smaller and smaller, Long Meir worked hard for more than half a month and finally recruited 40,000 vassal troops.

With such a small number, if Long Meir continues to treat these people as consumable materials, it will not be so easy for him to form a cannon fodder force of the same size again.

Now his troops need to rest, and the cannon fodder troops recruited need to be trained. Facing the constant provocations from the coalition forces, he has to delay and avoid a head-on confrontation with the coalition forces even at the cost of suffering losses.

Relying on his inhuman endurance, the combat effectiveness of Long Meir's army began to recover little by little. In fact, as long as he could keep the 80,000 Hans troops in his hands, he would have the courage to fight against the coalition forces.

As for the Italian army, he had seen it clearly in the last battle. Although this army had a large number of people, he really could not trust this ally.

You must know that the reason why Fang Hong was able to command the army to easily create such an encirclement in the previous stop was because Fang Hong also seized the weakness of the Italian army. Otherwise, the Franco-Spanish army that was rampant in North Africa would not have failed so easily.