Rise From Eight Hundred

Compared to the large-scale celebration banquet held by the 921st Division, the Four-Line Regiment was much simpler this time.

There was no whole-army dinner, but the cooking squads of each company came to the quartermaster's office to collect supplies.

Each soldier, including auxiliary personnel such as grooms, was issued two cans of canned meat, and each family member was issued one can. If a soldier in the family died, the soldier's share would be issued.

Those were mainly new recruits from Xuzhou. Several chief officers of the regiment have taken people to express their condolences in the past two days, but the pension has not yet arrived. This will have to wait for Tang Dao to come back.

Because the batch of gold seized by the Four-Line Regiment this time is very valuable, it is almost certain that Tang Dao will raise the pension standard again.

Do as much as you can with the money you have, neither puffing up your face to be rich nor holding on to the money. This is Tang Dao's usual management trait.

In addition, there is an extra meal. Infantry companies are units, and each person receives half a catty of meat and two taels of wine. There are important things to do tomorrow, and Tang Dao does not want a group of drunkards standing there.

Tang Dao and several officers were still discussing the general reward method at the regiment headquarters, but it had already been revealed by the soldiers who had attended the celebration banquet of the 921st Division.

The five yuan per person combat allowance was not high, and the 30 yuan serious injury allowance and the 50 yuan death pension were also ordinary. This was basically expected, but everyone was still waiting for the most important thing - the assessment of military merit.

Before the war, the regiment headquarters informed the soldiers through the battalion and company commanders that the regiment would no longer engage in egalitarianism in the future. If you want to get money or get promoted, you have to rely on military merit.

Just like this battle, the regiment headquarters has begun to formulate military merit levels, which are divided into four levels: "first-class military merit", "second-class military merit", "third-class military merit", and "fourth-class military merit"!

Obviously, with only four levels of military merit, there are too many monks and too little meat. In this battle, only a few people are destined to receive such honors and various rewards.

At the headquarters of the Four-Line Regiment, Tang Dao and several officers, including two battalion commanders, had a quick meal to fill their stomachs and held a military meeting.

The main topic is not the level of military merit, which was actually decided before the expedition.

It is not about how to evaluate, which is also stipulated in writing. Each battalion and company reports the military merit of its soldiers, and attaches its achievements and the reasons for the approval of the platoon, company and battalion chiefs. Finally, it is submitted to the chief of staff Zhuang Shisan for review and approval by Tang Dao.

The regulations also specify the scale of the battlefield and the number of military merits!

For example, in the Jindong War, the Sixing Regiment had more than 2,000 soldiers, which was considered to be the battlefield of the entire regiment. There were only 10 places for "first-class military merit". If the achievements are real and the reasons are sufficient, they can be increased as appropriate. If not enough, they can be left vacant.

30 people for "second-class military merit", 50 people for "third-class military merit", and 100 people for "fourth-class military merit". The number of people who won military merit is about 10 to 1.

In the past two days, the chiefs of each battalion and company have actually submitted their own military merit applications, and the total number is slightly exceeded, roughly around 200 people.

Tang Dao understands and comprehends these guys' little thoughts!

As the chief officer, who doesn't want to win more military merits for his brothers? Military merits are not just a reward of a lot of money. Future promotion depends on this.

The increasingly perfect regulations for the management of soldiers in the Four-line Regiment clearly stipulate that even if the soldier is judged to be unsuitable as a commander, he can still be promoted, and the highest can be equal to the commander of the regiment.

After all, some people are brave in battle, but because of their personality, brain or physical injuries, they have major defects and are not suitable for command positions, which may indirectly kill others.

Some people are great as soldiers, but they can't do things beyond their ability. This is something Tang Dao has deeply experienced, so the regulations for the management of soldiers in the Four-line Regiment led by him try to avoid such tragedies.

But not rewarding merits is definitely a blow to morale and an insult to the term "military merit". It is imperative for the future military promotion channel to walk on two legs.

That means, even if your ability is not suitable for being an officer, and you cannot be promoted to lieutenant and then colonel like most people, your military pay can be high, as long as you have enough military merits, you can get the same salary as Tang Tuanzuo.

It seems like a small change, but it has opened up a new promotion channel for everyone in the Four Lines Regiment! It is no longer like before, where you can only be promoted to military rank and become an officer.

There are only so many positions for officers in an infantry regiment. Who will be a soldier if everyone becomes an officer? Moreover, promotion of military rank can boost morale once or twice, but the war is fought all the time, and the military rank cannot be promoted all the time. When all soldiers are promoted to non-commissioned officers or lieutenants, the management hierarchy will be in chaos.

This is the mentality of this person. I used to be a private first class, and the squad leader was a sergeant. Of course, I listened to you in everything, but one day I became a sergeant, and the squad leader was also a sergeant. Why should I, a sergeant, listen to you, a guy with the same rank as me?

However, Tang Dao has brought the future promotion method of non-commissioned officers to this era with a slight change. No matter whether you are talented or mediocre, even if you are just an ordinary person, as long as you are brave enough, you can get treatment.

If you win the "first-class combat merit" once, the military pay level will be increased by three levels on the existing basis. For example, if you are a sergeant now, you will directly get the army captain's salary. If you win the "second-class combat merit", the military pay level will be increased by two levels, and if you win the "third-class combat merit", the military pay level will be increased by one level. If you win the "fourth-class combat merit", you will only get rewards, but no military pay promotion.

Of course, if you are promoted to a higher rank, your salary will follow your rank, and there will be no additional salary increase. You can choose between the two paths, except for those designated by your superiors.

But no matter which one, this management system is good for the officers and soldiers. In other words, if you can't get promoted, you can get a salary increase. One has to go either way.

'If you want the horse to run, but you don't want it to eat grass! ' That's not only against the nature of the horse, but also against human nature.

For the three battalion commanders of the infantry battalion headed by Lei Xiong and the company commanders of the direct company headed by Pang Dahai, it was the first time for them to report their military exploits.

They were not sure what Tang Dao was thinking about this, so although they all wanted to take more and get more benefits for their brothers who worked hard for them, they all restrained themselves and selected meritorious personnel according to a ratio of about 10 to 1.

Even for the first-class merit, which is the most eye-catching and only has 10 vacancies, the whole regiment only reported 26 people. According to the general introduction of the chief of staff Zhuang Shisan, they are all reasonable and well-founded, and six of them died on the battlefield.

Tang Dao knew that when these people figured out their own ideas in the future, it is estimated that the list of first-class merits will not be able to fit on a piece of paper.

But at least this time, almost no one dared to make false reports. For example, the baggage company did not even think about the first-class merit or the second-class merit, and at most reported the third-class merit.

That was because a baggage soldier did not rest for a day and a night to carry supplies, and he vomited blood and fainted. If there was no military doctor nearby to give him emergency treatment, otherwise this recruit who had always performed mediocrely in training and on the battlefield would have died on the spot due to exhaustion.

Although he did not go to the battlefield, his performance was comparable to that of the front line. He carried 60 kilograms of food bags six times by himself, and walked a total of 120 miles of mountain roads.

Carrying this load and walking 120 miles of mountain roads for 24 hours, it can be seen that this recruit was completely overdrawing and burning his life. Although he did not go to the front line of the battlefield, what is the difference between this and going to the battlefield to kill the enemy?

For this reason, Zhuang Shisan also specially sent a captain of his staff to the baggage company to verify, and met with the baggage soldier who was still recuperating in the medical brigade.

This is indeed a bit unreasonable.

The front-line officers and soldiers of the Four-Line Regiment were brave on the front line. If they did not fight hard, they would die. Moreover, they had fought all the way during this period, and their self-confidence had long been built up.

But the baggage soldiers, especially the new recruits, had never been beaten in the hail of bullets, so how could they fight so hard? Even the new recruits who performed very well, when they participated in the battle of Licheng, the loud noise of the city wall being exploded by hundreds of kilograms of explosives scared many of them to wet their pants.

Later, it was the old soldiers who patted their shoulders and encouraged them, and even kicked them in the buttocks, that drove them out of the trenches and charged together.

"If it wasn't for Taoist Mingxin, no, if it wasn't for Brother Mingxin distributing porridge in Xuzhou City that day, my daughter probably wouldn't have survived that day. Now Brother Mingxin and I have joined our regiment, and the regiment has settled my daughter. I can't repay such a great favor, so I can only give this cheap life to our regiment!" The man who was over 30 years old was still a little emotional when he talked about this.

This was the middle-aged man who was extremely desperate that day while holding his daughter who was about to starve to death. In the end, because he was considered to have joined the army with Mingxin, the commander of the baggage company responsible for collecting new recruits gave Mingxin face and specially designated a family member of the new recruit to help take care of her.

There were six people in that family, two fifty-year-old couples, one of the two sons was married with a wife, and another daughter. The married eldest son joined the Four-Line Corps, and the remaining five people took care of the little girl. It was too easy, if they had money.

However, the middle-aged man was still a little worried about his daughter. He often lost his mind during daily training. In addition, his physical foundation was a little weak, so his rating was not high among the veterans, just a lower-middle level.

When they met up with their families at the border of Shanxi Province this time, the little girl, who was originally pale and thin like a bean sprout, had enough food, and her face became fatter and rosy. Seeing her father waving his hands desperately, the middle-aged man who felt that he had fallen into hell was pulled back to the world.

The remaining five people in that family really raised the little girl as their own child. The sixteen-year-old youngest son carried the little girl on his back almost every day during the thousand-mile journey, and bought any delicious food on the road and gave it to the girl first.

The biggest source of all this happiness was naturally the Four-Line Corps.

Perhaps from that moment on, he made up his mind to repay with his life.

After listening to his story, Zhuang Shisan made a decision on the spot: "A baggage soldier is also a soldier, and transporting supplies is also a battle. One person's transport capacity is lower than that of two people. How can such a person only have a third-class military merit? It must be a second-class military merit!"

During the meal, Zhuang Shisan reported this to Tang Dao, and Tang Dao couldn't help but look at Zhuang Shisan with new eyes.

Starting from the independent battalion, Zhuang Shisan was used because he fought well in the defense battle outside Songjiang City. In addition, a large number of soldiers from the Songjiang Security Corps joined, and someone had to be their banner. When Zhuang Shisan was established as the Four-Line Corps, he had already demonstrated a strong logistical support capability. When Tang Dao was almost the only one who had the final say, it was very appropriate for him to sit in the position of chief of staff.

But this time, giving a common recruit in the baggage company a "second-class military merit" for transporting supplies was not only because he was bold enough to withstand the pressure of those front-line combat troops, but also because his vision and pattern were much bigger than the previous security battalion commander.

This is a typical example of "buying a horse with a lot of money". It uses facts to tell the auxiliary soldiers such as engineers, logistics soldiers, communication soldiers, and medical soldiers that who says that only by fighting hard can you get military merits? As long as you make excellent achievements in your own positions, you will also have military merits, and the regiment commanders will never be stingy.

This move is simply brilliant. No wonder none of the three main battalion commanders jumped out to say something strange after hearing it.

"Not only the logistics company, but also the various squads under the special forces company can follow this example if they have outstanding performance!" Tang Dao nodded in agreement and gave his own suggestions.

Looking up at the other silent chiefs, Tang Dao said again: "But this time, don't take up the quota of the combat troops. It's not a bad idea to add a few more second-class or third-class military merits. Anyway, our Sixing Regiment has a solid foundation this time!"

After saying this, the two deputy regiment commanders and the two infantry battalion commanders smiled brightly.

It can only be said that Tang Tuanzuo understands people's minds too well. They were originally worried about the extra quota. If the second-line auxiliary troops have to come to earn more, they will have to brush off a few more. How to explain to the company commanders? If a few more quotas are added, there will be no worries in this regard.

In fact, even if the extra 20 or 30 people are all counted, the Four Lines Regiment will not spend much more military pay, but everything must follow the rules.

The previously set rules, a few more is fine, one more is dozens, do we have to do this in the future?

Tang Dao emphasized again during the meal that if the military merits are evaluated too much, they will be rotten and worthless, after all, heroes are a minority.

It will take a few days to evaluate, and Tang Dao also has to take a good look at the performance of his soldiers on the battlefield, so there is no rush, but there is one thing that is imminent.

First of all, in addition to the promotion of military rank or military pay, these military merits also need to be rewarded.

In the past, it was rewarded with dollars. That was when the Four Lines Regiment had no place to live, and it was the simplest and most straightforward to get a reward of dollars.

Now, the Four-Line Regiment has a foundation. Just throwing money at it will have limited effect on morale.

Only after the rewards are determined and the merits are assessed in a few days, can they be distributed. Don't be unprepared by then, which will not only disappoint the officers and soldiers, but also fail to achieve the effect of assessing merits.

"Come on, all of you, tell me what rewards are appropriate!" Tang Dao looked at his friends, reached out to take the cigarette thrown by Lei Xiong, and said.

"I personally think it's better to reward weapons, such as first-class merit winners, submachine guns, second-class merit winners, pistols, third-class merit winners, and fourth-class merit winners, a saber! As an honor, the soldier's name can be engraved on these weapons." Leng Feng said first.

The reward method proposed by Leng Feng is somewhat novel, and the exclusive weapons can also reflect the value of the merit winners.

"Not appropriate, not appropriate. First of all, most of these military meritorious service personnel are frontline officers and soldiers. Some of them are squad leaders and have submachine guns or Mauser pistols. If you reward them with another one, what's the matter? They will charge on the battlefield with two submachine guns!

Besides, the commander said that the large number of Type 14 Nambu pistols seized this time will be distributed to artillery, medical teams, communications troops, engineers and other arms, which cannot reflect the sense of honor of the military meritorious service recipients!" Gong Shaoxun shook his head in opposition.

"It's not okay to give money or weapons. You can't give wives to these guys!" Lei Xiong frowned and took a deep puff of cigarette. "I don't think any of them will say they are unhappy if that happens."

"Haha, there will still be some who are dissatisfied, such as those with wives." Zhuang Shisan laughed.

Everyone laughed!

As soon as the atmosphere became lively, all these wonderful ideas came out.

Guo Shouzhi said that since there was a lot of gold now, it would be better to give each person a small yellow croaker, and according to the level of military merit, those with higher military merit would be given more, and those with lower military merit would be given less. If the fourth-level military merit was given, they would simply be given gold beans.

Although Gong Shaoxun opposed Leng Feng, he improved Leng Feng's suggestion at this time, saying that military daggers should be given, but the handles would be divided into four levels: gold, silver, copper and iron, which was quite a bit like the style of the ancient cold weapon era.

"I think! Why not give out medals like the Ministry of Military Affairs? I'm just afraid that this would be inappropriate!" Zhuang Shisan, who had been silent all the time, finally made a suggestion.

"Just give out medals. This is an internal incentive for my Four-Line Group. We don't ask the Ministry of Military Affairs, which is a hundred thousand miles away from us. What's wrong with that!" Tang Dao's eyes lit up and he made the decision.

After thinking carefully, he said, "Let Uncle Tan Tai help with the design, and ask Teacher Xiao He to order the mold. We have the equipment now, which can be used for batch processing! As for the material, the first-class military merit is one tael of gold with other metals, the second-class military merit is half a tael of gold and half a tael of silver with other metals, the third-class military merit is one tael of silver with other metals, and the fourth-class military merit is made of pure copper."

"The suggestion of the regiment commander and the chief of staff is good. The medal has a sense of honor, and metals such as gold, silver, and copper are also valuable. The one or two taels of gold alone are 200 yuan, not to mention the design of Mr. Tan Tai. It is definitely a work of art. If you can take it home alive, it can be a family heirloom." Gong Shaoxun applauded and agreed first.

"Don't say it, just for this thing, I want to go back to be a company commander!" Leng Feng also nodded.

"Haha, let's go together, let's go together, let Li Jiujin and Zhao Daqiang be the battalion commander." Lei Xiong was very happy.

Everyone was amused by the honest words of this usually cold-faced battalion commander.

The regulations for the management of soldiers in the Fourth Line Regiment stated that officers above the rank of colonel in the Fourth Line Regiment were not eligible to participate in the assessment of military merits.

No matter how well you command or how beautifully you fight, that is what you should do as a commander.

Let as many military merits as possible be given to the frontline soldiers and grassroots officers below. This is the consensus that Tang Dao and his friends reached at the military meeting.

However, the jokes of Lei Xiong and Leng Feng just now were quite sincere. Although the medal that Tang Tuanzuo mentioned has not been seen in person, it sounds very tempting!

It seems to be no worse than the Baoding Medal made by the Military and Political Department.

Those officers and soldiers who are about to receive military merits will definitely like it very much, and those who have not received it will definitely be envious!

Then the purpose of evaluating military merits has been achieved.