Chapter 112 - Joint Operations Command

Schneider, carrying his own luggage, walked sweating under the already scorching spring sun. As a captain from the navy, which valued dress, etiquette, and bearing, his image of personally carrying his luggage was quite conspicuous on the road. The navy had a specific set of regulations for the use of orderlies.

Captain Schneider of the navy was the former Shi Shisi. Because a certain Elder in the navy felt that the name Shi Shisi was too unlucky and too plain—there were too many Guihua people named so-and-so—he had given him this new name. Schneider was very satisfied with his new name; it was much better than the original “Fourteen.” He had also secretly asked a scribe in Dongmen Market to start writing a family genealogy for him.

The so-called writing of a genealogy was actually compiling one. Schneider came from a poor background and only knew that his ancestors were all fishermen. To make the genealogy look good, he had to attach himself to a famous person. This required finding a learned “master.”

The first batch of elites had already emerged among the Guihua. They had either become military or administrative officials or had become wealthy. After rising in status, they couldn’t escape the custom of wanting to compile a family genealogy to bring glory to their ancestors.

Because they knew that the “chiefs” were very averse to ancestral halls, they did not dare to entertain the idea of building one. Moreover, most of them were outsiders who had come to Lin’gao alone not long ago and had no way of building an ancestral hall in the local area. However, creating a genealogy with illustrious ancestors for themselves brought them great psychological satisfaction. Several ghostwriters in Dongmen Market had made a small fortune from this.

Compared to the other seasons of the year, Schneider preferred the winter in Lin’gao. The temperature was low in winter, and he could wear his smart and proper navy winter uniform. This made him feel like an upper-class person. The winter uniform was made of thin woolen cloth purchased from the Westerners. The uniform had no wrinkles. The Navy’s Excellent Service Medal, polished to a shine, was pinned to his chest. He had received it for his counter-espionage and combat performance in the Pearl River Estuary campaign. The navy intended to completely distinguish itself from the bumpkins of the army in terms of medal awards, resolutely avoiding things like “first-class merit” and pursuing magnificent and professional medal names. Now, whenever Schneider went out, he would be neatly dressed in his navy officer’s uniform with a full set of medals. The admiring and respectful gazes of those around him filled his heart with pleasure.

As part of his reward, and also as preparation for the upcoming Engine Operation, Schneider was recommended to participate in the navy officer promotion training held in Bopu.

Compared to the painfully difficult courses in naval engineering and tactical command, Schneider preferred the courses in navigation and leadership. The former he was familiar with, and the latter made him feel like an officer. In contrast to being beaten badly in map exercises, Captain Schneider showed the rookies what a veteran was made of in practical drills. However, after a few setbacks, those little bastards also learned to be much smarter.

After three months of fully enclosed training, he was promoted to captain in the navy. He had been home for no more than two days when he was summoned by an order to attend a short-term training at Ma’niao Fort—in the chiefs’ words, “on-the-job training.”

The notice did not specify any specific subjects. Schneider knew it was for “secrecy,” but he was sure that this temporary training was most likely related to the recent active war preparations.

The Fubo Army was preparing for war—although this preparation was not as grand as before the second anti-encirclement campaign. Schneider had already understood this every time he took his navy soldiers to the shipyard for “support work.” He had never seen so many large ships being built at the same time. Although the size of some of the new ships could not compare to the Holy Ship, they surpassed the largest great-decked ships of the Westerners he had ever seen. Various ship materials were piled up like mountains in the factory, and the workers were busy day and night.

The sailors had been drilling since the New Year. In the squadron he commanded, the number of sailors on each special service boat had been reduced by half, and the vacancies were filled by new recruits who had just come out of the recruit training. Obviously, the transferred sailors were being prepared for the new ships.

In the recruit training, Schneider found some of his old acquaintances from his pirate days. They had all been recruited in the recent expansion. There were men from Zhu Cailao’s crew, as well as from other defeated pirate chiefs. Many had fled back to their hometowns after the “great defeat” but had no means of livelihood. The recruiting personnel, based on information obtained from interrogating prisoners and conversations, and led by former pirate chiefs who had surrendered, were actively recruiting these scattered soldiers along the coast of Guangdong and Guangxi.

Obviously, if it weren’t for the expansion of the navy, the chiefs would not have recruited so many people at once.

It seems there will be another war, Schneider thought.

When he arrived at the Ma’niao Fort pier by navy transport boat, the place was completely new. The Ma’niao Peninsula was now the core heavy industrial base of the Council of Elders, and the original Ma’niao Army Base had been officially upgraded to “Ma’niao Fort.”

According to the new military system, all army base locations were suffixed with “Fort.” This new regulation was considered, after the “German school,” “Soviet school,” and “Japanese school,” the official infiltration of “American school” bad taste into the army and navy systems.

The blockhouse that had once served as He Ming’s field army headquarters was gone, replaced by a huge bamboo fence and large buildings scattered inside. Ma’niao Fort covered a large area, with several barracks and training grounds for various army specialties distributed inside and outside the fence. The road network was initially complete. Army soldiers could be seen undergoing drill and tactical training everywhere.

The entire Ma’niao Fort was already a military restricted area. Schneider’s orderly was stopped at the first sentry post—the orderly’s name was not on the reporting certificate. So, Captain Schneider had to carry his own luggage and continue walking. When he arrived at the main gate, two large wooden signs with black characters on a white background hung there: Ma’niao Fort Army Base, Joint Operations Command.

The Joint Operations Command was a recently established command organization that replaced the duties of the former temporary field army general headquarters. At present, the field army was in a long-term state of security warfare and garrison duty, and there needed to be an organization to coordinate and command the army, navy, and all other armed forces.

In fact, a similar need had already been initially proposed during the security warfare in southern Qiongzhou. If in northern Qiongzhou, the navy’s main task was still to transport the army and supplies, then in southern Qiongzhou, the navy’s operations were no longer as simple as transporting the army ashore. They often had to join the battle themselves—the villages in the various prefectures and counties of southern Qiongzhou were almost all located along the coast, and bandits and powerful armed forces also often used boats for maneuver.

Considering the characteristic of the upcoming Engine Operation, which required joint army-navy action—the conclusion drawn from several strategic exercises by the General Staff was that for a considerable period of time, the military operations of the Fubo Army would be joint army-navy operations along the coastline—the establishment of a cross-service joint operations command seemed very necessary.

The newly established Joint Operations Command was located at Ma’niao Fort. It was led and managed by the General Military Affairs Department and was composed of personnel from the Army General Staff and the Navy Command, and was under the command of the General Staff in terms of operations.

Schneider followed the newly paved road and, according to the road signs, arrived at the gate of the compound where the Joint Operations Command was located.

Several army officers and some clerks were at the entrance of the command headquarters to receive them. Yang Zeng was also among them. Due to his outstanding performance in the Chengmai campaign, Yang Zeng was also recommended to attend the officer promotion training course at Ma’niao Fort. He also recommended his orderly, Wei Darong, to attend the non-commissioned officer training.

After undergoing the enclosed training, Yang Zeng felt that the chiefs’ lives were too busy—no Elder officer had any leisure time. Whenever Yang Zeng saw them, they were either on the training ground, in the classroom, or in endless meetings.

Of course, he himself was also very busy. As a Guihua officer who was about to be promoted to deputy battalion commander, Yang Zeng had too many subjects to catch up on. He not only had to cram cultural lessons but also master more advanced and complex combat subjects and logistics organization and support.

He occasionally missed the leisurely days of basking in the sun with a matchlock in Goujia Village. Looking at the smart navy dress uniform and the eye-catching Navy Excellent Service Medal of Schneider walking towards him, Yang Zeng unconsciously straightened his back, his second-class military merit medal and special marksman skill badge pinned to his chest.

Schneider was among the last to arrive. The entire Ma’niao Fort guesthouse was already full, so Yang Zeng had to arrange for Schneider and some others to temporarily stay in an empty barracks.

Nearly a hundred army and navy officers were summoned to Ma’niao Fort at the same time. They were all Guihua officers who had been selected by the cadre department of the General Staff to participate in the Engine Operation.

The environment faced by the Engine Operation was very complex. On the sea, they had to pass through the territories of Liu Xiang and Zheng Zhilong. The Dutch and the Spanish also had influence on the Taiwan Strait, which was on their route. Except for the Dutch, with whom they had just signed a trade agreement, all other forces were “unfriendly.”

On land, although Zhao Yigong had paved the way and established connections, it was impossible to predict what problems would arise when transporting a large number of refugees under the nose of the Ming Dynasty. Especially when getting involved in the Dengzhou rebellion, they had to collect and transport refugees on a chaotic battlefield.

In this environment, it was impossible to act without sufficient military protection. And in the process of organizing the march and encampment of a huge number of refugees, well-trained troops could also play a great role—without well-trained soldiers to organize and lead, tens of thousands of refugees would probably be unable to form an orderly procession. When the Engine Plan was being formulated, the Planning Department had secretly consulted the People’s Commissars of the Army and Navy about the number of ships and troops that could be mobilized at that time.