Chapter 26

On January 22, 1925, the 28th day of the 12th lunar month, a day when soldiers should have been at home with their families, preparing for the Spring Festival, over ten thousand troops of the 6th Army Division were instead fighting fiercely against the advancing Feng Army along the Grand Canal between Zaozhuang and Xuzhou, braving the snow and the bitter cold.

The Northeastern troops had a significant advantage in winter warfare, but the soldiers of the 6th Division, mostly from the Huai River and Yangtze River plains, fought with high morale and tenacity, much to the surprise of the Feng Army. "Aren't they just rookies from the local security forces? Why does it feel like we're fighting the 3rd Division?"

The high morale of the 6th Division's soldiers had a reason. A few days earlier, Gao Yang, who had come from another timeline to 1925, arrived in Xuzhou and issued the Military Service Guarantee Law and the Veterans' Resettlement Law to all the troops in the two provinces.

The Military Service Guarantee Law stipulated that all soldiers would be conscripted at the age of 18, with a service term of 10 years. After completing their service, they could choose to retire or continue serving, with the maximum age for soldiers being 30 and for non-commissioned officers (NCOs) being 35, with a possible extension of 5 years for special positions. During their service, they would receive a monthly salary of 10 yuan, with a raise of 5 yuan every five years. Those who performed exceptionally well or had special talents could be recommended to attend the NCO school, where NCOs would receive an NCO allowance. Special positions such as artillery, medical, communications, drivers, and ground crew would receive additional position allowances, typically half of their monthly salary.

Upon retirement, they would also receive a lump-sum retirement allowance based on their years of service. For Gao Yang's troops, this guarantee law was a significant boost, as before, money was the only pursuit for soldiers, aside from national honor.

The Veterans' Resettlement Law, which followed, further excited the troops. It stipulated that soldiers who were injured during training or combat and could no longer serve would receive a monthly living allowance from the army and be exempt from all taxes for life. Soldiers who died during training or combat would have their designated family members receive a one-time funeral expense, and their direct family members would be exempt from taxes for 20 years. If they had minor children, the family would receive a monthly living allowance based on the standard salary of a regular soldier until the children turned 18. Normally retired soldiers would be given priority for employment by the local government, such as serving as local militia or police.

These two laws were not unusual, but their appearance in China in 1925 was quite rare. In this era, most soldiers joined the army just to have a meal and survive. Except for a few elite units, most soldiers would have their salaries withheld by their superiors. However, since Gao Yang formed his army, there had never been such a thing. When he sent troops to Bengbu, very few of the new recruits deserted, largely due to the consistent payment of salaries.

In this era, when a soldier died, if the superior had a conscience, they would send some money to the family for burial. If not, the body would be left to rot in the wild, and it was usually the local villagers who would bury the dead after the battle. As for those who were injured but survived, they could only rely on fate.

Most of the soldiers Gao Yang recruited were young men from rural areas, with families back home. The exemption of agricultural taxes was not a big deal to Gao Yang, but to the soldiers, it was a matter of life and death! For thousands of years, agricultural taxes had been the largest source of income for the state, placing a heavy burden on farmers, who often could not even eat the rice they grew. By exempting the soldiers from agricultural taxes, as long as Gao Yang could continue to implement this policy, the rural soldiers would be willing to defend him with their lives!

In the 6th Division headquarters in Xuzhou, Gao Yang was sitting by the stove, warming himself, while over twenty staff officers were busy handling military affairs. Although Gao Yang claimed to be a graduate of the German Army Officer School (the certificate was real, but he had never attended), he knew nothing about military matters.

Although he had watched many anti-Japanese war dramas in his original timeline, using the tactics from TV shows to fight a war would be irresponsible to his soldiers. Therefore, Gao Yang always adhered to the principle that professional matters should be handled by professionals, leaving military affairs to the staff officers while he served as a figurehead.

Most of the staff officers in Gao Yang's headquarters were former German Army officers, along with a few bio-warriors and outstanding young officers selected from the entire army. The German staff officers, with their experience from the European war, managed everything efficiently, from digging trenches and laying wooden planks to allocating ammunition.

Gao Yang would occasionally visit the troops to boost morale and chat with the soldiers, asking about their needs. When the soldiers complained about the cold, he sent a large number of cotton coats from Feng County's clothing factory. When they said they wanted meat, he sent pork cans from Feng County's food factory. Knowing his own capabilities, he focused on personnel and financial control.

He picked up the enamel cup on the stove and slowly sipped his coffee, chatting idly with Origin in his mind. "Bio-warriors are really energy-consuming. It's hard to get enough energy points to create many of them. What should I do?" Gao Yang complained. As the control of the army, the bio-warriors performed excellently. In the factories, which lacked professional talent, the bio-warriors were indispensable, and Gao Yang had spent most of his energy points on them.

"Actually, you don't need to infuse them with German language skills during their creation. All bio-warriors have at least a bachelor's degree. You can organize a training program, and they can learn in a few months, saving a lot of energy points," Origin suggested.

As soon as Origin finished speaking, Gao Yang's hand holding the enamel cup trembled, spilling hot coffee on his leg. The scalding coffee made him jump up, knocking over his chair and throwing the cup, frantically patting the coffee on his leg. The orderly rushed over to help, and Gao Yang roared, "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

The orderly's face turned pale, but Gao Yang calmed down and waved him off, saying, "It's not your fault. Go get me some sweet potatoes to roast." He walked back to the back room to change his pants and complained to Origin, "Do you know how many energy points I wasted? Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I just realized it. Also, you can recruit local people who know German to serve as translators. Why do you have to use bio-warriors?" Origin countered.

"In this era, Chinese students who know German are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns, and they might not even be interested in working for me. It's safer to use my own people," Gao Yang explained.

"You don't have many soldiers now, but what will you do when you have tens or hundreds of thousands of soldiers? Exempting all of them from agricultural taxes? Your current army is entirely funded by your personal money. What will you do when you run out of money?" Origin changed the topic.

"Most of them are new recruits. How can they fight with just Germans and bio-warriors? I lack time, not money. In an agricultural country, agricultural taxes are crucial, so I need to accelerate industrial development and replace agricultural taxes with industrial taxes. The supplies I ordered should be arriving in Libreville soon. With so many supplies being transported, many people will be paying attention to me," Gao Yang shifted the topic.

Back in the operations room, the orderly was placing sweet potatoes on the stove. Gao Yang's eyes lit up, and he immediately went over to the stove, squatting down and staring intently at the sweet potatoes, temporarily putting aside all other matters.

An operations officer ran over to Gao Yang and reported, "Sir, the troops guarding the Jinpu Line at Hanzhuang Bridge have sent a report. Around 11:00 AM today, a large group of Feng Army troops, supported by multiple artillery pieces, launched an attack on Hanzhuang Bridge, but they have been repelled."

"Hmm?" Gao Yang stood up and walked to the map, with the operations officer pointing out the location of Hanzhuang Bridge. Although he didn't know much about military affairs, he understood the importance of this bridge. After a moment of thought, Gao Yang asked the officers, "What do you think?"

The head of the operations department, Kurt Beigel, saluted and said, "Based on the analysis of the past few days' clashes, the enemy has lost their offensive momentum at the main position in Tai'erzhuang. The attack on Hanzhuang Bridge is likely a probing action, and they are looking for our weak points. If the defense at Hanzhuang Bridge is weak, the enemy will launch a large-scale attack here by this afternoon at the latest."

"Uh-huh." Gao Yang looked at the map and thought for a moment, then said, "I'll go to the front line to take a look." He left the headquarters, got into a truck, and headed to the Hanzhuang Bridge position with his guard.

An hour later, Gao Yang arrived at Hanzhuang Bridge. The 1st Company of the 2nd Regiment was stationed here, with the regimental headquarters also on the position, supported by the regimental artillery. Gao Yang entered the regimental command post and observed the situation through a high-powered telescope.

A few days earlier, Zhang Zongchang's troops had launched multiple attacks on the Tai'erzhuang line along the canal. Zhang's troops, mostly cavalry, could not move quickly on the frozen river and were heavily defeated by the 6th Division's Maxim guns. Since then, Zhang's troops had been using artillery to support infantry infiltration attacks, but the 6th Division's soldiers, hiding in trenches, used intense fire to repel them, causing heavy casualties.

Both sides had also engaged in a day-long artillery battle, and after Zhang's artillery was knocked out, their morale plummeted, and they had been relatively quiet for the past two days. What was the purpose of this sudden attack on Hanzhuang Bridge? Gao Yang couldn't figure it out.

The phone rang, and the regimental commander answered it, then reported to Gao Yang, "Sir, Kurt is looking for you." Gao Yang frowned and said, "Remember, it's Kurt, not 'Ku'." The regimental commander smiled and scratched his head, handing the phone to Gao Yang.

"This is Gao Yang," he said into the phone. "Sir, this is Major Kurt Beigel. After the staff analyzed the situation, they believe the enemy might use Weishan Lake to launch a flanking attack, and the attack on Hanzhuang Bridge is likely a feint."

"Hmm?" Gao Yang was taken aback. A frontal feint, a flanking attack? When did Zhang Zongchang become capable of such tactics? It wasn't his style. Gao Yang was surprised and couldn't speak for a moment.

"No, this isn't Zhang Zongchang's troops!" Suddenly, like a flash of insight, Gao Yang realized the key issue. "Where is the nearest reserve force? What about the artillery? How many can support this position?" Gao Yang urgently shouted into the phone.