"Congratulations to all the newly promoted sergeants. Whether you were promoted through disciplinary performance assessments or stood out through competitions, you were promoted to sergeants based on your own abilities. You are all elites of our Zhejiang Army. Congratulations."
Zhu Ping'an gathered all the sergeants who came out of the disciplinary assessment and the competition onto a high platform, announced their appointment as sergeants in front of all the soldiers in the battalion, and congratulated them.
"Thank you for giving me the opportunity and for your appreciation. In the future, we will swear to serve you till death, fight bravely and live up to your trust." The newly promoted sergeants excitedly stepped forward to listen to the title, especially the newly recruited sergeant from Yiwu, who was so excited that he could not express it in words. They knelt on the ground to express their stance, swearing to serve Zhu Ping'an till death.
"Please stand up, all corporals. You have earned this with your own abilities. You don't need to thank me. The corporal position is both an honor and a responsibility. The burden on your shoulders is not light. In a word, lead the soldiers well, fight well, and don't let me down."
Zhu Ping'an pulled up the three sergeants closest to him, signaled all the new sergeants to stand up, and encouraged them.
"We will not let you down, sir." The sergeants shouted loudly.
"Very good." Zhu Ping'an nodded, and then turned to all the soldiers and encouraged them, "Don't be discouraged, the soldiers who failed to be selected, train well, strictly abide by military discipline, fight bravely, and there will be plenty of opportunities for promotion in the future."
"Train well and fight bravely." Encouraged by Zhu Ping'an, the defeated soldiers were full of fighting spirit again.
The selection of corporals was over, and there was still the selection of sentinels. This time, 1,200 new soldiers were recruited, totaling 120 corporals, and 30 sentinels should be appointed.
The selection of sentry leaders is the same as that of corporals. First, they are promoted through the disciplinary performance assessment. The corporals who are at the top level are promoted to sentry leaders. Recently, there are 18 corporals who are at the top level in the disciplinary performance assessment, and all of them have been promoted to sentry leaders.
After promotion based on disciplinary performance assessment, there are still twelve sentry chief positions left.
Zhu Ping'an announced that these twelve sentry chief positions, like the sergeant chief, would also be determined through competitions. All sergeants, whether old or new, would be treated equally and could participate in the sentry chief competition.
All the sergeants were eager to try.
With Zhu Ping'an's order, the sentry leader competition began, and thunderous cheers rang out one after another in the Taohuaji training ground.
After a fierce competition, twelve sentinels were selected, including four veteran sergeants, six new sergeants from Yiwu, and two new sergeants from veterans.
The people of Yiwu are indeed born soldiers. When Zhu Ping'an saw Chen Dacheng and six other newly promoted sentry chiefs in Yiwu, he couldn't help but admire them in his heart.
Of the twelve sentinels, Yiwu people fully occupied half of them, and the veteran corporals and veteran new corporals only occupied the other half. The veteran corporals only occupied four positions. The veteran corporals won the competition several months ago. They were the best among the veterans. After becoming corporals, the Zhejiang Army tilted resources towards them and trained them for several months. However, they were no match for the Yiwu people; the veteran new corporals only occupied two positions... ...
Zhu Ping'an congratulated them in public and announced their appointment as sentry leaders.
Since their twelve sergeants were promoted to sentinels, twelve sergeant vacancies were left. After a competition, twelve lucky new sergeants were born.
Next is the general selection.
The Zhejiang Army previously had six captains-general: Wang Xiong, Xia Laojiu, Liu Bo, Hu Laosan, Qian Bao, and Zhang Heizi. Now, with the addition of 1,200 new recruits, seven more captains have been added, which means there are still seven vacancies for the positions of captains-general.
Like the selection of sergeants and sentinels, the selection of battalion commanders also requires a disciplinary performance assessment, and six sentinels with top grades are promoted to battalion commanders. There is only one vacancy left for the battalion commander, and this vacancy is determined through a competition.
All sentinels can participate in the selection.
The competition is extremely fierce.
In the end, Yiwu Chen Dacheng became more and more courageous, won all the levels and became the last one laughing and the new captain.
This is a captain who has fought his way up, from a private to a sergeant, then to a sentry, and finally to a captain.
Especially in the competition for the captain position, he was at a disadvantage. He had just finished the selection for the sentinel and then started the selection for the captain, with no time to rest in between. Compared with the old sentinel who had rested his energy, he was not at an advantage in terms of physical strength and condition.
However, Chen Dacheng is worthy of being the man who can dominate Yiwu. He stood at the end with his exhausted body.
At this point, the selection of grassroots and middle-level officers of the Zhejiang Army was completed. After Zhu Ping'an announced the appointment of Chen Dacheng as the commander-in-chief, he solemnly introduced craftsmen and apprentices such as Ou Zhige and Zhang Hong to all the officers and soldiers of the Zhejiang Army, and announced the establishment of an equipment battalion on the basis of the original organization.
After announcing the establishment of the Equipment Battalion, Zhu Pingan continued to announce in public: "The main responsibilities of the Equipment Battalion are to make cotton armor and protective gear, cold weapons, and research firearms: Ou Zhige, Zhang Hong and their apprentices are responsible for the research and development of firearms, and the remaining craftsmen and apprentices are responsible for the research and development of cotton armor and protective gear and cold weapons. The current main task is to make cotton armor. The Equipment Battalion temporarily consists of 18 people, including five craftsmen including Ou Zhige and their apprentices. Ou Zhige, Zhang Hong and other five craftsmen enjoy the treatment of battalion commanders, and the remaining apprentices enjoy the treatment of sentry chiefs."
"Ah? A craftsman is actually treated as a battalion commander, and an apprentice is treated as a sentry commander? Isn't this too high?"
"They just do some work like burning firewood and forging iron, and they are treated so well right away?"
"Aren't they assisting us? They have to rely on us to fight the enemy. They are the ones who make fire and iron in the back while we fight the enemy in the front line. How come they are paid better than us?"
The soldiers had no objection to the establishment of the Equipment Battalion, but they had objections to the high salaries of the craftsmen and apprentices in the Equipment Battalion. They felt that the craftsmen and apprentices were no more than blacksmiths, so why were they paid higher salaries than them
"Soldiers, please do not feel unbalanced and think that I treat the craftsmen of the Equipment Battalion with favor. The ancients said: If the equipment is not good, the enemy will be defeated; if the equipment is strong and sharp, it will be invincible and will not be in danger in a hundred battles. Although the Equipment Battalion does not fight on the battlefield, their role is no less. The armor and protective gear made by the Equipment Battalion will be our second life on the battlefield, and the weapons they make, especially the firearms, will be our best weapons to fight bravely on the battlefield."
Zhu Pingan explained to everyone.
After listening to Zhu Ping'an's explanation, the resentment in the hearts of the Zhejiang Army soldiers gradually dissipated, and they began to understand Zhu Ping'an's good intentions. Armor and weapons do play a very important role on the battlefield. If they have a set of sturdy armor, it is equivalent to an extra life, and sharp weapons can greatly improve their combat effectiveness. They understood it after thinking about it this way.
Zhu Ping'an then emphasized to the craftsmen and apprentices, "Of course, your equipment battalion has generous treatment and heavy responsibilities. In addition to implementing disciplinary performance assessments, the equipment battalion must ensure the quality of the weapons and equipment it develops. Our Zhejiang Army follows the example of the previous dynasty and implemented the practice of engraving the name of the craftsman on the object, which means that the craftsmen must engrave their names on the weapons and equipment. This is an honor and a responsibility. The weapons and equipment you make with your own hands will accompany our Zhejiang Army soldiers to fight bravely and make achievements. Of course, if there are quality problems with the weapons and equipment, the craftsmen will be held accountable and severely punished according to the severity of the situation."
"We will not let you down, sir." Ou Zhige, Zhang Hong and other craftsmen as well as their apprentices responded loudly.
Upon hearing that the craftsmen not only had to undergo disciplinary assessments, but also had to engrave their names on weapons and equipment and assume joint liability to ensure the quality of the weapons and equipment, the slight resentment in the hearts of the soldiers completely disappeared.
Considering that the equipment battalion had only eighteen people, Zhu Ping'an ordered the logistics battalion to fully cooperate with the equipment battalion, provide them with people and materials, ensure the needs of the equipment battalion, speed up the production of cotton armor and other equipment, and equip the army as soon as possible.
The Japanese invasion situation is serious now. The Zhejiang Army may be rushed to the battlefield at any time, so armor and other equipment are very important.
The survival rate of a fully armored soldier on the battlefield is several times higher than that of an unarmored soldier!