Chapter 885 - Joint Operations Command

Schneider walked beneath the scorching spring sun, sweating profusely as he carried his own luggage. As a Navy Lieutenant from a background emphasizing dress, etiquette, and bearing, his image—personally hauling baggage—stood out on the road. The Navy maintained specific regulations regarding the use of orderlies.

Navy Lieutenant Schneider had formerly been known as Shi Shisi. A certain elder in naval circles had felt the name Shi Shisi was too inauspicious and too bland—there were simply too many naturalized citizens named "So-and-so Fourteen" or "So-and-so Something-Something." So he was bestowed a new name. Schneider was immensely satisfied with it; it was far superior to the original "Fourteen," and he had secretly petitioned a scribe in East Gate Market to begin composing a genealogy for him.

Composing a genealogy was, in practice, fabricating one. Schneider came from humble origins, knowing only that his ancestors had all been fishing folk. To make the genealogy presentable, he needed to attach himself to famous figures—which required finding a learned "gentleman."

The first generation of elites among naturalized citizens had emerged; they had either secured military or administrative positions or struck it rich. After their fortunes turned, they inevitably succumbed to the vulgar desire to compile family histories and bring glory to their ancestors.

Knowing the "Chiefs" greatly detested ancestral halls, they dared not entertain thoughts of constructing ancestral shrines—moreover, most were outsiders who had recently arrived in Lingao alone, with no foundation for building any shrine locally. But fabricating genealogies featuring prominent ancestors brought substantial psychological satisfaction. Several ghostwriters in East Gate Market had made tidy sums from this trade.

Compared to other seasons, Schneider preferred Lingao's winter. In winter, temperatures dropped, allowing him to wear the smart, well-fitted Navy winter uniform—which made him feel like a person of distinction. The winter uniform was tailored from thin woolen cloth purchased from Westerners, without a single wrinkle. The Navy Distinguished Service Medal hung polished and gleaming on his chest, earned for counter-espionage and combat performance during the Pearl River Estuary Campaign. The Navy was intent on distinguishing itself from the Army rustics regarding medal designations, resolutely avoiding generic labels like "Class X Merits" and pursuing ornate, professional medal nomenclature. Now whenever Schneider ventured out, he invariably wore his full Navy officer uniform and complete set of decorations. The various admiring and awed glances on the road filled his heart with satisfaction.

As part of his reward, and as preparation for the military struggles preceding the upcoming "Operation Engine," Schneider was recommended to attend the naval officer promotion training held at Bopu.

Compared to the punishing Naval Engineering and Tactical Command courses, Schneider preferred Seamanship and Leadership courses. He was skilled in the former, while the latter made him feel like a true officer. Compared to being beaten senseless in map exercises, Lieutenant Schneider thoroughly demonstrated to the greenhorns what a veteran was in live drills—though those young rascals learned quickly after suffering a few losses.

After the three-month fully closed intensive training concluded, he was promoted to Navy Lieutenant. Two days after returning home, paper orders summoned him to Ma'niao Fort for short-term training—what the Chiefs called on-the-job training.

The notice listed no specific subject names. Schneider understood this was for "secrecy," but he was certain this temporary training was nine times out of ten connected to the recent active war preparations.

The Fubo Army was preparing for war—though this preparation wasn't as massive as before the Second Counter-Encirclement Campaign. Schneider grasped this every time he took sailors to the shipyard for "support labor": he had never seen so many large ships under simultaneous construction. Some new vessels, though not comparable to the Holy Ship in displacement, exceeded the largest Western galleons he had ever encountered. Various ship materials piled up mountain-high in factories; workers toiled without rest, laboring day and night.

Sailors had been drilling since the New Year. In the squadron he commanded, sailors on every special service boat had been reduced by half, vacancies filled with raw recruits fresh from boot camp. Clearly, the transferred sailors were personnel preparations for the new ships.

At the recruit camp, Schneider discovered some old acquaintances from his pirate days; they had all been gathered during the recent recruitment expansion. There were men from Zhu Kailao's subordinates, and subordinates of other defeated sea lords. Many had fled back to their hometowns after the "Great Gang" collapsed, but lacking means of livelihood. Recruitment officers, working from data gathered through captive interrogations and conversations, led by former pirate chiefs who had defected to naturalized status, recruited these scattered soldiers and stragglers extensively along the Guangdong and Guangxi coasts.

Clearly, if not for expanding the Navy, the Chiefs wouldn't recruit so many hands at once.

It seems we're going to fight again, Schneider thought.

When he arrived at Ma'niao Fort pier aboard a Navy transport boat, the place was completely transformed. The Ma'niao Peninsula had become the Elder Council's core heavy industry base, and the original Ma'niao Army Base had been formally upgraded to "Ma'niao Fort."

According to the new military system, army base locations were all suffixed with "Fort." This new regulation was considered the formal infiltration of "American School" bad taste into the Army and Navy system, following the "German School," "Soviet School," and "Japanese School."

The gun tower that once served as He Ming's Field Army Headquarters had vanished, replaced by enormous bamboo fences and massive buildings scattered within. Ma'niao Fort occupied a vast area; inside and outside the walls were distributed several barracks and various Army technical training grounds. The road network was substantially complete. Army soldiers conducting drill and tactical training could be seen everywhere.

The entire Ma'niao Fort was a military restricted zone. Schneider's orderly was blocked at the first sentry post—the reporting certificate didn't include the orderly's name. Thus Lieutenant Schneider could only carry his luggage and continue alone. Arriving at the main gate, two large wooden signs with black characters on white background hung there: Ma'niao Fort Army Base, Joint Operations Command.

The Joint Operations Command was a recently established command organ, replacing the duties of the former temporary Field Army General Headquarters. Currently, the Field Army maintained a long-term state of security warfare and garrison duty; there had to be an organ coordinating and commanding the Navy, Army, and all other armed forces.

Similar needs had been preliminarily proposed during the Southern Qiongzhou security war. If in Northern Qiongzhou the Navy's main task was transporting Army troops and supplies, in Southern Qiongzhou, naval operations were no longer as simple as ferrying the Army ashore. They frequently needed to join combat personally—villages in Southern Qiongzhou counties were almost exclusively spread along the coast, and bandit and warlord forces often utilized boats for maneuver.

Considering the characteristics of the upcoming "Operation Engine" requiring joint Army-Navy action—the General Staff had concluded from several strategic exercises that for a considerable phase, Fubo Army military operations would constitute joint Army-Navy operations along the coastline—establishing a cross-service Joint Operations Command became essential.

The newly established Joint Operations Command was situated in Ma'niao Fort. It fell under the jurisdiction of the Military Affairs Directorate, composed jointly of personnel dispatched by the Army General Staff and Navy Admiralty, and operationally commanded by the General Staff.

Schneider followed signs along the newly paved road to the compound housing the Joint Operations Command.

Several Army clerks and officers stood at the command entrance handling reception. Yang Zeng was among them. Due to excellent performance during the Chengmai Campaign, Yang Zeng had also been recommended to attend the officer promotion training course at Ma'niao Fort. He had likewise recommended his orderly Wei Darong to attend NCO training.

After experiencing closed training, Yang Zeng felt the Chiefs' lives were extraordinarily busy—not a single elder officer had leisure time. Whenever Yang Zeng encountered them, they were either on the training ground, in classrooms, or holding endless meetings.

Naturally, he was busy too. As a naturalized officer about to be promoted to vice battalion commander, Yang Zeng had too many subjects to master. He not only had to cram cultural courses but also acquire higher-level, more complex combat subject training and logistical organization support.

He occasionally missed the leisurely days of hugging a matchlock musket and sunbathing uselessly at Gou Family Village. Seeing Schneider approaching in that crisp Navy dress uniform with the eye-catching Navy Distinguished Service Medal, Yang Zeng unconsciously straightened his back, wearing his Class II Military Merit Medal and Special Grade Marksman Skill Badge on his chest.

Schneider was among the latest arriving batch; the entire Ma'niao Fort guesthouse was full. Yang Zeng had to arrange for Schneider and others to stay temporarily in vacated barracks.

Nearly one hundred Army and Navy officers were summoned to Ma'niao Fort simultaneously. They were all naturalized officers circled by the General Staff Cadre Department to participate in "Operation Engine."

The environment facing "Operation Engine" was extraordinarily complex. At sea, they had to pass through territory controlled by Liu Xiang and Zheng Zhilong. The Dutch and Spanish also wielded power in the Taiwan Strait—a necessary route. Except for the Dutch, who had just signed a trade agreement, all other forces were "unfriendly."

On land, despite Zhao Yingong paving the way and building relationships, predicting what problems would arise when transporting massive numbers of refugees directly under the Ming Dynasty's nose was impossible. Especially when involving themselves in the Dengzhou Rebellion—collecting and transporting refugees on a chaotic battlefield.

In this environment, action without sufficient military protection was impossible. In the process of organizing marching and camping for masses of refugees, a well-trained army could play an enormous role—without trained soldiers responsible for organizing and leading, tens of thousands of refugees probably couldn't form orderly columns to move. When the plan for "Operation Engine" began formulation, the Planning Commission had secretly consulted the Army and Navy People's Commissars regarding the number of ships and troops that could be mobilized at that time.