Early that morning, Battalion Commander Luo held a meeting for our company in the yard in front of our house.
The meeting was organized simply and quickly. A table and a stool were put on the table, and two cups of tea were placed on the table. A small speaker was placed on the table to serve as a podium. That was where Camp Commander Luo and the instructor sat.
As for us...because there was no place to find so many stools at the moment, we just found someone to put wooden blocks or other things on the bed and sat down.
"Comrades!" Camp Commander Luo seemed to be in good spirits, so it was a good thing to take care of this meeting. Sure enough, Commander Luo said next: "This is the merit evaluation meeting of the Second Company, because the Second Company performed well on the battlefield.
The superior will mark the second company's collective first-class merit twice and second-class merit once!"
"Okay!" The soldiers applauded loudly. You must know that it is very good to get a second-class collective merit on this battlefield, but our company got three in one go, and there are two more among them.
It's first-class merit.
"Comrades!" Battalion Commander Luo continued: "This is the honor of the Second Company. It was earned by hundreds of soldiers of the Second Company with their sweat, blood and lives. These honors and deeds will be recorded in the military history of the Second Company.
The second company is an example for future generations to learn from. I am proud to have been a member of the second company. On behalf of the motherland and the people, I thank you!"
After saying that, Captain Luo and the instructor both stood up and saluted us with a military salute.
With a "wow" sound, there was another round of applause from the audience. But for some reason, the soldiers couldn't help but shed tears while applauding.
I'm afraid everyone is thinking the same thing as me... Those comrades who died on the battlefield should also see this scene!
"Comrades!" The instructor paused and then continued what Camp Commander Luo said: "The superiors considered that the Second Company was fighting on the front line and had repeatedly made military exploits, so they gave the Second Company a 70% merit rating. You must know that other front-line troops
There is only a fifty-five percent merit rating, which is also an honor for the Second Company... Originally, Captain Liu planned to tell you the good news in person, but because the Vietnamese troops on the front line have not been completely cleared, he couldn't get away.
Commander Liu asked me to give you a message: I wish the comrades of the Second Company to kill more Japanese and make more contributions on the battlefield in the future!"
"Okay!" The venue burst into warm applause again.
Then there is the individual merit evaluation. The so-called merit evaluation... Strictly speaking, the soldiers are asked to select special, first, second, and third-class merit candidates in proportion. How to choose? For example, there are twenty people in the first-class merit.
, then select the twenty people with the greatest military merit...and then select those with second-class and third-class merit.
Since you have to choose like this...then of course you have to put everyone's military achievements on display and compare them.
But despite saying that, no one would actually do it.
Let’s talk about the reasons... Firstly, it’s because most of us go to the battlefield not because of military merit. Honor is a strange thing. Sometimes it still exists even if there is no military medal. For example, now we only need to report the number of the second company.
Many troops will look at us differently... This is honor, and it will not be less or more based on whether or not we have received several grades of merit.
Secondly, there is an unwritten rule on the front line, that is, there are three concessions in merit evaluation: first to martyrs, second to wounded, and third to rural soldiers. Martyrs are given to comfort their fallen comrades and their families, and wounded are given to others.
Those who can rely on military merit to find a job can be taken care of, and those who are really unable to work may also receive more subsidies or psychological comfort. The purpose of rural soldiers... is to enable them to convert from agriculture to non-agriculture.
So even though our superiors gave us a share-sharing ratio of up to 70%, it was basically gone after such a concession.
"Let me make a suggestion!" Wang Kechang raised his hand timidly and said: "Battal commander, instructors, comrades! This second-class merit... I deserve it... I'd better give this second-class merit to others!"
"Comrade Wang Kechang!" Battalion Commander Luo said with some surprise: "You deserve this. How can you say you deserve it?"
"Battal Commander!" Wang Kechang explained: "Ren Liangliang said... Our company commander with the greatest military merit was awarded third-class merit. How can we have the nerve to accept second-class merit?"
"Yes, battalion commander!" Then Bayonet also stood up: "I am also a second-class meritorious officer, and I am still in front of the company commander... This feels bad!"
"Let me say... at least give the company commander first-class merit!"
…
"Comrades!" I stood up and said, "I appreciate everyone's kindness, but you also know that all first-class meritorious service members are martyrs. Do you want me to compete with the martyrs?"
When I said this, the soldiers fell silent. After a long time, Xiao Shitou said: "Then you must have at least a second-class meritorious service. Company commander, I will give you my second-class meritorious service!"
"What do you mean?" Li Zuolong glared at Xiao Shitou: "If the company commander wants second-class merit, do you still need to give it to me? When will it be your turn?"
"I...I didn't mean that!" Xiao Shitou touched his head awkwardly, not knowing what to say.
"In short, just one sentence!" Li Zuolong said: "If the company commander cannot be rated as a second-class meritorious officer, no one will dare to ask for the second-class meritorious service!"
"Yes! I feel uncomfortable if I ask for it!"
…
Camp Commander Luo looked at me with a smile, and I could only nod helplessly, so he put me on the list for second-class merit.
In fact, let me say... This method of allocating military merit according to proportion is really unscientific. If hundreds of thousands of people in the entire army are really required to evaluate their merits, all the veterans of our second company can be counted as first-class merit, and the recruits can be counted as second-class merit.
It’s not too much to wait for merit.
But now that I am commenting like this... my overall military merit has been lowered by a notch.
Moreover, there will be a problem in this kind of evaluation. For example, some troops have never even been on the front line, but there are also 20% or 30% of them... You must know that troops who have never been on the battlefield rarely reduce their numbers, very few
Reducing the number of troops means that there is no replacement of troops, so the ratio of 2% to 20% seems very low, but in fact the probability of being awarded military merit is higher than ours.
So... after the war, this problem arose: We fought life and death on the front line. Some soldiers even had the experience of killing more than a dozen Vietnamese Japanese, but they were only rated as second-class merit, while some troops were only
Just killing a Vietnamese militiaman will give you first-class merit...
This is not to say that this military achievement is compared to anything else. First of all, the soldiers will definitely be somewhat psychologically unbalanced, and secondly, it will cause a lot of misunderstandings.
Later, something like this happened to our company. A demobilized soldier came all the way to the company headquarters and asked us to give him a certificate proving that he had killed more than a dozen Vietnamese soldiers on the battlefield.
The reason is that the villagers thought he was bragging... Everyone said that a soldier in the same village killed a Vietnamese militiaman and captured a prisoner and was awarded first-class merit. You have fought so many great victories and killed so many people.
What a devil...why is he still a second-class meritorious person? So even if he is full of words, he can't explain clearly. Not only did this young man not get the honor he deserved for his military merit, but he also got the title of a bullshit king. Even the employer felt that this young man
Not pragmatic, love to be exaggerated...
This is all a matter for later. The military merits were evaluated at this moment. After that, Battalion Commander Luo sent each of us a Zhang Ligong application form, which was to write down the name, place of origin, combat deeds, etc. and then get it.
Something that needs to be approved by the higher authorities.
I never cared much about these things, so I casually wrote down a few battle cases and submitted them.
Unexpectedly, Camp Commander Luo was stunned when he saw the form I handed in: "Hey... I said you Yang Xuefeng, you really don't show your face... You have good handwriting! Education level... what? Bachelor's degree?
What is a bachelor’s degree?”
"Huh?" I couldn't help but be startled when I heard this. It was easy to write. I had filled in information this way in the past, so I didn't think much about it just now.
You must know that the college entrance examination system was abolished in the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Although there were still college students, they were all recommended by workers, peasants and soldiers... Therefore, there was no such thing as "undergraduate" or "junior college" in this era. No wonder Camp Commander Luo would
have no idea.
"This..." I hesitated for a while, then said: "I wrote it wrong, it's high school... high school..."
So I took another form and wrote a new one.
Just like this, the soldiers started talking about it:
"It turns out that the company commander is also a high school student!"
"We thought there was only one scholar!"
"Why didn't the company commander say anything?"
"Company Commander, please be kind!"
"No wonder the company commander's brain is so easy to use and he always comes up with good ideas when fighting!"
…
Hearing this, I couldn't help but sigh in my heart: What's this all about, am I kind? Is my brain good because I am a high school student?
The most annoying thing was the scholar. As soon as he heard about this, he rushed to shake my hand: "Company commander, we have one thing in common again. Which high school did you graduate from?"
My #$*$#%#……
The application for meritorious service was approved very quickly. Surprisingly, most of them were approved except for mine.
Battalion Commander Luo pulled me aside with a smile and said: "That's a good thing! When the application form arrived at the division headquarters, the political office of the division headquarters called and said what happened. Comrade Yang Xuefeng's deeds were reported in the newspaper
, such as the field hospital against the Vietnamese agents, and the brave rescue of stragglers... So many heroic deeds are still second-class merit? No! Re-evaluate... There must be at least a first-class merit. What? Not enough places? Not enough.
Add one more!"
"What?" I couldn't help but be stunned when I heard this.
What surprised me was not the evaluation of first-class merit. In fact, I had never taken it to heart. What surprised me was that as the political office of the division...it would actually be involved in the evaluation of a company commander's merit!
There seems to be no flaw in talking about this matter. After all, my story has indeed spread in the army. But I know one thing... many things these days are not about strength but relationships.
So how could such a good thing happen to me out of thin air? (To be continued.)