Chapter 338: Three generations of father and son join the army
In the open space next to the German engineers, more than a hundred Han soldiers were either on guard with guns or holding hands. According to the requirements of the Germans, surveying and mapping poles were set up every few dozen meters.
Responsible for protecting the German engineers was a company drawn from the Han Field Army, and the company commander was Lu Rongting, who had just been promoted to captain.
After Lu Rongting arranged the tasks of his soldiers properly, he chatted with the officials who were accompanying the engineers for a few words, then found an opportunity to sit under the camphor tree alone, took out a thick record book, and began to organize the company's war records.
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Combat records are not only used to record the combat and training conditions of a unit, as evidence for statistics on the combat achievements of soldiers and officers, but also as a first-hand real case to summarize and reflect on the lessons learned and improvements in each battle.
Each company and battalion-level unit of the National Defense Force has its own war record
Usually, the company and battalion commanders compile combat records and soldier reward and punishment data, and then submit them to the division-level headquarters of the combat unit to which they belong. The division-level headquarters then reviews and determines the authenticity of the rewards and punishments. Finally, the division headquarters
The list of meritorious officers and soldiers of the entire division will be reported to the General Staff Headquarters. At the same time, the division headquarters will sort out combat events with educational and reflective significance into the division headquarters' battle history records and preserve them as part of the battle history of division-level military units.
He opened the war record book and carefully browsed through the list of meritorious soldiers page by page. When he turned to the fifth page, Lu Rongting was curious and couldn't help but stay for a few more minutes on the introduction of a deputy platoon-level officer.
"Yan Zhengping, 31 years old, deputy platoon leader of the second company of the sixth battalion of the first regiment of the third division, with the rank of second lieutenant. During the Argentine War, he killed and wounded three Argentine soldiers, killed one white British soldier, and captured four Indian indigenous soldiers.
He was wounded once and was awarded second-class merit twice and first-class merit once. On October 28, 1879, he was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant with the approval of the division headquarters."
Yan Zhengping's military exploits were considered above average among the company, but this was not the reason why Lu Rongting paid special attention. What really aroused his interest was the introduction of Yan Zhengping's family situation.
"Yan Zhengping was born in a Chinese immigrant family in southern Fujian. In 1873, he moved to South America with his father and brother. There are 4 brothers in the family and 13 children, daughters and nephews. His father, brother, brother, and nephews have a total of 9 people who enlisted in the army. His father is 47 years old.
He joined the army in his early years and retired in 1877 with the rank of lieutenant and deputy company commander. At the end of 1878, he was re-enlisted and served as deputy battalion commander of the garrison with the temporary rank of captain. After the war in Argentina, he was promoted to major and battalion-level officer and transferred to the militia reserve.
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The eldest son, Jing An, was 16 years old. He was a soldier of the third battalion and fifth company of the first regiment of the fourth division of the field army. He joined the army in early 1879. During the war, he captured an Argentine soldier. He was awarded second-class merit once and was awarded the rank of first-class private..."
Three generations of father, brother, and nephew joined the army at the same time. This was the first time for Lu Rongting to see this situation. However, after reading Yan Zhengping's family introduction, although there was still some curiosity, it was not as strong as at the beginning.
Yan Zhengping's father got married at the age of fourteen and gave birth to his eldest son the next year. Before immigrating to South America, Yan's father, who was in his early forties, had a total of five sons and three daughters. However, one son and two daughters died due to famine, disease and other reasons. After arriving in South America,
, the remaining four sons, one daughter, grandson, and granddaughter had enough to eat, and then they multiplied into a large family of more than 20 people, including wives, sons, daughters, daughters-in-law, grandsons, and granddaughters.
Early marriage and early childbearing lead to many children and grandchildren. The common people at the bottom have nothing. The children they are born can only feed themselves with coarse grains. As long as they can live to the age of eleven or twelve, it will be an extra labor force for the family, and the whole family can grow by working in the fields.
The rations can also be used to continue the incense and pass on the family business.
The lower-class Chinese immigrated to South America. Although they did not have to eat enough and endure hunger every day as before, the idea and custom of having more children was still firmly passed down under the influence of the government's deliberate propaganda and family values.
Ordinary Chinese families, unless there are special circumstances, have at least three children. For each additional child, the government will allocate an additional five acres of good arable land or thirty to one hundred acres of pasture and woodland. If the number of children is less than three within seven years of marriage,
First, officials come to urge you. If you don't change, part of the land will be taken back as punishment.
There are many benefits to having more children. Having fewer children will not only give you less land than other families, but also lag behind other families in the competition for the next generation. Therefore, in South America, brothers like Yan Zhengping have many children and nephews, and three generations
The phenomenon of joining the army at the same time will become more common in the future. By that time, if you have more experience, you may not be so curious about similar phenomena.
After staying under the tree for about half an hour, Lu Rongting put away the war record book and was about to get up when he saw Wang Shizhen walking away. Wang Shizhen was younger than Lu Rongting and was promoted after the war.
As a lieutenant and deputy company commander, he stays in the same company as Lu Rongting and is usually responsible for assisting Lu Rongting in handling company affairs.
"Company Commander, it will take the Germans about ten minutes to complete the surveying and mapping work. Mr. Zhou asked me to inform you to arrange for the troops to gather in advance."
"Okay, let the first and second platoons on the security mission withdraw. The third platoon will help the Germans collect the surveying and mapping instruments. Instruct the brothers in the third platoon to be careful and don't pull down any bits and pieces."
"Yes, company commander, I will send someone down immediately."
After arranging the task, Lu Rongting saw that the other party was still standing there and asked, "Is there anything else?"
"Company Commander, the results of my last application have come out. The division headquarters has given me an order, asking me to pack my things and report to Chang'an City within half a month. Then I will take a transport ship of the Ocean Shipping Company and go to Songkhla with the 60 people.
The junior officers who served as military instructors left together."
"Have you thought it through?"
"I have been thinking about it for a month before submitting the application to be transferred to serve in the Nanyang Army. The Argentine War is over, and the local army has been downsized and reorganized. Even if it stays in the mainland, there has been no war in recent years. The situation in Nanyang is more complicated than that in the mainland.
There might be a fight with the indigenous armed forces at some point. Although the conditions in Nanyang are a bit tougher, there are more opportunities to fight, so I want to serve there for a while and find an opportunity to ask someone to help my mother and aunt from there.
Take it back from Dalu."
"After His Highness the King of Han ascends the throne and proclaims himself emperor, the Manchu and Qing court will definitely become more wary of Han. You are serving as a soldier in South America and leaving your two aunts in the mainland. If the news leaks out, the Qing court secretly investigates and finds out something.
, the situation of the two aunts is in danger."
6 Rong Ting nodded understandingly and said, "The Military Intelligence Department has a branch in Nanyang. The Ministry of Intelligence has always been responsible for receiving the families of local officers and soldiers left in the area. After you arrive in Nanyang, you can first go to Mr. Mei.
Explain your situation clearly to Mr. Mei, and Mr. Mei will help you contact the person in charge of the Military Intelligence Department on the mainland, and the Military Intelligence Department will come forward to take the two aunts out of the mainland."
"Thank you, Brother Lu, for reminding me. It would be more convenient if the Intelligence Department came directly to pick up my mother and aunt from the mainland."
Visiting and finding family members of officials stranded in the continent is one of the main tasks of the Military Intelligence Department. However, because the Military Intelligence Department acts in a secretive manner, not many people know the details.
6 Rong Ting only found out brief information about the Intelligence Department’s visit to find the families of soldiers who died during the 1868 uprising when he was checking the company’s early war records. Only then did he have a partial understanding of the Military Intelligence Department’s intelligence work in Nanyang.
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The Ministry of Military Intelligence's search for relatives of officers and soldiers left behind in the mainland is semi-public information. Generally, only officers at battalion level and above and some officers and soldiers with family members in the mainland know about it. Ordinary officers and soldiers at the grassroots level do not pay special attention to it, and it is difficult to learn relevant information.
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The action of visiting the relatives of officers and soldiers stranded in the mainland originated from a promise made by Li Mingyuan during the Chinese workers' uprising in Peru in 1868. The Chinese workers were in a difficult situation at that time, and ordinary Chinese workers had no confidence in the success of the uprising. In order to stabilize the morale of the military and solve the worries of the Chinese workers,
Li Mingyuan solemnly promised to give each of the revolting Chinese workers 300 to 1000 acres of land. Even if the revolting Chinese workers unfortunately died in the battle, Li Mingyuan would personally hand over the land belonging to them to their living relatives.
The Chinese laborers moved thousands of miles away to fight. After establishing themselves in the two states of southern Brazil, in order to fulfill his promise to the rebellious Chinese laborers, Li Mingyuan sent more than ten groups of people to the mainland. On the one hand, based on the home address information left by the fallen Chinese laborers in the uprising, he searched for the remains of
Families in various regions of the continent, on the other hand, establish a regional intelligence network on the continent to lay the foundation for subsequent immigration and intelligence collection.
Eleven years have passed. Except for a small number of the families of the Chinese workers who died or survived in the uprising, most of them were brought to South America to live in South America. Li Mingyuan fulfilled the promise he made and explored the lives of the officers and soldiers.
The operation of relatives stranded in the mainland has also become a fixed task of the Ministry of Intelligence and continues.