Early the next morning, Deputy Chief of Staff Jiang personally arrived at the guesthouse to accompany everyone for breakfast.
After breakfast, they took a car to visit the military headquarters.
It wasn’t until they saw the engineering materials in the Honor Room of the 105th Army about the Linghai Reserve Camp and the 105th Army’s joint flood relief efforts during the 1998 floods that Li Guangrong realized that his future colleagues and many officers and soldiers of the 105th Army, including commanders like General Lu, truly had a life-and-death bond!
They ate lunch at the military cafeteria and in the afternoon, drove for over an hour to reach the 404th Division’s location.
The Division Commander and Political Commissioner not only personally received them, but also gathered over seventy officers and soldiers from those days battling the flood on the Jingjiang Embanknt for a reunion and photos.
They stayed at the 404th Division’s guesthouse overnight.
Deputy Chief of Staff Jiang, being the forr senior commander of the 404th Division, felt at ho there. After dinner, he accompanied everyone for a walk around the camp area.
On Sunday morning, the division’s Special Warfare Group had parachute training.
Deputy Chief of Staff Jiang also personally led everyone to the parachute site to watch the soldiers jump from helicopters...
To everyone’s surprise, they had arrived by car on Friday, but on the way back to Hanwu, they didn’t need a car; they took the helicopter that had just completed the parachute training!
They flew to a small military airport on the outskirts of Hanwu, then took a military vehicle back to the city party school.
This was Xiao Yu’s first ti in a helicopter. Upon returning to the party school with Han Yu, he couldn’t help but say, "You never know until you see it; it turns out the 105th Army really has planes. I thought Li Shousong and the others were just bragging."
Han Yu closed the door with a laugh and said, "You thought they only had three airborne divisions?"
"Yes."
"Actually, there’s more; they also have four independent regints."
"What do the four independent regints do?"
"There’s today’s Special Warfare Group that does the parachuting, the helicopter group that transports them, an independent transport regint, and a communications regint." Han Yu opened his bag, took out so clothes to change, and added with a smile, "Almost forgot, there’s also an independent engineering battalion."
"The 105th Army has engineers too!"
"Absolutely, Du Yuan is going to intern with the engineering battalion this sumr, and I expect after graduating, he’ll be assigned to the engineering battalion in his old unit."
Du Yuan was awarded military school admission for his skills as a bricklayer during the flood relief, and after graduation, his engineering battalion placent perfectly matched his expertise.
Xiao Yu realized and couldn’t help asking, "Salted Fish, we usually can’t afford to use boats to transport people, is it against regulations for General Lu and Deputy Chief of Staff Jiang to use helicopters to bring us back?"
Han Yu initially shared this concern and insisted on returning by car until Deputy Chief of Staff Jiang pulled him aside and said a few "words in secret," which reluctantly convinced him to take the helicopter.
Seeing Xiao Yu, who is usually quite carefree, also thought about this, Han Yu smiled and explained, "General Lu had us returned by helicopter. First, the Helicopter Group was already scheduled for night flight training tonight; second, General Lu wants to conduct joint exercises with the Special Warfare Group and took this opportunity for us to get acquainted."
"Joint exercises with us? We’re part of the Nanjing Military Region!"
"The Special Warfare Group is best at airborne military skills, mastering parachuting techniques, high-altitude jumps from nearly ten thousand ters, and ultra-low altitude jumps from less than 200 ters. These airborne exercises push the limits."
Han Yu took several deep breaths, recalling the fearlessness during training that morning, and continued, "But the Special Warfare Group is a special forces unit. It’s not enough to train just with airborne and army subjects; they also need navy training and even go to high-altitude and cold regions to adapt to harsh natural environnts!"
Xiao Yu asked astonished, "The Special Warfare Group trains in navy subjects too?"
"Five-hour sea swims and kiloter-long ard swimming cross."
"They’re paratroopers, not the Marine Corps."
"As said, they are paratroopers but also special forces, and trained for tri-services operations on land, sea, and air."
"Will they train in our region?"
"Yes, but before practical training, they need to start with progressive training."
"What is progressive training?"
"First, swim in a pool, then rivers, great lakes, and finally at sea. Ard crossing training is the sa. First, learn to swim in the river, then train in gear, with guns and grenades, and finally ard crossing at sea."
Han Yu straightened up, and the topic shifted, "They could find other instructors, but since we’ve fought alongside them, and our assault team hasn’t been officially disbanded yet. Deputy Chief of Staff Jiang attended exercises on Dongshan Island last year; he knows our expertise in these skills is comparable to the Marine Corps, so he wants to organize an ’event’ for us to send a few people to their Special Warfare Group as instructors."
Xiao Yu laughed, grinning broadly, "It’s just swimming; I can teach ard crossing!"
"You want to be an instructor?"
"Yes."
"I knew you would; I recomnded two people, one is you, and the other is Old Guo."
"You could only recomnd and Old Guo; Ma Jintao and Chen Jian can’t do it. They can swim, but expecting them to perform ard crossing is a joke."
"That’s why I could only choose the best from what’s available."
Being an instructor for the special forces is not an opportunity everyone gets!
The more Xiao Yu thought about it, the more excited he beca, urgently asking, "When do we go?"
"I just said progressive training needs to happen first. Many Special Warfare Group officers don’t even know how to swim yet, can’t just jump into sea training."
"But they’re part of the Guangzhou Military Region; if they go to sea for training, it would have to be the South Sea."
"Who said they’re part of the Guangzhou Military Region? They’re stationed in that defense zone but belong to the headquarters of the Air Force."
...
anwhile, Li Guangrong was in the dormitory calling Vice Director Zhang of the Changhang Police Bureau to report on his visit to the 105th Army with Han Yu.
Director Zhang listened and was secretly amazed, asking quietly, "Huang Yuanchang also went?"
"He was accompanying Salted Fish. While he did participate in flood relief, his main responsibility was logistics support. The military leaders only acknowledged Salted Fish. During als, Salted Fish sat next to the leaders, while he could only sit beside Salted Fish."
"Did the military leaders know he was the Deputy Director of the Changhang Bureau?"
"Yes, a regint leader transitioned to the Mariti Bureau last year, and the military leaders even toasted him, asking him to take care of that transitioning official."
"They knew he was a Vice Director Level official and still arranged for him to sit below Salted Fish?"
"Yes." Li Guangrong thought for a mont and added, "In the Changhang System, he’s a leader, but as soon as they arrive and the vehicle cos for Salted Fish, he becos Salted Fish’s ’escort.’ No matter where they toured on the base, he followed behind Salted Fish, almost carrying his bags."
Military leaders are also high-ranking officials.
Maintaining a good relationship with military leaders offers only advantages, not disadvantages.
If it weren’t for Salted Fish, how would Huang Yuanchang have the chance to beco a distinguished guest of the military leaders?
Vice Director Zhang realized, paused, and then chuckled, "Guangrong, if even soone like Huang Yuanchang shows so much respect to Salted Fish in certain situations, you should be clear on how to interact with and work alongside Salted Fish when you get to Binjiang, right?"
"I understand!"
"That’s good."
Vice Director Zhang paused again, then sighed, "I only knew about his achievents during flood relief and that he was a reserve officer. I never expected him to be so influential in the military. The Bureau leaders value him greatly; Deputy Minister Yuan even called personally a few days ago to ask if he was attending training, and his connections in Binjiang are even more impressive."
The Bureau never treated him as an ordinary Deputy Departnt Level officer, and you certainly can’t treat him like a re colleague. Soone like him will eventually reach higher leadership positions, likely even surpassing Huang Yuanchang in the future. Working with him, even just being under his leadership, offers only benefits for you."
Li Guangrong fully understood the earnestness of his experienced leader and quickly replied, "I understand, thank you, Director Zhang."
"No need to thank for that, just work hard when you get to Binjiang, consult Salted Fish openly when you face issues, and collaborate more with his work normally."
"Yes!"
...
For soone to thrive in their own field is already quite remarkable.
It’s amazing how Salted Fish manages such influence simultaneously in the transportation system, the military, and Binjiang.
After hanging up the phone, Li Guangrong quietly resolved to follow Salted Fish’s lead once he reached Binjiang.
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