Quartermasters can also fight the devils

Chapter 159: Quartermaster Department of War Zone 5

Xuzhou City, as an important transportation center on the Jinpu Road and also the headquarters of the Fifth War Zone, is currently quite prosperous. However, since the 102nd Division needed to reorganize its troops, it was arranged by the war zone to train in Wangjiajia, not far from Xuzhou City.

From that day on, Wangjiajia, a small town backed by Weishan Lake, became bustling. Every day, bursts of gunfire were heard from the direction of Weishan Lake. The people went from being terrified at the beginning to gradually getting used to it. Wangjiajia also became more prosperous because of the arrival of the 102nd Division. Even many vendors from Xuzhou city came here to open shops and do business.

The headquarters of the 102nd Division was set up in a three-story Western-style building in the city. It was originally owned by a local wealthy businessman. As the war between China and Japan officially broke out, the businessman fled to Southeast Asia with his entire family, and the house was naturally requisitioned by the 102nd Division.

Zhang Wenwu walked out of the small western-style building of the division headquarters holding the material approval slip issued by the theater command. His quartermaster department was in a yard next to the division headquarters. He had just received a batch of material approval slips from Chief of Staff Zhao Dong, which was allocated by the Fifth Theater Command to the 102nd Division. He needed to go to the theater warehouse in Xuzhou City quickly to get the materials, as the troops consumed a lot of materials during daily training.

Thirty minutes later, Zhang Wenwu, Cao Huaguo and a company of officers and soldiers from the division's special forces battalion boarded a train to Xuzhou. Wangjiajia was very close to Xuzhou and could be reached in about thirty minutes by train. In order to facilitate the rapid and convenient transportation of materials, the war zone directly placed the war preparedness warehouse near the train station.

Xuzhou Railway Station is the intersection of the Jinpu Railway and the Longhai Railway. Due to the war, the station now divides the platforms into civilian and military platforms. As soon as Zhang Wenwu and his men got off the train, they felt the hustle and bustle of Xuzhou Railway Station. The several civilian platforms opposite were crowded with ordinary people getting on and off the train, and there were also various small vendors hawking their wares on the platforms.

After Zhang Wenwu showed his officer ID and pass to the military police officer in charge of the military platform, he stuffed a pack of cigarettes into the officer's hand and asked him to send someone to lead the way, as he did not know the exact location of the war zone warehouse. The officer saw that it was a unit of the Central Army, and since he had received some benefits from them, he nodded and called a soldier to take Zhang Wenwu to the warehouse to handle official business.

After Zhang Wenwu successfully arrived outside the war zone warehouse, he asked the officers and soldiers of that company to rest outside first, and he took Cao Huaguo and walked into the warehouse of the war zone's quartermaster department after inspection.

"Reporting to the commander, I am Zhang Wenwu from the Quartermaster Department of the 102nd Division. I have been ordered by the division commander to come and collect the supplies allocated to our division by the war zone. Please check them." As soon as Zhang Wenwu arrived at the office of the director of the Quartermaster Department of the war zone, he stood at attention at the door and saluted loudly to report.

An officer with the rank of major general who was working behind a desk raised his head, looked at Zhang Wenwu and said, "Come in."

Zhang Wenwu walked to the desk with his head held high, saluted, and then placed the list of materials approved by the war zone on the desk with both hands.

The major general picked up the list and looked through it carefully. After a while, he said, "Lieutenant Colonel Zhang, let me introduce myself. I am He Rongfu, the director of the Quartermaster Department of the theater. You can take some of the supplies on this list right away. As for the guns and ammunition, I can only give you half of the supplies on the list. I will notify you to come and pick up the rest when the inventory is sufficient."

Zhang Wenwu was stunned. What do you mean? What the troops are most lacking now are guns and ammunition. How can I get rid of half of the supply if you hold it back? Although the troops have now incorporated and annexed troops and their number has reached 12,000, the guns of those incorporated and annexed troops are very poor, and they have almost no heavy weapons. If they are asked to use these weapons to fight the Japanese, wouldn't that be almost sending them to their deaths?

"Lieutenant Colonel Zhang, there are still very few supplies in stock in the war zone. Some of the troops assigned to my Fifth War Zone are on their way here. All troops are short of supplies now. I hope you can understand the difficulties of the war zone. Your division is a direct descendant of the Central Army, so its equipment is much better than that of many local troops and miscellaneous troops." He Rongfu simply explained the reason to Zhang Wenwu.

Zhang Wenwu understood from He Rongfu's explanation that Director He was from a local faction, and it was no wonder that the main force of the entire Fifth War Zone was composed of troops from various local factions. The commander-in-chief, for example, was a big shot of the Guangxi clique, the chief of staff was formerly from the Northeast Army, and the heads of various departments of the headquarters were basically from local factions. The 102nd Division was really conspicuous here. He also heard that the warehouse could fully meet the quantity requirements of firearms on his list, but it also needed to make certain supplements to those local troops that had not arrived at the war zone. Therefore, only half of the firearms and ammunition could be issued to the 102nd Division.

Zhang Wenwu was unhappy. How could he explain to Division Commander Huang and Chief of Staff Zhao Dong that you gave him half of the guns and ammunition? The troops are still waiting for the replacement of equipment. If he fails to do this, it would be a serious dereliction of duty. Moreover, it would be even more ridiculous to wait until the inventory in the war zone is sufficient before coming to collect them. When he becomes a general, the inventory will not be sufficient either.

"Director He, our division has suffered too much loss of weapons and equipment some time ago. Could you please replenish our equipment and guns first so that the troops can carry out training? As for other supplies, you can halve them, and as for the guns to be replenished to other troops, we can wait until new guns and ammunition arrive at the warehouse, and then replenish those troops. Do you think this will work?" Zhang Wenwu had no choice but to lower his posture with a smile and put forward his suggestion.

After hearing Zhang Wenwu's suggestion, Director He frowned a little unhappy, and then said: "Lieutenant Colonel Zhang, I have already decided on this matter. Other troops also need to be supplemented. We are all here to fight the Japanese. We can't favor one over the other."

When Zhang Wenwu heard this, he thought, well, now that this big hat has been put on, who can say anything? If he continues to talk about this, he will be accused of destroying the unity between the central and local governments. He had been thinking of giving some money to improve the relationship, but it seems that there is no need for that. After all, they are not in the same system, and people may not dare to accept the things he gives them.

He walked out of the office with the note signed by Director He. Cao Huaguo, who was waiting outside, quickly threw away the cigarette in his hand, ran to Zhang Wenwu and whispered, "Director Zhang, I have just greeted the warehouse's transport team. They will use a horse-drawn carriage to help us transport all the supplies to the platform."

In response to Cao Huaguo's report, Zhang Wenwu just nodded, then praised Cao Huaguo for his good work, and asked Cao Huaguo to find the officer in charge of receiving the supplies at the warehouse.

"Director Zhang, it seems that a lot of supplies on this list are missing, especially firearms and ammunition." Cao Huaguo took the list and took a look at it, and immediately found that the quantity on the list was very different from the quantity of supplies previously approved by the war zone.

Zhang Wenwu lit a cigarette and said helplessly, "Alas, the Fifth War Zone is also very poor. There are still so many troops that have not reported yet. They have to keep some for those miscellaneous troops to replenish. The weapons and ammunition can only be given to us half of the original approval."

Although Zhang Wenwu did not elaborate on what happened, Cao Huaguo understood a little bit of the twists and turns, so he leaned closer and whispered, "Director Zhang, I just chatted with the people in the transport team and found out that most of the people in the Fifth War Zone Quartermaster Department and the warehouse are from local forces, including their director. We Central Army soldiers here are definitely not treated as well as we were in Shanghai before. But I also found out that the deputy director of the Quartermaster Department, Liang Kejian, was sent by the Central Government. Why don't you go and talk to Deputy Director Liang? Who knows, he might help us because we are all from the Central Army."

When Zhang Wenwu heard that the deputy director was a member of the Central Army, he immediately thought that Cao Huaguo's suggestion was very good. He did not expect that Cao Huaguo had heard such good news. So he asked Cao Huaguo to ask the moving team where Deputy Director Liang's office was. Regardless of whether it was useful or not, he would definitely go and visit him, just in case.

"Report, I'm Zhang Wenwu from the Quartermaster Department of the 102nd Division, reporting in." Zhang Wenwu stood at attention at the door of Liang Kejian's office and reported.

Liang Kejian was sitting behind his desk smoking when he suddenly heard the report and was startled. He looked at Zhang Wenwu at the door and let him in.

"Deputy Director Liang, I'm Zhang Wenwu, Director of the Quartermaster Department of the 102nd Division of the th Army, reporting to you." As soon as Zhang Wenwu entered the office, he stood at attention and saluted.

Liang Kejian finally heard clearly what Zhang Wenwu said. It turned out that they were from the 102nd Division of the Central Army. No wonder they came to find him. You have to know that although he was the deputy director of the theater's quartermaster department, he was basically a mascot here. After all, the Fifth Theater was composed of troops from local factions, and the quartermaster department of this theater was basically occupied by people from local factions. He had always been excluded and suppressed by them.

"Hey, Director Zhang, please sit down. Come on, sit down. Don't be polite here. We are all from the Central Army. Don't be so formal." Liang Kejian stood up enthusiastically and asked Zhang Wenwu to sit on the sofa in the office. He also sat on the sofa and affectionately handed Zhang Wenwu a cigarette.

He was also very happy. He finally met people from the Central Army. From now on, he would have a troop to rely on in the war zone. He had been bullied by those bumpkins recently. How could he not be friendly to Zhang Wenwu when he saw him?

Zhang Wenwu took the cigarette handed over by Liang Kejian and sighed in his heart. It seemed that Deputy Director Liang was having a very unhappy time here. It was incredible that an officer with the rank of major general would take the initiative to hand him a cigarette.

"Deputy Director Liang, our 102nd Division has just reported to the Fifth War Zone. It was only when I came here to collect supplies that I learned that there was someone from our Central Army system in the Quartermaster Department of the Fifth War Zone, so I hurried over to report to you and ask for instructions." Zhang Wenwu also took the opportunity to get closer to Deputy Director Liang.

When Liang Kejian heard Zhang Wenwu's words, he was moved on the spot. Regardless of whether what Zhang Wenwu said was true or false, he felt very good that Zhang Wenwu came to him for instructions and reports. This was the first time he heard such comforting words since he came to the Fifth War Zone.

(Thanks to Zhi Xia Xia, KING kid, Duke Wei who loves beef jerky, You Ming who likes porcupines, Li Xun Le who loves stir-fried cowpeas, Lu Yi Lin who likes to chop melons, users, Tian Le, She loves milk tea when she has stomachache, and Mr. Bean is crazy for gifts! Thank you all for your support and encouragement!)