The expeditionary force began to dominate Southeast Asia by recruiting defeated soldiers

Tan Zhijie, the former lieutenant colonel staff officer of the newly formed 219th Division, also benefited from this reorganization.

He has now been appointed chief of staff of the reorganized 212th Division, and with promotion in his position, his military rank has also been raised from lieutenant colonel to colonel.

Although the official rank remained unchanged, this was commonplace within the White Party system—many divisional and corps commanders at the rank of major general or lieutenant general remained at the official rank of lieutenant colonel or colonel. (The White Party operated a dual-track military rank system, with positional ranks corresponding to positions. Official rank, however, was awarded by the Personnel Bureau and held a very high value, so promotions to general were rare.)

At this moment, he was sitting at his desk, staring at the organizational table of the reorganized infantry regiment of the 212th Division drafted by Zhang Chi, his heart in turmoil.

In the basic 12-man infantry squad, the squad leader, the deputy squad leader and two scouts continued to use submachine guns and M1 carbines, providing the squad with excellent close combat firepower.

The two-man light machine gun crew continued to use the Bren light machine gun to provide long-range suppressive fire. (The m1919A4 Browning was a bit heavier than the Bren, so they did not change.)

What caught Tan Zhijie's attention the most was that the remaining six infantrymen in the class were all equipped with the White Eagle Army's semi-automatic M1 Garand rifles.

He had personally seen a demonstration of this rifle at a shooting range, and the semi-automatic rifle's crazy rate of fire and firepower output easily conquered him.

He firmly believed that with just two of these semi-automatic rifles, the infantry of the 212th Division could easily suppress seven or eight Japanese riflemen with bolt-action rifles.

In comparison, the Japanese 13-man infantry squad was poorly equipped - 8 single-shot rifles, 4 pistols, and 1 light machine gun.

The infantry platoon level remains the same as the previous independent regiment period, with the three infantry squads under its command remaining unchanged.

At the infantry company level, Zhang Chi never stopped pursuing the ultimate in firepower.

In addition to the three infantry platoons, each infantry company also has an additional 28-man heavy weapons platoon.

重武器排内分别有装备了2门60迫的迫击炮分队和3挺m1919A4勃朗宁7.62mm 机枪与1挺M2HB 12.7mm重机枪的机枪分队。

Tan Zhijie, who had fought countless battles with the Japanese, knew very well that this new weapons platoon would give the 212th Division an overwhelming firepower advantage over the Japanese at the company/squadron level.

(The Japanese had only nine grenade launchers as heavy weapons in a 181-man infantry squadron. The battalion's machine gun squadrons each had twelve Type 92 heavy machine guns, but the infantry squadrons themselves had no heavy machine guns.)

Adhering to the "firepower first" army-building concept, at the battalion level, in addition to the three regular infantry companies, Zhang Chi also added a heavy weapons company with three platoons under its command to each battalion.

重武器连中的防空排装备了2辆价值700银狮币的M13自行防空炮；机枪排则装备了4挺M2HB 12.7mm重机枪；迫击炮排则装备了6门60迫。

除此之外，每个营还下辖1个装备了大功率电台的通讯排、1个全员装备卡宾枪与冲锋枪的尖兵排、一个装备4门约翰 QF 2磅（40mm）反坦克炮的反坦克排。

As the basic tactical unit of the future 212th Division, the newly organized infantry battalion of more than 1100 people not only completely surpasses the firepower of a regiment or even a brigade of the previous National Army in terms of heavy firepower.

(Except for the German-equipped divisions, the heavy firepower of the reorganized divisions in Songhu is generally more than 10 82/60 mortars. The 75 mountain and field guns are only available at the army/group army level)

甚至也完全超越鬼子一个大队的火力。（鬼子一个大队的重武器就2门步兵炮，12挺重机枪。鬼子在联队/团这个级别才有4门75山炮，6门37速射炮。）

"We are creating a new way of fighting, where firepower overwhelms everything." Tan Zhijie muttered to himself as he looked at the data on the paper, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

Before his eyes appeared a scene of a future battlefield where the soldiers of the 212th Division suffocated the enemy with their overwhelming firepower.

However, as the chief of staff in charge of training, he was also very clear that although the weapons on the list had been stored in the warehouse, the combat effectiveness of the entire 212th Division had not improved compared to the independent regiment period.

Due to the rapid expansion of the entire 212th Division, in fact, except for the first battalion of each regiment composed of veterans, there are enough technical arms to operate weapons such as machine guns, mortars, and self-propelled anti-aircraft guns.

The remaining two infantry battalions in each regiment were almost entirely composed of recruits. These recruits could not even perform the most basic rifle maintenance, let alone operate light machine guns in short bursts, which were relatively simple techniques and tactics.

Therefore, Tan Zhijie, full of anxiety, rushed to the office of the commander Zhang Chi.

In the office, Zhang Chi had just sent the artillery regiment commander who came to him to ask for veterans and overseas Chinese youth to pass through the mountain cannon, when he saw the chief of staff Tan Zhijie who came in hurriedly.

He asked doubtfully, "Chief of Staff Tan? Please sit down first. Has something gone wrong with the reorganization?"

Zhang Chi still had great respect for this senior from the Whampoa Military Academy who he had forced into conscription to serve as chief of staff.

Since Tan Zhijie arrived, his troops have become well organized from top to bottom, and all kinds of paperwork have been handled very promptly, saving Zhang Chi a lot of energy.

Looking at Senior Tan's short hair, which seemed to have become a little sparse due to overwork, Zhang Chi said distressedly, "Xiao Qi, quickly pour our Senior Tan a glass of honey and wolfberry water. Remember to put more wolfberries in it."

After Tan Zhijie sat down, he took the steaming cup of water from Xiao Qi, took a sip, and quickly said:

"Commander, our pace of military expansion is a bit too fast."

Although the person in front of him was his junior, as a traditional soldier, Tan Zhijie still respectfully called him "Master".

"The veterans are spending their time adapting to the new semi-automatic rifles, mortars, and large-caliber heavy machine guns. The new recruits in our newly formed infantry battalions simply don't have enough instructors to train them."

"It's not possible to use the old to lead the new? Let's split up the old soldiers and distribute them evenly to each battalion. If one old soldier leads three new soldiers, won't we be able to form combat effectiveness?" Zhang Chi told the method of rapid expansion of the Eighth Route Army in his memory.

"This method is good, but it's not suitable for our 212th Division." Tan Zhijie agreed at first, then analyzed, "After splitting up the old battalions, our army's overall combat effectiveness will decline significantly for a long time."

Zhang Chi nodded when he heard this.

Indeed, in his memory, the combat effectiveness of the Eighth Route Army after the major expansion was much lower than when it only had three main divisions. As a result, it even suffered some defeats in the face of the Japanese attack.

Looking at the somewhat reserved Tan Zhijie in front of him, Zhang Chi knew that this was because his subordinates were afraid of saying the wrong thing and angering him after he was promoted to major general, so he spoke directly:

"Senior Tan, I'm very grateful to you for staying and helping me manage the Independent Regiment when it needed you most. Although I've been promoted now, our friendship remains unchanged. Just speak frankly."

Seeing that his leader showed no displeasure, Tan Zhijie continued, "Before, you led the team to attack the airport and capture the mine. The Japanese must have held a grudge against us."

"At this juncture when the Japanese may invade at any time, I still suggest maintaining the organization of the three veteran battalions and not disbanding them. This way, we can still have a strong army in hand to face the Japanese attack."

When Zhang Chi heard this suggestion, he tapped the table lightly and fell into deep thought.

The shortage of veterans and inadequate training of new recruits are indeed the biggest bottlenecks in the current expansion of the 212th Division. Once the veterans begin to be dispersed and redistributed, the 212th Division will experience a "vacuum period" in which its combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced.

Although combat effectiveness will slowly recover as the new recruits gradually complete their training, this "vacuum period" of several months is indeed very dangerous.

If the Japanese took the opportunity to launch a large-scale siege on his base, there would even be a risk of total collapse.

Zhang Chi stopped banging on the table and said seriously, "Senior Tan, you're right. My original idea was hasty. But how do we solve the problem of new recruits lacking instructors and training?"

"My suggestion is to leverage your good relations with the Allied Theater Command and the country. Send a small training unit to the Ramgarh training base in Sindhu to learn from the masters. At the same time, use your connections to bring veterans from the internment camps in Yunnan Province over to strengthen our combat capabilities."

Zhang Chi slammed the table, his eyes lighting up. "The shelter in Yunnan Province! Yes, there are plenty of defeated and exiled soldiers there!"

Zhang Chi is very clear about the current situation in Yunnan Province. The entire Chuncheng is like a large military camp.

Due to the failure of the last expeditionary force, several miscellaneous divisions/armies were blamed and had their numbers revoked. No one cared about the lives of these veterans who had lost their organization.

Countless soldiers without food and clothing were starving in the shelters. As long as Zhang Chi called out to the people in charge of food, it would be no problem to get tens of thousands of veterans.

(The reception center for the protagonist group in the TV series "Leader" only had a dozen people. In fact, at that time, due to the rout, the reception center in the rear should have been as crowded as a concentration camp. The grassroots officers who were disbanded and displaced by the Sichuan Army alone probably had an acre of land.)

Even if he raised the banner of distributing land, many refugees who fled to Yunnan Province due to the war would flock there.

"Mr. Tan, your suggestion is great and it helps a lot." Zhang Chi excitedly hugged Tan Zhijie affectionately.

Thinking of the scene of the defeated soldiers and refugees from Yunnan Province lining up to apply for the army, Zhang Chi almost shouted out the classic line - "Mine, all mine!"