Chapter 3194
Beside the official road leading to Victory Square, troops from all over the country were gathering and queuing up here, waiting for the entry signal.
And right next to these troops, thousands of onlookers had gathered.
Through the flags displayed by these troops, those who are slightly familiar with the Haihan Army's organization can identify their identities through the numbers and symbols on the flags. Their location, battle history, and equipment have now become topics of interest to the onlookers.
Among them, several troops from overseas regions have obvious differences in equipment and personnel composition from Haihan's local troops, and have therefore become the focus of public attention.
Zheng Agui has lived for more than 20 years and has never been watched by so many people. This made him a little embarrassed, even more nervous than when he first stepped onto the battlefield to attack Masbate Town.
Before this, the scene with the most people Zheng Agui had seen was when the Bangui Battalion went to the Cavite base for pre-war training last year, and saw troops from all over the Luzon region at the port.
However, the troops assembled in Manila Bay at that time were only a few thousand at most, which was far from the lively scene in front of him - everywhere he could see, there were almost all crowds of people jostling one after another, and he couldn't count them at all. There are tens of thousands.
The Bangui area where Zheng Agui used to be stationed was just a remote seaside town on Luzon Island. In his eyes, Manila, the capital of the Luzon region, is already a very prosperous big city, but if compared with Hangzhou, it is obvious that this is a real big city.
Whether in terms of population size, urban area or infrastructure, Hangzhou far exceeds Manila and exceeds Zheng Agui's knowledge.
And when he heard that the East China Sea Region had taken control of this big city without a single blow, his admiration for Shi Diwen could not be greater.
You must know that when we attacked Cebu in the South China Sea last year, the Bangui Battalion experienced a very difficult battle in the small harbor town with no city walls at all, and it really suffered a lot.
It’s hard to imagine what kind of deterrence the Donghai Region must have to allow a large city like Hangzhou with well-equipped fortifications to surrender without a fight.
But having said that, as a soldier, it is natural to achieve military success on the battlefield in order to have the capital to be promoted. If there is no war, it will be too difficult for a soldier like Zheng Agui who comes from a poor family to climb up.
Zheng Agui was successfully promoted to second lieutenant after the war based on his outstanding performance in the South China Sea last year and went to the Military Academy in Manila for a period of time.
At the beginning of the year, the Luzon Region received a notice to send troops to Hangzhou to participate in the National Day celebrations. As a new meritorious officer, Zheng Agui was selected into the list without any suspense.
The rewards Zheng Agui received do not stop there. After the military parade, he will go to the Army Academy in Sanya to study abroad as one of the outstanding young officers selected by the Luzon Garrison.
If nothing unexpected happens, Zheng Agui will be promoted once his study abroad is over. When he returns to Bangui Camp, he will probably be officially appointed as company commander.
The Luzon Region sent a battalion of troops, led by Yu Tiezhu, commander of the Fourth Lu Division, to Hangzhou to participate in the military parade.
This team arrived in Hangzhou more than half a month earlier than the executive committee.
Before coming to Hangzhou, Zheng Agui thought that the military parade was similar to that in Manila, just a formality on the school field. But after arriving here, he realized that this mission was not that simple.
After their unit settled in Hangzhou, they immediately began to undergo strict formation training. The only task every day is to make the queue as neat and uniform as possible under the guidance of the instructor. As for visiting the city of Hangzhou, it will probably have to wait until the military parade mission is completed, then these troops who have come from afar will get a holiday to take a good look around the city that will soon become the capital of Haihan.
Although he knew that one of the purposes of this military parade was to show military power to the people, Zheng Agui was still a little uncomfortable with being stared at by so many people.
He glanced at another adjacent army and was immediately attracted by the flag of this army.
This unit is not from the South China Sea, nor is it affiliated with the mainland of Haihan. The flag is embroidered with a sea eagle with a yellow beak, white head and black body, and its designation is "The First Division of the North American Expeditionary Force."
While Zheng Agui was studying at the military academy in Manila, he heard some rumors about this unit. It is said that its station is on the other side of the distant ocean, several times farther from Haihan than Luzon.
The commander of this force is former navy commander Wang Tom, one of the most famous legendary generals in the Haihan Army. He seems to be even more famous than Xiao Liang, the commander of the Luzon Garrison.
Zheng Agui noticed that many soldiers in this unit had long shawl hair and ornaments made of feathers on their heads. Some of them had their long hair braided into weird-looking braids, which did not look like Han people. .
It happened that staff officer Feng Xingbang was nearby, so Zheng Agui asked Feng Xingbang about the origins of these foreign soldiers.
Feng Xingbang was well-informed, so this question did not stump him, so he listened to him talk: "They are indigenous soldiers recruited by the expeditionary force locally. The Spanish call them Indians. Look at their facial features. Does it look similar to us Han people? It is said that their ancestors were the Yin people who crossed the ocean from China thousands of years ago."
Zheng Agui asked curiously: "Isn't that similar to our language?"
Feng Xingbang shook his head and said: "Probably because it was a long time ago, the language they inherited is very different from ours, and there is no writing available, so they have been stagnant in a very primitive tribal state, so it is extremely difficult to recruit and train these people."
When Zheng Agui heard this, he understood that there were many indigenous races like this in the Luzon region, and many of them still retained their original social system structured around tribes. It is not difficult to surrender them, but the process of turning these natives into soldiers who obey orders is quite difficult.
During the battle against the Spaniards last year, the performance of several units with a high proportion of indigenous soldiers was not particularly satisfactory. The reason was that the obedience of these indigenous soldiers was relatively poor.
But even if the native soldiers are not so easy to use, they still have to hold their noses and continue to use them. After all, the number of Han people in overseas regions is limited, and if only Han people are recruited as soldiers, the size of the garrison will probably shrink to a level that is unacceptable to the authorities.
"Consultant Feng, they seem to have captured a lot of Spaniards as well."
"Yes, the Spaniards are against us wherever they go. If we don't arrest them, who will we arrest!"
Zheng Agui's sharp eyes had already noticed two prison vans parked on the other side of the North American Expeditionary Force formation. The prisoners held inside were obviously Southern Europeans.
The parade of prisoners of war was one of the highlights of today's military parade. Zheng Agui's Fourth Army Division also traveled thousands of miles to bring a group of Spanish prisoners of war captured in the battle last year. They are now being held in a prison car next to it—— This is also one of the attractions that attracts a large number of people to watch.
(End of chapter)