Chapter 13: The greatest challenge Jiang Bai faced was time itself!

After Wang Lin issued his order, the appointment of Jiang Bai as commander of the Seventh Division was signed and unanimously approved with remarkable speed—no one raised an objection.

The reason was simple: Wang Lin held absolute authority and influence over both the military and political spheres of the Chengyun Faction. Once he gave a command, it was nearly impossible to overturn. The only person who could ever sway his decisions, his mother, had long since passed away.

What no one realized at that moment was that this decision marked the birth of an elite unit that, in the future, would become a source of terror for the Japanese invaders.

Even years later, when Wang Lin recalled this moment, he would always say with heartfelt emotion, “Appointing Jiang Bai to lead this division was one of the wisest decisions I ever made in my life.”

For Jiang Bai, a young man of just twenty, being named commander of the Seventh Division of the Chengyun Garrison was an event that sent shockwaves throughout the ranks of the entire Chengyun Army.

The position of Seventh Division Commander had evolved from its predecessor, the Seventh Brigade of Chengyun Province’s renowned brigade, stationed at the Chengyun Garrison. Not only was it the cream of the crop among elite forces, but from officers to staff, it was a unit known for the highest levels of military training and education.

This reputation elevated the Seventh Brigade to a position of unparalleled prestige within the Chengyun Faction.

To the Chengyun Garrison, the Seventh Division was nothing less than a linchpin in the city’s defensive network. In simple terms, if the garrison were to fall, it would signal that half of Chengyun City’s territory had been lost to the enemy—testament enough to its strategic importance.

Yet now, two crucial posts had fallen into the hands of a youth. Under ordinary circumstances, this would have caused tremendous upheaval. However, following a failed assassination attempt on Wang Lin by the Guan Chengyun Army and the resulting public furor, Jiang Bai’s appointment seemed almost subdued by comparison.

Meanwhile, the various warlords across the Shuidong region seized their chance to publicly denounce Wang Lin, accusing him of nepotism and abuse of power. Wang Lin, however, paid these half-hearted allegations no heed whatsoever.

After the conversation in his study, Wang Lin immediately instructed Tang Yu to orchestrate a staged bandit attack on the Japanese embassy.

For Tang Yu, a man of humble origins and shrewd understanding of the world, carrying out such a smear campaign was child’s play. Upon receiving his orders, he quickly dispatched several ‘bandits’ to storm the Japanese embassy, unleashing violent destruction and looting.

Conveniently, a squad of patrol officers happened to pass by and charged in, arresting the ‘bandits.’ During their subsequent interrogation, evidence linking the ‘bandits’ to the recent military train bombing was “coincidentally” found among the stolen goods. This “coincidence” was quickly discovered by several international journalists covering the police station, and the story broke at once.

From the assassination attempt on Marshal Wang by the Aichao ‘bandits’ to international reporters uncovering their renewed crimes against the Japanese, the entire affair played out in less than ten hours.

By the time the Guan Chengyun Army grasped the severity of the situation and tried to restore their image, it was already too late.

While the Seventh Division received orders to rest and reorganize, the 300,000 Chengyun troops who had withdrawn beyond the border returned to their designated encampments. The remaining 100,000 soldiers were deployed within Shunjing, their forces pointed directly at the Guan Chengyun Army’s general headquarters in puppet Manchuria.

The scent of war grew ever stronger, and hostilities threatened to erupt at any moment.

At this time, in the headquarters of the Seventh Division at the Chengyun Garrison, the division’s structure was undergoing expansion. The former Seventh Brigade had been expanded to form the core, and two new infantry brigades—the Sixty-Second and Sixty-Third—had been added.

Influenced by the Japanese military system, the Chengyun Faction’s divisions matched Japanese divisions in manpower. Beyond the two infantry regiments in each brigade, there were additional engineer, cavalry, artillery, and logistics regiments, bringing the total to eight regiments. Including non-combat personnel from division and brigade headquarters, the entire division comprised 25,024 men.

This organization, aside from its equipment shortages, was nearly equivalent in strength to a Japanese division.

When Jiang Bai arrived at headquarters, Deputy Commander Wang Yijin and Chief of Staff Wang Xiao had already completed the division’s organizational structure. Both were trusted confidants of Wang Lin, sent specifically to assist Jiang Bai. According to Wang Lin, once the Seventh Division was fully established, it would be up to Jiang Bai to decide whether to retain the two Wangs.

As for the leadership of the two infantry brigades and the four regimental commands, Jiang Bai had ordered those positions to remain temporarily vacant, making the division headquarters feel especially empty.

“Commander, the Ministry of the Army has promised us full authority over troop assignments, and the military budget will soon be in place. However, when it comes to new weapons and equipment, we will have to wait at least five or six months,” Deputy Commander Wang Yijin reported, a trace of helplessness crossing his face.

With the war’s end, many units were eager to withdraw to the interior, resulting in massive losses of weapons, supplies, and logistics, which now caused severe equipment shortages.

Originally, as an elite division, the Seventh should have had 432 light machine guns and 36 heavy machine guns per standard brigade—comparable to the German-equipped 36th Division’s 427 machine guns. The standard rifle was the Liao Model 13 bolt-action, patterned after the Mauser 98-22 and manufactured locally.

Yet Jiang Bai’s inventory revealed that only just over 10,000 Liao 13 rifles remained, and more than 300 machine guns—both light and heavy—had been lost or damaged. Only about 100 light machine guns were still combat-ready, with over 30 more awaiting repairs for missing bolts, barrels, and other parts.

Fortunately, the Chengyun Faction’s own military factory, the largest in Eastern Zhou, could produce 4,000 rifles, up to 100 light machine guns, 40 heavy machine guns per month, and 15 million rounds of ammunition annually. In theory, replenishing arms was only a matter of time.

But Jiang Bai’s greatest adversary was time itself.

The 300,000-strong Chengyun Army had not only seen the Seventh Division suffer defeat. Even the “favorite son,” the First Infantry Division—Wang Lin’s most prized unit—was missing hundreds of heavy machine guns.

If the First Division could not avoid shortages, the situation for other units was even worse. With limited factory output, divisions had to wait their turn for new weapons—not based on need, but on connections. In Yanxia, personal relationships have always been paramount.

The “favorite son” First Division naturally took top priority; next were the units with close ties to Yang Ting, and then those of the old marshal’s sworn brothers. As for Jiang Bai’s Seventh Division, whether it would get its turn by next spring depended on the weight of Jiang Bai’s New Year’s gifts to Yang Ting.

Clearly, Jiang Bai would have to find another way. If he simply waited in vain, the upcoming bandit-suppression operation in a month’s time would be fraught with difficulties.