Wang Zhenyu promoted seven major generals in one breath, and also publicly awarded Qi Renbiao a general star. Many people were envious of this. Some people were very depressed, especially Li Zongren, who was already the commander of the brigade but still wore the rank of senior colonel, and couldn't help feeling a little lost.

  However, all of these are not important. What made Wang Zhenyu most excited was a telegrapher named Wang Huai Shi. This person is a local from Hongjiang and graduated from the Telegraph School in the late Qing dynasty. After graduation, he was assigned to work at the Tianjin Communications Bureau. After the revolution, he went south and returned home to participate in the recruitment of public officials for the garrison commander's office, and was later accepted. Since he understood telegraphy, Wang Zhenyu waved his hand and directly assigned him to the third room of the attendants' office as a telegrapher, responsible for operating a German Siemens-made telegraph machine. Wang Zhenyu still attached great importance to the transmission of this information. He talked with Wang Huai Shi, a tall and thin young man, for over ten minutes, requiring him to train a batch of personnel in communications, striving to have at least one telegraph machine at the regimental level, and if conditions permit, also at the battalion level.

  Then came a series of military orders and regulations, which Wang Zhenyu didn't pay much attention to, but he also knew that without these rules, the army would be in chaos. So when Yang Wanguo, Xu Yuanquan, and Wan Yao Huang jointly drafted a document, he took it seriously and signed off on it. In fact, he wasn't worried about military affairs at all - each level of government had its own independent system, military commanders were appointed by the general staff system, military officers were appointed by the combat system, and more importantly, military supply officers who handled finances were appointed by the logistics system. Under this non-affiliated situation, it would be very difficult for anyone to cause trouble or embezzle funds, not to mention that their treatment was already quite good - one should know when to be content.

  What really made him think was the problem of new military uniforms.

  Since they are no longer part of the provincial military's roster, their uniforms naturally don't have to be the same as others. Wang Zhenyu's instructions to the Military Equipment Department were very clear: each soldier gets five sets of uniforms per year, divided into two categories:

  The first is a formal wear category, divided into long-sleeved autumn outfits, short-sleeved summer outfits and cotton-padded winter outfits, three sets. Compared to the original style, the change is not small:

  Firstly, shoulder straps were added to distinguish military ranks, while the original collar badges that served this purpose were simplified to distinguish between branches of service: red for infantry and blue for other branches, with officers adding a small five-pointed star.

  Secondly, the addition of cufflinks and sleeve lines makes it more beautiful and generous. The field combat troops' uniforms are uniformly blue-gray in color, with white stripes on the pants, and officers are equipped with a blue woolen coat. Wang Zhenyu still understands that military appearance is the reason for morale, and he won't skimp on this bit of money.

  Then came the military boots, all of which were equipped with German-style big-headed shoes, which cost a lot of money, but Wang Zhenyu didn't hesitate at all.

  The uniforms of the security troops were all black and gray, specifically, the upper garment was gray, the trousers were black, similar to the special police force's uniform in later generations.

  The military caps were all big brimmed hats, bigger and wider than the original new army's hats, of course not as big as those of Soviet Russia, just fitting Chinese people's head shape, looking very beautiful.

  The second is the training uniform, which is uniformly equipped with two sets of yellow-green training uniforms for easy washing and changing. The soldier's training uniform has two pockets, while the officer's has four pockets, with a fabric badge embroidered on the chest to distinguish between ranks, all looking at the collar badge, without shoulder badges or the like. This is also to avoid the situation where one's own officers are easily identified by the enemy's snipers on the battlefield and given special attention.

  Military caps are all uniform flat-top canvas hats, and shoes are all rubber-soled. Compared to formal wear, training uniforms are very rustic. Steel helmets were planned by Wang Zhenyu for the troops to be equipped with, and if possible, it would be best to have bulletproof vests as well, but unfortunately these two things are a bit too advanced, and even the military of powerful countries do not have such equipment yet.

  The final military flag was decided, and after researching over a dozen styles of military flags, Wang Zhenyu vetoed them all. In the end, Wang Zhenyu designed a white tiger flag himself. The majestic white tiger head was embroidered on a blue military flag, with the unit numbers embroidered in white along the edges. This was the White Tiger Flag that would later shake the world.

  Xu Yuanquan was very dissatisfied with this idea: "General, this white tiger is inauspicious. If someone's wife were a white tiger, that would be a disaster star."

  Wang Zhenyu stood up with a mixture of anger and amusement: "You dare to sleep with that woman who will bring disaster and bad luck?"

  These feudal superstitious elements who have not received materialistic education immediately shook their heads and dared not.

  "Wang Zhenyu shouted loudly: 'That's right, our White Tiger Army is a disaster and misfortune for the enemy. If they dare not do it, then we will do it openly and fairly. Remember, our happiness should be built on the suffering of the enemy.'"

  The issue of the military flag was thus resolved, and after this series of actions, the Xiangxi Military Group began to take shape.

  Ferleni, a Belgian, had been having a pretty rough time lately. Two months ago, he was summoned from Shanghai, where he had been living it up every night, by his cousin Frankie of the Wahbie Bank to this godforsaken place, Jingshou County in western Hunan Province.

  Can you imagine walking for hours without seeing anyone? Can you imagine going to sleep as soon as it gets dark? Damn, where are the lights, where are the beautiful Chinese girls?

  But that's not the worst of it, there are no flush toilets or bathtubs here, and going to the bathroom is done in a wooden shed outdoors. And this wooden shed directly adjoins a field in the countryside, oh God, his own excrement ends up having such intimate contact with these foods, thinking about this makes him lose his appetite.

  In fact, the dishes are not to my taste, there is no dessert, all are chili peppers, and they are all sour.

  The sanitation is terrible, it's frightening. There are flies everywhere and when you go to the toilet, you have to keep shaking your hairy butt non-stop, or else a big lump will appear on it as soon as you stand up. Two days ago, something even more serious happened. Carelessly, Ferleni's little brother was stung by a fly, and he completely collapsed, not sleeping all night.

  Most of the Belgians in the same trade complained about this, feeling that they had arrived in godforsaken Africa. However, as time went on, their complaints gradually decreased because the Chinese colleagues were really very friendly. Although the conditions were poor, they still took care of these foreigners first. On rainy days, they would rather stand outside in the rain and give up the shelter to these people. Over time, everyone formed a deep friendship.

  Especially Ferleni, when walking on a mountain road next to the cliff, he accidentally slipped and fell towards the cliff. A Chinese soldier named Shi Yong who was following behind him grabbed his leg with great courage. After holding on for three or four minutes, someone arrived and together they pulled Ferleni up. Seeing Shi Yong's two forearms covered in blood, Ferleni, in his thirties, burst into tears and insisted on becoming good friends with Shi Yong through gestures and words.

  Many years later, Shi Yong had become the director of the Central and South China Railway Bureau, but was sentenced to death by the court for corruption. The Belgian man, Ferleni, rushed from afar to China to see Wang Zhenyu, hoping to pardon Shi Yong. Although unsuccessful, the friendship between the two also became a beautiful story in the history of Sino-Belgian exchanges.

  But now, in the eyes of these Belgian engineers, Frankee is a devil who eats people without spitting out bones. Under the banner of high salaries, they were deceived to this desolate place, and it's really hard to see what practical significance there is in building railways in such a sparse area. Occasionally, you can still see a few wolves lurking around, but for some reason, when these wolves see human footprints, their first reaction is not to gather friends to attack, but to tuck their tails and run away, seemingly very afraid.

  The survey work is still going very smoothly, first because this area is a mountainous region, but the mountains are generally not high, and the mileage to be built is only 200 kilometers, which is not too long; secondly, the local Chinese people are indeed very cooperative, so all five survey teams completed their tasks successfully. The Chinese leader of the survey team, Ding Wenjiang, Weng Wenhao, and the Italian leader, Ferretti, Shi Fo, and others finally met smoothly in Hongjiang. Everyone integrated the data from the five survey teams and designed a railway route map that saves the most cost and labor.

  "It's okay, the number of tunnels that need to be dug is not many, nor are they long; there are only six railway bridges that need to be built. If manpower is sufficient, it's really not a big problem for this railway to be completed in three years or even two and a half years." Ferrani's deputy, Sifo, made the first speech and gave a very optimistic speech.

  Ferenc shook his head and said, "If the workforce can be guaranteed to exceed 10,000, divided into three sections for simultaneous construction, and the raw materials can be delivered immediately, it may not take three years, dear Sifó."

  Hei, Mr. Ferney, it will take a lot of time to transport the rails from the riverbed to the mountain path."

  Ferrari nodded and said, "Don't underestimate the efficiency of Chinese people, Xi Fu. Moreover, I have made observations in the Jingzhou area, and the trees themselves are very sturdy and suitable for making sleepers. The transportation of sleepers can be done locally, and once the railway enters the laying stage, it will be very fast."

  Ding Wenjiang nodded in agreement: "Not only Jingzhou, but also the trees of Huitong and Tongdao are very good, completely qualified. As for the remaining Qiancheng, Luyang and other places, they are all water transportation, and the terrain is more flat than the previous three counties."

  Everyone calculated that if the scheduling is reasonable, it's not impossible to complete the full line in two years at the earliest. The premise is to allocate around 15,000 workers and formulate a plan for multiple sections to start work simultaneously.

  Since everyone was familiar with each other, the plan and budget were quickly drawn up and presented to the town's defense department and the Xiangxi Development Company headquarters. Wang Zhenyu's mind was not on this matter now, as he had suddenly expanded his army so much recently, and the military industry problems made him very headache. He threw the drawings aside and asked Feiliani seriously: "What is the speed of such a railway? What is its carrying capacity?"