Dominate the Country

Dingnan was the most important port of Chen and Han on the Bay of Bengal. Tens of thousands of navy and army troops were stationed here. A coastal defense regiment and a garrison brigade, although there are no warships, can still keep Dingnan [Yangon] impregnable.

Several soldiers on leave ran out of the camp. It was raining lightly, but this did not stop them from going for a walk in the city. They quickened their pace and ran on the special concrete path leading from the camp to the highway, rushing to the bus stop beside the highway. Under the awning of the platform, there were several comrades who were taking advantage of their break to go to the city, waiting for the public carriage that had not yet arrived. When they saw them running towards them, they squeezed each other inside to leave a place for them.

"Does it rain here in winter? Isn't it the dry season?" Ran Tianyuan wiped the rain off his face and said angrily. He had just been transferred to Dingnan for two months and had seen continuous rainfall at the end of the rainy season, but as far as he knew it was already the dry season in Myanmar. But this was already the third rain he had encountered in the past ten days, and it rained every other day. For a person who was born in Sichuan, grew up in Xiangyang, and has served with the Yunnan border defense force all year round, he has never imagined that it rains so frequently in winter. Ran Tianyuan wiped the rain off his face and complained.

"This is nothing! When the rainy season arrives in March next year, you will know what it means to rain. It will be heavier and denser than the rain two months ago."

"It rains thirty days a month, twenty-five or six days; it rains twenty-four hours a day, more than ten hours a day."

"People are getting moldy. It's humid and stuffy even when the sun is out. When I get up in the morning, I wipe the bedside with my hands and there's a layer of moisture. That's very uncomfortable for people." The surrounding soldiers also smiled and chatted with each other. .

There are many people in the camp whom I don’t even know or have seen in person. Moreover, Ran Tianyuan is a third-level sergeant major, and his treatment in the army is the same as that of a team officer. There are only two third-level sergeants in their battalion.

"In my hometown in southern Hunan, there have been heavy rains, just like pouring water. But it doesn't last long, unlike here, where it can last for two hours at a time. It's amazing. The flag holder [the base of the military flag in the camp] can do it Concealed."

A veteran from Dingnan said that he has been in Dingnan for five years and has long been accustomed to such rain. Pulling on the shirt to prevent the wet clothes from sticking to the flesh, shaking constantly, is not to let the wet clothes be blown by the wind to dry them faster, but it is a subconscious action.

Ran Tianyuan listened absently to the conversation between the two, turned around and asked, "What should I do if it rains so heavily during training?"

"What bothers me the most is the training during the rainy season. The most difficult thing in this place is the rainy season, but our army fights in this kind of place. Every rainy season there will not only be training, but also several times more. Every time we train in the wild I came back covered in mud. I washed my clothes and hung them up, but I couldn’t dry them for five or six days..." The veteran looked back with a look of shame on his face.

Ran Tianyuan's cheek couldn't help but twitch.

Yes, the definition of their unit is to fight in the rainforest area. If it rains heavily, I'm afraid the men above will practice harder and more frequently. Ran Tianyuan will not think about the good news of suspending training. The worse the weather is, the more likely it is that training will be more frequent.

And as long as the superiors formulate a training plan, the sky will send a knife, and the National Defense Force will still have to practice when it is time to practice.

Ran Tianyuan knows that in the eyes of many senior military officials, harsh climate and environment are the best helpers for training the spirit and perseverance of the troops.

When talking about this topic, all the soldiers present had a bitter look on their faces, and finally said to each other comfortingly: "Don't worry, the superiors will not really take advantage of us. Who can stand it when it rains every day? The troops have really fallen." It’s a big piece, but it’s still troublesome.”

"During the rainy season, training and indoor training will be combined. Relatively speaking, there are more indoor sports. Otherwise, cultural studies, tactical analysis, step drills... are not that difficult."

Ran Tianyuan chuckled.

No matter whether it is difficult or not, he will persevere. His family condition is not good because the 'composition' of their family is not good. His uncle Ran Wenchou joined the Qing army in his early years, and he joined the Qing army by pulling the clan troops. The Ran family belongs to the White Lotus Sect. They have been burning incense at home for thirty or forty years and are very influential in their hometown. As a result, when the Ran family placed bets, they placed their bets on the Manchu and Qing side. His uncle and his father were all tempted by the promise of the Qing Dynasty and led their troops to work for the Qing Dynasty. As a result, Ran Wenchou died outside.

Seeing that the situation was not going well, Ran Tianyuan's father dragged the whole family away from Tongjiang in western Sichuan. As a result, his aunt was unwilling to leave and took the children back to her parents' home. Ran Tianyuan's family ran away from Sichuan to Xiangyang. Suffering this blow, Ran Tianyuan's father no longer had any ambitions. His father just clung to the ten acres of land at home - the government-rented land obtained as a refugee, and would not go out or go out. Ran Tianyuan has six brothers and sisters, five of whom are alive. The family has a large population but little income. He is the eldest and has the obligation to support the family. He went to the city to work when he was only thirteen years old. When he was a child, a bite of meat would smell good for months. He worked for six years and lived a very miserable life until he joined the army.

He is thirty-five years old this year and is a third-level sergeant major in the army. Compared with the days before, life in the army is like heaven and earth. No matter how hard and tiring the army is, he does not complain at all.

Back then, he was working on the construction site, carrying bricks and cement, and he couldn't earn the high salary of the army all day long. What's more, the garrison brigade he is in now is in Dingnan, a Feng Shui treasure land, which is not like the Yunnan border before. White rice can be eaten as you like, and seafood is also very rich. He even thinks that the food for the Mid-Autumn Festival in the army is richer than the wedding banquet held in his "hometown", and there are fish and meat every day.

The people in the kitchen team cook fish, shrimps and crabs in different ways. Compared with the days before he joined the army, Ran Tianyuan is now living a paradise-like life.

So he doesn't think that his uncle's hatred is so great, nor does he think that the hatred for the death of the Ran family is so great.

On the battlefield, each serves his own master, and it's unlucky to die. During the years of war, many people died on the battlefield. What's more, the death of the Ran family was not glorious.

Ran Tianyuan really thinks that the court is pretty good now.

Just a few days ago, he was promoted to the training staff of the camp because of his hard training and strong skills. Their sergeant majors don't have a 'great' future, but Ran Tianyuan's goal is to become a fifth-level sergeant major. In order to be safe, he chose the path of a non-commissioned officer instead of an officer. He has no chance of becoming a general, so he has to become the best and highest sergeant major.

Ran Tianyuan is already a third-level sergeant major, and the next level is a fourth-level sergeant major, which means his position in the army is comparable to that of a battalion officer. The difference between a third-level and a fourth-level sergeant major is the difference between a team officer and a battalion officer. As long as he takes another step forward, his life will be a brand new beginning.

Ran Tianyuan will not know how glorious his moments were in history - the Grand Marshal of the White Lotus Rebellion Army. He is very content with his current life.

With Ran Tianyuan's joining the army, the Ran family's life gradually improved. In the first three years, Ran Tianyuan still sent all his salary and allowances back home. In the fourth year, Ran Tianyuan began to keep some for himself, but it was still very little. Because his brother had to go to school, Ran's father was very dissatisfied with his son working for the "enemy", but he supported his son's study. Ran Tianyuan's fourth brother was admitted to the Normal School in Xiangyang, and the fifth sister went to the local nursing school, and then found a job in the hospital in Xiangyang City.

When Ran Tianyuan's second sister got married and the third worked as a security guard in a business, the pressure on Ran Tianyuan, the eldest in the family, suddenly eased a lot. Then less than two years later, Ran Tianyuan got married.

In the eighteenth year of Chengtian, the industrial zone of Xiangyang Prefecture expanded and occupied five acres and six fen of Ran's land. The compensation of four thousand yuan suddenly made the Ran family's pockets bulge, and Ran Tianyuan had no economic pressure at all.

With some extra money in his pocket, Ran Tianyuan began to go around the city where he was stationed during his vacation. No matter how much or how little he sold, he at least had this leisurely mood. The pressing life pressure at the beginning made him breathless. I don't want to spend any money. I stay in the barracks during holidays and never step out of the gate.

In the 22nd year of Chengtian, Ran Tianyuan was promoted from a second-class sergeant major to a third-class sergeant major, and the operating funds in his pocket were more abundant.

Soldiers in the post-war era like him who joined the National Defense Army in peacetime did not catch up with the idea of ​​using land instead of wages. Their overall income was much lower than that of the soldiers of that year. So for a period of time, Chen Han's enthusiasm for joining the army greatly decreased, and many veterans chose to retire, because the benefits of "using land instead of wages" were gone.

However, more than 20 years have passed, and the National Defense Army has strict regulations and a strict system for everything from conscription to retirement, from Boy Scouts, reserves to active officers and soldiers. Officers and soldiers in the post-era like Ran Tianyuan don't even think about using land instead of wages.

Although Chen Ming's ultimate expectation - a dedicated army, Chen Han's National Defense Army is far from meeting the standard.

…

The combat alert status of the Dingnan garrison was quietly lifted as the situation in the Indian region returned to peace.

When the British fought the Mysore Kingdom, although Chen Han withdrew "all" people from the Mysore Kingdom, the Dingnan garrison was actually always in a state of combat readiness. Although no one outsiders knew, as long as an order was given, the garrison brigade here could be pulled to the battlefield at any time.

Chen Ming allowed the British to defeat the Mysore Kingdom, and even to gain huge benefits from the Mysore Kingdom, but he would never allow the British-Indian colonial army to completely destroy the Mysore Kingdom. The existence of Tipu also has great "historical significance". This is what the Dingnan garrison was initially on guard for.

However, the war between the British and the Mysore Kingdom eventually subsided, but the Marathas replaced the British and became the target of the Dingnan garrison. At that time, the atmosphere between the Marathas and the Gorkha Kingdom was very tense. Facing the southward advance of the Gorkha Kingdom, the Marathas showed great vigilance. The whole atmosphere is like a volcanic crater with hot air coming out, which may erupt at any time.

That is to say, the Indian region is now completely "peaceful". Whether it is the British or the Marathas, they have withdrawn their minions, the Gurkhas are also quietly digesting their gains, and the Dingnan garrison has quietly restored the "peaceful" state.

Many soldiers will choose to go out of the camp during the team's rest period. The atmosphere in the army has been tense for so long, and finally it has relaxed. Naturally, they want to take a good breath and relax. However, Ran Tianyuan, who has just been transferred to Dingnan for two months, thinks Dingnan is quite strange. The reason why he came out to wander around is completely different from that of other officers and soldiers at the bus station.

Through the rain curtain, a group of officers and soldiers talked about Dingnan's climate and customs, and their feelings for each other were strengthened in this conversation. Influenced by them, five or six immigrants waiting for the bus on the platform also joined in and discussed enthusiastically, and they were full of longing for the future of Dingnan.

Dingnan is full of rivers. The Dulong River [Irrawaddy River] is naturally the main one, but many rivers and streams in the estuary area also cross and crisscross. The water flow is abundant, the land is flat and fertile, and this is a natural granary.

As they were talking, a red copper-colored bus carriage with yellow and white stripes drove out of the rain, slowly approached the platform, and opened the front and back doors.

"Get on the bus, get on the bus, buy a ticket when you get on the bus!" A middle-aged native woman sitting by the front door stuck her head out, glanced at the platform, and shouted out her usual tune very smoothly.

Although she is an aboriginal, her Nanjing accent is no longer strange. ‘Changing from barbarians to Chinese’ not only changed Myanmar represented by the city of Dingnan, but also the indigenous people of Myanmar.