Chapter 16: No One Left Behind, No One Given Up

Xiao Zhuang was two grades below Zhang Xiaofan. By the time Zhang Xiaofan graduated from military school, Xiao Zhuang's girlfriend had already enlisted in the army, and Xiao Zhuang, for the sake of his girlfriend Han Xiaoying, chose to enlist as well — which is why the scene just now happened.

Seeing the two of them glaring at each other, the two onlookers couldn't help sighing that this really was two powder kegs walking side by side.

Meanwhile, Chen Xiwa hurried over to smooth things over and pulled Xiao Zhuang aside. On the military vehicle, Guo Jing sat with his eyes closed, resting.

Zhang Chu'an, standing nearby, asked, "What's wrong? What are you thinking about?"

Guo Jing opened his eyes and said in a solemn voice, "About what just happened. I was thinking that every soldier is an individual with his own ideas — they won't be easy to lead."

There was one thing he didn't say: Genghis Khan was a man who commanded hundreds of thousands of troops as if guided by the gods. He himself couldn't even manage a hundred men — how could he command a thousand, or ten thousand?

The train quickly reached its destination. Next came the time for veterans to pick the new recruits, and both Xiao Zhuang and Xiwa were chosen by Sergeant Lao Pao.

In the process that followed, Sergeant Lao Pao, as a veteran, was trying to suppress the new recruits' fire. He was about to give the order to prepare for the five-kilometer run when a voice cut him off.

"The new recruits just enlisted and don't understand discipline yet. You have to let them adjust."

Guo Jing's stopping Lao Pao from punishing Xiao Zhuang wasn't out of mercy — he understood the principle that mercy has no place in command.

The main reason was that once the run started, Lao Pao would surely lose, and if the officer's authority was swept into the dirt, it wouldn't bode well for the training ahead.

It would also make Xiao Zhuang a troublemaker soldier, one no officer would look kindly upon.

Seeing someone come over and stop him, Lao Pao, very unhappy, was about to fire back — but upon seeing the rank insignia on the man's shoulders, he still gave a perfunctory military salute.

"Hello, Platoon Leader."

Guo Jing stepped forward, lowered Lao Pao's saluting hand, and said warmly, "Alright, you've been in the army for a while now. By length of service, I should be calling you 'big brother.'"

Then Guo Jing turned to the new recruits in front of him and said sternly, "I know you're all very dissatisfied with the squad leader's attitude, thinking he's deliberately picking on you."

"But I want to tell you — what he said earlier about taking a bullet for you wasn't empty talk. He can do it. In his heart, every one of you is his comrade, someone he could share life and death with."

"All his behaviors that you find incomprehensible, even repulsive, are meant to help you survive the brutal war ahead."

"What I just said you may scoff at, but I believe time will prove it all."

The moment Guo Jing finished speaking, a rising and falling chorus of voices rang out across the entire new recruit company.

"Platoon Leader, I believe it."

"Platoon Leader, I believe it too."

Watching the shouts of the whole company, Guo Jing said with satisfaction, "Good attitude."

Then his tone suddenly shifted, and he said sharply, "But you must call out 'Report' before speaking. Understood? Attention, the entire platoon — prepare for the five-kilometer run."

Hearing Guo Jing's words, Xiao Zhuang and Chen Xiwa exchanged glances, never expecting that in the end they'd still have to run the five-kilometer cross-country.

The whole platoon, hearing the platoon leader's order, could only helplessly circle the training ground for the five-kilometer cross-country run.

The 5-kilometer cross-country is a mandatory training drill that every soldier must train for and meet the standard on. Whether you're army, navy, or air force, as long as you want to become a qualified soldier, you must pass the 5-kilometer cross-country run.

Although it's very basic, new recruits who just joined the army generally can't complete it, because the assessment standard is not low.

The 5-kilometer cross-country run assessment requires carrying a Type 81-1 rifle, a satchel loaded with two bricks, a water canteen filled with water, a gas mask, and a first-aid kit. Four grenades (training rounds), an ammunition belt (loaded with empty magazines), a backpack with an extra pair of shoes, a web belt, a steel helmet, and so on. Twenty jin (not counting the Type 81 rifle).

The scoring: under 20 minutes is excellent, 20–21 minutes is good, 21–22 minutes is passing, over 22 minutes is failing.

Soon, most of the new recruits in the platoon were about to collapse on the road, while Xiao Zhuang and Lao Pao were far ahead. However, the two of them saw Guo Jing take the exhausted soldiers' loads onto his own back, driving these soldiers forward quickly.

The two of them also went back and, just like Guo Jing, took the loads of the soldiers who couldn't carry on onto their own backs and kept running under the extra weight. Of course, the consequence was that the entire platoon failed — the total time was twenty-four minutes.

After the five-kilometer cross-country run, everyone in the platoon collapsed to the ground, exhausted. After a while, Guo Jing slowly got up, glanced at the timer, and said to the whole platoon with a smile, "Looks like I'm a pretty unqualified platoon leader. Our whole platoon, me included, didn't pass."

The whole platoon flushed red. If Guo Jing could pass, that would be strange — he had taken the loads of four exhausted soldiers, totaling one hundred jin including his own.

And quite a few others also failed precisely because they had taken their comrades' loads. For instance, Xiao Zhuang took Xiwa's and another person's loads; Lao Pao, refusing to lose, took two people's loads. The two of them were now carried straight to the infirmary.

Especially those four soldiers, their faces flushed crimson, wishing they could find a crack in the ground to crawl into. Many of the soldiers whose loads had been taken by comrades also lowered their heads — they knew their comrades could have passed easily and that they themselves had dragged them down.

Seeing that quite a few soldiers in the platoon had lowered their heads, Guo Jing directly rebuked them, "What kind of expressions are those? What do you call this? A bunch of broken remnants — understand?"

"You are soldiers — soldiers who defend your country and your people, the first people the citizens think of when they face danger. With you looking like this, what are those who look to you as their hope supposed to think?"

After hearing Guo Jing's words, all the soldiers raised their heads, but their faces still bore a look of guilt.

"I know — you feel that you've dragged down your comrades, that without you, your comrades would surely have passed. But I want to tell you: from the moment you stepped into this place, every single person here is a comrade who shares life and death with you."

"This time I helped carry your load; next time you can carry me forward. Either none of us passes the assessment, or all of us pass. In my platoon, we must achieve no one left behind, no one given up."

"Platoon — tell me, can you do it?"

Guo Jing roared at the whole platoon.

"We can!"

The platoon thundering shout pierced the clouds.

At that moment, Platoon Leader Chen and Company Commander Miao, standing beside the training ground, watched Guo Jing and his men with great interest.

"No one left behind, no one given up. This Guo Jing is a qualified commander."

Platoon Leader Chen couldn't help sighing.

"Yes. In such a short time he's already given the unit cohesion. When he first arrived, he even said his hand-to-hand combat and marksmanship were passable, but leading troops was still far off."

Hearing Company Commander Miao's remark, Platoon Leader Chen couldn't help exclaiming in surprise, "I think this Guo Jing is pretty impressive at leading troops. Are his marksmanship and hand-to-hand really that good?"

Company Commander Miao said to Platoon Leader Chen in a casual tone, "One man with a gun held off five K2 assassins plus one K2 organization leader, killed three, and the remaining two had no choice but to retreat. What do you think?"

Hearing of Guo Jing's combat record, Platoon Leader Chen immediately said:

"That really is something. Compared to his hand-to-hand and marksmanship, his troop-leading level really is nothing special."