Chapter 1426: Boarding

"The Japanese Army's 33rd Division, employing flanking and penetration tactics, has invaded the north and south banks of the Pinqiang River with two regiments. Yet our Expeditionary Force, though outnumbered, has fought with utter devotion and through a battle bathed in blood, rescued over seven thousand allied British troops..."

This news of victory broadcast through the small county town of Chanda, providing confidence to the soldiers here.

It was unclear whether people outside were encouraged, but within the Kuyuan Youfeng Xiaoyuan at the refugee station, only Ah Yi felt emboldened.

"Brothers, our army is on the verge of a great victory!"

Just like in the original drama, Ah Yi spoke clumsily, hoping to give the cannon fodder some strength, and hoping to gain some respect and a voice among them, worthy of his status as a proper Major.

Yet his hopes ultimately could not be realized; the cannon fodder lounged lazily scattered across the courtyard, with no one paying him any heed.

In the end, cabbage, pork, and vermicelli stew proved more effective than any words; merely hearing the dish's name made everyone start swallowing their saliva.

Thus, they each scattered to procure ingredients and seasonings.

"Master Wang, Doctor, what do you two think?" Fanla asked, stretching his legs.

The Doctor said, "I still have a little oil left."

"You embezzled..."

"What embezzlement? This is what I saved up bit by bit. What else can be done when the sick have no fat in their diet?" the Doctor argued, then stood up and left.

"Can I walk now, Master Wang?" Fanla looked at Wang Yan.

Ever since the commotion involving Bula last time, everyone had teasingly started calling Wang Yan "Master Wang." First, Wang Yan was very reasonable, so everyone respected him; second, Wang Yan was very capable in a fight, so everyone respected him; third, Wang Yan could joke and laugh with everyone, making them feel he matched their temper, so they respected him; and fourth, the teasing itself made everyone happy.

Thus, Wang Yan truly became an unconventional "Master Wang" among this group of cannon fodder, becoming an official they jokingly acknowledged.

"You can, just use your crutch to distribute the weight evenly," Wang Yan said with a smile and a nod.

Fanla's leg stitches had been removed, and he was now in a period of rapid recovery; although it still hurt, he was no longer restricted from moving.

Seeing Ah Yi approaching, Fanla immediately stood up, tossed out a sentence—"I'm going to find vermicelli"—and left, completely ignoring Ah Yi.

Ah Yi opened his mouth, looked at Wang Yan, then turned to look at Mi Long, who was lying in a hammock squinting his eyes, then looked at Li Wula; meeting Li Wula's unfriendly gaze, he finally turned his eyes back to Wang Yan, who was sitting there.

"There's still no meat..." he muttered.

He wasn't stupid; he knew that everyone running off quickly meant they wanted to leave him with the hardest task: finding pork. But he couldn't find any.

Seeing him looking at himself, Wang Yan smiled and said, "This cabbage, vermicelli, and pork stew is a Northeastern dish; I'm familiar with making it, so let me take charge of the cooking. I guarantee it will be delicious, so good you'll wish you could swallow your own tongue along with it."

"Brother, now you're bragging," Mi Long opened his eyes and laughed. "That dish tastes the same no matter how you make it; however delicious it is, how much more delicious can it possibly get?"

"I was injured before, and while recovering, I worked in a restaurant in the city. This cabbage, vermicelli, and pork stew may look simple, but the simpler something is, the harder it is to make it taste good."

Mi Long thought for a moment and said, "How about this: I'll contribute some seasonings; I still have two bottles of soy sauce, and we can get some canned pork."

"Good!" Ah Yi clapped his hands, feeling finally relieved that he wouldn't have to go find pork, his whole body relaxing.

"Good my ass! Canned meat is canned meat, and fresh pork is fresh pork; can the meat in canned pork taste the same as raw pork? You brought it up, so hurry up and find the meat! You've stirred up our craving; if I don't get to eat pork, cabbage, and vermicelli stew today, just see how I'll beat you!"

Mi Long suddenly started cursing, scaring Ah Yi into shrinking his neck, even though just a few days prior, Ah Yi had courageously challenged Mi Long to a duel and gotten thoroughly beaten.

In terms of bare-handed combat, Ah Yi was basically the weakest; even Dou Bing, the youngest, could beat Ah Yi senseless. Simply put, his physical fitness was insufficient, his strikes weren't hard enough, and he wasn't decisive enough.

"Pork is too hard to find," Ah Yi muttered again, stealing a glance at Wang Yan.

Seeing that Wang Yan showed no reaction, he paced around the courtyard a few times on his own, took off the watch from his wrist, and slowly walked over to Mi Long.

"Mi Long, this is the watch my father left me; I..."

Before he could finish speaking, Mi Long snatched the watch from Ah Yi's hand, fiddled with it for a moment, and then looked at Wang Yan.

"Brother, any instructions?"

"He said it was a memento left by his father; we can't really take away this little keepsake," Wang Yan said with an amused shake of his head, stood up, patted his buttocks, and said, "Let's go, Ah Yi; Li Wula, come along too; we're going to get some pork."

Ah Yi quickly snatched the watch back from Mi Long's hand and ran obsequiously to Wang Yan's side.

Li Wula thought for a moment, did not refuse, and followed Wang Yan away.

He instructed Mi Long to keep an eye on the cannon fodder when they returned and to wait until he got back before cooking, warning him not to just throw everything into the pot at once.

Once out of the courtyard, Li Wula remained silent, simply following Wang Yan's footsteps, while Ah Yi walked up to Wang Yan and asked, "Wang Yan, where are we going to find pork? Do you have money? Because I don't have any."

"Are you afraid of getting beaten?"

"Not afraid! I was just beaten by Mi Long a few days ago, as you well know," Ah Yi stated firmly, then added cautiously, "Wang Yan, we can't violate military regulations, or we'll be executed."

"Then let's go; it's not a big problem."

Ah Yi was very long-winded, chasing after questions about exactly how they would buy it, until Li Wula, annoyed from behind, gave him a kick, finally shutting him up so he only muttered quietly to himself...

By the time they returned to the courtyard of the refugee station, the cannon fodder who had gone out had all come back; seeing Wang Yan enter with Ah Yi and Li Wula, they all excitedly stood up.

When Wang Yan set down the bag he was carrying, and Ah Yi and Li Wula threw the sack they were lifting onto the table, Yao Ma, Bula, and Kang Ya rushed over to untie the sack, revealing its contents to everyone.

The surrounding cannon fodder froze, standing there and frantically swallowing their saliva.

"Good heavens, are my eyes deceiving me? So much pork? And alcohol too?" Kang Ya rubbed his eyes hard, unable to believe it.

Yao Ma slapped the back of Bula's head; Bula let out a howl, covered his head, and immediately cursed, "You turtle's son, why did you hit Laozi?"

Having said that, he kicked Yao Ma in the buttocks.

Yao Ma bared his buck teeth, not angry at all, just smiling foolishly and saying, "It's real, it's real. Hurry, hurry, light the fire, light the fire, time to eat meat."

The cannon fodder erupted into a noisy clamor, unwilling to leave, crowding around the pot to watch Wang Yan using his knife to portion the pork, watching while frantically secreting saliva and constantly dry-swallowing.

"Hey, Ah Yi, how did you get that black-and-blue face?" Fanla asked curiously.

"Nothing," Ah Yi replied, unwilling to say more.

"Got beaten, obviously," interjected Li Wula, who usually disliked talking much and, aside from being beaten or scolded by Mi Long, rarely spoke; at this moment, his face was similarly black and blue.

She Pigbutt asked, "Hey, Li Wula, where did you get the meat?"

"The black market, where else?"

This time, without anyone needing to press further, Li Wula spoke up himself: "He took us out to find a group of people, didn't say a word, and just kicked the two of us in, telling us to fight them. That group wasn't easy to deal with either; they didn't waste words and came up beating us immediately. When the two of us couldn't fight anymore, he went up and cleaned them all out in no time flat, demanding half a side of pork from them without spending a single cent."

"Who was it?" Mi Long asked.

Li Wula glanced sideways at him but still answered: "Called Tiger Master; he beat them all into pigs."

Obviously, the "he" in Li Wula's mouth referred to Wang Yan.

"Liu Erhu!" Mi Long called out the name immediately, "Not bad, brother; you don't act unless you're going to act ruthlessly. That kid is very powerful around here; I heard he has some connection with the county magistrate here and has also hooked up with our logistics line, living a very good life."

"If it weren't good, I wouldn't have looked for him," Wang Yan said with a smile. "Obviously, one goes after whoever has money; since I couldn't reach that fellow named Yu, wouldn't I just beat a small-time thug to death? Consider this little pig my hardship fee for dealing with him."

"You're still awesome; I wouldn't dare provoke him," Mi Long said, sincerely giving a thumbs-up.

"It's nothing much; in a few days, I'll go chat with him again and get some more meat to eat. Since we're going to war, we need to properly nourish the brothers."

"Lord Wang, it has to be you!" Bu La said. "If you become an official, I will definitely support you."

"Yes, whoever doesn't support you, we'll kill them!"

The group of cannon fodder stirred up again, placing tall hats on Wang Yan...

Only A Yi remained silent; although he was swallowing saliva, his expression was listless. The shock today was quite significant for him; he hadn't expected Wang Yan to be so fierce, directly breaking into the door and openly robbing...

Wang Yan had roamed the myriad heavens for over a thousand years; apart from old mother hens, he was most familiar with thugs, and the black market could be seen as a subsidiary business of thug gangs. Natural transactions among people cannot form a stable trading space; only when someone is behind the scenes taking charge and maintaining order can the trading space, transaction safety, and perhaps multi-channel sources be guaranteed.

He had wandered around Chanda for several days, and through constant observation and inquiry, the situation of this small county town was basically clear to him; naturally, he knew exactly who to engage in friendly exchanges with...

On this day, Wang Yan took charge of cooking a sumptuous stew of pork, cabbage, and vermicelli; the meat from a lean pig weighing less than two hundred jin was entirely consumed by the dozens of people at the relief station, and besides that, everyone even got a bowl of wine to drink, as they laughed, boasted, and enjoyed themselves lively and happily.

Many people said that after eating this stewed meat, they would be willing to die.

Wang Yan's high-level cooking skills also gained widespread recognition from the cannon fodder, with everyone who met him saying he was awesome.

Nowadays, Wang Yan's cooking skills had reached level four, and he had even made considerable progress on the path of level four, which was absolutely undeniable; however, in reality, the bonus from cooking skills on this particular stew of pork, cabbage, and vermicelli was very small.

This was because there was such a severe lack of oil and fat at this time that having meat made it taste good.

People's satisfaction mainly came from each person eating over one jin of meat and drinking wine they hadn't had for a long time, leaving them intoxicated by the fragrance...

The consequence was that by the next day, some people had diarrhea; this was due to a long-term lack of oil and fat, leading to insufficient digestive capacity in their bodies.

But no one cared; only those who didn't have diarrhea mocked the cannon fodder who did, saying they couldn't enjoy good fortune and were all destined to be lowly...

Eating meat was merely an interlude; the main point was that through this single meal of meat, Wang Yan's status as the spokesperson for the cannon fodder was further solidified, and everyone submitted to him.

After eating that stew of pork, cabbage, and vermicelli, He Shuguang came out and led the cannon fodder in training.

As expected, Mi Long ultimately could not withstand the itching in his heart, just as in the original drama, and joined the team.

Actually, there were no specific subjects; it was just practicing formations and doing physical fitness exercises. After all, the cannon fodder had been neglected for too long, and if they suddenly went into battle, the body aches during high-intensity confrontation would severely affect their combat effectiveness.

Only by enduring the pain first and recovering a certain amount of physical strength could they cope when they reached the battlefield.

The cannon fodder all loved training because they were given dry rice to eat, the dishes had a bit of oil stars, and plenty of salt was added; with two full meals a day, even the Veterinarian exclaimed, "Beautiful, very beautiful!"...

After training like this for ten days, the cannon fodder were considered fully reorganized; A Yi, this major, became the battalion commander, Fan La became the company commander, while Wang Yan, Li Wula, and Kang Ya became platoon leaders.

At this time, the establishment was compressed; a battalion was usually about two hundred plus people, yet the Cannon Fodder Battalion had only seventy-plus people. He Shuguang painted a picture for them, saying that upon reaching Burma, they would have full personnel and equipment.

Just like that, after training for some days, the cannon fodder laughed and joked as they carried their guns and set off for the airport; however, as soon as they arrived, the officer in charge there ordered them to hand over their weapons and take off their clothes before they could board the plane.

"Damn it, Lord Wang was right after all," Bu La cursed as he handed over his gun. "If I had known earlier, Laozi wouldn't have gone; just thinking about it now makes my nose hurt."

"Serves you right!" Kang Ya laughed heartily, being the first to strip down to just a pair of large underpants, collect a vomit bag, and board the plane while still wearing his shoes.

Under the officer's scolding, everyone laughed and joked as they took off their clothes and lined up to board the plane.

Soon it was Wang Yan's turn; the major in charge frowned, looking at the watch on Wang Yan's wrist, and shouted, "Take off the watch!"

"Can't take it off."

"I ordered you to take it off!"

Wang Yan shook his head: "Laozi just doesn't believe that a single watch can prevent a plane from flying."

"Defying military orders! Men! Seize him!" The officer directly exercised his authority, and two armed soldiers behind him walked straight over.

Without saying another word, Wang Yan delivered a straight kick, sending the major flying; the two soldiers who had approached hurriedly caught their superior officer.

In an instant, all the soldiers nearby surrounded them, raising their guns and aiming at Wang Yan.

Wang Yan swiftly snatched a Jiang Zhongzheng-style rifle and fired a shot at the empty ground between the officer's legs.

"Damn your mother's bastard! Laozi goes to the front lines to risk his life fighting wars, and you, a dignified major, actually covet Laozi's single watch?"

Taking a few steps closer, Wang Yan held the gun in one hand, pressing it against the major's head. "Oh, trembling? Scared? Come on, tell me, can I wear this watch or not?"

"You can wear it!" the major replied, gritting his teeth and trembling.

"See? If you had done this earlier, wouldn't it have been over? Did you have to force me to take action? The brothers are all mocking you; when you go back, you'll resent it so much you won't be able to sleep. Now you're comfortable, right? What a bunch of crap, a major with no ambition whatsoever."

Wang Yan snorted, returned the gun, and under everyone's gaze, swaggered onto the plane.

That major looked around once, but ultimately said nothing, gritting his teeth and accepting such humiliation.

In the subsequent inspections, they also turned a blind eye to the watch on A Yi's wrist...

?? Daily thanks to the good brothers who generously donate, cast monthly tickets, recommendation tickets, and silently read the book for their strong support!

? (End of Chapter)