Chapter 62: Everything Must Be Done Slowly

Of course, there were also some who thought Zhu Gaoxu was just talking big, but Zhu Gaoxu did not waste any more breath explaining; they would just have to wait and see.

His gaze swept over the crowd once more, and this time, not a single person dodged; everyone looked back at Zhu Gaoxu with eyes full of spirit.

Some even puffed out their chests.

With just a few sparse words, Zhu Gaoxu had given these men the most important thing for a soldier.

Spirit!

An army without spirit, how can it go into battle to kill the enemy?

Seeing that the crowd had gained passion, Zhu Gaoxu added the final spark.

"I will give you one last sentence, and this sentence shall become the oath of this army."

"Even alone, one can still look down and laugh at the enemy army; if one dies in battle, it is merely burying one's bones in the yellow sand—Great Ming knows no fear!"

Zhu Gaoxu's expression was solemn as he used all his strength to finish these words, then drew the saber from the side of Mao Xiang, pointed the blade toward the sky, and circled the crowd below.

At that moment, although Zhu Gaoxu was less than three feet tall and only four years old, the feeling he gave everyone was that of a giant standing between heaven and earth.

Simply because he had no fear in his heart!

The crowd below listened with rapid breathing, and many wanted to raise their arms and shout, but were stopped by a gesture from Zhu Gaoxu.

"First, survive the training to come; only if you can remain will you be qualified to speak this oath."

After speaking, Zhu Gaoxu walked down from the command platform.

Now that everything that could be said had been said, Zhu Gaoxu summoned the Embroidered Uniform Guards.

There was no help for it; aside from these green recruits, these were the only people he could command.

With a few simple words, he issued the training tasks for the first phase.

The content was very simple: run twenty li every day while carrying a load of five jin, which is roughly equivalent to running over eleven thousand meters every day while carrying about ten jin of stones.

The rest consisted of basic movements like standing in formation, marching in step, and turning left or right.

These things were easy to teach; the Embroidered Uniform Guards were smart men, and even if they had never seen them before, they understood after Zhu Gaoxu demonstrated twice.

Although they muttered internally about whether Zhu Gaoxu's methods were reliable, the professional quality of the Embroidered Uniform Guards was beyond reproach.

Not one person questioned Zhu Gaoxu, and all indicated they would thoroughly implement Zhu Gaoxu's training methods.

Zhu Gaoxu first selected two hundred Embroidered Uniform Guards to serve as instructors, with each leading ten recruits.

It was equivalent to each Embroidered Uniform Guard being a Small Flag.

He first let these two hundred men train the recruits, then Zhu Gaoxu took the remaining one hundred Embroidered Uniform Guards to the other side of the drill ground.

As Zhu Gaoxu faced the rest of the Embroidered Uniform Guards, he pointed to the strange and unfamiliar equipment in the drill ground and said: "The training methods you will use next may be somewhat different from what you are familiar with or have heard of."

While speaking, Zhu Gaoxu walked up to those strange pieces of equipment.

These were the pieces of equipment Zhu Gaoxu had requested the Ministry of Works to build, and it had to be said that the Ministry of Works was uncharacteristically efficient.

Although he did not know if Zhu Gaoxu's status or Yan Zhenzhi were factors in this.

One hundred sets each of the Four Hundred Meter Obstacle Course, Three Hundred Meter Mixed Obstacle Course, Wobble Board Net Bridge, Rock Climbing Wall, Horizontal Log, Single Bar, Cloud Ladder, and so on.

These pieces of equipment were distributed all over the drill ground, and it was fortunate that Lao Zhu had long ago ordered the expansion of the Military Camp, otherwise, there would not have been enough space for just this equipment.

Afterward, Zhu Gaoxu briefly explained their uses and finally called on Mao Xiang to demonstrate once.

Seeing that everyone roughly understood, Zhu Gaoxu stopped wasting words and let the remaining Embroidered Uniform Guards try them out one by one.

The Embroidered Uniform Guards did not waste words either; they rolled up their sleeves and rubbed their palms together, and as they looked at each other, sparks seemed to fly, clearly wanting to use these strange contraptions to compete privately.

Next, no one talked nonsense; after preparing, they started immediately.

One hundred men, one hundred sets of equipment.

One person per set, everyone had one. There was no fighting.

Under normal circumstances, a passing grade should be finishing the Four Hundred Meter Obstacle Course within two minutes.

But the Embroidered Uniform Guards were worthy of being the elite troops trained by Lao Zhu.

They truly could kill enemies on the battlefield and gather intelligence in the shadows.

Not one failed, and some even set a record of one minute and forty-five seconds.

Among them, Mao Xiang was the most outstanding, running it in one minute and thirty-seven seconds on his first try.

This result could be considered top-tier even in later generations.

Do not underestimate this four hundred meters; it has very high requirements for individual physical fitness and coordination.

This short four hundred meters is a comprehensive manifestation of all aspects of the body's capabilities.

First is a one-hundred-meter dash, then one must turn around marker flags, then cross the Three Step Piles, then cross the Trench, jump over the Low Wall, then pass the High Platform Jump, and a series of other obstacles.

If there is even one slip, let alone finishing within the allotted time, injury is a possibility.

Listening to the slightly rapid breathing of the Embroidered Uniform Guards around him, Zhu Gaoxu knew that even for an elite unit like them, this kind of training was somewhat taxing.

In the blink of an eye, the morning's training was already over.

Out of two thousand recruits, less than one-tenth had completed the morning's weighted run.

This was already beyond Zhu Gaoxu's expectations.

One must know that most of these recruits were farmers who worked the land.

There is no need to talk about the diet of ancient farmers, right?

It was good enough to be full; they could not eat meat two or three times a year.

"The poor study, the rich practice martial arts"—if the physical foundation is not built well, the physical fitness certainly cannot be very strong.

Therefore, everything still has to be done slowly.