Chapter 100: Drilling the Troops

New recruits like Zhang Shagen and Xu Le began their first day of training; in the morning, besides Liu Dengke leading everyone in shouting slogans, Meng Dayong announced the military regulations, discipline, and the rules for rewards and punishments.

The military regulations for this troop were set by Meng Yifan and were extremely strict; if soldiers made mistakes, the light punishments included whipping, caning, running laps, or confinement, while serious offenses could even lead to public beheading.

Both Meng Yifan and Meng Dayong had served as soldiers, and they both knew that the biggest difference between an elite troop and a mob lay in whether discipline was strict and orders were executed without hesitation.

Meng Yifan's time was very precious, but for the recruits' first day of training, he did not have the soldiers train in firing Bird Guns or launching Elm Cannons—those could be trained on the second day; on the first day, he had to make them firmly imprint the words "obey orders and listen to commands" into their hearts.

New recruits like Zhang Shagen and Xu Le began formal training in the afternoon, and at the very beginning, they did nothing but stand in Military Posture.

One thousand men were divided into ten small square formations, and these small formations were organized into one large square formation that was straight and level; everyone held their heads high and chests out, standing perfectly rigid.

Meng Dayong led ten strong young men from Qinghe Village to act as Instructors, with each Instructor responsible for one small formation, supervising whether the recruits' Military Posture met the standard.

Standing in Military Posture looks very simple, but anyone who has truly been a soldier knows that it is very difficult to stand it well; without putting in hard work, losing three or five pounds of flesh, and shedding ten or so pounds of sweat, one shouldn't even think about standing in a standard Military Posture.

Zhang Shagen was a bit stubborn; when the Instructor demanded he stand still, he truly treated himself like a piece of wood, standing like a pine tree, without moving a muscle.

Xu Le, however, was a lively fellow, and for him, standing in Military Posture was worse than going for a run.

For the first ten minutes or so, he was able to stand straight and still, but after ten minutes, he felt uncomfortable all over, especially because, for some reason, a fly kept circling his face, buzzing and buzzing, making him feel agitated.

That daring fly, seeing that Xu Le ignored it, actually landed on Xu Le's lips and crawled toward his nostril, as if it considered that a fine place to be; this made Xu Le anxious and unable to endure it any longer, so he raised his right hand and shooed the fly away.

"Crack!" Seeing Xu Le move, Meng Dayong didn't say a word, raised his hand, and delivered a lash of his whip, tearing the skin and flesh on Xu Le's back.

"Ah!" Xu Le cried out in pain and said, "Instructor, there was a fly just now that almost crawled into my nostril; surely I can't even shoo that away?"

"The rule for standing in Military Posture is that you are not allowed to move; let alone a fly, even if knives were falling from Heaven, you absolutely must not move. If you move, you will be punished." Meng Dayong said with a cold face, then continued, "For talking back to the Instructor, I'll punish you with two more lashes."

"Crack! Crack!" Meng Dayong lashed him two more times, which made Xu Le even more furious; he wanted to argue further, but Zhang Shagen, who was next to him, hurriedly whispered, "Brother Xu Le, stop talking, or you'll get beaten again."

Xu Le stopped talking after hearing this; his heart was filled with suppressed anger, and his back burned with pain, but he could only stand there honestly.

"When standing in Military Posture, talking is strictly forbidden. Zhang Shagen, you spoke just now, so I am punishing you with one lash. Do you accept this?" Meng Dayong barked.

"Report, Instructor, I accept," Zhang Shagen replied.

"Crack!" Although Meng Dayong had a good impression of Zhang Shagen, military law was merciless, so he kept his cold face and lashed Zhang Shagen's back once.

Xu Le looked at Zhang Shagen with gratitude out of the corner of his eye; this simple-minded fellow had taken a lash because of him, and once training ended, he would have to buy some healing medicine for Zhang Shagen.

Meng Dayong was a Second Grade Martial Artist; if he swung the whip with all his might, he could snap an ordinary person's spine with a single lash.

However, Meng Dayong's goal was to make the recruits understand how to obey discipline, not to severely injure the soldiers, so when he lashed Zhang Shagen and Xu Le, he held back some of his strength, letting them suffer only superficial pain without damaging their muscles or bones.

Meng Dayong led the ten Instructors to patrol the entire formation; whoever did poorly would get a lash, which let the recruits know that in the army, one must obey orders, or else they would be punished.

Two hours later, Meng Dayong stood on a high platform and shouted, "Dismissed! Rest for ten minutes, then continue to the next training subject."

Hearing the order to dismiss, many recruits plopped onto the ground; standing in Military Posture looked like they weren't moving, but it was actually very exhausting, and after standing for so long, their waists were sore, their legs ached, and they felt uncomfortable all over.

"Shagen, thank you just now," Xu Le said with a smile.

Zhang Shagen waved his hand a bit naively and said, "It's nothing; didn't the Instructor say that we are comrades-in-arms, we are brothers, and we should help each other?"

"Comrades-in-arms? Brothers?" Xu Le murmured, feeling that his relationship with Zhang Shagen had suddenly grown much closer.

Ten minutes later, Zhang Shagen and the other recruits assembled again to begin the next training subject: turning left and right.

"Listen for the command: Turn left!" Meng Dayong clearly ordered them to turn left, but Zhang Shagen turned right, ending up face-to-face with Xu Le; the two looked at each other, and seeing Zhang Shagen's awkward expression, Xu Le couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Crack! Crack!" Meng Dayong didn't ask questions and gave each of them a lash; Zhang Shagen's was because he turned the wrong way, and Xu Le's was because he laughed out loud in the ranks.

Zhang Shagen looked at Xu Le with some apology, feeling that Xu Le getting a lash was all because he had turned the wrong way.

Xu Le didn't mind; Zhang Shagen had taken a lash for him earlier, and now he had taken one for Zhang Shagen, so the two were even.

"Listen for the command: Turn right!" After everyone stood still, Meng Dayong gave the command again.

Zhang Shagen couldn't tell left from right and frequently turned the wrong way, ending up face-to-face with Xu Le; every time Xu Le saw Zhang Shagen's round face, he couldn't help but laugh, so the two became "brothers in misfortune" who frequently received lashes.

Meng Dayong frowned; he discovered that among these thousand recruits, many were just like Zhang Shagen and simply couldn't tell left from right, no matter how he punished them.

Just then, Meng Yifan came over, saw the situation, and gave Meng Dayong a tip.

Meng Yifan had the soldiers tie a red ribbon on their left arms and a blue ribbon on their right arms, and when calling out commands, he would shout "Turn to the red" or "Turn to the blue."

Meng Dayong tried it, and sure enough, this method was truly effective; even clumsy soldiers like Zhang Shagen finally turned the right way.

The soldiers spent an hour and a half practicing turns, then moved on to the next subject: marching in step.

"One-two-one, red-blue-red, one-two-one, red-blue-red..." The Instructors shouted the somewhat strange slogans, leading their squads of ten soldiers in marching.

Every soldier had to keep in step; when the "red" word was shouted, they stepped with their left leg, and when the "blue" word was shouted, they stepped with their right leg; if anyone stepped wrong, all ten people in the squad would be punished by having to do one hundred push-ups on the ground.

The quality of these thousand soldiers was uneven, so it was inevitable that some would make mistakes.

Those who made mistakes felt terrible when they saw that everyone was being punished because of them, and the next time they marched, they would be even more attentive.