Chapter Eighty-Three: Brawl

  Shang Lian'er's appearance to Ouyang Yun was a bit like the occasional ripples in life, although these ripples were a bit fierce and the vast ocean behind her was also a bit ferocious. Ripples always bring some fun, even if this fun is enjoyed by people around him, while he is just an object of amusement.

  This afternoon, the Wanping Xuebing Brigade's garrison conference room, the first military meeting after the establishment of the Xuebing Brigade is being held here. All officers above the rank of regimental commander are in attendance, and Jiang Shuren, as Song Zheyuan's financial representative and future general manager of the Dadao Financial Company, has also been invited to attend.

  An hour before the meeting, Ouyang Yun arrived at the military camp. As he didn't often stay in the military camp, he would seize this opportunity to get close to the soldiers and officers, exchange ideas with them. On the one hand, he took the chance to instill some of his own ideas into the people below him, on the other hand, he also wanted to understand the recent situation within the troops.

  No coincidence, no book. Ouyang Yun was inspecting the barracks with Jiang Xiulin, the captain of the 2nd battalion of the 3rd regiment, when he suddenly saw a group of soldiers running over from the east side of the camp, looking like they were up to something.

  These soldiers were the original 219th regiment, Jiang Xiulin saw them and frowned, saying to Ouyang Yun: "Colonel, you go to the conference room first, I'll take a look."

  "Let's go together, don't make a sound," said Ouyang Yun, taking the lead and walking ahead.

  There were about thirty or forty soldiers, the size of a platoon. A few of them walked while rolling up their sleeves and shouted loudly: "It's all over, you little schoolboy dare to bully our brothers, don't want to live!" "Damn it, thinking that we Northwestern Army are easy to bully?" It seems they were preparing for a group fight with someone.

  They quickly gathered in a corner of the training ground, where twenty or thirty recruits from the original training class were standing with their eyes fixed on them. Ou Yang Yun knew these people and beckoned to Jiang Xiu Lin with his hand, saying in a low voice: "Don't make a sound for now, let's see what they're going to do."

  Two groups of people met, and the principals of both sides stood out. Ouyang Yun saw that the training class was led by Pang Wenhui, and he remembered that this kid had just been promoted to the commander of the third company of the special operations battalion, and couldn't help but feel delighted, thinking that it seemed like this kid had become a "king of soldiers".

  A fierce verbal battle between the two leaders, Ouyang Yun and Jiang Xiulin understood what was going on. A soldier named Shao Feng from the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Regiment of the 3rd Company's 2nd Platoon urinated in the barracks area, coincidentally seen by Zhao Shirong, a soldier from the 3rd Company's 2nd Platoon of the Special Operations Battalion. Zhao Shirong said two sentences to Shao Feng, who didn't take it seriously and slapped him on the ear. Zhao Shirong naturally wouldn't swallow this insult, counterattacked with two slaps on the ear, resulting in a fight between the two sides, with Shao Feng at a disadvantage. He threw down a fierce statement, vowing to bring people to deal with Zhao Shirong. Thus, both sides gathered their loyal followers and comrades-in-arms to reason things out here.

  The original 219 was completely disbanded, and Shao Feng didn't know the current platoon leader well, so he went to find his old platoon leader. This old platoon leader, named Chang De-fu, gathered the original brothers together to cause trouble for Zhao Shi-ren. The special operations battalion's organization wasn't healthy either, the original training class's soldiers were all dispersed, and Pang Wen-ju, who had a good relationship with Zhao Shi-ren, took the lead, gathering a group of original training class soldiers to help him out.

  When soldiers argue, they will definitely end up fighting. Chang Defu and Pang Wenhui didn't talk for a few sentences before their conversation broke down, so both sides immediately took a confrontational stance, preparing to settle the matter with fists. At this time, a ridiculously funny scene appeared: Pang Wenhui suggested that someone might be hiding a knife on them, which could lead to loss of life, and proposed checking each other's bodies before opening hostilities as a precaution. Chang Defu thought this was reasonable, so both sides seized several passing soldiers and had them act as witnesses to conduct a body search.

  When the soldier acting as a notary began to search both parties, Ouyang Yun burst out laughing and said to Jiang Xiulin: "It's unexpected that these kids are quite knowledgeable about the general situation, knowing that it's not good if someone dies."

  Jiang Xiulin thought he was speaking sarcastically and frowned, saying: "These guys have no military discipline, I'll let the patrol team take them into custody."

  Ouyang Yun waved his hand and said: "Wait, let them fight a bit too, being soldiers and all, they must have some temper, as long as it's not over the top, fighting a bit won't hurt anything."

  Jiang Xiulin was taken aback, clearly unable to accept this point of view, and stammered: "Traveler, isn't this bad?"

  "Let's see about that."

  After the search, both sides rushed towards each other under the leadership of their respective principals, shouting and quickly entwining into a ball. When someone on the scene shouted and fell to the ground, Ouyang Yun walked out from the corner of the house where he was hiding and strode over.

  As the two main players, Pang Wenju and Chang Defu were fighting one-on-one, with neither gaining the upper hand. Although both had been hit by each other's fists and feet, it was still unclear who would emerge victorious. Just then, Pang Wenju happened to be facing in the direction of Ouyang Yun's approach. At first, he didn't think much of a military officer walking towards them, but as the man drew closer, his peripheral vision caught sight of their young commander, and he couldn't help but jump back in surprise, saying: "Stop fighting, the battalion commander is here!"

  Chang De Fu thought he was trying to slip away and angrily scolded: "You cowardly little brat, if you have the guts don't run!"

  Pang Wenhui didn't care about him and took two steps back, waving his hand and saying: "Everyone stop, the guest has arrived."

  The recruits in the training class stopped what they were doing and followed his gaze, seeing that it was indeed Ouyang Yun, who hastily retreated to the back. Some of the original 219th regiment took advantage of the momentum to pursue, while others looked back and saw the military rank on Ouyang Yun's epaulets, thinking to themselves that things were not going well, realizing that the recruits were his old subordinates, it seemed that they would not be able to get away with this. They hastily called out to their companions to stop what they were doing and gather around Chang Defu, momentarily at a loss for what to do.

  Everyone stopped and waited for Ouyang Yun and Jiang Xiulin to approach, some standing at attention and saluting, saying: "Traveler! Camp Commander..."

  Ouyang Yun smiled and looked around, seeing that many people had bruises on their faces, and said: "Is this a practice fight? Why didn't you bring protective gear?"

  Pang Wenju stepped forward and bowed, saying: "I was wrong, please punish me for this. This matter was caused by me."

  Changde Fu also stepped forward and stood beside him, saluting respectfully: "This has nothing to do with Commander Pang Lian. The fault lies with us."

  "What? Weren't you all just practicing boxing a moment ago, not fighting in a group?" Ou Yang Yun asked with a hint of a smile on his face.

  Pang Wenju knew his own temper as a small official, his face turned bright red, and he didn't dare to respond.

  Changde Fu took a deep breath, thinking that this little traveler spoke in a mysterious and eerie tone, and it seemed that he was not easy to talk to. Before the 219th Regiment merged with the Academic Soldier Brigade, Ji Xingwen repeatedly emphasized the need to follow discipline, especially not to engage in fights with the original Academic Soldier Brigade. He recalled Commander Ji's military tactics and couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine.

  Jiang Xiulin's stern gaze swept over the old soldiers of the 219th Regiment, including Chang Defu, and he said to Ouyang Yun: "This is a mistake on our part in the Third Battalion. I think it would be better to lock up all these guys."

  Since the 219th regiment joined the troops, Ouyang Yun has been thinking about the integration issue. Now that he has such an opportunity, he will not let it go easily. He used to be a soldier and knew that there were factional problems in the army from ancient times to the present, which was something that no one could change. Every troop had its own collective honor, which was the soul of a troop. The way of expression was diverse, and the fight between soldiers was also one of them. As long as it could be controlled not to break out during the war, it was not a big deal. He didn't answer Jiang Shulin's words, but said slowly: "When I was a boy scout in the United States, I often fought with my companions, but I wasn't as cruel as you guys. There were three places that we wouldn't hit - the head, groin, and waist. But looking at your situation, it seems like you don't care about these taboos? Pang Wenhui, your proposal just now was a bit unnecessary. Even if there were no knives, if someone really kicked the other's groin with all their might, they would still die - do you believe me?"

  Pang Wenju lowered his head and said: "Yes."

  "But it's good that you have this idea, at least you still know that the person in front of you is not an enemy but a comrade!" As he said this, his voice suddenly became louder and he said: "I don't care why you fought, fighting itself isn't a big deal, but I'm going to punish all of you who participated in the brawl today! Everyone will be confined for three days, their military pay will be reduced by 20%, and they will have one less opportunity for promotion - whoever can come up with a reason for my punishment, their military pay and promotion treatment will be restored to normal! Captain Jiang, lock them all together, let them... you few wait," he shouted at the soldiers who were acting as witnesses.

  "The journey," those soldiers did not know what was going on and became frightened.

  Ouyang Yun pointed at Pang Wenju and others and asked them: "Are they your comrades-in-arms?"

  "Yes."

  "Why didn't you stop them, instead of helping them as witnesses! What if someone gets killed, can you live with yourself as a comrade?" With that, Ouyang Yun turned around and strode towards the conference room.

  Due to this episode, after the meeting began, the atmosphere seemed a bit subtle.

  Due to Gu Liyun's body not having recovered yet, Ouyang Yun let Bai Liusu be in charge of taking meeting notes. He said: "Everyone, this is our first military conference since the establishment of our army, many people present do not know each other, so let's introduce ourselves first. I'll go first. I'm Ouyang Yun, 21 years old, from Sichuan province, unmarried."

  He had just said "unmarried" when Gu Liyun burst out laughing. Then, seeing everyone's eyes on her, she blushed.

  Ouyang Yun smiled and said those two words on purpose to ease the atmosphere, but unfortunately, it seemed to have no effect.

  After Ou Yang Yun, Ji Xing Wen and others made their self-introductions. After everyone finished introducing themselves, Ou Yang Yun said: "This afternoon our troops will be heading to Renqiu for garrison duty. Here I want to emphasize one point - discipline! The importance of Renqiu to our troops, I think there's no need for me to elaborate, everyone should have some understanding. And if we want the people of Renqiu to accept us from the bottom of their hearts and support us, we can only make a good impression by showing excellent performance, and then we can build Renqiu into the rear base of our 29th Army. Before joining the army, every one of us was an ordinary civilian, with elderly parents and young children at home. We joined the army to protect our families from being bullied, and to defend our motherland from invaders. Ji Xing Wen, Chief of Staff, and Li, Deputy Commander, after arriving in Renqiu, the first thing you will do is establish a military police battalion, responsible for supervising the military discipline, appearance, and behavior of all officers and soldiers, and establishing corresponding rules and regulations. In this regard, the original systems of the training brigade and the 219th regiment were not bad, based on which I only emphasize the following points - do not take anything from the masses without permission, borrow things must be returned, damaged things must be compensated; do not allow forced buying and selling, buy things at market price; do not allow harassment of women, damage to crops! ... Now please let Ji Xing Wen speak.

  Under Ouyang Yun's request, all the officers made speeches, and the atmosphere in the meeting room gradually became harmonious. He felt that it was time to talk about today's fight, so he said: "Has everyone heard about the fight between the Special Task Force and the Third Student Battalion today?"

  Jixing Wenzong stood up and said: "Zuo, this matter is my responsibility, I did not teach them well. The cause of the incident was told to me by Jiang Yingzhang, the mistake lies with Shao Feng."

  Li Tieshu also stood up and said: "I am also responsible..."

  Before he could finish speaking, Ouyang Yun smiled and said: "If you put it that way, don't I also have a responsibility?" He waved his hand to let them sit down and said: "It's no big deal for soldiers to fight among themselves. With so many men together, it would be strange if nothing ever happened. Do you know why I'm angry? It's not because they fought over trivial matters, nor is it because they disobeyed military discipline. It's because they didn't truly identify themselves as members of the learning brigade from the bottom of their hearts. The people that Shao Feng and Zhao Shi-ren found to help them fight weren't their current comrades in arms, but rather some brothers from before. To be honest, if I were their direct superior and they really got into a fight with someone outside, I would only care about two things - whether we were in the right, and whether we won or lost. If we were in the right and won, I would punish them and then encourage them; if we lost, I would heavily punish them!

  "Ah!" As soon as he finished speaking, many people's mouths were wide open, and Jiang Xiulin's eyes were even wider, thinking that what the traveler said at the scene of the fight was actually true? But, what kind of logic is this?!

  "Of course, I'm just saying this in private, you mustn't spread it around, after all, this is a violation of military discipline."

  Jixingwen bitterly smiled: "Lü Zuò, you still know that this violates military discipline?!"

  Ouyang Yun burst out laughing and said to Jiang Xiulin: "Commander Jiang, the previous punishment for them still counts, but if these guys really don't get it, you find an opportunity to remind them, huh? Ah, I'm quite envious of this simple military life..."