Chapter 11 Outdoor Pulling Practice 3

  Because of the past every day at most rapid march more than 30 miles, in the morning, the soldiers could still hold on, but after the afternoon, some physically weaker soldiers were complaining endlessly.

  Less than an hour into the march, Yang Dainiu, the platoon leader in charge of gathering at the back, reported that more than 10 soldiers had fallen behind. Yang was shocked and immediately activated the emergency plan, ordering each squad to reassign personnel, with two physically stronger ones taking care of the weaker ones, thus ensuring both the marching speed and minimizing the number of dropouts, while such problems kept emerging during the training exercise.

  Seeing that Quanlian was no longer in the morning rush, Yang Xing simply became a propagandist and led the teaching team. Although they went back and forth to spread propaganda, they didn't arrive at their destination until 8 pm, which was an hour later than expected.

  What's more important is that during this rapid march, more than 20 brothers were exhausted and needed to be taken care of by other brothers. Five brothers suffered from heatstroke, and two carts broke down.

  Seeing the results of the training, Wang Si Ma Zi and Liu Er Gou's faces turned pale with anger. Before they set out, they had boasted that this 100-mile training exercise would be no problem for their comrades. But who knew that after one training session, the results would be so disappointing?

  Now, an hour has passed, and everyone thought they could take it easy. However, after arriving at the garrison, Yang Xing didn't let anyone relax either. On one hand, he directed each squad to set up camp and build shelters; on the other hand, he constructed fortifications and arranged sentries at every exit.

  This made Liu Ergou very puzzled, looking at Yang Xingdao: Lian Chang, we are just rehearsing, just pulling exercises, there is no need to establish a camp, and there is no need to build fortifications.

  Yang Xing laughed and said: Deputy Commander Liu, in the past when we were on the march, after arriving at our campsite, we rarely built fortifications. But this also made it easy for us to be ambushed by the enemy at night. We must realize that we are a revolutionary army, and our goal is to catch up with the militarily powerful European countries. If we continue to look at problems from the past perspective, then apart from changing our weapons and name, what difference is there between us and the decadent armies of the past?

  Liu Ergou smiled and said: "Comrade Commander, many of our brothers have night blindness, they can't see things clearly at night, and there are very few night raids."

  At the mention of this, he couldn't help but pause for a moment, then let it go, but his face was still pale and said: Deputy Commander Liu, I know that many people have night blindness and can't see clearly at night, but it's undeniable that there are still many brothers who don't have night blindness and can launch a night attack. If in the future, during combat, the enemy suddenly launches a night attack, what will we do? Let the brothers be harmed by the enemy like this?

  Looking at one by one hanging their heads, lacking spirit, after selecting a few addresses, Yang Xing took the hoe and personally started building the battle formation.

  Although everyone is not satisfied, they still admire Yang Xing quite a bit. After all, he's young and has managed to get along well with Westerners, and is quite familiar with guns and cannons. After three months of hard training, the entire unit has made great improvements in morale, physical strength, and tactical skills.

  Now seeing Yang Xing lead by example and personally construct fortifications, some platoon leaders felt uneasy and immediately followed Yang Xing to dig fortifications.

  It was after 9 pm when everyone finished dinner and the soldiers from each squad entered their tents for rest.

  Yang Xing looked at the officers and said: Brothers, to be honest, I'm under a lot of pressure. Our brothers are our responsibility, we should bring them back safely and healthily. Tonight, apart from setting up the first and second squad leaders on duty, I hope you all won't give up on some practices in the camp just because of physical fatigue. I hope each squad leader can sleep with the soldiers, and at midnight, inspect the night patrol to let our brothers below have a good rest.

  As soon as he heard that the night patrol duty fell on the first and second squad leaders, Wang Si snorted in satisfaction: "Squad Leaders, before we set out, you two didn't think much of it either, thinking that you had also marched a hundred miles a day in the past. Just now, seeing my disheveled state, your faces were full of mockery. Now it's time to teach you a lesson."

  Zhang Aiwen shook his head and said, "Old Wang, don't drag us into this. My physical strength can't be compared to yours. Besides, tonight it's our turn in the first and second squads to stand guard, but tomorrow won't it be your turn in the third and fourth squads?"

  Wang Sima appeared to be carefree, laughing and saying: "Old Zhang, I heard from Zhu Langzhong that by tonight, Yong Wazi's heatstroke will be better, and tomorrow my brother and I will have nothing to worry about. We'll just keep watch for the night."

  The second lieutenant, with a look of grievance on his face, said: "Comrade company commander, what night is it worth? Our artillery company has more than 200 people up and down. Who else dares to swallow the leopard's gallbladder and come at us?"

  Pointing to the map, he said seriously: "Everyone, don't be careless. Tonight's night watch is not only for the possible bandits around us. Before we set out, I found that there was a group of bandits in the outer Yan Mountain stronghold, with more than 200 people. Moreover, the night watch is not just for bandits and other things, but also to maintain military discipline. This time our training exercise is the first time for our Sichuan army, if someone goes out at night and does something shameful, won't it tarnish the reputation of our artillery company?"

  Zhang Aiwu was physically weaker, and upon hearing Yang Xing's words, he shook his head repeatedly: "Commander, after a day of traveling over 120 miles, not only do we need to rush on the road, but also deal with luggage and whatnot. People and horses are exhausted, who would still have the energy to go cause trouble?"

  Looking at Wang Sima, Wang Sima said with embarrassment: Old Zhang, although I, old Wang, carried Yongwa for an entire afternoon, but after resting for a bit, I still have energy.

  Guo Xiaobo pointed to the map and said: Commander Lian, this Yanshan stronghold is only over 20 miles away from us. After all, everyone has been trained for three months, and many soldiers are itching to go into battle. Why not let them go and eliminate the bandits? This way, we can also test our artillery unit's combat effectiveness and get closer to real combat.

  Yang Xing was moved upon hearing this.

  But Deputy Platoon Leader Liu Er Gou repeatedly stopped him: "Platoon leader, absolutely do not have this thought. This time we came out to practice, the regimental commander was already a bit worried. If we again go on an expedition to suppress bandits and accidentally cause some major casualties, the regimental commander and the provincial governor will definitely blame us."

  Wang Si shouted: Deputy company commander, what's the big deal about suppressing bandits? They're just a few hairy thieves. Our artillery company is the most elite unit in the Sichuan army, and suppressing bandits won't result in any significant casualties. More importantly, through suppressing bandits, our brothers have gained practical combat experience. Additionally, Jindong is a rich and prosperous place, I've heard that those local bandits are living extremely well, and by suppressing them, we can also obtain a large amount of supplies.

  Everyone listened and cheered, after all, through 3 months of training, everyone felt a big difference from before and wanted to test their actual combat ability.

  Looking at the expressions of everyone, Yang Xing thought for a long time and said: Brothers, let's think about this matter again tonight. After all, how many bandits are there? What equipment do they have? What is the terrain of Yanshan Stronghold like? We don't know anything about these things. If we rashly order to suppress the bandits, our casualties may be too great at that time.

  The meeting was dismissed immediately, although it had been a long and tiring day, Yang Xing did not dare to sleep. He knew that he had promised Commander Tao Zekun that he would safely lead the troops back, and if anything went wrong along the way, his position as regimental commander might be at stake.

  He stretched his waist and said to the guard: Fourth child, let's go and patrol the camp.

  Fourth Young Master exclaimed: Commander Lian, the brothers marched urgently for over 150 miles in one day, everyone is extremely exhausted, absolutely no one dared to be disobedient, what are you still inspecting the camp for?

  Yang Xing shook his head and said, "Fourth child, every night at least patrol the camp once, this is my habit, don't stop patrolling just because we came out for training. If I relax, the squad leaders below will also relax, in this way, not only can't achieve the training effect, but more importantly, this approach will also lead to a lax military discipline."

  Taking advantage of the moonlight, he took the guards with him to inspect each camp.

  It was extremely unsatisfactory that during the patrol, after entering, a sentry actually fell asleep due to fatigue.

  When Yang Xing woke up this sentinel, he was greatly frightened and apologized repeatedly: "Company Commander, I'm sorry. Company Commander, how did you come here?"

  He said with a serious face: Shouldn't you have come?

  The warrior replied: "Company Commander, I didn't mean it that way. After a whole day, I was too tired and fell asleep. Please forgive me, Company Commander."

  Yang Xing laughed and said: "His feelings are pitiful, but his crime is unforgivable. You say you're tired, this is true, I'm also tired. Have you thought about it? If a bandit or a tiger or wolf appears, the lives of these brothers will be threatened. After returning to the camp, go to the confinement room yourself and lock yourself in for two days."

  What's even more infuriating is that on the way back, I stepped on a pile of shit. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be someone's feces. This is utterly unacceptable. How can people in this country be so reckless and defecate everywhere?

  Ask the fourth child, he has been a soldier for three years, it seems that in the old army, everyone is casual about defecation, and only then can their mood be calm. Thinking about it, it seems to be this kind of thing. In the early days of GJ's Three Main Disciplines and Eight Points for Attention, there were things like not defecating randomly and not dismantling the door panels of fellow villagers.

  It seems that in the past, armies had such bad habits. In the future, during military campaigns, a toilet should be dug to serve as a place for everyone to defecate.

  It seems that in the future, we should promote it well. In the process of marching, those phenomena are very common. It's best to use song forms and spread them among soldiers.

  To know, these soldiers mostly have no cultural foundation and poor understanding. If it's like the previous life where a lot of grand reasoning is used, it would be counterproductive. It's better to use mountain songs, so brothers can slowly remember them.

  Returning to their quarters, Yang Xing once again called over the first and second squad leaders in charge of sentry duty to ask about the problem they had discovered earlier.

  It wasn't until two o'clock in the morning that I finally fell asleep on the bed.