After Li Guoxin and his companions left, the soldier turned around and walked into the gate. After a while, he came out again and shouted at Li Yan and the other dozen people.
"Just line up like this and follow me. Once you enter, you are not allowed to walk around, talk or whisper to each other, otherwise you will be eliminated.
If your actions anger the general, you will probably have to be beaten with a military stick before you are eliminated and sent home. Do you understand?"
While speaking, he glanced at Li Yan and the others. This glance made Li Yan and the others feel suddenly chilled. No one dared to make eye contact with him, and they all lowered their heads quickly.
Although he was just a soldier, he must have killed many people before. The murderous aura he unconsciously exuded was something that a bunch of young boys like them could not contend with.
Li Yan only felt that when that gaze passed over him, his pores stood up instantly, and he couldn't help but think.
"What a powerful look!"
He only knew that the other person's eyes were terrifying, but he didn't know that this was due to the murderous aura of an old soldier who had truly experienced fighting on the battlefield and survived hundreds of battles.
After the soldier said this, he looked at the timid expressions of the boys and nodded slightly.
Then, he stopped talking, turned around and walked towards the door. Li Yan and his group quickly followed him obediently, and even walked carefully, for fear of making noise if they stepped too heavily.
After Li Yan and his party entered the gate, they immediately saw the environment inside the courtyard. It was a bit wrong to say that this was a courtyard. In fact, it should be a large square where one could gallop on horseback.
The place where they were before was the entrance to the square. Li Yan and the others were now standing at the edge of the huge square.
Facing them, there is a high platform in the middle and back of the square, with tables and chairs on it. Every few steps along the edge of the platform, there is a large flag inserted on the platform.
Rows of big flags fluttered in the wind, making rustling sounds!
As the flag shakes, one can vaguely see words such as A, B, and C embroidered on it. At the same time, there are patterns embroidered on the top of the flag, such as totems such as vicious tigers and dragons.
"This should be the military base that the master often mentioned!"
Li Yan thought of what the old scholar in the village had said.
At this time, in addition to the soldiers in shining helmets and armor, there were more than a hundred people standing on the parade ground. They were divided into three rows. Among them, there were only five or six people in the row near the right edge of the parade ground, which seemed a little lonely.
After Li Yan and his group entered, they quickly followed the soldier to the end of the team.
"Just line up here and remember what I just said, otherwise, you will be in trouble."
The soldiers looked at Li Yan and his men, and spoke in very low tones, becoming increasingly stern.
How dare Li Yan and the others disobey? They all behaved themselves and tried to stand as straight and neatly as possible, fearing that they would be kicked out if they did not do it well.
With the addition of Li Yan and others, the team now has about 17 or 18 people, and seems to be a little more lively.
There are about forty people in the middle row, and the largest row is on the upper left, with about seventy to eighty people at this time.
There were several soldiers in front of each row who were managing their own team. Li Yan could occasionally hear some low and rapid shouting. Whenever such a sound was heard, someone would be kicked by the soldiers who were walking quickly.
The person who was kicked didn't dare to breathe. He could only shrink his head and endure the pain. His face turned pale.
Several rows of armed soldiers stood neatly around the square. They were wearing shining helmets and armor, and they looked dignified and upright, with their eyes fixed straight ahead.
Surrounding Li Yan and his gang in the venue gave people a feeling of being watched covetously.
Li Yan even felt that if things went wrong, he would be stabbed into a hornet's nest by these people holding spears. He became more and more nervous and panicked, and he could only try his best to calm himself down.
I kept thinking about the method of holding my breath and concentrating before hunting wild animals in the Daqing Mountains, and slowly I felt better.
On the high platform, behind the table, there was a wide chair, on which sat a burly man.
Even though the big man was sitting sideways with his back leaning, he still looked a head taller than the average adult. His face was slightly yellow and his bald head was faintly glowing yellow under the sunlight.
The big man had a broad face, a short, thick beard, and a long scar that extended from his right temple to the right corner of his mouth. The copper-colored muscles in the scar were turned outward and twisted, like a colorful centipede crawling on his face.
He has a broad waist and thick back, and even though he is just sitting in a chair, he has an aura that oppresses the entire audience.
At this time, his eyes were looking at the bottom of the left corner in front of the platform, where there was a cowhide tent. This tent was exactly opposite to where the team where Li Yan and his team were standing.
At this time, Li Yan was also carefully glancing at the people and things in the training ground, and his mind was subconsciously memorizing what he saw and heard. In fact, he didn't know what the use of memorizing these things was.
He was standing at the end of the team, and his team was located at the edge of the parade ground, so the scenery on the high platform in the parade ground was not very clear.
All one could see from afar was a large table on the high platform in the training ground, and behind the table sat a burly bald man on a huge chair.
At this time, the soldier who brought them in shouted in a low voice.
"You must be careful. It is Marshal Hong on the stage. You must not look around. You must wait for the people in front to come out of the front tent, and then the people behind to enter the tent one by one." The soldier paused, with an indescribable expression on his face, and then he pointed to the row of about forty or fifty people in the middle and continued.
"After you come out of the tent, stand behind the middle row and continue to queue up to wait for the assessment. There will be several assessment contents, and those who pass the assessment can stand over there."
Finally, he pointed to the left side of the parade ground, where there was a team of about seventy or eighty people.
The middle row of teams was surrounded by a high wooden fence in front of them. They had no way of seeing what was being assessed inside the fence. They could only hear the occasional breathing of someone inside, the sound of running footsteps, and the sound of soldiers shouting names.
But if someone can stand on a high platform, he can overlook the whole scene.
"If you are notified that you have failed a test, you will be eliminated. Just leave through the corner door at the back of the training ground. Someone will explain the specific situation to you in detail at that time."
After saying this, the soldier nodded to a few soldiers in the row in front of him, then turned around and walked towards the door again.
Li Yan stood at the back of the team. After listening to the words of the soldier, he glanced at the tent in front of him again. However, there was a thick curtain hanging on the door of the tent, so he could not see the scenery inside at all.
"We need to enter the tent first, then come out and line up in the middle for the assessment. This tent should be the place for registration!"
As for the content of the assessment, Li Guoxin had told him on the road before that it should be lifting stone locks, running, simple martial arts and so on.
For Li Yan, he believed that these should not be a problem given his physique from years of running and hunting in the mountains, as well as some boxing and kicking skills he learned from the hunters in the village.
Li Yan stood there for a moment and began to think, thinking about the content of the test and how he should allocate his strength. As a hunter, he knew that there were trade-offs in the use of strength.
I don't know how long he stood there, but suddenly, a voice sounded in his ears.
"Hey, you kid standing at the back, what are you doing standing there? Do you want someone to buy you a drink?"
Li Yan woke up immediately after hearing this. He then realized that the other people who were standing in front of him were gone. Because people kept coming in and out of the tent, they had moved forward a long distance one by one.
However, he was so lost in thought that he forgot to follow the team. In addition, he was the last one and there was no one behind him urging him to move forward. At this time, he was standing alone, separated from the team, and was very conspicuous.
A soldier in front looked over and shouted urgently.
When the young people who were applying for the job in front of the team heard the scolding, they turned around and looked at Li Yan, who was still a little dazed. Some of them had a look of disdain and gloating in their eyes.
There were only 150 guards recruited this time. To them, everyone who came to apply was their competitor. When they saw someone being scolded, they would naturally feel that this person had already lost an advantage invisibly.
They have developed a sense of superiority invisibly.
Li Yan quickly gave the soldier an apologetic smile and walked quickly towards the team in front.
The soldier took a look at him and saw that Li Yan looked honest and loyal. After thinking for a while, he just snorted and said no more.
Seeing that Li Yan was not kicked or beaten by the soldiers, many people still felt disappointed.
Li Yan quickly walked to the last position, and the tent seemed to be getting closer and closer.
"This should be the registration place, but it's too small. It's not difficult to line up more than a dozen tables in this huge training ground. Wouldn't it be faster to register in that way?"
As he thought about this, he suddenly remembered something belatedly: the soldier mentioned Marshal Hong.
"Marshal Hong... Hong Yuan... The bald man on the high platform is Marshal Hong?"
He was like a god of war in this area, who had defeated the enemies of Meng State time and again. Li Yan had not only heard Uncle Guo Xin talk about Marshal Hong before, but he had also heard of this title countless times in the village.
This man's repeated victories were like legends to Li Yan, and he established a god-like existence in the young man's heart.
Li Yan secretly raised his head and looked towards the platform. At this time, he had already walked much closer to the platform and could basically see the person on the platform.
"Marshal Hong looks like this. He looks so domineering and unparalleled. No wonder he can intimidate those enemies."
Once this person identifies someone or something, he will have a preconceived feeling, forming either an extremely favorable impression or an extremely unfavorable one.
To ordinary people, someone like Marshal Hong should be considered a wicked person with an unkind appearance and a ferocious look. However, in Li Yan's mind, he did not look like a wicked person, but rather a very domineering person.
Li Yan secretly looked at the platform for a while and discovered one thing: Marshal Hong seemed to be very concerned about this side. Whenever the tent curtain was lifted, his eyes would immediately turn here.
Every time someone entered or left, his eyebrows would occasionally raise slightly inadvertently, as if he had something in mind.
In contrast, he didn't seem to pay much attention when the people in the middle row entered the high fence for the test.