Xiang Liancheng was tall and handsome. Not only was he skilled in martial arts, but he was also literate and had some knowledge of military tactics. More importantly, he, Liu Meng, and Su Jin who was sent to Nanchang were all Qin Mu's true direct subordinates. This made him somewhat arrogant towards other soldiers in the camp.
Qin Mu had studied at the Army Academy in his previous life and knew the importance of military officers. These days, he selected 120 people and appointed Xiang Liancheng as the centurion. In addition to training, Qin Mu personally taught these people to read and write, and slowly passed on some combat theories he had learned at the Army Academy to them.
Qin Mu attached great importance to these 120 people, and Xiang Liancheng, as the captain of these 120 people and also Qin Mu's assistant coach, had a different status, which further fueled his arrogance.
The Huichang Qianhu had a total of 2,100 soldiers and generals. Except for Ning Yuan who led 300 men to garrison the Zhoutian Salt Mine, the remaining 1,800 men were called back by Qin Mu and kept in the camp for intensive training.
These 1,800 men came from different backgrounds and had a complex composition. Some were brought from Xiniu Town by Huo Sheng and Ning Yuan, some were Ma Yongzhen's original men, and some were newly recruited by Qin Mu after he arrived in Huichang.
With Qin Mu's pressure, the camp seemed calm on the surface, but secretly it was divided into three factions: one led by Ma Yongzhen, one led by Huo Sheng, and another led by Liu Meng and Xiang Liancheng. The factions were competing with each other, and private fights were not uncommon.
Ma Liuliang, who was also a centurion, was also a rebellious person. He looked at Xiang Liancheng with disdain and made sarcastic remarks from time to time. In today's battle, Xiang Liancheng's troops won, and Ma Liuliang was not convinced. During the meal, the victorious Xiang Liancheng's side had a feast of fish and meat, while the defeated Ma Liuliang could only swallow dry rice. This was one of the incentive mechanisms formulated by Qin Mu, and no one could say anything.
But after Xiang Liancheng finished eating the lean meat, he threw the fat meat in the bowl at Ma Liuliang's feet and said sarcastically: "Poor you, you have lost for several days in a row and have to eat dry rice every day. I will give you some meat to eat. Eat it quickly."
The soldiers who attacked Liancheng immediately started to make a scene and laughed loudly. Ma Liuliang could not stand this and immediately threw his bowl at Liancheng and rushed forward to punch him in anger.
Xiang Liancheng was busy avoiding his job when he was suddenly punched on the ribs. The pain made him take two steps back. Then he immediately rushed up and fought with Ma Liuliang. Both sides were fighting with fists and feet flying back and forth.
The soldiers under the two men also threw away their bowls, grabbed sticks, bricks and stones, and rushed into the battle group with a roar. For a moment, the camp was like a pot of porridge.
Two hundred men participated in the brawl, which attracted other soldiers to gather around to watch the fun. Some cheered them on, fearing that the world would not be in chaos; some took sides; some even took the opportunity to kick people when they were not prepared to satisfy their desire.
Xiang Liancheng and Ma Liuliang's troops fought with real rage, fighting even harder than in their usual combat training, and soon some of them were bleeding and lying on the ground injured;
Xiang Liancheng's kung fu was better than Ma Liuliang's. Although he lost the upper hand, he quickly recovered. He swept Ma Liuliang to the ground with a sweeping kick, then sat on Ma Liuliang's chest, pinned him to the ground and beat him hard.
Suddenly, one of Ma Liuliang's men rushed up from behind and hit Xiang Liancheng on the back of the head with a hammer, leaving his head covered in blood and stars in his eyes.
Boom! Boom! Boom! The drums of the central army suddenly rumbled, and both parties involved in the fight paused when they heard the sound. Then they saw Qin Mu holding a huge sword, followed by Ma Yongzhen, Huo Sheng, and Liu Meng rushing over.
The two sides of the fight were like seeing a ghost, throwing away the sticks and bricks in their hands and scrambling to hide;
Qin Mu's military discipline was strict. There had been fights in the camp before, but the number of people involved was not that high. Those who participated in the fights were not beaten with military sticks. Instead, they were thrown into a small dark room by Qin Mu. They had to defecate and urinate in the room. They had no food or water, and were not allowed to drink a drop of water or a grain of rice for two days. Only on the third day were they given some boiled water to save their lives.
Everyone who was locked up was tortured to the point of nearly going crazy, and when they came out they were barely recognizable as human beings.
Just now, everyone was so angry that they didn't think about these things. Now that Qin Mu came, they thought of the scary little dark room, and the people who participated in the fight couldn't help but feel a chill in their hearts.
No one, including Xiang Liancheng and Ma Liuliang, dared to look Qin Mu in the eye, because they had both experienced the pain of being in the small dark room.
Qin Mu entered the arena with a sword in hand. His eyes swept across the faces of the soldiers participating in the fight like ice. Finally, he stared at Xiang Liancheng and Ma Liu and said coldly, "Good, very good, you are really capable."
"Sir, he was the first to attack." Xiang Liancheng covered the wound on his head with one hand and pointed at Ma Liuliang with the other.
Ma Liuliang immediately defended himself, "Sir, he was the one who insulted me first."
"How did he insult you?" Qin Mu walked up to Ma Liuliang. This guy was beaten like a pig's head, with black and blue marks on his face. Qin Mu could hardly recognize him.
"Sir, he treated me like a dog and threw the meat at my feet and asked me to eat it."
"that's it?"
"Isn't this an insult? If it were you, sir, would you be able to bear it?"
Just when everyone thought that Ma Liuliang was right, Qin Mu suddenly jumped up, kicked Ma Liuliang to the ground, and cursed angrily: "You can't stand it? You can fight privately? If you don't want to be humiliated, then practice hard for me and try to defeat the opponent in training. If you lose, do you still want to pretend to be a hero? If you have the ability, don't lose. If you lose, just be a good grandson. Have you heard of Han Xin being humiliated under his crotch? Have you heard of Gou Jian tasting feces? Compared with these people, the humiliation you suffered is nothing! Today, I will make you understand that dignity is not given by others, but you have to fight for it yourself!"
The people present watched silently and listened to Qin Mu's cursing without saying a word. Qin Mu not only provided them with food and wages, but he could also communicate with the heavens and was mysterious. Now he worked hard with them every day, and the suffering he endured was no less than that of ordinary soldiers. Everyone respected and feared him.
What Qin Mu said was not without reason. In this military camp, it was a competition of who was stronger. There was no such thing as being respectful to each other. On the battlefield, it was also a competition of who was stronger. If you lose, not to mention being humiliated, you might not even be able to save your life. You won't even have a chance to pretend to be a grandson.
After hearing Qin Mu's scolding, everyone was speechless, including Ma Liuliang, who had no choice but to kneel down and confess their guilt.
From this moment on, the words "Dignity is not given by others, but you have to fight for it yourself" will be deeply engraved in the hearts of every soldier like a brand;
Let them strive to be the best in future training, and practice hard if they lose, and regain their face in a dignified manner, instead of venting their grievances through private fights. This is a story for later, so we will not discuss it for now.
Ma Liuliang was scolded, but Xiang Liancheng was happy. Suddenly, Qin Mu turned to him and kicked him hard, knocking him ten feet away.
"A proud soldier will be defeated. Don't you even understand this? You just won a few games? You are so arrogant. You are no better than Ma Liuliang. I want to tell you that on the battlefield, one hundred minus one does not necessarily equal ninety-nine. It is more likely to equal zero, because if you lose once, your life will be gone. People like you, who are complacent after winning a few games during training, will definitely be defeated in the future. In order to prevent you from harming the lives of thousands of soldiers in the future, I might as well kill you with a single blow!"
Qin Mu cursed loudly while rushing forward and kicking him hard, even harder than he had done to Ma Liuliang, and kicked Xiang Liancheng so hard that he rolled on the ground like a gourd.
When Xiang Liancheng heard his words, he felt as if he had been hit on the head with a stick. He was deeply shocked. Qin Mu's love for him was so deep, but his criticism was so severe.
He didn't care to cover the wound on his head, but fell to the ground and kowtowed with tears in his eyes: "I have failed your expectations, and I am willing to accept the most severe punishment. Please punish me, please punish me..."
Qin Mu was still furious, and continued to scold: "Your crimes are far more than these. Countless refugees in southern Jiangxi are starving every day. I have tried every possible means to provide you with good food and drink, hoping that you can do better in training, win more battles and lose fewer lives in the future.
You drank too much, ate too much, and didn't take the food seriously, throwing it all over the floor. Do you know how many lives could have been saved by the food you threw away today? The army is used to protect the people. If you have no compassion for the people, what's the point of me supporting you? Ah? Tell me, what's the point of supporting you?"
Under Qin Mu's fury, not only did the two hundred soldiers who participated in the fight fall to the ground, but even those who did not participate in the fight did not dare to stand and fell to the ground one after another;
Ma Yongzhen, Huo Sheng and Liu Meng had no choice but to come forward to apologize. As senior generals, they had an unshirkable responsibility for what had happened.
"Come on, lock up Ma Liuliang and Xiang Liancheng, and all the soldiers who participated in the fight, run around the parade ground. Do not stop without my order! Aren't you very capable? I want to see how capable you are."
After Ma Liuliang and Xiang Liancheng were taken to the confinement room, the two hundred soldiers who were fighting began to run around the parade ground, one circle, ten circles, a hundred circles. Qin Mu had already returned to the big tent, but no one dared to stop. They all gritted their teeth and held on.
Gradually, the soldiers from the two centurions began to compete with each other to see who would collapse first.
Qin Mu was happy to see such healthy competition. After running for an hour, the troops on both sides were so tired that they lay down like dead dogs. Qin Mu then ordered these people to be dragged back to the camp, soaked in hot water, and rubbed with medicinal wine. He did not want to really cripple these people.
After the severe punishment, Qin Mu personally went to rub medicinal wine on the soldiers. Although he did not say a word, many soldiers could not help but sob, crying like children who had done something wrong.
On the third day after this incident, urgent news came from Ganzhou that Gu Xiancheng had revived and gathered two to three hundred troops in Dongjiang Town, Longnan County, and marched eastward to attack Longnan County.
The magistrate of Longnan County abandoned the city and fled. Gu Xiancheng easily occupied the county seat of Longnan and became famous.
"He deserves to die!" Qin Mu couldn't help but curse after receiving the report, and it was unclear whether he was cursing the Longnan County Magistrate or Gu Xiancheng.
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