The scorching sun shines on Taohuaji, and the mountains and rivers complement each other, forming a landscape painting of early winter in the south of the Yangtze River.
On the simply leveled open ground at the foot of Taohuaji hill, more than 700 men in military uniforms were sweating profusely as they stood at attention, at ease, and marched in step under the scorching sun... If you didn't know, you would think you were dreaming about modern military training.
Zhu Pingan stood on the high slope, watching the people training below, squinting his eyes and nodded. Although their movements were still not standard and their formations were not neat, they had improved a lot compared to the beginning.
Liu Mu, Liu Dadao and others are very good, almost born soldiers. I trained them for a few nights in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Judicial Inspection Office, and they mastered the key points of the movements. Their formation movements are more standard than those of me, who has gone through military training in junior high school, high school and university and watched a lot of military parade videos and read military magazines. The content of the training is also on point.
Although it was Jiangnan, it was still very cold in winter, but the more than 700 men on the field were sweating profusely. After nearly an hour of high-intensity training, it was hard not to sweat.
Zhu Ping'an couldn't be more satisfied with their performance.
"Stand still, everyone. When I yell 'Stand still,' you must all be nailed to the ground like nails. You must not move. You cannot be pushed down or bent! Liu Laoqi, Zhang Tiesuo, and Luo Si... Stand still, everyone! If any of you moves like a maggot again, you must run three laps around the field! You are not allowed to stop to rest until you have finished the run, or you will be severely punished with thirty lashes!"
Liu Dadao, one of the military training instructors, was holding a peach wood stick as thick as his forearm and patrolling among the first, second and third sentry teams. If he saw anyone who was not standing straight or moving around, he would hit them hard with the stick.
"I can't understand why our master, who has been wise all his life, could be so foolish at this moment. What's the point of training us in standing at attention, at ease, and marching? Can we kill the enemy by standing there?"
"Stand and die?! Haha, what are you talking about in your sleep? Enemies always die in battle, how can they die standing and dying?!"
"It's impossible to die standing still, but I think it's possible to die of laughter. Haha, think about it, two armies are facing each other, and I stand straight at attention all of a sudden, like a target, how can the enemy not be happy?! And this 'marching in step' is so awkward, the enemy will probably die of laughter if they see it!"
"Stand at attention, at ease, marching, etc., I have never heard of other armies training like this! I am not criticizing our master, I just think that our master is a scholar, he must be good at writing, but when it comes to military affairs, our master may be a layman..."
"If other troops saw us training, such as standing at attention, standing at ease, and marching, they would probably die of laughter."
... ...
During the breaks in training, some people would complain from time to time and expressed their objections to the queue training. This kind of training was tedious and boring. They were all free-spirited bandits and could not stand this kind of boring training.
"Let me see whose ass is so careless that it's farting there. Luo Si, Liu Laoqi, Wang Ergou, Xia Tiedan... You guys, get out of here! You are so brave to criticize the master! Run five laps around the training ground for me. You are not allowed to stop until you finish. Whoever dares to stop, I will break his legs!" Liu Dadao was patrolling when he heard Luo Si and others criticizing the training. He got furious and pulled them out one by one. First, he hit each of them with a stick, and then punished them to run ten laps around the training ground.
"Five laps?!" Luo Si couldn't help but exclaimed when he heard that.
"Now it's ten laps!" Liu Dadao said coldly.
"Isn't it five laps? How come it became ten laps?!" Luo Si couldn't help but protest after hearing this.
"Fifteen laps!" Liu Dadao spoke again.
"Fifteen..." Luo Si's exclamation was stopped by Liu Laoqi's slap on his mouth. Liu Laoqi dragged Luo Si to run and cursed him viciously, "That's enough, Luo Si! If you keep on nagging, it will become twenty laps!"
Except for the first, second and third posts in charge of Liu Dadao, similar situations also occurred in other posts in charge of Liu Mu, Liu Daqiang and others. The bandits, who were used to being lax, encountered such irritating and boring queue training, and there was a lot of criticism.
Zhu Ping'an also noticed a similar situation, so he gathered everyone together during the halftime break of training.
"Everyone, you did a good job today. I'll give you an extra pork meal at noon!" Zhu Ping'an stood on the high slope and applauded everyone.
"Thank you, sir!"
Everyone off the field was suddenly excited, dispelling some of the boredom and fatigue of the training.
"I noticed that many people are confused and puzzled about queue training. They feel that it is a waste of time and futile, and they just do the training perfunctorily..." Zhu Ping'an glanced at everyone and said slowly.
Under Zhu Ping'an's gaze, Luo Si, Liu Laoqi and others could not help but lower their heads guiltily.
"I will explain it once and for all, and it will not happen again!" Zhu Ping'an said with a serious face.
Everyone off the field immediately focused their attention on Zhu Ping'an. In fact, it was not just Luo Si, Liu Laoqi and others. Almost everyone present did not know the significance of queue training, nor did they know why. They all had emotions about the boring queue training, but some people expressed their opinions while some did not.
"It is the duty of soldiers to obey orders! Formation training is your first and most important lesson. The purpose of this lesson is to shape and train your majestic and upright image, coordinated and uniform movements. Don't think that formations are useless. War is not like robbing fat sheep and smashing kilns as you did in the past. War is a battle between two armies, with thousands, even hundreds of thousands or millions of people fighting. Whether it is offense or defense, formation is very important. It is the key to ensure victory in the war. Maintaining formation can ensure the continuity of attack and defense. If you lose your footing, there will be problems in both offense and defense. Defeat is just a matter of time. If the army is defeated, your lives will be in danger!"
"Second, we will cultivate your fighting style of obeying orders, enduring hardships, perseverance, and continuous combat! This is also the most important purpose of this class. An army must have the qualities of obeying orders, following commands, and enforcing discipline before it is qualified to become a real army, an army with combat effectiveness!"
"Having said that, I will emphasize it again! Everyone, remember this! Soldiers are bound by their duty to obey orders! No matter whether the superior's orders are right or wrong! No matter whether you understand them or not! As long as the superior's orders do not violate national laws and military regulations! You must obey! Absolutely! Unconditionally!"
Zhu Ping'an stood on the high slope, glanced at everyone with burning eyes, and spoke to everyone with a serious face.
"Yes, sir!"
The crowd roared like thunder.