When Wang Huzi and other brothers who had gone through winter training heard Yang Ling's shouts, they naturally crawled out of bed quickly, dressed neatly, ran out of the tent and quickly lined up to gather.
Most of the veterans like Blacksmith and others who had recovered from their injuries were from a mixed army. When they rested, they only went out for drills every other day, and then played chess and cards in the sun when they had nothing to do. They knew the training rules of the 74th Army.
So when Wang Huzi and his brothers were fully armed and lined up in a neat line in the open space, the veterans of the Honor Company shuffled out of the tent, looking like casual soldiers.
Yang Ling did not immediately punish these brothers in the honorary company who did not stand or sit like an honorary company. He just stood there quietly, waiting for the reports from the battalion commanders.
"Report! The first battalion has been assembled!"
"Report! The second battalion has assembled!"
"Report! The three battalions have assembled!"
The first battalion commander Lu Xing, the second battalion commander Chen Ming and the third battalion deputy battalion elder Yan Qian quickly gathered the troops.
"The first battalion stayed at the camp and started stabbing combat training!"
"The Second Battalion goes to the east to start bombing and demolition training!"
Yang Ling quickly issued a training order to the first and second battalions, and the two battalion commanders immediately led the team to leave.
Yang Ling and the others are the field troops of the National Revolutionary Army, and they need to fight head-on with the Japanese on the battlefield.
Although they are now in a period of rest, Yang Ling does not want his brothers to slack off and relax because of this. He hopes that through training, they will always maintain a high fighting enthusiasm and not let their combat skills become rusty. Once a war breaks out, it will be fatal.
"Regimental deputy, what are our third battalions doing?"
Seeing that the first and second battalions were leading their teams to start training, while the third battalion was still stuck in place, Captain Wang Huzi, the company commander, asked.
Naturally, Yang Ling would not leave the Third Battalion idle. He pointed to the distant hilltop shrouded in morning mist and said, "The mission of our Third Battalion is to run to that hilltop and then run back."
Wang Huzi looked in the direction of Yang Ling's finger. The top of the mountain was shrouded in morning mist. There were rugged mountain roads and paddy fields along the way. A round trip would take at least twenty or thirty miles. Wouldn't this cost lives?
"Regimental deputy, why are we running if we have nothing to do? Let's practice stabbing and throwing bombs." The blacksmith felt discouraged when he saw such a long road.
Since he was injured in Nanjing, he has been staying in the hospital to recuperate. In the past few months, he has eaten well and slept well. He has gained a lot of weight, and he feels a little unhappy.
Now that I see that the troops have to carry out such a long-distance attack, my calves are trembling just like the veterans of the Honor Company.
Before the blacksmith finished speaking, Yang Ling spoke again: "You honorary company are all veterans, and it is not appropriate to procrastinate when gathering. If any of you fails to complete the long-distance running training on time today, breakfast will be cancelled."
When the blacksmiths and other veterans of the Honor Company heard this, they immediately complained in their hearts. Forget it, they had to run so far, but there was still a time limit.
"Old company commander, let's start the training." Yang Ling nodded to the deputy battalion elder.
"Everyone turn right! Three lines, run and walk -" Lao Yanqiang roared loudly.
Wang Huzi took the lead and took the lead to run. No matter whether the blacksmith and the others were honorable or not, there was no room for maneuver at this moment. They followed closely behind and headed towards the mist-shrouded mountain top.
This De'an area is no better than the Lanfeng battlefield in the north where Yang Ling and the others were. The north is a vast plain area. Marching and fighting are all conducted in the plain area. No matter how good your leg and foot skills are, they can't compare with the Japanese cavalry and tanks.
However, the situation in this mountainous and watery southern region is very different. The roads are rugged and dangerous, and most of the time the march relies on the legs.
Whether it is a forced march or an armed attack, as long as the troops move quickly, they can seize the opportunity and win the battle in this mountainous and hilly area, so Yang Ling focuses on this physical fitness and attack training.
Hundreds of brothers from the third battalion rushed towards the mountain designated by Yang Ling. Wang Huzi and the others had long been accustomed to this kind of training. They were as agile as monkeys when climbing up hills.
The veterans of the Honor Company led by the blacksmith had been in the hospital for so long. They were neglected in training and soon couldn't keep up. They ran around in a mess.
"Brothers! Work harder and surpass the Honor Company! We are Scuds!"
Seeing that Honor Company could no longer run, Captain Shunzi also added insult to injury and led his men to pass them and ran forward, not forgetting to taunt him as he ran.
"Damn it, these guys are rabbits. They run so fast and don't know how to wait for us."
Seeing that the other two companies quickly separated them, the veterans of the Honor Company looked away and sighed.
The blacksmith was also so tired that he was out of breath. Their honorary company were all veterans who had been on the battlefield. Yang Ling gave them the title of honorary company. They were originally complacent and felt that they were superior to others.
But looking at it now, isn't this a sincerity to eliminate them? This dignified honorary company has been compared to others. How can we mess around in the future?
"Brothers! We are an honorary company! Get up! Chase after us!"
The blacksmith scolded and kicked the brothers who were lying on the ground tiredly, and started running again.
"You should rest. Turtles can run faster than you. No matter how you run, you can't catch us."
Just as the veterans of the Honor Company started to run, Shunzi and the others came from the front and cynicized. They were so angry that they yelled: "You little bastard, don't run away if you have the guts to see if I don't beat you to death!"
The veterans were cursing and chasing, but their physical strength was inferior to others. It was the first time for them to carry out such an armed attack, and they soon lost all strength after being tired and cursing.
This early morning training run made the brothers so exhausted that they were all wet as if they had been fished out of the water. When they ran back to the camp, stars appeared in their eyes, and they fell down and did not want to get up.
The veterans of the Honor Company were even more miserable. Less than a third of them were able to run back on time, and most of the rest were exhausted and lying on the roadside panting.
Yang Ling also strictly enforces discipline. Anyone who fails to complete the task will have breakfast cancelled.
These brothers of the Honor Company who did not receive breakfast did not take it seriously at first. Anyway, they had eaten the gruel in the morning as if they had not eaten it. If they had to wait a few more hours, they might as well eat it together with lunch.
But little did they know that this was the beginning of their nightmare. After breakfast, before they had time to take a breath, they were regrouped and started new training.
These newly recruited brothers were originally from a miscellaneous army, and their military discipline was lax. During their rest, they would do exercises in the morning and practice stabbing.
But when they arrived at Yang Ling's place, everything was different. Yang Ling paid close attention to training, and he looked down upon the training of new recruits in the rear division area.
If you want to truly survive on the cruel battlefield, each brother must develop excellent skills. The recruit training in the rear division area only teaches soldiers to shoot, which is enough.
Although most of the troops are now veterans, due to the heavy losses on the battlefield, most soldiers can only survive in the army for about half a year.
Although these people in the army are called veterans, they have been in the army for as long as a year or as short as a few months. They have been fighting all the time and cannot keep up with many trainings.
Now Yang Ling must seize the time to rest and strengthen their combat capabilities, hoping to enable them to survive the next battle.
"Our next training subject is shooting in sports! Each person is allowed to shoot three bullets! Old rules! Lunch will be canceled for those who fail to meet the standards!"
Those brothers in the Honor Company who had not had breakfast now felt a sense of urgency. If they did not have lunch, they would be hungry until tomorrow. If this happened every day, they would starve to death.
Now there are only two meals in the army, and one is thin and the other is dry. The dry meal is only a bowl of rice. It is nonsense to be full. Only the frontline combat troops can maintain their physical strength by eating three meals a day.
Therefore, during the shooting training subjects in sports, these veterans of the Honor Company exerted all their strength and strived to hit all the targets.
But after they stayed in the hospital for so long, when they tried to shoot again, the accuracy of the gun dropped a lot, and many bullets flew away, so that many brothers really started to starve.
With the experience of the first day, when Yang Ling trained on the second day, everyone began to pay attention and no longer care about it. After all, it was related to their own stomachs, and no one wanted to go hungry.