Chapter 15, Borrowing Strength to Overpower

  But the good times didn't last long, as the drill ground was not far from other nearby camps and there were no soundproofing areas like forests. The soldiers on night watch ran and shouted loudly in the middle of the night, immediately waking up the soldiers in the surrounding camps.

  The awakened soldiers initially did not know what was happening and even thought it was the revolutionary party starting a riot, so they were all hiding in their barracks and dared not come out. However, soon someone recognized that the noise was a very familiar password, and suddenly thought of the password from the previous day's afternoon drill.

  After plucking up their courage, several soldiers took up their arms and went out to take a look. They indeed saw a team of soldiers doing exercises on the drill ground, and immediately let out a sigh of relief. What followed was a loud scolding:

  "What's all the commotion?! It's the middle of the night! Can't you let people sleep?!"

  "What the heck is wrong with you? Which troop are these idiots from?"

  "It can't be anyone else's squad, it must be the one behind Shanziying's outpost."

  "Ever since the big shot who studied abroad came to the mountain camp, the people in the rear guard have been unlucky. In the morning, they had to run five laps around the large playground, and in the afternoon, they stood like stakes under the scorching sun. Alas, the big shot who studied abroad really knows how to torment people."

  After a while, more and more soldiers from other camps were awakened, and everyone knew that the training on the big drill ground was the rear guard of the Shanzi Camp, and they couldn't help but feel resentful. In addition to the Shanzi Camp, there were also two battalions of the 24th Division of the New Army stationed at the Xijiao Drill Ground. The New Army had always looked down on the Old Army, and after being awakened by the rear guard of the Shanzi Camp, two company commanders (company commanders of the New Army) immediately became enraged.

  The two teams had gathered dozens of troops and rushed onto the drill ground from the barracks.

  At this time, Wu Shaotong was leading his men in the last lap of running exercises. Suddenly, more than a dozen new soldiers appeared on the track ahead, blocking the way. He immediately ordered his men to stop and was about to go forward to question them when these new soldiers suddenly shouted abuse first:

  "What's going on? Are you trying to deceive people?"

  "Damn your mother! What's all the yelling about in the middle of the night?"

  "You think you're something just because you've been abroad? You've been showing off for half a day, thinking you can impress the world? Get out of my sight, all of you, scram!"

  "Whoever calls me 'old' will get beaten!"

  These new soldiers were furious, and both the officers and men had a very bad attitude. Although they all knew that there were still old army officers present at the rear guard posts, they didn't take them seriously at all.

  Facing this group of arrogant soldiers, Wu Shaotong's face was very gloomy. If it were the 21st century, he would have gone up and slapped them in the face. However, the situation is different now. After all, he didn't consider disturbing other troops when he gathered his team for training at midnight, so he was still in the wrong on this point.

  He swallowed his anger and ignored these new soldiers, turning around to start ordering his own troops to form up.

  The rear guard soldiers were originally very angry when they heard the new recruits scolding, especially Li Wenqi and Wang Yun, who were team officers. However, since Wu Shaotong didn't react at all, they could only endure it silently. They followed Wu's instructions to tidy up, standing upright with their chests out and heads held high, showing a brand-new organized and disciplined appearance.

  The new soldiers didn't care about the silent protest of the rear guards, but they found themselves being ignored by Wu Shaotong, and seeing Wu Shaotong reorganize his troops as if he was going to continue running drills, they became even more enraged. However, since Wu Shaotong held a seventh-rank official position, ordinary soldiers still showed some restraint.

  At this time, a tall and majestic military officer walked out. He was still wearing a new military uniform coat, with yellow epaulets on his shoulders and three badges on the epaulets, indicating that he was a lower-ranking third-class military officer, specifically a seventh-rank battalion commander. His rank was the same as Wu Shaotong's, so he wouldn't be afraid of Wu Shaotong at all. With a ferocious look, he circled to the front of the rear guard troops.

  "Don't think you're so great just because you've been abroad, it's your business what you do during the day, but yelling in the middle of the night, is this your home? Humph, if you want to show off, you should consider the timing, don't think that just because you learned some foreign tricks while studying abroad, you can come back and teach us old soldiers with your foreign tricks and get praised by the higher-ups! We soldiers need not only ability but also seniority!"

  This big-headed team rushed towards Wu Shaotong and scolded him loudly for a while, spitting stars flying horizontally.

  Wu Shaoteng gave him a cold sidelong glance, still not intending to open his mouth to refute anything.

  The rear guard soldier couldn't bear it anymore after hearing the new army insulting their superior. Chen Qun, who had the worst temper, immediately retorted: "Damn your mother! If our Lord Wu wanted to show off, he would have become your camp officer long ago, and you wouldn't be here pointing fingers and being arrogant!"

  Wu Shaotong didn't say a word, and the big guy couldn't find an excuse to make things difficult. But now that Chen Qun had scolded him, he immediately became a ready-made excuse. He smiled coldly, not saying a word, and took two steps forward, slapping Chen Qun's face with one palm. His strength was extremely great, and although Chen Qun's body wasn't weak, he was knocked sideways by the slap.

  Chen Qun was furious in his heart and immediately wanted to fight back, but the slap hurt him so much that he was dizzy and hadn't come to his senses yet.

  The big guy spat on the ground in front of Chen Qun and said menacingly, "Who's bigger or smaller? I'll let you know who's bigger or smaller. Be more careful when speaking to me from now on!"

  The rear guard soldiers were furious, but on the one hand they were restrained by this big-headed man who was tall and powerful, with a poisonous hand. On the other hand, Wu Shaotong had not spoken up yet, and the lesson of obeying orders was not to be lightly violated, so they could only dare to be angry but not dare to speak.

  "Everyone listen up, take a short rest." Wu Shaotong finally spoke up, although it was just a simple command.

  The soldiers of the rear guard all expected their Lord Wu to avenge Chen Qun and bring justice, and also followed Wu Shaozhong's order to calm down slightly.

  Wu Shaotong's face was very cold, and he could tolerate the other person scolding him, but when the other person physically hit his subordinates in front of him, that was something he absolutely couldn't tolerate. If an officer can't even take care of his own soldiers, how can he command respect from others in the future?

  He still didn't pay attention to the big-headed officer, but slowly rolled up his sleeves and tied up the braid on the back of his head, walked to the front of the rear guard column, strolled around in a circle, and said lightly: "All of you, cheer up, I'll let you take a look at what the strongest land army in Guangzhou will be like after three months of intensive training."

  After finishing what he had to say, his sleeves and queue were all tidy again.

  The burly officer saw Wu Shao Ting's attitude and knew that the other party was going to make a move. He smiled coldly, looking at the entire garrison in the big school field, and there were only a few people who could win against him in a one-on-one fight! He felt that this Wu Shao Ting was too arrogant, actually daring to bring out the banner of the strongest army in Guangzhou, it seemed that if he didn't let this kid taste some hardship, then the phrase "the way is high and the earth is thick" would be meaningless!

  He clenched his fists and cracked his knuckles, assuming a fighting stance!

  The rear guards all held their breaths; this was Lord Wu's first time taking action!

  Wu Shaotong added a sentence to his subordinates: "Later, no matter what happens, without my order, none of you are allowed to intervene, do you understand?"

  "Yes!" shouted the sentry soldiers in unison.

  The big guy thinks Wu Shaotong still has some code of chivalry, so he turns around and instructs his subordinates: "You all listen up, no one is allowed to intervene... Ah, you dare to launch a sneak attack!"

  Taking advantage of the big guy's momentary distraction, Wu Shaotong immediately pounced on him, grabbing him from behind and wrapping his arms around his waist. With a swift leg movement, he executed a perfect rear throw, sending the big guy crashing to the ground.

  The big guy was furious, just now he thought this guy had a bit of chivalry, but didn't expect that as soon as he turned around the other side would start acting shamelessly, his anger driving him to struggle desperately to get up.

  But Wu Shaotong, after overthrowing the big blockhead, quickly turned over and rode on the big blockhead's body. Both fists attacked the opponent's head and chest like raindrops. The big blockhead had no room to fight back except for stretching out his hands to block, Wu Shaotong was in a superior position and his punches were extremely fast, several times he couldn't predict the direction of the attack and was forced to take a few punches.

  All the soldiers around were stunned, they never expected Wu Shaotong to launch a surprise attack. Wu Shaotong was shorter than Dabao by a head, but now he was riding on top of him, and the two men looked very comical!

  Wu Shaoteng quickly fought for a while, suddenly changing his left hand to grab Dablock's wrist, and his right fist struck straight at the opponent's nasal bone.

  "Ah oh! You've got a punch in the lungs!" The big guy covered his nose and was in so much pain.

  Wu Shaotong smiled coldly and stood up from the opponent, while also casually dusting off his hands. He had just used Ukrainian wrestling technique AgniKempo, which anyone who watched the movie "The Trigger" in the 21st century would know. Of course, this was just a small test; if he had used real special combat skills, the opponent might have ended up dead or injured.

  The big guy rolled around on the ground for a while, and gradually came to again. He brought his hand, which had been covering his nose, up to his eyes to take a look, but found that there was no blood on it, just some snot.

  Wu Shaotong ignored the other party and walked slowly to his own troops, saying: "Don't think that my sneak attack just now was a shameful act. I tell you, on the battlefield there is no such word as 'shameful'. As long as you can win, you can use any means."

  Everyone was surprised by this remark, but upon careful consideration, it seemed reasonable. As the Art of War says, "War does not despise deceit." The outcome of a military campaign is either "victory" or "defeat," but for soldiers, it's a matter of life and death. To survive, people can do anything; what's the point of talking about shame or morality?

  Wu Shaotong paused for a moment, then pointed to the big guy who was getting up from the ground and said: "You all saw that, it's because he didn't make sufficient defensive preparations at first, so I easily launched a sneak attack on him. This is also why I have been conducting midnight surprise drills with you, you must be vigilant at all times and in all places, otherwise you will end up like him."

  The soldiers of the rear guard were deeply moved. Previously, they still felt that Mr. Wu was too despicable, but at this moment, they all turned into admiration.

  The big guy took a few deep breaths. Although he knew that Wu Shaoping's subordinates had spared his nose just now, and also felt that the other party's words "win at all costs" were very reasonable, but how could he swallow the bad breath from before? He secretly thought: Since you said win at all costs, then I'll use your own method to deal with you.

  He suddenly rushed towards Wu Shaozheng's back, taking advantage of Wu Shaozheng's opportunity to train his subordinates, and with one blow, he knocked Wu Shaozheng to the ground.