Chapter Twenty-Five: Flickering Light and Dark Shadow

  The dinner party at night excited everyone, and the old soldiers got their first reward of white wine. They clinked glasses and cheered, as if they had returned to their legendary life in the green forest. The new recruits looked on with envy, eating their relatively sumptuous dinner, thinking to themselves: when can we become old soldiers too?

  After dinner, Wang Changhu sent away all the high-ranking officers of the 7th Brigade and called Huang Yifei to gather all the soldiers on the drill ground. Everyone came to the drill ground and divided into two parts: old soldiers and new recruits. They stood very neatly, and Wang Changhu was very satisfied. He gave the order: "At ease, brothers..." The old soldiers stood at attention with a loud "crack", while the new recruits didn't react at all. A cold glint flashed in Wang Changhu's eyes as he continued to speak: "Brothers, our team has expanded today, but that doesn't mean our military quality will decline. New recruits saw the single-soldier drills of old soldiers and were envious and amazed; this is nothing, you can also reach this level through a period of training; any of our training projects have a death quota, why? Because the war we face is more cruel than our training; today, the 20 instructors who were selected, if they lead their troops worse than these kids, I will destroy your clan." The old soldiers felt a chill run down their necks and for the first time thought that being an instructor wasn't easy.

  Wang Changhu finished speaking and took out ten small flags in his hand, shaking them as he said: "These are the Ten-Faced Flags, five Heroic Flags and five Whore Flags. You will be divided into twenty small teams, each with a coach, and every month the twenty teams will compete once. The competition content includes everything you have learned in a month, the specific content is decided by drawing lots; the top five get the Heroic Flag, the last five get the Whore Flag, after getting the flag, hang them on the door of the barracks.

  In addition, the teams that went out to perform tasks later were also from the top five teams. In order to be fair, 2,000 people reported their numbers, with one to one hundred being the first group, two to two hundred being the second group, and so on; after the instructor came out, a draw was held to decide which group you would lead."

  Wang Changhu nodded to Huang Yifei after finishing speaking, and Huang Yifei called Zhao Yu. Zhao Yu began to announce the top 20 candidates: Wang Qiang, Fu Haitao, Cai Ye, Zou Yuhu, Xiao Feixia, Su Qing, Li Dong, He Qiang, Jiang Qi, Shi Donglai, Tie Zhu, Lang Qi, Liu Xiaobian, Fan Hai, Gao Da, Zhang Wuneng, Xiao Qi, Guo Qin'an, Wei Jiaming, and Qi Rang.

  After reading out the names, Zhao Yu said: "Tomorrow, the big list of all the scores will be posted on the wall of the barracks. Everyone can check for themselves. If there are any errors, you can find any one of us judges here." After finishing speaking, he went down.

  Huang Yifei walked up and said: "Now the instructor will come to the front to draw lots, twenty people will come up to draw lots, after drawing lots, Huang Yifei will announce on the spot:

  First team: Gada; Second team: Wang Qiang; Third team: Fan Hai; Fourth team: Zhang Wu Nai; Fifth team: Cai Ye.

  Team 6: Xiao Fei Xiang; Team 7: Su Qing; Team 8: Qi Rang; Team 9: Shi Donglai; Team 10: Fu Haitao

  The eleventh team: Zou Yuhu; The twelfth team: Wei Jiaming; The thirteenth team: Liu Xiaobian; The fourteenth team: Li Dong.

  Fifteenth team: Guo Qin'an; Eighteenth team: Gao Da; Nineteenth team: He Qiang; Twentieth team: Xiao Qi.

  Huang Yifei held a stack of papers in his hand and said: "I have the new training plan set by the superior officer here, each instructor will receive one copy. Tomorrow we will start training according to the new plan. The old soldiers will be led by Liu Fang and also train according to the new plan. Instructors lead their own teams back to the dormitory, others disperse, remember tomorrow's drill."

  Wang Changhu called over Hu Jingzhong, Huang Yifei, Zhao Yu, Hua Fuer, Xu Yingfa, the military officer, Huang Yihu, and Ouyang Qing after everyone had dispersed. Wang Changhu said: "Our team's framework is now set up, but our expenses are also high, we urgently need a batch of experienced logistics soldiers, and our team also lacks some experienced military officers. I think this time with the opportunity to exchange pigs for people, we can get 300 logistics soldiers and 100 military officers, what do you all think?"

  "What about us old brothers then?" Huang Yifei said.

  Wang Changhu said: "I think we should take advantage of this opportunity, since General Shao is here with us to conduct this military strategy and tactics study class. Let's give these brothers a foundation first, and then in half a year, when we go into the mountains to suppress bandits and expand our armed forces, everyone can lead troops again." Huang Yifei nodded his head.

  Hu Jingzhong said: "We should also set up a medical team that can handle simple injuries of soldiers."

  Wang Changhu nodded and said: "You're in charge of this matter, find the quartermaster if you need anything, get it done quickly, and come back to be my chief of staff after it's done."

  Hu Jingzhong nodded.

  "What am I supposed to do?" Huang Yihu said suddenly.

  Wang Changhu smiled and said: "Will you be my guard regiment commander?"

  "What about his food?" Huang Yihu said.

  Wang Changhu burst out laughing and said: "That's enough."

  Huang Yihu scratched his head and smiled foolishly: "Then I'm done."

  Wang Changhu suddenly asked the military procurement officer: "Is this pig bought by someone else or did you go collect it yourself?"

  The military officer replied: "Generally, it is delivered by people, but if the quantity is large, some will be collected."

  Wang Changhu hesitated for a moment before saying, "In two days, you will lead half of your troops to collect pigs. Don't offer too high a price, and use the excuse that we're going to build a pig farm. We need 400 large pigs, and also bring some smaller ones, but not too many, just enough to look reasonable."

  "Also, you need to provide a list of the top 200 fighters from Qi State." Wang Changhu said.

  "The quartermaster asked in surprise: 'Wasn't it one hundred men?'"

  "Are you out of your mind?! I want 100 men, and he just gives me 100 men without any substitutes!"

  The military officer suddenly realized: "Ah!"

  Wang Changhu said to Ouyang Qing: "Tomorrow, you will set up the Military Law Department, and the personnel will be selected from among the old brothers. First, select ten people, and they will start their duties tomorrow morning. They are not allowed to engage in private activities or corruption; if anyone violates our military law, you must take it seriously and report it to me immediately. We will first make an example of them and then execute the punishment."

  Ouyang Qing said: "Including you?"

  "What's wrong with me?"

  Ouyang Qing said: "Your wife is too many, **too frequent, voice too loud, disturbing the military mind."

  Wang Changhu pointed at Ouyang Qing with his mouth agape and stuttered: "You, you, I'm going to fix you."

  He looked around and saw that others were lowering their heads and laughing secretly. He thought for a moment and felt that he had also gone too far;

  So Wang Changhu had no choice but to ask Ouyang Qing in a low voice: "Then what should we do?"

  Ouyang Qing said: "It's best to leave none, if it's really not possible, just leave two, one is Long Mei'er and the other is Li Xiao; they are our people, leaving them here won't cause any trouble for others. However, when you do something bad, be sure to control your volume, otherwise the brothers will suffocate, and the sows in the seventh battalion's pigpen will suffer."

  Others couldn't help it: "Hahaha..." and burst into laughter together.

  Wang Changhu awkwardly scratched his head and said, "Alright, I'll listen to you this time. Tomorrow, I'll send the extra wives back. But Huang Yitao will bring a hundred old brothers back tomorrow, so let's not lose the command center. The quartermaster should also arrange for two shifts to go over and cook."

  As they talked, the night had already deepened, and many places had already gone to sleep, but in the dimly lit underground room of the Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang, the faint light was still on with their conversation.

  In front of the two people were the bodies of five Japanese soldiers, with some having a bullet hole in them, others having a knife wound on their necks, and others having a stab wound in the chest; all the wounds were clean and tidy, without any extra scars.

  A voice said: "Kawashima-kun, what's your take on the wound?"

  Kawashima, dressed in military uniform, said: "Consul, you see, these several people with knife wounds have their eyes closed, obviously killed while sleeping. And that one with a head injury, his eyes are open and filled with fear, it can be seen that the enemy who killed my empire's soldiers is clearly a Chinese martial arts expert, and not just one person, but many."

  The consul nodded and said, "Your analysis is very correct. From the flyers we confiscated, we also saw these two points (the Japanese are always shameless, it was clearly thrown by us). What else did you see?"

  Kawashima said: "From the losses suffered by our other overseas Chinese, the Kempeitai should not be the primary target, because among the overseas Chinese there were no deaths, only property losses and no loss of life; I estimate that a small group of bandits discovered the goods in the garage and had the intention to kill for wealth, resulting in the death of more than 500 Imperial elites. If so, it would be too terrible!"

  The consul smiled and said: "No, no, Kawashima-kun, the enemy is not as terrible as you imagine. Look at this."

  He handed Kawashima a test report, and after taking it, Kawashima looked at it for a while before uttering the words "anesthetic".

  The consul nodded: "Yes, the imperial military doctor found inhibitory drugs in the brains of dead soldiers, which is the anesthetic said to be spread among the Japanese martial artists. If there was no anesthetic, relying on my empire's elite soldiers, it would be difficult for bandits to get away with it."

  "What do you mean?" said Kawashima.

  The consul continued: "The bandits are definitely from the Japanese martial arts world, and they have strong mobility, a large number of people, strict discipline, and extraordinary combat effectiveness."

  Kawashima thought for a moment and said: "You mean Zhang..."

  The consul shook his head and said, "No, no, Kawashima, the Northeast Army does not have such combat power. This is a mysterious team that we do not understand. But I am sure this matter is related to the Young Marshal's Mansion. I heard that a new unit has entered the North Big Camp, we need to investigate; of course, we also cannot let go of the investigation into the Northeast bandits. If it is indeed the unit from the North Big Camp, then we will shift the blame onto the bandits and use the name of joint anti-bandit operations to transfer them out of the North Big Camp and into the mountains, you..." The consul clenched his fist tightly as he spoke.

  At this time, a soldier came in and reported: "Miss Xue has arrived. Consul, she wants to see you."

  Kawashima burst out laughing and said: "Consul, your good fortune has arrived, you don't have to accompany me anymore."

  The consul smiled and nodded at Kawashima, then turned and walked towards the reception room.

  The consul entered the reception room and saw a beautiful Chinese woman in kimono already seated there.

  The consul greeted the woman: "Xue Er is here?"

  Xue'er stood up and bowed to the consul, saying: "I just arrived today."

  The consul asked: "Have all the people who are going with you been arranged?"

  Xue Er replied: "Yes, everything has been arranged, and there is a fellow sister who will take care of it."

  The consul suddenly said seriously: "Your mission is to figure out whether the new garrison in Beidaying and our killed constabulary have any relationship, do you understand?"

  Xue Er lowered her head and said: "Cough."

  "The consul continued: 'When did you enter Beidaying Camp?'"

  Xue Er replied: "Three days later, I still need to contact Shifu's sister first."

  The consul stretched out his hand and touched Xiaoxue's face, Xiaoxue dodged.

  The consul's smile was somewhat distorted, and Xue'er hastily bowed and said: "Farewell, Consul! Goodnight!" After finishing speaking, Xue'er hurriedly escaped from the consulate.

  The consul sniffed at the fragrance on his hand: Chinese woman - very fragrant.