Chapter 23: Yun Qi's Words

  Suddenly, the First Hundred Squad became the focus of the entire Eastern Forbidden Troops. Yun Qi didn't care about these things and continued to say: "From now on, I will train your formation, pace, and some basic norms. Starting today, you will temporarily put down the weapons in your hands and treat yourselves as new recruits. Can you do it?

  ……

  A moment of silence below, these are almost all old soldiers with six or seven years, no matter how to train, but if you want them to regard themselves as new recruits, it is indeed very difficult.

  Yun Qi saw that they didn't respond, and the rules he had just mentioned were forgotten. He couldn't help but shout loudly: "You blockheads! What did I just say? How should you be answering?"

  "We are all old soldiers now. After so many years of service, it's hard to think of ourselves as new recruits!" a soldier said in the ranks.

  "Have I allowed you to speak? Soldiers, from now on, if you have something to say, you must report it. I don't want anyone to suddenly interrupt again. You can shout 'Report, Captain!' Do you understand?" Yun Qi shouted loudly.

  "Yes!"

  Yun Qi nodded and continued: "I know you all have long military service, but have you ever thought that when you stand at a new height, you will suddenly find that what you learned before is not worth mentioning. At this height, you can't even control your own life. What would you choose to do?"

  "Report! Husband is long!"

  Yun Qi looked at him and saw that it was Han Changsheng, smiled slightly and said: "Speak! Soldier!"

  "I think we should relearn."

  "Alright!" Yun Qi nodded and continued, "If you're all satisfied with your current combat strength and think there's no need to improve further, I can go apply for resignation from General Liao right away. If you think you can join my training and continue to get stronger, then answer me with your voices! So, are you willing or not?"

  The soldiers didn't hesitate, and at the moment when Yun Qiqi finished speaking, everyone shouted in unison: "We agree!"

  Yun Qi paused for a few seconds, his face slightly relaxed, he walked back and forth in front of the soldiers with his hands behind his back, saying: "You all know that as a soldier's duty is to defend the country, but I hope to see you all come down from the battlefield, still standing in formation, listening to my orders..."

  "You continue training, starting from tomorrow morning, and I will lead it personally." After finishing speaking, Yun Qi turned around and walked towards the outside of the school field.

  The entire 100-man squad, however, stared blankly at Yun Qi's back, their eyes complex, and in their hearts, Yun Qi's words just now kept repeating: "After coming down from the battlefield, you can still line up in formation without missing a single person to listen to my training."

  ……

  In the late afternoon, on a desolate mountain outside of Huadu...

  On the mountain, there is a mound of earth, behind which is a forest, but around the mound, not a single blade of grass grows. Perhaps someone has removed all the grass from here. The tombstone is just a rectangular stone, with three faint characters on top: Wang Fu Chang. In front of the grave, several bowls with missing corners are arranged, each filled with fruit and steamed buns.

  Several soldiers who had removed their helmets slowly walked to the front of the grave, and everyone just looked at each other without saying a word. One of the soldiers stepped forward, knelt down on one knee in front of the tombstone, raised his hand to gently stroke the edge of the stone, and muttered: "Big brother, little brother has come to apologize."

  The remaining soldiers also lowered their heads, looking as if they had done something wrong and were admitting their fault in front of their elders. The soldier continued to speak: "If it weren't for Big Brother, we would have all died already. We once swore to be loyal only to Big Brother for our entire lives, but...but..." At this point, the soldier's fists clenched tightly, his fingernails digging into his palms without him realizing it, and his arms resting on the tombstone began to tremble naturally: "But...Big Brother! We...wavered!"

  "Big brother, originally we were all vagrants from nearby, having no food or shelter. It was you who pulled my brothers and me back from the gates of hell. You gave us food and shelter, and allowed us to become real men."

  "You gave us hope for life, you gave us a goal to strive for!"

  "Even your death was for our sake. If you hadn't rushed forward during that bandit-suppressing operation, it might have been us who died instead!"

  "But big brother... we've wavered... oh right... I should introduce myself first!"

  "He's a man about our age, maybe even younger. He was transferred to our 100-man squad for the first time today. He took your position and is now our squad leader, but Old Iron didn't take him seriously until an hour ago. He's quite capable... Old Three, Four, and Five couldn't beat him together. Old Big Brother... you know, he's the only squad leader who chose to sleep in the tent with us like you did. But unlike you, who always took care of us like a big brother, he never gave us a kind face, but I don't know why, there's something inside me that was stirred up by him."

  "Big brother! He said something to the brothers today: he said he'd rather see all of us come down from the battlefield, and stand in a row without missing anyone, listening to his orders. Honestly, big brother, I'm starting to like this new battalion commander."

  "Big brother, today I brought Old Three, Old Four, and Old Five with me. Firstly, it's to apologize to you. Secondly, we want to ask for your help in making a decision. If big brother agrees that we should follow him, just give us some hints or blow the wind, or whatever else works."

  When he finished speaking, Yun Qi would definitely hear it and immediately step forward to kick him to the ground, shouting: Ignorant! He didn't believe in ghosts and gods like people of this era. In his opinion, when a person dies, they are dead and won't exist in any form again. This was especially true in the military, where faith was not allowed in the barracks; you could only believe in your country and its people. But these several big-headed soldiers believed that their elder brother would give them clear guidance.

  They waited for half a day, but there was no movement. The faces of several soldiers became increasingly ugly. Half an hour later, it was still quiet. Those people could only sigh and slowly get up. Their time to leave the camp was almost up, and they had to hurry back within the prescribed time limit. It seemed that their big brother did not agree, but could they really do it in their hearts?

  Just as they were about to head down the mountain, a gentle breeze blew in, sweeping across their faces before gradually disappearing.

  Several people's faces lit up with joy, and they all turned around together, excitedly kneeling on the ground, heavily kowtowing in front of the tombstone. The soldier who spoke first shouted deeply: "Thank you, Big Brother Cheng!"

  …………………………