Chapter 46: Armed Conflict in the Military Camp

  Outside the barracks, a round moon is obscured by a passing cloud. A patch of shadow falls on the ground.

  The night wind suddenly picked up a whirlwind, rolling up the dust on the ground, and wildly swept around the barracks.

  Whoosh! From the row of barracks in the north, a dozen or so soldiers suddenly ran out. Each of them held an iron shovel and pickaxe, running towards the row of barracks where Li Guoting and his men lived.

  The one running in front of the soldiers was none other than Tian Xiaoping, the deputy squad leader of the new fourth company, who had just been beaten by Zhao Erhu with a bruised nose and swollen face. Closely following behind him were his fellow villagers and acquaintances, whom Tian Xiaoping had brought from the sixth and eighth companies to help him take revenge.

  As soon as they arrived at the camp, Tian Xiaoping was the first to lift the door curtain and push open the door of the camp, then walked in.

  "You few Sichuan guys, listen up! Grandpa isn't afraid of you. If you have the guts, come out!" Tian Xiaoping stood at the door with his hands on his hips, his face twisted in a fierce scowl, his eyes bulging with rage as he bellowed at Li Guoting and Ma Fei, Zhao Erhu who were lying on the bed.

  Actually, after Tian Xiao Ping ran out of the barracks, Li Guo Ting and Ma Fei had expected that this kid would not give up easily and must have gone outside to get help. So, Li Guo Ting said to Zhao Er Hu: "Brother, be careful. You beat Deputy Captain Tian, how could he give up easily? He ran out and must have gone to find some help. We should all be prepared."

  Ma Fei also said: "Third brother, let you endure a bit, if you can't endure it, this matter will get out of hand and there's no end to it."

  Zhao Erhu was just delighted to have the upper hand over Li Guoting and Ma Fei, letting him take advantage of the situation. Without Tian Xiaoping fighting back, beating Tian Xiaoping was like an adult hitting a child, that refreshing feeling, probably won't be experienced again in this lifetime.

  Just thinking about Tian Xiaoping deliberately stealing his military cap and framing him, making Zhao Erhuo not only lose face in front of everyone on the first day of military training, but also suffer a beating for no reason, almost losing his life. He felt that this anger must be vented, and it had to be severe. Now, with Big Brother and Second Brother secretly helping him, he was particularly exhilarated. So, those fists and feet, without any restraint, vented their fury on Tian Xiaoping, beating him until he cried out for his father and mother.

  Looking at Tian Xiaoping's disheveled appearance, Zhao Erhu finally got rid of the hatred in his heart. As soon as Tian Xiaoping ran out and shouted for them to wait, Zhao Erhu understood that Tian Xiaoping would never give up easily. He must have had a fellow villager or a good friend who would help him take revenge. Therefore, Zhao Erhu also dared not to be careless, he even put on his shoes, hugged his head with both hands, and waited for Tian Xiaoping's return.

  "When Li Guoting and Ma Fei said that to him, he said indignantly: "Is this my fault? He was the one who bullied me first. If I let you two go, would I tolerate it? I should give him a good beating, so he knows that bullying others will not end well."

  Li Guoting and Ma Fei heard his words and didn't say anything more.

  Class monitor Tan Xiaowei arrived earlier than everyone else. He was tall and sturdy, with a square face, a pair of thick black eyebrows, and under those eyebrows, a pair of bright and spirited eyes that always seemed to hold a kind expression when looking at people. When speaking, he never offended anyone, so everyone called him "Good Man".

  Like what happened tonight, he also felt that Tian Xiaoping relied on Liu's deputy backing him up and was a bit too bullying. You say you don't like Zhao Erhu, that's fine, why did you have to steal his military cap and let Zhao Erhu wrongly receive a flogging? If this were to happen to anyone else, no one would agree, it serves Zhao Erhu right to be beaten.

  So when Li Guoting and Ma Fei came forward to pull the curtains, he pretended not to see them, lying on the innermost berth, and didn't care.

  The other new recruits in the class were all from poor hometowns and had no way to make a living, so they ran into the army to exchange their lives for food. They didn't dare to cause trouble. Moreover, when they first came, they didn't know each other. Now, after being assigned to the same class for only a few days, they could only be considered acquaintances, not close friends. Therefore, in this storm, everyone else took a neutral attitude and did not lean towards either side.

  When Li Guoting and Ma Fei stepped forward to pull the cart, Zhao Erhu took the opportunity to punch Tian Xiaoping fiercely. They didn't come forward to stop them, but instead watched from the side, even cheering them on.

  After Tian Xiao Ping ran out, except for Li Guo Ting, Ma Fei and Zhao Er Hu who were thinking about their own affairs, the others in the class were all lying on their beds with their eyes closed due to fatigue from military training during the day. Whether they slept or not, nobody knew, anyway, they all stopped making a sound.

  When Tian Xiaoping reappeared in the classroom, Li Guoting and Ma Fei were as calm as usual, not panicked at all. They lifted their bodies, half leaning on the bed, with their legs slanted, coldly watching Tian Xiaoping who was standing at the door, full of anger.

  Zhao Erhuo was different from Li Guoting and Ma Fei, he couldn't hold back his temper. Seeing Tian Xiaoping return alone again, Zhao Erhuo suddenly stood up from his bed, waving his fists, ready to pounce on Tian Xiaoping.

  Actually, Li Guoting and Ma Fei, who were lying on the bed, knew their sworn brother Zhao Erhu best. The reason why Zhao Erhu was so unyielding towards Tian Xiaoping was that he had the secret support of Li Guoting and Ma Fei, which gave him the courage to do so. If it weren't for them, Zhao Erhu wouldn't have dared to raise his fist against Tian Xiaoping, who was a head taller and more robust than him, fearing that he would be beaten by Tian Xiaoping in just a few blows and wet his pants.

  "You little rascal, come over here if you dare! Stop standing there showing off. If I'm afraid of you tonight, from now on the character '田' will be written upside down. Come on, your mother's...!" Tian Xiao Ping cursed as he stretched out his index finger in a hook shape, his eyes following the movement of his hand to glare at Zhao Er Hu who was still standing beside the bed and hadn't come over yet.

  Zhao Erhu's anger from just now had not dissipated, and at this time, the anger in his heart surged up again. Having taken advantage once, Zhao Erhu wanted to take advantage a second time, and he charged towards Tian Xiaoping with a burst of energy.

  Tian Xiaoping saw Zhao Erhu jumping over and turned around to push the door and went out.

  "You dare not run away, Zhao Er Ye tonight will not let you crawl on the ground as a horse ride, or it's not life." Zhao Er Hu opened his mouth to scold and immediately chased out.

  Li Guoting saw Zhao Erhu chasing out, so he quickly got up to shout and stop him. However, Zhao Erhu was furious and didn't care about anything else. Before Li could even shout, Zhao had already followed Tian Xiaoping out.

  A loud crash was heard from the doorway, and then Zhao Erhu rushed into the house with his head in his hands, blood flowing from his head, dripping down his cheeks, staining half of his face red.

  "Big brother, big brother, they've got someone......" Zhao Erhu cried out with a mournful face, shouting to Li Guoting.

  Li Guoting and Ma Fei jumped up together, rushed to the corner of the wall, each picked up an iron pick for digging trenches, and walked towards Zhao Erhu.

  Just then, a group of soldiers from other companies rushed in from outside, holding various objects to fight with, such as belts, clubs, and shovel handles. These soldiers who rushed into the barracks didn't know who Li Guoting was or who Ma Fei was; they simply saw people lying on their bunks or standing on the ground and swung their weapons wildly, attacking everyone indiscriminately.

  Originally, the other new recruits in the class, including Class Leader Tang Xiaowei, were just watching the excitement and didn't want to get involved in this dispute. As a result, the reinforcements called by Tian Xiaoping got confused and hit themselves. Now, they couldn't remain neutral even if they wanted to. Suddenly, Tang Xiaowei, who had been beaten for no reason, was furious and shouted loudly from his bunk: "Brothers of Class 4, we've been bullied! Let's fight together!"

  The monitor shouted, and the rest of the soldiers in the class jumped off their beds, each waving their fists or picking up whatever was nearby to fight each other.

  They chased each other, shouting and waving various objects in their hands, from the barracks of the fourth company to the outside playground. Several people had already been injured. Fresh blood was flowing on their faces. They were still fighting relentlessly. A soldier was beaten to the ground, and it was dark, so it was unclear whether he was from the fourth company or another company.

  The fight quickly spread throughout the entire company. Even the company commander couldn't stop it. A platoon leader hurriedly went to look for Captain Xu, but after searching the barracks, he still couldn't find him.

  Someone reported the matter to Captain Ye. Captain Ye, who had just returned from a meeting at headquarters, heard that there was a fight among the new recruits in the New Soldier Regiment and hastily brought Vice-captain Liu with him, rushing to the New Soldier Regiment located by the side of Ink Lake on horseback.

  "Fall in, fall in!" As soon as the new recruits entered the barracks, Captain Ye shouted loudly at the new recruits who were chatting and laughing on the drill ground. While shouting, Captain Ye pulled out a pistol from his waist and fired a shot into the air.

  Bang! A crisp gunshot rang out in this quiet night, particularly startling.

  All the soldiers who were fighting and those who had come out of the barracks to watch suddenly stopped, someone whispered: "It's bad, the captain is here."

  With a "whoosh", the team that was just in disarray now stood neatly in front of Captain Ye.

  "Who started the fight? You're all a bunch of bastards. I'll have you shot one by one." Captain Ye's nose was twisted with rage. Since he took command, there had never been such a severe barracks brawl. If his superiors found out about this, would he still be able to remain as captain?

  "Where is your company commander? Bring him to me!" Captain Ye shouted again.

  Liu Deputy Officer hastily came forward and said: "Where is your company commander? Where did he go?"

  New recruit company's soldier you look at me. I look at you. Nobody knows.

  "Damn it, tie them up for me, I'll shoot him first."

  "Report, company commander, new...new recruit company...company...?" With a body full of wine smell, Xu Lianzhang, who was pulled out from the tavern, saw Ye Tuanzhang and Liu Fuwan standing on the drill ground. His face changed greatly in fright, and he ran to Ye Tuanzhang with a trembling heart, stammering as he saluted to report.

  "Leaf battalion commander waved his hand and gave Xu Lian a slap in the face: "Damn, how did you bring soldiers to me? I told you to drink. Today, in front of your soldiers, I'll make you drink enough." Someone, come here!" Leaf battalion commander shouted.

  "Yes." Two soldiers ran forward.

  "Go, go out and buy a jar of wine, let him drink it in front of all the soldiers. Grandma's place. Go, go and buy." Captain Ye shouted loudly at the two soldiers.