Chapter Fifty-two Secretly Calculating

  A turning point in fate is often an event or something. This turn, sometimes changes your life, of course, may also bring you bad luck.

  Ma Fei, however, found evidence in the leather bag stolen by Zhao Erhu that Zhang Tuanzhang and the tobacco smuggler were colluding to privately sell opium and smuggle military weapons. This allowed Ye Tuanzhang to make a great achievement in front of the Garrison Commander and receive his praise. He was soon promoted to be the leader of the second squad.

  Commander Zhang was arrested due to Commander Ye's report. Commander Ye himself also received a commendation from the headquarters.

  Li Guoting was rewarded and promoted to squad leader of the 4th squad after recovering from his injuries for "fighting against the rebels".

  There was one person who refused to accept it and resented Li Guoting. This person was Zhang Fongtian, the instructor of the new soldier company.

  Zhang Fengtian was the only instructor left from the last new recruit company's group fight. Originally, he had been looking at Li Guoting with a bad temper. Because the newly arrived company commander was very good to Li Guoting, he had been seeking opportunities for revenge, but hadn't found a suitable one. Plus, after the last group fight, Li Guoting had been careful and cautious, willing to suffer in new recruit training, diligent in studying. In the military skills competition assessment of the whole company, his score ranked among the top ten. He received an award. So Zhang Fengtian wanted revenge but never found a suitable opportunity.

  This time, Li Guoting was again wounded in a fight with the rebels and received praise from the regimental commander. Zhang Fongtian felt uncomfortable. When the new company commander announced that Li Guoting would be the leader of the fourth squad, Zhang Fongtian's face twisted together.

  Looking at Li Guoting's happy smile, Zhang Fengtian secretly made up his mind: Just wait and see, kid, the last bill hasn't been settled with you yet. Don't be too proud too early. Next time I'll settle it with you together.

  Let's count on our fingers, by the end of the year, there are still nearly half a year left. The new recruits' term is about to end, and next, the new recruits will be assigned to various troops.

  In the remaining half year, new recruits still have several unfinished military training projects to complete. Zhang Fongtian tilted his head, thinking about how to find something for Li Guoting in this remaining half year, best if he could get rid of this kid once and for all, solving his own heart's hatred.

  As the saying goes, a clear sword is easy to dodge, but a hidden arrow is hard to guard against. Someone is secretly plotting against you, and you don't even know it. Sooner or later, you will be plotted against by him.

  Li Guoting was completely unaware of this matter. This time, he benefited from the disaster and not only was he not punished, but he also made a meritorious deed and was promoted to class leader. He was secretly delighted in his heart. Under the teasing of the soldiers in the class, Li Guoting decided to make an exception and invite all the soldiers in the class to have a big meal together.

  That day was Sunday. As usual, all the soldiers were given a one-day holiday. Li Guoting took advantage of this holiday to bring all the soldiers in his class to the Wangjiang Building Restaurant by the Yangtze River.

  This Wangjiang Building was originally a Sichuan-Shaanxi Guild Hall built in the late Qing Dynasty, later converted into a Sichuan cuisine restaurant. It is very close to Wharf No. 4. Many people come to this restaurant for meals on ordinary days.

  Li Guoting took the brothers in his class to a private room on the second floor of Wangjiang Building. He ordered a table of dishes and a jar of old wine. Then, this group of brothers shouted and drank, drinking with abandon.

  Just as Li Guoting and his fellow soldier brothers were drinking to their hearts' content, they happened to be seen by Instructor Zhang Fengtian, who was also drinking in the same building. Zhang Fengtian did not make a sound, but quietly followed behind a soldier who had just finished using the restroom, coming to the private room where Li Guoting and his fellow soldiers were eating.

  The door of the private room was half-closed. Inside came bursts of boxing, drinking and talking sounds.

  Zhang Fengtian peeked inside through the half-closed door. Coincidentally, he caught sight of Li Guoting sitting in the upper seat. He saw that Li Guoting's face was red and his neck thick. He grabbed his military cap off his head and sat on it under his buttocks, lifting one foot from under the stool and placing it on top of the stool. He started drinking with these brothers, chatting and laughing.

  A soldier said, "Our new recruits are the worst. That instructor Zhang is the most vicious. Last time I was training, I crawled under the barbed wire and there wasn't any barbed wire on it. But he insisted that I was stupid like a pig and bumped into the barbed wire. As a result, I had to crawl through the barbed wire five times in public and got whipped by him."

  "Yes, I also let him get away with it when he was carrying heavy loads in the water without any reason to pick on him. He got a beating," another soldier said.

  "Look, in our squad, I'm afraid no one can escape this guy's whip." a soldier said.

  "Li Ban Chang seems like he's never been beaten before." a small-sized soldier said.

  "We've never been oppressed. You don't know about it. This little brat is really bad, as black-hearted as the landlord in our hometown." said Li Guoting.

  Zhang Fengtian, who was eavesdropping outside the door, had his nose twisted in anger. He originally wanted to push open the door and publicly scold these soldiers who were cursing him behind his back. But he endured it silently, didn't make a sound, turned around and left.

  The next day, the sky was still dark. The eastern sky was still twinkling with countless stars. Suddenly, a urgent assembly whistle sounded in front of the gate of the new recruit regiment. Immediately afterwards, Zhu Paishan, the commander of the new recruit regiment, Instructor Zhang Fongtian and Wen Huaizhu stood at the door.

  A whole platoon of soldiers from another two classes, one by one, fully equipped, ran out of the barracks. Only Li Guoting's class had three people running out.

  "Tweet, tweet——." Zhang Fengtian blew the emergency assembly whistle again. Only then did the soldiers of the 4th class stumble out of the barracks, drowsy and disheveled, carrying their backpacks and rifles.

  "Fall in! Fall in!" Commander Zhu Paishan shouted sternly with a gloomy face.

  The soldiers didn't know what was happening and all ran towards the drill ground.

  Soldiers who were suddenly awakened from their dreams stood unknowingly in formation on the drill ground.

  Lian Chang Zhu held a leather whip in his hand, pacing back and forth in front of the new recruits. The large leather boots on his feet made a dull "thud thud" sound as he walked on the ground.

  "Li Guoting, come out!" Zhu Paishan shouted loudly in the team's formation.

  Yesterday, Li Guoting got drunk from drinking and didn't expect that today the company commander would suddenly summon them for an emergency assembly at dawn. It's been two months since they've had this kind of sudden surprise drill. Everyone knows that after October, the new recruit battalion will be disbanded. All the new recruits will be reassigned to a new battalion. At this time, no officer wants to bother with these new recruits anymore.

  Of course, Li Guoting didn't know that he was overheard by Zhang Fongsan when he got drunk that day. So, he had no idea about the sudden emergency assembly held by Lian Chang at dawn today.

  "Here." Li Guoting shouted, carrying his gun out of the ranks,

  "Bring out all your soldiers." Zhu Pao Shan ordered.

  "Fourth squad, fall in!" Li Guo turned around and stood at attention, shouting towards the troops.

  The soldiers of the fourth squad were delighted yesterday, almost everyone got drunk. Only three people didn't drink, so at today's emergency assembly in the wee hours, only these three heard the bugle call, hastily got dressed and ran out with their guns. The others were still sleeping soundly on their beds, not yet over their hangover. At Zhang Foting's first bugle call, they didn't hear it, and only when Zhang Foting blew the second round did they finally hear it, so one pushed another, hastily got dressed and ran out. Two soldiers had their backpacks slung diagonally over their shoulders, looking even more like deserters.

  Zhu Pai Shan's face was gloomy as he pointed with the leather whip in his hand at the four soldiers standing before him, and asked Li Guo Ting: "Are these your soldiers?"

  Li Guoting turned around and took a look. He saw that the soldiers in his own squad were all staggering about, looking like they hadn't woken up yet, and he himself felt like laughing. Just as he was about to shout loudly for the soldiers to tidy up their equipment, he heard Zhu Paishan shouting: "Officer Zhang, the fourth squad's military discipline is not good. They're late to assemble. How will you punish them?"

  Zhang Fengtian's mouth curled up in a sinister smile, and he hastily stepped forward, saying: "According to military discipline, the squad leader is derelict in his duty. He will be stripped of his rank as squad leader and publicly flogged with 50 lashes. Each soldier will receive 30 lashes."

  Zhu Pai Shan listened, then waved his hand and called over several soldiers. Without allowing any explanation, they publicly flogged Li Guo Ting with fifty lashes. The other late-arriving soldiers were each given thirty lashes.

  Li Guoting was also publicly announced by Zhu Paishan to be removed from his position as class monitor, which he had just held for a few days.

  A few more days passed. The new recruit battalion received another mission, asking them to send a company to support the friendly forces in He Sheng Bridge, digging trenches. Li Guoting and his company were sent under Zhang Fentian's backhand operation by Battalion Commander Zhu Paishan.

  Digging trenches is a hard job. Zhang Fongtian remembered his hatred for Li Guoting and deliberately stirred up the company commander this time, assigning him to supervise the soldiers in digging trenches. He had an ulterior motive, which was to find an opportunity to deal with Li Guoting.

  A row of long and Zhang Fengtian's hot fire. The two men conspired to intentionally send Li Guoting to the most difficult place to dig trenches.

  Here, near the river embankment, the soil is soft. After digging for a while, the topsoil collapsed. Li Guoting didn't know Zhang Fongtian's intentions and was also blaming himself in his heart. He blamed himself for being too excited that day, leading the brothers to drink and causing this trouble. Not only did he get beaten and fired, but also dragged down the brothers who got beaten and punished. Alas, such things will never be done again.

  Today, I came to He Sheng Bridge. Then I will work hard and try to regain the face that was lost last time.

  Li Guoting swung his arms and worked desperately. Who knew that the soil here was so loose, and after a whole day, he still hadn't dug a decent stretch of trench. Looking up, the sky was getting dark. If he couldn't finish digging this section before quitting time, not only would he get scolded, but he might even get flogged again.

  Thinking of this, Li Guoting became more anxious and swung his iron shovel, exerting great effort to throw the excavated soil upwards. Soon, he had dug a hole over a man's height deep. Just as Li Guoting bent down to scoop up the remaining bit of soil, an unexpected event occurred - the newly dug trench suddenly collapsed. The piles of earth beside the trench also tumbled into the trench along with the collapse.

  Li Guoting was buried by the collapsed trench.