Chapter 23: A Meaningless Match

  The train finally arrived at Baoding Railway Station at noon after a winding journey. Although the Baoding Military Academy was initially founded and managed by Yuan Shikai, it gradually lost its connection with him after he became the President of the Republic of China in the north. Not only did the succeeding principal Jiang Baili never cater to the Beiyang government, but also every graduating student flocked to the south.

  Yuan Shikai no longer cared about this military school, which was increasingly unable to cultivate military talent for the Beiyang Army, and instead focused on running the Army University. As a result, the Baoding Military Academy was never valued by the Beiyang government after the founding of the Republic of China, whether in terms of finance or campus maintenance, it was always delayed. Although the faculty of Baoding Military Academy was very large in scale, it ultimately closed down due to economic shortages 15 years later.

  Xu Shaowen and his fellow military academy students had originally thought that the Baoding Military Academy would send someone to pick them up at the train station, but after getting off the train, they were told by their instructor that they had to make their own way to the Baoding Military Academy. However, he saw three small cars parked outside the train station, specially arranged to welcome the foreign umpires for this competition, but these small cars were clearly not sent by the Baoding Military Academy and were likely arranged by the General Staff Headquarters.

  Actually, from this point on, it can be seen that the Baoding Military Academy has a completely indifferent attitude towards this competition. Presumably, the students of Baoding Military Academy also know that this is just a show, and the outcome of the competition is already self-evident.

  After Xu Shao Wen got off the bus, he parted ways with Hu Min Er. Although Hu Min Er didn't know the roads of Baoding, she had money to directly hire a rickshaw and arrived at the Baoding Military Academy faster than Xu Shao Wen's group.

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  Baoding Military Academy was the largest military academy in China during the Republic of China era, and its largest is not only referring to the campus area, but also including the number of students, faculty size, and achievements of graduates, all of which were the largest in the country.

  A group of students from the Army University arrived at Baoding Military Academy in the afternoon, and no one had eaten all day. Their spirits were greatly dampened, a far cry from their energetic state that morning when they boarded the train. At this point, it seemed that the Army University students had already lost a round in terms of momentum. However, neither the students from Baoding Military Academy nor those from the Army University were young and inexperienced, and most of them viewed such scenes with indifference, not paying much attention to who was winning or losing.

  Entering Baoding Military Academy, the entire campus is quite empty, but all the students of Baoding Military Academy seem to be unaware that there is a competition going on, still following their usual routine, attending classes when it's time for class, training when it's time for training, and not taking the initiative to come and greet or show curiosity towards the visiting students from the Army University.

  This is why the students in Xu Shao's class did not want to participate in this competition. Originally, there was no gap between the two military schools, but because of Yuan Shikai's temporary enthusiasm, he wanted the Army University to win over Baoding Military Academy once in front of all China and even the world. The result is that the students of Baoding Military Academy looked down on or even treated the students of Army University with hostility. This made the contestants from Army University feel extremely embarrassed.

  Three instructors from the Army University went to contact the teaching leaders of Baoding Military Academy, and then arranged the accommodation for 30 participating students. Fortunately, the dormitory of Baoding Military Academy is larger, with enough rooms to accommodate the students from the Army University, but the living conditions are much worse than those in Beijing's quadrangle dormitories, even the bedding and sheets are a bit moldy.

  After a few days, other students from the Army University who came to study also arrived in Baoding in batches. However, they were more miserable than the contestants who arrived earlier, not only did they not receive hospitality from the Baoding Military Academy, but even their accommodation could not be arranged. Jiang Shouqi, the Dean of Studies at the Army University, came personally, but he didn't say much about the poor reception by the Baoding Military Academy. He just spent some money to let the instructors arrange for the students to stay in hotels in downtown Baoding.

  On the first day of the competition, all the students from the Army University who came to study arrived on time, but there were hardly any people in the entire arena. Except for a few foreign referees and the leaders of the Baoding Military Academy, not even the students from the Baoding Military Academy who did not participate in the competition could be seen. It was later learned that the principal of the Baoding Military Academy, Jiang Baili, had given all the non-participating students a holiday and allowed them to go out.

  The first day of the competition was artillery, and a large number of light and heavy weapons were brought to the shooting range at Baoding Military Academy, including ordinary rifles and various types of cannons. The entire competition process was very monotonous, with representatives from both sides competing in military operations and shooting accuracy. Dozens of weapons were tested from morning till afternoon, and the shooting range was filled with gunfire, just like a real battle.

  The students of Baoding Military Academy and the Army University basically had similar scores, because whether it was the target of a rifle or the coordinates of a seated cannon shot, both sides were exactly the same. However, after several fair officials consulted with each other, most of them still determined that the Army University won, as for why they won, there was no reason, and no one wanted to ask for reasons.

  The cadets of the Army University won, but they didn't seem to be happy. The cadets of Baoding Military Academy lost, but they didn't seem to be unhappy either. In short, the cadets on both sides were all expressionless, as if they were performing a live ammunition exercise, with hardly any emotions of victory or defeat mixed in.

  During the military skills competition, the Infantry Department only sent one student to participate in marksmanship, while the other nine students were from the Artillery and Engineering Departments. Xu Shaowen had no actual combat experience except for studying firearms at the Army Middle School, so he naturally sat on the bench, while the Infantry Department sent out the experienced Guo Songling.

  The second day's competition was the military tactics. On this day, even the students who came to study with the Military Academy felt very bored, and almost half of the students were not as enthusiastic as they were on the first day. A small number of them even stayed in Baoding Town and did not come to watch the competition at Baoding Military School again.

  What is called military strategy is that several foreign neutral officials jointly formulate a simulated battlefield, and then let the Army University and Baoding Military Academy conduct simulated paper battles. Of course, this simulated battlefield has many environmental factors that are favorable to the Army University from the beginning, and it is reasonable for the Army University to win in the end.

  It was the third day's last game, which was military theory. On this day, the number of students from the Army University who came to participate in the study with me was even smaller, and some students had already set off back to Beijing.

  The last match, Xu Shao Wen finally had the opportunity to participate. He was still quite confident before the game, even though he knew it was a meaningless game, but also hoped to take this opportunity to win and make a good impression on himself. However, the final result was contrary to his wishes, the atmosphere of the entire military debate scene was very cold, there were no spectators, no passion, and the students from Baoding Military School who participated in the competition were all listless.

  Generally, debates on military topics are divided into several rounds and last for a long time. However, the third day's debate only lasted about an hour in the morning before the results were announced. In normal competitions, Xu Shaowen felt that he had only expressed his views twice, with fewer than six sentences in total.

  Although the three-day competition was not as exciting as expected, the actual result is always a rare good thing for the students of the Military Academy. The Military Academy won, and all 30 participating students received prize money rewards, as well as recognition from the General Staff Headquarters and the rank of Junior Lieutenant.

  That afternoon, the students of the Army Academy packed their bags and prepared to return to Beijing. These more than ten days in Baoding almost made the students of the Army Academy cry and laugh at the same time. In short, it was a meaningless game, and in the end, only the students of the Army Academy got some substantial things. However, how much significance these substantial things have is unknown.

  Just as Xu Shaowen and Guo Songling were collecting their luggage as usual, the girl Hu Min'er they met on the train suddenly appeared. She seemed a bit unhappy, but still maintained a friendly attitude, leading Xu Shaowen and Guo Songling outside the dormitory and introducing her cousin Bai Chongxi to them.

  Bai Chongxi is still just a young man of Lang Lang, although the Baoding Military Academy lost this match, he was still very enthusiastic about shaking hands with Xu Shaojun and Guo Songling. Hu Min'er decided to return to Beijing with the students of the Army University today, so after chatting with Bai Chongxi for a few words, they bid farewell to each other.

  Xu Shaowen suddenly had a strange and wonderful idea, would he eventually become an enemy of Bai Chongxi?

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