Chapter 5 Spring Dawn (Part 2)

  In the following days, Wang Jun spent every day in a flurry of activity. Receiving supplies and equipment, uniforms and armor, arranging for new recruits who had just entered the camp and veteran soldiers who had been dispersed from the original Imperial Guard to be reorganized, leading his men to tidy up their quarters, putting away beds and so on, not a moment was idle.

  Fortunately, the two deputy captains assigned to him by Zhou Douwei, Zhao Huaiyu and Li Yuanchen, were both old hands in the Anxi army, with rich experience, efficient handling of affairs, and no bad intentions. Following their instructions, Wang Xun did not make any big mistakes. As he watched his twenty new soldiers and thirty veteran imperial guards walking together in formation, a sense of pride arose in his heart. After the excitement, he remembered the vow he had secretly made when he left home. As the only man in the Wang family, he must make a name for himself, make Yun Niang happy, and let Zi Luan and the others mention him with pride.

  When the formal training began, his grand ambitions vanished instantly. Carrying a long white wax rod around Baima Fortress for only two laps, he started panting heavily like a dog. By the third lap, halfway through, he wanted to drop his so-called weapon and run back home immediately, never to suffer this torture again. However, such thoughts could only rot in his heart, difficult to put into action. Zhao and Zhang, the two deputy team leaders, seemed to have anticipated Wang Xuan's weakness of being unable to persevere, and flanked him on either side, leaving him no chance to escape. The new and old soldiers in the team, exhausted like dead dogs, saw their three superiors enduring hardship with them and didn't dare slack off. Gritting his teeth, he persisted through the four laps, unexpectedly making the Seventh Regiment of the New Soldier Camp one of the top three performing teams among all participating training teams.

  Reward and punishment are clear, this is the only way for all generals to govern the army. Since the Anxi Army can become one of the most elite forces in the Tang Dynasty, it has executed these four-character maxims to the bone. Seeing that the new Seventh Brigade's second team returned to the terminal intact on the first day of training, Zhou Xiao Feng, the commander, secretly let out a sigh of relief and felt that he knew how to use his men well. He stroked his beard, smiled and announced that the whole team would be rewarded with two roasted sheep, which could be exchanged for in the cafeteria at noon that day. Upon hearing this, the brothers immediately burst into cheers, and all the whips and scoldings they had endured on the way were forgotten. They couldn't help but want to lift Commander Zhou up and pat him on the back three times on the ground to express their heartfelt gratitude.

  Morning exercise was jogging around the White Horse Fortress to build physical strength, and in the afternoon, it was time for equipment training. Deputy Captain Li was skilled with the long gun, so he also served as the instructor of the whole camp's gun and stick techniques. He saw him take a 1.8-meter-long rifle and sweep it horizontally and vertically, left and right, stabbing and thrusting, instantly making the gun flowers tremble and dance like splashing water. More than 800 new and old soldiers who had already enlisted looked on with admiration, cheering as if thunderstruck.

  When it was his turn to instruct the soldiers, he put on a serious face and said in a low voice: "Year knife, month club, lifetime spear. The white wax rods in your hands are actually variants of spears. It's just that it's not your turn to go on stage yet, so simplify the complexity, and first use a cheap alternative for now. If you want to learn spear, practice arm strength first, hold the white wax rod with one hand every day, and keep it level for half an hour. Persisting day by day, after six months, you will naturally be able to grasp the essentials!

  He finished speaking, shifted the pole to his right hand, and grasped it four feet off the ground with a light lift. Indeed, he held the eight-foot-long pole like a balance scale, steady as can be, the tip of the pole and its end forming a straight line, not moving in the slightest.

  "Good!" Many of the veteran soldiers in the Imperial Guard were connoisseurs, and they cheered loudly. Before the applause had even died down, Zhou Duwei's scarred face was stern once again, his whip pointing at the crowd as he bellowed orders: "Get to work! From today on, each of you will be on duty for half a watch every day. Anyone who can't keep up won't get dinner!"

  The applause stopped abruptly, and the soldiers who had already formed a scattered formation handed over the white wax rod to their right hand, chaotic and flat. It looks easy at first glance, but it's hard to do it yourself. Having persisted for less than a quarter of an hour, many people's foreheads began to sweat, and their arms trembled and fell down.

  The instructor, Li Yuanchen, proudly looked at them with his arm holding a heavy gun that was nearly twice as heavy as the white wax rod, still motionless. Scar-faced Zhou Dawei led a group of fierce-looking personal soldiers into the formation, raised his whip and fiercely lashed out at those who tried to slack off, "Trash! On the battlefield, if you're like this, not only will you die, but you'll also drag us all down with you. If you want to stay, then hold your life-saving equipment steady for me. If you don't want to do it anymore, pack up and get out of here!"

  Although there were many people in the team who, like Wang Xuan, were spoiled and liked to make promises easily. But at this critical moment, no one was willing to be kicked out as a waste. In his heart, he cursed Zhou Lao Hu's ancestors for eight generations, and then re-held the white wax rod steadily, holding it for a while before his arm started to go soft again. Then he was whipped several times, and once again held the white wax rod steadily. After much difficulty, more than half of the time had passed, and in the team of over 800 people, the faces of more than 600 people had turned pale.

  "I, Zhou Hu, will never make things difficult for my brothers!" The order was given to the soldiers who had lost feeling in half of their arms due to exhaustion. Zhou Duwei cleared his throat and repeated his mantra. Although the white wax stick is unremarkable, on the battlefield you can't do without it. Once your weapon breaks, other tools are hard to find, but a white wax stick can be picked up anywhere. Attach a spearhead and it becomes a spear; attach a halberd head and it becomes a gun. If there's really nothing to attach, shave off a few knives from the front end, and you can still stab an enemy through! Moreover, when setting up camp, three white wax sticks stuck together with the front ends tied together can support a tent. In the middle of the night during a surprise attack, one can quickly pull it out from the ground to temporarily use as a defensive spear. When two armies are facing off and at a stalemate, the soldiers in the back row can suddenly use the white wax stick as a thrown halberd, catching the enemy off guard...

  Never heard that white wax rod had so many benefits, Wang Xuan listened with relish. Just wondering if this guy surnamed Zhou was a storyteller in a teahouse before joining the army, and thus trained to have an iron mouth, when suddenly a loud shout came from the side of his ear, "Wang Zuozheng, you come, follow Li Jiaotou to demonstrate how to use white wax rod as a javelin!"