Chapter Thirteen: Entering the Army for the First Time

  The officer looked up at Lin Xiaotang, took the application form filled out by Lin Xiaotang himself with a surprised expression, and read it carefully. Suddenly his eyes lit up: "You're a university student from Nanjing University?"

  Lin Xiaotang subconsciously stomped her foot and replied loudly: "Yes!"

  The officer stood up and smiled at Lin Xiaotang: "You can come to sign up directly, for young students like you, we want as many as we can get!"

  The people behind began to whisper among themselves, the barefooted men wearing straw hats pointed and said: "Look at those who are literate and can recognize characters, they're just different!"

  Lin Xiaotang followed the officer into the backyard of the recruitment office, a small courtyard with red bricks and white walls. The courtyard was filled with long benches and several hot water kettles. There were already over a dozen young people in the yard, all bent over tables writing something seriously.

  At the sound of footsteps, everyone looked up: "Lin Xiaotang, Lin Xiaoqi!" Two voices rang out at the same time.

  Lin Xiaotang turned her head and saw two figures rushing over, embracing Lin Xiaotang while shouting and jumping.

  Lin Xiaotang took a closer look and was also surprised. It turned out to be two of her classmates from Nanjing University: "Dahou, Xiao Pi!"

  Da Tou's real name is Cai Yong, because he was fat and big-headed, so he got the nickname. Xiao Pi's real name is Gu Wei Guo, his name sounds very powerful, but he is actually the youngest in the whole grade, with a bad temper, so his classmates call him "Xiao Pi Hai Zi", and later on, they just call him "Xiao Pi".

  Three people hugged each other tightly, and their reunion after the disaster was so exciting that they were overjoyed.

  The officer came out of the house, smiled and didn't say a word, just stood aside until the three people gradually calmed down, then handed Lin Xiaotang a few letters: "Come on, write down your situation in detail, after you finish writing, just give it to me at the door."

  Lin Xiaotang smiled awkwardly and hastily took it over.

  Three people huddled together, starting to write their own resumes.

  Originally, Da Tou and Xiao Pi followed the teachers and students who first withdrew from Nanjing to Changsha. After staying at Southwest Associated University for only a few days, they learned that the school was going to move to Kunming. The two had no relatives or friends in Kunming, and their travel expenses were almost depleted, which led them to consider joining the army. Today, they also came to try their luck, but unexpectedly met Lin Xiaotang.

  Lin Xiaotang also roughly told the two about her experience, and the three people couldn't help but feel a bit downcast. But thinking that they would be together from now on, the three young people quickly put aside their worries and regained their spirits.

  The three of them will submit their written resumes and family situations to the officer. The officer looked at the dozens of letters they had written, couldn't help but laugh, and reminded them that tomorrow afternoon at 3 o'clock, come here to report for duty, bring your personal belongings, if the audit goes smoothly, tomorrow they will move into the barracks.

  Da Tou and Xiao Pi were overjoyed, they said that since the school moved, the two of them had been drifting, sometimes doing odd jobs to earn some money, all of which was spent on treating their mouths, usually just getting by on the long benches at the train station, and it had already been a week.

  Lin Xiaotang thought for a moment, he still had some spare money in his hand, and he was about to move into the barracks soon. It didn't make sense to bring this money with him. Moreover, He Chong's place was after all an officer's dormitory, and the people coming and going were all officers from the headquarters. It wasn't convenient for him to enter and exit there either. It would be better to move out and find a hotel to reunite with Da Tou and Xiao Pi, and make do with one night.

  Having made up his mind, Lin Xiaotang took the two of them to a nearby hotel, found a cheap inn, booked a room, settled them in, and then planned to return to the military dormitory to bid farewell to He Chong and pick up his own luggage.

  He could go back to the Garrison Command, but he didn't see He Chong. After asking around, he learned that the Xu State war was over. Although the board was severely damaged, the National Army still abandoned Xu State in the face of the Japanese army's aggressive attack. The Wuhan General Headquarters convened a high-level military conference to respond to the next battle, and He Chong followed the newly appointed Ninth War Zone Commander Xue Yue to attend the meeting in Wuhan. It is estimated that he will not be able to return until after a week. Before leaving, he asked the duty soldier to send a letter to Lin Xiaotang.

  Having no choice, Lin Xiaotang packed up his luggage, left a letter for He Chong explaining his decision to join the army, and returned the room key to the duty soldier before leaving the Garrison Command.

  Looking at Da Tou and Xiao Pi devouring their food, Lin Xiaotang laughed until she was out of breath: "Two big brothers, isn't this a bit much?! You'd better eat slowly, I don't have a lot of money on me!"

  Holding a trotter in his arms, he gnawed at it with relish, his mouth full of oil, and replied vaguely: "You know nothing, we two haven't had meat for over a month, this time no matter what we must eat our fill, who knows what the food will be like when we get to the troops!"

  Xiao Pi held a chicken leg in each hand, his head still lowered. ?? Counter-attacking the Republic of China's Agent 13

  Lin Xiaotang lit a cigarette and gazed out the window of the small tavern at the bustling street scene, absent-mindedly asking, "Do you have any news about Xia Zhiping?"

  With a "slap", Da Tou threw the hoof into the plate, snatched the cigarette from Lin Xiaotang's hand and took two heavy puffs: "Lin Xiaoqi, you still haven't given up, do you know what I despise most about you? It's your stubborn temper!"

  With a self-satisfied smirk, he sucked on the chicken bone and said in a sarcastic tone: "You treat her like a treasure, huh? She treats you like an idiot!"

  "Others are respectable families with a good reputation, they care about social status and family background. What are you, Lin Xiaoqi? A poor student! And that so-called brother of yours? He's worthless! If he sold you, you'd still have to count the money for him!"

  Looking at Lin Xiaotang's face turning gloomy, Da Tou patted his own mouth: "Sorry, I'm a straightforward person. My words may not sound good, but even if they don't sound good, you have to listen to me. The two of them are already in love, flying together, what's the point of still thinking about these things? They're not even on the same path as us, why bother with their lives?"

  "Fall of Nanjing, the couple ran away early in the morning without even warning you, and now you're crawling out from among the dead, still thinking about them? One word: cheap; two words: shameless; three words: really shameless; four words: really too shameless; five words: damn it, really shameless; six words..."

  A loud slap landed on Xiao Ti's head: "Shut that stinky mouth of yours and speak less!"

  Lin Xiaotang grabbed the wine bottle and took a few big gulps: "What Xiao Pī said is right, I really am guilty of being shameless!"

  "Look, if Second Brother were here, you'd definitely listen to her. As for me, I'd say there's no way she's inferior to that Xia Zhi-Ping. Even an idiot would know she has feelings for you, but you're just too stubborn...".

  Lin Xiaotang didn't say a word, her eyes were red and she stared at him with wide eyes.

  In this case, Da Tou and Xiao Pi couldn't help but feel embarrassed to say anything else. The two of them exchanged a glance, sighed in unison, raised their wine cups: "Come on! Brothers will accompany you to the end, today we have wine, today we get drunk!"

  The bustling streets, the bewildering lights, added a hint of melancholy to this city.

  The car has left Changsha city for an hour, and the fleet is driving along the mountain road at the foot of Yuelu Mountain. The ups and downs of the bumpy road made everyone dizzy, and the leisurely atmosphere that had just gotten on the bus disappeared in an instant.

  After marching for two hours, the convoy stopped on a flat ground in an unknown valley, where hundreds of military tents of various sizes had been erected. The colors of the tents were also varied, and from a distance, they looked like a meadow full of mushrooms of different shapes.

  There is a battalion stationed here, the terrain is flat, and surrounded by mountains, which can effectively prevent deserters from appearing, so it was chosen as the base for new recruits' training.

  This time, there were about 500 new recruits. Among them, only 18 were university students who enlisted voluntarily like Lin Xiaotang, so they were concentrated together to form a reinforced class. The 57th Division attached great importance to these student soldiers and specially assigned three experienced grassroots officers to be in charge of the training of the university student class.

  Among the three officers, one was a National Army lieutenant, about 26 or 27 years old, with the surname Huang, tall and thin, from Tangshan, Hebei Province, nicknamed "Huangguaban Zhang" by the student soldiers. There were also two lieutenants who were a bit older, serving as deputy platoon leaders, one surnamed Wang and the other Liu.

  Three people stood upright in front of the student soldiers, with every move strictly regulated. Lin Xiaotang keenly noticed that these three people were absolutely the elite of the 57th Division, exuding the aura of seasoned veterans from head to toe.

  As soon as they met, after a simple introduction, the three officers gave them a taste of their power. The student soldiers had been tossed around in the truck for more than two hours, and many were still retching when they got off, standing in a crooked line, each sticking out their tongues and panting heavily.

  Looking at the unsuspecting expressions of the three officers, Lin Xiaotang knew that something was amiss. Sure enough, Huang's Tangshan accent immediately rang out: "Judging from your looks, you're still in good spirits and haven't collapsed yet. Alright then, let's start with a 10-mile run to loosen up those muscles!"

  Then, the eighteen good men carried their luggage and ran in circles on the newly flattened training ground, but this large piece of land was only leveled a little, with big pits and small pits everywhere. People in the team were tripped from time to time, and before one circle was completed, the whole team became scattered.

  However, it seems that the instructors' methods are similar, and soon more than 500 new recruits rushed onto the field. But these people who had just put down their hoes to eat and become soldiers were obviously much stronger than the student soldiers. They ran quickly on the field, shouting loudly, and soon surpassed the student soldiers running in front.

  This training is a piece of cake for Lin Xiaotang now, after running two laps he still doesn't feel anything, looking back at his teammates, he quietly slowed down and blended into the middle of the student soldier team.

  Most of the new recruits quickly ran the ten-mile distance, and those barefoot new recruits finished with a proud face, squatting at the edge of the field to watch the student soldiers make fools of themselves, but were chased by their respective squad leaders with a smile on their faces to the tent to prepare for dinner.

  The student soldiers were still struggling desperately on the ground, and the team dragged on for about a mile. Lin Xiaotang held one hand each, supporting the exhausted Da Tou and Xiao Pi as they ran in the middle of the team.

  As she ran past Huang Banchang's side. Although the sky had darkened somewhat, Lin Xiaotang could still sense his iron-green complexion and the anger he couldn't suppress.