Chapter 56: Talent Selection

  The results of the two-day recruitment were fruitful, with nearly 3,000 people signing up. The square in front of the barracks of the 318th Regiment was packed with people, all of whom were new recruits and had no discipline whatsoever. They chattered among themselves, their behavior strange and disorderly.

  Wang Mingyu stood above, looking at these people, and wasn't particularly angry in his heart. It was just because they could come to join the army, no matter if it was to serve the country or for other reasons. At least they would take up guns to fight against invaders, which was enough.

  Wang Mingyu said to Zhang Deen and others beside him: "You go down, let them line up, Lin Wen, go get 5,000 yuan."

  After Zhang Deen received the order, he quickly arranged for the above-mentioned cadres to start dividing and lining up the three thousand people. After about half an hour, this team finally had a bit of shape, but most people were just curious, because they mostly thought that being a soldier was just eating and fighting, as for what training, they also thought it was just practicing gun skills. If they saw Wang Mingyu's new recruit training plan, I estimate at least half of the people would be gone.

  Lin Wen and Sun Dabao and others also brought out 5,000 yuan and placed it in front of everyone. As soon as they saw the money, these people became enthusiastic and excited, their faces flushed with joy. Those who had just signed up were all smiling from ear to ear. "This is great! They're giving out money right away! Where can you find a place like this?" Many people even began to fantasize about what they would do after getting the money.

  Wang Mingyu looked at everyone's expressions and smiled: "This money, as long as you have the ability, can be taken!"

  A new recruit at the bottom couldn't wait to say: "Officer, what's this about anyone with skills getting a share? Isn't the money supposed to be divided equally?"

  Wang Mingyu smiled and said: "Why should we divide it equally? Have you new recruits been here for a month?"

  Another new recruit asked, "How can we get the money? Give us a statement." After all, it's a new recruit now, and there is no concept of superior and inferior levels yet. However, Wang Mingyu knew that this was not the time to discipline the troops. After all, it was just the first day, and now was the time to select talents. Later, when they saw the overall benefits, they would be more effective in killing chickens to scare monkeys.

  Wang Mingyu said: "How can you be called capable, this capable range is relatively wide, for example, you are good at math, and also have a unique skill, etc., as long as you say it out, I think it's suitable, then you can get 10 yuan."

  A new recruit below laughed and asked: "Does stealing count? Haha"

  Wang Mingyu said nonchalantly, "I don't care what you used to do, nor do I want to know what you used to do. As long as it's not something that involves harming others or committing crimes, I can let you stay." He glanced at Lin Wenshi after finishing his sentence.

  Lin Wen stepped forward and said: "Whoever can last ten rounds in my hands without falling down will get ten big oceans."

  "Those with junior high school education and above, report to me."

  Zhang De'en said with a smile: "If there's any breaking news, report it to me directly."

  "Listen up, new recruits!" Wang Mingyu shouted. "If you can pass the test in their hands, then in the future, you will be the backbone of our 318th regiment, and it's not impossible that you'll become famous throughout China. Now, I'll add one more thing: apart from your military pay, I personally will take out a sum of money to reward everyone who passes the new recruit assessment. Each person who passes won't get less than two big yuan. Of course, the number of people I want is unlimited - if all of you pass the assessment, then I'll take all of you; if only 100 people pass, then I'll take 100 people. However, those who aren't recruited will also receive one big yuan as a consolation prize."

  When the new recruits heard Wang Mingyu's words, they were thoroughly excited. If they could really enter the new recruit training camp, wouldn't that be a great fortune? Two hundred yuan just for showing up, this money is easy to earn! The new recruits were all thinking hard about whether they could pass through the few people above, if they passed, ten yuan would be almost half a year's salary.

  Most of the new recruits basically have no relation to junior high school culture, only elementary school culture, and that's also half-related. Now they're thinking about whether they have any special skills, and can't help but take a look at Lin Wen, who seems like he doesn't have anything either, so how come he's so arrogant? It seems a bit fierce, but you can't just blindly brag, ten rounds? Could it be that he has practiced some kind of extraordinary martial arts?

  Every soldier with some strength looked at Lin Wen with shining eyes.

  At this time a new soldier ran to Zhang De'en and asked, "I want to ask, I can open locks, pry doors and so on, is it considered a unique skill?"

  Zhang Deen furrowed his brow just as he was about to speak, when Wang Mingyu beside him said: "What standard?"

  The new recruit said confidently: "I've never really lost before."

  "What's your name?"

  "What's going on?"

  Wang Mingyu smiled and said, "I've taken you in. No matter what you did before, as long as you're here with us now, your past misdeeds are all written off. However, from now on, obey orders, absolutely obey orders."

  "What's with the sloppy salute?" "Yes, sir!" Wang Mingyu chuckled and corrected his posture before sending him to Zhang Deen to take note of his name.

  The whole day was spent in constant selection.

  After the results were counted, there were 50 people who could last ten rounds under Lin Wen's hands. Among them, 20 had a junior high school education or above, and 20 had special skills (including theft, flying darts, etc.). One of them was surprisingly good at gathering intelligence, named Gao Shan. At the time, he was talking to Zhang Deen, and Wang Mingyu noticed that he was very clever and used to make a living by getting information for those big bosses, but he had offended someone he couldn't afford to offend. Later, when he saw the recruitment notice, he ran to join the army himself. Anyway, if you could hide, you would hide; otherwise, your life would be in danger.

  The screening of new recruits is simple, with every 200 people forming a group and starting to run. It doesn't matter if they are physically strong or not, what matters is their willpower. This was Wang Mingyu's instruction. There were dozens of people supervising on the side, those with weak willpower were rejected, only those who persisted in running five kilometers were kept!

  After the assessment, nearly 500 people were eliminated. Now there are exactly 2,500 new recruits. Adding the previous 1,100 old soldiers, the total number of the entire regiment is approximately 3,600 people.

  Squad leader Wang Mingyu immediately issued an order to start reorganizing the troops, and 70 people were also selected from the old soldiers, either with a junior high school education or above, or able to persist under Lin Wen's hands for ten rounds, or having some special skills.

  The 318th Brigade has now taken shape, with a brigade directly under the team, guard company, artillery company, communication platoon, first battalion, second battalion, third battalion, fourth battalion, and logistics company, as well as a cooking class added to each battalion.

  At night, Wang Mingyu urgently convened a meeting of all cadres above the regimental level and specially invited Gaoshan to attend. At the meeting, Lin Wen was appointed as the captain of the directly affiliated team, under which there were five directly affiliated small teams, each with 30 people, namely the 150 people who had just been selected. The team leaders were respectively Sun Dabao, Wu Peilin, Li Xianyu, Huang Boxiong and Wang Mingchuan, who would be responsible for training from that day on.

  The guard company commander is temporarily absent, and the artillery company commander is in charge of the original 318th regiment company commander, who is responsible for the training of the artillery from today. The communication platoon is composed of personnel from the original 318th regiment, and each battalion's establishment is issued in written form to the battalion commanders. The battalion commanders of the third and fourth battalions are the former deputy battalion commanders of the first and second battalions. Due to the current shortage of cadres, Wang Mingyu has no better solution and can only make such arrangements for the time being.

  The final focus of the meeting was to establish a direct intelligence department under the team, which is responsible for the training of intelligence personnel and the collection of external intelligence. The work focuses on Shanghai and Jiangsu provinces. The head of the Intelligence Department is held by Gao Shan, and all personnel are selected by Gao Shan from the whole team, with each regiment cooperating.

  The team directly led by Wang Mingyu, the training subjects were previously hand-to-hand combat, rock climbing, wilderness survival training, shooting training, Japanese learning, etc., and now added radio use, fixed-point blasting, hostage rescue, map drawing, etc.

  The training plan for each battalion is also formulated by Wang Mingyu himself, including the initial formation, split-style, physical training, shooting training, gun skills training, and tactical learning and understanding. All cadres above the company level in each battalion receive cadre training once a month, which is uniformly arranged by the whole division.

  Wang Mingyu said: "This time, the personnel adjustment is not large in scale, but I hope everyone will also have a sense of urgency. After three months of new recruit training, there will be a full-scale competition every month, with each company as a unit. At that time, the first prize will be awarded, and the last place will result in the dismissal of the company commander! I hope everyone can seize this opportunity to fully grasp it, don't embarrass yourself, and don't tarnish the reputation of the whole army. Tell the soldiers what is the purpose of training? What is the purpose of suffering during training? It's not for me, but for them. As soon as I came, I told you that in peacetime, we should sweat less, and in wartime, we should shed more blood. On the contrary, it is also true. I hope you can put aside your previous lazy style and wholeheartedly devote yourself to training. Why do I want to improve your food? Why do I want to spend money to support you? Am I stupid? Tell you, it's not that I'm stupid. If the country is gone, do you think being a slave of a defeated nation, holding this money still has any meaning? I don't think so. Therefore, we must continuously train ourselves, pick up our weapons in hand, and defend against foreign enemies. We must firm up our convictions in our hearts. I hope everyone can understand me!"

  The whole team stood up in unison and saluted: "Yes, we will strictly follow the commander's instructions!"

  Wang Mingyu said, "I've said so much, how much you can understand is your business, but training me is to check the results. If a squad trains poorly, I won't look for the squad leader, I'll look for you platoon leaders, and so on!"

  "Yes, Captain!" everyone replied loudly, and they couldn't help but think that the captain's method was really... vicious. This thing doesn't even leave any time to slack off, what a tragedy...