Chapter 3: The Wind Rises in Guangdong Section 19: Soldier Oil (1)

  After the class leaders were left behind, Zhuang Jihua felt that their eyes suddenly had a bit of awe, which made him feel strange, but it was indeed so. He remembered that when he became the regional manager and finally took down a goal that the company had been coveting for a long time, those subordinates who were originally somewhat dissatisfied with him also gave him such a look. But now he absolutely couldn't think of what he did to make these old veterans look at him with awe.

  Zhuang Jihua took a look at the nine people in front of him, they were all very young, the oldest looked like twenty-six or seven years old, but he estimated that their time as soldiers was probably over ten years. In the contact between their eyes, Zhuang Jihua understood, new officials take office with three fires, these soldier boys are worried about being used as scapegoats. Zhuang Jihua smiled in his heart, good, having fear is enough, intimidate them with power, and win them over with kindness; this principle he had understood in his previous life.

  "Now that you're all here, there's nothing else to do but chat with everyone." After understanding this, Zhuang Jihua began his speech in a down-to-earth manner. "I know most of you have been in the army for many years, longer than my own military service. You are more familiar with things in the army than I am. As your company commander, I will rely on your help in many areas. Napoleon once said that platoon leaders are the mothers of the troops. Why is this? Because platoon leaders have the most contact with soldiers. So although your positions may be small, you are the most important junior officers in the company. Whether or not a unit has combat effectiveness depends half on you."

  The low-key attitude of the new company commander made these old soldiers somewhat unexpected, and several people looked at each other with questioning eyes, someone opened their mouth but didn't say anything before closing it again.

  "Let's get to know each other first. I've looked at the name list, but there are still some people who don't match up. I'll call out your names first, and then when you respond, also tell me how many years you've been in the army, what you're good at, and what you're most skilled at." The silence continued below.

  "Li Guozhu." "When I was a soldier for six years, the thing I was best at was fighting." Li Guozhu was dark and sturdy, his fists as big as steamed buns, Zhuang Jihua nodded with a smile on his face.

  "Zhang Li." "Arrived. When I was a soldier for 5 years, the thing I was best at was shooting." This person's voice was somewhat hoarse, and his eyes darted around when he spoke.

  "Wang Xiaoshan." "At that time, ten years as a soldier, with a dagger." Wang Xiaoshan's voice was calm and peaceful, looking about the same age as Zhuang Jihua, but unexpectedly had already been in the army for ten years.

  "Liu Changgeng." "Arrived. In the third year of being a soldier, I was good at shooting." Liu Changgeng spoke in a low and even tone, as if his voice was not clear, and he was very honest.

  "Wang Man Cang." "Arrived. 5 years, assassination." Looks like this is a reliable person.

  "Sun Dazhi." "Arrived. When I was a soldier for 4 years, the most skilled thing was hand grenades." This is currently the largest one in terms of tone and also the most military-like one.

  "Li Xiaoman." "Arrived. In the seven years of being a soldier, what I'm best at is training soldiers." Li Xiaoman's flattering smile piled up, and when he said that what he was best at was training soldiers, Zhuang Jihua felt somewhat surprised in his heart.

  "Wu Ziniu." "Arrived. After being a soldier for 5 years, you'll get used to it." Wu Ziniu's words were laced with a hint of nonchalance, his hand playing with a blade of grass, he was the one who had been beaten up on the playground that afternoon.

  "Flower Spring." "Arrived. When I was 3 years old, the most skilled is..." The young man hesitated here, this person twenty-one or two looked very handsome and elegant, with a magnetic voice, if placed in the previous life to develop on the music scene, definitely has a future.

  "Of course, it's about chasing women." said Wu Ziniu lazily.

  Lian Chang said it was about the team, not this, I'm better at shooting. Hua Chun explained.

  Wu Ziniu just smiled and didn't say anything else.

  "Flirting with girls, it's not something to be ashamed of, it's also a skill." Zhuang Jihua smiled and said, in his previous life he had flirted with many girls, Shanghai girls were easy to flirt with, especially for someone like Zhuang Jihua who held American-Chinese identity, almost invincible.

  When Zhuang Jihua said this, Hua Chun immediately felt a sense of understanding, but also some confusion.

  "Officer, what does 'bubble mm' mean? What is 'mm'?" asked Hua Chun.

  "Ah, mm is just an abbreviation for beautiful girl. Picking up mm means socializing with a beautiful girl."

  Hua Chun suddenly understood and then asked a question that almost made Zhuang Jihua spit out: "What if it's a dinosaur?"

  "Dinosaur?!" Zhuang Jihua looked at him, recalling his own story about dinosaurs that had been published in the newspaper as a humorous anecdote. The term "dinosaur" had already become a proprietary term for girls, so he laughed and scolded: "You see a dinosaur and you don't know to run away? Stupid pig, instead you're still approaching it."

  Everyone burst out laughing, and Sun Dazhi's voice was even more overwhelming, the little bit of awkwardness that remained immediately dissipated, these people felt that this new company commander was somewhat approachable.

  "However, having fun and flirting with women is allowed, but no violence is permitted. You are all veterans, so you must know what military discipline is, but I still want to emphasize that this unit is a new-style army, and the discipline is much stricter than in the units you used to be in. I don't want you to violate the rules, because I don't want to execute my own subordinates."

  "Sir, it's nothing. At worst, we'll just get rid of Xiao Chunzi." Zhang Li said with a smile, he and Wu Ziniu used to be in the same unit as Hua Chun and knew him best.

  "Zhang Huzi, don't be a sore loser just because you can't get the grapes. With your attitude, you might as well go find dinosaurs." Huachun sneered at Zhang Li.

  "I'd rather not find one at all, but if I do, I want to find one with smooth skin and tender flesh. Not like you, who throws yourself at anything that moves, whether it's a dinosaur or a pretty girl." Zhang Li said nonchalantly.

  "You two are just a pair of goods, goods that should be gotten rid of." Li Xiaoman exclaimed with a smile.

  "Stop messing around, the officer is talking business. Officer, I heard your training plan, officer, can such intense training be done?" Wang Xiaoshan asked, silencing everyone.

  "Whether it can be done or not doesn't depend on me, but on you all." It seems that Wang Xiaoshan still has considerable prestige among the crowd.

  "What does the officer mean..." Wang Xiaoshan looked at Zhuang Jihua with suspicion.

  "There are over a hundred people in the company, and I alone can't train them all. It mainly relies on you guys. Didn't I say that the squad leader is the mother of soldiers? I make plans, and you guys execute them. My main way of training soldiers is through you guys." Zhuang Jihua told them straightforwardly about his reliance on them, leaving some of the soldiers puzzled, as no officer had ever explicitly told them this before. People like Hua Chun and Liu Changgeng, who had only been in the army for three or four years, hadn't grasped this level yet, but Wang Xiaoshan, a veteran with ten years of military service, understood it.

  After Zhuang Jihua made it clear to them, they instead muttered in their hearts, what does this company commander mean?

  "Sir, just tell us what you want us to do and we'll listen," Wang Xiaoshan asked with a hint of puzzlement. He knew that in the army, not listening to superiors was unthinkable, and they might not even know how they died. Although they were called "soldier oil", they understood this point thoroughly and never openly clashed with their superiors. At most, they would secretly use some tactics to make their superiors pay attention to them or their opinions.

  Zhuang Jihua looked at him and understood that he had a say in this group of people, so he smiled and said: "Old Wang, sit down. Actually, I didn't mean anything else. Today, I just want to chat with everyone about training matters. You all know my plan, and I'd like to hear your opinions."

  They immediately fell silent, looking at him with a strange gaze. You know that people like them in the army have status and position, if they don't, they're not even worth a fart. In the past, no matter which unit they were in, there was never an officer who would discuss training plans with them. Also, this was a time when there was no real new recruit company. Every time new recruits were brought or captured, they were sent directly to the company and everyone trained together. If the war situation was tense, there was no need for training, just go straight to the front line. Don't know how to shoot? No problem, give you a big knife or a red-tasseled spear, anyway, not enough guns.

  "Sir, actually we haven't really conducted any new recruit training before. In the past, new recruits in our unit were directly assigned to companies and then trained together with everyone else. The old soldiers just needed to teach them a bit. But don't worry, sir, you think so highly of us brothers, we're already very grateful. We'll definitely do our best. If those bums don't train properly, I'll beat them until they're picking up their teeth from the ground!" Wu Ziniu shouted loudly.

  "Hmm, that's good." Zhuang Jihua knew in his heart that this alone was not enough to make these people truly sincere. To get these old foxes to really put their hearts into it, he would have to think of other ways.

  "However, I must stress again that we are a new army, almost completely different from the armies you had before. Not only is discipline strict, but also propaganda of revolutionary principles and study of cultural knowledge. You will gradually understand these things. As for who I am, everyone will gradually come to understand in the future. That's all for today, tomorrow morning there will be a 10-kilometer cross-country run, so everyone should rest early."

  Sorry, something came up today and there's only one update. I'll make it up when I have a chance.