Section 5 Punishment and Extortion

  The newly established Huangpu Military Academy was beyond Zhuang Jihua's expectations, and the unexpected situation could be described in two words: shabby. The dormitory was converted from the original army primary school dormitory, which had been abandoned for many years, and the local government used it to store miscellaneous items without any maintenance work. After being allocated to the military academy, the Guangzhou Grand Marshal's headquarters (not the National Government, which would not be established until a year later) also allocated some funds for repairs, but the amount was too small, and after replacing doors and windows and blocking up holes, there was basically nothing left, so they had to make do.

  Accommodation can be compromised, but what about food? Military training is physically demanding, and if you don't eat enough, you can't train. Every day it's steamed buns and porridge, the buns are only slightly bigger than those small ones from Wangzi, as for the porridge, Zhuang Jihua finally understood what it means to have porridge that can reflect a person's shadow - it's a scene where you can see your reflection in the porridge. Textbook knowledge is just rational understanding, now he has experiential understanding, how do you make porridge that reflects shadows? You put a few grains of rice in a big pot and then add water recklessly, if you can smell a bit of rice flavor in the water, it's already not bad. At this point, it's clear that Huangpu Military School is indeed different from other military schools, students at other schools would either go on strike or protest to the principal, but at Huangpu, every time it's mealtime, all faculty members, from Principal Chiang Kai-shek down, are present in the cafeteria eating this.

  After eating and living, it's natural to wear clothes. Wearing military uniforms is not bad, everyone came from thousands of miles away just to wear military uniforms, right? But there's only one set of military uniforms, crawling, rolling, sweating, and getting rained on are all done in this set. Fortunately, the sun in Guangzhou in May is big enough, and the temperature is high enough, so it can basically dry out in a day. What surprised Zhuang Jihua the most was his shoes - they were actually straw sandals. Looking at these shoes, he stared for half a day before picking them up to compare with his feet. His teammate Song Xilun couldn't help but laugh when he saw him like that.

  "Ji Hua, you haven't seen him in America, have you?"

  "Is this what it looks like? Ah, you guys said Liu Bei's straw shoes are of this kind?" asked Zhuang Jihua while gesturing.

  A burst of laughter around "hehe".

  "Don't underestimate these grass shoes, they were also called zhi shoes in ancient times. Someone even wrote a poem saying, 'Bamboo cane and zhi shoes are lighter than horses, one cloak can withstand wind and rain for a lifetime.' These grass shoes used to be quite elegant." Jiang Xianyun stood up with a smile and stomped his feet.

  "Bamboo stick and hemp shoes are lighter than horses, romantic, absolutely romantic. Feet, you're really lucky to wear such a famous brand of shoes, it's not in vain that you were born in the lower world." Zhuang Jihua shook his head and suddenly said to Li Zhilong: "In the field, you should study hard, this is related to your ideals."

  "What? Nonsense! What does it have to do with me?"

  "The relationship is big now." Zhuang Jihua stood up, took two steps, and a satisfied expression appeared on his face. He winked at Jiang Xianyun and said, "Brother Tian, revolutionary plus free love, the revolution is already here, but what about love? We need to learn more about romance like this. Think about it, sunset by the Pearl River, strolling with a beauty, holding a bamboo cane, wearing embroidered shoes... What a romantic scene! Just thinking about it makes one drunk." As he spoke, he exaggeratedly mimicked the gesture of holding a cane and escorting someone.

  Boom, the surrounding Jiang Xianyun, Song Xiliang and others couldn't help but laugh and fall over, Li Zhilong's face turned red with rage, shouting: "Good you, Zhuang Jihua, stop right there for me!" As he spoke, he pounced towards Zhuang Jihua, who quickly dodged behind Jiang Xianyun, yelling: "Tian, don't be ungrateful, I'm doing this for your own good. Wushan, Mengguo, you two must speak up for justice."

  Zhuang Jihua dodged left and right in the crowd, Li Zhilong pounced left and grabbed right, and the surrounding people laughed and made a fuss.

  "What are you doing!" A loud rebuke, Deng Yanda appeared in front of everyone, his eyes stern: "Making a racket, fighting and quarreling, do you still look like revolutionary soldiers!?"

  "You are the first batch of students in the military school, you must be strict with yourselves, every move and gesture should reflect a soldier's demeanor, starting from every detail, only then can you become true revolutionary soldiers. Do you understand?"

  "I understand." Everyone replied in unison.

  "This is the first time, so I won't punish all of you, but...Zhuang Jihua, Li Zhilong." Deng Yanda shouted loudly.

  "Arrived." Zhuang Jihua and Li Zhilong shouted loudly.

  "Others can be forgiven, but you two must be punished. Run ten laps around the playground."

  Zhuang Jihua let out a wry smile at Li Zhilong, feeling somewhat apologetic towards him. He then spoke loudly: "Reporting for duty, this matter was caused by me, and Li Zhilong is merely an innocent bystander who got dragged into it. I am willing to take the punishment on his behalf."

  "Oh! There's a bit of camaraderie among classmates. What do you think, Li Zhilong?" Deng Yanda walked up to Li Zhilong.

  "Report, one's own actions are one's own responsibility, no need for others to take their place." Li Zhilong replied unequivocally.

  "Well said, I was going to make you run twenty laps, don't be resentful. Zhuang Jihua has never been a soldier and doesn't know the military rules, but you're different, you used to be a soldier and know the military discipline, so you should be punished more severely. However, considering it was an accident, I'll only make you run ten laps."

  Li Zhilong was originally a bit unconvinced, but now he is completely convinced.

  "Chiang Xianyun is in charge."

  So today all the students who entered the school saw that two unlucky eggs were running laps around the playground, with Chiang Kai-shek staring coldly at Zhuang Jihua in the distance.

  Zhuang Jihua was punished on his first day of school, which brought him two side effects. Firstly, his popularity started high, and since he loved "visiting" others, his humorous and elegant speech made others willing to hang out with him. Life on the island was originally bitter and dull, but as long as he was laughing, the hard days became much easier, so his popularity soared again.

  The second side effect is that each instructor seems to have a grudge against him, and as soon as he catches on, he trains fiercely. In training, others correct their mistakes once or twice, but he has to repeat them ten times before they count. The education of new recruits is actually just basic training, mainly focusing on formation, physical ability, and individual combat tactics. At first, Zhuang Jihua didn't notice, but after several instructors did the same thing, he started to become vigilant. His fellow students also saw the mystery behind it, and Jiang Xianyun even exchanged ideas with him, but none of them understood why.

  Why? Because Deng YanDa. After getting to know Zhuang JiHua in YunQiao Town, Deng YanDa was convinced that he was a talented person and an excellent one at that. He had seen many talented young people before, but this young man left the deepest impression on him. After returning from Xi Kou, he often thought of Zhuang JiHua's words and couldn't help but reflect on issues such as China's relationship with Russia and the development of the national revolution. At the oral examination site, he once again recognized the young man's talent and was even more determined to train him into a strong fighter.

  Under his gaze, some of Zong Jihua's bad habits were discovered. Whenever he had the chance, Zong Jihua would strive to get out of school, and although other classmates were very poor, he still had dozens of dollars, so he would seize the opportunity to go to Guangzhou to improve his diet. Of course, every time he went out, he wouldn't wear cloth shoes, but rather his own leather shoes, and so on. In Deng Yanda's view, these were all manifestations of Zong Jihua being "pampered" and lacking firm willpower, requiring strict demands.

  Under his intentional or unintentional instructions, the instructors would not let Zhuang Jihua off. From running bare-handed to running with a backpack, of course, there were five goose eggs in the bag, which made people uncomfortable, and what made Zhuang Jihua cry and laugh was that this idea was his own.

  That day, after running five kilometers in full gear and resting, Song Xilian complained about not having real guns (the real guns at Huangpu were only thirty, except for the sentry posts, they were only taken out during firearms training, and they were treasured). The students each had a wooden gun, but the requirement was to use it as if it were a real gun, and to bring it with them when fully armed. He Jiehan chimed in that real guns are heavier, Song Xilian smiled and said that even if they're heavy, they're substantial, and being a soldier without a gun is like not having a backbone. Chen Gang, who had slipped away from the third team, immediately expressed his agreement and believed that the lack of real guns made a big difference in actual combat, and the quality of training could not be guaranteed. Zhuang Jihua liked to chat with Chen Gang and was also a person who liked to "cause trouble", so he slyly suggested that he carry a bag with five large goose eggs inside, which would weigh about the same as a gun, and then run with it on his back in the future. But he never expected that the instructor would appear behind him in a serious and timely manner, and his "rationalization" suggestion was immediately adopted.

  In the murderous gaze of his classmates, he was so wronged. Who did I provoke? He immediately found a scapegoat - Chen Gong. However, this target's actions were even faster. Chen Gong sympathetically patted him on the shoulder and suggested that it would be best to invite the classmates present to go to Guangzhou to improve their food (his behavior of improving food was soon discovered). Otherwise, the suggestion he made would definitely spread throughout the school, and... threats, naked threats, unavoidable threats. However, he proposed that Chen Gong should bear part of the expenses because he also had a share. Chen Gong shook his head, indicating that he wouldn't give money even if he lost his life. Shameless, nakedly shameless, Zhuang Jihua was so angry that he wanted to cry.