Volume 1: Turbulent Times as a Bandit Chapter 17: Long Spear Thrusts Straight
Drills were still dull and monotonous, while continuing to drill in formation, movements of turning left, right, and back were added. Then came the horizontal queue formation marching in step, just such a simple movement, Xiao Tianjian spent several days on it, with scolding, military sticks, and rewards for food, using both methods at the same time, finally managed to get these people to form a horizontal queue according to his command.
But since the shit and urine incident that day, the daily morning cross-country run has also been settled. Every morning before dawn, these people have to complete a distance of more than 5 kilometers under Xiao Tianjian's leadership. In the first few days, these guys ran east and west, complaining bitterly, crying and shouting for their parents. However, after gradually mastering the rhythm of breathing, they gradually got used to it, and running became much easier.
However, Xiao Tianjian was strict and demanding in training, but he provided them with enough food to eat their fill, ensuring they had sufficient physical strength during practice. Compared to the previous period when they were always starving, the current training was tough, but being able to eat their fill already felt like heaven.
Fortunately, these people were all from peasant backgrounds and could endure hardship. After getting used to this kind of life, they didn't feel it was particularly hard anymore. However, they were all illiterate, and when it came to understanding Xiao Tianjian's explanations of the drills, they were a bit slow on the uptake. This really got Xiao Tianjian fired up, especially with the drill where they had to march in step. When he gave the command, more than half of them didn't know which foot to lift first, and several people simply walked normally, causing Xiao Tianjian to be furious every day.
Xiao Tianjian was initially patient and corrected their movements, but later his patience was completely worn out. He simply took a stick made of bamboo strips and whenever he saw someone making such a low-level mistake, he would rush up and hit them without mercy. Unexpectedly, this approach actually helped the group to remember things better, and after a few hits, they could distinguish between left and right. The training effect also improved significantly. As Zhao Erdui put it, "They're so stupid that if you don't beat them, they won't know what to do."
Everyone here has been beaten up, but the bamboo stick hurts a lot without breaking bones. After being beaten, they still do what they need to do and don't have to worry about hurting anyone. Although Xiao Tianjian trained them very hard with great physical exertion, this group of people saw that Xiao Tianjian also trained with them every day, not lazy at all, whether it was running or formation training, even standing at attention, Xiao Tianjian did the same without exception, following along with them to complete the entire set. Sometimes he would even do more than they did. Moreover, Xiao Tianjian treated them well with good food and drink, never treating himself specially. As a result, everyone had no complaints.
In addition to Xiao Tianjian repeatedly telling them the purpose of this training, like Tang Monk, they all understood that it was to make them better at preserving their lives in their future endeavors. So even though it was tough, for the sake of living a few more days, these people managed to persevere.
It's not that no one has thought about escaping, but at present, Shaanxi is in a state of chaos and disorder. Even if they were to escape, there would be nowhere for them to go. In this world, only by gathering together can people have a chance of survival. Leaving the group, no one knows what fate awaits them. The uncertainty of their future makes those who want to escape repeatedly abandon their thoughts of fleeing.
Although Xiao Tianjian was very strict in training, once the training was over, he treated them warmly and let them eat their fill, which made them feel much better psychologically. This is why these people persisted in enduring.
When the horizontal team's synchronized marching exercises had achieved a certain effect, Xiao Tianjian began to ponder how to take them to deal with people. Since he became the leader, it was a bloody business, and fighting would be a common occurrence for a long time to come. These basic exercises were also laying the foundation for the upcoming confrontation training.
Xiao Tianjian had never seen large-scale battles in this world, and all the confrontations he knew were from books or movies. However, he knew that fighting was not just about personal bravery and skills, but more about teamwork to exert greater power; otherwise, even if a group of powerful people gathered together, they would only be considered a mob.
Xiao Tianjian was still able to handle the basic training for this group of people, but once they started practicing combat drills, he really became somewhat perplexed. This was because, including himself, these people were all from peasant backgrounds and had never practiced martial arts before, let alone having any personal bravery. In the past few times when they fought with others, it was always over food, and they would swarm in and fight wildly. Xiao Tianjian had only managed to survive by relying on his agility and quick reflexes developed from playing basketball and throwing things accurately, but he had never received any formal martial arts training. Therefore, how to train this group of people for battle left Xiao Tianjian somewhat at a loss.
But since he has already started training these people, it is impossible to let them fight like before, otherwise the basic training he conducted would lose its meaning. The specific way to bring out their maximum combat effectiveness became a problem in front of Xiao Tianjian.
After tossing and turning for several nights, Xiao Tianjian thought hard and finally made up his mind. When he finished leading the team through a round of drills that day, Xiao Tianjian began new training.
He now has fifteen men, including himself and Zhang Fu's son, who can't fight, which means he only has thirteen men who can actually fight. They also looted some weapons from Liu Family Village, including a few shields, several waist knives, two wooden swords, a bundle of long spears, and two bows.
Although they are much stronger than before with wooden sticks and pickaxes, these things seem too messy to Xiao Tianjian. If he lets them choose their own weapons according to their personal preferences, they will definitely be in a mess, carrying all kinds of weapons. In that case, his training would be useless. Once they start fighting, it would still be chaotic, and it's impossible to exert any effective combat power.
So Xiao Tianjian locked his eyes on the long gun and knife shield, the long gun is the lowest value among the weapons, as long as a gun head plus a sturdy and flexible gun rod can be made, and it is mainly used for stabbing and killing, the action is also relatively simple. However, if coordinated well, the lethality is very large, as long as the enemy's body is stabbed, with this era's medical level, it often has the effect of one shot to kill, at the very least, it can immediately make the enemy lose combat effectiveness.
This way, the training of long gunners becomes more convenient. If there are sufficient human resources, as long as they are combined with strict discipline, even qualified long gunners can be produced like a production line. However, there is also a problem with long gunners, that is, they are not good at close combat. Once the enemy gets close, unless you have extremely high martial arts skills, otherwise, the long gunner will basically lose their resistance ability and become the object of slaughter by enemies holding short weapons. Therefore, there must be soldiers in the team who can engage in close combat to protect them. After thinking about it for a while, Xiao Tianjian still felt that using knife shields was better, which could defend and attack, and was relatively more convenient to cooperate with long gunners. However, knife shield users also have a requirement, that is, people who do this must have the courage to fight against enemies at close range, be brave, and move flexibly.
So after a long deliberation, Xiao Tianjian finally locked his eyes on the long spear and knife shield. He chose a pair of knife shields for himself and selected four people, including Tie Tou, to equip them with the knife shields they had seized from Liu's village, temporarily serving as the team's knife shield soldiers. These four people were relatively bold and considered somewhat fierce under him, daring to rush up and engage in close combat with others. The remaining nine people were each given a long spear.
The spear is easy to use and inexpensive to make, and training is also relatively easy. Xiao Tianjian doesn't let them practice any fancy moves (because he can't either), just having them line up tightly in a row, practicing only one action: advancing forward in unison at his command, thrusting forward with all their might. This action can be said to be as simple as it gets, requiring only one thing: upon hearing the command, they use all their strength to take a step forward, using the power of their waist and arms to thrust forward vigorously.
At the same time, in coordination with this action, there is also a requirement for synchronized walking, with each step taken on the command issued by Xiao Tianjian. If not, the long spear soldiers can only stand in formation and wait for others to attack. Once they take action, it's easy to lose their formation and become disorganized, making them vulnerable to enemy attacks. This increases the requirements for the long spear soldiers, who must maintain a neat formation while moving and complete actions such as lowering their spears and laying them flat, all while keeping their pace steady. Although this seems like a simple action at first glance, it's actually not easy to train for. Fortunately, with the help of the big stick, anyone who doesn't do well gets beaten, highlighting the advantages of education through corporal punishment. After several days of high-intensity training without interruption, the long spear soldiers' formation walking and stabbing finally began to take shape.
Moreover, two days after the start of the spear-killing exercise, Xiao Tianjian also required them to shout in unison when they heard the command to collectively exert their strength and kill: "Kill!" In addition to using this to intimidate the enemy, it could also enable the long gunners to exert their strength to the limit, increasing the power of the killing. At the same time, he required these gun-wielding men to maintain consistent movements when killing, striving to bring the collective killing power to its maximum.
But wanting to achieve this is not easy at all, just asking them to make a simultaneous thrust is not easy. These gun-wielding guys often can't do it consistently and simultaneously launch a thrust, so it's very easy for the opponent to take advantage of their momentary lapse and rush towards them. So, just letting these few riflemen train on how to listen to his commands and make a simultaneous thrust has taken up a lot of Xiao Tianjian's effort.
Later, under his big stick, after several days of training with thousands of times or even more than 2,000 times of repeated thrusting movements every day, these guys finally had some momentum when they finished the thrust. This is also thanks to Xiao Tianjian's personal example, because he knew that if he wanted his subordinates to do a good job, it was not enough to just intimidate them. For these people, he could only set an example by doing better than them, stimulating these lazy guys to work hard and train. Therefore, while training them, Xiao Tianjian also trained with them, and even trained twice as much as his subordinates during the training, so that those guys under him had no choice but to follow Xiao Tianjian's intense training honestly.
After a period of training, Xiao Tianjian gradually felt the advantages of this thrusting tactic. Compared to other weapons, the long spear was indeed convenient to use, especially since he only trained in this one move, the straight thrust. After a period of training, Xiao Tianjian discovered that when using the long spear to kill, it took the shortest path, thus making it shorter than other weapons' time to hit the opponent. Often, he could strike his opponent before their weapon even touched him. This was verified during his practice with wooden poles and iron heads.
This made Xiao Tianjian suddenly think of a movie by Stephen Chow, where a bald guy had said that in this world, there is no unbeatable martial arts, only speed can't be broken. This made Xiao Tianjian even more determined to have his subordinates practice this long spear combined attack tactic.
As time went by day after day in such monotonous and high-intensity training, although Xiao Tianjian still wanted his subordinates to do better, they had been training for a short time now. If they wanted to continue improving, they would have to undergo longer collective drills, and each person would also have to practice diligently. However, time was precisely what he lacked, so for the time being, he could only manage this much.
As for Tie Tou and the others, it was clear that they would be engaging in close combat later on. Xiao Tian Jian didn't understand any fancy knife techniques, so he couldn't teach them any advanced moves either. However, through his own experiences of fighting and killing, Xiao Tian Jian had summarized some key points about using a knife. After repeated experimentation, he had selected what he thought was the fastest and most ruthless chopping motion. He paired this with the shield in his left hand for cover. Xiao Tian Jian didn't want Tie Tou and the others to do any fancy moves; they just practiced the actions he required of them. As for whether this approach would work, Xiao Tian Jian figured they should practice first and then adjust later. After all, he wasn't from a martial arts family or anything, so being able to get this far was already pretty good.
It's been ten days, and the high-intensity training is finally showing results. The original dozen or so ragtag soldiers, under Xiao Tianjian's command, have finally begun to look like real soldiers. Although they're still wearing tattered clothes, with a single order, over a dozen people can quickly form a relatively neat horizontal formation. And when he gives the order to charge, ten people shout in unison and ten guns thrust out at the same time, giving off a rather impressive and intimidating air.
The three shield-bearing hands of the Iron Headband, after ten days of repetitive training in raising their shields to block and making simple chopping motions, also showed some improvement. At least compared to when they first arrived here, they looked much stronger. When several knives fell at the same time, even Xiao Tianjian would have no way to defend himself.
For a long time, the lack of food greatly weakened their physical strength, but after the Liu family village incident, during this period, these people ate much better, although they couldn't be said to have rich nutrition, being full was not a problem. After this period of training and nourishment, everyone's complexion has improved significantly, with some rosy color, plus high-intensity training, their muscles gradually became more defined, looking like each person had become stronger.
What surprised Xiao Tianjian was that Zhao Er'luo, this guy, although a bit slick, performed quite well in training and quickly grasped the movements. He was one of the first to fully master the movements required by Xiao Tianjian. During training, he was also very diligent, possibly because he felt his life was precious. Not only did he work hard during collective training, but even during rest time, he would practice stabbing with his gun. As a result, he received the fewest blows from the military stick among these people. Xiao Tianjian then let him stand at the far left of the first row of riflemen, making him the first banner soldier in the team, and this guy was quite pleased with himself.
Moreover, there is also Feng Gouzzi. Although he used to be a rascal, after they did that thing in Liujiacun, the rascal air on Feng Gouzzi's body decreased a lot. The training was very hard, but Feng Gouzzi still persisted and rarely heard him complaining. This made Xiao Tianjian very satisfied. It is also possible that Feng Gouzzi and Zhao Erlu were not on the same path from the beginning. When he saw Zhao Erlu practicing assassination skills without incident, he secretly found a secluded place to practice his thrusting skills. As a result, in a short period of time, his thrusting technique stood out among the crowd and became more prominent.
Although they also obtained two bows, Xiao Tianjian was very clear that in the battle, the bow and arrow, a medium to long-range weapon, was very important for improving the team's combat effectiveness. However, after trying it out, he had no choice but to temporarily give up on selecting two archers.
To master the art of archery is not simple, it requires long-term training and there are many skills involved. To hit the target is not as easy as ordinary people imagine. These people were either farmers or idlers before they took up this profession, and no one had ever touched a bow and arrow before. It's simply impossible for someone who has never been in contact with these things to become a great archer overnight. He had read about the English longbowmen online before, saying that a qualified longbowman needs to receive archery training from an early age, and even after a long period of training, their bones will be deformed, which shows how difficult it is to cultivate a qualified archer.
Even Xiao Tianjian himself, after trying to shoot a few arrows, could only give up. It seemed like a simple thing, but when it came to doing it, it was very difficult. Several arrows were shot by him and basically couldn't find the target, either too high or too low, or simply didn't know where they flew to. This also made those guys who were watching him shoot arrows secretly laugh at him. In the end, Xiao Tianjian could only helplessly give up on equipping this weapon.
As for how to solve the problem of medium and long-range weapons, it can only be considered later.
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