Chapter 100

Chapter 101: This is Just the Beginning

After five days of training, the new recruits in the Northern Mansion finally understood what discipline meant, what a daily routine was, and what it meant to obey and obey again. They learned to respect their superiors, understood the commands for standing at ease, standing at attention, marching, and running, and could fold their quilts into neat blocks. Even those who couldn't read had memorized the simplified version of the "Internal Regulations."

To achieve all this, everyone paid a huge price. Zhao Cheng could only rest for three hours each day, and he lost two pounds, making everyone, including those who were usually close to him like Zhao Ren, keep their distance. The new recruits either went hungry for a few meals, were punished by standing all night, or even received military whippings. These punishments almost affected everyone, and even the squad leaders were not spared from the prince's "cruel hands"!

"Beep beep..." A sharp whistle sounded, and the new recruits no longer waited for the squad leaders to shout. They all sprang up, quickly put on their clothes and shoes, neatly folded their quilts, tidied their beds, ran to the toilet, washed their faces, and then stood in the courtyard waiting for the order to assemble. Now, everyone hated the word "fast." They had to eat quickly, walk quickly, and even go to the bathroom quickly, because no one wanted to sleep in a damp and cold bed, stand by a stinky latrine all day, or be paraded in front of everyone with a quilt on their head. So, they could only try to speed up as much as possible.

"Assembly!" With the whistle, everyone quickly lined up behind their squad leaders in order of height. "Report to the captain, the guard team is assembled, fifty-five people expected, fifty-five people present, report complete!" Today's duty squad leader, Zhao Chi, reported loudly after assembling the team.

"Very good, no one is late today!" Zhao Cheng stood on the steps, looking down at his troops. In this small team, most were between fourteen and fifteen years old. He was the youngest, standing at 1.6 meters, but he was still the shortest. But now he was the captain, leading them to learn how to be excellent soldiers. Only in this way did he feel he had found himself and realized his value in this world.

"At ease, attention!" Zhao Cheng shouted the commands. "Objective: the parade ground, morning exercise, formation training, march out!" Following Zhao Cheng's commands, the team, led by the duty squad leader, walked out of the courtyard and jogged around the parade ground. He had calculated that the circumference of the ground was over five hundred steps, about eight hundred meters. One lap wouldn't make anyone tired, just enough to warm up without affecting other training.

"Xu Biao from Squad A, Zheng Ping from Squad C, and Liu Sheng from Squad D, step out!" Zhao Cheng, holding a horsewhip, shouted at the formation. The three, seeing the "furious" captain, trembled and walked out, forming a line.

"Extend your left hand!" Zhao Cheng stared into their eyes. Xu Biao and Zheng Ping extended their left hands, but Liu Sheng extended his right hand. Seeing his companions, he quickly switched hands.

"Which one is your left hand?" Zhao Cheng scanned them, leaning in to roar. The three were so frightened by Zhao Cheng's fierce appearance that their minds went blank. Subconsciously thinking they had made another mistake, they almost simultaneously withdrew their left hands and extended their right hands.

"I've seen stupid people, but I've never seen anyone as stupid as you. Which hand do you use to eat with chopsticks?" Zhao Cheng scolded them, but they didn't forget which hand they used for chopsticks. Realizing they had extended the wrong hand, they quickly withdrew their right hands and extended their left hands. Then everyone heard three crisp "slaps." After a few seconds, the three felt the whip on their hands and immediately screamed in pain.

"Remember, the hand that hurts is the left hand!" Zhao Cheng said with a cold smile. No wonder he was angry. He had been teaching "left turn" for almost half an hour today. He tried to convert modern terms like "toe turns forty-five degrees to the left, body turns ninety degrees to the left" into simpler terms like "half circle" and "half-half circle" that these people, who hadn't studied geometry, could understand. But they still kept making mistakes, so he had to resort to physical punishment again!

Looking at the chaotic steps of the returning team, Zhao Cheng was very anxious, but he knew everything had to start from scratch. Now, only he knew how to train soldiers. Even Zhao Ren and the others had only received about ten days of training, knowing only the basics. They were all on the same starting line, and he had to teach these fundamentals bit by bit. There was no quick fix!

Some might ask, as a穿越者 (穿越者 means "穿越者" in Chinese, which can be translated as "穿越者" in English, but in this context, it means "a person who has traveled through time"), and a former special forces soldier, why is Zhao Cheng still doing basic formation training? Has he been traumatized by the穿越 (穿越 means "穿越" in Chinese, which can be translated as "穿越" in English, but in this context, it means "time travel")? Shouldn't he be teaching them combat skills like grappling, wall-running, reconnaissance, and assassination, or at least some shooting training now that muskets have been made?

Most of us have seen military parades, where the uniform movements and powerful steps can make one's blood boil. A well-organized formation can reflect the appearance, discipline, and morale of an army, boosting morale and military prestige. Formation training also plays an irreplaceable role in building team spirit, fostering trust among comrades, and strengthening discipline. Simply put, an army must attack to win, and formation training can meld everyone into a cohesive unit. In battle, the brave and skilled won't become overly aggressive, and the timid won't hold back and drag the team down. In the era of cold weapons, a good formation was crucial for determining the outcome of battles.

When we listen to historical novels, we often hear about formations like the "Wu Hou Eight Trigram Formation," "One-Word Long Snake Formation," and "Heavenly Gate Formation." In battle, once the enemy general rushes into the formation, sand and stones fly, black fog fills the air, and the cries of battle echo, trapping the enemy. To us, this seems incredibly mysterious, but in reality, these are mythologized versions of ancient military formations.

In ancient warfare, the outcome of battles was often decided by close combat. An individual's strength was insignificant in the face of thousands of soldiers. To gather these many people for battle, the army needed to form appropriate battle formations based on terrain, enemy strength, and other conditions, with unified command and coordination. The "formation" was born out of this need. In simple terms, a formation is a configuration of battle formations, from a single soldier, a squad, a line, to the entire army, ensuring "establishing soldiers, setting rows, and aligning columns." Formations are the arrangement and combination of various battle formations.

In both ancient and modern warfare, the greatest casualties and victories do not come from organized combat but from the destruction of the enemy's organized combat, i.e., the destruction of the formation. Therefore, the formation is the source of soldiers' morale, especially for those with weaker individual combat abilities. Maintaining the formation is crucial for the effectiveness of group combat. When the strength of both sides is similar and they are in a standoff, both sides often try to disrupt the enemy's formation stability. Whether attacking or defending, frequent troop movements are required. If soldiers can't distinguish left from right, the formation is disorganized, or they don't understand commands, chaos will ensue. Even a small number of errors can lead to local defensive or offensive failures, and even the collapse of the entire formation.

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End of Chapter 101