Chapter 209: New Recruit
New recruit training was not so smooth either. Some couldn’t endure the hardship of training troops, developed the intent to retreat, and sneaked out of the barracks in the middle of the night.
They had just climbed out of the barracks and hadn’t run a few steps when they were caught by patrolling soldiers.
The two deserters who were caught tried to quibble, claiming they were just going out to relieve themselves. The patrolling soldiers ignored them completely, bound the deserters’ hands and feet, and sent them to the outside of the general’s military tent.
Pei Qinghe was awakened from her sleep and learned there were deserters, but she didn’t get angry. She just gave an instruction: “Hang them on the edge of the training ground.”
This was a barracks left behind by the Beiping Army, unlike Pei Family Village which had ready-made woods. Pei Qinghe had people bury a row of wooden stakes with branches and leaves on the edge of the training ground.
The veteran soldiers knew what was up, but the new recruits were clueless. Until this morning when they got up, there were two more “gourds” on the wooden stakes by the training ground.
The two deserters, with hands and feet bound, were hung under the wooden stakes.
Their mouths weren’t gagged, and the two deserters who had just been hung still had the strength to shout loudly in defense and cry bitterly for mercy. The veteran soldiers ignored them as if they saw and heard nothing, continuing their training as usual. The new recruits had never seen such a scene, were disturbed and uneasy, and kept glancing over from time to time.
Exposed to the sun during the day, chilled by the night wind, without food or water. After a day and a night, the two hoarse-voiced deserters completely lost the strength to shout.
On the third day, one of the deserters stopped breathing. The other deserter held out until the fifth day and also died.
Even after death, they continued to be hung until they rotted and emitted a stench, then the ropes were cut, and the corpses were thrown into a pit and buried.
From then on, there were no more deserters.
He Hua and Cui Er were both shocked by their general’s ruthless methods and no longer dared to casually discuss it in private. Only when it was late at night and everyone was asleep did the two dare to lean their heads together and whisper quietly: “All the military regulations set by the general are real.”
“Deserters will be executed, and those who steal, rob, kill, or bully women will also be executed.”
“Cui Er cousin, I’m a bit scared.”
“He Hua cousin, I’m a bit scared too. These past few days, I haven’t dared to look at the general at all.”
Even though the general was still amiably lining up, holding her rice bowl and eating together with everyone, they felt deep awe from the bottom of their hearts.
A few days later, Pei Qinghe began personally instructing the new recruits in practicing martial arts. Each new recruit held a wooden saber, and to the sound of the bamboo whistle, they drew the knife, wielded the saber, and sheathed it.
These simple and monotonous movements were practiced for half a day. Later, their arms became sore and painful from wielding, and sweat beads kept dripping down from their foreheads. Yet no one dared to complain of hardship or fatigue, and no one dared to stop.
The third military regulation was to train diligently without slacking or complaining. The new recruits had all seen clearly the consequences of violating military regulations and didn’t dare to test if the general would show mercy.
In the afternoon, the new recruits sparred in pairs. Pei Qinghe patrolled while saying: “Do not hold back or spare strength. The one standing before you now is your enemy. Use all your strength, all the techniques you’ve learned, to defeat the opponent.”
“Practice martial arts skills and the ability to kill, so that when you reach the battlefield, you can kill the enemy and preserve your own life.”
He Hua and Cui Er happened to be paired together. At first, neither was willing to use full strength; their fancy punches and embroidered legs went back and forth, all seen by Pei Qinghe.
Pei Qinghe stopped her steps, her gaze cold.
He Hua trembled inwardly from the look, gritted her teeth, and swung with full force. Cui Er couldn’t dodge in time, was hit on the shoulder, hurt so much she wanted to shed tears, but held back with effort and punched back.
Only then did it resemble sparring.
Pei Qinghe watched for a long time, until Cui Er was beaten down by He Hua, then said: “Everyone rest for a while.”
He Hua wiped her face forcefully, not knowing if it was sweat or tears, and reached out to help Cui Er. Cui Er limped along with He Hua to the side to sit down, drank cool water, and rested.
The two sisters didn’t speak. It felt like something in their hearts had been shattered, while something brand new quietly grew.
So, the valiant female soldier in their eyes was trained this way. Ten or a hundred times harder than they had imagined.
After a day of training, the outstanding new recruits were named and praised by Pei Qinghe, each rewarded with a bowl of meat.
The new recruits who had trained for a day weren’t allowed to idle in the evening either. Each team of new recruits had a veteran soldier who taught five simple characters; each new recruit had a sand tray and used a wooden stick to practice writing and recognizing characters in the sand tray. They could only rest after learning and recognizing them all.
The new recruits had been in the barracks for just over a month; regardless of how well they wrote, they all recognized at least over a hundred characters and could write their own names.
The veteran soldiers from Pei Family Village were very familiar with this kind of life. They had all endured it step by step. Military discipline was firmly engraved in their hearts, fused into their blood.
The Pei Family Army had become elite soldiers renowned in the north in just a few short years, trained this way day after day, year after year.
“How are this batch of new recruits?” In the military tent, Pei Yun asked Pei Qinghe with a smile.
Pei Qinghe smiled: “All from good civilian backgrounds, with excellent character. There’s a pair of cousins, one named Zhao Hehua, the other Wang Cuier; they are clever and perceptive, good soldier material. Pay more attention to them.”
Pei Yun also remembered: “The two new recruits who recited the military regulations word-for-word perfectly in two days?”
Over thirty military regulations, all in plain language, totaling six or seven hundred characters. New recruits who couldn’t read a single large character found it no easy task to recite them flawlessly. Some with poor memory and dull minds had to repeat for one or two months. Zhao Hehua and Wang Cuier could recite them in two days, showing they were the most intelligent and diligent.
Pei Qinghe smiled and hummed: “Yes, those two. They’ve been diligent and hardworking in training these days. They’re also the fastest at recognizing characters every night.”
“In today’s sparring, the two of them couldn’t bring themselves to strike hard at first. I stood by without saying anything, and they began sparring with full effort. Their skills are also quite good.”
Every batch of new recruits produced such good seedlings. Next, they still needed relentless training, to truly wield knives in battle, kill and see blood; only those who endured and survived were true elite soldiers.
“Tomorrow, I’ll personally step in and train the new recruits.”
Pei Yun nodded and silently lit candles for the new recruits in her heart.
The news that the general would personally step in to train troops made the new recruits leap with joy. One by one, under the veteran soldiers’ strange gazes, they eagerly stood up to sign up.
Then, they were successively beaten until their faces were bruised and swollen.
Pei Qinghe stood in place without moving her feet, using just a pair of fists to successively knock down dozens of new recruits: “Who comes next?”
Her gaze fell on Zhao Hehua’s face.
Zhao Hehua gritted her teeth and stood up: “Zhao Hehua requests the general’s instruction!”
A hint of amusement flashed in Pei Qinghe’s eyes; she quite admired Zhao Hehua’s courage. Of course, her strikes were still merciless. In three moves, she knocked Zhao Hehua down.
“Who else comes?”
Wang Cuier felt a chill on her back from her general’s gaze, but still bravely stood up: “Wang Cuier requests the general’s instruction!”
……
