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墨書 Inktalez
The Commander’s car! I immediately realized what was happening, dropped the tools in my hands, and quickly stepped to the side of the road. To my surprise, the door didn’t open; instead, the window rolled down. It was indeed the Commander!
I immediately stood at attention and saluted. “Good day, Commander!” Just as I was about to report in formation, he waved his hand to stop me. He looked at us and smiled, “Wang, next Monday is the assessment for the basic training program on water operations. How is your Sharp Blade Company preparing?”
I was taken aback but quickly responded, “We will do our best!”
“Good to hear you say that!” With that, he rolled up the window and the car sped away. I pondered for a moment before silently turning back to continue working in the vegetable patch. The Commander had a hidden message in his words.
Unexpectedly, after the Commander left, the surrounding soldiers gathered together, eager to discuss what had just happened. A few soldiers who were close by quietly relayed the conversation, and everyone wore expressions of defiance, visibly excited. They looked at me, and I glanced back at them; they all stopped their work and stood up straight. “What are you staring at? Get back to work! Remember, if you don’t want to be looked down upon, you have to prove yourselves! Hurry up and finish; we have Theoretical Guidance Class tonight.” I said calmly.
After hearing this, everyone silently intensified their efforts. It was clear that these young soldiers had been stirred up. I watched the direction in which the Commander’s car had disappeared, lost in thought. If everyone was like water nearing its boiling point, then the Commander had just turned up the heat to bring it to a boil.
That evening, on the third floor of Unit’s Learning Room.
“...Basically, this is what we need to understand about the equipment we will be facing.” I tossed down the chalk and clapped my hands. At the request of most of the soldiers, tonight I explained the last bits of knowledge regarding deploying and connecting the Full-Shape Boat.
“Is there anything else you don’t understand? Tomorrow you’ll get into the water and practice it yourselves; then you’ll have a firsthand experience. Remember, what is crucial in bridge construction?” I scanned the audience.
“I know! It’s time!” Xuanhua shouted loudly.
“Correct! I dare say our equipment is one of the few that maintains an absolute performance advantage among foreign military gear! In no more than half an hour, we can set up an 80-ton Floating Bridge. Whether we can fully utilize its advantages depends on all of you here.” I stated without revealing any emotion.
The crowd erupted in chatter; it seemed they hadn’t expected that what they were working with was ahead of many foreign uniforms in terms of capability.
“Heh heh, just wait! The stuff we’re working on is definitely impressive!” Xuanhua said to a new soldier beside him.
"Report!" I looked up to see Jinghe raising his hand, always the one with questions. I watched him with interest. "Go ahead!"
Jinghe hesitated for a moment. "Company Commander, I think we can actually move up the bridge-building timeline!"
As soon as Jinghe said this, there was a stir of discussion among the crowd, and I was also slightly taken aback. "Oh, you."
"According to the conventional method you explained, both sides of the Bailey Bridge connect from the banks toward the center. Usually, one Bailey Bridge connects to another until the two Bailey Bridges meet in the middle. However, that's only in a drill scenario. In a real combat environment, we would definitely have to start building the bridge from one side. So what should we do?"
This was indeed a good question. I had always been accustomed to traditional thinking, often following the usual pattern of launching from both sides simultaneously. The crowd began to murmur, "Oh, that's true." "Yes, that's a problem."
"Quiet down," I said, trying to calm myself as I thought it over. "The principle is the same; we just need to build a Bailey Bridge on this side while sending another Bailey Bridge to the other side, and then proceed from both sides together."
"Well, here's another question: can we push all the Bailey Bridges into the water? While sending one Bailey Bridge over, can each group of Bailey Bridge operators connect them simultaneously? If we connect them section by section, wouldn't that save us a lot of time?"
I was taken aback; I had considered this before. I remembered asking the Old Company Commander about it last year. At that time, he had said that we didn't have such close coordination yet; the soldiers' skill levels varied too much for everything to proceed smoothly as planned. Moreover, if we couldn't connect with the fixed Bailey Bridges on both sides, the connected Bailey Bridges would be large and heavy. If they were swept by the river current, it would make connecting them even more difficult and slow down our overall progress. Thus, the safest and most stable method was to extend them section by section from both sides toward the center, just like digging a tunnel—excavating simultaneously from both ends while constantly adjusting direction until they aligned perfectly.
I never expected that Jinghe, as a new recruit, could think of this point; it genuinely surprised me.
"Wow, that's really something," several new recruits whispered among themselves.
"Hmph, thinking outside the box before even learning properly!" Xuanhua and a few other veterans sneered from below, especially the squad leader. "Yeah, what do New Recruits know? Are we not better than him? Is Company Commander not better than him?"
"This kid just loves to show off!"
I pressed my hand down calmly, and everyone immediately fell silent.
“Jinghe, that's a good question. As for whether theoretical concepts can be put into practice, I believe it still needs to be tested through experience. However, I would like to know how many of you here think Jinghe's approach is feasible, and how many support using the old methods to build bridges? Let's raise our hands to show our stance!”
To my surprise, the results of the poll were unexpected; the opinions were almost evenly split. Most of the New Comrades leaned towards Jinghe, while most of the Old Comrades sided with Xuanhua. It seemed that this was not just a matter of a new training method; more New Comrades had learned to question tradition, think critically, and actively seek change. The Squad Leader also stood with Jinghe, indicating that everyone’s thoughts were quite lively. Hey, that’s a good thing, I thought to myself.
I glanced at the time; there was still about an hour until lights out. “Since everyone is at an impasse, let’s get moving! The competition starts now!” This was a mandatory exercise we practiced every night since our Training Commencement, primarily aimed at getting everyone in sync and enhancing our spirit of teamwork. I devised a method where we would connect sandbags together, and then groups of six to eight people would run from one end to the other, with the group on the other side taking over. We would keep alternating back and forth until the last group finished running. This kind of training could promote cooperation among everyone and significantly improve the warriors' endurance, speed, and teamwork.
Unexpectedly, when everyone heard about the group competition, they all rubbed their fists in excitement, eager to try. At my command, these kids quickly ran back to their respective Barracks, changed into their workout gear, and gathered downstairs divided into two teams based on their camps. I counted the number of participants; both sides had nearly equal numbers.
I couldn’t help but smile and said, “Great! Let’s see which team is stronger: the recruits or the Veterans!” I gave both sides’ Squad Leaders five minutes to split their teams in half. They organized themselves according to their respective leaders and stood at either end of the five-meter line.
The lights shone down on the Unit in front of the Venue. I walked to the center with a smile and began announcing the rules. “Each group of six will carry a sandbag while running over there. The connected sandbags must not fall; if they do, you must return to start over. The first team to complete a full round wins. Is that clear?”
“Clear!” everyone shouted as both teams’ first members focused on me, waiting for my command.
“Ha ha, don’t rush,” I paused for effect. “Since this is a competition, there should be some stakes involved. How about this: whoever loses has to do 100 push-ups! What do you say? Are you up for it?” I declared loudly.
“Bring it on! Who’s afraid?” Xuanhua, from the Veteran team’s first group, turned to glance at Sheng Xiong, who was in the first group of New Recruits. He then shouted back to his teammates, “Brothers, let them know! Are we afraid?”
“Bet—bet—bet!” everyone behind him shouted in unison.
Sheng Xiong straightened up; his height of nearly six feet four allowed him to look down at his entire team behind him. He shouted loudly, “New Comrades! Are we afraid?”
"Don't be afraid—don't be afraid—bet!" The atmosphere on both sides was charged.
"Hahaha, good! Squad Leader! I'm in!" Sheng Xiong spread his large hands and spat into them. He crossed his arms and puffed out his chest, the muscles on his arms bulging like hills.
"Bet! Bet! Oh! Oh!" Everyone shouted together, the excitement growing. Even the nearby Vehicle One and Bridge Two Squad warriors were stirred up, many running over to watch.
Great, this is the effect I wanted, I thought to myself. "Ready!" I shouted loudly. "One, two, three!" The Xuanhua team of six hoisted the sandbag onto their shoulders, while Sheng Xiong's team also lifted their sandbag with a grunt. I pulled out my whistle and blew a long note—let the competition begin!
The two teams dashed out from the starting line, racing toward the other end.
"Go! Go! Go!" The crowd roared.
Xuanhua's first group had clearly chosen their members carefully; the veterans moved in sync, almost sprinting forward at full speed. Sheng Xiong's group was quick as well, but the coordination among the new recruits wasn't as smooth. With Sheng Xiong taking large strides, those behind struggled to keep up. After dashing out a dozen meters, things started to get chaotic. Anxious, Sheng Xiong shouted, "Adjust your pace to follow me!"
On Xuanhua's side, the veterans were experienced and maintained a strong rhythm. Before long, they reached the other side. As soon as they arrived, the next group of veterans was ready; without letting the sandbag hit the ground, they switched it to their shoulders. The lead veteran shouted, "Left out!" and the team surged forward in unison.
Meanwhile, Sheng Xiong's team had only covered a little over half the distance. The second-to-last member accidentally stepped on the shoe of the third-to-last warrior, causing that unfortunate guy to drag his shoe along as he ran. This drew laughter from other units watching nearby.
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