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墨書 Inktalez
Upon arriving at the Third Battalion Camp, I discovered that the Playground was filled with people, and the air was alive with sounds. I quickly led my squad around the barriers and headed straight into the Playground.
As soon as I entered the Venue, I focused my gaze and saw that only one team was running laps on the field, fully armed and maintaining excellent formation. There were lead runners at the front, their speed clearly controlled, taking long strides at a steady pace. The middle section was denser with personnel, some of whom were unarmed, while a few at the back carried multiple rifles. Notably, the last member of this group, known as Gao Ge, had a square face and a buzz cut. He stood over six feet tall—lean but not particularly muscular—yet he carried three rifles on his back, taking large strides and occasionally pushing forward a few of his comrades. It was evident he was an expert in providing support.
After this team ran past us, I instinctively glanced at my watch and started timing them. After one lap, I was astonished; their average speed was incredibly fast. At this pace, they would surely excel in a five-kilometer cross-country run, although this was flat terrain, so their performance might diminish on rougher ground.
I noticed several officers cheering them on nearby, so I tapped a sergeant on the shoulder. "Brother, which unit is competing here?"
The squad leader didn’t even turn his head but kept his eyes on the field. "You don’t know? This isn’t from the Third Battalion; it’s from the Seventh Company’s A Row—High Song Squad! They’re running ten kilometers armed. We’re betting whether they can break yesterday’s record."
I nearly popped my eyes out—ten kilometers armed! What were they thinking? And they wanted to break records every time? This squad was indeed extraordinary. At that moment, I heard one of my comrades scoff, "Are you kidding? High Song Squad? We’re still Ace!"
I ignored him. "Hey brother, point out who Gao Ge is for me."
The sergeant gestured with his chin. "That one at the back carrying several rifles."
My heart sank again—how impressive! I wasn’t well-versed in armed five-kilometer runs; as an officer, I didn’t carry a weapon while running. Even if I could manage to protect myself well enough, there was no way I could help others carry rifles like that guy did!
Watching that team begin to accelerate towards the far end of the field, I realized they were nearing the end of their run. I took another look at Gao Ge; for this team, if ten points represented perfection, I would give them nine without even interacting with them yet. Then silently in my mind, I deducted two points from their chances of winning.
I turned to everyone else. "Did you all see the gap? No excuses; we need to train harder."
Once we regrouped, Garfield took charge as we silently left the Playground and headed back to our Camp. As I walked slowly at the back of the line, pondering how to surpass someone like Gao Ge, I suddenly heard someone call my name. Instinctively responding with a "Yes," I turned towards the source of the voice on my right.
There stood an individual beyond a lattice fence separating the main road from the Playground. He had his hands behind his back and was sweating profusely while looking at me.
It was Gao Ge—the very person who had been running at the back of his team! "You are Gao Ge?"
"Heh heh, no wonder you’re Wang Squad Leader; you guessed it right away. I watched you during your competition," Gao Ge smiled briefly before quickly masking his amusement.
"Gao Squad Leader," I approached him and looked through the railing. "It seems you’ll be taking home the championship this time."
"Wang Squad Leader is too kind; there are many experts in our regiment; when would it be my turn?" Gao Ge replied calmly while looking back at me.
"Experts everywhere? I can't help but laugh. Gao Ge keeps his true feelings hidden deep inside; he clearly wants to take first place but doesn't let on at all.
I looked up and stared into Gao Ge's eyes. 'Senior Gao, you are a typical cadre from the local university, having enlisted two years before me. You are my senior brother and a role model for me. I hope you won't mind my boldness in coming to observe.'
'Wang Squad Leader is also a local student?' Gao Ge seemed a bit surprised.
I smiled lightly. Gao Ge glanced at my team and said quietly, 'How long have you been leading them? Half a year?'
'About that,' I replied, glancing back. Fortunately, my brothers hadn't embarrassed me; they stood at attention, while soldiers from other units walked by without looking around.
'Wang Squad Leader is quite capable.'
'I learn from my senior brother. With you in Sharp Blade Company, we will surely excel.'
'No need to be modest. Wang Squad Leader, you're not bad yourself. In terms of marksmanship, I can't compare to you. However, the tactics of modern warfare are outdated; it's fine to play around with them, but we should focus more on physical training and military skills.'
'Your guidance is appreciated.' I could see that Gao Ge was becoming a bit impatient, so I quickly asked, 'Could you predict the final rankings?'
Gao Ge pondered for a moment. 'The top three will be your company, Fourth Company, and our company. As for the order, I fear you will take first.'
'Oh, ha ha, you think highly of us.'
'There's no need for false modesty. Your company has the highest average military quality among all units; that's beyond doubt. Who doesn't know that "Building the Army's Twin Heroes" is under your command? The rest of us are just unevenly matched; that's the most troublesome part. But as for Sharp Blade Company... ha ha.' A fleeting smile crossed Gao Ge's face.
'Building the Army's Twin Heroes'? Our Company Commander Hu Lijun and Instructor Qiu Jian—Dual Heroes? Ha ha, sounds impressive.
I smiled and said, 'I wish my senior brother great success!' After exchanging pleasantries, I turned and led my team away; I had gathered the information I needed.
In the barracks, I called everyone together for a meeting. 'Everyone saw today that the situation is quite severe. Fourth Company—no, Seventh Company—you see their aura and strength; ask yourselves if you can match that. Now, He Baisha, let me ask you: can you run All Excellent without relying on support and not fall behind?'
He Baisha immediately lowered his head while the other soldiers looked at me nervously. I continued, 'Let's analyze the situation first. I've gone over the assessment rules multiple times and found that Armed Five Kilometers and Armed Swimming are essentially dead weight projects. The requirement is that every member of the squad must excel; as long as we all pass with excellence, there's no need to worry about speed. The key lies in teamwork—we must ensure that weaker comrades do not fall behind. If anyone has ideas on how to achieve this, please speak up.
'Crossing the Sea to Island Obstacle—this one is interesting. Although it also requires everyone to excel to qualify, I believe this is where we can truly make a difference. Think about it: each person's speed varies and each has different strengths, but only one person can pass each obstacle at a time. Therefore, how we adjust everyone's order to implement optimal performance is crucial.'
Looking at everyone's confused nods, I felt a bit helpless. "You've all been in cars, right? You've encountered red lights, haven't you? Do you know the core of the traffic light theory? The essence is to ensure that a certain group of vehicles encounters the fewest red lights in the shortest time possible and travels the farthest. That's the fundamental purpose of traffic lights. So, in life, you might feel like either you never hit a red light and have a smooth green light all the way, or you face nothing but red lights with hardly any green. Why? To maximize efficiency!"
There was silence below; the soldiers still looked bewildered.
Sighing, I realized it was frustrating when tactical concepts couldn't be conveyed effectively. Just as I was pondering how to explain it more clearly, Xuanhua suddenly stood up. "Squad Leader, I get it! This is just like when we go up the mountain to chop firewood. We always chop wood while gathering pig feed, and on the way back, we might pick up some cow dung too, right?"
Damn, that was a rough analogy but made sense! I stared at Xuanhua in disbelief; how did this guy suddenly become so insightful?
With this analogy, the soldiers quickly understood and began to voluntarily report their strengths and weaknesses regarding obstacles. Garfield recorded everything one by one. I needed to organize this well tonight; it was a matter of coordination.
After dinner, I carefully reviewed the materials at hand: the 400-meter sea crossing and island landing was originally one of the daily training exercises for various navies. The venue involved four laps with ten different obstacles. This was a physical training requirement designed to adapt to sea crossing and island landing operations, featuring a 400-meter obstacle course that included a runway and various obstacles placed along it. The obstacles consisted of sequentially arranged soft bridges, spiral ladders, high-low crossbeams, rope nets, tire climbing platforms, swinging platforms, shaking horizontal ladders, cross nets, blocking walls, and simulated beaches. Initially aimed at real combat environments for amphibious assaults to enhance individual adaptability in maritime operations, this set of training equipment and venue was introduced by our forces. In practice, it was found that if we followed the principles of physical training and adhered to systematic combinations, we could simulate various states such as loading, crossing, transferring, and storming ashore to varying degrees. This greatly benefited the psychological and physical qualities of our personnel.
The qualifying time for an individual running through this course was 4 minutes and 50 seconds; an excellent time was under four minutes. However, this assessment focused on overall completion time—meaning that among all participants who could pass together, the team with the shortest overall time would be first. Besides minimizing the total time taken for everyone to finish together, we also had to consider other parameters from competing teams; even shaving off a little time could potentially defeat another team.
How should I allocate roles? Who should go first? I looked at each soldier's written reports and began calculating with a pen. I still needed to set up a strategy targeting Wu Yan and Gao Ge's personalities; they would definitely take the bait! It carried risks but was worth betting on!
(To be continued; tomorrow will be even more exciting!)
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