Zhou Rui, who was in charge of this selection, really didn't understand why Ye Tao and Dai Yun wanted to watch it in person. If Pu Hua Yongdao hadn't sent a large batch of extremely complex accounts for Tan Weixin to review, and he hadn't had to urge the Commerce Bureau to come up with a sales plan for Grey Goose Refined Wine, Tan Weixin would probably have come as well. However, the idea for the special operations camp was proposed by Ye Tao, and the most important part of this assessment was also proposed by Ye Tao and Tan Weixin. It seemed justifiable that these two people, who were unexpectedly interested and had ideas about the special operations camp, wanted to be concerned about its start-up. In Zhou Rui's slightly cynical opinion, it was probably because Ye Tao wasn't busy enough now. If he really had something that he couldn't get away from, he probably wouldn't have come to watch this kind of selection in person. For people like Ye Tao and Dai Yun, this kind of preliminary selection had no reference value for how they would use this force in the future.

The first thing to be tested was some basic physical fitness. The soldiers from different camps had different training focuses, and it wouldn't be fair to cause a high elimination rate with overly harsh standards. Although the standards for basic physical fitness in this selection were much higher than those of other troops, these were, after all, strong soldiers carefully selected by each camp who had performed well in their usual training. Except for a few individuals who were recommended because of their unique skills rather than their conventional combat effectiveness, almost everyone passed the assessment. The elimination rate in this round of assessment was very low.

What followed was the basic combat action assessment. Basically, the relevant assessment standards were copied entirely from the Blood Kirin Army's training standards. In fact, in this era, the only organization with a complete set of written assessment standards was the unique Blood Kirin Army. And all of these assessment item lists and assessment standards, scoring methods, and the weight of each item's score in the overall score of a soldier were top secrets of the Dongping Ministry of War, the Imperial Guards, and the Blood Kirin Army. And now, these standards would also become secrets of Yunzhou. Before using these standards, Ye Tao and Dai Yun had also specifically sought opinions from the Ministry of War, the Blood Kirin Army, and other parties through the Flying Eagle transmission, and obtained full "authorization." In fact, Dai Yun had contributed a lot to the formulation of these standards, and even without these "authorizations," she could recite these standards without any difficulty.

But the overall quality of the Yunzhou soldiers was far from that of the Blood Kirin Army. Even these elite soldiers might indeed be better than the Blood Kirin Army soldiers in some aspects, but in terms of comprehensive qualities, they were not on the same level at all. There were a lot of aristocratic children in the Blood Kirin Army. Although the education these people received from an early age might not have made them like it, their cultural literacy was quite high, to put it in a relatively fashionable way. And these people were very good at understanding the key points of various battles and tactics, and at passing on their understanding to others. This was especially evident in the heavy weapons camp. They could quickly master the use of various complex heavy weapons, and quickly make Ye Tao's carefully designed auxiliary tools play their role. Later, they could even use the opinions in actual use to guide Ye Tao to design better tools, or use the combined use of simple tools to achieve the effect. And they had the ability to record every bit of experience they accumulated in precise text and charts, so that latercomers could master these key points faster. This was why a knowledgeable army was so powerful. It was also because the Blood Kirin Army soldiers could always master various knowledge and experience in the shortest time that they had time to learn the actions, knowledge, and experience of other arms of service, so that each soldier could master relatively comprehensive abilities. Infantrymen could be archers and cavalrymen, and cavalrymen could also use catapults, crossbow cannons, and newly added kerosene sprayers relatively reliably on foot.

And the current Yunzhou garrison was still extremely far from such standards. In this second assessment, this problem gradually emerged. Since the Yunzhou camps had been divided into arms of service, their training had become biased. In addition to basic physical fitness training, they all combined their respective arms of service for specialized training. On the one hand, this specialized training had been going on for a short time. Not to mention cross-disciplinary subjects involving other arms of service, even the subjects of this arm of service had not yet been completed. Fortunately, in Yunzhou, riding horses and shooting arrows were the most basic skills for these guys who could come to be soldiers. Although the accuracy of shooting arrows varied, it was generally passable. As for those equipment operations, they couldn't be accomplished overnight.

The results of the first two assessments could be said to be as different as heaven and earth, but even so, Zhou Rui didn't eliminate many people. What he screened out were not those with relatively poor results, but those who were somewhat psychologically unbalanced because their results were not as good as others or they had made mistakes, and who behaved relatively violently or frustrated. Among the tasks that the special operations camp would be responsible for in the future, there were too many that would put people under pressure, and the ability to withstand pressure was much more important than the performance before undergoing a full set of training.

After two rounds of assessments, Zhou Rui picked out the soldiers with special expertise and directly incorporated them into the already qualified groups, and then summoned the remaining soldiers. After two rounds of assessments, the original team of more than 1,400 people was now less than 1,000 people.

Zhou Rui stood on a boulder and said calmly, "Now I will announce the method and standards for the third and final assessment." Zhou Rui gestured towards Ye Tao and Dai Yun, who were sitting leisurely at the entrance of the tent not far away, turned around and looked at the neatly arranged team. In the few days that these soldiers had gathered, he had already won the awe of at least most of the soldiers in his own way, and they had recognized him, the original Protectorate's guard, as one of the leaders of this special force. On the ground in Yunzhou, the Dai family seemed to always get recognized more easily. Dai Rong, who already had quite rich military intelligence reconnaissance experience, had already gained extremely high support based on his name alone. Zhou Rui looked at everyone with satisfaction and continued:

"Before entering this area, everyone will randomly draw a number plate from the wooden box at the starting point. This number plate represents you in this assessment. At the same time, you will also draw another number plate, which represents your target in this assessment."

Zhou Rui's words immediately caused a buzzing discussion in the team. Zhou Rui shouted, "Quiet!" Then, he continued:

"Within two shichen (approximately four hours) of entering the area, you can do what you think is right, whatever you want. You must not attack each other, you cannot talk to each other, and you cannot transmit information to each other in any way. After two hours, anything goes. Your assessment item is how to get six points in this assessment." Zhou Rui's cold smile had a hint of sarcasm: "How do these six points come about? The calculation method is like this. From the start of the assessment until the end of the assessment, there is a total of seven days. It starts counting after everyone finishes drawing lots. After seven days, you must return to the starting point. If you don't return to the starting point, you will be considered unqualified for the assessment. When you return to the starting point, if the number plate representing yourself is still with you, that counts as three points. Obtaining the number plate of the target you drew also counts as three points. Obtaining the number plate of a target that is not your own counts as one point. Do you... understand?"

"You cannot bring weapons or food into this area. Everyone will be given a small cloth bag, which contains a little food, a can of clean water, and a white sweat towel. If, during these seven days, someone wants to withdraw from the assessment before the time is up, tie the sweat towel on your right arm. No one is allowed to talk to someone who has already announced their withdrawal. Everyone can take any necessary means to obtain the other party's number plate... or the information you need. But remember one thing, please be very careful when using force. You may be attacking your future comrades-in-arms, not the enemy. Please be careful not to cause casualties or injuries. If you are too ruthless to your comrades-in-arms, then I'm sorry, we can only send you back."

"This area, and this season, it is indeed a bit difficult to find food. We have hidden about three thousand portions of food and water inside. However, if there are still people who can't stand the hunger later, can't stand the weather, or are injured for various reasons during the assessment, there is also a whistle in the cloth bag. If you blow the whistle, I will send someone over to help... Okay, I'll remind everyone by the way that I will send a lot of people into the assessment site to monitor everyone's actions and rescue people who need help. These people have plenty of food and water, but please treat them as if you don't see them. Any behavior that attacks or intends to attack these assistant examiners will be regarded as abandoning the assessment."

After Zhou Rui paused, he lengthened his voice and asked, "Do you... all understand?"

"Understand!" The nearly one thousand participants in the assessment made an extremely unified sound.

This kind of assessment that lets everyone keep their brains working to consider how to get six points after announcing the rules is really a bit blood-pumping. Not to mention these elite people who are usually proud and arrogant, Zhou Rui himself really wants to participate in it to test his abilities. And Zhou Rui added some admiration to his usual respect for Ye Tao and Tan Weixin, who came up with this assessment project with a very appropriate name: "Hunter". He didn't know, and couldn't possibly know, that the reason why Ye Tao and Tan Weixin wanted to see this selection was not because they really knew much about the special operations camp's operations and training, but because they shamelessly copied a small section of the manga. However, there were too many things they had copied from all over the world, so this small-scale plagiarism was really nothing.