Soon, Wu Yong and Zhang Tian were brought over by Qi Sui.
They both saluted Fang Er, "Greetings, Marquis."
Fang Er raised his hand in a gesture of support, "No need for formalities."
After the two stood firm, Fang Er continued, "The great ship will soon be launched, and there isn't much time before departure."
"Prepare yourselves. The Fourth and Fifth Battalions will have a combat drill tomorrow. The victors will accompany this Marquis on the expedition to Wa Country."
"As for the losers, they will remain at the manor to keep watch."
Wu Yong and Zhang Tian's eyes lit up.
The news that the Marquis of Liaodong had received an imperial decree to head to Wa Country had already spread throughout the Skyfire Army.
A true man should conquer in all directions, with his blood staining the battlefield. Their arduous training all these days had been waiting for this very day.
"Marquis, rest assured! This expedition, our Fourth Battalion will not flinch!" Wu Yong declared his resolve, patting his chest.
Zhang Tian was not to be outdone, "Marquis, tomorrow, the Fifth Battalion will surely grind the Fourth Battalion into the dirt!"
"The morale is good," Fang Er nodded. "You may all go and prepare."
As Wu Yong and Zhang Tian returned to the ranks and announced the next day's grand competition, the Fourth and Fifth Battalions instantly erupted.
"Haha! You brats from the Fifth Battalion, wait for me! See how I'll take you all down tomorrow!"
"Fourth Battalion, don't get arrogant! Just you wait and see how we'll score a direct hit tomorrow!"
"All of you, stop yapping at me. Tomorrow, we'll see who's who with real swords and real guns!"
Each man clenched his fists, vowing to defeat their opponents.
The noisy clamor from the training grounds here attracted Cheng Yaojin, who was out for a ride on his motorcycle.
"Brother, what are you up to?"
After Fang Er explained, Cheng Yaojin became interested.
Cheng Yaojin stopped messing with his motorcycle and, pulling Qi Sui along, asked to be arranged a place to stay, insisting he wanted to observe the competition between the two battalions tomorrow.
He claimed to be here to learn. Regarding this fellow, Fang Er's opinion was whatever he wanted, so let him be.
The next day.
Fang Er woke up early and finished his ablutions with Xiao Qing's service.
Wearing loose work clothes, a wide-brimmed cowboy hat, and flower-girl-designed leather boots, with twin pistols at his waist, he rode his motorcycle to the military camp's training grounds in high spirits.
The Fourth and Fifth Battalions had already eaten breakfast and were assembling on the training grounds.
Clad in identical blue uniforms, with hats adorned with the flaming army insignia, they stood in neat formation on the training grounds.
Their military bearing was orderly and their spirits high, anticipating the upcoming showdown between the two battalions.
Cheng Yaojin was enthusiastically munching on a piece of bright green instant noodle, sitting on the reviewing stand. He only noticed Fang Er's arrival when he sat down in the main seat next to him.
"Brother, this noodle cake of yours is good! I've been eating this since yesterday, it's delicious!"
He said this and took another bite, holding the noodle cake in his right hand and catching the crumbs with his left hand underneath.
After finishing, he moved the noodle cake from his right hand and poured the crumbs caught in his left hand into his mouth, eating with great relish.
His demeanor was exactly like those children who ate instant noodles for the first time in his previous life, afraid of wasting even a single crumb.
Fang Er smiled, "If it's delicious, I'll pack a barrel for your wife when we leave."
Cheng Yaojin slapped Fang Er on the shoulder, "Haha, you're the thoughtful one, brother. Time is almost up, shall we begin?"
Fang Er gave a look to Qi Sui by his side.
Qi Sui stepped forward and shouted to the Fourth and Fifth Battalions in the training grounds, "The drill begins!"
"First event: Twenty miles of cross-country with loaded gear!"
Around the training grounds was a track with a circumference of two kilometers, and in the middle were various obstacles simulating real-world terrain.
There were mounds of earth, giant logs lying on the ground.
There were mud pits and gravel.
In short, everything that could be thought of was present, and there were almost no continuous flat sections exceeding a hundred meters.
With over two thousand people, it was impossible for all of them to face off, so the method was to have one company from each battalion compete, randomly drawn by Fang Er. The first to complete five laps would win.
As for the loaded gear, it consisted of their weapons: a Yun-Yi style rifle, one hundred rounds of ammunition, three two-jin hand grenades, as well as canteens and rations.
Combined, this weighed around twenty to thirty jin.
After Fang Er drew the slips of paper from the two wooden boxes on the table and opened them, he read aloud the contents.
"Fourth Battalion, First Company; Fifth Battalion, Third Company."
Qi Sui then loudly announced the result of the draw.
As the results were read, the two battalions each sent out their competing teams.
When the two companies reached the starting line, Qi Sui fired the starting pistol.
Over two hundred people began to sprint along the track.
These men had trained for nearly two months and were already intimately familiar with the environment on the track.
They moved as nimbly as monkeys.
Xu Xiufeng was a sniper in the Fifth Battalion's Third Company. After joining the Skyfire Army, he initially struggled to adapt to the high-intensity training and even considered deserting.
However, thinking of the empty rice jar at home and his sister's pair of bright, watery eyes, he ultimately stayed, solely to earn military pay to support his family.
Gradually, with sufficient nutrition and daily training, he, who had been frail since childhood, actually developed a well-proportioned physique, no longer resembling the weakling he once was.
When the starting pistol fired, he was the first to dash out.
Two months of grueling practice, countless nights of weeping in his dreams. He wanted to change himself, change his family's fate, and he never wanted to return to the days of worrying about having two meals a day.
But things often don't go as planned. The more he craved victory, the more fate seemed to burden him.
Within the first lap, he accidentally slipped into a mud pit. By the time he crawled out, his military uniform was covered in mud and water. As he ran, the fabric clung uncomfortably to his body.
Gritting his teeth, he continued to run, lap after lap.
On the third lap, his foot stepped on a round stone. The stone rolled forward, causing him to fall backward.
On his back was his Dragonfang sniper rifle. "The rifle and the man," as Old Qi had said when distributing the weapons.
This fall, while not enough to damage the Dragonfang sniper rifle, meant Xu Xiufeng did not want his beloved companion to suffer even the slightest harm.
At the last moment of his fall, he performed a difficult maneuver, twisting his body and supporting himself with his right hand on the ground.
The Dragonfang sniper rifle did not collide with the ground in the slightest, but the stones on the ground scraped his palm. In pain, he collapsed heavily onto the ground.
His company commander, seeing this from behind, charged over.
"Fengzi, are you injured?"
Xu Xiufeng merely grinned, "Company Commander, I'm fine, just a minor scratch."
Seeing the drops of blood falling from his hand, the company commander was alarmed, "Quickly find a medic to dress it. You're a sniper, you must not let the wound worsen."
Xu Xiufeng shook his head, "Company Commander, don't try to persuade me. I'm fine. I'll get it bandaged after I finish the last two laps."
"I cannot be a burden to the Third Company, nor to the Fifth Battalion!"
With that, he gritted his teeth and turned to continue charging towards the objective.
There were many soldiers like Xu Xiufeng. The Skyfire Army was basically composed of children from poor families.
Some were sent by families who could no longer afford to support them, while others, like Xu Xiufeng, enlisted to supplement their families' income.
Children from poor families mature early. They were all exceptionally resilient, training recklessly, fearing that if they performed poorly, Qi Sui would expel them from the Skyfire Army, causing them to lose their substantial monthly pay.
Watching them, their eyes red and teeth gritted, charging forward on the track, Fang Er's gaze was filled with anticipation.
This competition was merely a beginning. What awaited them would be even more brutal life-or-death struggles. He hoped they would not disappoint this Marquis!