Chapter 61: The Battalion Commander Fights, the Regiment Commander Feasts!

"Charge!"
"Charge!"
At the back hill of the recruits' camp, upon the battalion commander's order, the Second Company launched an assault against the gentle slope ahead.
Simultaneously, at the top of the slope, within a ring of trenches, Chu An leaped out of the trench leading the charge.
"Comrades, defend our homeland, we are invincible! Charge!"
"Charge!"
The soldiers of the First Company instantly scrambled out of the trenches as if injected with adrenaline.
In a flash, on the hillside, a hundred and seventy or eighty recruits from the two companies clashed in a melee.
Clang, clang, bang, bang! Wooden sticks collided, and groans rang out from time to time.
This weekly Saturday tradition had only one rule: falling to the ground meant being killed in action. Everything else was left to free play, the whole point being the simulation of a real battlefield environment.
"Get him! Take down Chu An!"
"Pile on him and wear him out!"
Chu An charged at the very forefront. At this moment, he was parrying multiple opponents at once. Furthermore, this was the result of the entire Fourth Squad covering for him on the flanks, along with other squads providing tactical support.
There was no help for it; Chu An was currently treated as the equivalent of two cans of meat and a whole roast chicken.
This was the bounty offered by the Second Company's commander.
During the bayonet melee drills, Chu An hadn't stood out during the first and second sessions.
After all, his physical stamina hadn't fully recovered back then, and he didn't have much combat experience in close-quarters bayonet techniques simulating real combat.
However, as time went on.
By the third session, Chu An had carved out a formidable reputation. Single-handedly, he had charged back and forth through the opposing formation twice in a single skirmish, knocking down nearly ten opponents by himself.
Ever since that session, the Second Company commander had put up a bounty of a single can of meat.
By now, the bounty had increased to two cans of meat, plus a whole roast chicken.
What was this?
This was naked temptation. Because of this, as soon as the fight started now, if Chu An didn't have his First Company comrades backing him up, he would definitely be mobbed to death.
"Ouch, don't step on me!"
"Damn it, you're already dead and you're still grabbing my leg!"
"You're cheating! You got knocked down and you're still getting back up!"
...
On the earthen slope, the battle situation was exceptionally chaotic, keeping the squad leaders and company commanders acting as referees frantically busy, constantly yelling at the fallen to clear the area!
However, with so many people, rule-breaking violations were bound to happen.
In fact, one of the guys Chu An had poked down earlier was currently lying on the ground, stretching out a wooden stick to trip Chu An's feet.
Fortunately, Chu An's reflexes were currently extraordinary.
The fusion of two lifetimes of mental strength wasn't just reflected in his formidable memory.
His reaction time also far exceeded that of ordinary people.

Even so, Chu An couldn't hold out today.
The Second Company had actually resorted to a dirty trick this time.
Some soldiers abandoned their wooden sticks for combat and simply took a running start to hurl themselves directly at Chu An, and there was more than one.
Chu An dodged the first and second ones, but when he tried to evade the third, a nearby comrade blocked him. With nowhere left to retreat and attempting to parry with his wooden stick, yet another attacker lunged at him.
Instantly, Chu An was truly "mobbed to death" by sheer numbers!
"Haha! We got him! We got him!"
"Holy shit, brothers, Chu An is down! Wipe out the rest of the First Company!"
The nearby Second Company recruits were overjoyed.
Yet, First Company soldiers shouted back: "That's cheating! Nobody plays like that!"
"Damn it, you guys played dirty! Protest! Battalion commander, we lodge a protest!"
At that moment, amidst the cries of the First Company, the entire skirmish gradually came to a halt.
"Stop!"
The political instructor shouted through a megaphone.
Immediately, both opposing sides came to a complete stop.
And Chu An, at that moment, pushed off the two exceptionally excited Second Company recruits piled on top of him with some difficulty and climbed to his feet.
The expression beneath his face mask was somewhat speechless.
These guys actually resorted to this trick.
However, Chu An didn't feel any resentment.
If this were a true battlefield, soldiers would use every means available. If an enemy was too formidable and someone sacrificed themselves to hold him down, creating an opportunity for comrades to eliminate him, that was definitely not considered cheating.
The only difference was that on a real battlefield, Chu An wouldn't just be finished once he hit the ground.
He would fight with all his might to take them down and get back on his feet as quickly as possible.
"Do you think this is a game? On the battlefield, there is no protective gear and there are no rules. If someone pounces on you, are you going to tell the enemy they aren't allowed to pounce?" the political instructor roared through the megaphone.
With that, he shouted again: "Chu An and those fallen soldiers, fall out! Everyone else, continue!"
...
At regimental headquarters.
When the Second Battalion Commander brought Tong Lianzhong along, he discovered that Battalion Commander Lan of the artillery was still there.
"Well, well, Old Artillery, you're actually still here!"
As the Second Battalion Commander entered the door, he looked at Battalion Commander Lan with a slightly surprised expression!
"You weren't slow yourself, look at that! Your face is all flushed from running!"
Battalion Commander Lan glanced sideways, his gaze shifting directly to Tong Lianzhong who had followed the battalion commander inside.
Tong Lianzhong remained silent, but the Second Battalion Commander calmly replied, "What can I do? When someone brazenly reaches their chopsticks into the pot of meat right before our eyes, if we don't move fast, the meat's going to be snatched away!"
"Alright, alright!"
At that moment, the regiment commander seated behind the desk finally spoke up to interrupt the sparring between the two.

However, no sooner had those words left his mouth than the Second Battalion Commander turned to the regiment commander and said, "Regiment Commander, today's business is not my fault; it's this Old Artillery making unreasonable demands.
Our battalion provides the manpower and effort, traveling thousands of miles to the recruit's hometown to bring him here. Now that we've finally managed to cultivate an outstanding recruit, we can't just hand him over because someone else took a fancy to him, can we?
There's no such logic! Our Second Battalion isn't some stepchild!"
"Nonsense!" The regiment commander glared at the Second Battalion Commander. "What kind of rambling are you talking about?"
With that, he glanced at Battalion Commander Lan again, picked up his chipped enamel mug to take a sip of tea water, and said, "Look at you two, both battalion commanders, yet you're acting like children fighting over candy. What kind of behavior is this?"
"No, Regiment Commander, I don't want to be like this either! But right now, we don't have many literate soldiers to begin with.
Look at the recruits these days. Many claim to have middle school or high school education, but in reality, when I ask them about trigonometric functions, they are completely clueless, and we have to teach them slowly after they enter the camp. The crucial part is that many of them can't learn it no matter how much you teach; that educational background is no different from being fake."
Pausing for a moment, Battalion Commander Lan also said with a hint of grievance, "Look at it this way, didn't you tell me earlier that our artillery battalion needs to store up more talent, and we need to fully staff an artillery battalion as quickly as possible before war arrives? But what about now?
How many soldiers in our artillery battalion can truly execute precise ranging and master encrypted telegraph transmission? Just a pitiful few kittens! If a war really breaks out, how is this enough to let the artillery battalion unleash its combat effectiveness?"
"As if you're the only one who has artillery! The battalion-attached artillery company under my command also has guns, and we also lack talent. You might have a few who can go to the battlefield, but what about us?
They basically only know how to use thumb-estimation for observation. Do I not need useful talent?" the Second Battalion Commander protested indignantly.
These words immediately made Battalion Commander Lan glare fiercely in return!
"Bang!" At that moment, the regiment commander slammed his teacup down heavily. "What are you arguing about? Isn't it just one soldier?
I've decided: we will newly establish an artillery reconnaissance study class, and this Chu An fellow will go there. After he finishes his studies and achieves mastery, we'll see the situation and assign him!"
"Fine!"
"No way!"
In that split second, the Second Battalion Commander and Battalion Commander Lan displayed completely contrasting expressions.
Battalion Commander Lan looked thoroughly pleased, even beaming with joy.
Study class or no study class, if he wasn't assigned to the Second Battalion, he'd be directly under regimental command, which in disguise meant he was placed in their artillery battalion!
Clearly, the Second Battalion Commander saw right through this as well, and immediately raised a direct objection on the spot.
"Fine or no way!" The regiment commander's expression darkened as he looked at the two of them. "Do I need your agreement to make a decision?
The soldier belongs to Regiment C, and I have the final say.
Besides, you can't put him to proper use on the surface right now anyway. If I put him in your Second Battalion, your battalion still has to handle production work. Are you going to throw away a good soldier like this into production instead of cultivating him as fast as possible?"
With that, he looked at Battalion Commander Lan: "Don't you go celebrating either. The artillery reconnaissance study class does not belong exclusively to your artillery battalion.
If the situation continues to deteriorate, our regiment will definitely expand, and the special reconnaissance company will certainly be reorganized.
When the time comes, the newly established artillery reconnaissance study class will select the elite to be assigned to the reconnaissance platoon of the special reconnaissance company!"
"Ah?"
Now Battalion Commander Lan couldn't smile anymore either.
He looked toward the Second Battalion Commander and found that the Second Battalion Commander was also glaring furiously back at him.
What was this supposed to be?
Two people fought over a bowl of meat and went to the referee to settle it. In the end, the referee said, 'Alright, stop fighting you two, hand the meat over to me.' And then he really reached out and took the bowl of meat away...