Chapter 62: The Second Battalion Commander Rolls Up His Sleeves!

Humph, are you satisfied now?

Outside the regimental headquarters office building, walking one behind the other with dark expressions, the Second Battalion Commander couldn't hold it in any longer.

The moment he stepped out of the building, he pulled a long face and let out an angry huff.

The Artillery Battalion Commander was also filled with pent-up frustration. Hearing the Second Battalion Commander's voice, he immediately snapped back with annoyance, "It's your fault! If you hadn't shown up, things wouldn't have turned out like this!"

"Oh! You old artillery piece, and now you're trying to blame me!" At this, the Second Battalion Commander unconsciously rolled up his sleeves.

He was about to explode with rage.

Damn it, this was completely unreasonable!

His Second Battalion had played the role of both father and mother, bringing the recruit all the way from his hometown thousands of miles away.

Now that he had set his sights on the man, this guy had run straight to the Regiment Commander and whipped out a little hoe to poach right from his own backyard. In the end, he actually had the audacity to blame him for coming to disrupt his poaching scheme.

"Humph, wouldn't it be like this if it weren't for you?" The Artillery Battalion Commander wasn't intimidated at all by the Second Battalion Commander rolling up his sleeves.

Who was he trying to scare?

If he had been genuinely afraid of the Second Battalion Commander, he wouldn't have gone to the recruit company and then chased him all the way to the Regiment Commander's office today.

As for trading blows, he wasn't afraid either.

A man who spent every day hauling artillery shells wasn't going to cower before someone whose daily routine was just carrying a rifle.

"Fine, you broken basket, you just wait..."

At that moment, the Second Battalion Commander's last shred of rationality kept him from throwing punches.

After all, they were both battalion commanders, and this was right in front of the regimental headquarters office building. If they started a fight here, both of them would face disciplinary action or even demotion.

However, he was definitely keeping a mental note of today's incident.

He turned around with a dark expression.

Behind him, the Artillery Battalion Commander also pulled a long face and let out a huff.

He was truly burning with frustration right now.

Before the Second Battalion Commander showed up, he had actually been very close to getting the Regiment Commander to agree to hand the man over to him.

And now look at the situation.

The man had been snatched away by the Regiment Commander himself.

As for the artillery reconnaissance training class, if the situation continued to deteriorate further down the line, and the signal platoon was split back into a special operations platoon and a communications platoon, the members of the artillery reconnaissance training class would undoubtedly be assigned to the reconnaissance platoon of the special operations platoon.

It was extremely annoying.

Naturally, apart from this lingering irritation, he also had a few other thoughts.

If the Viet invaders reined themselves in a bit going forward, the situation improved, and Regiment C did not expand its forces, then after the training class concluded, the trainees would inevitably be sent down to various units.

This time around, his own battalion had to select a few sharp individuals to enter the artillery reconnaissance class. Once the class ended, he was going to fight tooth and nail to snatch that Chu An.

No matter what, he had truly set his sights on this soldier.

As for the Second Battalion Commander, he could go eat dirt.

***

Behind the recruit camp's mountain.

The customary Saturday event ended quickly.

It was mainly constrained by the rule that dropping to the ground meant instant death.

Otherwise, on a real battlefield, a bayonet fight involving nearly two hundred men definitely wouldn't have concluded so swiftly.

At that moment, the soldiers of the First Company raised their arms and cheered loudly.

"Haha, we won! You guys in the Second Company are truly hopeless!"

"Second Company, go back and practice more! You're still lacking the necessary fire!"

The recruits of the First Company shouted out with broad smiles.

They had won again.

Yes, *again*.

During the past few customary events, the Second Company hadn't won a single time.

The reason was crystal clear, and it was entirely because of Chu An.

Even though Chu An had been "killed in action" this time, his overall impact had already been fully realized.

The First and Second Company's clashes involved fewer than two hundred men when all was said and done.

With such small numbers, the influence of individual prowess could not be overlooked.

A focal point like Chu An—regardless of whether he could pierce straight through your formation or tear back and forth right through it—inflicted far too heavy a blow to overall morale.

Yet if you tried to deal with him, you were forced to target him specifically. The crucial point was that if you targeted him, the opponents weren't fools either.

They would adjust their tactics based on your arrangements and strike at the forces you had diverted to deal with Chu An.

With similar troop strengths and little difference elsewhere in combat effectiveness, the First Company now possessed this single standout element capable of swaying the entire battlefield. This was precisely why the Second Company kept suffering defeats.

Yet knowing this reason offered no solution.

It was completely baffling and uncrackable.

The only method the Second Company Commander could think of was to place a bounty on Chu An, hoping the Second Company recruits could instantly eliminate him, and then use the surge in morale from taking down Chu An to stage a comeback.

However, this process had to be executed rapidly. It could only work if it happened before the Second Company suffered excessive losses from being caught in the First Company's pincer movement. Otherwise, due to the heavy losses sustained from initially focusing solely on Chu An, even if morale soared afterward, the numerical disparity meant they would still suffer defeat just like today.

Presently, the recruits of the Second Company wore ashen complexions, hanging their heads in dejected frustration, yet utterly helpless. Kite-flying was out of the question.

"Look at you all! A bunch of good-for-nothings, losing battle after battle. You're really making a mockery of me!" the Second Company Commander roared, standing before his men. As soon as he finished speaking, he directly ordered all the Second Company recruits, platoon leaders included, to move in a duck-walk back to the camp.

Naturally, the First Company received a completely different treatment.

The political instructor wore a smiling expression: "Comrades, you must learn not to let victory go to your heads, understand?

"Even though we keep winning, war is not child's play. Just like so many of you who fell down a moment ago, if this were a real battlefield, you would have already lost your lives.

"Therefore, all of you need to reflect deeply, and think about how you should continue to strive moving forward—strive to enhance your combat capabilities so that you can be the ones standing until the very end next time!"

"Hehe, I've already memorized the political instructor's speech!" At the rear of the recruit formation, where heads were held high and mouths grinned wide, someone muttered with a chuckle.

After every Saturday's confrontation, the political instructor would invariably deliver this exact speech, so the recruits weren't exaggerating when they claimed they could recite it by heart.

Before long, the political instructor finished his remarks and loudly commanded: "Move out! Return to camp and prepare for the group meal!"

Following the Saturday custom, a group meal would be served immediately afterward, and without fail, everyone got to eat meat on these days—something the entire company looked forward to with exceptional eagerness.

***

"An artillery reconnaissance training class?"

Over at the First Company, after the recruits returned, aside from a few who went to assist in the mess hall, the rest immediately began cleaning the camp grounds.

It was right at this moment that Tong Lianzhong returned.

However, instead of returning directly to his First Battalion, he had made a detour to the battalion headquarters.

"Yes, the Regiment Commander stated it personally. He said that once the recruit company training concludes, they will establish an artillery reconnaissance training class, and furthermore, they might even re-establish the special operations platoon afterward!" Tong Lianzhong looked somewhat perturbed.

Yet Political Instructor Cui didn't react with excessive alarm; he merely wore a pensive expression.

After a brief moment, he looked toward Tong Lianzhong and asked, "Did the Regiment Commander mention how the other candidate selections for this training class will be handled, aside from Chu An?"

"Huh?" Tong Lianzhong was momentarily stunned. He hadn't expected the political instructor's focus to land there.

Recovering his wits, he promptly replied, "No, he didn't!"

"Is that so?"

The political instructor shifted his gaze away from Tong Lianzhong. After pondering for a few more moments in silence, he looked at Tong Lianzhong and said, "You head back first!"

With that, he picked up his cap and strode away!

"Political Instructor, where are you going?" Tong Lianzhong blurted out the question.

Nevertheless, the political instructor didn't keep it a secret from him.

"Back to the battalion headquarters!"

Compared to Tong Lianzhong, Political Instructor Cui was actually considering a great deal more at this moment.

Since the Regiment Commander was establishing an artillery reconnaissance training class and had even mentioned re-establishing the special operations platoon, the information conveyed by these moves was already more than sufficient.

Tong Lianzhong hadn't thought much of it, but the instructor had grasped a much deeper underlying layer.

A special operations platoon wasn't something that could be re-established on a whim.

They belonged to a Category B unit; in times of peace and under the current climate, expanding forces was completely out of the question.

Yet the Regiment Commander had spoken of setting up an artillery reconnaissance training class right now, while also hinting at recreating the special operations platoon.

That left only one possibility: the leadership was harboring a tense outlook regarding the present situation.

Therefore, he felt it was necessary for him to make additional preparations as well.

Chu An being requested away was something beyond his control, but his own battalion needed to find every possible means to elevate its combat effectiveness right now.

This artillery reconnaissance training class presented a golden opportunity. The Second Battalion also had its own battalion-affiliated artillery platoon; although it only possessed a few mortars, mortars were artillery pieces nonetheless.

As long as the shelling was accurate, a few mortars could equally sway the outcome of a battle.

Thus, he felt compelled to return and discuss suggestions with the battalion commander and instructor, striving to secure a few slots to send men into the training class for instruction.

That way, if a major war truly erupted, the Second Battalion's combat strength could be augmented by a significant margin.