The spring wind swept across the northern plains.
It stirred the grass and wildflowers, the branches and leaves, and the recruits standing at attention in green uniforms, carrying bedding and luggage on their backs.
"Move!"
"Still moving!"
"Another ten minutes!"
As the company commander of the recruit company, Gao Cheng stood with his hands on his hips, glaring and roaring, exerting immense pressure on the hundred-plus recruits before him.
The moment he finished speaking, muttering rose from the ranks.
"Who's talking? Why don't you come up here and say it? I'll make room for you."
"Huh?"
"Another ten minutes!"
A round of deep breaths sounded out, and the formation fell completely silent. Only then did Gao Cheng nod in satisfaction.
A show of force was meant to keep this bunch of newcomers in line—mostly boys who had only just come of age, with some not even adults yet. Most of them were the sort who disliked studying and loved causing trouble.
This was not meant to mock the soldiers; it was simply reality. At this age, for children from most families, there were only three paths: continue studying, go work and learn a trade, or join the army.
Of course, there was another path—drifting through life and going astray. But that was clearly not the mainstream. Even in the story of one's own life, such people rarely had much of a chapter.
The military was full of hot-blooded young men. If they could not be kept in check, problems would easily arise. That was why, when they first enlisted and trained in the recruit company, they had to be drilled into submission, made to understand what the military was, what a collective was, what discipline was, and what honor was.
As for the most important thing—"responsibility"—that ran through everything. Training