"Who told you to move? My order was to stand at attention and not move!"
At least a third of the people in the ranks, veterans included, had been struck with the stick.
As time passed, some began to change their posture, and Wu Shuangren's stick immediately lashed out:
"Chest out, head up, and stand up straight!"
He paced back and forth through the ranks, lashing out with the stick from time to time and drawing cries of pain.
A sizable crowd of townspeople had gathered around the clearing, pointing and talking. Whenever someone was hit, laughter would occasionally rise from the spectators.
Many of the militiamen found it embarrassing.
After a quarter of an hour of this, someone finally had enough.
"I quit!"
A burly man plopped down on the ground and shouted, "I came here to be a soldier, not to be made to dance like a monkey!"
A stir ran through the ranks, and many turned to look at the burly man.
Stick in hand, Wu Shuangren walked over with a cold expression.
He stopped in front of the man and looked down at him. "You can get lost. From this moment on, you're no longer a member of the militia!"
The burly man had already felt a little uneasy when he saw Wu Shuangren approaching. At those words, he bristled and sprang to his feet.
He was even taller than Wu Shuangren. "What gives you the right?" he roared.
Wu Shuangren reached out with his right hand, seized the man by the throat, and lifted him clean off his feet!
He had achieved initial mastery of his Internal Skill. Even without the enhancement from his Trait, he could lift more than two hundred jin, so he hoisted the man up with one hand.
The man grabbed Wu Shuangren's arm with both hands and kicked wildly, his face flushing bright red.
Bang!
Wu Shuangren swung his arm and sent the man flying, crashing heavily to the ground.
Fortunately, the ground was dirt. The fall left the man dazed, but he wasn't truly injured.
"Get lost!"
Wu Shuangren glanced at him.
The man lay on the ground, coughing violently. He was already beginning to regret it.
The militia paid 120 wen a month and provided two meals a day. There wasn't another opportunity that good in all of Bo County.
He sat on the ground without leaving at once, looking at Wu Shuangren as though he wanted to speak but stopped himself.
"Throw this bastard out!"
A rough voice suddenly rang out.
It was Liao Yu and Wu Dongrong, who had come over with several constables. All of them wore official uniforms.
The two had seen the conflict and worried that Wu Shuangren lacked experience, so they had immediately brought men over to back him up.
Hearing Liao Yu's order, two constables from the constabulary hurried over, hauled the man to his feet, and shoved him along, telling him to leave at once.
"Anyone else who doesn't want to train can step forward now. I'll let you leave the militia!"
Wu Shuangren looked at the remaining militiamen and raised his voice.
"..."
No one spoke. Everyone stood ramrod straight and motionless, just as Wu Shuangren had ordered.
Seeing that someone had actually been thrown out, they all came to their senses at once.
In particular, when they saw that officers had come to support their new militia commander, they realized he had powerful backing and was not someone to provoke. They were even less willing to step forward.
"Since no one wants to leave, stand properly. If I don't tell you to move, no one moves!"
Wu Shuangren swept his gaze over them.
After that incident, the spectators around them no longer dared laugh.
Seeing that the men were simply going to stand there with nothing else happening, the spectators grew bored and gradually dispersed.
"You're just going to keep them standing there without doing anything else?"
Wu Shuangren walked over to greet Liao Yu and Wu Dongrong, and Liao Yu asked the question.
"Yes."
"What good will training them like this do?"
"First, I lay down the rules. Once they're used to obeying my orders, I'll start the next stage of training."
Wu Shuangren spoke.
Wu Dongrong looked thoughtful.
Liao Yu asked quietly, "Did that expert teach you this too?"
Wu Shuangren smiled without answering.
And so Liao Yu understood again.
In truth, Wu Shuangren didn't know how to train soldiers, much less how to command them in battle.
He had copied this approach from a combination of the military training he had received in his previous life and some "high-end" historical webnovels he had read.
In his previous life, he too had wondered: did his country's military training-standing at attention, marching in step, folding blankets, and so on-really serve a purpose? Could it really train troops capable of fighting?
But after watching some videos and combining them with the "educational explanations" in some webnovels, Wu Shuangren had come to understand-
Those seemingly useless exercises were actually a scientific training method combining posture development, physical conditioning, psychological suggestion, military management, and a whole series of other elements!
They could teach people to obey orders and become part of a collective as quickly as possible!
The repeated calls to "dress right," "keep the ranks aligned," "march in step," and "goose-step in unison"... were actually repeated psychological suggestions, teaching people the importance of discipline and the collective.
Come to think of it, if this training method really were useless, why would his country, whose army was hailed as the pinnacle of land forces, still be using it to train recruits after all these years?
On an ancient battlefield without high-tech weapons, troops who obeyed every order and prohibition were the real elites!
Wu Shuangren wasn't sure what he would ultimately be able to make of the militia under his command.
But he was certain that the training he was giving them now would have an effect!
"Your father and I were just discussing finding time to help you train the men, but it looks like you don't need us anymore."
Liao Yu smiled.
Beside him, Wu Dongrong pursed his lips.
His son seemed to have suddenly stopped needing his protection and help.
It was clearly something he should be happy about, but he felt a faint sense of loss.
"Father, Uncle Liao."
Wu Shuangren said, "I was actually thinking the same thing. I wanted to ask you both to take positions as militia instructors."
"Oh?"
Wu Dongrong perked up at once.
Wu Shuangren looked serious. "You both have experience leading soldiers and fighting together on the battlefield, so I really need your help."
48 Under Siege
Over the next few days, the militia's training gradually got on track.
Each day, Wu Shuangren continued practicing Sun-Observing Meditation in the morning and sparred with Liao Yu for one two-hour period in the evening.
He devoted all his remaining time to the militia.
The militiamen had only a few exercises each day: forming ranks, standing at attention, and goose-stepping together.
They seemed simple, but they actually consumed a great deal of Wu Shuangren's mental effort, as he had to correct mistakes over and over.
Liao Yu and Wu Dongrong had both been hired as instructors for the Bo County militia, helping Wu Shuangren train the men.
Both had experience leading soldiers, and neither quite understood Wu Shuangren's training methods.
Forming ranks was, of course, the top priority in military drills.
But Wu Shuangren's demands were far too nitpicky!
The formation had to be perfectly aligned, and when they marched, even the height at which they raised their arms and legs had to match?
Who had such exacting requirements?!
Every day, instead of letting the soldiers practice using sabers and spears, he made them stand in place. If their posture was even slightly off, they were hit.
Neither man had ever heard of training soldiers this way.
Liao Yu had privately told Wu Dongrong more than once to persuade Wu Shuangren to stop putting the men through this. Militiamen trained this way would have no fighting ability.
Wu Dongrong, however, only said to wait and see. He was in no hurry to draw a conclusion.
One evening, all the militiamen had returned to their rooms and gone to sleep.
Instead of sparring with Liao Yu as usual, Wu Shuangren summoned three veterans from the militia.
He had the three men take spears with their heads wrapped in cloth and attack him together.
In fact, ever since he had taken part in the operation to capture Peng Tianlang and the others that night, and had seen the militiamen surround and attack isolated bandits with spears, he had wanted to try having them surround him to see how [Match for One Person] performed under siege.
He simply hadn't had a suitable opportunity.
Now that Wu Shuangren was the militia commander, he could easily give the militiamen orders, but he also worried that performing poorly while surrounded would damage his image and authority.
So he had put it off until now.
"The three of you, use the methods you trained in before and attack me together. Don't hold back. Come on."
Wu Shuangren spoke to the three men.
Mo Zhengshang had previously trained these militiamen in groups of five. To be safe, Wu Shuangren chose to try fighting three at once first.
Spears in hand, the three veterans surrounded Wu Shuangren, then closed in on him step by step.
Wu Shuangren held a wooden saber, looked at the man in front of him, and equipped the Trait.
In the past, he had always overcome stronger opponents despite being weaker, so the enhancement [Match for One Person] gave him had been very obvious.
But now, facing opponents weaker than himself, [Match for One Person] enhanced neither his saber technique nor his footwork, much less his Internal Skill.
It didn't even give him the ability to predict attacks with precision that he had possessed when facing the isolated bandit on the night he first transmigrated.
After equipping the Trait, Wu Shuangren found only that his attention became highly focused, his reactions quicker, and his control over his body stronger.
These were the same effects he got from equipping the Trait under normal circumstances.
In other words, against opponents weaker than me, [Match for One Person] only lets me bring out one hundred percent of my own strength at most. It doesn't give me any additional enhancement.
Wu Shuangren reached a conclusion. He decisively opened with Wind Follows the Tiger's Roar, leaping toward the opponent directly in front of him and swinging his saber down with both hands.
Seeing Wu Shuangren charge, the veteran in front immediately stopped and thrust his spear.
Smack!
Wu Shuangren brought his saber down on the front of the spear, knocking it aside. He continued forward and followed up with Whirling Gale Shocks the Mountain, sweeping the blade upward across the man's chest.
He pulled his strength at the last moment, leaving the veteran stumbling backward before he fell on his backside.
Having completed his "first kill," he turned to face the two veterans charging from behind, dodged their thrusting spears, and closed in on one of them for a "kill" in the same manner.
Only one veteran remained, leaving no question as to the outcome.
The gap in speed and strength is too great. Being surrounded by three of them is basically no threat to me.
Wu Shuangren rubbed his chin and reached his conclusion.
He "looked" at the Trait above his head and found that its color hadn't changed at all. That meant defeating opponents weaker than himself couldn't level up the Trait.
Next, he had the three men stand in a row and charge him together with their spears.
As the three charged, he stepped forward to meet them.