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TL: Benguin
Time flew by in the blink of an eye, and before anyone knew it, a year had already passed. Under Wufeng’s leadership, the second platoon engaged in extensive training throughout the year, and by doing so, he became a lot more familiar with the soldiers under his command.
Seeing as how Wufeng never displayed the same arrogant and demeaning attitude as the other members of the aristocracy, the soldiers also began to interact with Wufeng with more familiarity.
Liang Chongxin was born to a family of wealthy workshop owners from the Huzhou Prefecture of the Jiangnan Commandery.
Huzhou prefecture is renowned throughout the world for the high quality of their four essentials of calligraphy and scholarship: the inkstone, paper, brush, and the ink. Many scholars from all parts the empire enjoy using these Huzhou specialties, greatly driving the demand up, making it impossible to fully supply the market of the capital.
The craft of making these quality goods is also a very skill-intensive industry, and the Liang family is one such business that has always been the source for these products which they then sell to distributors.
For Liang Congxin however, his family’s business holds no interest for him, so instead he spends his time learning and practicing martial arts, which thankfully, his parents are understanding of.
His way of life persisted until he was some twenty years old. Being still unemployed, Chongxin was very embarrassed, so four years ago, he kept the appearance of traveling the world before joining the army instead. He hopes to make a name for himself before returning home, bringing honor upon his family name.
Due to the talent he showed during his time in the military, he was promoted to the rank of corporal and squad leader. However, due to his freeman status, along with the lack of connections, he was unable to advance any more in rank. Furthermore, since Wufeng was assigned to the squad as their leader despite being a recruit, many of their brothers in arms found this to be highly unfair.
Wufeng only found out this piece of information later in the year after, he became more familiar with the soldiers. Learning of this story, Wufeng was also somewhat pensive, in accordance with Chongxin’s abilities, not to mention a platoon, he’s even capable of leading a battalion or brigade as a lieutenant colonel or brigadier general.
However, facing the Empire’s favoritism for individuals with strong social background, many of talents such as Chongxin were neglected, decreasing the Empire’s strength day by day. Seeing this situation, surrounding nations have also continuously provoked the Empire with border friction, seeking to exploit them in their moment of weakness.
Internally, there are a few talented magistrates on the borders who recognizes the urgency that the Empire currently faces, and secretly have prepared for the possibilities of conflict. Similiarly, the Imperial court isn’t completely incompetent either and have also raised more troops and weapons to combat the worst possibilities.
Within the platoon, Wufeng had also found some talented individuals after learning of their background. One such person was a blond hair teen named Luhman who hail from an upper middle class family from Wuhu Commandery, Huanggang Prefecture.
Although Luhman’s martial abilities weren’t too great and somewhat anti-social, his understanding of logistics is exceptional. His family is a significant landlord with business ties to crops, leatherwork, alcohol, and various other markets. Luhman himself was born as a mixed-blood son of a favored concubine, which allowed study and quickly find his natural talent in business.
However, his successes evoked the envy of his legitimate half siblings of the main wife, causing them to spread vicious rumors behind his back. Eventually, even his father believed them, which greatly angered Luhman, leading to his self-exile into the army.
For such individual tempered under the stress of life, he will no doubt be capable of greatness in battle, which is why Wufeng often admire and encourage him, hoping that one day he will be step into his own and display his potential to the fullest.
Most of Wufeng’s command consist of raw recruits, but they are also young, athletic, and hard-working. The only thing they truly lack is experience which could be found in the battlefield.
The Third Division that Wufeng was assigned to was a mixed division, with the Fourth Brigade, Fifth Battalion that he a part of an infantry Battalion. Because it was a newly reorganized, many veterans from other battalions was transferred to provide the backbone and improve the combat effectiveness of the unit.
For Wufeng’s platoon, he also taught them a relaxation technique of his master’s, allowing the soldiers to recover faster and maintain a healthier body. This technique, along with the year of intensive training, allowed Wufeng’s unit to stand out heads above the rest.
During Wufeng’s journey westward, he studied politics, military strategy, culture, and economics at the world recognized Heidelberg University. After comparing the military doctrines of the east and west it gave him ideas for a revolutionary in military organization system that will be much more effective than the current one. However, he had to perfect it before it is ready to be implemented.
In the blink of an eye, another year had passed, entering the year 689 of the Continental Calendar. During these years, the platoon under Wufeng’s command had placed top in the war games, martial tournament, and team training. Wufeng himself had demonstrated his talent and modesty that greatly differs him from other aristocratic officers, earning the good graces of his superiors of humble origins at the battalion and company level.
As such, when the first company’s Captain was honorably discharged due to a training accident and Wufeng’s Major were transferred to replace him, Wufeng was chosen as the replacement as Company Leader, promoting him to the position of Major as well.
Under his recommendation, Liang Chongxin was promoted to sergeant and chosen to accompany him as his deputy. Replacing Liang Chongxin is Kang Jianguo for his martial prowess, who was also promoted to the rank of corporal.
During these two years, Liang Chongxin couldn’t help but admire and respect his superior. Wufeng’s knowledge, analytical ability, and stratagem, all of which had made Chongxin speechless. As for his recent promotion, when Wufeng had first recommended it, he hadn’t really put in any hopes of it succeeding, but once again he was wrong and the proposal smoothly passed.
Recalling his young superior’s actions over the pass two years, Chongxin could clearly see that despite the youthful face, Wufeng displays an intellect and maturity that is far beyond his age. Even now, despite familiar way that they acted around each other, Chongxin still cannot fathom the depth of the mystery that is Wufeng. Futhurmore, Wufeng had also gifted him with stacks of books with regards to military stratagem for his improvement.
What is Wufeng thinking? What is his goal of joining the army? These are questions remain unanswered, yet Chongxin feels that Wufeng is not a simple man and his desire to help is sincere. Comparing how he had been treated in the army before and after Wufeng’s leadership, Chongxin soon decided that since the path of life is his to choose, he will devote it for Wufeng.
After taking the post as the leader of the Third Company, Wufeng had all the company start on its training exercise, citing the second platoon’s performance as a standard. The overall length of this exercise is three months, with a focus on the improvement of the overall unit’s combat ability.
Liang Chogxin was appointed as the organizer of this excursion as well as handing out the rewards and punishments for those of acts in contempt of the command in accordance with military law.
When Wufeng had announced this at the company meeting, the crowd had an immediately reaction. Kang Jianguo was a regular soldier before his promotion, so many of his peers were jealous with his fortune. However, under Wufeng’s command, he was given the opportunity to advance.
Similarly, Liang Chonxin’s promotion was also because he received recognition as part of Wufeng’s staff. For both these individuals, they would normally have been stuck in their meagers roles if it weren’t for Wufeng’s help. Thus, the regular soldiers felt that this was an great opportunity to gain some attention by showcasing their talents and advance in the ranks.
However, when the company started their exercise, Wufeng did not personally lead and observe, an action that differs from his normal habits. Instead, he delegated the task to Liang Chongxin, emphasizing the importance of supervision and training methods for the best outcome before going into the city.
While Chongxin did not really understand the reasons behind Wufeng’s mysterious actions, nevertheless, he did as he was asked and oversaw the training everyday, bringing the original training methods of the Second Platoon to the entire company.