“Pull, thrust! Pull, thrust! Hold your hand higher, stand up straight, maintain your stance!”
“Right turn! Now march! And stay in line!”
Under the drilling, the recruits shouted each time as they got used to military discipline.
Recruits here and there began exhibiting their full might, giving off the impression of incredible power.
On the platform, Zhong Yu strolled around the officers barking orders at them, nodding now and then at their military skills.
These officers led teams of 50 soldiers or 100 and were now gathered around him to report today’s drill.
As well as some important decisions deferred to Zhong Yu for handling.
After the reports and handling trifle matters, his impression of the recruits plummet.
He asked a hundred man officer:
“Going by your words, how many days will it take for these recruits to be taken into battle? I don’t need them to fight, just carry the standard, look after prisoners and execute drills in transit.”
The prideful officer’s face froze and his voice shrank.
The rest lost their jealousy on their fellow officer and felt glad instead, they weren’t the one grilled. ‘That’s what you get for being smug and rushing off.’
Why were they like this? Because the recruits were being drilled for only a week.
For them to be up to march in discipline and conduct drills in war times, they needed at least one more week of training.
‘With their training halfway done, why is His Grace asking me such a question?’
‘Not answering will make me look useless. While answering and the recruits slipping up on the battlefield will ruin me.’
The officer’s heart was torn, palling the more he saw Zhong Yu’s impatience. So he replied:
“Your Grace, I will be honest. The recruits have been training for only seven days and are not too familiar with military discipline and tactics. To take them in battle, they need a week more at the minimum to show some use.”
He couldn’t lie to him and thought. ‘At most, I’ll be demoted with this.’
While lying and the men failing on the field of battle would get him dead and his family in slavery.
Zhong Yu smiled a genial smile. He knew full well how shoddy these recruits were. ‘I was only testing the officers’ loyalty.’
‘Knowing they won’t ever try duping me is enough.’ He did not care if his men were useless, overly ambitious and sinister as long as he could use them as he wanted, as long as they gave their lives for him.
Being strict and unrelenting would put pressure on them they usually endured.
But when they lied to the lord for their own benefit and harmed the lord’s interests instead, it was something any leader feared.
The instant their leader found them out, he’d crush this foul practice at the bud with impunity.
In some cases, even resort to killing them as a warning to others.
Since this officer was so kind to be honest, Zhong Yu was mighty pleased by his loyalty and even held a little bit of trust for them.
Finding out they were earnest in their drilling after a few more questions, his suspicions were rested.
The easier the drill, the easier it was to neglect it. But this man worked earnestly in making sure such mistakes didn’t happen.
He was most suited in a defensive position, protecting a city’s safety. His meticulous nature would make sure to eliminate the slightest danger and stamp out a budding mutiny.
From the answer, he found the man had the answers in advance.
It was rare for people to be so careful, needing much more time to come up with an answer.
His display touched Zhong Yu and got him thinking. ‘I can leave the safety of my domain in his hands.’
But it was just a thought, needing to see the man in action first.
After more questions, he found the man had a general among his ancestors, even if only a leader of a thousand men.
But it also meant he was initiated in military ways with his ancestry, with every generation expounding on the military knowledge as they joined the army. Though all were mere 100-man or 50-man officers.
This inheritance made the family have an officer at any given time. Just like how this man’s father was a 50-man officer taking his kid into the army camp and showing him the ropes, forging him into the next officer in the family.
Thus, when Zhong Yu made him a 100-man officer, the man was good at it. He saw the men the officer was in charge of showing quicker responses than other groups. For this reason Zhong Yu questioned him.
Zhong Yu sighed thinking how ancient families and clans had an advantage of legacy over commoners merely by knowing simple knowledge about leading. This treatment was only available to wastrels, and second generations.
