Looking at the soldiers in front of him, Yun Zhe appeared relaxed but was actually quite worried.
Training enthusiasm and tolerance for training difficulties require soldiers to rely on extremely strong beliefs to persevere. If soldiers lack these beliefs and only think about getting paid, eating, and just getting by, they will not be able to train a formidable army.
In contrast, the four or five hundred men Cyrus brought back from the battlefield were highly motivated. They had undergone several battle trials and won a very difficult battle. Furthermore, Yun Zhe's pre-battle mobilization had instilled in them a certain level of awareness; the war was indeed unfair to them. They were outnumbered and economically disadvantaged, and if they wanted to maintain the newly established Aluru nation, they had to become stronger within their limited external resources. Moreover, they had trained with Yun Zhe for some time, gaining some basic skills. They trusted and had high expectations for Yun Zhe's training.
The next day, heavy snow fell, turning the entire camp into a white wonderland. When Yun Zhe stepped out of his tent at dawn, he saw Cyrus, Morrison, and Blazer leading their men in shoveling snow. Meanwhile, the surrounding tents were still filled with the sounds of snoring.
Yun Zhe couldn't help but feel a bit of a headache, thinking that it would definitely take some effort to get these soldiers to exercise in the snow.
At this moment, heads peeked out from several tents. A few sleepy-eyed people stared at the heavy snow outside and the busy figures on the snow, paused for a moment, and then retreated back inside.
The heavy snow gradually stopped, and the snow on the ground was mostly cleared. At this moment, several people came out of the tent; they were some of the ten centurions that Yun Zhe and Gao had selected yesterday.
"Sir, you're up so early?" The middle-aged man at the head of the group, named Cornet, greeted him with a smile while rubbing his hands together.
He was a garrison officer on the border of the capital. When the capital was recruiting soldiers, he and ten brothers were among the first to evade military service and fled into the forest. They survived the initial period by hunting and begging, and then followed the refugees to Yun Zhe.
One of the reasons Yun Zhe chose him was that he managed to survive in the forest despite the harsh conditions, without robbing the people.
The other three were also officers, but interestingly, they were all platoon leaders, each with ten men under their command.
Yun Zhe nodded and smiled slightly at Cornet, "Good morning, Cornet. Training time is almost here. Hurry up and call your roommates to come out together. Don't forget, the officers have special training this morning."
Cornet looked troubled. He could control himself, but he couldn't control the others living with him, especially since they were all on the same level.
"Cornet, it's much better for you to go and call him than for me to do it," Yun Zhe added when he saw that Cornet didn't move.
Kornet suddenly realized what was going on and immediately ran back to the tent, urging them to get up. Yun Zhe didn't know what kind of words Kornet used inside the tent, but when he saw ten centurions standing in front of him, Yun Zhe nodded in satisfaction.
Yun Zhe's plan was simple: in the morning he would train the officers, and in the afternoon the officers would train their soldiers. In the evening, they would conduct the day's tests. Those who failed the tests for three consecutive days, or for a cumulative total of six days, would be eliminated and sent to work as bricklayers on the city wall.
Yun Zhe didn't know how long he could rest. In his letter to Serena, he wrote two months, ideally until after the local traditional festival, Winter Solstice, in January. However, this was just wishful thinking on Yun Zhe's part; he had no idea how long the rest would actually last. Therefore, Yun Zhe only scheduled 21 days for training, and he dared not hope for any results in those 21 days.
As Yun Zhe had predicted, the training results were indeed disappointing. On the first day, even a simple marching drill failed, with two hundred men failing. Ninety percent of them were later recruits who had deserted. By the second day, that figure had risen to one hundred percent, all of them being later recruits who had deserted. Among these deserters were many who were simply giving up, clinging to the mentality of "just getting by day by day," and continuing to struggle in the camp.
Yun Zhe suddenly felt a sense of powerlessness; inspiring these soldiers' fighting spirit seemed like a very difficult problem. After two days of investigation, Yun Zhe learned that some of the defeated soldiers had come with their families, but these people were not many; 60% to 70% of the defeated soldiers had no family burdens. Their families were even still in the capital. But what Yun Zhe couldn't understand was that there were both those who trained hard and those who just loafed around, and there was no real difference between them.
Seven days passed quickly, the temperature grew colder and colder, and it snowed again during that time. Yun Zhe sat on a wooden stump outside the tent, watching the officers train the soldiers, while calculating the number of soldiers to be eliminated.
On the surface, it seems that less than a hundred people have been eliminated in seven days, a very small percentage. However, Yun Zhe knows that among those who haven't been eliminated, two or three hundred are people who failed five times. Their elimination is likely only a matter of time. And these people are all from the defeated soldiers. In comparison, the Aluru people's training is much more rigorous, and so far, not a single person has been eliminated.
Gao emerged from the tent. He had been responsible for compiling the elimination statistics during this period, and he felt guilty about so many people being eliminated, believing that he hadn't chosen the right people. Yun Zhe, on the other hand, didn't care; he preferred fewer but better people.
The messenger rushed into the camp, found Yun Zhe, and handed him a letter.
Yun Zhe opened the letter; it was Serena's reply. Serena wrote that the war was about to end, and Yun Zhe should rest well. He wasn't needed at the front, but she hoped he could contribute more to the supply of military provisions.
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