21 Military Region (1/2)
The military region that Mo Wen was heading towards belonged to 19th Army Corps of the Jing Hua Military Region. There were about 15,000 students training for combat, but not all of them would serve in the same corps. Some would be relocated to different areas of the Jing Hua Military Region.
The 19th Corps was stationed on the rocky terrain of the Tai Xing Mountain Range. It took Mo Wen seven to eight hours of bumpy mountainous driving on a windy road through the mountains to reach it. Finally, the road led to a canyon containing a large basin, and he could see modern military bases visible on the horizon.
The vehicle slowly came to a halt at the front of a huge parade ground. All the students, nearly two thousand of them, descended one after another and gathered together. The majority of the students were male. Males and female students were separated and under the command of superior officers who were dressed in distinctive uniforms.
The students were sorted into four battalions: one female and three male. The battalions gathered in an orderly fashion and the students stood neatly on the parade ground. The formations were still a bit messy, but they seemed to be getting into better shape.
A few uniformed officers came towards the fourth battalion, where Mo Wen was. One of the officers stood in front with an upright posture and fine disposition. He had two stripes and two stars on his epaulets which signaled that he was a Lieutenant Colonel. To the students he announced, ”From now until the end of the month, I will be your chief instructor. I am Zhou Zhen, but you may call me Battalion Leader Zhou.”
Five young officers stood behind him in their soldier uniforms marked with one stripe and two stars; the honors of First Lieutenant. Zhou Zhen continued speaking, ”Now, you will split into five companies which will be separately led by five instructors. From now on, you are a soldier. Do you understand?”
The crowd remained silent.
The chief instructor frowned and bellowed, ”Do you understand?” while shooting daggers at the new students standing still in a daze.
”We understand!” shouted the students, but their voices remained relatively incoherent.
”Louder,” the chief instructor ordered.
”We understand.” This time, the voices were in unison and rung throughout. The chief instructor nodded with approval and said, ”There will be no training today so that you may familiarize yourself with the environment of the military area. All of you will wake up at five o'clock tomorrow morning.” After the speech, the chief instructor turned around and left.
Immediately afterwards, the five instructors separated people into five companies with about one hundred in each one. During training, people were separated into companies led by instructors for individualized training. Mo Wen was sorted into the third company, which was led by a male instructor named Zhang Lizheng. He was tall and stern-looking, but young. In fact, he did not seem much older than them. However, Zhang Lizheng had a sharp gaze that made others feel uneasy when he looked upon then.
Soldiers appointed to train students of Hua Xia University were usually among the most elite members of the military. Although Zhang Lizheng was young, he was already a First Lieutenant. This kind of leadership would assure that the students would have a great and promising future ahead.
Zhang Lizheng separated his one hundred people into ten squads containing ten people each. A squad leader would be selected to manage their squad. Zhang Lizheng didn't bother about the selection of the squad leaders. After separating his people into the ten squads, he simply told them to choose their own squad leaders and promptly left.
For a moment, there were waves of competition for the squad leader positions sweeping through the parade ground. However, what student of Hua Xia University was not outstanding? Subsequently, the competition for the squad leaders' positions became extremely intense. Mo Wen was not fond of the limelight or managing positions, so he didn't compete for the squad leader position.