Chapter 45 - Building an Army (2)

Liu Mang did not expect that a few words from him would take over these 1085 people’s heart.

He had never led a battalion consisting of over one thousand of people before. Leader of a squad consisting five people is called five-man squad leader, leader of a section consisting ten people is called section leader, leader of a platoon consisting fifty people is called platoon leader, leader of a squadron consisting one hundred people is called 100-man commander, leader of a company of a consisting two hundred people is called 200-man commander. And finally, the leader of a battalion consisting one thousand people is called a 1000-man commander, which in this case was Liu Mang while Cheng Yu became his lieutenant and second-in-command.

After sending 85 veterans from his army to be section leaders, he kept Cheng beside him. Since Boss Lu’s intention was to name Cheng Yu as his Lieutenant, therefore no one else was allowed to get this position. Cheng Yu would take command of the whole camp at Liu Mang’s absence.

Liu Mang had already decided on the name of the camp. What is the strongest army in the 21st century? It was the army from urban management. Who were the strongest soldiers? They were the member of urban management.

Therefore Liu Mang had named his army urban management. The force of three thousand soldiers of urban management is powerful enough to dominate the world!

Liu Mang had waited till before everyone was in position before giving the order. Everyone thought that he was going to lead everybody to practice martial arts, but surprisingly, Liu Mang was leading people to bask in the sun.

Martial arts? If Liu Mang was able to conduct martial arts, then pigs would be able to climb trees. It was unwise to reveal his shortcomings as his battle force was so weak. Even Cheng Yu was only a lower second-rate military officer.

The only thing that Liu Mang could do now was to rectify the army. The first step in a military training is to practice the standing pose.

“Han Yang has already led his army standing for the most of the day?!” Lu Bu looked bewildered after listening to the report from the soldiers. What kind of general would make his army stand for such a long time? Not to mention that the sun is hanging high in the sky, can standing improve the battle force of the army? Lu Bu felt a headache. He began to wonder if he had made a mistake by giving Liu Mang an army.

“How about Cheng Yu? Hasn’t he stopped him?!” Lu Bu asked. He was not familiar with the Cheng Yu until he made a name for himself in the battle of Kaiyang. If not to help Liu Mang to build his army, by now Cheng Yu would have joined Gao Shun’s army or Zhang Liao’s Bing Province Wolf Calvary. Lu Bu even had a thought of promoting Cheng Yu to be his private guard.

“No, Lieutenant Cheng is also standing!” The common soldier replied.

“What?!” Although Lu Bu frown his eyebrows, he did not stop them right away, but waved his hands to dismiss the soldier.” Standing? With a pose?”

Exactly, the entire army was standing under the scorching sunshine. Every soldier was getting numb legs and sweat-soaked back. However, not even a single one among the 1805 soldiers made a complaint, because their commander, Liu Mang, was standing in the middle of the yard as well.

“Right, your feet should be closer to each other. And there should be an angel of 60°formed starting from your toes! What? You don’t know what 60° is?!” Liu Mang sighed. In his previous life, the bottom bar to be a soldier was a graduation certificate from high school. But now? He was afraid that the kids in kindergartens would know more than they did.

“When you put two fists between your feet, you will have a 60°!”Liu Mang did not expect that they could be precise, but at least it should be roughly right.

“Yes that’s good! Look at Lieutenant Cheng!” Liu Mang saw Cheng Yu as a real born soldier. He was able to acquire the essence of soldier’s pose after he was taught only one time! His pose was serious but not obdurate.

“Standing straight, hold your stomach, throws out the chest, upper body upright, lean slightly forward, shoulders straight and slightly backward. Relax your arms, fingers close together bend naturally, head looking forward, neck is straight, mouth closed and eyes towards me.”Liu Mang felt like teaching children about correct postures.

“Is everybody exhausted?!” Liu Mang asked with a smile. To tell the truth, Liu Mang was the person who felt tired. Fuck. He never expected that imitating the military training as an instructor would be so exhausting.

“Yes!” The soldier beside Cheng Yu almost spit out the word but got a kick from Cheng Yu in behind. So he immediately changed to say:”General, we are not tired!”

Holy shit, Cheng Yu, is you doing it on purpose? Liu Mang thought after seeing his little trick. How can I order to take a rest if you say you are not tired? Did you intend to make me drop dead?

In fact, Liu Mang misunderstood Cheng Yu. No matter who the general was, the last thing he would want was to hear the cry of exhaustion from his soldiers. They saw soldiers as a tool in war. How were they able to achieve their goals without polishing their tools?

Nonetheless, Liu Mang’s thinking was different. His mind was too modern. Better said, he had never seen how a real army conducted their training. In his simple view, the general should take the training with his men, or how could he win their loyalty?

“I can see that you are all tired!” Liu Mang said while acted shamelessly. His weak constitution could not hold on for any longer.

“Everyone sit down. Section leaders and platoon leaders go fetch water following squadron leaders and company leaders.” Before the training started, Liu Mang had ordered the army cooks to boil some hot water. The water from the river was clear but there had to be some microorganism inside. It was not worth it if the water would cause diarrhea.

When the water was boiled, it would be much safer to drink.

Liu Mang took a big gulp after receiving the boiled water from Cheng Yu. The standing training was too exhausting in such hot weather. Besides, he needed to readjust their poses individually. Even then, they still could not do it in the right way. Liu Mang had to resist his temper, remain patient to teach them over and over again.

Cheng Yu could tell that Liu Mang was exhausted by now, since he was correcting the poses from everyone individually. If it were the general that Cheng Yu served before, he would have already whipped at the faulty soldier. When one whip was not enough, then one more whip would be applied. He would have the soldier beheaded if he still did it wrong for the third time.

After drinking up the water, Liu Mang sensed another problem. What could be the next move? These soldiers were looking at him, which made him feel so uneasy.

“Ehm, Ehm! Can you sing?!” Liu Mang suddenly got a nice idea. During military trainings, when the instructors were having a break, they either told the recruits to do something useless or to sing.

“Sing?!” Cheng Yu was dumbfounded. Was this price making a joke? This was a military training, why start singing? Only scholars would sing when they had a discussion to test each other.

“Exactly, singing!” Watching them, Liu Mang knew that most people could not sing. Who were these soldiers? Before becoming soldiers they were mostly villagers, to be more precise, children of peasants. They did not even know how to write or read, so how could they possibly know how to sing.

“Cheng Yu, what about you?!” From the whole bunch, Cheng Yu was the only one who had some education.

“I can!” Cheng Yu nodded.

“Really?!” Liu Mang was somewhat pleasantly surprised that Cheng Yu could actually sing.

“I only know a song that my mother taught me!” Cheng Yu eyes suddenly became a bit depressed. Liu Mang knew that he just reminded Cheng Yu about a sad event. Oh old Cao, nobody cared if you attack Xuzhou! If you wanted to take revenge on Old man Tao Qian, then do so. Why did you have to massacre the whole city?

Liu Mang patted Cheng Yu’s shoulder to both encourage and comfort him. “Sing, Sing before all your brothers!”

“General, I…!” Cheng Yu wanted to reject, but was immediately stopped by Liu Mang.

“If your mother was still alive, she would want you to have a happy life! Sing in front of all your brothers. Did we not swear to live or die together, share riches and honor together? Your mother is our mothers! Sing!” finishing his sentence, Liu Mang faced towards the soldiers and said “Soldier, let’s make your Lieutenant sing us a song, alright?!”

“Alright!”

“Lieutenant, please sing! We are all from Xuzhou and we brothers will always support you!”

“Do you see!” Liu Mang shouted out in encouragement.

“I…!” Cheng Yu was still a bit hesitant.

Liu Mang angrily pushed Cheng Yu “Cheng Yu, are you a man or a pussy. The brothers asked you to sing because they think highly of you. Don’t insult us when everyone is giving you face!”

“General, I…!” Cheng Yu’s face reddened “I am a man, not a pussy!”

“Good, then you sing! If you don’t sing then you are a pussy”

“If you want me to sing, then I sing!” Cheng Yu fiercely stood up.

“Everybody, give an applause!” Liu Mang took the lead and clapped his hands, while the soldiers followed and created a commotion. When did they have the pleasure to listen to someone singing? Those who could sing were basically nobles and scholars. They were children of peasants who could barely fill their belly, let along sing?

Let’s share the plate for breast! The king’s raised forces to the line. Let’s make our lances shine. Your foe is mine. Are you not battle-drest?

Let’s share the coat and vest! The king’s raised forces to the line. The king’s raised forces to the line. Your job is mine. Are you not battle-drest?

Let’s share the kilt and the rest! The king’s raised forces to the line. Let’s make our armor shine, And march, your hand in mine. Are you not battle-drest?

“Country dispatched their troops to war, we repair the weapons, I and you are facing the common foe.”

….

Patting his hands, Liu Mang tried to encourage Cheng Yu. Even though Cheng Yu was a tall and strong guy, he was feeling serious embarrassed, while singing. But wasn’t singing used to express your feelings? Let out your emotions and enjoy the music.

Cheng Yu included his entire memory of his mother into the song.

This song was created in the Qin dynasty, reflected the solidarity between common soldiers. Resisting together mentally against their powerful foe. The entire song was divided into three verses and used the tone language of common soldiers. It sang about the eve of the last battle, the common soldiers gather together to repair and maintain their weapons. During this period, some soldier started worrying about their uniforms.

His brothers showed their companionship and encourage him: “Let’s share the coat and vest!“

Let’s share the plate for breast!” This song also encouraged the companions to act righteous: “Country dispatched their troops to war, we repair the weapons, I and you are facing the common foe.” From his song, one could not only see the friendship between common soldiers, but also see them in the time of national needs and act willingly and patriotically sacrifice themselves. The sentences in this song are in short, passionate tone, which vividly displayed the scene of common Qin soldiers’ common hatred while joining the army.

Just by seeing Cheng Yu’s mother teaching him this song, one could guest that she was not a regular peasant housewife.

Liu Mang saw the corner of Cheng Yu’s eyes tearing up. It was not easy for men to shear tear. When facing Cao Pi in that desperate situation while prepare to fight to death, Cheng Yu did not cry. Today while singing this song, Cheng Yu started to tear up.

“Cheng Yu come here!” Liu Mang patted this young man. Cheng Yu was still young and only 18 years old. If he was born in the modern era, he would still be a kid who just left high school and war preparing to go to university. It would mean that a good time ahead of him. However in this era of war, could you imagine that this young man had already killed one hundred men?

“Cheng Yu look! There are 1000 brothers in front of you! Your mother is gone, but you have so many brothers. While your mother is gone, if she knew that you are unhappy, if she knew that you live in sadness, tell me do you think she would rest well?!” Liu Mang was also a person while little experience in this world, but right now he had to take care of a young man who was even younger than him.

“General!” Cheng Yu wiped his tears from the corner of his eyes.

“You eyes need to look forward. In front of you is a bright light, in front of you is your destiny so rush bravely forward. At your back are 1000 brothers!” Declared Liu Mang and his face suddenly became cold.

“Lieutenant!”

“Here!” Hearing Liu Mang shouting out a military order, Cheng Yu stood firm. “I have an important task for you! I order you to teach your 1000 brothers-in-arm about the song your mother taught you! Do you understand?!”

“Yes!”

“Then go” Liu Mang said with a smile. While looking Cheng Yu surrounded by the 1000 troops, Liu Mang turned his back on them. Tears could be seeing in the corner of his eyes, because Cheng Yu’s song had reminded him of his mother.