Chapter 106: Military Athletics

Xi Yazhou's cadre training focused on the militia. A militia could serve as an armed force and, after thorough education, become a reserve pool for grassroots cadres—modern China's rural grassroots cadres had basically come from the ranks of military veterans. This approach had proven effective. Currently, salt-village tasks were growing heavier. The salt workers, seeing the big iron ship delivering grain and cloth plus armed newcomers, felt more secure. Scattered refugees gradually returned. People needed relief; supplies needed distribution; production needed expanding—and all of it required guarding against troublemakers. Large numbers of grassroots workers were urgently needed.

Xi Yazhou positioned this training institute not just as a literacy class or militia camp, but as basic cadre training. In his vision, the current militia scale was insufficient. The salt village had over two hundred able-bodied men—fully capable of universal militia service—preparing sufficient cadre resources for the transmigrators' future expansion. Balancing daily labor and militia training, Xi Yazhou decided to adopt a proven system: a small core militia plus an ordinary militia. The former would be an elite force handling standing duties; the latter would supplement during mobilization.

But he knew that starting directly with military methods would not work. The salt workers' thinking was simple—and precisely because of that simplicity, they would be skeptical of unfamiliar things. Formation, commands, discipline—the basic elements of modern armies—were foreign to them. Hasty implementation might not yield good results. Plus, they were nearly one hundred percent illiterate. Illiterate soldiers were not a major problem in this era, but as future grassroots cadres, illiteracy was unsuitable.

Xi Yazhou's entry point was the combat skills that young men found interesting. Though he himself was not an expert, the transmigrators included all types, and their skills were diverse. Xi Yazhou first thought of Bei Wei—reconnaissance-soldier background, proficient in capture and combat. Then there was Li Jun—a former armed police riot squad member, definitely skilled in riot-control techniques. Both were urgently requisitioned to the Ma'ao base.

Bei Wei's combat skills, once demonstrated, stunned the salt workers. No flashy moves—just clean, efficient takedowns. Tan Chengqing knew those strikes would cause internal injuries in real combat, if not death. He had never seen such martial skills. Li Jun's style was completely different—ferocious attacks, but non-lethal techniques focused on restraint. He showed a special trick: over a dozen young men attacked him with sticks, and he used only a short rod and a wicker shield, charging through them, scattering everyone, knocking down several.

These two contrasting fighting styles greatly interested the salt workers. Many immediately wanted Bei Wei as their teacher. Bei Wei and Li Jun thus became the salt-village militia's lead and deputy instructors, and every evening, dozens of able-bodied young men could be seen sparring in pairs, their shouts filling the air.

As combat training deepened, Xi Yazhou proposed gradually introducing formation combat skills. To strengthen their understanding, one day he suggested a mock battle between the work team and the militia—no firearms, only cold-weapon simulation. Tan Chengqing objected that no one could match the two instructors, so Bei Wei and Li Jun were excluded. Xi Yazhou readily agreed. They set the terms: twenty versus twenty.

For safety, Bopu's wood factory shipped new products: full-body wicker-armored sparring gear. The transmigrators had standard training rifles. The militia either removed their spear tips and wrapped the ends, or—most preferring shorter weapons—used wicker shields and wooden sticks. The rules were simple: in a hundred-meter-by-hundred-meter area, each side had one flag-bearer. Victory came by capturing the enemy's flag or forcing two-thirds of opponents out-of-bounds.

The transmigrators did not adopt special formations—twenty people were too few. They used a simple two-row formation, ten per row. The militia had no formation at all—just a chaotic cluster.

At the signal, Tan Chengqing led the militia in a mass charge straight at the work team's front. Having received combat training in recent days, some found their weapons cumbersome and went unarmed, ready for a martial-arts display. Their charge shattered against an immovable human wall. The front-row transmigrators, following commands, stepped back half a pace. When the militia closed in, a unified thrust sent the front-runners stumbling and colliding, many falling chaotically. Some transmigrators were knocked down too, but gaps were quickly filled by second-row replacements. Fallen men scrambled up to take second-row positions.

Tan Chengqing, seeing that the frontal assault was ineffective, led several men to flank. Second-row transmigrators immediately split to defend both wings. Another thrust blocked the flanking attempt. Xi Yazhou watched with a critical eye: the militia had no formation whatsoever—not even street-brawl level. Rear men pushed front men; everyone wildly swung weapons—hitting not transmigrators but their own. The militia scrambled like headless flies while the work team, initially wavering slightly from the first charge, now steadily thrust in coordinated volleys, looking irresistible.

"Such a dense formation—one brick could crack several skulls," Bei Wei remarked.

"If the salt workers had that skill, they'd have broken the formation already." Xi Yazhou studied the scene. The transmigrators maintained a stable formation; their thrusting was practiced—several months' training. Comparatively, the militia lacked formation and discipline. Tan Chengqing, amid the chaos, could only lead by example for one flanking attempt. His orders were drowned in confusion. From start to finish, he had been fighting alone at the front—collecting countless thrusts and rifle-butt blows to his armor, gaining nothing.

Within five minutes, the situation had completely reversed. The previously confident militia were routed. The work team, thrusting their way forward, quickly captured the flag.

Though this victory was unsurprising to Bei Wei and Xi Yazhou, seeing this mostly-otaku team—having only trained physical fitness and formation for half a year before crossing—achieve such results gave the Military Group leaders full confidence in future army effectiveness. Of course, the transmigrators' physical advantages were also major factors. Participants were all over 170 centimeters, averaging 60 kilograms—fighting militia who averaged under 160 centimeters and under 50 kilograms. The advantages were obvious. Plus, these otaku had trained physically for months before crossing and had done hard labor since D-Day—their strength and endurance had greatly improved.

This exercise enhanced the militia's respect for discipline and formation. Xi Yazhou's formation training was smoothly implemented. No one questioned the purpose of "eyes front," "about face," "left turn," "right turn," or "forward march"—facts proved more persuasive than theories.

Formation training encountered many difficulties, of course. The biggest problem was confusing left and right. Just teaching which hand was left and which was right exhausted Bei Wei and Li Jun. Intuitive methods like "left foot wears sandal, right foot barefoot" were tried countless times, and daily correction consumed massive amounts of time.

Military formation training shapes soldiers' distinctive bearing—establishing an imposing military image. Recruit training starts with formations because this is the necessary path from civilian to qualified soldier. Strict formation training develops good military posture and bearing. High-intensity, high-standard formation life cultivates fearlessness and self-sacrifice, forging the qualities of an imposing, steadfast, brave, tenacious military man. It raises obedience awareness and strengthens organizational discipline.

The transmigrators' future enemies all possessed powerful cavalry. To defeat cavalry with infantry in face-to-face battle, the armies they personally cultivated must possess the strongest combat will and the highest organization and discipline. How to train and organize future regular armies was something they would explore and experiment with using this sixty-man militia.

Xi Yazhou, seeing formation training implemented, also started a football team. Every evening, everyone practiced. The sixty-man militia was split into six groups for round-robin matches. Every three days completed one cycle, and winners received prizes. Through matches, he gradually introduced football rules from the other timespace, teaching various tactics to cultivate teamwork and discipline.

For entertainment-starved villagers, this novel sport proved very attractive—it quickly became a village craze. Children especially took to it; within days, kids everywhere were chasing inflated pig bladders. Ball sports' competitive and confrontational nature was compelling, and when the young men realized that winning required physical training, they voluntarily imitated the work-team members' daily long-distance runs without much prompting.

However, Xi Yazhou found makeshift footballs unsatisfactory. So he introduced rugby to the militia. Compared to football, rugby had more intense contact—players were frequently in direct bodily collisions—and the matches were thrilling. Rugby's fast pace and precise timing requirements were also intended to instill precise time concepts through competition. The militia young men immediately loved this sport, with the result that Xi Yazhou had to request Bopu wood factory to produce special rugby protective gear.

Weekly Saturday-afternoon rugby matches became the salt village's regular event. The militia cleared land outside the village, leveled and compacted the ground, and even built wooden bleachers—for the young men had quickly discovered that many young women came to watch the matches, making eyes at them. This female attention greatly increased their testosterone secretion; matches became ever more intense and heroic. Before long, a young man named Lin Fu became the salt village's male and female idol—in eleven matches, he had repeatedly scored solo tries. The concept of the "sports star" thus effortlessly slipped into this timespace through the back door.

Xi Yazhou's sports had initially aimed only at military training. He never imagined that the future Rugby League would become world-famous as the "Salt-Field Cup."

(End of Chapter)