Chapter 63: Military Sports

Xi Yazhou’s cadre training class targeted the militia team. The militia could not only be used as an armed force, but after sufficient education and training, they could also become a reserve for grassroots cadres. In modern rural China, grassroots cadres basically come from demobilized soldiers, a practice that has proven effective.

Currently, the tasks at the saltworks village were becoming increasingly heavy. Seeing the large iron ship delivering grain and cloth, and another group of people with firearms arriving, the salt workers felt more at ease, and those who had fled and scattered outside gradually returned. The common people needed relief, supplies had to be distributed, production had to be organized and expanded, and they also had to guard against people trying to fish in troubled waters. All of this urgently required a large number of grassroots workers.

Xi Yazhou positioned this study institute not just as a literacy class or a militia training camp, but as a basic cadre training class.

In his vision, the current scale of the militia team was not enough. The entire saltworks village currently had more than two hundred able-bodied men. It was entirely possible to arm the entire population, preparing sufficient cadre resources for the future development of the transmigrators. To balance daily labor and militia training, Xi Yazhou decided to adopt a time-tested militia system, namely, a small number of core militia and ordinary militia. The former would be elite and undertake some standing tasks, while the latter would serve as a supplementary force during mobilization.

However, he knew that it was not feasible to start training with the military’s methods from the beginning. The salt workers’ thinking was very simple, but precisely because of its simplicity, they would be skeptical of things they did not understand. The basic elements of a modern army, such as drill, commands, and discipline, were foreign to them. Rushing to implement them might not yield good results. In addition, they were almost one hundred percent illiterate. It was not a major problem for soldiers to be illiterate in this time and space, but as future grassroots cadres, illiteracy was not suitable.

Xi Yazhou’s entry point began with the martial arts that the young men were all interested in. However, he was not very proficient in this. Fortunately, there were all kinds of people among the transmigrators, with a wide variety of skills. The first person Xi Yazhou thought of was Bei Wei. He was a scout by training, and grappling and combat were no problem for him. Then there was Li Jun, who had been a member of the armed police and had served in a riot control mobile team, so his riot control skills were bound to be excellent. So these two were urgently seconded to the Ma’niao base.

Bei Wei’s combat skills, once displayed, stunned all the salt workers. Without any fancy moves, he subdued people with a few clean and neat actions. Tan Chengqing knew that if he were hit by those moves in a real fight, he would be either dead or internally injured. He had never seen such martial arts before.

As for Li Jun’s moves, they were completely different. His attacks were fierce, but the moves were not fatal, only seeking to capture and subdue the enemy. He also showed a special skill: when more than a dozen young men with sticks surrounded him, he used only a short wooden stick and a rattan shield, and with a few charges, he scattered everyone and knocked down several people.

These two completely different fighting styles aroused great interest among the salt workers. Many immediately wanted to become Bei Wei’s disciples. Bei Wei and Li Jun thus became the head and deputy instructors of the saltworks village militia. So every evening, dozens of young men could be seen sparring, their shouts filling the air.

As the combat skills education deepened, Xi Yazhou discussed with them the gradual introduction of drill and combat skills training. To enhance their understanding, one day Xi Yazhou proposed a mock battle between the work team and the militia, with both sides using only cold weapons for simulated combat, no firearms. Tan Chengqing proposed that since no one was a match for the two instructors, Bei Wei and Li Jun could not participate. Xi Yazhou readily agreed, and so the two sides agreed on a twenty-on-twenty match.

To ensure safety, the Bopu carpentry factory delivered new products: full-body protective rattan bayonet training gear. The transmigrators’ side used standard bayonet training rifles. The militia either removed the spearheads from their long spears and wrapped the tips, or, as most disliked using such long weapons, feeling they were unwieldy, they used rattan shields and wooden sticks instead.

The rules were simple. The battle would take place in a 100m x 100m area. Each side had a flag bearer. The winner would be the one who captured the other’s flag or forced two-thirds of the opposing personnel out of the field.

The transmigrators did not form any special formation. Twenty people were too few, so they simply formed a formation of two rows, ten people in each. The militia had no formation and was just a chaotic crowd.

As soon as the signal was given, led by Tan Chengqing, the militiamen swarmed forward, heading straight for the front of the work team. They had received some combat skills training these days, and some even found weapons troublesome, going into battle empty-handed, ready for a martial arts performance.

The militia’s charge was shattered against the unmoving human wall. At the command, the first row of transmigrators took half a step back. When the militia rushed in front of them, a neat, coordinated thrust sent the militiamen at the very front, who had been pushed forward, stumbling and falling in chaos. The impact of the crowd also knocked down several transmigrators, but their gaps were quickly filled by the people in the back row, and those who fell quickly got up and took their positions in the back row.

Seeing that the frontal assault was not gaining any advantage and was instead causing chaos, Tan Chengqing led a few people to charge from the side. The transmigrators in the back row immediately split to the sides, defending the left and right flanks, and another thrust blocked the attempted flanking maneuver. Xi Yazhou saw that the militia had no formation to speak of, not even at the level of a street brawl. The people in the back pushed the people in the front, and everyone wildly swung their weapons, not only failing to hit the transmigrators but constantly hitting their own people.

Seeing the militia running around like headless flies, the work team, which had only wavered slightly at the initial charge, was now continuously thrusting with their bayonets, looking quite unstoppable.

“The formation is so dense, a single brick could smash several heads,” Bei Wei said.

“If the salt workers had that kind of ability, this formation would have been broken long ago.” Xi Yazhou studied the whole scene. The transmigrators’ formation had remained stable, and their bayonet thrusts were quite proficient—after all, they had practiced for several months. In contrast, the militia had neither formation nor discipline. In the chaos, apart from leading a few people around him in a flanking maneuver by example, all of Tan Chengqing’s commands were drowned out in the confusion. The result was that from beginning to end, he fought alone on the front line, and apart from taking countless thrusts and rifle butt strikes to his protective gear, he achieved nothing.

In less than five minutes, the situation was completely reversed. The militia team, which had been full of confidence just moments before, was routed. The work team used their bayonets to clear a path and captured the flag in one go.

Although this victory was no surprise to Bei Wei and Xi Yazhou, seeing this team, composed mainly of otaku who had only undergone physical and drill training for half a year before the transmigration, achieve such results, the leaders of the military group had full confidence in the future combat effectiveness of their army.

Of course, the transmigrators’ physical advantage was also a major factor in the victory. The participating team members were all over 170cm tall, with an average weight of 60kg. Against the militia, whose average height was less than 160cm and weight was less than 50kg, the advantage was very obvious. Moreover, this group of otaku had undergone long-term physical training before the transmigration, and since D-Day, they had been engaged in manual labor, which had greatly improved their strength and endurance.

This exercise enhanced the militia’s appreciation for discipline and drill. Xi Yazhou also smoothly arranged for drill training to be implemented. No one questioned the meaning of looking forward, looking back, turning left, turning right, and marching in step—facts were more effective than any grand principles.

Of course, there were many troubles in drill training. The biggest problem was distinguishing left from right. Just teaching them which hand was left and which was right took a lot of effort from Bei Wei and Li Jun. They used countless intuitive teaching methods, such as wearing a straw sandal on the left foot and going barefoot on the right, and a lot of time was spent every day just correcting this.

The army’s drill training can shape the unique temperament of a soldier and establish a powerful military image. The reason why new recruit training starts with drill is that it is the necessary path for an ordinary person to transform into a qualified soldier. Strict drill training can cultivate a good military posture and shape a soldier’s temperament. The high intensity and high standards of drill training, and the strict requirements of drill life, can cultivate a soldier’s spirit of fearing no hardship and sacrifice, forming a powerful, firm, heroic, and tenacious military temperament. It improves a soldier’s sense of obedience and strengthens their sense of organization and discipline. The enemies the transmigrators would face in the future all had powerful cavalry. To use infantry to restrain cavalry in face-to-face combat, the army they trained themselves must have the strongest fighting will, a high degree of organization, and discipline.

How to train and organize the future regular army had to be explored and sought from this militia team of only sixty men.

Seeing that the drill training was also implemented, Xi Yazhou started a football team. Everyone started practicing in the evening. The sixty-man militia team was divided into six groups for a round-robin tournament. A cycle was completed every three days, and the winner would receive a reward. Through the competition, he gradually introduced the various rules and regulations of football from the other time and space, teaching them various techniques and tactics of the sport, thereby cultivating the team members’ sense of teamwork and discipline.

For the farmers who lacked entertainment, this new sport was very attractive and quickly became popular in the village, especially among the children. In a few days, children could be seen everywhere chasing after inflated pig bladders. The competitive and confrontational nature of ball sports is extremely attractive.

When they discovered that to win in the competition, they had to enhance their physical fitness, without much prompting, the militia team actively began to emulate the work team members and started daily long-distance running exercises.

However, Xi Yazhou found the footballs made from various substitutes not very good to use, so he introduced rugby to the militia team. Compared to football, rugby was more confrontational, with players often in direct physical collision, making the game intense and exciting. Moreover, rugby has a fast pace, and time management must be very accurate. Xi Yazhou also intended to use the game to introduce them to the concept of precise time.

The young men of the militia team immediately fell in love with this sport. The result was that Xi Yazhou had to once again ask the Bopu carpentry factory to manufacture special rugby protective gear. The rugby tournament every weekend afternoon became a regular event in the saltworks village. The militia team took the initiative to level the land outside the village, compact the ground, and even built a stand with wood. The young men soon discovered that many young women and wives came to watch the games, casting flirtatious glances. This stimulation from the opposite sex greatly increased their hormone secretion, making the competition even more intense and heroic. Before long, a young man named Lin Fu became the idol of the young men and women of the saltworks village. He had scored touchdowns single-handedly multiple times in eleven games. The concept of a sports star thus effortlessly slipped into this time and space through the back door.

Xi Yazhou’s creation of sports was initially just to train the army. He himself never expected that the future rugby league would be known throughout the world by the name “Saltworks Cup.”