Chapter 6: Marshal Hong
After Li Guoxin and the others left, the soldier at the gate turned around and walked inside. Not long after, he came back out and barked at the dozen or so young men including Li Yan:
"Keep your current formation and follow me. After you enter, you must not move around without permission, must not speak freely, must not whisper to each other, otherwise, you'll be immediately disqualified.
If your behavior angers the general, don't expect to leave without a good beating before being sent home. Understand?"
As he spoke, he swept his gaze coldly across them.
That single glance made all of them, Li Yan included, feel a chill down their spines. None dared to meet his eyes; they all quickly lowered their heads.
Although he was just an ordinary soldier, he clearly had real battlefield experience.
The killing aura he carried naturally was something these inexperienced youngsters couldn't withstand.
When the soldier's gaze brushed over him, Li Yan felt all the hairs on his body stand on end. He couldn't help but think, "What a terrifying look!"
What Li Yan didn't know was that this intense aura came from countless life-and-death experiences on the battlefield, it was the true murderous air of a veteran soldier.
After giving his warning, the soldier nodded slightly, seeing how subdued they were.
Without another word, he turned and walked inside. Li Yan and the others hurriedly followed, even being extra careful about how they placed their feet, afraid to make any noise.
After stepping through the gate, Li Yan finally saw the area inside.
It wasn't so much a courtyard as a massive open square, large enough for galloping horses.
The entrance they had just come through led directly onto the edge of this giant plaza.
Directly opposite the entrance, slightly to the rear of the square, there was a high platform with a table and chairs set upon it. All around the platform were large flags spaced at regular intervals.
The flags fluttered loudly in the wind, making snapping sounds!
On the moving flags, you could faintly make out embroidered characters like "A," "B," and "C," along with images such as fierce tigers and flood dragons.¹
Li Yan recalled what the old scholar in his village had said:
"This must be the military drill ground he always talked about!"
At the moment, besides the brightly armored soldiers, about a hundred or so people were already gathered on the square.
They were divided into three groups.
The group on the right edge had only five or six people, looking rather lonely.
Following the soldier, Li Yan and the others soon walked over to join the end of that sparse group.
The soldier ordered coldly:
"Line up properly right here! Remember what I told you just now, or else you'll regret it."
His voice was low but harsher than before.
Naturally, no one dared to disobey. They stood straight and rigid, terrified of doing something wrong and being thrown out.
With Li Yan and the others joining, their group now had around seventeen or eighteen people, it looked slightly more lively.
The middle group had about forty people. The group on the left was the largest, with seventy to eighty people. Each group had soldiers stationed at the front, supervising them.
Li Yan occasionally heard harsh, low reprimands. Every time that happened, a soldier would rush over and kick someone hard.
Those kicked didn't dare utter a sound, only shrinking their bodies and bearing the pain silently, their faces turning pale.
Around the edges of the square stood neat rows of armed soldiers, their armor shining, their posture proud and straight, their gazes fixed forward.
They encircled the recruits tightly, giving off a predatory feeling like tigers watching prey.
Li Yan felt that if he made even one wrong move, he'd be turned into a human pincushion by the soldiers' spears.
He grew increasingly tense and nervous, forcing himself to calm down. He silently recalled the breathing techniques he had learned for hunting in Great Qing Mountain, slowly regaining a bit of composure.
At the center of the high platform, behind the table, was a huge chair.
Seated there was a burly, towering man.
Even though he was leaning back lazily, he still looked a head taller than ordinary men. His skin had a slight yellowish tint. His bald head, under the sunlight, gleamed with a golden glow.
His face was broad, with short coarse stubble. A long scar stretched from his right temple down to the corner of his mouth.
The coppery muscles around the scar twisted outward, making it look like a colorful centipede crawling across his face.
His waist was thick, his back broad, even sitting still he gave off an oppressive aura that dominated the entire field.
At the moment, his gaze wasn't directed at the recruits but rather toward the left corner of the platform.
There stood a large ox-hide tent, positioned directly across from the line where Li Yan and the others were standing.
Li Yan, while standing cautiously at the end of the line, kept sneaking glances around the drill ground, trying to memorize everything he saw, though he didn't really know why he was doing so.
Since he was standing at the very end, and since their group was at the edge of the field, he couldn't see the platform clearly.
All he could see was the vague shape of a large table and chair and the vague figure of the bald, burly man.
At that moment, the soldier who had brought them in shouted quietly:
"Be careful! The man on the platform is Marshal Hong! Do not gaze around recklessly. Wait your turn to enter the tent when the person ahead of you finishes!"
The soldier paused, a complicated look flashing briefly across his face. He then pointed to the group of forty or so people in the middle:
"After you come out of the tent, line up behind that group. There will be several rounds of assessment afterward. Those who pass all tests will move to the final group over there."
He pointed to the largest group of seventy or eighty people.
The area in front of the middle group was enclosed by tall wooden fences. They couldn't see what was happening inside, only hear occasional sounds, panting, hurried footsteps, soldiers barking commands.
However, from the platform, the whole field would be visible.
The soldier added: "If you fail any part of the assessment, you'll be disqualified. At that point, exit the field through the side gate at the rear. Someone will explain things to you then."
After giving these instructions, the soldier nodded to the guards at the front and strode back toward the gate.
Standing at the end of the line, Li Yan peered ahead again at the tent.
The thick curtain over the entrance blocked his view inside.
He thought: "This tent must be for name registration and record-keeping."
As for the tests, Li Guoxin had already told him about them on the way here: lifting heavy stone locks, running, simple martial arts drills.
Given his years of hunting and running through the mountains, plus his basic fighting skills learned from village hunters, Li Yan felt confident he could manage.
He stood there silently, beginning to strategize how best to allocate his strength.
As a hunter, he knew well that blindly using brute force was foolish, conserving strength was key.
He didn't know how long he had been lost in thought when suddenly a sharp voice barked:
"Hey! You there, the kid standing at the back! Still daydreaming? Want me to invite you to a drink first?!"
Li Yan snapped out of it in shock.
Looking up, he realized he had fallen far behind, others had already moved forward while he, lost in thought, remained frozen in place.
Because he was at the very back and no one was behind him to nudge him along, he hadn't noticed.
Now he stood there alone, awkward and conspicuous.
A soldier nearby glared at him and barked harshly.
The youths in line turned back to look at him. Some showed disdain, others smirked gleefully.
After all, everyone here was a competitor for one of only 150 spots. Seeing a rival make a fool of himself was satisfying.
They felt an invisible sense of superiority.
Li Yan quickly smiled apologetically at the soldier and hurried forward to rejoin the line.
The soldier gave him a hard look, then, seeing his honest and simple demeanor, just snorted lightly and said no more.
Some of the others felt a twinge of disappointment, it would have been better if he'd been kicked out.
Li Yan soon reached the end of the moving line. Now the tent was much closer, almost within reach.
He thought: "This must definitely be for registration. Strange though, this place is huge, why not set up a dozen tables and register people faster?"
Then, belatedly, he remembered something.
"Marshal Hong… That bald giant on the platform, is he Marshal Hong?"
He had heard Marshal Hong's name countless times since childhood, an invincible general who had defeated Meng Kingdom again and again.
To Li Yan, Marshal Hong was almost a legendary figure, a god of war.
Sneaking another glance at the platform, now much closer, he could clearly see the imposing bald giant.
Li Yan thought: "So that's what Marshal Hong looks like! No wonder he can strike fear into the hearts of enemy soldiers, he looks so mighty!"
For someone like Li Yan, once he formed an impression of someone, it was deeply ingrained, either strong admiration or deep dislike.
Normally, a face like Marshal Hong's, fierce and battle-scarred, would be seen as frightening. But in Li Yan's eyes, it only made him seem all the more heroic and awe-inspiring.
Watching a little longer, Li Yan noticed something else.
Every time the tent's curtain lifted, Marshal Hong's sharp gaze flicked toward it.
Every time someone entered or exited, his brows twitched slightly, as if weighing something carefully.
By contrast, when it came to the ongoing tests in the fenced-in middle area, Marshal Hong paid little attention.
(Chapter End)
¹ ABC= Jia, Yi, Bing but simplified it for readibility's sake.