After Being Reborn, I became a firefighter again?

Fang Huai also started studying military strategies only after his rebirth.

This move is called "burning one’s boats", but it can also be referred to as "advancing by retreating".

Queuing actions are probably Squad Nine’s biggest weakness; since it’s like this, we might as well let everyone see it.

Since it’s already so bad, if we do well it’s an inspirational story; if not, by then everyone will have gotten used to it and it won’t seem too jarringly ugly.

And it so happens that this Friday, there will be a squad leader queuing demonstration in the middle of the playground, with Hao Chengbin leading, right in the central area.

We have to put a little pressure on everyone; with the same commander, the outcomes are worlds apart. Squad Nine’s new recruits will have a standard to look up to and also feel a sense of shame.

Only with shame can one become braver, right?

With me here to help everyone avoid pitfalls, life has been too smooth recently; it’s time to add some intensity to everyone’s life.

...

In the afternoon, Squad Seven, Squad Nine – the highest-scoring squad in the whole corps – was brought to the center of the playground for training.

Everyone thought they were going to show off their queuing skills, but it turned out to be more like a comedy sketch performance.

In queuing, it’s not just about one person being strong; even if everyone is strong, if there is just one oddball, it’s a test of everyone’s mental state. If someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder is watching from the side, it could drive them insane.

Fang Huai, training with Liu Yue on the side, soon began to ask for help and more and more people started helping with that long bamboo pole.

Since he couldn’t really get the hang of it by himself, if he continued this way, his next task might be correcting his own marching twist.

Liu Yue was caught in the middle by everyone, with the squad leader shouting "one-two-one" on the side to prevent his steps from getting mixed up.

Soon, other squads also started to practice similarly; after two drill sessions, there were many more long bamboo poles on the training ground.

Yue Tao was also not good at queuing, so he practiced with Peng Yingqirui on the side, laughing as they watched. He pointed around the entire playground and said jokingly.

"Hey, little guy, if we put all these twisty marchers in one group, wouldn’t that sort everything out?"

Peng Yingqirui was stunned by the question and then looked around carefully, thoughtfully stroking his chin.

"Hmm... I don’t think that would work. There are different schools of twisty marching and their proficiency varies."

"What do you think is Liu Yue’s level of proficiency in our squad?"

"You see, someone who can march with a pole is at most at 30 percent proficiency. Liu Yue needs four people around him to straighten out, at least 80 percent.

From my observation, the most impressive is the squad leaning by the basketball stand; even with six people around, they still twist. The squad leader’s commands are no good; they just march... Look, look, their squad leader has started to curse at them."

"Damn, look, someone got kicked."

"Damn, the Chief of Staff is here!"

"It’s not just the Chief of Staff, right? Looks like the Regimental Commander is here too!"

...

Squad Nine quickly lined up under Hao Chengbin’s command and began training by squad units.

The Regimental Commander was here, and training separately in a chaotic mess wouldn’t look good if observed by the commander.

Old Pan was tough, too; seeing the Regimental Commander had arrived, he immediately brought Squad Eight right next to Nine.

Squad Eight’s queuing was indeed much better than Nine; without comparison, Eight’s excellence would not stand out!

Soon, the Regiment Department blew the whistle.

"Don’t move, don’t move! Maintain the standing posture!" Hao Chengbin reminded.

A Chief of Staff ran over to the Regimental Commander to report.

"Comrade Regimental Commander, the new recruit group is undergoing queuing training. Please give your instructions!"

"Continue training!"

The Commander’s voice sounded very authoritative at this moment.

"Yes!"

The Chief of Staff turned around and shouted loudly, "All squads! Continue training!"

Within two minutes of the Regimental Commander’s arrival, at least a dozen texts were sent from the playground.

Cadres from all squads quickly received the news and jogged from the New Training Building to the training ground.

The Regimental Commander walked around and observed, with an increasingly large entourage following behind. It seemed like the Regimental Commander and the Chief of Staff were discussing something.

As a crowd of people approached Squad Nine’s area, Hao Chengbin got somewhat nervous. He kept repeating the queuing actions on the spot, not daring to start marching.

The marching was just too ugly!

Meanwhile, Pan Zhaohui of Squad Eight was marching smartly with crisp steps.

The Regimental Commander stood quietly and watched for a while before nodding his head.

"Hmm... Is this Squad Seven, Squad Nine?"

"No, Commander, this is Squad Eight, Nine is the one next to it," the accompanying Chief of Staff chimed in.

"Oh..." The Commander nodded again and then looked toward Squad Nine.

The Chief of Staff continued, "This is the squad currently in first place in our regiment for points. I’ve checked their Internal Affairs a few times, pretty good. Oh, and Commander, you visited them last week!"

"Yes, I remember! There was a young fellow, very articulate!"

"Exactly, exactly, the one in second place, the one who wrote the song!" said the Chief of Staff, pointing towards Hao Chengbin.

"This squad leader, he is a model soldier for our whole corps, a queuing expert, Hao Chengbin! He also performed very well in last year’s post exercises, even receiving personal praise from Detachment Captain Zhang!"

"Hmm... A strong general will not have weak soldiers under his command," remarked the Regimental Commander.

Hao Chengbin stopped his queuing orders and turned around to salute: "Hello, Commander!"

The Regimental Commander returned the salute: "Continue training! I’m just here to take a look at everyone’s morale and demeanor. Don’t let me interrupt your training!"

With that, the Commander fell silent again, simply observing from the side.

Hao Chengbin had no choice but to start from the beginning: adjusting uniforms, counting off, announcing the drill, standing at attention, standing at ease, resting at ease, and the halt transitional movement.

The movements were fairly standard, and the sound of their feet coming together during the halt transitional movement was quite synchronized.

But the Regimental Commander hadn’t left yet.

He started to nod and comment on the actions with the Chief of Staff.

Seeing this, they had no choice but to keep going with the marching exercise.

Hao Chengbin called out loudly, "Next item! Marching at ease, quick march, and halt!"

He then ran to the command position next to him, vacating the space and bracing himself, he shouted, "March... at ease!"

Now there was no hiding it; once they started moving, Liu Yue inside nearly went stiff with his hands and feet, not only clapping his own side but repeatedly hitting the person next to him.

Within a few steps, everything was in disarray.

Everyone had to walk at their own pace, and when they stood still, the whole line had become a fan-shape.

Even the Chief of Staff felt a bit embarrassed and coughed lightly.

Hao Chengbin also felt embarrassed, fearing exactly what had happened! This round was by far the worst they had done today!

The young officers next to him were also struggling to control their facial expressions: some wanted to laugh, some wanted to cry.

Wang Jian and Liang Longhui were the ones who felt like crying.

Even if Liang Longhui was dissatisfied with Squad Nine, it was still Squad Nine of the Seventh Company.

The praise given to Squad Nine by the Chief of Staff on the way over was now as much of a slap in their faces as the current situation.

The Regiment Commander, however, did not speak and crossed his arms in front of him, looking thoughtfully at the bamboo poles on the ground next to him.

Hao Chengbin stepped forward to straighten the line, and on the way back, they attempted a quick march once more.

Everyone was even more nervous, the quick march becoming faster and faster; Fang Huai didn’t dare to slow the steps, fearing it would cause more chaos.

When Hao Chengbin called for the halt, the entire line lurched forward, and with an abrupt stopping motion, it finally managed to stabilize.

Hao Chengbin realigned the line once again, preparing to proceed with the squat and stand, completing the taught subjects, and reckoning his face couldn’t be more lost at this point.

But the Regiment Commander spoke up, "Wait a moment."

He put down his hands and walked straight up to Liu Yue, who clearly had a problem, looked him in the eyes and smiled, saying.

"What’s your name?"

Liu Yue felt his legs go weak; he was already the most timid and least noticeable person in the squad. The attention and continuous drills throughout the day had made him very nervous, and now that the Regiment Commander was speaking to him face to face, he stammered, unable to speak.

"Regiment Commander... my name is, I am called..."

"Don’t be afraid, be a bit bolder," said the Regiment Commander gently, but it was not enough to relieve the tension.

Honestly, after such embarrassment in front of the Regiment Commander today, Liu Yue didn’t know if he would drag the whole squad into punishment.

Behind him, Liang Longhui really wanted to give a reminder or two, but he couldn’t manage to call out Liu Yue’s name, so he just shouted toward Liu Yue, "Speak up!"

"Reporting to the Regiment Commander... my name is Liu Yue."

But the Regiment Commander was not satisfied, "If you have a twist, embrace it, what is there to fear? Louder! Show some military spirit!"

Finally, Liu Yue looked up, "Reporting to the Regiment Commander! My name is Liu Yue!"

"That’s more like it!" the Regiment Commander laughed heartily, patted Liu Yue on the shoulder, then turned to the others with his hands behind his back, continuing.

"Back when... I was studying in Langfang, drill practice nearly drove me mad! I too had the inside-arm swing, the same-side hand!

Moreover, I was the most severe case, running in formation and still doing the same-side! The person next to me was punched daily, grinding his teeth whenever he saw me! But our District team Commander, far from looking down on me, let me lead the running and call out the commands!

Hey, it’s really weird, once I relaxed, it only took a couple of days before I got rid of the same-side hand!"

"Hahaha..." The atmosphere around lightened up a lot all of a sudden.

Liu Yue too had a look of astonishment.

The Regiment Commander also had the same-side hand?

"Come on, young man, call your own commands, just fling your arms and walk, just like you normally do, give it a try!"

As soon as the Regiment Commander spoke, Hao Chengbin immediately cleared a path for Liu Yue.

Liu Yue had no choice but to follow the Regiment Commander’s orders.

"One, two, one..."

He walked like a toddler learning to walk, very cautious with each step.

He stopped after a while.

Everyone could see it was not a good walk, still the same side.

But the Regiment Commander nodded, "Not bad! Do it again! Just walk straight over here, I will help you with the command!"

Liu Yue was clearly bolder this time.

The Regiment Commander then shouted "One Two One" next to him, his voice starting very soft, following Liu Yue’s steps, and gradually increasing.

The regimental staff quickly took out their camera from the bag and started taking pictures.

...

After seven or eight attempts, a miracle really happened.

Gradually, the Regiment Commander’s voice started to lead Liu Yue’s footsteps, and even his hand movements did not mess up, they were just not very standard yet.

The people around began to clap.

Finally, the Regiment Commander stopped, turned to Hao Chengbin, and said, "Train him a few more times; his problem isn’t physiological, you need to work more on building his self-confidence."

"Yes!" Hao Chengbin stood up straight, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

The Regiment Commander’s method of instruction truly gave cause for reflection.

Fang Huai stood by, clapping his lips together, but his thoughts went deeper.

This is the art of leadership! In just a few minutes, the problem was solved, the embarrassment of everyone was lifted, and the material for this month’s regimental report was probably secured!

Many birds with one stone!

Indeed, the Regiment Commander walked over to Liu Yue, patted him on the shoulder with encouragement, and the regimental staff completed the last picture.

[Task Completion.]

Today’s mission was accomplished with the help of the Regiment Commander.

Fang Huai was reflecting on this.

"Fang Huai, come over here!" Suddenly, the Chief of Staff called him over.