Chapter 33: The Hero's Notice (Part 1)

  "I want to issue a heroic poster in my name, let all the officers and men of the entire Guards Regiment see it, and let them volunteer to join the Special Forces Company." Dong Li Mao looked at Kong Xue Li for a moment, seeing him leaning back in his chair with his eyes narrowed, listening intently. He took a puff of smoke and continued: "The content of the heroic poster has three requirements: first, having been a soldier for more than a year; second, having killed on the battlefield; third, having enlisted voluntarily, rather than being forced to join as a conscript." After finishing speaking, he waited for Kong Xue Li's reaction.

  After remaining silent for about half a minute, Kong Xueri pressed the half-smoked cigarette on the table and stood up with a loud laugh, which was his signature laughter, always laughing a few times before speaking.

  "What a heroic post!" Kong Xueri walked up to Dong Li Mao's side, gave him a hearty slap on the shoulder that left it numb, and then burst out laughing: "Alright! Let's do it your way, Commander Dong! But let me be upfront with you, getting these soldiers to volunteer won't be easy. I'll give you three days, if no one signs up within three days, I'll have to personally assign people to you."

  "If within three days, the number of recruits does not reach the standard of a full battalion, I, Dong Jiacheng, would rather be a soldier than be the commander of this lousy special operations company!" Dong Limao stood up, his height of 1.78 meters making him seem tall among others, but standing next to Kong Xueri, he still appeared half a head shorter.

  "Great! I just like men like you!" Kong Xueri raised his hand to pat Dong Limao again, but Dong Limao had already learned the lesson of his palm's ferocity and couldn't let him succeed again. He hastily retreated a step back, imitated others' standing at attention posture, and gave Kong Xueri a military salute as well. In this way, he dodged being patted once more.

  "Commander Kong, I have another request," said Dong Li Mao.

  "You said, as long as I can accomplish it with my own abilities, you will agree to it."

  "Also, I want the eleven brothers who came with me to be incorporated into the special operations company, and please ask the regimental commander to agree to promote each of them one rank. Zhu Yongsheng will serve as deputy company commander."

  "Haha... no problem! I can fully agree to your request, and the team leader can also give you another power, all class leaders will be appointed by you!" Kong Xueri readily agreed.

  Dong Li Mao and his brothers were at the well in a secluded courtyard, stripped naked to take a bath with the well water. He roughly told everyone about the situation of discussing Confucianism with Kong Xue.

  "They're both surnamed Kong, but why are they so different? One is a short pumpkin, the other is a tall and majestic horse, and their treatment of people is also different. If I had met the current Captain Kong back then, I would have been even more ruthless in killing the devils." Just as Zhang Dali finished speaking, Hu San poured a bucket of water that had just been drawn from the well all over him. Although the weather was somewhat humid and hot, the cold well water still made Zhang Dali's body break out in goosebumps, and he jumped up and down, shouting out in surprise.

  "With our great reputation, once this heroic poster is posted, I'm afraid more than one camp of people will come to sign up." Hu San said, and then threw the bucket back into the well.

  "This time we don't have to use the Hansong-made rifle that's as useless as a fire poker against the devils!" Wang Jiagui, stripped of his clothes, thin and wiry, rubbed his sides with both hands.

  "This time, we are all regular troops, brothers don't have to hang their heads in shame for being irregular troops anymore. The military pay will also be more than before, and it's still directly managed by the Ministry of War. This is the king of kings!" Zhu Yongsheng said with a smile.

  Everyone was chattering away, and the gloomy mood from earlier had already dissipated.

  Dong Li Mao was the only one who was unhappy, not because he was worried about forming a special task force, but because Li Yuanyuan didn't tell him the real reason she came here. He thought Li Yuanyuan was intentionally guarding against him, and since they had both done that thing, she still guarded against him with one hand, which made Dong Li Mao feel like he was being used, and his heart really wasn't comfortable.

  But something even more annoying happened on the second day.

  The heroic notice was posted, and many people came to see it, but none of them volunteered to sign up.

  Dong Li Mao and Zhu Yong Sheng sat in the house from morning till night, but not a single person came to register voluntarily.

  The second day was no exception.

  "Hey, don't worry, there's still tomorrow, right?" Zhu Yongsheng saw Dong Li Mao getting anxious to the point of foaming at the mouth, so he comforted him: "Maybe they all agreed to come together tomorrow."

  Dong Li Mao didn't say a word, chain-smoking one cigarette after another, tossing and turning at night, unable to sleep, with his mind in a mess.

  On the third day, Dong Li Mao didn't hold much hope either. He planned that when the three-day deadline was up, he would go find Kong Xueri to fulfill his promise and return this lieutenant's uniform that he had only worn for two days. Just as he was yawning continuously, a low-ranking soldier hesitantly walked in.

  "Go on..." Zhu Yongsheng nudged Dong Li Mao with his elbow.

  Dong Li Mao pulled himself together and saw the inferior soldier walking in. He was stout, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, and his lower face was covered by a beard, which made Dong Li Mao think of Zhang Fei from the Three Kingdoms. He straightened up and asked:

  "Are you here to sign up for the special forces?"

  The inferior soldier immediately stood at attention, raised his head and replied loudly: "Yes! Sir!"

  "Come over and sit down," said Zhu Yongsheng, pointing to the chair in front of the desk.

  "Yes! Sir!" The inferior soldier walked over with big strides and sat down, placing his hands on his thighs, keeping his upper body straight.

  "What's your name?" Zhu Yongsheng asked.

  "Roger." The inferior soldier replied.

  "What's up? Barking dogs..." Zhu Yongsheng smiled at Dong Limao.

  "It's not 'dog barking', it's Gou Hao, not the dog day's dog, but the Gou family's Gou, the heroic Gou!" The inferior soldier explained with a red face.

  "How many years have you been a soldier?" Dong Li Mao almost laughed when he heard the name, he knew there was a surname Guo, but it sounded like "dog bark" with the same pronunciation, so he coughed lightly and asked.

  "Less than three months, sir!" the inferior soldier replied.

  Dong Li Mao slumped back in his chair: "Didn't you see the first condition written on the heroic poster?"

  "I saw it, so I felt unqualified and didn't dare come here for the past two days..." Gu Hao replied in a low voice with his head lowered.

  "Have you ever killed anyone?" Dong Li Mao asked again.

  "Killed!" Gou Hao immediately raised his head, his eyes shining with light: "This one fully meets the requirements, I became a soldier precisely because I killed someone."

  "Is it because of killing people? Is there such a thing as being a soldier like that?" Dong Li Mao looked at Zhu Yong Sheng.

  Zhu Yongsheng nodded and then asked Gou Hao: "You were conscripted into the army, weren't you?"

  "Right! I killed a merchant who was cheating, originally sentenced to death, but somehow ended up being sent to the army."

  "So you're saying you didn't enlist voluntarily, but were forced to?" Dong Li Mao was even more disappointed. He had finally gotten someone to sign up, only to find out he was a murderer.

  "Yes, no." Gu Hao replied.

  "Let's talk about it." Zhu Yongsheng was somewhat interested.

  "The people I killed were those who did business with the Japanese, I hate those little devils, they...they ruined my sister...so I..." Gou Hao's eyes turned red, his eye sockets filled with tears, as if he was forcing himself not to let the tears flow out.

  "What's your specialty?" Dong Li Mao began to move his heart.

  "What's special about it? It's a long gun." Gu Hao asked, stunned.

  "For example, can your gun hit the target?" Dong Li Mao reminded him.

  "I'm not clear either, I've never fired a gun, they didn't give me a gun, just let me cook and make fire." Gou Hao replied somewhat embarrassed: "However, I know martial arts."

  "Know martial arts!" Dong Li Mao was shocked and stood up from his chair: "You know martial arts?"

  Seeing Dong Li Mao so excited, Gou Hao thought he had said the wrong thing and stuttered: "I... followed an old monk from my hometown for over a decade..."

  "Old Zhu! Take this soldier!" Dong Li Mao was like he had been injected with a stimulant, sat back in his chair, and before Gou Hao could finish speaking, let Zhu Yong Sheng write down his name on the flower register. Then asked Gou Hao again:

  "Why did you think of Special Forces?"

  Collect! Collect! The hero will not let you down!