Drilling in formation, practicing combat skills, and then resting for a day after exhausting their physical strength, these 600 new recruits repeated this cycle of training for a month.

  The new recruits have gone from being beaten with whips at the beginning to now quickly taking their positions, and they are becoming more and more familiar with various weapons. Their physical strength has also increased significantly. Even small and thin Liu Si has developed muscle, and everyone has made great progress compared to a month ago. The bond between them is getting closer, and the brotherly love is gradually deepening in this invisible way.

  Today these six hundred new recruits are lined up in the school grounds as usual, compared to when everyone first arrived here, now they look a bit like soldiers.

  The silent campus looked very solemn, as it was well known that after a month of training, it would be the time for the new recruits to compete, and each team was eager to win, among them, Sun Ma Zi and his teammates were particularly confident.

  At this time, the three hundred households also came to the front of the stage, with the same scene and the same people. The three hundred households looked at the new army of soldiers who were just beginning to show their momentum below the stage, oh no, now they should be considered a qualified group of soldiers. All three felt very satisfied, which was also a way to explain things to Lord Qianhu and Prince Yan.

  Still standing at the front was Wang Zhen, who cleared his throat and said: "This month, you have all been through a lot, I believe each of you has endured countless lashes and your hands are covered in calluses. But you must understand that the hardships you're suffering now are a guarantee for your own safety on the battlefield in the future. Don't blame the drill sergeants for being tough on you, they just want to make you remember that mistakes can't be made on the battlefield, once you make a mistake, your life is gone. Moreover, the winning team of this competition will receive an award from Commander Qian, and we three will also select the most outstanding soldiers to recommend to Commander Qian. Alright, no more talk, now let Liu Baihu explain the specific rules."

  The thousand-year-old face of Liu Shengbai opened the handkerchief in his hand and read aloud: "The new soldier's big comparison is divided into two rounds. The first is a test of strength, whoever lifts the stone lock and knocks down the wooden stake deeply will win; the second is a competition between teams, because it is a mixed battle before each flag, so this not only tests your combat skills but also reflects the closeness of your previous cooperation. Based on the overall score of the two rounds, the first place winner will be the champion of this new soldier's big comparison! The thousand-year-old adult will surely reward heavily! However, with rewards come penalties, and the last two flags in the competition ranking will have to take care of the laundry work for all the soldiers under our command for two months. Do you understand?"

  "Understood!" Everyone was full of energy and enthusiasm, eager to be the champion of this new soldier competition and secure a good future for themselves.

  "Now each of the twelve commanders comes to draw lots to decide the order of the big competition!" Liu Sheng signaled his guards to carry a wooden box to the front of the inspection platform, and then these twelve commanders took turns drawing wooden slips from the box. The twelve wooden slips were respectively engraved with the twelve earthly branches: Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, Hai. Zi was first, and Hai was last. The wooden slip in Chen Hua's hand had the character "You" engraved on it, which meant he was tenth in order.

  Zhang Feng and the others were busy warming up, while the rest of the people showed great seriousness towards the upcoming competition, even the big cow had a tense face, looking very focused.

  But then a faint whispering sound broke the solemn atmosphere of the crowd.

  "Hey, hey, Old Gu, you said that Sun Ma Zi's people are all like giant beasts, their arms are so thick, their legs are so sturdy, and their faces are so square... tsk, tsk..." Little Liu whispered to Old Gu with a sly expression.

  Lao Gu couldn't help but glance at Liu Zi, who was jumping around, and then turned his head to look at Sun Ma Zi's subordinates, nodding involuntarily.

  "This is indeed a bit too much, but their strength must not be small, which would be quite troublesome." Lao Gu furrowed his brow, thinking about whether to mention it to Chen Zongqi.

  "Don't worry, Lao Gu. Those few are just a bit stronger, but our side has the great cow, Wang Ping, who isn't someone to be trifled with. Besides, I've been observing them for the past few days, and to be honest, their combat skills aren't that great. They're all too bulky and stiff, which makes their movements not very agile. Their aura is quite strong, but their actions are unstandardized. Liu Zi should be stronger than any of them." Zhang Feng came over to comfort Lao Gu, who was looking worried.

  Xiao Liuzi scowled: "What's with 'should be stronger than them'? Don't worry, Zhang Ge, when the time comes and it's a free-for-all, I'll take down four or five of them, humph!"

  "Alright, alright, you little brat think you're invincible now, huh......" Zhang Feng was also speechless towards Xiao Liu Zi. Wasn't it just because Chen Hua had praised him a few times earlier that he was already getting arrogant?

  While Zhang Feng and the others were waiting, four teams had already competed in front of them, with overall scores that were just average. Now it was Sun Ma Zi's team's turn.

  Just by looking at the appearance, it already puts a lot of pressure on others. Sun Ma Zi looked at the surrounding onlookers with disdain, thinking that this group of trash will all be defeated under his hands.

  More than 40 sturdy men under Sun Ma Zi had already started lifting the stone locks. The leader, with a waist circumference of ten feet, was Yan Jin You Xu, who was also the strongest among these forty or so people. His name was Ma Cheng, and he was from Beiping. He joined the army in front of Zhang Feng the day before, when Sun Ma Zi was supervising the examination. He immediately pulled him into his own team as a small flag officer.

  Only to see Ma Cheng let out a loud "Hup", Ma Cheng's face turned red, the veins on his arm bulged, and with both hands slowly lifting the stone lock over his head, although it was shaking slightly, he actually lifted it up. It's worth noting that the stone lock had an inscription of 500 catties.

  The onlookers were stunned, and then burst into thunderous applause. In the army, the strong are respected, and someone like Ma Cheng would naturally receive admiration from others. For a time, cheers of "good" rang out continuously, and other sturdy men also received stimulation, one after another picking up the stone locks. Although they didn't have Ma Cheng's 500-jin strength, they were still much stronger than usual, with several even lifting 400 jin.

  Ma Cheng raised the stone lock for a moment, then threw it to the ground, sweat dripping down his bald head, his chest heaving with each breath, clearly 500 catties was not that easy.

  Sun Ma's proudly walked over and patted the back of Ma Cheng (a bit high, Sun Ma couldn't reach his shoulder...) and said to the crowd with pride: "See that? This is our trump card! We're definitely going to be the champions of this new recruit competition. You don't know yet, do you? Chen Hua made a bet with me about the results of the competition, and the loser has to shout 'I'm a dog' three times. But look at Chen Hua's group, are those few good-for-nothings our opponents? Hahaha!"

  The onlookers also burst out laughing, Chen Hua's face turned iron-green with anger upon hearing Sun Mazi's mockery, even the normally calm and composed Old Gu was furious.

  "They're going too far! As fellow disciples, why must they humiliate us like this?" Little Liuzi couldn't help but say.

  "So what do you want to do? Don't say such stupid things, and even if you report it, it won't be useful. On the contrary, it will make Officer Bai look down on you and think you're a waste of time. If you don't want to be scolded, then you have to be strong, you have to stand out. This is the rule in the army, superiors don't need cowards, they only need the strong. We'll crush Sun Ma Zi and his gang, win first place in the new recruit competition, and we'll be the strong ones. Then we can turn around and look down on them, they're just trash!"

  "We will definitely win!" Chen Hua shouted, waving his arms wildly.

  "Cheers!" Everyone raised their right arms in unison. At this moment, Chen Hua's half-banner of men and horses was more united than ever, because no one wanted to be looked down upon by others, no one wanted to be a loser. At this moment, they were inspired by Chen Hua to fight for the top spot in the new army competition...

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