Chapter 440: Devil Platoon Leader
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
On March 1st, another significant event occurred on the international stage.
Across the vast ocean, the membership of LBY in the Human Rights Council was suspended.
Essentially, this meant that Colonel Kardashev, for now, had his qualifications as a person revoked…
However, this matter had no connection whatsoever to Wang Ye at the moment.
The domestic evacuation of citizens couldn’t possibly involve these battle-hardened veterans from the southern region.
Moreover, Wang Ye had no mood to think about Colonel Kardashev’s affairs right now.
Standing below the Criminal Investigation Company building, Wang Ye, at this moment, seemed completely indifferent to the worn-out clothes, pants, and even the calloused hands and feet of the soldiers in front of him.
“Do you think I, Wang Ye, am a fool for trying to reason with you? Are you satisfied with what I’m doing now?”
Each reconnaissance soldier had sweat dripping down their faces, looking haggard and fatigued.
But no one dared to speak.
At this moment, they didn’t even have the energy to curse in their hearts.
Too exhausted.
Wandering around the camp, it took nearly three hours.
Very tired, very painful.
However, Wang Ye had no sympathy for them whatsoever.
Continuing with a stern expression, Wang Ye spoke up, “Your hands and feet may be hurting from the abrasions, right? But that’s better than losing your life on the battlefield.”
Pausing for a moment, Wang Ye continued to reprimand them, “You’re not invincible, so what’s there to be so arrogant about? With your mindset before entering the battlefield, you still consider yourselves reconnaissance soldiers? If you go to the battlefield with your previous mentality, you might as well be running home ahead of others to deliver your own heads!”
“Report!” In the midst of the soldiers in front of him, a lance corporal suddenly looked at Wang Ye with anger in his eyes and shouted out a report.
Wang Ye stared at him and asked, “You don’t agree with what I just said, do you?”
“Yes!” The reconnaissance soldier affirmed through gritted teeth.
Then, he continued to look at Wang Ye with determination and said in a deep voice, “Sir, you can deny our performance under your command because we did have failures, but you can’t say that we’re completely worthless. In our years of military service, our years of sweat and toil, I don’t believe that just because we hit the battlefield, we become the useless pawns you make us out to be.”
“Heh,” Wang Ye laughed, but it was a chilling laughter.
Staring at him, Wang Ye questioned, “Is there a difference? Even if you can attribute our previous failures to my leadership, what about this year? And don’t tell me that one minor mistake negates your years of hard work. Do you think the enemies on the battlefield will care about these things?”
Wang Ye’s voice grew louder, and he sharply scanned all of them, saying, “1 see that some of you are truly beyond help! Reconnaissance soldiers? Years of hard work? Do you focus only on your muscles and not your brains?”
Wang Ye’s scolding was so loud that someone in an office on the second floor was now twitching at the corner of their mouth.
He was scolding the soldiers of the second platoon, but he was their platoon leader!
The entire platoon had been trained under his leadership.
Scolding the soldiers below, the sound was now reaching him. Was there any difference between scolding them and scolding himself?
But he had nothing to say. He even wanted to go down there and personally kick the reconnaissance soldier who had spoken.
Were their minds muddled? Could a reconnaissance soldier say such things?
Downstairs, Wang Ye didn’t care at all whether the people in the dormitory building could hear his scolding.
It didn’t matter.
Looking at the group of reconnaissance soldiers in front of him, he continued to shout loudly, “You still claim to be reconnaissance soldiers? Don’t you know what we’re here for? Don’t you understand the mission we shoulder?”
Pointing his finger at them, Wang Ye was practically spitting in their faces as he said, “We are the frontline on the battlefield. We are the eyes on the battlefield. Our mission is to gather enemy intelligence.
And whether the gathering of intelligence is meticulous or not, and whether the mission is successful or not, will directly impact the outcome of a war.
This is our task and our mission.”
Pausing for a moment, Wang Ye continued his tirade, “Yes, you may think that your previous mistakes were just minor ones. But you need to understand that on the battlefield, one small mistake can cost you your life and the failure of a mission can affect the outcome of an entire war.
Effort? Does effort matter?
If a mission fails, it fails. Do you think the battlefield will give you a second chance because you put in effort and hand you a bottle of regret medicine to start over?
Do you not understand the fleeting nature of opportunities on the battlefield?
Do you keep saying you’re not completely worthless?
Can’t deny your effort?
What kind of effort did you put in?
Is this the result of your effort?”
At that moment, the lance corporal who had spoken earlier turned red in the face.
But they had been silenced by his words, and the others were in the same boat.
Wang Ye paused for a moment.
Honestly, Wang Ye was truly infuriated right now.
These guys, he felt like their mindset was all wrong.
Perhaps they had enjoyed peace for too long, mistaking a soldier’s training for their mission and forgetting that the purpose of training was for war.
Looking at them, Wang Ye spoke again, “Honestly, you’ve disappointed me. I initially thought you were the elite of our Iron Bones Hero Regiment. I even thought that maybe you had a bit of arrogance and looked down on new recruits before, and that’s why things went south under my command due to poor leadership. But now, upon closer inspection, I realize that you guys have a real problem, a significant problem, deep within your core.”
Wang Ye’s voice grew louder again, so loud that they all lowered their heads in silence.
But Wang Ye paid no mind and continued his scolding, “As reconnaissance soldiers, you haven’t even figured out why you’re wearing this uniform and standing here as soldiers. Look at your ranks—one or two are on par with my years of service, and for the rest, in terms of service years, I should be addressing you as platoon sergeants.
But what about you?
Your understanding of a soldier is even worse than mine, a so-called new recruit in your eyes.”
At this point, Wang Ye’s tone became somewhat desolate, and he turned away from them, waving his hand, “Forget it, go back. Get your wounds treated at the medical room, and after dinner, rewrite your reflections on how you view the role of reconnaissance soldiers for me tonight.
1 hope this time you take it seriously and don’t let me be thoroughly disappointed.”
“OldFu!”
Upstairs, just a few seconds after the second platoon had been dismissed, the door to the platoon leader’s office was pushed open by the platoon’s instructor.
“Did you hear?”
The platoon leader sighed with a bitter smile.
The instructor nodded solemnly, “What Wang Ye said makes sense. In fact, he’s not just talking about the second platoon; our entire company, even our whole reiment, seems to have this issue!”
“More than just our regiment!” the platoon leader shook his head and sighed.
“They’re right. We’ve had too much peace, and war has been too distant for everyone. Even though people often say that soldiers are born for war, the overall environment now has disconnected us from actual combat. Even the training exercises often feel like we’re just following a script.”
The instructor, with a serious expression, continued, “We may not have control over other units, but we can’t afford to slack off ourselves. Now that we’ve identified the problem, we need to find a solution as soon as possible!”
Fu Wei nodded as he looked at the instructor, “I understand, but our purpose is to defend our homeland in peace. We can’t just decide to break the peace for the sake of improving combat readiness and maintaining a combat mindset, can we? Besides, is this something you and I can decide?”
Fu Wei’s words made the instructor sigh and smile helplessly.
Indeed, the purpose of our country’s soldiers is to maintain peace. It’s not possible to deliberately disrupt that peace just because we’ve had peace for too long.
At this moment, Fu Wei thought for a moment and then spoke, “So, let’s not interfere with the second platoon for now. Let’s watch how Wang Ye trains them. At the same time, we can also follow up on some of his training methods. For example, what he said today and the reflections he asked the second platoon to write. Although these things don’t directly prepare us for combat, they will definitely have some utility. Constantly reminding everyone of their mission and original intentions, incorporating them into our daily training, will definitely enhance our combat readiness!”
“Alright, I’ll take care of the ideological aspect!” the instructor immediately nodded.
“Hiss, Class Leader, be gentle!”
Inside Class Six’s room, after everyone had gone upstairs, they took off their clothes, cleaned their wounds, and then began to help each other apply iodine and bandages.
For these simple abrasions, although Wang Ye suggested they go to the medical room, they couldn’t actually go. If they did, they would definitely be teased by the sanitary personnel, especially since one of them was known to have a background as a traditional veterinarian.
So they had to take care of it themselves in their dormitory.
Currently, the soldiers from the three classes of the second platoon were each busy in their respective dormitories.
There wasn’t much conversation, and no one was complaining about anything.
Even though Wang Ye was in Class Four, not the fifth or sixth, everyone in the fifth and Class Six was also very quiet.
Wang Ye’s words had stung them just now.
They wanted to complain now, they wanted to vent, but when it came to speaking, they realized they didn’t even know how to start.
Inside Class Four’s dormitory, just as Wang Ye had finished storing his luggage and was about to make his bed.
“Report!”
Suddenly, a voice came from the doorway behind him.
Wang Ye turned to look.
It was the Class Leader from Class Five who called, but it seemed like there was someone else behind him.
“What’s the matter!”
Wang Ye stood up straight and walked over.
The next moment, Wang Ye saw that indeed there were two soldiers following the Class Leader from Class Five.
“Class Leader, these two were with Class Leader Tian at the farm earlier. The instructor told them to return first.”
“Class Leader, hello!”
The two soldiers looked at Wang Ye and saluted with serious faces.
Wang Ye looked at them; both were non-commissioned officers, one was a lance corporal and the other was a corporal.
“Which squads are you from?”
Wang Ye wasn’t aware of this situation, thinking that his platoon had only twenty-four soldiers, and now there were two more.
“Report, I’m from Class Five!”
“Report, I’m from Class Four!”
“Alright, those from Class Four can come in, and the one from Class Five, you take them back!” Wang Ye directed his last words to the Class Leader from Class Five.
“Yes, sir!”
The Class Leader from Class Five saluted and then led the corporal from his squad away.
The lance corporal from Class Four who remained looked a bit cautious as he walked into the dormitory.
“Class Leader!”
He greeted the Class Leader of Class Four who was coming towards him.
The Class Leader of Class Four gave Wang Ye a quick nod and then turned to the lance corporal who had just arrived.
At this point, Wang Ye addressed him again, “Go put down your backpack, and then have your Class Leader tell you what happened today and what you need to do later.”
“Yes, sir!” The lance corporal replied crisply.
Although they had just returned, they both felt that something was amiss when they entered the camp gate earlier.
The guards at the gate gave them sympathetic looks, and even the soldier on duty downstairs did the same.
Later, when they arrived at Class Five’s door first before heading to Class Four’s, they saw soldiers applying ointment with their bare arms.
This made them nervous. They had just taken up their positions today, right?
But now, looking around, they saw that there wasn’t a single soldier in the entire company who wasn’t injured. Class Five was like this, and now their own squad was the same.
“Alright, continue with the bandaging, but I want to get to know each of you, so let’s introduce ourselves one by one now!”
Wang Ye took out a piece of paper and a pen.
He didn’t know most of the soldiers in the platoon yet, and since he had some time now, he wanted to start with this basic task..