novelSusiti Chapter 102 Willing to Die for the Prince!
Chapter 102 Willing to Die for the Prince!
Chapter 101 Willing to Die for the Prince!
Xia Chengzong added a monthly military skills competition to the army.
The winner of the individual combat competition in the entire army will be rewarded with a serving of braised pork and five taels of silver every day for the next month.
The top ten will each receive a reward, decreasing in number from top to bottom.
There are also competitions with teams of 100 people each, and the top three teams of 100 people each receive an extra meal.
Furthermore, you can skip washing your clothes next month.
Of course, there are rewards and punishments.
The last ten soldiers will have to do extra training every day for a 10-mile run next month.
The three teams with the fewest players in the bottom three have to do the laundry for the teams with the fewest players in the top three.
Such martial arts competitions would have been commonplace in the military in later generations.
But this is the first time it has appeared in this era.
Well, military training is now done perfunctorily, with only a few days of training per month, let alone introducing a competitive mechanism.
The army is full of young men, full of vigor and ambition, at the age when they are eager to compete and win. Who would be willing to be second to anyone else?
Therefore, ever since the rules for the monthly military skills competition were issued.
The thousand new recruits were all like they were on steroids, training like crazy.
This applies not only to soldiers, but also to officers.
Soldiers may refuse to admit defeat, but do officers necessarily give up?
Especially in competitions involving teams of a hundred people, the winners get to eat meat and have their clothes washed.
The losers can only watch others eat meat and do other people's laundry.
We all have two shoulders and one head to carry, who can swallow this insult?
Soon, the end-of-month assessment day arrived.
The entire army attached great importance to the first assessment.
Xia Chengzong was also present at the scene.
A thousand soldiers stood in formation.
They were all tall and straight, standing like pine trees.
The soldiers could not hide the excitement on their faces.
The first all-army skills competition!
As long as you can win first place, you will get a lot of exposure and leave a deep impression on the prince!
Those soldiers who usually performed exceptionally well in training were all eager to try their skills.
Of course, those soldiers who usually rank at the bottom in training also put in their best effort to avoid falling into the bottom ten.
We will strive not to embarrass the entire 100-man team.
If we really lose, that would be too embarrassing!
In this martial arts competition, Xia Chengzong, as a prince, not only attended the event in person but also participated in it.
This is a prince!
The prospect of participating in the competition alongside the prince filled the more than one thousand new recruits with immense excitement and anticipation.
This competition consists of three events.
These are a ten-mile run, lifting stone weights, and archery.
At first, Shi Kaishan and other officers were considering whether to give way to the prince and save face for him.
If the prince were to come in last place, he would not look good.
But soon, they changed their minds.
From the very beginning, the prince was in first place and far ahead, widening the gap between himself and those behind him.
If the prince comes in last place, he will not look good.
But if the prince comes in first place, none of them will look good!
He's a prince, living a life of luxury and privilege, and he never trains.
If someone just comes and runs around and gets first place, doesn't that make us soldiers who train so hard every day seem like complete wastes?
Next, all the soldiers in the army chased after them frantically.
Unfortunately, the prince was far ahead, leaving everyone else in the dust.
In the end, he crossed the finish line first, leading by almost half a distance.
When they crossed the finish line, covered in sweat and panting.
To their surprise, the prince barely sweated at all.
The second competition was a stone weight lifting contest, and Xia Chengzong, as a prince, was the first to appear.
All the soldiers stared intently at this direction.
They all wanted to see just how many kilograms of stone weight the prince could lift.
They could accept that they couldn't outrun the prince in the first round, but they absolutely couldn't afford to lose to him in the second round, or what would become of their reputation?
However, they were soon horrified to discover that the prince had actually lifted a stone lock weighing 350 jin!
Three hundred and fifty pounds!
This number instilled a deep sense of powerlessness in everyone.
They train together regularly and have a general understanding of each other's abilities.
The strongest man in their army, Dazhuang, could only lift a 300-pound stone weight.
And the results of the subsequent competition were exactly as predicted.
Only Dazhuang could lift the 300-jin stone lock. He tried several times with the 350-jin stone lock, but failed each time.
The final competition was archery.
Fifty paces away, ten arrows, the score is determined by the number of arrows that hit the target and whether they hit the bullseye.
As a prince, Xia Chengzong was also the first to appear.
He hit the bullseye with all ten of his arrows, and each one of them hit the bullseye.
This scene made all the soldiers gasp in shock.
So, the prince has such skills!
If Your Highness were to join the army, you would surely become a fierce general!
After the first two matches, they were still holding their breath and were somewhat unconvinced.
But after the third match, no one had any more complaints; all that remained was admiration.
Shi Kaishan shouted loudly, "Your Highness is a master archer!"
The other soldiers joined in the shouting.
"Your Highness is a master archer!"
"Your Highness is a master archer!"
"Your Highness is a master archer!"
Xia Chengzong said with a smile, "Alright, let the duel continue!"
"Yes, Your Highness!"
After the competition, the army began to tally the final results.
After a while, the results were tallied.
Xia Chengzong asked, "Who is number one?"
Shi Kaishan replied, "Naturally, it's Your Highness!"
Xia Chengzong laughed and said, "I'm not among them; I'm talking about soldiers."
"Your Highness, the first place belongs to Wang Erxiao."
Wang Erxiao?
Xia Chengzong still remembered this person's name.
Because when soldiers were being selected, Wang Erxiao was the one who came first.
He even temporarily commanded the new recruits, but only for a short day.
Unexpectedly, he won first place among the new recruits in this all-army competition.
Xia Chengzong suddenly got excited and said to Shi Kaishan, "Call him here."
"Yes, Your Highness!"
Before long, Wang Xiaoer was summoned.
Standing in front of Xia Chengzong, Wang Xiaoer stood ramrod straight, his whole body stiff and tense.
Xia Chengzong patted him on the shoulder and said, "Wang Xiaoer? I still remember you. I remember when we were recruiting soldiers, you came in first!"
"This five taels of silver is yours. Work hard, and you might have a bright future!"
"Thank you! Thank you for the reward, Your Highness!"
Wang Xiaoer took the silver from Xia Chengzong and grinned foolishly.
Enraged, Shi Kaishan kicked him down.
In the evening, the entire army received an extra meal.
Large pots were set up in the military camp, and meat was stewed on the spot.
A rich aroma filled the military camp.
Xia Chengzong enjoyed himself with the soldiers in the army.
He ate large chunks of meat and drank large bowls of wine with the soldiers.
He could call out the names of the soldiers around him at will.
This made all the soldiers extremely grateful.
This is a prince, after all!
What an honor it is to remember the names of these worthless people!
This was the first time Xia Chengzong had drunk alcohol since he transmigrated to this world.
He drank quite a bit today, but luckily his alcohol tolerance was surprisingly good, and he didn't get drunk.
However, at the end of the drinking session, he heard some bad news from Shi Kaishan.
The military budget is insufficient.
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