At one fifty-five, Liu Ji Zi pushed open the office door and walked in.
She was somewhat taken aback. Jiang Ye was not asleep but was sitting at his desk. The holographic projector displayed satellite aerial imagery: a dark mass in a vast expanse of snow, with blurry pixels that vaguely revealed some houses and a base vehicle.
"Secretary Liu, I have a task for you," Jiang Ye said, looking up at her.
"Please instruct me," Liu Ji Zi replied, placing the assault rifle she used to wake him up on the desk.
"I'm temporarily granting you permission to view satellite images. Every day, help me keep an eye on the marked settlements. Zones B and C are on the continent adjacent to ours. Observe the daily changes in these two settlements, any movements, and report anything suspicious to me immediately."
"Understood!" Liu Ji Zi nodded, a hint of surprise on her face.
Jiang Ye put on his camouflage uniform and picked up his assault rifle, then left. Moments later, the sound of assault rifles echoed from downstairs; the Devil's Week training had begun again!
...
Seven days later.
In the conference room, ten officers sat bolt upright like zombies.
Each of them still bore bruises and cuts on their faces, their heads covered in scars, and they exuded an odor akin to a sauerkraut vat.
Secretary Liu, seated in the corner, kept frowning. The smell was truly unbearable, like being in a room with corpses.
The door suddenly opened, and Jiang Ye walked in.
The officers collectively stood up.
"Sit," Jiang Ye said simply, taking a seat at the far end of the conference room.
The officers sat down again, mechanically.
"You can all relax a bit. I am now officially announcing that Devil's Week is over," Jiang Ye said with a smile that looked somewhat like a pervert's.
The officers remained seated like automatons, motionless, like sculptures. Their minds had almost crashed, their physical strength completely depleted, leaving them in a semi-dead state.
"Very well, everyone sleep for an hour first. We'll have the meeting after one hour," Jiang Ye said helplessly.
The officers all slumped their faces onto the table, falling asleep within five seconds, their snores erupting in waves.
Liu Ji Zi came over to pour Jiang Ye some tea. "Will you be waiting here?"
"Yes," Jiang Ye nodded, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes to rest.
While training the trainees, the students were exhausted to death, and Jiang Ye, the instructor, was also very tired. For a week straight, he slept only five hours a day, standing in the cold wind, his muscles aching as if they had been beaten. However, this was nothing to him; he had experienced tougher times before. The first winter was much more difficult than this.
An hour later, Jiang Ye gently tapped the table.
The officers remained motionless, still slumped on the table, like corpses.
"Hey, hey, everyone wake up," Jiang Ye said.
The conference room was dead silent.
"Assemble!" Jiang Ye commanded.
The officers sprang up, standing at attention in fright, their faces bewildered.
"Alright, alright, everyone sit. Secretary Liu, please pour everyone some hot tea," Jiang Ye smiled.
The officers sat down, and this time they showed some expression, appearing much more awake.
"Devil's Week is over. What are your thoughts?" Jiang Ye asked. "Che Zhen, you go first."
"My stomach seems to be ruined. It hurt terribly in the middle of the night," Che Zhen sighed. "I'll have to go to the hospital to get it checked."
The other officers nodded in agreement, their situations seemingly similar.
"I expected as much. How many soldiers have good stomachs? Don't worry. Medicine is advanced now, and there's a hospital in Binhai City. Go for a physical examination and treatment when you have time, and you'll definitely be cured. I'll reimburse the costs," Jiang Ye said.
"When we were running a few days ago, my whole body was numb with cold. I tried counting from one to a hundred in my mind, but every time I reached twenty, I stopped. I couldn't continue, it felt like my brain was evaporating," Che Zhen continued to complain. "It's too tough, Commander. This is not something a human can endure. Are we really going to train the entire army like this?"
"Sit," Jiang Ye nodded with a smile.
Che Zhen sighed and sat down.
"There's a lot to discuss at this meeting. I'll go through it slowly. Everyone relax and have some hot tea," Jiang Ye said with a smile.
Previously, when Jiang Ye smiled, the officers felt relaxed. Now, they felt nothing of the sort. Throughout the entire Devil's Week, Jiang Ye had maintained this perverted smile, appearing as a smiling tiger.
"First, your training subjects were not something I came up with on a whim. As you all know, I am an ancient person, from the 21st century. My cousin served in the special forces. During Chinese New Year, I had a long talk with him, and these training subjects you're undergoing are the basic physical training of ancient special forces."
The officers' eyes widened, their faces filled with horror.
Basic physical training?
What the hell is basic!
This is a physical training designed to kill people!
"Don't worry, times have changed. There's no need to be in peak physical condition. Your training will remain at the basic level, and the difficulty will not increase," Jiang Ye said, his smile fading. "However, you are soldiers, and you must be mentally prepared for the future. If war breaks out, the situations you encounter might be even more brutal than this training."
"Do any of you know about the Second World War on ancient Earth?" Jiang Ye changed the subject.
The officers all shook their heads. Such ancient knowledge was no longer within the scope of textbooks. Many had never even heard of it.
"I was born decades after the Second World War, so I was able to access a lot of wartime materials and old soldiers," Jiang Ye recalled.
"There was a unit collectively known as the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, which also fought in icy and snowy conditions. During the most difficult times, they had no raw meat or fish, and had to rely on digging up tree bark and meager rations. They marched dozens of miles in the snow mountains daily, and some died from exhaustion.
"In my middle school years, I read a document about an Anti-Japanese soldier named Pan Zhao Hui. He was shot through from his left abdomen to his right abdomen by enemy machine gun fire, his intestines spilling out. He bandaged them with a towel and his belt and continued to fight. Less than a month later, he was shot through from his right abdomen to his left abdomen by a machine gun. His comrades said, 'He's been hit again, will he ever recover?' But he recovered miraculously, lived to the 21st century, was interviewed by reporters, and his photos and information were preserved.
The conference room fell silent as the officers listened intently. They had never encountered such history; it was too long ago, and related materials had likely been lost.
"At that time, the Japanese army advanced towards Nanjing, carrying dozens of pounds of equipment, sometimes marching forty to fifty kilometers a day. They advanced through swamps filled with dirty water, and slept in the open during winter. Upon waking, the ground was covered with icicles as sharp as bayonets. Although they plundered wantonly along the way, food and water shortages were common.
"The infantry on the Korean battlefield, in temperatures similar to our current outdoor conditions, ate very little cold fried noodles, charged forward in single layers of clothing, and often made forced marches, yet they were still able to defeat the enemy and achieve victory.
"This was the soldiers of ancient times. Humans were still the decisive factor in war. They would risk their lives for a goal, and the suffering they endured was far more severe than the training you experienced this past week.
"Our training is called Devil's Week, but in actual combat, you'll be walking shoulder-to-shoulder with death and hand-in-hand with the King of Hell. I trained you rigorously not because I'm psychologically disturbed, but because I hope that in future combat, today's training will save your lives. I don't want anyone present to be sacrificed. Live well, win battles, earn military merits, and in your old age, brag to your children, doesn't that sound great?"
After Jiang Ye finished speaking, the officers erupted in applause.
The Commander-in-Chief had never spoken so much at once, and they all felt Jiang Ye's sincerity.
Despite being abused for a week, they now felt a sense of gratitude.
The officers felt their minds were not functioning properly; they were grateful for being abused, did they have masochistic tendencies?
"The good news for you is that this Devil's Week is over. The bad news is that Devil's Week will reappear from time to time in the future. The next Devil's Week should start when summer arrives, and I will still be your beloved instructor. We train in the coldest winter days and the hottest summer days," Jiang Ye maintained his smile. "The training subjects will be more varied, making everyone happier."
A chorus of groans echoed through the conference room. Many officers wanted to smash their heads against the wall, or more accurately, jump out the window.
"Next, you will be leading the squad leader training. I need to emphasize that the training load for squad leaders should be halved, rest time doubled, and the food must be cooked and sufficient," Jiang Ye said.
The officers had complex expressions.
On one hand, they knew that this training model could not be widely popularized, as it would surely lead to deaths. Not everyone had sufficient physical fitness.
On the other hand, they felt a sense of unfairness; why were the squad leaders treated so comfortably!
"After the squad leaders' Devil's Week is completed, when training new recruits, the training load should be halved again, the food should be abundant and nutritious, and there should be time allocated for entertainment every night. Recruits will also have one day of leave," Jiang Ye added.
"In short, the higher the rank, the more arduous the training; the lower the rank, the easier the training. Furthermore, all training must be conducted openly, so that others can see it. Do you understand why? I won't explain; think about it yourselves."
The officers fell silent, lost in thought.
The higher the military rank, the more rigorous the training, in order to maintain prestige within the army.
This prestige was genuine, not simply derived from a high rank.
The more one aspired to promotion, the more one had to undergo rigorous selection, to ensure the legitimacy of the hierarchy and to command respect.
Thinking about it this way, the officers felt that the life-or-death training of the past week was not so bad after all, as they were the highest-ranking officers!
Suddenly, Che Zhen's gaze fell upon Jiang Ye.
The other officers also seemed to have realized something and turned their gazes to Jiang Ye.
"You don't need to look at me. The reason I have a high rank is because I have money, power, and information channels, not because I have more muscles," Jiang Ye shrugged. "As the army expands in the future, if you want to be promoted, it won't be based on physical fitness and perseverance anymore; there will be other assessments."
The officers had complex expressions, exchanging glances. The Commander-in-Chief seemed to be making sense...
"Alright, now for the second item on the agenda," Jiang Ye said, tapping the table.