Huang Xiong also participated in the expedition as the squad leader of the third company, and he had never seen such a luxurious march. The troops marched along the coast, while the Navy's "Fubo" moved slowly a short distance, maintaining the same pace, and whenever it was time to camp and rest, the supply ships would quickly dock and unload the wheeled cooking carts from the wide gangplank.

The cooking carts were elaborately constructed, made of thin iron plates, with stoves and chimneys, which were originally drawn by horses, but were now temporarily transported by boat without horses. The firewood collected by the soldiers was quickly lit and baskets of food were brought down from the ship.

The cooking cart set up a cauldron and began to boil water. The water was pumped from a special water carrier, an act that Huang Xiong felt as outrageously extravagant - he knew that the Australians had to "dispose of" everything, including the water they drank - they did not drink raw water, they did not drink water from rivers or wells, and they forbade his men to do so.

For Ma Qianzhuo, who organized logistics, he didn't think there was anything wrong with such behavior: the traverser didn't have enough bleaching powder to provide clean water in the wild. Moreover, it is quite difficult to supply fresh water along the way along the coast - the western part of Lingao is a water-scarce area. It is safe and convenient to transport by boat, saving soldiers the time and energy consumption of finding water and fetching water.

The food in the basket was neither rice nor noodles, but pieces of paper wrapped in pieces of paper, marked with numbers called Arabic numerals, and a few words: Grass No. 1, Meadow No. 2 or something, and the paper was wrapped in different color blocks. Huang Xiong watched with interest as the cooks opened the paper, revealing gray-white or brown chunks inside, which really made people not interested.

When the water boils, these large and small pieces are thrown into the boiling water and boiled, and soon a strange aroma comes out of the pot. The scent attracted the bears and soldiers who had not eaten for most of the day, and they came to the source of the scent. There was a paste-like thing boiling in the pot, tan one. It looks unappetizing, but the smell is so strong that it makes your mouth water—especially for this group of people who have been walking for a long time with things on their backs.

"What is this?" He asked the cook, who was stirring in the pot with a spoon.

"Meadow 1 and 2."

"What is this?"

"I don't know, it was Chief Ma who got it directly from the farm." The cook sniffed, "It's fragrant enough, I don't know what it is." ”

"Batter, huh? I'm not used to flour. "A local soldier from Lingao said.

"Batter? It's so beautiful, I think it's potato flour. ”

"No, I usually eat white rice, and when I come out to fight, I eat sweet potatoes? How can it be done like this? "Huang Xiong's experience, it doesn't matter if the soldier is as unclothed as a beggar and hungry, but once he goes into battle, he has to eat and drink well.

"It's time to eat, it's time to eat!" The cooks beat the rim of the pot with a horse spoon.

The soldiers are numbered to receive the meal, one row and one shift are the first to lead, then the second squad, and of course the three platoons and nine squads are zuihou. In order to fully embody the equality of officers and soldiers, officers at all levels of the Forces nouvelles lined up with the soldiers to receive meals from the beginning of the training. It is now a common practice. Although this system bothered some officers -- white rice with salted fish and vegetable soup was a luxurious meal for soldiers every day, it was a bit monotonous for officers who were accustomed to eating logistics canteens. Someone made a meal and then secretly went to the cafeteria to add food. When Ma Qianzhuo discovered this problem, he strictly forbade it, and ordered the officers to eat with the soldiers - he himself set an example.

After a few days of perseverance, Ma Qianzhu found that this matter was no better than a 5-kilometer cross-country run, not that the longer he persisted, the easier it became, but the more he persisted, the more painful it became, and Zuihou decided to give the officers extra meals every night. On this expedition, the officers' backpacks were filled with an additional 125g of canned luncheon meat - a treatment that made the eyelids of all the traversers swell.

Huang Xiong took a paste in order, looked at it for a while, closed his eyes, and put a spoonful of "paste" into his mouth, the flavor of which almost disturbed his sense of taste—there was such a delicious thing in the world! He quickly swallowed all his share in his stomach, and hurried to the cooking class to see if there was anything left. As a result, the pot was already crowded with soldiers who had taken the lead, and everyone held the pot high for "another spoonful".

It was the first time for the cooking soldiers to face such a hot scene, and the little paste left at the bottom of the pot was not good for anyone, but Zuihou still added some water and gave it to everyone like soup.

Dongmen Fuyu nodded, and wrote in his notebook with satisfaction, "Caodi No. 1 and No. 2 are very satisfied." ”

After eating, the female nurses of the health team came ashore, carrying boxes with red crosses on their backs, and asked if anyone felt hurt or uncomfortable, and many of them immediately said that their feet hurt or their stomachs hurt.

Tian Liang saw Guo Fu in the nurse team, and also shouted that his stomach hurt. The large-scale stomach ache scared the hippopotamus on the boat - so many people had stomach aches just after eating, it couldn't be food poisoning, even a large area of diarrhea, and the armed demonstration caused diarrhea along the road, this joke can be big. Bring the medicine box to the shore and deal with it yourself.

"Your stomach is so good." The hippopotamus patted Tian Liang's stomach in annoyance, and now he really hurt.

The stomachache was soon over, and the whole group went on, the cooking carts were pulled back onto the boat, and the soldiers packed up everything, including burying their excrement and garbage with earth - sanitation could not be neglected everywhere it went.

The 200-odd men walked along the deserted road towards Baitu Harbor, and on a sunny day, the soldiers marched to the beat of the snare drums, occasionally encountering farmers and traders along the way, and sometimes passing through villages. Seeing them walk by in a neat manner, many people will watch the excitement, but there is no evasion - the name of the "benevolence and righteousness" of the traverser seems to have spread to every corner of the county.

The gentlemen and patriarchs of the villages along the way, in order to buy peace for the sake of the relationship, will send people to visit them when they see them passing by, saying that they have prepared tea and grain, chickens, ducks, pork and other things to work for the army. Xi Ya always told the sweaty elders to retreat after saying something to them, but did not accept any gifts. This made Huang Xiong feel unbelievable - in his opinion, marching without disturbing the people and not robbing was already a first-class disciplined army, and he didn't even want meat delivered to the door?

He told You Tiger about this idea, and the other party hahadaxiao: "Meat? Ask the health team if they want it. ”

"Weishenme refuses to ask for it?" Huang Xiong was stunned, could it be that the meat eaten by this group of Australians was special?

"Your time with us is still short, and you will naturally understand it later."

By the time it was getting late, the troops had already completed two-thirds of the way, and tomorrow it was time to march into the mountains. According to the map, Baitu Village was less than 15 kilometers away from the campsite in a straight line, and Xi Ya ordered the camp to prepare for the next day's attack.

"Camp! It is up to the non-commissioned officers and students of each platoon to be responsible! Xi Ya gave the order.

The cadets who came with the army to the military and political school were assigned to each platoon for probation. Observe in the field how the officers served by the traversers commanded and managed the troops. There are also several non-commissioned officers and students in the headquarters. At the sound of the order, they immediately got busy.

The training of the camp has been carried out countless times in peacetime, and whether it is for officers, non-commissioned officers or soldiers, they all know exactly what they have to do. After choosing a camp, each platoon organized itself and assigned its own sections and tasks under the coordination of the non-commissioned officers and cadets, dug wavy trenches according to the drill rules, built an earthen ram with surplus soil, erected barbed wire fences on the earthen ramparts, and built wooden towers at the four corners of the camp. Weeds and small trees within a distance of 100 meters outside the trench were completely cleared.

Fortifications should be arranged at all times, which was the first principle of the ancient Roman army when camping, and it was also the principle followed by the army of the traverser. This is true even when they have jishu equipment and training far beyond this time and space.

The soldiers cut down wooden poles, and tied two tarpaulin raincoats in their knapsacks together to form a double tent, and the camping was divided into platoons, with drainage ditches and motorized roads between each area. According to the plan, it was also clarified where each platoon needed to maneuver in the event of an emergency, and everything was arranged in an orderly manner.

Seeing that this group of non-commissioned officers, who were only fifteen or sixteen years old, were able to do things in an orderly manner, Huang Xiong smacked his tongue - he was not without this ability, but it was the experience accumulated in the army for many years - this group of non-commissioned officers had only been here for two months. Although he still looks a little immature, Huang Xiong believes that in time, after a few battles, these little boys will be able to become qualified officers.

He secretly found a non-commissioned officer student in his platoon: "Where did you learn this set?" ”

"The chiefs have taught, and this--" The little boy sergeant pulled out a frayed book from his satchel: "Infantry Drill Code".

"Just reading a book?"

"The chiefs used this book to teach in detail, how to dig trenches, how to camp, and how to arrange the ranks when marching-" said of the infantry drill book in a tone of great admiration, saying that it "has everything."

It's a book of war! Huang Xiong thought, isn't this just a piece of paper? Although he can't read, Zhao Kuo's allusions still know. In retrospect, Australians are indeed very fond of flipping books, although soldiers are not allowed to enter the headquarters, but when he passes by, he also secretly glances inside, and the most things in it are all kinds of books and large paper scrolls, which is simply a literati's study.

Australians are ready to read books and fight? It was unbelievable to him.