The life of a West Point cadet is too harsh and rigid for most high school graduates, but for Chen Zikun, who served as a second-class cook in the Beiyang Third Division, it couldn't be more at ease.

When he visited the camp of the 15th Regiment of the US Army stationed in Tianjin, Captain Stilwell once said that the military camp in the US mainland is much more complete and comfortable than the camp of the 15th Regiment.

The difference between West Point and ordinary universities is that in addition to the ordinary courses, a large number of physical education courses and military professional courses have been added, including the principles of internal combustion engines, ballistics, international relations, overseas operations, etc. Chen Zikun is naturally a strong player in physical education class, but cultural class inevitably lags behind.

Thankfully, with the help of his roommate Bill, Bill. Chandes is a Californian, his father is a sawmill owner, there are a lot of siblings in the family, and his father wants his son to be a superior knight, so Bill came to West Point with his father's dream, although his dream was only to be an engineer.

And the head of the 306 dormitory, George. Howard came from a military family, his ancestors participated in the Revolutionary War, his great-grandfather participated in the Mexican-American War, his grandfather participated in the Civil War, his father had just participated in the European War, and the family was full of soldiers, and George also believed that he would be a general in the future.

George always wanted to find fault with Chen Zikun, but every time he was disappointed, this Chinese guy was simply a natural soldier, and he couldn't find fault with his every move or even his sleeping position, and even a few times George wanted to take advantage of the dark night to do some pranks, such as pouring water on Chen Zikun's quilt, but when they walked to Chen Zikun's bedside, they found that his eyes were open, so the group immediately died down.

They naturally didn't know that although Chen Zikun had only been a horse thief for two years, he had experienced countless tests of life and death, sleeping in a layer of old sheepskin in the deep mountains and old forests at dozens of degrees below zero, and always guarding against the encirclement and suppression of officers and soldiers.

But George's chance presented itself.

West Point Military Academy is a closed teaching, cadets can not go out of school casually, and contact with the outside world is basically based on mail and letters, this day Bill received a letter from his hometown, after reading it, his face became extremely bad, and he hid the letter without saying a word.

It just so happened that it was the turn of the 306 dormitory to clean the bathroom on this floor today, and the seniors naturally didn't do it themselves, and this kind of work was usually given to the first-year freshmen.

Chan and Bill were sweeping the floor of the bathroom with a mop, and seeing Bill's distracted look, Chan quipped: "Was he dumped by his girlfriend?" ”

Bill, who was told to be in his heart, nodded sadly, took out a photo and said, "Jessica doesn't love me anymore, she wrote me a breakup letter." ”

"What a big deal, I'll introduce you to a Chinese girl when I go back, absolutely gentle, courteous, and frugal, and obedient." Chen Zikun comforted him.

Bill smiled reluctantly, the quagmire of lovelorn is not something that can be climbed out of a sentence or two, and the two continued to brush the floor, but the atmosphere was a little lighter.

……

In the evening, the students were idle in the dormitory, and suddenly George came in angrily, announcing that everyone would gather and clean the bathroom again.

The whole dormitory was lying on the floor of the bathroom wearing tank tops and shorts, carefully wiping every crevice with a toothbrush, when suddenly a group of students who had just finished playing rugby on the playground rushed in, laughing and laughing, and the opposite side that had just been cleaned was stained again.

Everyone stared at Chen Zikun and Bill viciously, their eyes were about to burst into flames, and after finally finishing cleaning, after returning to the dormitory, George spoke: "Chen, Chandes, you two must be responsible for tonight's incident. ”

As he spoke, he took out a bayonet from a Model 1903 Springfield rifle from under the bed and played with it in his hand.

Everyone knows what is going to happen next, this is West Point, which is also a repertoire of the US Army, let the person who made a mistake sit on the bayonet, and the butt is sitting on the tip of the knife, and you can't let the bayonet fall, and you can't hurt yourself, it takes a lot of energy to maintain this posture, and if you're not careful, you can hurt your butt.

"Chen, do you have anything to say?" George asked, staring at Chan.

"No excuses, sir!" Chan said, then added, "It was my negligence, and it has nothing to do with Bill." ”

Bill mumbled to say something, but didn't have the courage to say it, because he was responsible for the unqualified territory, and because of the trance caused by the breakup, he forgot to brush the lid of the toilet tank.

"Then it's up to you to take responsibility." George dropped the bayonet at Chan's feet.

Chen Zikun picked up the bayonet, came to the corridor and put on a horseback squat crotch pose, and sat firmly on the tip of the knife, not moving at all.

George and the others stood at the door with their arms crossed, waiting to see Chen Zikun's appearance, usually this posture can't be maintained for a long time, ordinary people can't hold it for a few minutes, even if the guy with super perseverance and physical strength can't last ten minutes, and see how long this Chinese guy can last.

A minute passed, five minutes passed, ten minutes passed, half an hour passed, and the corridor was gradually filled with students of all grades watching the excitement, everyone was amazed by Chen Zikun's extraordinary physical strength, George and the others looked at each other, not knowing how to end.

Suddenly, there was a noise at the top of the staircase, and someone shouted: "Lizheng!" All the trainees immediately reflexively stood up straight, and then saw a middle-aged man with a general star on his shoulder appear at the end of the corridor, and directly opposite him was Chen Zikun, who was still sitting on a bayonet.

It was none other than West Point Principal and Brigadier General Douglas. MacArthur.

This principal is an irreplaceable god in the hearts of the cadets, his every step is so brilliant, born in a military family, his father is a general who won the Congressional Medal of Honor, entered West Point at the age of nineteen, graduated four years later with the best grades in the 100 years since the founding of the school, was awarded the rank of captain, and then served as President Roosevelt's attendant military attaché, adjutant to the Secretary of the Army, served as brigadier general and brigade commander of the 84th Brigade during the European War, acting commander of the 42nd Division, and became the principal of West Point after the war, and the youngest principal in the history of West Point.

Corporal punishment was prevalent in the military, and MacArthur was the most opposed to corporal punishment, and since he became president, he explicitly banned all private fights and corporal punishment, and violators were all expelled.

George. Howard broke out in a cold sweat, as a cadet sergeant, he physically punished the freshmen of his subordinates and was personally caught by the principal, the evidence was ironclad, there was no room for defense, and there was only one way to expel him.

In fact, his family background is not as majestic as he shows off, the so-called military family is also divided into three, six, nine and so on, like MacArthur is a genuine family, each generation is the pride of the sky, and the military rank is at least a colonel, and although the three generations of George's family have served in the army, they are all the most ordinary big soldiers, and the highest military rank is just sergeant, and the gap between soldiers and officers is as great as that between commoners and nobles, until George's generation, he was barely admitted to West Point and has the hope of becoming an officer.

And this wish, which carried the dream of three generations, was dashed with a stupid decision by George, and now with a word from Chan, George is going to take off his beloved gray uniform and leave West Point.

The corridor was quiet, all the cadets straightened up, their hands pressed against the seams of their trousers, and their eyes did not squint, General MacArthur coldly glanced at everyone, he was forty-one years old this year, and these twenty-year-old students were like children in front of him, and nothing they did could hide from the keen eyes of this old West Point senior.

There was no doubt that there was a course of corporal punishment going on, and he didn't want to know the reasons for it, because the senior students would always think of countless reasons to torture the freshmen, and he was only concerned about why the children did not obey the orders and committed crimes against the wind after the principal had explicitly banned all acts of corporal punishment.

The trick of the bayonet was very old-fashioned, and MacArthur had seen it in the barracks when he was a child, but the freshman's expression in front of him did not seem to be uncomfortable, but rather a relaxed look, and suddenly MacArthur remembered where he had seen this face.

By the way, there was a relationship in the principal's office, this student seemed to be a foreign student recommended by a foreign government, and was rejected because of paperwork problems, and at that time he also ruthlessly left a sentence, "I will come back." ”

I didn't expect him to actually come back.

"Kid, what are you doing?" MacArthur walked up to Chan and asked condescendingly.

"Report sir, I'm exercising." Chen Zikun still maintains the posture of Zama step, let alone squatting for an hour or two, for him who has practiced solid basic skills in Bao Zhilin, even squatting for a day is a piece of cake.

"Speak to the chief, stand upright!" An adjutant behind MacArthur shouted.

Chen Zikun immediately stood up, his legs did not go numb after squatting for a long time, "Sir, I'm in Zamabu, this is a Chinese-style physical exercise, which is conducive to the stability of the lower plate." ”

MacArthur stared at Chan with a gloomy face, this student was lying, he was clearly being physically punished, but since the victim did not want to admit it, even the principal could not deal with it.

George breathed a sigh of relief, only then did he realize that his back was completely soaked with sweat.

"You, come with me to the principal's office." MacArthur pointed at Chan and turned to leave.