Did he trick the young marshal into becoming sworn brothers and then go south to Huangpu Military Ac

Qian Muyin stopped cleaning his gun, pulled the bolt back with a clanging sound, and said without looking up, "Vice Principal Lin, it's your turn to teach this afternoon. You're an expert in making guns and cannons and handling logistics. But teaching students tactics, troop deployment, and sand table exercises relies on real experience gained from fighting in piles of dead bodies. The stuff from foreign books probably won't work in our country."

Gu Mosan pushed up his glasses and chimed in, "Brother Mu Yin is right. These students have a weak foundation. If you explain things too profoundly, they won't understand. If you explain things too simply, it's a waste of time."

The words are laced with undisguised contempt.

What do you know about tactics if you've never led troops?

Lin Qi didn't respond to their conversation.

He walked to the corner, picked up a damp towel from the washbasin stand to wipe his hands, grabbed a folder of handouts, and took two boxes of chalk of different colors before turning and leaving the office.

At 2 PM,

The largest classroom in the military academy.

Nearly one hundred first-term students, dressed in crisp gray military uniforms, sat behind long wooden tables.

The classroom was packed to the brim.

Instructors Hu Zhantang, Qian Muyin, and Gu Mosan also sat in the last row with teacups, ostensibly to listen in, but actually to see how Lin Qi would make a fool of himself on the podium.

Lin Qi walked up to the podium without exchanging pleasantries or introducing himself.

Turning to face the blackboard, I picked up a piece of white chalk and began sketching directly on the blackboard without any draft.

The chalk scraped against the blackboard, making a rapid, piercing "swish" sound, and chalk dust fell in a flurry, landing on Lin Qi's short black hair and shoulders.

For a full five minutes, the only sound in the classroom was this single voice.

When Lin Qi stopped, a very complex partial attack and defense map appeared on the blackboard, marked with dense contour lines, trenches, firing points, and bunker distribution.

This is not at all the crude depiction of "two armies facing off and being shot" from the warlord era in China.

This is a simplified cross-sectional view of the assault on Fort Doumont, the core position of the Battle of Verdun in World War I, as shown by Lin Qi.

"Look carefully."

Lin Qi turned around, threw the half-burnt chalk on the lectern, and patted the white chalk off his hands.

"The hill is 320 meters above sea level. The slope in front is 45 degrees and there is no cover whatsoever. The hilltop consists of a group of reinforced concrete bunkers, with four water-cooled heavy machine guns positioned on the flanks, forming a crossfire network with no blind spots. Fifty meters in front of the position, there are three layers of barbed wire. Behind the hill is an enemy division-level reserve force, ready to reinforce at any time."

Lin Qi braced his hands on the edge of the lectern, leaned forward, and scanned the young faces below with the gaze of a hawk.

"Headquarters is giving you a battalion of troops, with no artillery support, only rifles and grenades. Your mission is to take this hill before dawn."

He tapped on the lectern.

"Can someone give me a plan to overcome this challenge?"

The classroom was completely silent.

The students were dumbfounded.

Before they arrived, they thought that fighting meant the officer would draw his sword and shout "Charge!" and everyone would rush forward with bayonets in hand.

The dense barbed wire, bunkers, and crossfire on the blackboard were completely beyond their comprehension.

Sitting in the back row, Gu Mosan frowned and whispered to Qian Muyin, "Nonsense. This kind of ironclad formation would be a death sentence even if an entire regiment were thrown into it. Using this kind of question to test freshmen is simply making things difficult for them."

Just then, a screeching sound of a chair leg scraping against the floor came from the corner of the front row.

A young man with a parted hairstyle and eyes that revealed shrewdness and fervor stood up.

He straightened the top button of his military uniform, his back ramrod straight.

He Junshan. Later known as one of the "Three Heroes of Whampoa Military Academy", he was famous for his eloquence and persuasiveness.

"Reporting to the Vice Principal! Student He Junshan has a plan!"

Lin Qi nodded: "Go on."

He Junshan cleared his throat, his voice booming and highly persuasive: "The enemy's fortifications are strong; a direct confrontation will inevitably result in heavy casualties. The students believe that winning hearts and minds is paramount! After nightfall, send propaganda teams close to the enemy's front lines to use megaphones to preach our Party's Three Principles of the People and to recount the cruelty of exploitation by the old warlords! This will demoralize the enemy!"

He took two steps in the aisle between the desks, making very expressive gestures.

"When the enemy's morale wavers, select fifty of the bravest farm laborers' sons from the battalion to form a suicide squad! Each man will have grenades strapped to his chest, and under the cover of night, crawl and cut through the barbed wire. Once they engage the enemy, detonate the grenades and perish together with the enemy bunkers! After blasting a breach, the main force will immediately launch a desperate charge and take the hill in one fell swoop!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Hu Zhantang, who was sitting in the back row, nodded repeatedly and even slapped his thigh.

"Excellent! This is the spirit and faith that revolutionary soldiers should have! A political offensive combined with a spirit of daring to die is invincible!"

Hu Zhantang praised loudly.

Lin Qi coldly stared at He Junshan, whose face had turned red and who was beaming with smugness.

"Are you done talking?"

"Reporting to the Vice Principal! I'm finished!"

"sit down."

Lin Qi offered no comment, shifting his gaze to the other side.

"Next."

He Junshan was stunned for a moment, his smugness froze, and he sat back down dejectedly.

Immediately afterwards, a young man with delicate features and a strong scholarly air stood up.

Instead of giving a grand speech like He Junshan, he stepped directly onto the podium.

Jiang Wushan. A recognized genius from the first class of the Whampoa Military Academy, he was known as "Jiang Wushan's pen".

He saluted Lin Qijing and picked up a blue piece of chalk from the chalk box.

"Vice Principal, He's plan is too idealistic. Since the enemy has built such strong fortifications, they must be defended by elite troops. Shouts and cries may not be effective. Moreover, if the suicide squad charges head-on into the heavy machine gun net, the casualties will be uncontrollable."

As Jiang Wushan spoke, he quickly drew several arcs on the blackboard.

"The students believed that the troops should be divided into three groups. One company should remain at the front to make a show of force, plant more flags, and launch a feint attack to distract the enemy's heavy machine gun fire. The other two companies should take advantage of the cover of night to conduct a deep flanking maneuver from the gentle slopes on the left and right flanks of the high ground."

Two extremely elegant flanking routes were drawn on both sides of the map with blue chalk, with the final arrow pointing directly to the enemy's reserve force's rendezvous point behind the mountain.

"The infiltration force will cut off the enemy's retreat and block reinforcements from the rear. At dawn, an attack will be launched simultaneously from three sides, preventing the enemy from coordinating their front and rear. At the same time, the reserve forces will provide echelon cover to prevent the enemy from counterattacking."

After finishing the drawing, Jiang Wushan put down the chalk, turned around, and stood at attention.

The entire plan was flawless, with troop deployment precise down to the platoon level; it was like a perfect answer sheet taken from a top military academy.

Sitting in the back row, Gu Mosan's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but blurt out, "Genius! Even the senior students from the Baoding Military Academy that I lead might not be able to arrange such a meticulous troop deployment!"

Lin Qi remained expressionless. He looked at the blue arrow on the blackboard and then at Jiang Wushan standing to the side.

"Is there any more?"

The sound remained flat.

A short, sharp laugh suddenly erupted from the back of the classroom.

Chen Chuanjin stood up casually, not only without buttoning his top button, but also with his hat askew.

"Vice Principal, I think Brother Jiang's drawing is beautiful, but it's too slow!"

Speaking with a Xiangxiang accent, he shouted, "They have a reserve force on the back hill. If your two companies try to outflank them, before you can even surround them, they'll launch a counter-charge and turn you into dumplings!"

"We can't take this high ground head-on, so let's not attack from the front! There must be cliffs and steep slopes on this mountain, right? Take a platoon, lightly armed and with minimal support, and march through the night to climb up the cliffs on the back side, which they think is the least likely! Get to the top of their bunkers, throw grenades in through the ventilation shafts! Take out their machine gun nest! Once the machine guns are silenced, the main force can charge in from the front, and we'll have it all covered in the time it takes to eat a meal!"

A sneak attack, a decapitation strike, a surprise tactic.

The three future heroes of Whampoa Military Academy will have three completely different tactical mindsets.

I stumbled upon a great book yesterday and wanted to share it with you all: [Railway Storm 1987: Police God vs. King of Thieves]. It's a hidden gem, its title a bit of a letdown, though; it's a realistic work.