Ming Dahyu was also recruited for work, but he wasn't assigned to the same unit as his father. Because of his youth and physical strength, he was sent to an administrative district that was in a rush to meet its construction deadline.

  He and the big Huang Detiger from the same village were in charge of building dormitories at the military school, carrying buckets of cement to the top floor with a shoulder pole every day under the scorching sun. When the whistle blew for rest time, everyone sat on the newly completed training ground of the military school to catch their breath. The laborers from bandit backgrounds, who had no burdens at home, even took out a cigarette and smoked two puffs before hastily extinguishing it, while others begged in vain and could only envy and resent them.

  The military school is about to start, but a group of high-ranking officers who are about to be promoted have already formed an advanced class and started studying here in advance. Among them is Tao Shi-yue, the 20-year-old regiment commander of the First Regiment of the First Division, who has participated in all the battles of the Tiger Troop, including the famous night raid on Yubandmen (most of those who participated in this battle later became masters of bragging). He also fought in the recent Hongjiang Battle. In terms of seniority, Tao Shi-yue is even more senior than Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi from Guangxi, who rose to prominence quickly, and both of whom joined the party only during the Nanjing period. Moreover, Tao Shi-yue has always been admired by Wang Zhenyu, and now everyone in the military camp knows that he will be a rising star in this army, so it's natural that he won't miss this advanced class.

  After a day of boring classes, Tao Zhuoyue sat down at the edge of the playground to meditate on his future. Unlike Zhao Dongsheng, he wasn't a blindly loyal type, and naturally had to think things through when something happened. However, his train of thought was interrupted by the noisy migrant workers who were arguing over cigarettes, and he couldn't help but feel a little disdainful. He then casually tossed two packs of Hardman cigarettes over to them.

  The migrant workers were overjoyed, and they quickly unpacked the cigarettes, lit them up, and puffed away in delight.

  Ming Dah Hu didn't go to grab the cigarettes because he was shocked. He knew that a pack of cigarettes was almost equivalent to half a month's salary for him. But just now, this officer in blue-gray uniform casually threw over a month's salary worth of cigarettes, how could he not be shocked?

  Gathering his courage, Ma Dahu made a short dash and ran to Tao Zuiyue's face. Amidst the tension, he almost lost his footing, but still managed to salute with his left hand in an extremely unstandard military manner, shouting: "Commander!"

  Tao Yunyue looked at the young man, who was only seventeen or eighteen years old, saluting him and thought of his own appearance when he first entered military school. He suddenly had a few good feelings, nodded: "Young man, your salute is wrong. Hehe, what can I do for you?"

  Ming Dahuo hesitated for a moment and said, "My family is poor, with many younger brothers and sisters. Just my father and I can't make ends meet. Officer, you are literate and more knowledgeable than me, so I'd like to ask you, how can one earn money?"

  Tao Ruiyue was taken aback, then laughed and patted Ming Dahu's tender shoulder: "You earn no more than three dollars a month, why don't you join the army instead of being a laborer here? Do you know how much you can earn as a soldier?"

  Ming Dahou shook his head, Tao Xiu Yue smiled and said: "The six-month new recruit period is only eight dollars a month, plus twenty dollars for settling-in allowance. After joining the army, there are fifteen dollars, and they will be paid in full without any delay. The most important thing is that if you have the ability, you can take an exam like me to become a military school student and wear a tiger skin uniform."

  After pointing at the poor kid, Tao Xueyue seemed to have understood and felt relieved, leaving with a very good mood, leaving only Ming Dahu standing foolishly in his original position, digesting what he had just heard from the officer.

  The next day after returning home and seeing this scene, Ming Datou made an appointment with Huang Detou to slip away from the village and go to the dock to enlist in the army.

  The officer in charge of conscription was familiar with the routine and didn't foolishly hand over a form to Ming Datou, but instead asked: "Can you write?"

  Ming Dah Hu remained silent, only shaking his head woodenly. The outside world was full of unknowns for him, so many that it frightened him, and he could only respond with silence.

  The recruiting officer seemed to be used to it, and he didn't know how many such recruits he would encounter in a day. He simply recorded the name, place of origin, and family situation, and then had another officer take Ming Dahuo for a physical examination.

  Ming Dahur was ordered to strip naked, and the military doctor gave him a thorough examination, just like selecting livestock in a market, including checking his teeth and little brother.

  Everything is normal, the body is very robust. As for this point, the soldiers in Xiangxi area are very satisfactory. The people here generally have strong courage and physical strength, as well as excellent climbing ability, endurance, load-carrying capacity, and construction skills. It can be said that except for being slightly shorter, all other aspects meet the standards of new army recruitment, which is also in line with German standards.

  Ming Dah received twenty dollars and was then accompanied by a local staff member back home to see his family.

  Ming Jincai was shocked to hear that his son had joined the army, and he immediately took leave from work and rushed home. As soon as he entered the door, he scolded his son: "Good iron is not made into nails, good men do not become soldiers! Don't you know this? You little beast, are you trying to kill your old man with anger? I'll beat you to death, you rascal!"

  Ming Dahuo didn't say anything, he just threw the twenty taels of silver onto the table. Ming Jincai also didn't say anything. The staff at the local government office seemed to be experienced and knew that there was no problem, they only reminded them to gather at the dock tomorrow before leaving.

  Ming Jincai spent the whole evening without saying a word to his son, alone in the shed outside smoking dry tobacco. Ming Huangshi wiped away tears while reminding her son to be careful with the cold and wear more clothes, among other trivial matters. His younger siblings didn't understand why their mother was crying while hugging their older brother, they all looked at him with bright eyes. Many years later, famous film producer Ming Dajiang recalled: "At that time, my elder brother's motivation for joining the army was very simple, he just wanted to let the whole family eat a full meal, and indeed it was achieved after he left, the days of our family became more prosperous."

  The next morning, at the Yuanjiang dock, a 30-ton passenger ship had been waiting. The officers in charge of roll-call used their clubs to roughly drive these new recruits into a line, and then began roll-call.

  "Huang Dexiu, Ming Da Jiang..."

  More than 40 new recruits boarded the ship and sailed upstream, with new recruits from Hongjiang, Qiancheng, and Huitong also boarding along the way. According to the principle of mixed deployment, the soldiers recruited this week will be prioritized to supplement the Jingzhou Feishan New Recruit Base, which is the 803 base.

  According to the latest orders from the General Staff and Operations Department:

  Feishan New Soldier Base (Address: Jingzhou Yangjiatuan)

  Code 803

  Troop source: Huitong, Jingzhou, Tongdao, Suining four places.

  The base covers an area of 60 mu (4 million square meters, 200x200), including dormitories (four floors, 15x60, 900 square meters, building area 3400 square meters, each floor has 28 suites (27 6x4, 1 6X6 for instructor rooms), with toilets and bathrooms, a total of 108 new barracks (6 people per room) and 4 instructor houses (4 people per room). Eight buildings can accommodate 5184 new recruits. Two teaching buildings (three floors, 30x60, 1800 square meters, building area 5400 square meters, large classrooms (15x20, can accommodate 120 students) 18, small classrooms (12x15, can accommodate 60 students) 18, teaching and research rooms (12X8) 6, each floor with toilets (12x4) one, the third floor is for female toilets. In addition, an administrative building and exhibition hall were built (three floors, the same size as the teaching building), an arsenal (standard firepower of a reinforced regiment plus 40 mountain guns, 80 mortars, 3000 square meters), plus more than 2000 square meters of green space.

  The troops being trained include infantry (4,000), engineers (622), artillery (400) and medical personnel (162 female soldiers).

  Level setting, the new barracks base is a brigade-level unit, and the commander of the 803 troops is the base commander, deputy brigade commander, chief of staff, colonel level, all subordinate relationships are in the staff office. The base instructor director is a colonel level, and the subordinate relationship is in the combat department. The base logistics director is a deputy regimental level, and the subordinate relationship is in the military equipment department.

  New recruit unit, the basic unit is a squad, with 24 new recruits in each squad, and one squad leader (appointed by an excellent squad leader who has served as a squad leader for three years in a field army and is not willing to transfer to a local force) is appointed.

  The class does not have a platoon, and is directly divided into district teams. The team leader is at the rank of lieutenant colonel, and there are five classes under it. Above the district team is the battalion, with a battalion commander at the regimental level, who serves as an instructor in the instructional department during peacetime, and has seven district teams under it. Above the battalion is the 802 Infantry Regiment, which has four battalions and one directly affiliated instructional district team (the soldiers of the instructional district team are selected from among the outstanding new recruits, have qualifications to take the military academy entrance examination, and those who fail to be admitted will also be given priority to supplement the field combat troops). The regiment commander is concurrently served by the director of the base instructional department, and the regimental officers are composed of cultural course instructors (36 cultural instructors are assigned to teach four courses: Chinese, history, geography, and moral education.)

  The Flying Column included the 803rd Infantry Regiment, the 803rd Engineer Battalion, the 803rd Light Artillery Battalion, and a Field Sanitary Unit.

  The 803 base was not built near the canal, but in Yangjiatuan, less than 6 miles away from the canal. The location is surrounded by mountains on both sides, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. Due to the slow construction speed of the 802 base, some troops from Qianyang Prefecture were also sent here.

  Due to the initial batch of prisoners of war, the construction progress of Base 803 was also faster than that of Phoenix Base 801 and Leshan Base 802. Overall, it was built. The missing items were all equipped with the assistance of Zhengfu County, such as books, desks, and beds.

  Ming Dahu and Huang Detu were ordered to strip naked in public as soon as they got off the boat, then took a full-body disinfection bath. When Ming Dahu saw that the clothes his mother had just given him that morning were thrown into the fire by the officer in charge of reception, he suddenly became furious, pounced on the officer and knocked him to the ground with his body. The base guard who was responsible for maintaining order seemed to have been prepared, immediately four or five people came out, beat Ming Dahu and Huang Detu who rushed out to help with sticks until they fell to the ground, their foreheads cracked, bleeding non-stop.

  Seeing the two who were almost beaten to death, the more than 200 new recruits from various counties immediately shut up and, looking at those fierce soldiers holding clubs, they all chose to quietly change into their newly issued military uniforms.

  Song Haomin, who had just taken over as the commander of Base 803 for a short time, was now in a teahouse not far from the dock, sipping tea and checking on the new recruits. The scene that had just unfolded naturally caught his eye, and he pursed his lips, instructing his deputy officer: "These two are good prospects, tell those below to treat them well, confine them for three days, then send them for reconnaissance training."