The compet.i.tions would happen again and again until the real one. The closer they got to the final battle, the harder the compet.i.tions would become. Xinghe understood what he meant. "Therefore, no matter how small the compet.i.tion, if we can win, we must."
"That"s right!" Munan nodded. That was the only way to keep the soldiers" morale high. A greater number of compet.i.tion victories would translate to a great final victory. The superior wouldn"t like a platoon that loses constantly, after all.
"Then, you have to suggest a friendly compet.i.tion this time," Xinghe told him.
Munan was shocked. "You mean now?"
"Yes, pose them a challenge tomorrow."
"But, wouldn"t the challenge be too sudden? Will we have time to prepare?"
Xinghe said softly, "You should always be in a prepared state."
Munan turned serious. "You"re right! I"ll ask them for a challenge tomorrow!"
No matter the result, a soldier should always face a challenge with all he had and with absolute bravery.
The next day, Saohuang arrived at the camp with his men. The whole camp was on high alert, afraid to show any weakness before Saohuang"s group. Munan spent some time going through the perfunctory greetings with Saohuang before they got to the point.
"Major Xi, I hear you have recruited someone impressive. For the sake of mutual improvement, I"ve brought my men to have an exchange of information with your people, I"m sure you"re okay with that, right?" Saohuang asked with a thin smile. The reason he gave was official but it couldn"t cover up the fact that this was to check Munan"s new talent out.
Munan smirked, not at all afraid of them. "Of course not, but how does Major Feng expect to do that?"
Saohuang laughed. "Simple, the military"s rule."
The military"s rule was to have a compet.i.tion of some sort, after all, in the military, actions spoke louder than words.
Munan glanced at Saohuang"s men and said smilingly, "Of course, but I have to remind Major Feng that my aide is not military personnel, she"s a civilian expert. She"s here of her own prerogative and is somewhat outside of the military chain of command. Therefore, it depends on her decision as to whether we accept your challenge or not."
"Then, call her over and we"ll ask her in person," Saohuang pressed. Munan nodded and had someone inform Xinghe. The reply given was Xinghe was not coming and was not going to accept any challenge.
Munan laughed. "Looks like she"s not interested in having any kind of exchange."
Saohuang didn"t expect that Xinghe would be so disrespectful. There was a chill in his eyes but his smile was still present.
"Looks like Miss Xia is rather eccentric in person," he observed with a thin smile.
Sun Yu scoffed. "Sounds more like she"s afraid of losing to me."
Saohuang quickly made an introduction, "Major Xi, I forgot to mention, this is the computer expert working for me. He heard that Miss Xia is really good at her job so he"s interested in meeting her in person and also hoped to have a friendly compet.i.tion."
"A big man intends on bullying a weak woman, how quaint," Yan Lu added snidely.
Sun Yu didn"t get provoked but retorted with a chilling smile. "Then what about a group of men who had to rely on a weak woman for help?"
"Is that an insult‽" Yan Lu asked in a scary voice.
Sun Yu replied calmly, "Well, that depends on whether your previous comment was an insult or not?"
"You…" Yan Lu was ready to flare up but Munan suddenly opened his mouth to command, "Knock it off, both of you!"