Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 1528: Transformation of the Soul (First update, please subscribe)
To those who have not experienced war, the smell of gunpowder always seems so tempting!

……

Because we are young, we always have various fantasies about the world. Like many young people, Wang Zijiang also has his fantasies about the world.

"I was born by the Yangtze River... so I was called Zijiang. This name doesn't have any cultural connotations, because my father only attended primary school..."

At the university recruitment fair, Wang Zijiang introduced himself like many others: like many of his peers, he was born in a foreign country and grew up in SEA. His father came to this land as a laborer, and unlike the hunger and war in his hometown, life here is full of possibilities: newly built cities, towns after towns have been built on this land, and in the towns, there are newly built modern schools, you can smell the scent of freshly painted walls, supermarkets are filled with all kinds of goods, rows of two-story wooden buildings are located on both sides of the clean streets, and it is generally peaceful and calm.

Everything is so pleasant. For our parents, this is the life they have always dreamed of.

But as his teenage years drew to a close, like many others, Wang Zijiang could no longer tolerate the dull life of eating barbecue on weekends, the soporific noise of electric lawn mowers, and the men drinking beer and eating barbecue.

He lived on the edge of a construction zone, with a dense rainforest on the other side. On weekends, he went hunting in the rainforest and paddled a boat on the river. He also found bullet shells on the muddy river bank.

Looking at the shell casings left over from the war, like many young people, he also dreamed about that era and hoped to live in that era.

This is what Wang Zijiang yearns for, to find a chance to live a heroic life in an ordinary world. In addition to safety, comfort and peace, there is also an extreme desire for danger and challenge.

How can this unorthodox ambition be realized?

Wang Zijiang didn't have a clear idea until that day.

Until the day of the school convocation, the Marine Corps set up a recruitment point at the university student union. They were looking for officer candidates and hung a poster of a capable lieutenant with a handsome face and a slightly cold expression, a typical handsome man.

He looked like a combination of a football team forward and a tank captain. His eyes were clear, transparent, firm and stern, as if he was looking at the person looking at him with a challenging look.

The poster reads:
"Join the Marines and become the best version of yourself."

That day, Wang Zijiang was flipping through the propaganda materials and picked up a booklet. The cover listed all the battles the army had participated in, from Bastogne to Mindanao, from Mindanao to Borneo, from Malaysia to Siam, from Egypt to Iraq.

After reading the leaflet, an idea immediately flashed through his mind: the heroic experience he had been looking for was war.

War is the ultimate adventure. War is the most convenient way for ordinary people to escape from the ordinary.

Although it was a peaceful time, there were frequent tensions and crises; if a military conflict did occur, the Marines would be in the fight, and I would be there, really there. Not in a movie or on a TV screen, not in a book, not in a fantasy, but in the midst of it!
At that moment, Wang Zijiang had already seen himself bravely rushing towards something in the distance, just like Liang Shan in the movie “African American Dream”, and finally becoming a soldier, wearing countless medals on his chest, and returning home in glory.

There is no need for any persuasion from the recruitment staff.

Wang Zijiang decided to join the army.

In fact, military service in SEA is a hurdle that cannot be avoided.

No one would hide from it. In SEA, being in the military is a kind of honor. However, most people just serve in the military when the conscription order is issued.

Wang Zijiang, on the other hand, volunteered to join the army as a college student—he could have waited until he graduated. He also had another motivation, one that has been a constant for young men since the army was founded: I needed to prove something—my courage, my strength, my manliness.

It was on that day that Wang Zijiang, who was just a junior in college, finally broke free from the boring life and family constraints.

At the age of 19, Wang Zijiang put on a military uniform and became a soldier.

Wang Zijiang wants to use this to prove his courage and that he has grown up, but the more important thing is that he wants to do something to prove to his parents and himself that he is a man of integrity, just like the man with the determined eyes on the recruitment poster, they are equal.

Another popular slogan in today's society is: "The Army Forges Men of Steel!"

On November 11 last year, Wang Zijiang joined this shaping project.

He joined the Army as a college student and immediately attended Platoon Leader Training, the Marine Corps version of ROTC, followed by six weeks of basic training and an advanced course the summer before graduating from high school. Completing ROTC training and earning a bachelor's degree would entitle him to an officer's allowance, but it would also mean he would have to serve for three years.

In fact, Wang Zijiang did not have the ambition or desire to be an officer. However, his choice made his father quite dissatisfied. The future blueprint he drew for his son did not include military uniforms and drums.

In the eyes of his father, a farm worker, after Wang Zijiang graduates from university, he should have a decent job, marry a good girl, and then have children.

This is who he is!

But Wang Zijiang chose another path - to become a soldier!
In the past six months, even at the Military Academy, he had to walk 20 kilometers under the scorching sun, carrying a 50kg backpack.

Whether in the training camp or in school, his life is a combat training life of ice and fire.

The rolling Pacific Ocean made the comrades dizzy during the day, and the bustling streets at night made people drunk. Then they returned to the base to receive indoor combat and night attack training, as well as simulated battles under flickering lights.

Week after week, month after month.

Through such training, Wang Zijiang, like others, mastered fighting and combat skills, gradually bid farewell to his civilian identity, and transformed into a qualified soldier.

Wang Zijiang, who has completed six months of training and has become a platoon leader, has finally joined the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade. The following days follow the tradition of garrison life: waking up with the morning call, roll call, morning gymnastics, queuing for breakfast, group training, queuing for lunch, queue training, group training, midday gymnastics, queuing for dinner, free activities for those who have taken leave, patrols for those who have not taken leave, evening activities, bathing, lights out and sleep. These days are extremely boring, and are completely different from Wang Zijiang's romantic dream. They are not what he expected the Marine Corps to be like.

In the bar in the base, several soldiers with skull emblems on their armbands were surrounded by a group of Japanese and Korean girls. The soldiers were laughing wantonly, and they would hold the women in their arms amid the shouts of joy from the waitresses.
"See? The Sea Wolf Commando..."

Heydrich pointed at them and said to Wang Zijiang:
“They have been on a mission in Jakarta.”

Heydrich was in the base's staff room, so he was naturally better informed. There was almost nothing he didn't know in this base.

"Is it a combat mission?"

"Yes, a real combat mission, not tactical training."

"I really envy them!"

Wang Zijiang looked at them, his eyes flashing with envy. This was exactly the life he longed for when he joined the army.

"Don't envy them, we..."

Heydrich lowered his voice and said:

"We're about to go to the battlefield!"

Wang Zijiang said in surprise:

"really?"

"I just heard about it, who knows?"

When he received the order, Wang Zijiang was drinking beer on the balcony of the officers' club and enjoying the beautiful view. The sea was glittering in the sunlight, and the sea where the sky and water meet was bright and vast.

They lazily lay on the folding chairs, holding ice-cold beer in their hands, their faces bathed in the warm sunshine.

Just as they were enjoying this pleasant time, the phone rang, and the club manager ran and jumped to the balcony. He was out of breath and shouted:
"Officer of the Seventh Expeditionary Regiment, call the officer on duty immediately."

Soon, they learned the news from the phone:

"It's Heydrich. He's the duty officer today, and he just received word that we're going to Java!"

"What?"

"We are going into battle to kill the enemy."

Xu Feiyang shouted loudly that for soldiers, the battlefield was the greatest joy in life. Then, they immediately left the club and rushed back to their respective units.

The news is accurate!

The next morning, they were on their way to Surabaya - and would land in Surabaya tomorrow morning!
Upon hearing the news, Wang Zijiang felt extremely excited. His hands trembled uncontrollably and he felt a strong hunger in his stomach, just like a person who had been hungry for a long time and wanted to fill his stomach immediately.

After finally calming down, Wang Zijiang began to pack his luggage.

At this time, the camp was in chaos, as if war had suddenly broken out. Soldiers were moving back and forth between the various squad areas, and everyone's performance was different.

Some were wearing military uniforms, some were wearing civilian clothes, and some were wearing only underwear, with all kinds of equipment hanging on their bare shoulders.

The people from the logistics department threw the boxes from the supply room onto the road, piling them up into a mountain.

Like other areas, the company was now like an open-air extra arms store, with mortar barrels and base plates scattered everywhere, piles of rifles next to them, canvas tents, bulletproof gear, helmets, and various communications equipment.

The operator was checking the radio and heard some strange noises. In the next few hours, there was noise everywhere in the barracks, in a kind of orderly chaos. The officer gave orders to the sergeant, the sergeant gave orders to the corporal, the corporal gave orders to the lance corporal, and the private first class gave orders to the private first class. The soldiers could no longer give orders to anyone, so they had to do all the work.

Although chaotic, the chain of command ran smoothly. This orderly chaos is the norm when the military enters a war, even though the Marine Corps' creed is to arrive first.

But as we all know, when war breaks out, there is always some chaos.

There was not only one person who was looking forward to the war. When Wang Zijiang was packing his luggage, a soldier in his platoon, fully armed, screamed with joy:
"Haha, we are going to join the war! We are going to join the war..."

After packing all the luggage, Wang Zijiang put his backpack on the table. When he was ready to carry it, he took out his pistol, gently pulled the upper receiver, and looked at the 9mm caliber bullet lying in the chamber. His mood was complicated, full of worry but also full of expectations.

Facing the tension in his heart, he couldn't help but take a deep breath, and then said to himself:
"Isn't this what you were expecting? Why are you so nervous?"

(End of this chapter)