"Roaring Flame!" Zhao Jun said. The three of them were too nervous just now so they just asked for plain water. However, all of them wanted to try the teas available in the General's manor. The teas in this manor were specially prepared for the General. It was a rare opportunity for them so they didn't want to miss the chance to taste the teas.
"South Pole!" Li Lanfeng needed a cup of cold tea to calm himself down. He was in more stress compared to the other two people. He hated to see Mother Lan's disappointed expression.
"Attentiveness!" Li Shiyu wanted to taste the famous Attentiveness tea.
Ling Lan entered the teas that they wanted into the system and soon, four teacups appeared in front of them. Zhao Jun immediately took his Roaring Flame and Li Lanfeng took his South Pole. Ling Lan took the remaining two cups and walked towards Li Shiyu. She passed the Attentiveness tea to him.
Li Lanfeng and his friends felt more relaxed as there were no elders around them. They wanted to taste their teas in peace.However, this elegant and peaceful atmosphere was broken by someone.
Zhao Jun gulped down his tea and burped. He let out a deep breath and said, "This feels so good."
Li Lanfeng and Li Shiyu wanted to punch him. They were just getting into the mood to have a peaceful tea-tasting session but Zhao Jun destroyed the atmosphere.
They looked at their teacups. If they knew that this was going to happen, they would have come secretly. They wouldn't bring this person along…
Ling Lan was unaffected. She calmly raised her teacup and took a small sip.
To Ling Lan, teas were meant for drinking. Whether you sipped it or gulped it, it was a personal preference. She had nothing against it.
Ling Lan's indifference calmed Li Lanfeng and Li Shiyu down. They shook their heads. They were still inexperienced. They had much to learn from their boss.They threw away their unhappiness and started tasting the tea.
It… felt really good! Li Lanfeng and Li Shiyu suddenly realized that Zhao Jun's description was accurate. Did Zhao Jun drink the tea correctly? Were they too focused on the formalities? Did they seem too ostentatious?
They didn't manage to find the answer. Ling Lan had already put down her cup and said, "You all came three years before me. You all should understand more about the 23rd Division. What do you all think about the division?"
Ling Lan had asked Little Four to search for information about the 23rd Division but the information he got was all written materials. She found her father to discuss this too but her father was the person-in-charge of the entire 23rd Division. Hence, his perception was different from soldiers. It was not useful to Ling Lan.
Ling Lan was just a new member of the 23rd Division so Li Lanfeng's opinions were more informative to her. Zhao Jun and Li Shiyu could not give her any useful tips. One of them was taken in by an ace mecha clan while the other was sent to work in the hospital. There were no chances for the two of them to understand the soldiers at the bottom of the rank.
As expected, when Ling Lan finished asking her question, Zhao Jun and Li Shiyu looked at Li Lanfeng simultaneously.
Li Lanfeng was sent to the grass-roots units the moment he ended his recruit training camp. He became a recruit platoon leader and worked his way up from the bottom.
This experience allowed Li Lanfeng to understand the grass-root units better and knew what the hidden problems in the 23rd Division were.
Li Lanfeng said seriously, "Overall, the 23rd Division is a united and organized division. People entered the 23rd Division because of General Ling Xiao. Everyone respected and admired him. He is the only recognized leader in the 23rd Division."
Ling Lan frowned. The military would not be happy with a division that had only one influential member.
As expected, Li Lanfeng continued, "Besides the divisions of the three great marshals, none of the other divisions had only one person in power. Normally, two to three factions influenced the division. One of the factions might hold a greater power…" Li Lanfeng hesitated before saying, "For instance, the 4th and 5th Division is under the influence of the Li family but they don't have the authority to make their own decision because there are other factions. They need to consult them. However, for the 23rd Division, no one will dare to go against General Ling Xiao."
Li Shiyu looked at Li Lanfeng secretly. Li Lanfeng just said a secret that only the direct successor of the Li family would know. How did he know about this? Li Shiyu remembered that Li Lanfeng studied with his cousin before. Did his cousin tell him about it unknowingly? Was Li Lanfeng not his relative? Was there something going on behind the scenes?
"The military does not wish for a 4th great marshal to appear," Ling Lan said softly.
The three current great marshals would not like to have a new person joining their ranks and diluting their power too. Ling Lan knew that her father was clear about the consequences. However, he still went ahead and controlled the entire division. Why did he choose to take the risk?
"Yes. The spies sent from the other factions were mostly taken out of the 23rd Division in the reorganization effort the year before. Only a few harmless people were left. The other factions knew that they couldn't get people into the top positions so they put people into the grass-roots units. Hence, alliance groups appeared within the soldiers. Some instances include the Pu Jun Alliance Group and the Jun Ying Friendship Association."
"These alliance groups are made up of spies from the various factions," Ling Lan said sarcastically. No matter what era it was, military power was always at the heart of the power struggle.
"Yes. When this batch of new recruits ends their training camp, these alliance groups will appear and try to rope you all in." Li Lanfeng thought of something and said, "The two alliance groups I mentioned have grudges against each other. One of them represents the elite soldiers while the other represents the normal soldiers. Their conflict worsened recently. It must be the doings of the various factions. If not, these two groups would not go against each other so quickly."
"In the eyes of the normal soldiers, recruits from the military academy belong to the elite team," Ling Lan said thoughtfully.
The headquarters wanted the soldiers in the 23rd Division to be dissatisfied with their leaders. The headquarters didn't want to see such a united 23rd Division. Ling Lan didn't expect them to fear her father so much. They were willing to weaken the strength of the military in order to prevent the 23rd Division from rising in power.
"Yes. Recruits from the military academy will be discriminated against by the Pu Jun Alliance Group. Then, the Jun Ying Alliance Group will step in and recruit them." Li Lanfeng recalled the situation he faced in the past. The two groups appeared to be on opposite sides but in actual fact, they worked together to force you to choose one of them.
"If you don't join any side, will you be discriminated against?" Ling Lan asked.
Li Lanfeng nodded his head bitterly. "I didn't join any side so my situation was bad at the start. The soldiers only recognize me after my platoon completed many missions. However, I was promoted to the mecha clan soon after and entered the temporary battle team with Li Shiyu and Zhao Jun. I didn't spend much time at the bottom so I couldn't get a deeper understanding of them." Li Lanfeng was afraid that he would misguide Ling Lan so he added in the last sentence.
Ling Lan nodded. Li Lanfeng was relieved that Ling Lan understood him. He continued, "I don't understand why General Ling Xiao allowed the conflicts between the elite soldiers and the normal soldiers to happen. He could have done some things to alleviate the situation." Did General Ling Xiao close one eye because he was afraid of the different factions?
Li Lanfeng's query reminded Ling Lan of what her father said to her a few days ago. She thought that he wanted to tell her what real brother-in-arms was but now, she realized that he wanted to tell her how useless the efforts by the headquarters to harm the 23rd Division were.
Ling Lan smiled. "All these are not a problem."
Li Lanfeng looked at her in shock. Zhao Jun and Li Shiyu raised their heads too. To them, this was something that could destroy the foundation of the division. It was important to prevent such conflicts from occurring.
"Relationships between brother-in-arms are not developed during everyday interactions," Ling Lan said with a calm expression. She didn't continue after that.
Zhao Jun didn't understand what she was saying. Li Shiyu felt that he got a hint of it while Li Lanfeng smiled after pondering over her words.
Zhao Jun saw Li Lanfeng's expression and knew that he understood Ling Lan. He asked hurriedly, "Lanfeng, hurry up and tell me what is happening? Why did the boss say that all these are not a problem?"
Li Shiyu looked at Li Lanfeng too. He had some ideas but he was not sure if he was right.
"You can only become someone's brother-in-arms after the two of you experience the battlefield together," Li Lanfeng smiled as he hinted them.
Zhao Jun was enlightened. He slammed the table. "Yes, once people went through life and death together, such conflicts are not important."
Li Shiyu exclaimed, "Those people are wasting their efforts. Seems like General Ling Xiao plans to bring the 23rd Division to the battlefield soon."
"Of course. A division that never went to the battlefield is not a real division," Ling Lan replied him firmly. She was certain about her father's plans for the division. Within these two years, her father would definitely send a request to the headquarters to let the division to go on the battlefield. All the conflicts would be resolved on the battlefield. There would be no more huge grudges once they returned.
"We are still inexperienced. The problems that we worry about are nothing in General Ling Xiao's eyes," Li Lanfeng mocked himself. His mood got better.
The leader of the 23rd Division was Ling Xiao. If no accidents happened, the successor of the division would be Ling Lan. As Ling Lan's comrade, it was his responsibility to worry and solve problems for Ling Lan.
"So, just allow conflicts to happen." Ling Lan decided to learn from her father and disregard this issue.
She smiled and asked them, "Are you all planning to stay at your current position or come back to be my team member?"
"We will definitely come back." Li Lanfeng glared at Ling Lan. They waited three years for him. He couldn't kick them away even if he wanted to.
Zhao Jun nodded. No other captain was better than Ling Lan. He made the most amount of improvement during the time he was in Ling Lan's team. Zhao Jun was an ambitious person. He wanted to get stronger so he didn't want to leave his boss.
Li Shiyu replied, "Since I promised to be your team member, I will do it unless you don't want me. I have informed the hospital that I will just work part-time there. Once you form your battle team, I will get us our totem for the team."
"Form the battle team…" Ling Lan realized that she needed to get this done before the recruit training camp ended. Who would assess her?
Times flies. The recruit training camp ended. Many high-level officers appeared in the recruit camp on the day the training camp ended. They looked at this batch of recruits. This was an outstanding batch.
Most of the battle teams had gotten the name list of this batch of recruits.
There were many exceptional talents that applied for the 23rd Division. It was the best batch of recruits the division ever had.
Among them, 7 recruits had reached the Qi-Jin level of Physical skills. There were a few high-level mechanics as well as one master-level mechanic. The battle teams fought to get the master-level mechanic into their team. Getting a master-level mechanic was like having another life on the battlefield. This meant that there was a higher chance of survival for the team. No battle team could resist this temptation.
There were also five ace operators. The teams prepared themselves for a fierce fight as everyone wanted to get their hands on ace operators.
