Post by iwonderwho on Feb 4, 2011 3:52:07 GMT
Gao Shun, A day at the office.
[/b]Gao Shun had only recently been accepted into the ranks of Lu Bu when he was assigned his first task. He was ready to please his lord, although Shun was slightly disappointed it was not by making the armor smell like tulips. Never the less it was time to begin the training of the troops. He had dreamed of doing something like this and was finally getting a chance to prove himself, and so he would. It was a mild day, perfect weather to get out and assemble the troops. Shun made his way out of the private war council after receiving his order and over to a small tower in the military area of the city. His eyes scrolled over the faces of the many men who halted to show respect and stopped at a certain man. His orders were simple;
"Find a horn, blow it so as to assemble all the able troops we have into the center of the base, there is drilling to be done."
The man did as he was told and soon a mob of soldier came, ready to find out what task they were to do. There were of course soldiers under Lu Bu and failure was not one of their top priorities. Some men of course were more able than the next, some exhibited nervousness on their face as Shun passed them, pacing back and forth. He was sizing up the would be army of soldiers, he would be switching groups every day so as to get to all the soldiers. This was a good strategy because of the simple fact that error is easiest to spot in smaller groups and therefore fixed. Errors on the battlefield cost lives. He finished pacing half way past the crowd of men and turned toward them, he glanced left to right and examined the men once more.
"Men, you are soldiers of Lu Bu, not many can say the same. I gather you here today to see what the prestigious army of Lu Bu is capable of, and what areas they need improving. Now don't get me wrong, I know you Lu Bu's soldiers will certainly have very little errors, but I am here to fix those."
The men stood there in awe, obviously they weren't ready for any sort of training after fighting a battle and winning recently. They assumed they had the battlefield figured out, but to their dismay Gao Shun knew they didn't/
"I watched as you men struggled against idiots, looking like baboons on the battlefield, your posture was lacking, your swipes needed more strength, your guard should have been tighter. You did win, but casualties could have been halved had you had the proper training before hand. Lu Bu is a army by himself, you are not, but I will make you the greatest fighting machine to ever step foot onto the battlefield!"
The men cheered and as did Gao Shun, he was ready to train them, although it would surely be far from easy, he was hoping they would get into the mindset and get ready. He was not going to take it lightly on them, and so it began, Gao Shun motioned to his men to grab wooden weapons first starting with a sword and then working their way up.
"The key to battle is patience, if you are to haste and rush in and attack your enemy you will be cut down. Aspire for excellence and not perfection, on the battlefield you will always lose good men, but if you weren't expecting to lose anyone your morale will be shot. So for the first exercise I want you men to build some patience by striking the weapon of the person next to you once every two minutes.
The men turned to each other and did as they were told. Wooden sticks made a thud sound once every two minutes in a repetitive manner for quite some time. Then they alternated with the other man striking his partner's weapon every two minutes. Gao Shun watched closely at the movement of every man adjusting where it was needed then signaled for the horn to be blown for a pause so they can continue to their next activity. The men quickly turned to Shun as he began to speak once more.
"Very good, next we will build your stamina, endurance is one of the many keys to victory. If you can outlast your opponent you will prosper. You will keep your wooden weapons in your hands and run around this base until I say to stop, you get one water break, use it wisely.
He raised his arm into the air and then quickly pointed to the gate to his left, where the beginning of their run was to begin. The men began running some ahead of the other, Shun knew this exercise was about who could run the furthest, not who could get ahead the fastest. He watched and watched the soldiers as they fatigued more and more. He could only grin as the first dozen men stopped for water and then soon stopped running all together. Once the majority of the men finished he thought it was quite enough and motioned to the soldier to blow the horn for the line up once more.
"Now you will be put to the test, and will be training with each other in your fatigued state. This will simulate how you will feel in an actual battle, you won't be fresh and ready to battle in the middle of one, you will be tired, so get to it!"
The soldiers once again turned to their partner and started sparring with one another. The fatigue was quite visible at this point but it didn't matter to Shun, they could suffer now and win battles for their lord or die on the battlefield, it was theirs for the choosing. Shun was feeling quite pitiful today however and once he figured they got enough training he allowed them the rest of the day to rest, and so the next group was called in, and the same drill run on them.
Next training session
[/center]Shun had awoken early for the next training session with his soldiers. He felt they had grown closer since their first day and were trying even harder to reach his standards. The weaklings were gone by now and only the tough, strong, and willful were left to be trained. He made his usual route to the soldier's quarters and signaled for the horn to be blown. His soldiers were quicker to line up than usual, they were probably noticing that his training was paying off. He knew this to be true, but there was much more work to be done.
"Well men today we will be doing something that it very close to my heart. You will be scrubbing shirts and armor, which once again will help raise patience, make your strikes more fluid and boost overall arm strength. This is a very good exercise and its how I got to where I am."
The men each grabbed a pot and a brush, Gao Shun had his at hand ready to administer the lesson. They lined up to fill the pots and grabbed some horribly smelling armor and sat down in their own respective area ready to learn a skill that would be passed down for many generations to karate kids.
"You will now proceed to dip the brush into the water and scrub the armor in a fluid motion, wax on wax off."
The soldiers followed the motion of Shun, he was a master at washing and drying clothes after all and if there was the smallest secret behind it Shun would know about it. He grinned when he looked up and saw men squeezing their triceps and arm in general, it was a harder task than believed. He was proud his men had made it this far but there was one thing left for them to practice, formations. Although Shun was not a master at formations nor was he in the mood to create some without the proper material he was ready to teach his men how to work in a unit as one.
"Men please get into your original positions and be ready to move when I order, we will begin practicing your coordination as a group.
The men got into a group and waited diligently, then once Gao Shun signaled they moved, some had a tough time adjusting at first but they got better and better after each drill each time. He was very pleased by the progress they were making and so he ordered them to get into a rectangle and move forward and back, then an arrow and once again they were to move forward and back. The challenge came when they made a U formation some of the men on the edges at the base of the formation started to struggle. Shun was quick to approach them on the edges and give them some advice to help them adjust, and occasionally move soldiers around in the formation.
Shun and the men went over some more basic formations, they didn't want to get into anything to complicated and finally thought the men were ready to wield their real weapons. Shun sent for all the weapons to be returned and the men were quick to switch their wooden sticks for the actual dangerous weapons.
"You will find that you are now more precise with your cuts, you should treat your weapon as an extension of your arm a very sharp extension. Now lets see what you have learned by some sparring sessions with your original partner, but this time with your real weapons."
The soldiers did as they were told and began sparring with their original partners. Shun could see improvements in how long they sparred for and how precise and patient they were to make their attacks. Shun was pleased and knew he had done a good job training the troops individually and now it was time to see what they had learned in their formations. He instructed them to get into their formations, make some movements and switch formations without Shun telling them to do so. The troops after a bit of confusion got the hang of it and got better each formation they did. He was proud of his work and saw a transformed military unit, they were not men but they were one war machine ready to do Lu Bu's bidding, and so was he. He bowed to his students and turned leaving them at the military area as he headed to the council.
Shun arrived at the council, seeing that Lu Bu was not in left a note for him with the council attendant, it read;
My lord Lu Bu,
I hope my drilling the troops reach your standards, if not I apologize, and if given another chance I will do better to fix what you see as wrong.
Commander Gao Shun
Done pre war drill and inspiration I guess
