Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 28 Walking into West Point (Please read, collect and vote for me)
The duel with Ono was just a small episode, just afternoon tea to kill time during the long voyage. Captain Smith, who won a large sum of US dollars as the banker, insisted on treating Yue Qianli and others to drinks, and Yue Qianli had no choice but to agree readily.

"Yue, Chinese Kung Fu is amazing, can you teach me a few moves?"

Yue Qianli naturally knew that this was just a way for the Americans to joke around. The reason they were so enthusiastic about him was, on the one hand, because of the money, and on the other hand, because he had shown his strength;

The Eagle Sauce country has always advocated heroism, and Yue Qianli is very much to his liking. Of course, these are not the most important things. The most important thing is the big yellow croaker in his hand;

Each "yellow croaker" circulated by the government was ten taels, equivalent to 312 grams, and 15 of them weighed more than 4500 grams. Moreover, Yue Qianli had more than a dozen yellow croakers in exchange for 7000 silver dollars. With the winnings, he now had 32 yellow croakers, which was equivalent to more than silver dollars.

"No problem, Captain, it will take at least ten years of hard training to learn this move. If you are interested, I don't mind."

After listening to this, Smith quickly shook his hand and said:
"That's better forget it. Ten years is too long. It's enough for me to make a lot of money. Time is money!"

Yue Qianli nodded in agreement. He probably guessed the other party's intention. Sure enough, Smith said directly:

“Speaking of money, Mr. Yue, are you interested in exchanging your gold for U.S. dollars?

Now the United States is full of gold. Are you interested in investing this money in a certain industry? I still have some knowledge about it. "

The Eagle Sauce is indeed direct, but Smith is not honest. The United States is currently in the midst of a great economic depression, and many factories are on the verge of bankruptcy. Investing money in them is no different from wasting money. The old guy is preparing to dig a hole for him.

Now is the darkest period of the Great Depression. Everyone has lost confidence in the future, but only Yue Qianli knows that Roosevelt's New Deal will begin in at most one year, and the US economy will bottom out and rebound.
Now is the time to buy at the bottom, but you have to choose the right industry and timing. He remembered that the first item of Roosevelt's New Deal was to rectify the banking and financial industries, devalue the US dollar, and stimulate exports.

In a year at most, the U.S. dollar will depreciate significantly, but it is still very valuable now. For the convenience of investment, he agreed to Smith's proposal and exchanged all the gold on him for U.S. dollars, which was considered as giving him face.

The 32 large yellow croakers were exchanged for more than 7800 US dollars (US$22 per ounce, lower than the US$35 during the New Deal period), and Smith began to persuade him to invest;

But Yue Qianli only wanted to invest the money in the stock market. Smith said he could help him with the relevant procedures. At this time, investing the money in the stock market was no different from throwing it into a puddle.

Smith looked at Yue Qianli as if he was a fool. He didn't mind earning a considerable commission from it, since Yue Qianli was the one who lost money anyway.

The two quickly became friends, and during the voyage, Smith invited him to have afternoon tea, which was obviously an attempt to build relationships. The old man was very good at the Chinese social customs.

The long journey was thus passed. When a whistle sounded, the people on the ship began to cheer, especially those who were visiting America for the first time. New York was a paradise for them.

It has to be said that New York of this era is a city of another era compared to other places. Even during the Great Depression, it was not comparable to Shanghai.

The reason why Yue Qianli chose to study at West Point was not because of the education at West Point. The current US only has 100,000 standing troops, which is far behind the old military powers in Europe.
Germany became famous in later generations thanks to World War II. It produced many famous generals through its terrifying industrial manufacturing. Germany is still the best at fighting, so it is understandable that most people choose to study in Germany.

Yue Qianli came here to make money. The Great Depression was both a challenge and an opportunity. It was no exaggeration to say that with the US dollars in his hands, he could buy a military factory if he managed it well!

July 7, West Point Military Academy
The grand opening ceremony was in progress. The new students were lined up in neat rows and stood proudly in the queue. President William de O'DeConnor was giving a speech. What he emphasized most to the students was the motto of West Point - "Duty, Honor, Country".

The "Twenty-Two Military Rules" that were most highly praised on the Internet in later generations did not seem to exist. Yue Qianli probably made them up, but strict military rules did exist and were almost rigid.

The most famous president of West Point is naturally the so-called most special person, MacArthur. During his tenure as president, the three-year school system was changed to four years. He also introduced modern teaching content, which were all left over from Prussia.

In addition, he attached great importance to sports activities, requiring each student to spend six weeks each academic year on various ball games and track and field training, and vigorously promoted sports competitions between colleges to enhance the students' competitive spirit and cohesion and improve morale within the school.

In addition, MacArthur also tried to eliminate bullying among senior cadets, established an anti-bullying committee, and implemented new guidelines to prohibit common insults. In fact, these seem to be commonplace, but they were exaggerated by later generations. The most important reason is that he later became a five-star general.

The students who attended his school during his tenure as principal rose to prominence in World War II and became the backbone of the vast army, so their principal's status naturally rose as a result.

West Point is not very famous now, and not many students come to study abroad. It is impossible to open a separate class for foreign students, so Yue Qianli and others are directly assigned to various district teams to study and train with other American students.

Yue Qianli hardly heard much of the principal's speech. He just stood there like a wooden stake, completing his first lesson after entering the school. The opening ceremony was their first lesson.

There was a part where he swore allegiance to the United States, but he changed it to swearing allegiance to his own country and nation.

“Although I wear Western clothes, my heart is still Chinese!”

After the opening ceremony, there is a nine-week freshman training, known as the Nine Weeks of Hell. The location is the Buckner Freshman Training Base, ten kilometers west of West Point Military Academy. Students call it the "Beast Camp."

"Yue, this is not a place you Chinese can survive. Listen to me, it's not too late to give up now!"

Yue Qianli's instructor Torre said to him contemptuously that Torre looked down on students from China. In fact, he was just a sophomore.

Yue Qianli was too lazy to get angry with him, he just straightened his back and treated him as a vacuum. If he replied, he would have been fooled by Torre.

"I'll tell you again, don't consider yourself a human being for the next three months!

Welcome, you rookies, to the devil's training camp. Here, you are not allowed to make any noise without the instructor's permission. Even if you fart, you have to report it.

You can only answer the instructor's questions with yes or no. Any extra words will be punished. Do you understand?"

"Yes!"

"Didn't you eat? You're making such a small noise!"

"No!"

The students could only answer Torre's questions at the top of their voices, which obviously did not satisfy him, so he found a reason to punish them.

The whole team had a five-kilometer forced march. With Torre's order, Yue Qianli started his devilish training in the "Beast Camp".

Although these so-called devilish trainings were child's play for Yue Qianli, he still devoted himself to them;

This was his first time to get to know this army up close. The opportunity was very rare, so he became a student.

Every army has its advantages, and one can learn from others' strengths. Moreover, they may have the possibility to fight a war in the East in the future. Knowing both themselves and the enemy, they will be able to win every battle.

The core of this book is fighting the Japanese invaders, so the protagonist's experiences in West Point and the United States will not be emphasized. The reason for introducing this experience is to lay out the layout of the War of Resistance and lay the groundwork for the plot, especially the section about the Expeditionary Force.

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(End of this chapter)