Not far from the Champagne Corps Garrison, thousands of soldiers craned their necks, peering downward. The staff had even prepared a dozen binoculars for their turn to use.
Soon, they saw a thin white line of soldiers sprinting out from the drill ground on the other side, moving at a speed so fast it was unbelievable to them—if they were to run at that pace, they would collapse from exhaustion after at most 1 kilometer.
Yet, the soldiers of the Guard Corps maintained this high speed almost the entire time.
A Champagne Corps soldier who had grabbed a pair of binoculars suddenly exclaimed, "They're carrying something on their backs!"
The others quickly snatched the binoculars and echoed in surprise, "That's right, they're carrying guns, and blankets..."
One of the General Staff officers heard the soldiers' discussions and said with a smile, loudly, "Each of them is carrying 18 pounds—cough, we should be using the standard measurement now, which is 9 kilograms of weight."
The people of the Champagne Corps were stunned. They had just completed 5 kilometers without carrying anything—in truth, most of them had walked it—and were exhausted as if they were on the verge of death. How could it be possible for the soldiers of the Guard Corps to run with such a heavy load in under 22 minutes?!
About ten minutes later, the soldiers of the Champagne Corps who were watching the demonstration fell silent. From their high vantage point, they clearly saw that those men did not slow down; they had already completed half the distance and were turning back.
Finally, someone murmured softly, "Are they all monsters?"
After a moment of silence, a lieutenant sighed, "Perhaps we are just too inferior."
Napoleon turned the bend of the ring-shaped mountain road, feeling both of his legs almost numbing, the baggage on his back like a mountain pressing down on him, making his breaths incredibly difficult.
He looked up at the surrounding soldiers, who were maintaining their pace, bit down hard on his teeth, and muttered to himself, "I won't lose to you all, it's just running..."
He quickened his step immediately, overtaking the soldier in front of him, and thought secretly: Look, this isn't so difficult. Come on, pass another one!
Not knowing how much longer he ran, Napoleon finally saw the distant gates of the drill ground. Although he was experiencing sharp pains in his chest and abdomen, a smile spread across his face.
He felt that with this pace, he should be able to pass.
Indeed, the moment he crossed the gate, an officer next to him looked at the watch and said, "21 minutes 19 seconds."
Napoleon, pressing on his abdomen and suppressing the nausea from intense exercise, felt a strong surge of joy within him—he had finally passed another assessment.
This damned Guard Corps, he had taken yet another step toward conquering it!
As the last few soldiers of the Guard Corps entered the drill ground, the 5-kilometer cross-country demonstration ended. The slowest soldier had a time of 21 minutes 52 seconds. Everyone passed.
Atop the distant mound, the thousands from the Champagne Corps were silent as sparrows.
They had always considered themselves one of the most elite corps in France and had looked down upon other units. Today, they realized what true elite was.
The slowest runner from the others was still three minutes faster than their fastest, Captain Lacoste, even though they were carrying 18 pounds of weight!
This dealt a devastating blow to their proud confidence.
Anyone who has truly experienced the battlefield knows the tremendous role that physical strength plays in combat—because firepower wasn't very intense in this era, battles often dragged out for long durations, with it being common to fight from sunrise to sunset.
If the enemy's strength drastically waned while one's own side still had plenty of energy, one could launch a fierce attack, and the opponent would only have strength to defend passively. Moreover, being full of energy could also allow for significant maneuvers, to outflank or encircle the enemy, all of which could be decisive in victory!
However, some officers of the Champagne Corps still discussed, unconvinced, "It's just running. If we were to intensify our training, we should be able to do it as well."
"Exactly! Give me five months, no, three months, and I could finish the run in 22 minutes too!"
Yet, the next day's shooting assessment dealt them another devastating blow.
According to the assessment requirements, only a few dozen riflemen of the Champagne Corps, equivalent to the snipers of later eras, met the passing standard.
As for the Guard Corps, only a little over twenty soldiers failed to qualify. To be honest, in this era, whether one hit the target with a smoothbore gun sometimes depended on luck—without rifling, the bullets might exhibit Brownian motion after being fired. Even with precise aim, one couldn't guarantee a hit.
The unlucky twenty-odd were thoroughly teased by their comrades, each of them infuriated to the point of blushing and practicing their aiming alone.
Unfortunately, Napoleon was one of those twenty-odd people.
But he didn't go to practice aiming because, as an artilleryman, his shooting scores didn't count towards the assessment. Moreover, he didn't believe that caplock gun shooting was a necessary skill to master.
He was in his tent cramming on logistics and supply studies—a component of the officers' exams that he was still very unfamiliar with.
Joseph had never imagined that if Napoleon's resolve had not been firm, his decision to recruit him into the Guard Corps could have almost destroyed Napoleon's confidence...
In the following days, the Guard Corps continued to "torture" the Champagne Corps with their assessment scores.
As for the latter, they were almost numb to it—from running to shooting, from formations to hand-to-hand combat, they were completely crushed. If they didn't numb themselves, they could hardly go on living.
Just as the officers and soldiers of the Champagne Corps were ready to breathe a sigh of relief at the end of all assessment exercises, the Guard Corps delivered the heaviest mental blow with the last day's joint exercises.
What kind of joint exercise was this? It was practically a grand "Versailles" performance.
From the moment the Champagne Corps had a close look at the Guard Corps, they couldn't help their envious tears from streaming down their cheeks.
Their high-quality, crisply tailored wool uniforms were of a much higher grade than their own cheap garments.
That uniquely designed percussion cap gun was said to take three fewer steps to load than their own Charleville 1776 and had a range that was over 20 paces longer.
As for things like leather boots, leather caps, and free mending services, they didn't even want to compare anymore...
When lunchtime arrived, the soldiers of the Champagne Corps finally completely broke down.
The soldiers of the Guard Corps were eating beef with gravy. Although it was also cured meat, it tasted more than ten times better after being cooked. In addition, they had boiled eggs, white bread, and vegetable soup. Their drink was high-quality wine.
This was simply better than what their officers were eating!
The soldiers of the Champagne Corps, looking at the hard chunks of cured meat, black bread, and sour wine in their own hands, almost couldn't resist the urge to snatch the Guard Corps' food.
However, remembering the terrifying shooting and combat scores of the other side, they silently started to eat their own "swill."
[Note 1] Sour wine refers to wine that has failed to ferment properly, acquiring a sour taste. Nonetheless, due to its low price, it still has a significant market among commoners.