Zhou Rui couldn't possibly observe everyone meticulously, but for those who performed exceptionally well and used particularly unique methods, he pointed out their actions and existing problems one by one. As for those who withdrew early, he also specifically called out a few who thought they were just unlucky. What they lacked wasn't just luck; from the very beginning of their actions, the unexamined details and the precautions they overlooked had already determined that they would inevitably fail to stand out in this assessment. After a period of commentary and explanation, everyone no longer doubted that Zhou Rui had been tracking and observing them in the forest for so many days. Many of them had met face-to-face with those "instructors," or noticed the instructors pretending not to see them, but indeed, no one had discovered Zhou Rui. Setting aside everything else, just Zhou Rui's ability to sneak, hide, and conceal his aura was enough for these people, who would be responsible for missions behind enemy lines, to learn for a long time.

"Now, I announce the approved list for the first phase of the Special Operations Camp assessment. Sergeants whose names are called, please step forward and line up here." Seeing that his words had taken effect and awed all the sergeants, Zhou Rui finally got to the point. He raised his hand to signal Dai Hong and said, "Brother Dai, please."

A smile appeared on Dai Hong's face. He took a document from an attendant standing behind him, unfolded it smoothly, and read out the names of the sergeants selected for the Special Operations Camp one by one. Because there were too few people who ultimately obtained six points and returned to the starting point, Zhou Rui and Dai Hong had urgently discussed and selected a considerable number from those sergeants who originally did not meet the standards. In the end, the number of people selected still did not reach one-third of all those who participated in the assessment, totaling two hundred and seventy-four people. Adding the fifty-two Jianghu (martial world) individuals with special expertise who were exempted from the third test, and the first batch of seventy-five Jianghu individuals ready to be equipped and enter the Special Operations Camp, the current scale of the Special Operations Camp, including Camp Commander Zhou Rui and Deputy Camp Commander Dai Hong, is a total of four hundred and one people.

But although the selection for the Special Operations Camp had ended, the impact left by the comprehensive and highly competitive third test among the sergeants still needed to be eliminated. Many of these people had fought each other, even with considerable ruthlessness. If these conflicts were not handled properly, the Special Operations Camp would become increasingly difficult to manage in the future.

"After these three rounds of assessment, especially this third round... In these seven days, you should understand that on a battlefield where you don't know what will happen, no one can actually say, 'I'm ready.' The Special Operations Camp will undertake tasks that all other units cannot undertake. No matter which camp you originally came from, whether you originally belonged to combat units or garrison units, or even auxiliary units, in the Special Operations Camp, you are all the main combat units among the main combat units. And in order to be able to carry out tasks well, the Special Operations Camp needs to be more prepared than any other unit, not just that strength and skill in wielding knives and guns, but also your brains, your usual habits, your equipment that is different from any other unit, your future methods and rules for carrying out tasks, and so on and so forth. These all take time, and now, I think, like everyone else, the only thing I'm ready for is comrades, the best comrades. You should all understand now that no matter when, no matter who is beside you, whether you've fought or drugged each other, the people around you on the battlefield are still very reliable. Isn't that so?" Zhou Rui's speech went from calm to impassioned, and finally returned to banter and humor. Although it was impossible to completely dispel the grudges between colleagues who had clashed, he successfully positioned these conflicts on a relatively friendly level, expecting that there would be no intense confrontation in the future. It was unrealistic to expect everyone to listen to everything; this strong unit should not become so timid. Maintaining sharpness, maintaining internal competition, and being able to manage this competition as a commander were the problems he and Dai Hong needed to solve.

Watching Zhou Rui's performance, Dai Yun nodded repeatedly and said to Ye Tao with a smile, "Zhou Rui is still very capable. If I had known he had this ability, I should have let him come out to lead troops sooner. The son of the Wolf King is indeed extraordinary."

Ye Tao shrugged and said, "It's not suitable for him to lead other troops; it's just that the Special Operations Camp is especially suitable for him. According to the tasks that the Special Operations Camp will perform in the future, besides him, I really can't think of anyone more suitable. If I had to pick someone, it might be Chi Lei. In fact, if Chi Lei were chosen, he probably wouldn't mind giving up command of the two scout cavalry armies, but we can't afford that price. After all, in terms of battlefield effectiveness, the role of scout cavalry is still greater than that of the Special Operations Camp, no matter what."

Dai Yun disapproved and said, "That's because you determined those three 'no' principles early on that you think that way. If other commanders had a trained Special Operations Camp in their hands, they would probably use it more diligently than anything else. Achieving unexpected victories is easier to make people remember you, and it's easier to report achievements to the court."

Ye Tao scratched his head and said, "Do you like fighting wars like that?"

Dai Yun raised an eyebrow and said, "I don't like it. Why take risks when you can win steadily? Having a Special Operations Camp in hand just makes it easier to win. If you bet the victory on them, that's not what a wise commander should do."

The corners of Ye Tao's mouth twitched as he said, "Then I'll still have to rely on you in the future. Anyway, I still have to oversee the equipment design and manufacturing. How to train and use it has nothing to do with me. Your experience in building an army is much richer than mine. Don't you think so, Military Governor Dai?"

Dai Yun glanced at Ye Tao sideways and said, "Xin'er also said that you often come up with ideas, manage the beginning, and then throw them away. Sure enough."

"If I need to manage it to the end, I will," Ye Tao said with a smile. "Sometimes managing things at the beginning is just to prevent them from dying young."

"Excuses," Dai Yun retorted simply and unceremoniously. "Can anyone take over the messes you leave behind? Or do you really like the feeling of letting those... those who are actually quite capable but not used to the rules you leave behind be unable to do what you can do and then come back to ask you to take over?"

Dai Yun's statement was quite sharp. Ye Tao didn't expect Dai Yun to say that. Although the smile on Dai Yun's face indicated that she wasn't deliberately picking a fight, but rather a... relatively aggressive attempt to promote mutual understanding between husband and wife, this question was really difficult for Ye Tao to answer. He tilted his head and asked, "Why do you think so?"

"Because I can finally run to your studio and翻 (fān, rummage through) your notes and logs. I found too many interesting things. Things that seem scattered can be pieced together to form such a magnificent picture. It's just that you really don't have time to think about how to turn things into reality, or would you rather have most of them just stay in your head?" Dai Yun asked. Her question had already approached the little secret that Ye Tao and Tan Weixin cherished together.

Ye Tao said noncommittally, "That's your problem, not mine. You're such a busy person yourself, how do you have time to rummage through those things?"

While thinking, recording various details and keywords that came to mind on paper was a habit that Ye Tao had since he and several senior brothers tried to develop new carpentry and lacquer techniques under the existing technical conditions. In the beginning, it was on cheap bamboo paper, but later, it gradually changed to smoother and flatter tribute paper of much better quality, until the Ye Family Workshop gradually expanded its product line and established its own paper mill, producing square writing paper that was most suitable for such drafts, notes, and casual writing. This writing paper was much thicker than tribute paper and bamboo paper, and its ink absorption didn't seem very good, so it wasn't suitable for writing with a brush, but for Ye Tao, who had easily made fountain pens and ballpoint pens, it was the best writing medium. Later, this paper also became the special paper of the now world-famous Baowentang Bookstore, because this paper happened to react very well to ink.

And then Sophie gradually became his secretary, not only compiling detailed schedules and logs for Ye Tao, transcribing and cataloging those notes and drafts, re-drawing those drawings and sketches, and then organizing them according to different projects and placing them in file boxes made of thick cardboard. Not only that, Sophie even took the time to re-transcribe and organize those records and sketches before she appeared by Ye Tao's side, which was an extremely arduous task. And it was these tasks that allowed her to see Ye Tao's strange ideas, and Ye Tao's self-restraint again and again, in those works that allowed people to see his talent, from the grand architecture to the very executable.

These documents, which Sophie spent an unknown amount of time and effort to complete, have different meanings for everyone in Ye Tao's family. Sophie has always been Ye Tao's assistant for many years. Even those notes and sketches that Ye Tao designated to be destroyed were executed by her with great reluctance. On the one hand, she could see the process of Ye Tao's various ideas to results, constantly feeling surprised and joyful, and on the other hand, she was also cultivated by Ye Tao's constant new ideas with an ability to withstand the unusual, and for her, those extraordinary ideas were already part of Ye Tao she understood; Dai Qiuyan was different. She regarded all of Ye Tao's actions as a matter of course. She might flip through those drawing books, but for those complex and difficult manuscripts and notes, she would rather ask Ye Tao for answers in person; for Tan Weixin, Ye Tao's notes, documents, and sketches were nothing more normal. Sometimes she would choose some ideas from them to supplement the deficiencies in her planning in some aspects, or discuss those methods related to production management and quality control that she had only learned from paper with Ye Tao, and then she would be responsible for implementing them. And sometimes, she would lament that Ye Tao was too busy, too busy to make those fun things, but she could prepare the necessary conditions for Ye Tao through some arrangements, as long as Ye Tao could spare the time, he could immediately switch from one direction to another without wasting time.

However, these file boxes, which are now in the study in the manor, which anyone in Ye Tao's special family can翻阅 (fān yuè, browse through), have a completely different perspective for Dai Yun. Before, whether in the Blood Unicorn Army, as Ye Tao's friend and colleague, or like others who came into contact with the flashes of talent that Ye Tao was willing to present to others, what she understood was only one aspect of Ye Tao, but when she could explore Ye Tao's spiritual world through these detailed records, and understand that Ye Tao was much deeper and more mysterious than she thought, she couldn't help but have some doubts and some annoyance. In her opinion, Ye Tao seemed to have always used only seven or eight points of his strength, and except for when he rashly led the Blood Unicorn Army to attack without authorization, he had almost never racked his brains and tried his best to do anything. In the past, she didn't care, but now, Ye Tao was managing Yunzhou – her hometown.

"Without looking at these things of yours, there's no way to know that you not only conceived of the Special Operations Camp, but also designed a complete set of equipment for them. And those interesting weapons and tactics for the next three or five years... Why are you unwilling to explain your ideas to Zhou Rui and Dai Hong?" Dai Yun hesitated and asked, "The Special Operations Camp is probably not just performing special tasks, I always feel like you want to try something in the Special Operations Camp."

Ye Tao calmly replied, "Let's not talk about these things for now, okay? Since you saw that pile of drawings, you should know what my requirements for the Special Operations Camp are, right? You make the Special Operations Camp meet my requirements, and I'll make those fun things on time, how about that?" Saying this, Ye Tao had to bear considerable pressure. The things he drew on those sketches, preparing to gradually make them and equip the Special Operations Camp, included a small part of gunpowder weapons, those small instruments that had been successfully trial-produced to help the sergeants climb mountains and ridges, and some things that seemed extremely extraordinary for this time and space. Making these things little by little in as few as three years and as many as five years, and also making the performance and reliability of these things able to meet the performance and reliability required for the Special Operations Camp to carry out tasks, Ye Tao had to bear considerable pressure, even if the Ye Family Workshop now has a wealth of talent, and Ye Tao no longer needs to solve all the technical details by himself, as long as he can come up with reasonable solutions in key places. Even so, Ye Tao needs to squeeze out a lot of time in the research of a series of materials, manufacturing processes, and product design in these years.

Dai Yun's eyebrows twitched slightly, and she immediately expressed her answer with practical actions. She walked to the sergeants who were continuing to listen to Zhou Rui's explanation. The first batch of selected Special Operations Camp soldiers immediately stood at attention, waiting for Dai Yun's instructions. Dai Yun nodded with satisfaction and said, "In addition to all the rules of the Special Operations Camp, I will add two more. First, the Special Operations Camp will be divided into Team A and Team B from today onwards, and all training and tasks will be assessed based on results. By April of this year, I hope that at least one team can complete basic training, and I will assign tasks to the Special Operations Camp for the first time. Second, starting next year, I will formulate new training syllabus every six months. Don't ask why, those who complete the training syllabus will be given priority in equipping. Do you understand?"

Dai Hong and Zhou Rui looked at each other. Zhang Wei and Barrett also looked at each other at the same time. Just now, Zhang Wei and Barrett had been designated as the leaders of two squadrons. Now, according to Dai Yun's statement, the two of them would naturally be the leaders of Team A and Team B. And they were all thinking that it seemed that Dai Yun really had some ideas, and she actually directly transformed private grudges into team competition... Due to the limitations of scale, the Special Operations Camp may never be comparable to armies like the Blood Unicorn Army, but this atmosphere of internal competition and challenging new training subjects will become one of the characteristics of the Special Operations Camp.