Many people never thought about promotion during military service, as it only lasted one year. If this was the period right after the New Era had been founded and military service was still two years, this sort of thing would be more common. However, most promotions nowadays happened in the second year of military service, and normal people required second- or third-class merits to rise up the ranks quickly. People like Fang Zhao, who had not graduated from military school and yet received third-class merits a short while after enlisting, were extremely few. That was why Shanta and the others had said that this was an exceptional case, because he was an exemplary model soldier and set a benchmark.
This sort of opportunity had not been seen for many years and had to be grasped. Of course, the reactions online were indeed very huge.
