Chapter Nine Cutting Off the Pigtails

  All that was seen falling out of the boxes were brand new steel guns, exactly the kind of eight-shot semi-automatic rifle (M1 Garand) used by the captain.

  There were at least twenty of them packed in a large wooden box.

  Zhang Si's mouth was agape, thinking that Xia Jun's actions were too outrageous. Where did he get so many steel guns from? And the whole truck was full of these wooden boxes...

  After busy for more than ten minutes, all the big boxes on the truck were moved into the warehouse of the shantytown.

  This time Xia Jun really splurged.

  Yesterday night he left the stronghold, exchanged a 10-ton truck in a remote area, spent 200 points, and then redeemed equipment for 100 soldiers.

  Equipment for a regular infantryman: 1 M1 Garand semi-automatic rifle (30), steel helmet (1), two three-color camouflage uniforms (0.5), canteen (0.5), combat boots (0.5), entrenching shovel (0.5), and tent bedding (1).

  The equipment for an ordinary soldier costs 33.5 points, which cost Xia Jun 3,400 points. In addition, Xia Jun also exchanged 30,000 rounds of ammunition, costing 600 points. 1,000 assault-type hand grenades (with wooden handles, long throwing distance, few fragments, relatively safe) and 100 defensive-type hand grenades (melon-shaped, many fragments, short throwing distance, relatively dangerous), costing 220 points.

  These regular weapon equipment cost 4220 points, plus the truck's 200 points, which is 4420 points. The remaining points for Xia Jun are only 1180 points.

  Then Xia Jun exchanged two M1910 Maxim heavy machine guns, the price of which was the same as that of the M1 Garand. It's really not something from the same era, and the price difference is so big. At the same time, he also exchanged 10,000 rounds of linked ammunition for machine guns. Xia Jun spent another 260 points.

  That night's crazy ammunition purchase cost Xia Jun 4460 points, leaving only 920 points remaining.

  ……

  "Lin Niwa."

  "In."

  "This is your equipment."

  Lin Fulaile.

  "This is your equipment."

  Early in the morning, Xia Jun began to issue equipment. All team members had been forced to take a bath before, and they almost cut their braids off.

  One by one, the team members came forward to receive their equipment, looking at these brand new clothes, tents, steel guns, daggers, helmets, military boots, and canteens, all of them were overjoyed.

  On the other side, those captured bandits who were also employed by the security team looked at them with envy.

  Soon, all eighteen members of the team put on military uniforms.

  As soon as he put on his uniform, he immediately looked full of energy and spirit.

  This military uniform was exchanged by Xia Jun on the exchange platform, and it can also be designed by himself during the exchange. Xia Jun added a white lightning pattern to the arm badge and helmet.

  Xia Jun studied the national flags and military uniforms of various countries, discovering a rule that during World War II, Germany and Japan both used stars, so Xia Jun did not use stars, instead using lightning bolts suddenly.

  I originally wanted to put that lightning emblem on the front of the helmet, but then I thought about it and realized that would make me a target. The Japanese army added a five-pointed star to the front of their helmets, and many were shot in the head.

  Apart from the insignia, there's not much difference, and the three-color camouflage uniforms of various countries are not very different. Xia Jun chose a spring-summer camouflage uniform with a deeper green color. The quality of the military uniforms that were directly exchanged is very good, whether it's visually or tactilely, the texture is perfect.

  The equipment is all ready, next is training.

  Soon all eighteen team members were dressed in military uniforms, holding M1 Garand rifles with infatuation.

  "Everyone, attention!" Xia Jun shouted loudly, and they hurried over to line up in a row. For the past two days, Xia Jun had only taught them how to form a line, as well as the actions of standing at attention, at ease, and saluting.

  "Tell me, are you Han people?" Xia Jun loudly asked.

  "Yes."

  The following answers are still relatively neat.

  "Louder, isn't it?" Xia Jun demanded that the soldiers answer loudly, which helped to eliminate their sloppiness.

  "Yes." Is that loud enough for you?

  "Since you are Han people, why do you have a pigtail?" Xia Jun shouted, and then he waved his arm and yelled: "Those who are not afraid of death, cut off their own pigtails."

  “……”

  Silence...

  Suddenly, a soldier stepped forward, removed the bayonet from his rifle, and under everyone's gaze, cut off the braid and discarded it to one side.

  "Is there anything else?" Xia Jun asked.

  "I, Zhang Si Dog, will cut off the braid." Zhang Si Dog, who was watching from the side, suddenly jumped out and borrowed a dagger to cut off the braid directly.

  "Anything else?"

  It's all over! Xia Jun gazed for a long time, and no one else came forward.

  Xia Jun asked the soldier who had cut off his braid: "What is your name?"

  "Lin Chenggui." The soldier replied, of the eighteen soldiers in the company, eight were surnamed Lin, sharing the same surname as Lin Debao. Many villagers in Tangkeng Village were members of the Lin clan.

  "Why cut the braid?" Xia Jun asked.

  "I am a Han, I don't want to be a pig." Lin Chenggui replied. For the past two days, Xia Jun would give them lectures on nationalities every evening, what is the Han nationality, what is the Manchu nationality, what was the original Han nationality like, what glorious achievements they had made, and what blood and tears they had shed. This gave everyone present a preliminary understanding of their own nationality and themselves.

  Lin Chenggui's words deeply stirred the others. The other soldiers, upon hearing this, hesitated for a moment before rushing to cut off their own queues.

  Cutting off pigtails is rebellion, everyone knows this.

  However, after Xia Jun's two-day ideological indoctrination, they knew that the deep-seated hatred between Manchu and Han had been stirred up at this time, and those with a bit of bloodiness all came out to cut off their queues.

  It's like an infection, one after another.

  Soon thirteen had cut off their queues and five still stood motionless.

  Xia Jun stood there watching them, and the thirteen people who had cut off their braids one after another also watched them. These five people were stared at and felt hairy, and three of them couldn't bear it and also stepped forward to cut off their braids.

  Left with the last two, motionless under everyone's gaze.

  "You two take off your military uniforms and go home!" Xia Jun said to them, but they wanted to say something. Seeing that Xia Jun and the villagers who joined the team were unmoved, they finally didn't say anything, took off their clothes, and went back to the village.

  As for those who cut their braids, they can only follow Xia Jun all the way to darkness.

  On the same day, Xia Jun formed these sixteen people into an ordinary class of eleven people. Lin Chenggui was appointed as the class leader by Xia Jun and equipped with a Czech CZ83 pistol. Ten people in the class were each equipped with a rifle, and one person was equipped with a sniper rifle.

  The current class's combat arsenal is still quite complete, with weapons including rifles and sniper rifles, as well as hand grenades. Xia Jun had also considered adding things like grenade launchers and rocket propelled grenades, but considering the current enemies were just bandits and government troops, these weapons weren't really necessary. He already had a rocket propelled grenade launcher on hand, which was enough.

  As for the other five people, they were Xia Jun's guards, each of whom was given a rifle and a pistol. At the same time, Xia Jun also defined them as machine gunners and would teach them how to use machine guns.

  On the same day, Xia Jun began to teach the soldiers in the team to disassemble firearms. Later, each person was given ten rounds of ammunition and taught them to shoot targets. At the same time, someone made a model of hand grenades and brought them to train for throwing.

  Xia Jun did not start by practicing formation drills, but rather by practicing combat skills first. Practicing formations is very dull and does not directly improve fighting strength as much as practicing combat skills does. However, formations still need to be practiced, just in moderation, about half an hour a day is enough. At the beginning of the establishment of the Security Regiment, everything had to be learned through flexibility.

  His training achieved great success on that day. The soldiers in the squad were all stunned after firing their first bullets.

  Zhang Si Dog was so excited that day, and at night, he gathered his brothers together and said to them: "Brothers, cut off all your queues and follow the captain from now on."

  "Big brother, cutting off the braid is rebellion!" one of the bandits said lazily.

  "You fool, if you become a bandit, won't you rebel? Even if you're caught, it's still the same, beheading. Let me tell you the truth! Our captain's skills... " Zhang Si Dog lowered his voice and said: "Last time we went to buy steel guns, I asked around, the foreign officials' guns are just that level of five-shot steel gun. The steel gun our captain took out now is eight shots, not only three more shots, but also no need to pull one shot..."

  "Hey, just following him to rebel can win, haven't you guys figured it out yet? Our captain is not like us bumpkins, his vision is much higher! He's a man who wants to do great things." Zhang Si suddenly raised his voice and said with pride.