Chapter 21: A Brand New Assembly

  At eight o'clock in the evening, the night sky is clear and bright, with a full moon and sparse stars.

  On the winding mountain road leading to Hou Shan, Tang Jia Bao and Mu Hai Lin led over three hundred followers, riding horses, driving carts, and pulling camels, holding high torches that formed a long dragon of fire, advancing slowly towards Hou Shan.

  Including Mu Hailin, no one knew where they were going, but the team didn't make a sound as they marched on, except for the horseshoes and the creaking of the cart wheels.

  After walking for about twenty minutes, Tang Dynasty, who was leading the way on horseback, had almost reached the end of this mountain road.

  After turning a "Z"-shaped bend, the steep cliff of the inner depot cave that Tang had inspected not long ago appeared in front of him.

  Tang Dynasty: Mu Hai Lin and others stopped first, then dismounted their horses and walked quickly to the foot of the steep cliff.

  "Kitty, turn on the light, open the door!"

  As the Tang Dynasty's voice fell, eight high-power searchlights suddenly lit up on the rugged mountain wall, and the snow-white light instantly illuminated the parking lot in front of the mountain wall, which was connected to the Pan Mountain Highway, 100 meters long and 30 meters wide, as if it were daylight.

  Under the gaze of Mu Hailin and others, this precipice suddenly made a "rumbling" sound and revealed a huge entrance that was five meters high, ten meters wide, and semi-circular in shape.

  Inside the cave is a long passageway about six meters wide with a flat floor, it's unknown where it leads to. The passageway has electric lights installed on both sides, illuminating the entire passage brightly.

  "Don't just stand there, come over quickly!" Tang Chao laughed and waved his hand to beckon Mu Hailin.

  The more than 300 men following Mu Hailin finally couldn't help themselves, gathering in threes and fives to walk towards the cave entrance while whispering and discussing among themselves.

  Mu Hailin stopped about twenty meters away from the cave entrance, turned around and growled in a low voice: "Shut up! Everyone listen, assemble in formation as before descending the mountain!"

  Soon, on this parking apron, 320 sturdy men, divided into cavalry, car and camel teams, stood in three camps, facing each other in neat formation.

  At this moment, the scene became quiet and had a solemn atmosphere.

  The Tang Dynasty also put away his smile and scanned the faces of the thirty-two Han men in the front row with a fierce gaze.

  "Remember one thing, you are now professional soldiers of the Tang Family Fort's First Cavalry Regiment, no longer the bandits who could do whatever they wanted!" Tang Chao's entire being exuded a stern and murderous aura unique to professional soldiers, as he bellowed in a loud and clear voice:

  "Remaining calm in the face of change, being composed and steady, is the most basic quality for a soldier. I know that many of you are still having difficulty achieving this, but I demand that you strive to meet this standard! I will subject you to the strictest military training, only true men can pass through such rigorous training, of course, if you consider yourselves cowards, you may choose to withdraw, is there anyone among you who considers themselves a coward?"

  "No!" shouted 320 Han men in unison.

  "I didn't hear you, are none of you full yet?" Tang Chao bellowed again: "Are there any cowards!"

  "No!" Everyone shouted at the top of their lungs in their loudest voice.

  "Alright, I've remembered your words and every single face here!" Tang Chao's voice was exceptionally loud as he said: "Tonight, each and every one of you present should feel extremely honored, because you will witness the beginning of a legend, a legend that belongs to Tang Family Fort, a legend that belongs to all the excellent soldiers of Tang Family Fort!"

  As the sound of the Tang Dynasty faded away, a rumbling noise from truck engines came from afar in the cave.

  Soon, one after another, Ford trucks loaded with military supplies and weighing two and a half tons slowly drove out of the cave, a total of nine trucks. In the empty space opposite Tang Chao, the tail boxes faced the officers and men of the First Cavalry Regiment of the People's Militia, stopping in an orderly manner.

  Tang chose a truck loaded with TC1915 semi-automatic rifles and bullets, walked to the back of the carriage, lifted up the green canvas cover, and jumped aboard.

  "Lao Mu, bring two people over here for a moment." Tang Chao stood at the door of the car and shouted to Mu Hailin.

  "Yes, boss." Mu Hailin responded with a nod, waving his hand to lead Lang Ying and Qi Daku over at a quick pace.

  The Tang Dynasty let Mu Hailin and others unload a long, green wooden box containing five TC1915 semi-automatic rifles and a box of bullets.

  Open the wooden box, Tang Dynasty took out a TC1915 semi-automatic rifle, pulled open the bolt to check the barrel, then grabbed a handful of bullets and two magazines from the ammunition box, pressing eight rounds into each magazine.

  He pressed the magazine into the TC1915 semi-automatic rifle's magazine well and Tang smoothly cycled the bolt, chambering a round.

  With both hands flat on the 3.85kg TC1915 semi-automatic rifle, Tang Dynasty slowly turned the muzzle and searched for targets in the surrounding woods.

  The kitten cooperated very well to adjust a searchlight, and soon locked onto a thick dry branch as thick as an adult's arm on a large coniferous tree 350 meters away.

  "Bang...bang...bang..." Eight muffled gunshots rang out in succession, and the thick branch 350 meters away snapped off with the last shot, falling to the ground.

  The scene was dead silent for a moment, and then burst into thunderous applause and cheers.

  "Whoosh...whoosh...whoosh..."

  "Boss, nice shooting!"

  "Great!" Tang Dynasty smiled calmly and casually threw the TC1915 in his hand to Mu Hailin, "You try it."

  Mu Hailin took over the rifle that was still emitting the smell of gun oil, fondling each part of the gun with both hands.

  "Boss, why does this gun only need to pull the bolt once and can fire continuously?" Mu Hailin asked a question that everyone present wanted to ask.

  "This is a semi-automatic rifle, and all the major military powers in Europe and America are developing this advanced weapon. I'm just half a step ahead of them." Tang Dynasty explained calmly while guiding Mu Hailin to insert the magazine into the chamber.

  Mu Hailin stood in the standard standing shooting posture, and with one breath, he fired all eight bullets at the coniferous tree that Tang had shot at earlier.

  Mu Haolin's marksmanship was of course not as divine as Tang Dynasty's, but all eight bullets hit the main stem of that needle-leafed poplar.

  "Good gun! It's really good! The recoil is much lighter than the old Mao's gun, and the accuracy is only stronger, not weaker." Mu Hailin sincerely praised: "Boss, if we can all be equipped with this good gun, I guarantee that we can sweep across the entire southern Xinjiang!"

  "Boss, can I also give it a try?" Lang Ying asked with an expectant look on his face.

  "Boss, I also want to try my luck." Qi Daku was unwilling to fall behind and made a request with great hope.

  "Then just try it!" Tang Chao nodded and smiled.

  With Mu Hailin as an example, Lang Ying and Qi Da Kui quickly mastered the operating performance of the TC1915 semi-automatic rifle. The two guys didn't want to show weakness and each fired three magazines of 24 rounds.

  "This gun is too comfortable to shoot, it's a great gun! Great gun!" Lang Ying couldn't help but praise, holding the TC1915 tightly in his arms, just like he was embracing his beloved, afraid that someone would snatch it away.

  "Ma Zhongqiang, that son of a bitch, if he dares to come, I guarantee he'll never return!" Qi Dakuin's right hand tightly grasped the TC1915 in his hand, raised high, and loudly roared into the air.

  "Hey, stop fooling around! Hurry up and let someone take down the old equipment you brought, and load up the new ones!" Tang Chao said with a smile.

  "Boss, are these trucks loaded with nothing but guns?" Lang Ying stared blankly at the row of large trucks in front of him, asking foolishly.

  "Of course not." Tang Chao shook his head and replied. Seeing Lang Ying's face showing disappointment, he immediately added: "However, those vehicles are equipped with even better equipment than these guns."

  When Tang Chao said that, Mu Hailin, Lang Ying and Qi Dakuai couldn't help but have green eyes, like starving wolves.

  At Mu Hailin's command, everyone worked together to unload all the "junk" equipment they had brought from Canglong Ridge and piled it up on the ground.

  Then two people formed a group and moved box after box of new guns onto the empty truck.

  Soon, one hundred boxes of 500 TC1915 semi-automatic rifles were loaded onto five horse-drawn carts. Tang Chao led Mu Hailin and others to test the TC1912 pistol, TCC-13 submachine gun, TCQ-14 light machine gun, and TCZ-12 heavy machine gun one by one. These advanced weapons made all the officers and soldiers of the Tangjia Fort Militia present extremely excited, as if they had been injected with chicken blood, eager to equip them immediately and charge into battle to kill the enemy and achieve meritorious deeds.

  Especially Lang Ying, this guy had a TC1915 semi-automatic rifle on his back, a TCC-13 submachine gun hanging from his neck, a TC1912 automatic pistol in his left hand, and a TCQ-14 light machine gun in his right hand. That's all, but this kid's wolf-like eyes were still fixed greedily on a TCZ-12 heavy machine gun, as if he couldn't wait to carry that one on his body too.

  The officers and men of the Tang Family Fort Militia Cavalry Regiment rushed to load 200 TC1912 pistols, 100 TCC-13 submachine guns, 50 TCQ-14 light machine guns, and 24 TCZ-12 heavy machine guns onto horse-drawn carts. Then, Tang ordered Mu Hailin to unload one of each type of mortar, 60mm and 82mm, from a truck.

  Watching the Tang Dynasty skillfully assemble the two small cannons that had been disassembled into individual parts, Mu Haolin, who used to be a cannoneer, clearly did not know how to operate this kind of small cannon and couldn't understand its power either.

  Until the Tang Dynasty fired several cannonballs with real bullets, Mu Haolin was so excited that he couldn't tell east, south, west or north.

  Mu Haolin pestered Tang Chao, wanting him to teach him how to operate this lightweight and flexible little cannon tonight. Tang Chao couldn't outlast Mu Haolin's persistence, but fortunately, Mu Haolin had a natural talent for artillery, with good comprehension and memory.

  Deng Langying and Qi Dakuai directed the crowd to load 5 bases of mortar shells, 500,000 rounds of standard rifle ammunition, 50,000 rounds of standard pistol ammunition, 200 boxes of wooden-handled grenades, 500 multi-functional engineer shovels, 500 triangular bayonets, as well as winter uniforms and individual equipment for 500 people. Mu Hailin had already mastered the assembly, disassembly, and operation of these two types of light mortars.

  Nine trucks were all emptied, and Tang Dynasty let Qi Da Kui direct the crowd to throw the "garbage" piled on the ground onto the trucks.

  With great enthusiasm, Mu Hailin, at this moment, like a prodigal son, fired two rounds of five shots each from the two mortars, and the high-explosive shells blasted the distant mountain top, causing a landslide and flames shooting into the sky.

  The Tang Dynasty did not stop Mu Hai Lin's wasteful behavior, the Tang Dynasty knew that only by letting Mu Hai Lin learn how to operate a mortar could they make themselves more at ease and not have to personally go and act as an artillery instructor.

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