Chapter Nineteen: Divine Gun Swallow

  A mouthful of blood wine, everyone's blood is boiling, practicing martial arts for the revival of China, and training to defeat foreign devils. Everyone's heart has ignited a fire! Now Fei'er leads the practice of combat skills again, and everyone holds their breath with a surge of national self-strengthening energy, so the practice is truly vigorous and powerful.

  I and Yan Er took Zhang Zhidong, Weng Tonghe and others to the warehouse to re-examine the guns and decided to equip everyone with firearms. Two hundred and eighty-eight AK rifles were issued to the military school, three heavy machine guns, and twelve people were assigned to operate the heavy machine guns, with one rifle per person, totaling exactly 300 people, who were organized into the First Regiment of the First Division of the Chinese First Army.

  Give one handgun each to Weng Tonghe, Zhang Zhidong, Long An, Zuo Baogui, Wei Rugui, Sheng Yu, Xi Jun and Anping Jun. The remaining two handguns are given to the newly appointed two battalion commanders. Give one rifle each to the ten guards, and the remaining two rifles and a heavy machine gun are handed over to Yan Er!

  Those grenades will all be given to the tenth guards for use.

  Zhang Zhidong and Weng Tonghe, Long An, Zuo Baogui, Wei Rugui, Sheng Yu, Xi Jun, Anping Jun immediately found Yan Er after getting the pistol: "Lin instructor, quickly teach us how to use this gun! If we don't know how to use it, it's just a decoration!"

  The swallow was on the table, dismantling the gun with a clang, then explaining it to them piece by piece, and reassembling it. After several rounds, the eight people were able to disassemble it with ease. A few people took the guns and bullets and went out to practice aiming with a swagger.

  Long An followed me and asked, what about the weapons of the newly recruited soldiers?

  I smiled and said, "Then we'll have to find your 800,000-strong Forbidden Army's Lin Jiao Tou! When he finishes making it, I'll bring it over for you!" Long An said to Yan Er, "Lin Jiao Tou, we're waiting for you!" Then he also ran out to practice.

  The swallow, who was inspecting the rifles and machine guns in his hands, saw that there was no one around, came over and kicked me: "I said, you little guy, how come you're so generous today? You made a big fuss about giving me a few samples to copy! Don't you know that this thing is also a cutting-edge product in that world? Can the current craftsmanship, equipment, and materials produce it? Aren't you forcing people?"

  "What's wrong? Is something the matter?" I asked anxiously.

  "From a technical standpoint, it's indeed not easy, but as long as I have the equipment, I can modify it again, and your wife will be able to take it down for you. It just depends on when you hand over the factory to me!" Yan'er is indeed an expert in military equipment, I know that in her hands, there won't be any insurmountable problems.

  The swallow pulled me and said: "Come on, we have to teach these people how to shoot!"

  "I said: 'Don't talk about it for now, let's get ready to hand out guns. You can tell everyone together!'"

  I heard that the guns were to be awarded, and there was a burst of cheers on the playground. After the soldiers gathered, I announced the leadership team of the military school: Principal Long Xiangyu, First Vice President Zhang Zidong, Second Vice President Lin Yan, Third Vice President Huang Fei, Executive Vice President Long An, Commander of the First Regiment of the Chinese Dragon Army Li Gang, and Deputy Commander Hai Bo.

  Li Gang is a Han Chinese, from Baodi, Hebei. He has a delicate appearance, like a big girl, but when practicing martial arts, he can endure great hardship. His greatest characteristic is his extremely intelligent mind, and he grasps all kinds of military strategies very thoroughly. He is an exceptionally talented general. Moreover, he is a steady and reliable person, not the kind who acts impulsively.

  Hai Bo is a Manchu, from Beidahuang Village on the north bank of Heilongjiang River. Since childhood, he has been fishing in the Heilongjiang River and can stay underwater for half a day without surfacing. Catching fish with his bare hands is his specialty. He joined the army because he was fed up with the constant harassment by the Russians in that area. He is my younger cousin from Long'an. I think he has the potential to become a naval commander, and after talking to him several times, I found him to be quite intelligent.

  Then I said a few more words about cherishing guns and began the gun issuance ceremony.

  First, there were ten samurai, ten people holding guns and bullets, so excited that their hands were shaking. After receiving the guns, Yan told them how to wear them, and the ten people wore the guns, standing behind me with a majestic spirit!

  Three hundred students, the swallow has already organized them into three companies, nine platoons and twenty-seven classes, and selected class, platoon and company commanders. The soldiers received their guns in units of classes. The soldiers of the heavy machine gun class were so happy that they jumped high, they were like drunk, carrying the machine gun, their feet were scattered.

  Yan'er had Long'an distribute a piece of cloth that had been prepared in advance to each person, then spread the cloth on the ground and began teaching the soldiers how to disassemble their weapons. This time it was much slower than before, after an hour of instruction there were still several who couldn't assemble them, Yan'er gave individual guidance again and they all passed smoothly. Yan'er went to instruct the machine gun squad next.

  He was teaching how to shoot a gun, I said: "Don't teach first, you perform for everyone first!"

  Swallow immediately said: "Yes, Principal Long!" As she stood at attention and gave me a standard military salute!

  The whole room was shocked immediately, although I said earlier that in the military school I am Dragon Principal, but they just listened to it as a joke. Now hearing their instructor say so, they all turned their faces towards me, looking at my reaction.

  I immediately stood at attention and gave a standard salute, saying: "Vice Principal Lin, execute the order!"

  Lin Yan replied and walked to the middle of the playground. She had Long An hang five copper coins from a big tree 100 meters away using a thin thread, insert five incense sticks 200 meters away, and set up five bamboo poles 300 meters away. Then she stood at attention and asked: "Principal Comrade, is it one shot or three shots?"

  "Come on, let's go for a high difficulty level, and a consecutive shooting spree!"

  The swallow immediately said: "Yes!"

  She made a beautiful turn, raised her gun with one hand, and fired a burst of shots without even aiming, "Rat-a-tat-tat", the sound was crisp and continuous.

  I finished and said to Long An: "Vice President Long, target verification!"

  Long An learned from the swallow's posture and gave a military salute: "Yes, Comrade Principal!"

  After finishing speaking, he waved his hand and led the warriors who had just set up the target to run over.

  A few people ran back in a moment, completely losing their manners, shouting and yelling while running: "Too divine! Too divine! All hit!"

  Long An held two thin lines with copper coins tied to them and said: "They were all cut off at a distance of half a foot from the big coin. If I couldn't even see the big coin, let alone the line!"

  The whole audience erupted into thunderous applause immediately.

  Then I had Long'an set up three straw men wearing clothes at a distance of 500 meters.

  "I said: 'Vice President Lin, try the heavy machine gun, Vice President Huang, won't you lend a hand?'"

  Fei'er agreed, and the two of them checked the machine gun together, then reported: "Lin Yan, Huang Fei are ready, please give the order, Principal Long!"

  I waved my hand and said, "Eliminate the three invading enemies in front of us immediately, only six shots are allowed, each enemy must be hit by two shots, one shot to the heart and one shot to the forehead, execute!"

  Two people immediately lay on the ground, and six crisp gunshots were heard, "da da da da da", three scarecrows fell down.

  "I ordered: 'Vice Principal Long, target verification.'"

  Long An ran over with three people, and the four of them trudged back half a day later, carrying three straw men in a lackluster manner.

  "What? Missed the target?"

  Everyone was shocked and stared at Lin Yan, but she still stood there with a smile.

  Long An had three soldiers insert three targets there, then said in a low voice: "Principal, test the target!"

  I had just walked forward a little when four people couldn't help it anymore and burst out laughing.

  I took a look and, good grief, the three scarecrows all had bullet holes in exactly the same spot - right between the eyebrows and in the heart.

  The audience immediately erupted into thunderous applause.

  I said again: "Vice President Lin, try the handgun, can you hit a living thing this time?"

  Swallow immediately saluted and said: "Yes, Lin Yan is executing the order!"

  After finishing, she checked the * formula pistol. Just as a group of sparrows flew over her head, she fired three shots in quick succession. Four sparrows fell to the ground, with three having lost their heads and one shot in the belly.

  The swallow laughed and said: "What a coincidence! There are two that just happen to overlap with each other, unfortunately not overlapping heads! A little regret!"

  Applause broke out again, and now Vice Principal Lin Yan's prestige has been established amidst the gunfire, I'm relieved.

  After everyone calmed down, I smiled and said: "Okay, now let Vice President Lin give you a lesson!"

  During the time when Yan Yu was giving a lecture, I called Zhang Zhidong to one side and told him that I wanted him to take charge of military affairs first. Zhang Zhidong readily agreed, but then said: "Three hundred people are too few. I have some friends who hold positions in the three provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu, as well as in the two Jiangs and the three governor-generals' offices. I want to go visit them for two reasons: first, to get them to unite under your banner and, if necessary, control the military forces of the three provinces; second, to select some people from among them to increase the strength of our military school. What do you think?"

  I was delighted to hear that and said: "Good, I also thought of this matter. It just so happens that I have been entrusted with the management of the Navy Ministry, but I am afraid they will not be willing to hand over the navy. I also want to go to these three governor's offices to take a look and bring the three branches of the naval forces together as soon as possible to form a combat force. As for the students in the military academy, it would be best if the general could recruit more. As for personnel, I think it is naturally better to have more, but currently, it is advisable to have about 10,000 people. Do you know if Xiaoda can recruit that many?"

  Zhang Zhidong said: "When I was in Shanxi, I knew a person named Zhang De Cai. He opened a martial arts school called Wu Wei Wu Guan in Taiyuan and had more than 20 branch schools in various counties. He had over a thousand disciples and many followers. He always wanted these disciples to come out and make a name for themselves. These people's martial arts skills are very impressive, and their cultural level is not bad either. Their teacher also taught them Western studies. If the principal needs it, I can send a letter and they will all come over!"

  "I said with excitement: 'Alright, I'll call them over right away. We've just started and they're arriving at the perfect time to learn quickly, so when the time comes, we can all be of use together!'"

  I was still thinking of my third wife, Zhen, and after making some arrangements, I hastily returned to the palace with ten armed guards. As soon as I entered my courtyard, Xiaofuzi rushed over to say: "It's bad! Four iron-hatted princes have arrived, including Prince Gong, the emperor's biological father, Prince Qi, Prince Chun, Prince Xian, and Prince Yi. They all look furious! It seems they've come to pick a fight! They're all waiting for the emperor in the Nourishing Heart Palace!"