Chapter Eighteen I Have a Gun Now

  The squad leader kept his promise, and the next day Liu Dàyǒng brought Zhang Peng a 56-style semi-automatic rifle with a 70% new barrel. The blueing on the gun barrel was slightly worn off, the light yellow paint on the gun body had faded in some places, and the silver-gray bayonet did not reflect light. Zhang Peng took the gun and was overjoyed, unable to close his mouth. Under the squad leader's guidance, he disassembled the gun, used the tools inside the gun to carefully wipe it clean, figured out the gun's structure, memorized his own gun number, and reassembled the gun. Liu Dàyǒng demonstrated to Zhang Peng how to hold the gun, put it on his back, and shoulder it, and Zhang Peng quickly learned these actions with great enthusiasm.

  Liu Dayong again explained to Zhang Peng the rules for using a gun, such as not pointing the muzzle at people, not arbitrarily opening the bayonet, checking the gun after firing, and keeping the safety on when not shooting... and so on, until Zhang Peng memorized them by heart before taking him out to the drill ground.

  Zhang Peng felt that now only he had a gun in the learning team, and he couldn't practice shooting well. He really owed it to several leaders and couldn't afford to lose face. By asking for advice from veteran soldiers, he quickly learned about basic shooting techniques such as three points one line, breath control, muscle control, and trigger control.

  One day, Zhang Peng found a booklet in the reading room during class that promoted the "Divine Shooter Four Consecutive" unit. This unit was awarded the honorary title of "Divine Shooter Four Consecutive" by the Ministry of National Defense for its outstanding performance in the military competition. The booklet detailed their shooting training methods, and he decided to follow it for his own training.

  When practicing kneeling shooting, according to the standard gun posture, his right foot and calf formed a straight line, tightly attached to the ground. The requirement was four hours, but Zhang Peng didn't have a watch, so he didn't know the time. Often, when he practiced until he fell to the ground, his posture still maintained the kneeling shooting position, like a statue.

  When practicing standing shooting, four red bricks were hung on the gun, maintaining the aiming and shooting posture for half a day, regardless of mosquito bites or wind and rain, without stopping until exhausted.

  To train the stability of holding the gun, Zhang Peng changed his evening physical training to lying on the bed with bricks. As long as he had a gun in hand, the sparrows on the branches, the porcelain bottles on the wire rod, the streetlights at night, even the shaking dry leaves were all targets for Zhang Peng's aiming practice.

  Without moving targets, Zhang Peng could only run himself, repeating the actions of holding the gun and aiming while running, making the sights quickly lock onto the target. The gun was also wiped clean every day, with a major cleaning every week, disassembling and reassembling it daily, so that the structure of the gun was deeply familiar to him, and even with his eyes closed, he wouldn't make mistakes.

  The villagers saw Zhang Peng's 'obsession' and thought that this kid was just a 'three-day fever', unable to persist for a few days. However, they did not know that years of martial arts training had made Zhang Peng's willpower extremely strong. Two months later, when people saw Zhang Peng still silently persevering alone, without giving up halfway as they had expected, they couldn't help but secretly admire him.

  The weather is getting hotter and hotter, and the scout camp training has also reached its peak. The basic skills training is the foundation of combat, and the internal skills practice requires a long time, which is obviously not available in the troops' conditions, so the external skills practice has become the only choice for combat basic skills training.

  They changed push-ups to finger push-ups (using only the index and middle fingers) to exercise their finger strength. They hit sandbags, kicked wooden stakes, trained reaction speed, increased punching and kicking power, similar to the training methods of iron palm and iron leg in martial arts. Old newspapers were tied to tree trunks, and they took turns hitting them with both fists until the papers were torn apart, stained with the soldiers' blood like a butterfly dancing in the air. To improve flexibility, new recruits had their tendons stretched by older soldiers on the ground, after which the training ground was filled with "half-paralyzed" soldiers dragging their legs and walking like ducks. The busiest people in the company were no longer the company commander and instructor but the medical staff who were usually idle. Although they were only skin injuries, if not handled properly, they would still become infected. The medical staff kept disinfecting the wounds of the injured soldiers, applying red medicine, sprinkling anti-inflammatory powder, bandaging, and even running to the toilet. Soldiers who had been bandaged reappeared on the training ground, and new recruits were no longer passively forced to train but actively trained because they saw that the cadres and veteran soldiers on the training ground trained harder than they did, with more severe injuries, and the role model effect was often more effective than empty mobilization.

  Tenacious willpower, strong physique and enduring endurance are the essential conditions for a scout. These are cultivated in the usual crawling and rolling exercises, accumulated through repeated physical training that surpasses human limits, and forged into steel warriors through repeated battles.

  Zhang Peng quietly watched his comrades, one by one, with scars all over their bodies, eating with bandaged and blood-stained hands. At night, they helped each other climb up to a slightly comfortable position until dawn. Even when going to the toilet, they had to go together, to prevent not being able to get up after squatting down. All he could do was quietly help his comrades wash their sweat-soaked uniforms clean, tidy up the internal affairs of the squad, and prepare hot water for everyone to wash their faces every day.

  "Come on, come on, COME ON!!! It started as just a few idle new recruits playing wrestling during training breaks, but then several old soldiers couldn't help but step forward and start gesturing and comparing moves. Before long, the squad leaders got involved, and it evolved into a wrestling match between the first and second squads. The company commander brought over some wrestling uniforms, and with a serious expression, acted as the referee."

  Two rows of new soldiers took the stage first, and after a few rounds of wrestling, they had wins and losses. The second row sent Batuger up to the stage. Among the Mongolian men, there were several who didn't know how to wrestle, but it's said that Batuger had won prizes in their Nadam festival.

  After the match, Batuqer heard the referee's starting order and quickly got up, pulling his opponent with a "biezi", easily throwing him to the ground. Another one was assigned to come up again, and he used a "qiezi" to pull and trip, tripping his opponent and pressing him down, the second row cheered loudly, and morale greatly increased.

  A squad leader, Wang Baoxiang, saw that the new recruits in his squad were a bit timid and hesitant to go on stage. Watching Batuqer jump onto the grassland with the proud steps of an eagle celebrating victory, he felt indignant and stood up saying: "I'll go!" He quickly took off his upper garment, put on his wrestling boots and went on stage.

  Wang's build was similar to that of Batu, with broad shoulders and a round waist, his two chest muscles bulging. Only to see Batu very formally go forward and perform the wrestling salute, Wang didn't care about that, he took swift steps forward, stretched out his arms to hug Batu's legs, used his head to push against his chest, and flipped him over onto the ground.

  Batou was thrown off guard, naturally unwilling to accept it, and reopened the frame to re-throw. This time he didn't let Wang's sneak attack succeed, and the two of them tore each other apart. The soldiers from both teams shouted loudly to cheer on their own players. The two men were evenly matched, and for a moment neither could overcome the other, resulting in a stalemate. Suddenly, Wang flipped his hands outward, grasping Batou's forearm and pulling it into his chest, then fell backward, using a "sacrificial throw". Just as Batou was about to press down on him, he used a "rabbit kick eagle" to kick Batou in the stomach.

  When Batu fell heavily to the ground, a burst of applause erupted. Batu's face turned red with rage as he scrambled up to find Captain Lian to argue his case, saying that First Sergeant Wang Baoshan had not followed the rules (Mongolian wrestling rules: no grabbing legs, only using legs to kick; no attacking from behind, such as sneaking around and hugging the opponent's waist; no sudden attacks, such as when the opponent is wiping sweat, you must release your hands until they finish; no physical battles, if the opponent is tired, let them rest; hungry can eat first, then compare; no use of cunning or deceit, such as intentionally creating an opening to deceive someone). The reconnaissance company's rules were that no matter what method was used, whoever knocked down their opponent would win. On the battlefield, who would discuss rules with you? Captain Lian naturally declared First Sergeant Wang Baoshan the winner. Batu refused to leave the stage, spitting and cursing at First Sergeant Wang's behavior as "unmanly". Liu Daxiong had to step forward and pull him back.

  Zhang Peng was standing at the edge of the field pondering the two people's wrestling techniques when suddenly someone kicked him into the field with one foot!