Chapter Twenty-Two: Quick Draw

  The surrounding soldiers rushed up, and with a flurry of hands and feet, they turned Gudao over, only to see his face pale, muttering nonstop: "It's all over, it's all over..." Everyone first removed the bullets from the 'culprit' gun, and after flipping Gudao's body back and forth, they didn't find any wounds. "It's in his crotch!" A sharp-eyed soldier discovered a bullet hole in Gudao's crotch. Several people quickly pulled down his pants and underwear.

  "What's wrong, where are you hurt?" The captain heard the news and rushed over with the medic.

  Everyone quickly made way for the medical staff to come forward and check. After a while, they heard the medical staff say: "It's nothing, the 'bird' just broke some skin, it's just..."

  "What is it? Spit it out!" The captain was getting impatient.

  The nurse picked up a few hairs with tweezers and said: "Only a few 'bird' hairs were singed!"

  "Really!" Gu Tao heard that nothing was wrong, and with great effort, he lifted his head to see that his "bird" was intact and unharmed, and he let out a silly laugh.

  The health worker was also quite cruel, using iodine to wipe down Gu Tao's "little brother", then wrapping it in gauze circle after circle until the end of training, his "little brother" was still bright red, earning him the nickname "Firebird".

  "Fall in!" The captain ordered, and everyone hastily lined up. With a "thud", Gu Tao fell to the ground again, startling everyone.

  "It's nothing, it's nothing!" Gu Tao explained while blushing and pulling up his pants that had been pulled down to his ankles by everyone.

  The captain looked at the group of soldiers who were trying to hold back their laughter, and then at Gu Tao's disheveled appearance, and couldn't help but burst out laughing himself. "You bunch of idiots!" he cursed with a smile. "You're learning how to shoot from women? You can't even hit the target, but you're really good at shooting into your own crotch! Get back to class!"

  After returning, the leaders praised them, the team leader praised them, and the instructor praised them! Finally, the last few squad leaders took turns praising again. Everyone was so scared that they didn't dare to breathe. As a result, two rifle teams were closed for two days, and the rest were suspended from training for one day - rectification, studying regulations, deeply exploring the ideological roots, and writing 2,000 words of reflection on watching the excitement.

  The leaders of the training team, who have been leading troops for many years, deeply understand the truth that "preventing is not as good as letting go". The more you prohibit something, the more the soldiers want to do it. If you let them do it openly and honestly, they will lose interest. After discussing with several leaders, they decided to organize a "quick draw" competition.

  The weather on the day of the competition was very suitable for shooting, with no wind and clouds covering the sun just right. The competition was free to sign up for, and about 20 soldiers signed up, including Zhang Peng. To prevent mistakes from happening again, such as accidental discharges, the guns were personally inspected, loaded, and had their safeties engaged by the instructors before being placed in the competitors' holsters. The rules were simple: a 25-meter chest ring target, standing upright with both hands holding the gun, hearing the command to draw, aim, and fire; each gun only had one bullet, and there was no fixed way to draw, so it was up to individual choice; the score was mainly based on speed, but hitting the target was a must, and if the speeds were the same, then the number of rings hit would be counted; everyone had an equal chance, with each person getting one shot.

  The sound of gunfire accompanied the instructor's voice, '1.8 seconds', '1.5 seconds', '2 seconds', '1.3 seconds'. Zhang Peng stood quietly in the lineup, watching every member's movements and analyzing how to increase speed.

  "Lao Cai, I won in 1.1 seconds! I beat you!" 'Huoniao' brother shouted excitedly, he even forgot about the trial that day.

  Soon it was Zhang Peng's turn to take the stage, he shouldered his gun and came to the target position, standing at attention with his hands raised, after hearing the "start" command, he quickly lowered his arms, his right hand five fingers together, along the seam of his pants upwards, over the gun cover position, swiftly downwards, using his ring finger to pop open the strap on the holster, palm up, bringing up the gun box cover, middle finger following through to hold the rear position of the trigger, taking out the gun, four fingers gripping the gun handle, index finger placed on the trigger, thumb pressing down on the safety catch, swiftly turning sideways to aim and fire, the entire process without a single unnecessary movement or pause.

  "Zhang Peng, 0.8 seconds, ten rings!" Zhang Peng shot the best score on the field so far, and several players who followed him, although they tried their best, still couldn't surpass his score. Finally, several disgruntled players and coaches tangled with "mushrooms" for half a day and shot another round, but still didn't break into 1 second. The pistol shooting coach also only scored 0.9 seconds, 9 rings, when he came on stage. The coach concluded that Zhang Peng was small in stature and had short arms, so he was faster by 0.1 seconds! But this did not affect Zhang Peng's winning the title of "First Fast Gunman" in this training session.

  The main event of the rapid-fire training, assault shooting training has begun. This method is widely used in various types of assaults, rushes, rappelling or underwater assaults. The assault shooting method is the easiest to train but also the most difficult to master.

  The tactical shooting training ground, where the team was taken, has trenches, bunkers, shell craters, cemeteries, barbed wire and broken walls... various obstacles and simulated terrain. The team members, armed with submachine guns and pistols, charged forward to respond to various enemy situations and choose the right weapons to eliminate the enemy.

  The instructor Li Yong of the training team made a demonstration first. Instructor Li was of medium build and had a well-proportioned body, but his eyes were somewhat cold, making people dare not get close to him. It is said that he had fought in the northern border. When our army conducted prone shooting exercises, there was a preparatory command. After hearing the captain's "prepare" command, Instructor Li took a step back with his right foot, forming a bow stance, with his right hand holding the gun and his left hand forming a palm in front of his left knee, and his eyes gazing straight ahead. This movement had a special spirit, like a leopard ready to pounce on its prey at any time. After hearing the command "prone", he kicked his right foot, and his body rushed forward, sliding out about 20 meters before stopping. His right hand quickly drew the gun, assuming a prone shooting position. "My god, how did he do that?" A team member couldn't help but exclaim. "Enemy sentry spotted 30 meters ahead!" Before the captain's voice had fallen, Instructor Li had already knocked down the target. "Continue to charge forward!"... As the captain continued to change his commands, Instructor Li continuously adjusted his shooting method, adopting various tactical movements, and kept charging forward... The movement was beautiful, with the sound of gunfire and targets falling, like a flowing cloud and water, without any hesitation or delay. Amidst a round of warm applause, Instructor Li ended his demonstration performance, but his expression remained calm, showing no joy or anger.

  The seemingly easy training actually includes 400-meter obstacle course, 5-kilometer cross-country running, shooting while lying down, getting up and shooting; low-posture crawling, high-posture crawling, sideways crawling, high-posture sideways crawling, rolling in (stopping and moving), and other individual combat tactics. Continuously using various terrain to hide oneself and eliminate the enemy. In the process of rapid movement, the actual time spent in contact with the enemy is generally no more than two seconds, and during this period, the result of shooting at the target is either hit or missed. Generally, it takes a person about three seconds from discovering a moving target to aiming and firing, which requires having an "invincible" spirit when making a surprise attack, taking the initiative to open fire before the enemy, hitting the target is one thing, missing is another, but the opponent will also be scared away, but not shooting wildly. Although there is no fixed requirement for posture during shooting, in the first two shots fired by team members, at least one shot must hit a randomly appearing target within the line of sight, and each target only has one shooting opportunity, with a maximum of three shots. While shooting, maintain your own mobility to reduce the possibility of being hit by the opponent, even when changing magazines, you cannot stop moving.

  The team members, under the instructor's command, continuously performed various shooting actions, with their knees and elbows rubbing against the ground until they were sore. The stone chips on the ground made them feel like they were being pierced all over. Their clothes' knee pads and elbow pads were first worn white, then torn, and finally became transparent holes. After a day of training, their sweat-soaked clothes were covered in dust, which quickly formed a hard shell under the intense sunlight. As soon as they moved, they looked like beggars with big holes and small eyes. It was really embarrassing, but no one had time to wash, so after getting up in the morning, they would wring out their dry clothes and put them on again.

  "You're dead!" "You're wounded!" With the instructor's judgment, the soldiers had to return to the starting point again and again to restart the charge. In the sweltering heat, with high-intensity training, people would occasionally faint from heatstroke, be dragged under a tree shade, given some '藿香正气水' (a type of herbal medicine) or other heat-relieving medicines, wake up, drink some cooled boiled water, and then shakily rejoin the training. No one complained about the hardship; everyone cherished this hard-won opportunity.