The fourth episode: Disassembling the car and practicing martial arts with a gun

  At that time, Zhang Biao himself led the way in front, and with big strides, he found the location of the cave entrance at the foot of the mountain. Zhang Dong looked around but couldn't see any entrance, and Sakura also carefully looked down at her feet. Da Yu let out a sigh and said: "Kids, stop looking, this entrance was blown up by your grandfather in the year the war ended."

  Zhang County Magistrate said to Zhan Dongdong: "Dongdong, when you have time, let me take you from the Heaven Road Cave entrance above."

  Zhan Biao slowly moved his footsteps at the entrance of the cave, looked up at the mountain and softly called out: "Si De..."

  Dai Yu also looked at the cave entrance and then at Xiaoyu. Xiaoyu hastily said: "Biao Ge, shout again, I seem to have heard Si De's voice."

  "Stop messing around, there haven't been any wolves here since liberation, and now there aren't even any wild chickens..." But as soon as he saw Zhan Biao and Xiao Yu listening intently, his voice grew softer and he too began to listen carefully.

  At this time, two more people came up from the mountain. The person walking in front shouted far away: "County Magistrate Zhū, our Secretary Jiāo has come to see the old hero." County Magistrate Zhū said to Zhān Biāo: "Grandfather Biāo, it's our county party secretary Jiāo and Director Liú of the county annals office who have come to visit you."

  Balding Secretary Jiao stepped forward enthusiastically and shook hands with Zhan Biao, respectfully sizing him up and saying: "It's truly an honor to meet you in this life, finally meeting the old master. You are one of the most famous figures in our county's history."

  Director Liu also bowed to Zhan Biao: "I am Xiao Liu from the County Annals Office, please have a simple meal with me before going down the mountain."

  Zhan Biao turned his head to look at Xiaoyu and said, "Xiaoyu, I'm really a bit hungry. Can you still make those vegetable dumplings from back then?" As soon as Xiaoyu heard the words "vegetable dumplings", she couldn't hold back her tears: "Every time it was me and Xiaobao who made them. After she left, I haven't made them once." Zhan Biao smiled mysteriously: "Then you'll make them again today. Many of us want to eat them. Ah, the fragrance is unforgettable." As he spoke, he walked down the mountain by himself.

  Director Liu hurried to catch up and asked in a timely manner: "Old hero, I have many questions to ask you. There are many contents in our county annals that I want to verify with you." Zhan Biao humbly shook his head: "You guys, as long as Da Yun is here, he knows everything."

  Director Liu hastily said: "That's right, Uncle Zhen also provided us with a lot of content. But there are still some things, some details,

  "For example, the heavy machine gun squad that made Japanese tanks retreat in disarray back then. Many people didn't believe you could take out a tank with just a heavy machine gun. And many others didn't believe you could use a heavy machine gun to blast a speedboat, destroy a watchtower, or shoot down an airplane... There are so many examples, I'd like to ask about each one."

  The second day of the battle at the foot of the mountain, the wounded Songshan did not bring his own special forces to collect the bodies with the Japanese army. He knew that even the stupidest person would not wait in place for others to come and avenge them. Moreover, he received intelligence that the anti-Japanese guerrilla squad was led by a squad leader named Zhan Biao, pulling twelve horse-drawn carts full of light and heavy machine guns to relocate. This was his first time knowing the opponent's number and name, and also knew that the mission of this anti-Japanese guerrilla squad was to stay behind and protect the weapons of a heavy machine gun company, and of course, more clearly understood that the main weapon of this anti-Japanese squad was indeed the heavy machine gun.

  Songshan, under the circumstances that the county's military strength was severely damaged, did not dare to make a move against Zhang Biao's batch of heavy machine gunners. The enemy's combat effectiveness was too strong, and the same number of machine guns in their hands had an astonishing power. That stability, that accuracy, that ruthlessness made Songshan both fearful and respectful. How could the Chinese army produce such an invincible team? It really made him think deeply and couldn't figure it out.

  Actually, if Songshan knew that these nine people were from a martial arts background, he would understand. The effect of using modern weapons is vastly different for those who know martial arts and those who do not. Songshan was well aware of this principle, just like the Japanese samurai and karate practitioners in his special forces unit had extremely accurate marksmanship and relatively high military quality. This is because such people can integrate the essence of martial arts into the application of modernized weapons.

  Zhan Biao made the new Fourth Army's Peng Xuefei squad leader and his soldiers feel this truth on the training ground.

  That night, after Zhang Biao and a company of the New Fourth Army withdrew and walked for a long distance, circling around for two days, they chose to settle in the most unexpected place. On a pitch-black night, twelve horse-drawn carriages rushed back to a mountain valley called Walnut Gorge, less than 5 kilometers west of Kao Mountain Town, who would have thought that they had turned back again. This Walnut Gorge was very secluded, with two entrances and exits in the south and north, making it easy to advance and retreat. After setting up camp here, Zhang Biao first asked Peng Xuefei to select those who were skilled in martial arts from the company.

  Because there was only one month's time, Zhan Biao wanted to train a batch of high-quality gunners, and the main training object would be people with martial arts foundation. Peng Xuefei selected five people who had practiced martial arts, and seven old soldiers with relatively good rifle shooting skills, totaling twelve people, as the main shooters for training. Of course, all the officers and men in the company were undergoing training. Seven or eight days passed, and most of these old Red Army soldiers mastered the basic techniques of operating heavy machine guns. They reached Zhan Biao's initial requirement of rapid operation training, and then further improved their skills quality.

  Similarly, when it comes to shooting, those who have learned martial arts can quickly form their own style and characteristics. Take Qiangzi for example, he shoots with a heavy machine gun, mainly focusing on being fierce and stable, not showing any mercy, cutting down the enemy like cutting grass, everyone calls him "Ba Wang Gun". San De is mainly focused on agility, when shooting, he moves around a lot, scattering bullets everywhere. During the last battle, San De was firing while thinking of knocking down the tree above the enemy's head to crush the devils who were hiding, earning him the nickname "Hou Wang Gun". Zhan Biao's heavy machine gun skills are even more impressive, being both stable and agile at the same time.

  Zhan Biao brought out two Maxim heavy machine guns to let the New Fourth Army soldiers master various types of heavy machine guns. He tried his best to make the soldiers familiar with the weapons commonly used by both sides. What he didn't expect was that these two Maxim machine guns made Songshan believe that Zhan Biao had moved the protected heavy machine gun away. At that time, he repeatedly asked the intelligence personnel if they saw the yellow cylindrical barrel of the gun. Because the barrel of the Maxim heavy machine gun is a yellow cylinder, which is different from the heat dissipation finned barrel of the 92-style heavy machine gun. Therefore, the Maxim heavy machine gun is also called "Old Yellow Cow".

  Qiangzi was explaining the usage of two heavy machine guns very seriously. He told the soldiers: "The Maxim is a water-cooled machine gun, but we haven't added water in our recent uses. The key here is to grasp the timing before the machine gun overheats, and stop shooting for a while before continuing. If you do use water, be careful not to expose the target with steam."

  He also asked the soldiers to compare the differences between the canvas ammunition belt and the 92-style metal ammunition plate. He told everyone: "These two ammunition supply methods have their own advantages, the canvas ammunition belt can hold more bullets, with 100-round and 200-round chains, but the canvas ammunition belt has a short lifespan, and the bullets on the belt are prone to shifting, which can cause interruptions in shooting. Old canvas belts rarely have the ability to continuously shoot an entire chain; metal plates hold fewer rounds, only holding 30 rounds, which is not conducive to sustained fire, but metal plates have a long lifespan, can be reused at least 20 times, and the bullet fixing effect is good, making it less prone to malfunctions during shooting. If there is a deputy shooter reloading next to you, it will also be very stable."

  So he trained the deputy gunner to quickly and continuously install a new ammunition board at the tail of the previous one when using Type 92. When using Maxim, the deputy gunner should keep the canvas belt smooth and avoid the displacement of bullets on the belt.

  Under the patient and meticulous explanation of Qiangzi and the actual practice of San De, Da Yu, Er Min and others, these old Red Army soldiers and guerrilla team members quickly mastered the operation of two heavy machine guns, including Czech-style and 96-style, and three light machine guns. Especially for those who knew martial arts, they learned quickly and could play a role, and soon became the fighting backbone under Peng's command.

  In the teaching process, Zhan Biao and nine others became good friends with all the soldiers in the platoon and eight guerrilla fighters. Zhan Biao even took out time to lead everyone to practice various martial arts, organize practical grappling and boxing, and had a kind of special forces training feeling. What surprised Peng Xuefei was that after learning martial arts for a few days, the soldiers' mastery of modern weapons improved significantly compared to before, and it turned out that martial arts and military quality had a complementary relationship. Seeing the rapid progress of the platoon's soldiers, Peng Xuefei felt delighted in his heart, this gain was too great! If they continued training like this for another month or three months, the platoon would be unrecognizable.

  Zhan Biao learned the good traditions of the Red Army while teaching military knowledge. In the process of getting along with Peng Xuefei, he knew for the first time the content of the "Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points of Attention" of the Red Army, and saw the true love and care of the New Fourth Army for the common people. What made Zhan Biao amazed was the relationship between the New Fourth Army and the common people, which could be described as a fish-water relationship. Wherever the New Fourth Army went, they would receive the concern of the common people, with some sending information, others sending clothes and food. The common people all knew that the New Fourth Army and the Eighth Route Army were the former Red Army, and only changed their name to unite against the devils. They were close to the New Fourth Army, treating them like family members. But they had no good impression of the various Nationalist armies that had been fighting the Red Army in the past, and kept a distance from them. Zhan Biao thought back to last year when he came to the front line from Sichuan, and the scene of cities along the way welcoming him with open arms, and felt deeply moved. The eyes of the common people were bright, and as soon as the Nationalist army started to resist Japan, their attitude improved. From then on, Zhan Biao made up his mind secretly, determined not to fight in a civil war, and Chinese people should not fight each other again.

  Seeing the warriors' rapid training results, Zhan Biao was also very happy, and he was even more comforted that while teaching the new Fourth Army, the military quality of the anti-Japanese class was also improving. He secretly thought in his heart, I wonder if Xiaofeng in the mountain cave can also seize this precious time to continue his previous training.