Chapter 2: The Construction of Hankou

  Zhou Xuan Zhang has been in the Qing Dynasty for over a year after crossing from the 21st century! Before that, he was the "King of Soldiers" in the 21st century!

  Zhou Xianzhang, who grew up in the mountains of western Hunan, was no stranger to firearms. From the age of eight, he followed his grandfather into the mountains to hunt.

  Grandfather has a Han Yang rifle, which is the heirloom of the Zhou family.

  During the War of Resistance, more than a dozen devils sneaked into the mountains of western Hunan by mistake. The mountain people used long spears, bows and arrows, bird guns, and traps to wipe out all the devils in the mountains. Two devils were killed by my grandfather's long spear, and 55 mountain people died, including two uncles of Zhou Xuan Zhang.

  The National Government, in order to commend the heroic deeds of the mountain people in bravely killing the enemy, rewarded them with over a dozen domestically-made Hanyang rifles. Encouraging the mountain people to continue killing the enemy, one rifle ended up in grandfather's hands. Grandfather treasured it like a precious jewel, wiping it clean every day without interruption.

  Sixty years have passed in a flash, and other people's Han Yang knives are all rusty, but Grandpa's Han Yang knife is still black and shiny, like new.

  Zhou Xuan Zhang followed his grandfather to hunt in the mountains since he was a child, and became proficient in making guns in Hanyang. He could shoot without missing, and became a natural sharpshooter.

  Later, all the rusty Hanyang-made guns in the village were taken away by the village head, leaving only this old gun of the Zhou family. The 95-year-old grandfather refused to let go, saying that the gun was exchanged for his brother's life, and surrendering it would be a betrayal, a sign of weakness! It would be unforgivable to the deceased brother!

  The village head explained that it was true that they could not surrender their guns when fighting against the Japanese devils, but now is not a time of war, and it's not about surrendering to the Japanese devils, but rather handing in their guns to the people's government, with the goal of preventing the proliferation of firearms and maintaining social stability.

  To further publicize the significance of handing over guns, the village chief recounted a series of tragic US shooting incidents, showed photos of victimized children, and hoped that Grandpa could learn from them, understand and cooperate with the government's work.

  Grandpa hugged Han Yang, his white beard fluttering as he glanced at the tragic photo, and suddenly became furious: "This must be done by those damned Japanese devils! The devils made us fight in Xiangxi, and then ran to America to harm people! Where is America? I want to go to America to kill the devils!"

  The village head and grandfather couldn't make themselves clear, so they left in a huff. This Han Yang rifle became the only steel gun left in the hands of the mountain people in the depths of the mountains.

  One year later, the 98-year-old grandfather passed away peacefully. Before his death, he handed over Han Yangzao to Zhou Xuan Zhang and instructed him to continue fighting against the devils, even if they fled to America, and to pursue them relentlessly until they were defeated. If the devils were not defeated, then one could not enter the ancestral tomb!

  Grandpa is also getting old and muddled, it's already the 21st century, which devil has nothing better to do than run to this poor and remote place? As for America, it's far across the ocean, what business does that place have with Zhou Xuzhen?!

  Zhou Xuanzhang couldn't calm down his grandfather's anger and could only nod reluctantly.

  The old man's body was still warm, and the village head came again.

  The village head bowed three times in front of Grandpa's portrait and said with a heavy heart: "Comrade Zhou, the old hero, died before his ambitions were fulfilled, often making heroes shed tears! I represent all the villagers to express our deep condolences for Comrade Zhou's unfortunate departure. Now that the powerful People's Liberation Army has its own aircraft carrier, those little devils no longer dare to bully us, and the rifle left by Comrade Zhou also lost its use, so on behalf of the government, we will collect Comrade Zhou's Hanyang rifle.

  Zhou Xuanzhang held Han Yangcao in his arms and sat at the door, coldly smiling in his heart. This was not a visit to mourn, but clearly to collect guns!

  Grandfather treasures that old Hanyang rifle, but Zhou Xuanzhang doesn't think much of it. These days, the government advocates for protecting wildlife and prohibits hunting in the mountains, so having a Hanyang rifle at home is not only useless as food, but also a source of constant worry, fearing it will be stolen, making it a complete burden.

  But just putting away the gun like this, where is there such a good deal in the world!

  Zhou Xuanzhang patted his gun and rolled his eyes: "Village chief, my grandfather told me before he died to use this Han Yang rifle to fight the devils! Now that his body is still warm, you're taking away my gun. Aren't you afraid of my grandfather knocking on your door in the middle of the night?"

  Grandfather was a great hero in Western Hunan, and when he was alive, even the county head would show him respect. Although he has passed away, his legend lives on. The village head couldn't help but shiver: "Comrade Zhou Xianzhang, although Old Hero Zhou had this will, you are just a peasant, fighting against the devils is for the Liberation Army, it's not your turn, you just focus on farming well."

  Zhou Xuanzhang shook his head: "Village chief, you can't say that. The rise and fall of the country is everyone's responsibility. Every citizen has a duty to fight against the devils! My family is poor, we don't have tanks, planes or cannons at home, so I rely on this (Han Yang Jian) to fight against the devils! Of course, if I were in the Liberation Army and had tanks, planes and cannons, then this Han Yang Jian would be useless. When that time comes, I will voluntarily hand it over to the government." Zhou Xuanzhang said with a wink at the village chief.

  The village head was furious, it turned out that Zhou Xianzhang had been deceiving him all along, using his grandfather's will as an excuse. This little brat actually wanted to join the army!

  The village is too poor. Originally, the villagers had been hunting for generations, and the villagers were hunters rather than farmers. The mountainous land in the village couldn't produce good crops anyway. In recent years, the government has called for the protection of wild animals, so nobody hunts anymore, making life even more difficult.

  Being a soldier is a good way out, after serving for a few years and returning to the city, you will never come back to this poor mountain village. Even if things don't go well, when you return to the village, you can still become a village cadre.

  So, the young people in the village all wanted to join the army. However, the quota was limited, with at most one quota per year, and sometimes there were no quotas for several years, as they were all taken by relatives of township officials, and never reached the village.

  This year, a quota finally came, and the village chief has already allocated this quota to his own nephew.

  Unexpectedly, Zhou Xiangzhang relied on his possession of a broken Han Yang rifle and also had the idea of becoming a soldier.

  The village chief scolded: "Zhou Xuan Zhang, you little brat wants to be a soldier? You don't even take a good look at yourself, no looks, no culture, loafing around all day, if you become a soldier, you'll only bring shame to our People's Liberation Army..."

  Zhou Xuanzhang leaned against the door frame with his rifle, narrowing his eyes and remaining silent as the village chief scolded him. When the chief had finished, he stood up, slung his rifle over his shoulder, and said, "Chief, you just drink your tea, I'll go take a walk in town, I'll be back soon."

  "Going to the county? What the hell are you going to the county for?"

  "It's nothing, just taking a look at whether there are any devils in the county, my grandfather died with his eyes open."

  "Stop right there, you bastard!" The village chief's forehead was covered in big sweat beads. Zhou Xianzhang was going to bring the Han Yang rifle into the city on his back!

  The county government called for the surrender of guns, and all levels of cadres signed a letter of responsibility. The responsibility was implemented to each person's head, and if there were any problems in any town or village, from the town mayor to the village mayor, no one could escape. Now, only Zhou Xianzhang's Han Yang rifle is left in the village. If Zhou Xianzhang honestly stays at home, even if he doesn't hand over his gun, the village mayor can still muddle through when reporting to higher authorities. But Zhou Xianzhang carried his gun into town and sat at the county government gate cleaning it, which made a big fuss!

  "Village head, don't worry, I swear to heaven, I only kill devils when I go into the city, and will never indiscriminately kill innocent people."

  The village head was so angry that his face turned blue and black, this damn Zhou Xianzhang is still indiscriminately killing innocent people! As long as he walks into the city with a gun on his back, all township cadres and village cadres have to drop out of school!

  The village chief gritted his teeth, but had no choice, and clenched his jaw to say: "Of course, in order to inherit the legacy of Old Hero Zhou and complete the great historical mission of fighting against the devils, the village collectively discussed and decided to send Zhou Xuan Zhang to join the army, representing the villagers to recover Diaoyu Island!

  "Is what the village head said true?"

  "I guarantee it with my honor as a village head!"

  "So your nephew..." Zhou Xianzhang knew that the village chief had already settled on his nephew.

  "He can't, he absolutely can't," the village chief gritted his teeth and said: "Zhou Xianzhang has a gun in his hand, my nephew doesn't have a gun, and the gap between you two is huge!"

  "Then it's embarrassing."

  "There's nothing shameful about it, dying for one's country is a noble act!" The village head wished that Zhou Xuanzhang would die for his country tomorrow.

  Zhou Xuan Zhang kowtowed three times in front of his grandfather's portrait: "Grandfather, I'm going to join the army and kill devils, the Liberation Army has tanks, planes, and cannons, no need for handmade guns, I'll hand them over to the government. Please don't worry, Grandfather, when I become a soldier, I will definitely kill more devils for you!"

  Thus, Zhou Xuan Zhang handed over Han Yang Cuo to the village head and entered the new barracks wearing a big red flower.

  That week, Xianzhang was very spiritual and had been following his grandfather in the mountains for many years. He had also crawled around Hanyang for over a decade. As soon as he arrived at the military camp, he was like a fish in water. In less than a month, he mastered the 95-style assault rifle, 03-style rifle, 97-style sniper rifle, 95-style light machine gun, QJY88-style general-purpose machine gun, and QJZ89-style 12.7mm heavy machine gun. Not only that, but Xianzhang's military training subjects were all excellent, far surpassing those of other new recruits.

  After the end of the three-month new recruit training, Zhou Xuanzhang was assigned to a certain main force division reconnaissance company as an excellent soldier. In less than a year, he became a backbone in the reconnaissance company and was selected by the division as a top-notch soldier to participate in the martial arts competition at the regimental level. He won two first prizes out of four events, making him famous throughout the regiment. Zhou Xuanzhang became a true "King of Soldiers"!

  Soon after, a special troops battalion was formed in the division, and special troops were selected from the whole division.