Chapter 3: Unfortunate Timing

  The county government called for the collection 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 fool the higher-ups. But Zhou Xianzhang carried his gun into the city and sat at the county government gate to clean 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 and said, "Of course, in order to inherit the legacy of Old Hero Zhou and complete the great historical mission of fighting against the devils, after collective discussion by the villagers, we have decided to send Zhou Xuan Zhang to join the army and represent our fellow countrymen in retaking 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 righteous deed!" The village head wished that Zhou Xuanzhang would die for his country tomorrow.

  Zhou Xuan Zhang was overjoyed and kowtowed three times in front of his grandfather's portrait: "Grandfather, I'm going to join the army to 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 get my hands on those tanks, planes, and cannons, I'll make sure to kill even 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.

  Contrary to Zhou Xuan Zhang's expectations, the guns used by the Liberation Army were vastly different from those made in Hanyang!

  Type 95 assault rifle, Type 03 rifle, Type 97 sniper rifle, Type 95 light machine gun, QJY-88 general-purpose machine gun, QJZ-89 12.7mm heavy machine gun, have nothing to do with Hanyang Arsenal. And W99 82mm recoilless rocket artillery, PP89 100mm mortar, W86 120mm recoilless rifle, Chinese Type 75 105mm recoilless rifle, and Type 99 main battle tank are completely beyond Zhou Xuanzhang's imagination.

  If Zhou Xuan Zhang had never touched a gun before joining the army, it would be like starting from scratch on a blank sheet of paper. As for these modernized weapon equipment, he could gradually adapt to them and might even become an "army king" who can handle eighteen types of weapons with ease.

  The problem is that Zhou Xuan Zhang has been playing with the Hanyang Arsenal since he was three years old, and after more than a decade of practice, he can play it with precision, hitting whatever he aims at, making him unbeatable.

  However, the shooting action of Hanyang-made guns is completely different from modern firearms. Zhou Xuanzhang's habit was ruined, and those 95-style assault rifles, 03-style rifles, 97-style sniper rifles, 95-style light machine guns, QJY88-style general-purpose machine guns, and QJZ89-style 12.7mm heavy machine guns became Hanyang-made in his hands. Operating these modernized firearms with the techniques of Hanyang-made guns is simply like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

  Originally, Zhou Xuanzhang was very spirited, but he had limited experience and had never left the mountains of western Hunan. He hadn't seen much of the world and suddenly found himself in a military camp, which took some getting used to. Additionally, his habits from Han Yang were too deeply ingrained, and he couldn't handle any gun smoothly. As a result, after three months of new recruit training, Zhou Xuanzhang's marksmanship scores were always at the bottom.

  In fact, if given time, Zhou Xuanzhang gradually changed his bad habits and he could become a qualified soldier.

  However, the new recruit camp gave Zhou Xuanzhang too little time, only a short three months. He hadn't even figured out what was going on before the new recruit camp ended, and the instructor's evaluation came: "This soldier is suitable for feeding pigs!"

  After completing his new recruit training, Zhou Xianzhang, a skilled shooter from Hanyang, was assigned to the pig farm.

  Arriving at the pig farm, Zhou Xuanzhang finally realized that he might never have the chance to fulfill his grandfather's wish of beating the devils in this lifetime! In other words, he would not be able to enter the ancestral tomb of the Zhou family.

  Disheartened and disappointed, Zhou Xuanzhang was like a broken jar, taking out his frustrations on the pigs all day long. He would kick open the gate of the pigpen with his foot, and use every trick in the book to make them lose weight. While other people's pigs were growing fat, Zhou Xuanzhang's pigs were losing weight nonstop. A pig that originally weighed 50 kilograms was reduced to 30 kilograms under his care. People suspected that he must have stolen half of the pork and cooked it for himself in the middle of the night.

  The leader finally couldn't bear it anymore and gave Zhou Xuanzhang a demerit for animal abuse. It was announced immediately that Zhou Xuanzhang would be discharged ahead of schedule and return home.

  Zhou Xuan Zhang, if he returns home with a guilty conscience, not only will he fail to fulfill his grandfather's last wish, but he won't even be able to become a village cadre after returning home. He'll just end up back where he started, continuing to suffer in poverty. What's worse is that the Han Yang Cuo passed down by his grandfather will also be gone!

  Zhou Xuanzhang could only buy two bottles of Erguotou, facing the pigpen to drown his sorrows with wine. As he got drunk, he sighed loudly towards the sky: "Born at the wrong time!"

  Born to be a general for eighty years, the Han Yang rifle is the standard weapon of the Chinese army. Zhou Xuan Zhang must have shown his skills and become a prominent figure in the military, not only will he not be assigned to the pigsty, but also has the possibility of becoming a warlord who opens up new territories and marries dozens of concubines!

  Indulging in self-pity, a bolt of lightning struck from the sky, a deafening thunderclap exploded above, followed by torrential rain.

  Zhou Xuan Zhang suddenly had an idea and shouted "Not good!"

  The pigpen was built in the river valley, and it would inevitably flood when heavy rain came. Zhou Xuan Zhang was punished for animal cruelty and was ordered to return home early. If a few more pigs drowned, what a great sin!

  Zhou Xuan Zhang rushed into the pigpen, driving the pigs up to higher ground. Just as he had driven them out about ten meters or so, a loud rumbling sound was heard from behind him. Zhou Xuan Zhang turned his head around and was frightened pale.

  The mountain flood rushed into the pigpen and the pigpen collapsed with a loud crash.

  An old mother pig was stuck on half a wall, with half of her body submerged in the floodwaters, grunting non-stop, and still sporting a bright red scar on her head, looking just like a chubby Erlang Shen.

  The scar on the mother pig's head was scalded by Zhou Xianzhang with boiling water a few days ago.

  Zhou Xuanzhang was deeply regretful. He was sent to the pigpen, and the person in charge was the instructor, not the old sow, although that instructor had a brain like a mother pig! The injustice has its mastermind, Zhou Xuanzhang mistakenly took the innocent mother pig as Erlang Shen, he really found the wrong person.

  Zhou Xuan Zhang regretted in his heart, seeing the old mother pig was about to be swallowed by the floodwaters, he jumped into the floodwaters without hesitation, struggling to swim to the back of the mother pig, using all his might to push the mother pig's buttocks.

  The sow also made an effort and, with Zhou Xuanzhang's push, climbed up the high slope.

  The sow escaped, Zhou Xuanzhang let out a sigh of relief, but didn't expect a huge wave to come crashing over, Zhou Xuanzhang's feet slipped and he fell into the turbulent floodwaters, in an instant he was gone without a trace.

  Zhou Xuan Zhang's glorious deeds of heroically sacrificing himself to save a mother pig have been widely spread throughout the army.

  The leading research decided to revoke the administrative demerit punishment against Comrade Zhou Xianzhang. In order to commend Comrade Zhou Xianzhang for his heroic act of risking his life to rescue national property, he was posthumously awarded a second-class merit once.

  The troops held a grand memorial meeting, where Comrade Zhou Xiangzhang's comrades-in-arms, leaders and new recruits' company instructors spoke one after another to recall the glorious deeds of Comrade Zhou Xiangzhang during his lifetime.

  Among them, the speech of the new recruits' instructor was particularly moving: "Comrades, Comrade Zhou Xuan Zhang is a rare military genius, but he was born at the wrong time! He was not born to operate modern weapons such as 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... However, if you give him a Mauser rifle or a Han Yang rifle, I think none of us here can be his opponent! Unfortunately, it's the 21st century now, and the troops cannot provide a place for such talents to use their skills! Comrade Zhou Xuan Zhang died for the mother pig, which is also a worthy death..."