Chapter 46 - 42 Live-Fire Shooting

Chapter 46: Chapter 42 Live-Fire ShootingFarm Team 12, right next to the Yangtze River. To the east, there’s a large mound; to the south, the river beach covered with thatch. There aren’t many houses around, and the County Armed Forces Department has long used it as a training base for the Civilian Militia of Four Factory Town and several surrounding townships. Starting from two in the afternoon, the crisp sound of gunfire kept echoing by the river. Five days ago, they shot at fixed targets a hundred meters away. Today was the second live-fire shooting practice, with increased difficulty—the fifty-meter moving target. Just like last time, groups of five. Minister Lei from the Four Factory Town Military Department and Chief of Staff Liu from the military science department of the County Armed Forces Department checked that everyone received five bullets each. One used a temporary field telephone to contact the personnel pulling the targets in the trench ahead, and the other gave the firing orders. "Third row, second squad, second group, step forward!" "Attention." "At ease." "Check your guns!" The Militia participating in the training were all seventeen or eighteen years old, with Han Yu being the shortest, standing on the southernmost side. Liang Xiaoyu’s family was struggling, and he was malnourished as a child, yet he grew the tallest and stood at the northernmost side of the row. Last time he fired five bullets, with three missing the target, making the Company Commander and the instructors very unhappy. Worried that he would perform poorly again today and get criticized, Han Yu couldn’t help but peek at him. "Han Yu, what are you doing?" "Reporting to Minister Lei, nothing." "We’re in the middle of live-fire shooting, focus your attention." "Yes!" Han Yu dared not get distracted again, and under Minister Lei’s command, he quickly loaded bullets into the magazine, lay down, adjusted his breathing, lined up the sights, aimed at the moving target, pulled the bolt, calculated the lead, and fired. Bang! The bullet, like an arrow released from its string, flew towards the target, and the recoil struck his shoulder heavily. Keep aiming, keep firing. After five bullets were fired, he stayed prone and motionless. Only after all his comrades had finished shooting did Minister Lei issue the commands to stand up, secure guns, check weapons, and fall in. At that moment, the scorekeeper reported the results over the telephone. Instructor Huang from the County Armed Forces Department, who enlisted in ’82, went to the Old Mountain Frontline in ’85, and was awarded third-level merit, reported the scores with modulation in his tone: "Position one, forty-two points! Position two, twenty-six points! Position three, thirty-five points..." A score of forty-two points on a moving target with five bullets was quite impressive. Minister Lei couldn’t help but laugh: "Han Yu, well done, you haven’t let down Director Xu." "Thank you, Minister Lei!" "Just one compliment and your tail’s already in the air. Lead your team back into formation, third group, get ready!" Han Yu was also very pleased to score forty-two. But what made him even happier was that after all of the third row had finished shooting, they could hand back the Type 56 semi-automatic rifles they had carried for ten days to the Armed Forces Department officials, leave the old schoolhouse of the farm they had stayed in for twelve days to attend a commendation meeting, then pack up their luggage and take the large truck that had arrived at noon back to Four Factory. Filled with joy, he also felt a bit reluctant to leave; after all, which boy doesn’t dream of being a soldier. These past twelve days, though it was just Militia training and very tough, had still fulfilled his dream of a green military camp. The hardships were all-encompassing. First, there were the living conditions; in the nearly abandoned old school building with no beds, they could only find wheat or rice straw to spread on the floor, then lay their bedding brought from the office on top, sleeping in a big common bed with more than a dozen people. The food was much worse than in the office, eating in squads, using basins to get food, serve dishes, and pour soup, which were placed on the ground for ten people to squat around in a circle to eat. Breakfast was steamed buns and porridge, lunch was a basin of stir-fry with soup, and only on the previous shooting day and today did they have an improvement in the form of a small basin of braised pork for lunch. It’s worth mentioning that they used basins for serving food and vegetables, as well as for washing faces and feet. At first, it was discomforting and made them lose their appetite. Now, accustomed to it, they ate whatever was available when hungry. Training was even tougher, with very tightly scheduled subjects. Drill marches, obstacle courses, firearms disassembly, bayonet fighting, live-fire shooting, grenade throwing, binding explosive packages, laying mines... Even manual labor was required, digging trenches, building fortifications, and conducting defensive position training. They also needed to learn military knowledge such as NBC (nuclear, biological, and chemical) defense. Morning exercises were mandatory, and evenings included roll call reviews; every day they were exhausted to the core. Their food intake had doubled, and as soon as they lay down at night, they fell asleep, regardless of whether Liang Xiaoyu and the others had stinky feet or snored loudly. As for the attire, Civilian Soldiers didn’t have uniforms. They wore work clothes from ship repair, pinned a small cloth patch with "Linghai Militia" on their chests, tied canvas ammo pouches around their waists, wrapped leg bindings, and wore liberation shoes brought from the office. Despite the hardships, the experience still felt meaningful, and they made a lot of friends. Even the shy and reserved Liang Xiaoyu opened up through these twelve days of training. Every time they sang, his voice was the loudest. As he was thinking about whether he would be commended at the upcoming commendation meeting, suddenly the sound of a motorcycle engine came from the distance. "Who’s that?" "Looks like the police." "Salted Fish, do you recognize them?" Han Yu grinned and said, "It’s our Director." Liang Xiaoyu also saw and smiled with his rifle in arms. The area was sealed off during the shooting periods, which kept others out, but couldn’t stop Xu Sanye. He drove his tricycle all the way to where Minister Lei and Chief of Staff Liu were standing; there wasn’t even a road here, so Han Yu genuinely worried that he might overturn the tricycle. "Minister Lei, I’m not too late, am I?" "Weren’t you headed to East Sea? When did you get back?" "Not just East Sea, I also went to Hui’an. I had just gotten home when I heard you guys were shooting today, so I rushed over." Xu Sanye took the cigarette from Minister Lei’s hand, turned around to look, and spotted his two subordinates, ordering them around like an instructor: "Salted Fish, Liang Xiaoyu, stand up!" "Yes!" "Come here." Training together were the Civilian Soldiers of three townships, formed into one company with three infantry platoons, one machine gun platoon, and one female Militia medical platoon, totaling over one hundred and thirty people. During the training period, no one was treated specially, and no leadership from other units came to visit except for those from the County Armed Forces Department. Having the Director come to see him and calling his name in front of so many comrades, Han Yu felt incredibly proud and thought it was very prestigious. He quickly got up, slung his rifle over his shoulder, and along with Liang Xiaoyu, ran forward. "Report to Director Xu, Han Yu and Liang Xiaoyu are here to check in. Awaiting instructions." "At ease." These twelve days of training weren’t for naught; one could feel that the spirits of these two ’fish’ had completely changed from before. Xu Sanye was very satisfied, patted Han Yu on the arm, tugged on Liang Xiaoyu’s gear, then turned back with a smile and said: "Minister Lei, Chief of Staff Liu, you’ve worked hard. The training went well." The last few militia members had finished shooting. Minister Lei gestured to the company commander to organize their return and turned to smile: "Since these two ’fish’ have joined the training, before they are dismissed, they are still my soldiers. You giving them orders directly, isn’t that a bit out of line?" Chief of Staff Liu strongly agreed, walked over with a smile and said: "Minister Lei is right. You barging into our shooting range and giving orders to our soldiers is disrespectful to us. Even Minister Gao wouldn’t do such a thing." "I’m here to inspect the results of your training!" Xu Sanye took Han Yu’s rifle, pulled back the bolt to check it, lifted the gun and aimed while asking: "How many shots did you fire?" Han Yu quickly reported: "Director Xu, five shots at a fixed target and five at a moving target, ten shots in total!" "Only ten shots in total... What about grenades? How many did you throw?" "We threw grenades all afternoon; I can’t remember the number of times." "Practice grenades?" "Yes!" Xu Sanye put down the rifle, turned around, and chided with a laugh: "Minister Lei, Chief of Staff Liu, your training is getting slack! Only ten rounds allowed for live fire, and using practice grenades for throwing. Does such training even make sense?" Everyone finds this man nauseating, but his relationship with the Armed Forces Department is exceedingly good. Chief of Staff Liu was not afraid of him and said unhappily: "Do you think it’s like when you were the Civilian Militia Camp Commander? These days, being able to organize a training session and fire ten rounds is already quite good." "How many bullets are left?" "Plenty of bullets, there are several large boxes in the vehicle." "Do you have pistol rounds?" "Yes." Chief of Staff Liu knew if Xu Sanye came, he wouldn’t leave without getting his fill of shooting. Drawing his pistol from his waist, he asked with a smile: "Do you want to use mine or yours?" "Both." Xu Sanye took his pistol, removed the magazine, pulled the slide to ensure there wasn’t a round in the chamber, and looked up to shout: "Xiao Ding, come here for a moment." Squad Leader Ding from the Armed Forces Department’s munitions depot hurried over, standing at attention and saluting: "Director Xu, any instructions?" Xu Sanye handed over Chief of Staff Liu’s Wusi Pistol to him and turned to point at Han Yu: "Teach Salted Fish how to use it." Squad Leader Ding immediately responded: "Yes!" The police should be using pistols; Han Yu was beyond excited and followed Squad Leader Ding away. "Minister Lei, you won’t be idling either. Find some bullets and give Liang Xiaoyu a proper lesson." "Alright, you’re not Director Xu now, you’re Minister Xu, and not just any minister, but a big shot, unlike a small-timer like me." "I’ll treat you to some old wine tonight." "You said it." Minister Lei laughed heartily, walked over, patted Liang Xiaoyu’s arm, and took Liang Xiaoyu to the truck carrying munitions to get bullets. Xu Sanye set aside the gun and took out an old military uniform with a red armband from a sidecar, changing his pants in front of everyone. "Chief of Staff Liu, it’s no fun training alone. Let’s do it together, same as old times. How about it?" "I didn’t bring my training uniform." "Just wear what you have; if it gets dirty, wash it when you go back." "I haven’t practiced in a long time, I really can’t do it now." "You’re a military staff officer, the backbone of the militia reserves. Anyone can say they can’t do it, but you can’t. When the enemy attacks, try saying you can’t!" Left with no choice, Chief of Staff Liu looked around: "It’s not possible just with the two of us." "Huang Hongjun, come here!" "Director Xu, what’s the matter?" "What do you think?" Xu Sanye retorted and patted Instructor Huang’s shoulder: "You’ve been to the frontline and seen actual combat. Today you will be the spearhead, with me and Chief of Staff Liu covering you." So what if you’ve been to the frontline? His military quality wasn’t as good as someone who has been playing with guns since childhood. Instructor Huang dared not show off in front of a master, nor dampen Xu Sanye’s enthusiasm, and could only nod firmly with a smile: "Director Xu, you be the spearhead. Chief of Staff Liu and I will cover." "Alright, hurry up and get ready. Let’s take that hilltop within fifteen minutes!" "Do we need hand grenades?" "Do you have live ones?" "Yes." "Then what are you waiting for? Go get them and also let Xiao Ding load a few ammo chains. After we take the hilltop, we’ll have a big plate chicken!" The next scene left Han Yu and Liang Xiaoyu dumbfounded. Xu Sanye, Chief of Staff Liu, and Instructor Huang strapped on their gear, cramming their gear with magazines; one of them even carried five hand grenades on their back. Xu Sanye shouted "Charge!" and took the lead, rushing toward the earthen mound. Chief of Staff Liu and Instructor Huang flanked him on the left and right, crawling, firing short bursts, and firing continuously, providing alternating cover as they advanced. They charged into the trenches that had been dug during the earlier field defensive training, wriggling through the trenches and throwing real grenades. With several thuds of explosions, the trio burst from the trenches and continued their advancing under the cover of gunfire and grenade blasts, actually reaching the hilltop. "As the sun sets behind the West Mountain with the red clouds flying, the soldiers go back to camp after the shooting, go back to camp; the red flowers on their chest reflect the colorful clouds, the pleasant songs fill the sky; Mi Shao that Mi Shao, that Shao Mi let me go, the pleasant songs fill the sky..." Searᴄh the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Having "seized" the "hill," they returned singing victoriously, as if they had won a major battle. "Salted Fish, do you see this? This is what you call militia training." Xu Sanye swiftly checked the rifle and handed it back to Han Yu. He then turned and asked: "Xiao Ding, is the big plate chicken ready?" "Report to Director Xu, all set." "Go set up some targets." "Yes!" After firing the rifle and throwing grenades, he started shooting with the Gatling gun. Not satisfied playing alone, he had Chief of Staff Liu act as the assistant gunner, with Instructor Huang and Squad Leader Ding from the munitions depot operating another Gatling gun, setting up crossfire. Looking along the traces left by the tracer ammunition, the targets in the distance were shattered to pieces by the continuous gunfire. ... PS: The Dragon Boat Festival has arrived, and Old Zhuo wishes all readers success like dragon boat racing, smoothly sailing; that your families be like the warmth of mugwort, happy and healthy! Also, thanks to readers like Immediate Action, Perfumed Tea Sigh, Xi Ying, and Spirit Wind for their generous rewards.