Tenth: Tug-of-war and Archery
The military training has passed the halfway point, and today is the day for target practice assessment. The shooting range is located in a mountain more than ten kilometers away from the barracks, so we need to conduct a march exercise on foot to get there first. For young people who have been confined to the military camp for almost two weeks, the exercise seems like a romantic outing hike.
The sky is so serene after the rain, the morning sun shines on my body, only feeling radiant and beautiful, not scorching hot. The fresh earthy scent in the air makes people feel refreshed. The long military column stretches far and wide, with no end in sight. The old soldiers from the veteran troops carried the ammunition up the mountain first, while the students only carried a military canteen, advancing lightly, enjoying the scenery along the way. Someone suddenly felt like it and started singing popular songs, which hadn't happened in a long time for these young students who were usually so tense. The squad leaders didn't mind; they just let them be. It was this group of "PLA soldiers" dressed in mismatched uniforms that attracted the attention of the villagers working in the fields, who kept pointing and staring.
Lin Fanghua walked in the team, also humming those familiar songs with everyone. At that time, the most popular songs on campus were "Heart of Dynamite" and "Looking Back Again". To say that many classic old songs from this decade, even twenty years later, still have a good taste. Just like parents who are also nostalgic for old songs in the 50s and 60s, every era has its own youth with their own songs, which leave an indelible mark on their youthful spirit and memories, thus becoming classics!
"Looking back, it's like a dream, looking back, my heart remains..."
After rebirth, Lin Fanghua discovered that people's souls actually yearn to be forever young. It's just that most people gradually lose their youthful vitality due to physical aging and become dull and lifeless; if they had the chance to remain physically young, their hearts would also stay young! Now, Lin Fanghua often feels like she is slowly assimilating with the people around her psychologically, becoming more impulsive, passionate, fearless, and eager to try new things.
Young people should be like this: singing in the daytime and having youth as their companion! I am the king of the world! (Titanic)
Hehe, forget the unhappiness of past lives, make the most of your youth and let loose for once!
Everyone walked for more than two hours to reach the shooting range in the mountains. The shooting range was set up quite cleverly, using the existing terrain of two relatively standing small hills. The targets and shelters were on the waist of the opposite mountain, and the shooting range was on a protruding section of the cliff on this side of the mountain, with both sides connected by signal flags and walkie-talkies.
The trainees took a short break before starting the live ammunition shooting assessment in groups. As it was the boys' turn first, the girls' classes sat far away at the back waiting. Soon after, one group after another of "bang bang" gunshots, some boys who had finished also came over to rest. A real-life live ammunition shooting experience is a dream come true for many boys, and they were almost all excitedly inquiring about or showing off each other's scores.
The first row finished shooting, and the captain Zhang Qiang came over to chat with Captain Jiang. Captain Zhang was as ordinary as his name suggested, and he didn't stand out in daily life, unlike Captain Zhu who was humorous and lively, or Captain Jiang who had a strong presence. However, he led his troops very carefully and meticulously, and the first row's performance was always top-notch in the regiment. This time, the first row performed exceptionally well again, with all five live rounds scoring above 30 rings, half of them reaching 40 rings, and four people achieving excellent scores above 45 rings. As he chatted with Captain Jiang, he also kept an eye on the second row, which was currently shooting targets. He didn't want the second row to perform better than his own, and as for the female soldiers in the third row, he didn't even consider them a threat.
The second lieutenant, Zhu Mingzhi, didn't have the mood to joke around with the male soldiers like he usually did. He stood behind the trainees who were taking aim, his face stern and silent. The three squad leaders felt guilty in their hearts, as the scores of the two groups that had gone before were not ideal, with the lowest being over 20 rings and the best still under 45. The three of them could only focus on guiding the male soldiers next to them on shooting techniques, because after each round, they would report the results once, and it wouldn't end until five rounds were completed. So during the interval, the squad leaders told the students to adjust their aiming deviation. Finally, a boy caught everyone's attention - he had already hit four 10-rings in a row. After the last shot rang out, everyone held their breath as they looked at the target on the mountain slope opposite them. The reporting rod shook horizontally twice.
"10 points!" Zhu Pai Zhang's face finally couldn't hold back, he laughed heartily, this time he didn't lose face after all. When the boy stood up and turned around following the commander's order, everyone saw that he was a handsome young man with bright eyes, slightly raised corners of his mouth, revealing his joy and a hint of shyness. Zhu Pai Zhang happily went over to pat him on the shoulder: "Liang Jiahui, good kid, you did great!" Liang Jiahui ran back to the boys' gathering place with embarrassment, soon surrounded by the other boys who swarmed up to congratulate or ask for advice.
The girls were also infected with the excitement of the boys, chattering non-stop. Jiang Piao Long turned his head to the girls and said: "Third row, listen up! Later when you fight, don't be nervous or afraid, okay? Fight well and show off the majesty of the Maiden Army!" "Alright! Got it!" The girls cheered loudly. Jiang Tao smiled secretly: Don't care about winning or losing in the end, just can't lose in terms of momentum! Hopefully later when the real fight comes, that recoil won't make a few delicate girls cry!
After Liang Jiahui hit a full ring, the scores of the second row generally improved, and four others also shot excellent results. Zhu Paichang was satisfied with the last group of boys returning, he said to Jiang Paichang with ill intentions: "Look at you!" Jiang Tao gave him a white eye and took the first group of girls to the target position.
Girls' scores are indeed much worse than boys'. There are more people who score 20 or 30 rings, and those who score over 40 are rare. Moreover, the first shot is often good, but subsequent shots are not as good. This is probably related to factors such as girls' technical skills being inadequate, their hands shaking, and the gun butt not being held tightly against their shoulders. Many girls are often frightened by the loud noise of the first gunshot, and with their shoulders hurting from the recoil, they completely forget about technique in subsequent shots and start shooting randomly. One girl was so scared by the loud noise after the first shot that she shouted "Mom!" and threw her gun to one side, covering her ears and trembling with fear.
This situation was not beyond Jiang Pai's expectations. He could understand the girls' unfamiliarity with guns and had never really expected them to shoot well, so he wasn't unhappy or impatient at all. Instead, he squatted behind the girls with the three squad leaders, tirelessly guiding their movements and repeatedly saying "This gun is fine, just shoot like this!" to encourage them. One group was shooting, and four people couldn't take care of it, so Jiang Tao also called over the first and second squad leaders and two old soldiers who came to help maintain order. Now, each person had a dedicated coach behind them, and the girls' shooting scores gradually began to improve, with more and more hitting 40 rings.
It was Lin Fanghua's turn. Her target was in the middle, a position that was prone to errors because the recoil of each shot would cause the gun to shake, and if she wasn't careful, her next shot would likely aim at the wrong target. In her previous life, Lin Fanghua had made this mistake when shooting for the first time, but with experience now, she wouldn't make such a low-level error again. Moreover, she had twenty more years of life experience, which had eliminated the distractions in her mind, and as for her calm and composed state of mind, perhaps no one on the scene could surpass her. When she heard the command "load bullets", Lin Fanghua lay down, loaded the clip, released the safety catch, and aimed at the target while taking slow deep breaths. After hearing the command "start shooting", Lin Fanghua slowly aligned the aiming point, rear sight, and bullseye until they were about to form a straight line, at which point she held her breath. There were already people around her who had fired their shots, and the sound of "bang bang" could be heard from beside her ear. Lin Fanghua didn't rush, continuing to slowly raise her gun and aim while her right index finger slowly pulled the trigger. Finally, when the three points formed a straight line, she applied force with her finger until it reached the bottom. With a loud "bang", the 81 rifle in her hand shook violently. Lin Fanghua shrugged her shoulders, still okay, not too painful, looks like she had done a good job of shouldering the gun.
At this time, the target started to report! Lin Fanghua saw that the reporting rod on his target position shook up and down twice. "9 rings! Very good, just a bit high!" explained Bear Sergeant behind him, "Aim lower for the next shot!"
Lin Fanghua recalled the aiming situation just now and nodded.
Very soon, the next round of shooting began. Lin Fanghua was still unhurried, slowly coordinating with her breathing to aim, holding her breath when she was about to fire, and pulling the trigger with a slow and gentle motion, as if not using much force at all. She shot according to her own rhythm, almost always firing last in each round, but every time hitting 10 rings. Lin Fanghua felt that she had found the legendary "gun sense". The gun seemed to have come alive, its pulse beating in sync with hers, and she was one with her own heart's intent - wherever she pointed, she hit! It was like having the most perfect lover! Ah, this feeling was truly mysterious and wonderful!
Unfortunately, the five guns were soon finished! Lin Fanghua regretted that her intimate contact with this best lover, the gun, was so brief, but the wonderful aftertaste made people savor it endlessly and couldn't forget it.
She was still reluctant to put down the gun, and the boys behind her were all blown away! 49 rings, so far the only two best results! The boys only excluded one person, and the rest were all surpassed by a girl! "Who? Who is so powerful?" "Which target hit 49 rings?" "It seems to be that girl who plays guns very well!" The boys shouted and inquired, wanting to see the face of that magical girl clearly!
Jiang Pai Chang smiled and thought: Not bad, this little Lin is really good! Looking at her playing with guns, I can guess that she should be pretty good at shooting too!
Lin Fanghua also found that the rest area behind her was in a strange commotion, she quickly pulled Wang Ju beside her and said: "Let's go, accompany me to the restroom!" Then she turned around and ran towards the small woods on the side, where the temporary toilet was located.
They waited for the two to slowly return to the rest area, and the first round of shooting had already ended, with the second round continuing to assess. The trainees who finished shooting were all taken to a slightly farther place to rest and eat dry rations, and after lunch, they were free to move around. Most students wandered around nearby for a while before sitting on the ground in twos and threes to chat and gossip. Meanwhile, male and female students who had rarely had the opportunity to interact since the start of school also took this chance to get familiar with each other.
Several boys from Class 3, led by Dai Ping, also came over and sat down with the girls in their class to chat. Liang Jiahui and Lin Fanghua, who had just achieved the best scores among boys and girls respectively, naturally became one of the topics of conversation. Both the male and female champions were from Class 3, so everyone was proud. Guo Ling scored 43 points, which was also a rare good score. However, she was not satisfied and asked Liang Jiahui what his secret was to getting a full score. Liang Jiahui smiled helplessly and said: "Hey! I just have good eyesight, my vision is probably not just 1.5, but maybe even 2.0!"
"You're probably a 2.5!" Guo Ling joked, and everyone burst out laughing knowingly.
Guo Ling asked Lin Fanghua how she did it, and she honestly said: "I guess I wasn't nervous at all, and I just followed every point that the instructor said, so I played like that!"
Dai Ping said: "Yes, I also saw that. They can play so well because both of them are very stable players!"
Lin Fanghua secretly felt ashamed: My mentality is honed by time, and this Liang Jiahui is probably a truly steady person. She couldn't help but look up at Liang Jiahui, only to find that he was also looking over in her direction. The two pairs of eyes unexpectedly collided, and Liang Jiahui gave Lin Fanghua a slight smile. Lin Fanghua subconsciously nodded politely, then quickly turned back to talk to Wang Ju.
The topic of young people is always vast and everyone quickly chatted elsewhere. The male convener, Dai Ping, and the female convener, Tao Jianping, also promised that after the military training was over and returned to school, they would organize more collective activities in the class, such as outings, and increase exchanges and understanding among classmates.
Later, Zhu Pai Zhang and Jiang Pai Zhang also arrived at the gathering and got everyone to play poker. Zhu Pai's favorite game was "Deng Zhuang", and today he even brought a special prop for it - a gas mask. Whoever became the "pig" had to wear the gas mask and play a round. This mask wasn't just ugly, but also made you feel suffocated and uncomfortable in the sweltering heat. It's really impressive that he came up with such a mean trick! However, as the saying goes, "those who do too many evil deeds will eventually bring about their own downfall". Under Jiang Pai Zhang's command, everyone worked together to make Zhu Pai Zhang become the "pig" several times in a row. In the end, "Pig Pai Zhang" could only shout that it wasn't fair and flee the battlefield.
This live ammunition shooting exercise ended successfully in a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere!
(Evening wind said: Seeing someone collecting and recommending my work, it means that there are still people who appreciate this book, I'm very encouraged. Thank you for your support! Also, I'd like to mention that due to my irregular working hours and frequent overtime, updates may not be stable, and sometimes it may take a few days to update again. Please forgive me, dear readers! Or collect and nurture it before killing it O(∩_∩)O!)