Chapter 52: Pre-Battle Training and Wolfish Ambitions

Grasping the steel rifle tightly in his hands and feeling a heaviness he had never known in either of his two lifetimes, Chu An found it difficult to calm his racing heart.

Even though there were no bullets in the chamber and not a single shot had been fired here, at this very moment, Chu An seemed to have already caught the scent of gunpowder.

"Eyes on me, everyone! The rifles are in your hands now, and you'll have plenty of chances to look at them later!"

Suddenly, Old Wang’s voice drew the attention of the recruits who were fixated on the weapons in their grips.

Right now, Old Wang was also holding a Type 56.

After spreading a piece of cloth out onto the grass in front of him, he looked at the recruits of the fourth squad: "Stop crowding there. Gather around and sit down, put your rifles on your laps, and take out your paper and pens.

Later on, I will disassemble it and introduce you to the names and functions of each part of this rifle. You must remember them clearly!"

Old Wang wore a stern expression.

With that, once everyone had sat down according to his command, he directly began his lecture.

"You already know the name of this rifle: the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle. Why is it called this? Because it was finalized in production in the year 1956."

Glancing around at everyone, he continued: "This rifle has a total weight of 3.85 kilograms. Its length without the bayonet extended is 1,025 millimeters, and with the bayonet extended, it is 1,332 millimeters.

This length was determined through careful research and is extremely well-suited for close-quarters combat on our battlefields. Compared to some of the Soviet-style weapons used by the Vietnamese, it has a distinct advantage in reach."

Having said this, Old Wang paused.

Meanwhile, Chu An and the others rapidly took notes.

After waiting a moment and seeing that everyone had stopped writing, Old Wang spoke again: "Next, we will proceed with the field stripping of the rifle and discuss how to resolve common malfunctions you might encounter in daily use!"

Normally, these lessons would not take place until at least the second month of a recruit’s training, but now they were being brought forward.

In fact, it wasn't just these subjects that were accelerated.

Chu An and the others had already been told when they received their rifles that they would be heading to the shooting range this very afternoon.

In other words, they had just been issued their weapons before lunch, and before dinner rolled around, they would be conducting live-fire training.

Under any other circumstances, this would have been utterly impossible.

Although Chu An had not been a soldier before his rebirth, he still knew a few basic things.

For instance, when a recruit company is issued rifles, they are unloaded weapons. First, you have to practice aiming, practice stripping and assembly, rifle maintenance, and even pass theoretical safety examinations regarding firearms.

Yet everything was simplified to the bare minimum now, including the weapon presentation ceremony that normally accompanied the issuance of arms to new recruits, which was omitted entirely today.

Earlier, Chu An and his squad had simply lined up outside the armory. A rifle was handed out from the inventory, its serial number was called out, and names were registered on the spot.

There were simply no other redundant steps.

"Comrades, listen carefully to your squad leader's explanation. If we truly end up on the battlefield later on, what your squad leader is teaching you can save your lives at a critical moment, do you understand?"

The political instructor walked past behind them and shouted aloud.

Someone turned their head to look, but Chu An didn't even glance back.

He didn't need to be told this truth.

Field stripping, assembly, and various malfunction drills were things he had to master completely.

Once you truly step onto the battlefield, if your rifle malfunctions and cannot be fixed immediately, it is a matter of absolute life and death.

After all, this piece of equipment is your lifeline in combat. If it suddenly breaks down while you are firing and you cannot fix it, your lifeline turns into a useless piece of firewood.

This was no joke; Chu An was truly adopting a level of earnest focus and memorization he had never possessed in either of his two lifetimes.

"This is the receiver cover... This is the recoil spring..."

Old Wang disassembled the rifle part by part, moving at a measured pace and explaining how each component should be detached.

When the disassembly of one rifle was complete, and after waiting for everyone to finish writing, he asked again: "Did you all see that clearly?"

"Yes, we did!"

Only two or three voices replied.

Although the internal structure of a Type 56 semi-automatic rifle is simple, seeing it done just once left some recruits feeling unconfident, wishing to watch it again even if they thought they understood.

"Alright, Deputy Squad Leader, you try disassembling it once!" Old Wang glanced at the group, then looked at Chu An, who had also just spoken up.

"Yes!" Chu An glanced at the others around him, then set his notebook and pen aside.

He picked up the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle resting across his lap.

*Click, clack.*

"Step one, inspect the chamber!" Following Old Wang's routine, Chu An first pulled back the bolt a few times to check the chamber, and then proceeded to remove the receiver cover, recoil spring, and bolt assembly...

In just a short moment, the disassembly of the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle was complete.

Part of this was because the rifle genuinely had very few parts. The pieces removed thus far were very few, not even including the magazine.

This weapon used an internal box magazine, loaded via stripper clips.

"Very good, the deputy squad leader demonstrated correctly. Now, put it back together!"

"Yes!"

Acknowledging the order, Chu An proceeded to reassemble the rifle.

His movements were not particularly fast, and the entire process of stripping and reassembly took a little over half a minute.

"Not bad, the steps are completely correct. Did you all see it clearly? Who's next?" Old Wang looked back toward the others.

This was the first lesson before marksmanship training, and every single recruit had to learn it.

Of course, this was not the final lesson before hitting the range.

Once all the recruits mastered stripping, assembly, and malfunction clearance, the entire squad would immediately move on to aiming drills.

Training under the shadow of imminent war was an experience the Regiment C lacked entirely, and the officers and veteran soldiers of the recruit battalion were in the exact same position.

The battalion commander's hastily devised plan could only prioritize teaching the recruits how to fire first, followed by training them in other practical battlefield knowledge and skills as time permitted.

Time drifted slowly away...

On this day, the usual time set aside after lunch for folding blankets into neat "tofu blocks" passed without a word about blankets.

In fact, nobody even stepped inside the dormitory.

They remained on the parade ground, furiously studying the knowledge of firearm operation.

Meanwhile, at the regimental headquarters:

Inside the temporarily activated combat command room, the atmosphere remained somewhat chaotic.

Usually, this combat command room served merely as a conference room, but today, aside from the regimental commander who had led the main force to the front lines, all remaining top leaders had concentrated here.

*Ring-ring-ring—*

Suddenly, the ringing of the telephone inside the room caused the regimental leaders, who had been clustered around a map, to turn their heads in unison.

"This is Regiment C's command room!" The communications soldier picked up the receiver.

The next second, he looked up at the regimental commander and reported: "Commander, instructions from higher headquarters!"

The regimental commander strode over and took the telephone!

"I am Cai Xi."

"Hmm?"

"Is that so... Very well, I understand!"

The call was abruptly disconnected!

"Commander!" the chief of staff called out from nearby.

Glancing at him, the regimental commander turned to the others and said, "Orders from higher up: combat readiness status is being downgraded, and it reports that the 1st Battalion has already returned!"

"Did the enemy pull back?" The chief of staff frowned.

The regimental commander shook his head: "Unclear!"

With that, he turned back to the communications soldier: "Contact the political commissar!"

"Yes!"

The communications soldier hurriedly began calling out via the field radio.

In just a short while, the situation was confirmed.

The 1st Battalion had indeed been ordered to withdraw directly by higher command.

However, the reality was merely that our side had chosen a unilateral cooling-down approach. The enemy remained extremely arrogant, even proclaiming that our entire Liangguang region belonged to them, and declaring that everywhere kapok trees grew was their territory!

"Such wild ambitions! Damn them!"

The chief of staff clenched his teeth so hard they clicked.