Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Changjin Lake, a Hundred Battles, a Hundred Victories

Chapter 11 Combat Mission
For the next ten days or so, Chen Ming oversaw the training of the newly recruited soldiers.

It mainly teaches how to aim, how to shoot, how to avoid enemy fire on the battlefield, how to dig trenches, and so on.

These are all essential combat skills.

Chen Ming did not arrange physical training because the soldiers' nutrition was inadequate, and forcing them to train would only damage their bodies.

However, on the fifteenth day, Li Zhu and Chen Ming got into an argument.

"I strongly disagree! Isn't this a waste?"

Inside the room, Li Zhu was so angry that he slammed his fist on the table and argued loudly with Chen Ming.

"Each person has three bullets, so the whole team would need more than four hundred bullets. With so many bullets, how many Japanese soldiers could we kill on the battlefield?"

When Li Zhu heard that Chen Ming was going to give each soldier three bullets for shooting practice, he immediately objected.

He could listen to Captain Chen Ming on other matters, but when it came to matters concerning the family's assets, Li Zhu resolutely disagreed.

This is over four hundred rounds of ammunition, which accounts for one-fifth of the rifle ammunition seized this time.

These aren't roadside stones; you can't just have as many as you want.

Li Zhu was terrified of poverty and knew how precious bullets were. In the past, his district squad never had more than fifty bullets.

"Comrade Li Zhu, don't be in such a hurry, let me finish speaking first." Chen Ming quickly reassured Li Zhu.

“We didn’t have the resources before, but now that we’re better off, we should give our soldiers some experience in shooting. Otherwise, they won’t even know how to fire a gun on the battlefield.”

“You know our squad best. Many soldiers don’t even know how to fire a gun. When Dafei fired his first gun, he was startled himself.”

"Moreover, I am organizing shooting training in order to select good talents and focus on training them into a sharpshooter squad, specifically targeting the Japanese machine gunners and grenade launcher soldiers on the battlefield."

Hearing Chen Ming say this, Li Zhu paused for a moment, then sighed and said, "I know that live-fire training is very useful, but more than four hundred rounds is too much. Can we have fewer?"

“We can’t cut corners. Three shots per person is the minimum. Any less would be an element of luck and wouldn’t reveal the soldiers’ talent,” Chen Ming said.

"So, we used up over four hundred rounds this time. I'll return two thousand rounds to you next time when I lead my team to capture them. Is that alright?"

Looking at Li Zhu, the head of logistics for the district squad, Chen Ming could only offer kind words of advice.

The logistical burden of supporting the entire team of over a hundred people rested entirely on Li Zhu's shoulders; he wished he could split every penny in half.

There's no need for one-man rule when dealing with your comrades.

Upon hearing Chen Ming's promise, Li Zhu finally revealed a sly smile: "Alright, that's exactly what I've been waiting for. Next time you seize something, you must return two thousand rounds to me."

"So you were just waiting for me here? What a miser!" Chen Ming said, somewhat amused and exasperated.

This is the cunning of Chinese farmers in this era.

"We're not well-off, you know. If we don't spend money wisely, we'll all starve," Li Zhu said with a broad smile.

"Dog, bring out the prepared bullets and give them to the captain," Li Zhu shouted outside.

"Uncle Zhu is here." A boy in his teens walked in carrying an ammunition box. It was Gou'er, one of the survivors from Li Family Village.

Since Gou'er and his mother came to the district team with Chen Ming, Gou'er has been working in logistics with Li Zhu.

The dog's mother followed the village women, doing work such as sewing clothes and insoles.

When Chen Ming saw the ammunition box containing more than four hundred bullets, he looked at Li Zhu with a mixture of amusement and exasperation.

Li Zhu then dashed out, giving Chen Ming no chance to retaliate.

"Sigh," Chen Ming shook his head and sighed. After settling things with Li Zhu, who was in charge of logistics, Chen Ming began organizing the soldiers for live-fire training.

The soldiers were very excited; they could finally fire their guns, but unfortunately, the targets weren't Japanese soldiers.

Chen Ming adopted a method where each soldier fired one shot, and only after all the soldiers in the team had fired their shots did they organize an exchange to learn from each other's experiences, maximizing the absorption of experience from live-fire training.

There was no other way; ammunition was limited, only three rounds per person, so this was the only way to make up for it.

After most of the day of live-fire shooting, Chen Ming actually discovered several promising talents.

"Not bad, you hit the target at 50 meters in three shots."

Chen Ming was overjoyed and immediately made the decision to organize these soldiers into a sharpshooter squad, allocating them fifty rounds of ammunition and giving them priority access to the Type 38 rifles in the squad.

This scene made the other soldiers extremely envious; that was a Japanese Type 38 rifle, such a good gun!

However, this was something they earned through their own efforts. Even if the other soldiers envied them, they could only secretly resolve to ask them for advice later, practice aiming hard, and make the captain look at them with new eyes if there was another assessment.

On the third day, Dafei, who had been sent out by Chen Ming to gather information, returned with his team.

"Captain, we've found out everything. The Japanese soldiers, along with their puppet troops, looted grain in the countryside this time, and transported it all to the Xicun stronghold, fifteen miles away."

Upon seeing Chen Ming, Da Fei immediately reported this.

"I learned from the local villagers that the Japanese would send people from Ping'an County every week to transport the grain away."

Upon hearing Dafei's report, Chen Ming nodded and asked, "How many Japanese soldiers are in the stronghold?"

"I'm not sure of the exact number, but I heard from the villagers that there were about thirty Japanese soldiers with them every time they transported grain to Ping'an County," Dafei replied.

"Mm." Chen Ming nodded.

Under normal circumstances, since this stronghold sent about two small detachments of Japanese soldiers to transport food, it is very likely that only one small detachment of Japanese soldiers remained in the stronghold.

That is, a small squad of Japanese soldiers were stationed at the stronghold.

A small squad of Japanese soldiers, numbering fifty to seventy men, was too much for Chen Ming's district squad to handle.

However, if the Japanese troops are scattered while they are transporting grain, it might be worth considering a fight.

When was the last time the Japanese transported grain?

"Five days ago."

"Okay." Chen Ming nodded. "Pass on my order: the first squad and the sharpshooter squad assemble."

"Yes!"

Dafei excitedly ran to assemble the troops. He was the captain of the first squad. The captain's order to assemble meant that a battle was about to begin.

However, before Dafei could assemble the team, Wang Gui, the captain of the third team, approached Chen Ming.

"Captain, why is the First Squad being sent on this mission? Our Third Squad isn't some stepchild, is it?"

Wang Gui was very indignant. He had finally gotten a combat mission, but Chen Ming sent the first squad to the village while his third squad stayed behind to guard it.

“A-Gui, listen to me. This time, the enemy consists of two small detachments of Japanese soldiers, totaling more than thirty people. The mission is arduous. The first detachment is the strongest and will be the main force in this operation,” Chen Ming said.

"Captain, the soldiers of our Third Squad are not afraid to die, and we also want to fight the Japanese devils," Wang Gui said, sticking out his neck.

(End of this chapter)