1978: A Literary Giant Who Began His Military Service

Chapter 11 Third-Class Merit!
"Wait? Bring the target over here so we can take a look?" Company Commander Song initially thought these people had misremembered and asked the people counting in the tunnel to bring the target over for inspection.

Someone immediately ran over with a target.

Zhou Xu was slightly stunned by what he saw.

Until Squad Leader Li jumped up and down excitedly, then slapped Zhou Xu hard on the shoulder: "Fifty rings! Zhou Xu, that's fifty rings! You're famous now!"

Company Commander Song touched the still-warm target, and amidst everyone's expectant gazes, he spat and exclaimed happily, "It really is a damn fifty ring!"

Dig!

Immediately, everyone in the recruit company focused their attention on this tall and handsome young man.

Discussions erupted instantly. Some were envious, some were jealous, but the vast majority were shocked. Anyone who had actually shot at a target could understand that getting a 50-ring score was quite difficult.

The standard for recruit training is not the number of rings, but that if three out of five bullets hit the mark, then the recruit is considered to have passed the live-fire shooting test.

Wang Kang spat and muttered to himself, "What's so great about fifty rings? I'll shoot one later!"

Liu Xiang, who was standing next to him, chimed in, "You're going to do it again? There are only ten bullets left. If you want to keep shooting, wait until next month!"

Li Xiang said, "You've become famous, huh? Look at the company commander's expression, he's all fucking envious!"

That's really the case.

Company Commander Song adjusted his hat, glanced at the group of pumpkins, and said, "Shooting training continues. Zhou Xu, come here for a moment. Li Jin, come here with me!"

Squad Leader Li pulled Zhou Xu along that way. Since his soldiers had achieved good results, it would be beneficial for Zhou Xu to follow along.

The soldier who just fired lost his gun, which not only affected himself but also dragged down his squad leader.

Zhou Xu walked over, and like a docile little lamb, immediately saluted and said, "Good morning, Company Commander!"

"Alright, alright! Stop with the formalities. Have you ever trained?" Company Commander Song carefully examined the boy and found that his posture was fairly upright.

"Reporting to the company commander, my father was a volunteer soldier who served on the Korean Peninsula. After returning, he served as a militia captain. I carried quite a few guns with him, but mostly for hunting wild boars and livestock! And they were homemade guns," Zhou Xu explained.
Well, I just mentioned it casually, that my father was a volunteer soldier, it wasn't intentional.

"Not bad, not bad! Your first score of forty rings was the best in the whole company, and now you've hit fifty! I have to reward you something!" Company Commander Song stroked his chin.

Li Jin instantly understood the meaning behind Company Commander Song's expression, and then offered a way out, or rather, picked up the conversation: "Company Commander, don't the recruit company also have third-class merits? I think... we can give one as encouragement, so that the recruits behind us will have a goal to strive for!"

"Third-class merit? A mere fifty ring in live-fire shooting and you're awarded a third-class merit? No way! That's too much!" Company Commander Song pretended to be speechless.

The squad leader next to him also came over to persuade him: "The third-class merit is originally given to the soldier with the best performance. Zhou Xu is the most outstanding soldier in our company. I think it's feasible!"

"Hey... Well, actually... it's not bad. But Zhou Xu, you have to promise me that you can't be arrogant after I give you a third-class merit. You have to keep working hard in the future! Otherwise, you won't even make it into the top three in the final assessment, and I'll have to take back the third-class merit!"

Zhou Xu knew he was just bluffing that he was being naive!
How can a third-class merit award that has been issued be taken back?

He immediately smiled and said, "Reporting to the company commander, I guarantee the mission will be completed."

Of course, different companies and branches of service have different training performance standards.

Some focus on shooting, some on physical fitness, and some on technique...

Therefore, their company focused on shooting, which happened to coincide with the period when Company Commander Song was eager to recruit outstanding soldiers and new recruits, so it was not surprising that they created a model unit.

Company Commander Song patted Zhou Xu on the shoulder, his eyes full of admiration. He smiled and said, "Go back and rest first. We'll let you know when things are done!"

"Thank you, company commander."

Zhou Xu went back.

Zhou Youcai and the others in the class were curious about what the company commander had said, only to see Zhou Xu's barely suppressed smile.

After all, he had only been in the army for a little over half a month and had already achieved such good results. If he stayed on, he would most likely be promoted to officer, and with good grades, he could even get into military academy! Why was Zhou Xu unhappy?
Zhou Youcai couldn't hold back any longer and asked, "Zhou Xu, what exactly did the company commander say?"

Zhou Xu opened his mouth, then closed it again, and slowly said, "I don't know if I can say it!"

The others chimed in curiously, "Don't keep it to yourself, we're curious!"

Zhou Xu glanced at the approaching squad leader and immediately said, "Keep it a secret. It's written in the confidentiality rules. If the company commander doesn't tell me, then I can't tell you."

A group of people knew that Zhou Xu must have received something in return; perhaps the company commander had promised to let him join another unit.

In any case, if you perform well, you'll easily get noticed.

This made the group of people both curious and envious.

Live-fire exercises continued in the afternoon.

Shooting is actually quite tiring, after all, you have to carry a gun and withstand the recoil to fire bullets, which consumes a lot of physical strength, so a group of people were exhausted after firing all their bullets.

Seeing that there was still plenty of time, the company continued to conduct other training exercises with them.

It wasn't until dinner time that evening. Not long after we finished eating.

The company officer came out and shouted, "Assemble!"

Without saying a word, he pulled them outside.

Zhou Xu scratched his head and asked the class monitor, "What exactly happened?"

A smile appeared on Squad Leader Li's face: "Let's go see a movie!"

"Oh dear, I thought it was a cultural troupe performing!"

Squad Leader Li said, "The cultural troupe will be traveling around all the major camps in the Wuhan Military Region. Don't wait any longer, there won't be many opportunities. Most of the time you'll be watching movies!"

Inside the camp’s small auditorium, a group of eggs walked in, gathered, and sat down.

Zhou Xu sat down, and the group made noise for a long time before stopping, at which point the projectionist came in.

After all, even these rustic village kids know that projectionists show movies.

The movie we're watching now is "Shangganling"!
Many good films were made during the planned economy era, especially war films. Among them, "Shangganling" in the 1950s, "Garland Under the Mountain" and "Battle of Taierzhuang" in the 1970s and 1980s, and the "Great Battle" series in the 1990s are particularly outstanding.

After "Garland at the Foot of the Mountain" was released, it became a must-see for every company when they entered the company.

Now it's "Shangganling".

The instructors instructed that the Battle of Shangganling be made into a film, and Changchun Film Studio undertook this task. Director Sha Meng led the production team to North Korea for on-site research, interviewing more than 100 volunteer soldiers and recording hundreds of thousands of words of material. The crew selected similar terrain near Andong, mobilized two battalions of soldiers, and built defensive works according to wartime standards to create the "Shangganling" filming location.

During the Battle of Shangganling in 1952, Zhang Zhongfa, the company commander of the Eighth Company, led his troops to hold out for 24 days in tunnels where food and water were scarce and casualties were heavy. In the end, they coordinated with the counter-offensive to annihilate the enemy and achieve victory. That is the story.

It was filmed exceptionally well, better than many later war films, aside from the issue of outdated picture quality.

Even after the movie ended, a group of people were still discussing it.

But no one dared to leave, because they had developed a habit of not running away without orders from their squad leader or company commander.

Sure enough, in the end, it was the company commander who stepped forward, and he still had something to say!
"Whew! Today, during the live-fire shooting, most people were able to hit the target three or four times out of five, and some even hit it all the way through, so everyone did a great job! But I want to give special encouragement to Comrade Zhou Xu from the third squad of the recruit company! He not only hit the target with five shots, but also got a 50-ring score!"
"His academic performance is outstanding, and his training results are also excellent. To express my encouragement to Comrade Zhou Xu, on behalf of the recruit company, I hereby award Comrade Zhou Xu the Third-Class Merit Medal!!!"

On March 23, 1979, the General Political Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army issued a "Notice on Issuing Wartime Hero and Model Medals and Merit Medals," stipulating that individuals who were awarded third, second, and first-class merits would be awarded third, second, and first-class merit medals respectively, which would be uniformly produced by the General Political Department.

Prior to this, there was no unified medal for the third-class merit in the entire army. Soldiers who were awarded the third-class merit were usually commended through commendations, newspaper announcements, and congratulatory letters.

So when Zhou Xu went on stage, he wasn't given a medal, but rather a commemorative certificate.

Even so, his file still shows a third-class merit award.

He took the third-class merit certificate from Company Commander Song and immediately said, "Thank you, Company Commander!"

Company Commander Song continued, "Now everyone, let's give him a round of applause and praise!"

The entire company was in a state of high excitement.

They had heard of the Third-Class Merit Citation long ago. For a village to produce a Third-Class Merit Citation was a great honor and a source of pride for the family.

They've now given it to Zhou Xu as a prime example, which means he has a bright future ahead of him. Everyone's hands are practically burning with excitement.

"Damn, I only got 40 rings. If I had been a little worse... maybe I would have gotten one too!"

"Forty rings? You were just a little short?"

"That's a third-class merit!"

Everyone was clapping as they looked at Zhou Xu on the stage, but they were also secretly encouraging themselves, thinking that as long as they did something outstanding in the army, they could get a third-class merit.
So, as long as they practice diligently, they can succeed in the future?
Company Commander Song watched the scene unfold below, not finding it noisy at all. On the contrary, he felt that awarding the third prize was especially correct. Encouragement was one aspect, but more importantly, it was a boost to their morale. Otherwise, these people would have gradually become complacent in training.

Zhou Xu didn't care what other people's motives were, as long as it benefited him.

Everyone present had their own thoughts, but without a doubt, a third-class merit award was not only an honor for Zhou Xu, but also a source of encouragement for them...

I went back to my dorm that night.

A group of people were looking at Zhou Xu's certificate and discussing it:

"Brother Xu is awesome!"

"Brother Xu, can I see your award certificate? I've never seen one before?"

"Brother Xu, your future is limitless!"

Zhou Xu continued reading, a slight smile playing on his lips.

(This was probably when my brother was in basic training. He got a perfect score of 50 on his first try, and as a model, he was awarded a third-class merit. Back then, if you had three third-class merits, you could go out and play for half a day... So please don't criticize me for making this up.)
(End of this chapter)