Chapter 37: Gather and set off.

Yan Yuying is a married lesbian, but she has been married for just over a year and has no children yet.

"No problem. I've participated in several sessions. If you have any questions, just ask me."

She scanned the crowd and said with emotion, "I'm probably the oldest among our female militia. Last year there was also Sister Jin Ling, but she just gave birth not long ago, so she can't participate this year."

"I'll continue to participate next year."

Yan Yuying shook her head. "It's tough. I've participated for a few years now, and every year there are elderly people who don't participate. It's because they had a baby and couldn't leave home after giving birth. Then when the baby was a little older, they got pregnant again, and couldn't practice while pregnant. Then they had another baby, and still couldn't practice. Now I don't know if I can still practice next year."

Xie Yun: “…”

Yan Yuying smiled and said, "So, girls should take advantage of the fact that they are not married yet and participate in various activities. Otherwise, once you are married, you will be trapped by various things and you won't be able to get out even if you want to."

Zhao Hongxia asked Xu Laowu: "Sister Wu Mei, can you still participate next year?"

Yan Yuying smiled and asked, "What's wrong? Are the five beauties getting married?"

Xu Laowu nodded shyly: "Yes, it's settled. We'll get married at the end of the year."

Yan Yuying smiled and said, "Congratulations!"

Xie Yun and Zhao Hongxia also realized it later and quickly joined in to say congratulations.

I was just busy gossiping.

Yan Yuying asked her again, "Whose family are you talking about?"

"Zheng Guoqiang, from the Zheng family."

Yan Yuying smiled and said, "Then you are very lucky. Zheng Guoqiang is the most promising young man in our brigade. There are many soldiers in our brigade, but he is the only one who has been promoted to officer."

The other girls also agreed with her, praising Zheng Guoqiang and Xu Laowu, praising the five beauties so much that they felt embarrassed.

After a while, everyone arrived.

Zhao Fuguo shouted, "Line up!"

Xie Yun quickly put on the basket and stood in a row with the female comrades, while the male comrades stood in two rows.

Zhao Fuguo said, "Our militia training for this year begins now. Let the captain say a few words to everyone, and then I'll lead the team out."

Captain Zhang Guangzong cleared his throat and summarized and repeated some of the speeches made by national leaders on the militia.

“We started out as a militia. Our army was initially developed on the basis of peasant self-defense forces, workers’ pickets, and mass armed forces of various names.”

"Modern warfare will be a war involving missiles and nuclear weapons, inflicting immense damage on a country's political, economic, and military centers, key industrial and mining areas, and transportation hubs. To deal with this kind of war, we must implement a national defense and establish a national defense network, which, in turn, must rely on the militia."

"Therefore, we must strengthen the armed forces of the masses and ensure that all citizens are soldiers. Everyone must carry forward the fine style of hard work and strive for excellence in training. Even though we are militia, we must strive to be no less capable than the regular army. We must be able to work when we put down our weapons and fight when we take up our weapons!"

Xie Yun: “…”

If nothing else, Captain Zhang Guangzong had a truly impressive memory. The first two paragraphs were a speech by a member of the Standing Committee at a militia representative conference. The first sentence of the last paragraph summarized the topic with the Supreme Leader's instructions.

The leadership spirit is fully learned.

Initially, the "Everyone is a soldier" campaign was a literal "everyone is a soldier." Later, after further investigation and research, leaders clarified that "Everyone is a soldier" was a strategic slogan, not a practical action slogan. If it were used as an action slogan, it would inevitably lead to high targets and high demands, and would inevitably create a huge hype and a rush. The tendency to believe that "the more militia members, the better" is wrong. The militia cannot be too large.

Therefore, "everyone is a soldier" became the strategic slogan, and there were also restrictions on the age of the militia. Male citizens aged 16 to 30 and female citizens aged 16 to 25 were basic militia; male citizens aged 31 to 45 and female citizens aged 26 to 35 were ordinary militia.

Ordinary militiamen pay attention to strengthening exercise in their daily life and work, and have some basic military qualities.

Those who participated in the training should all be basic militia. But there was no clear explanation, and everything was muddled.

After the team leader finished speaking, Zhao Fuguo began to reorganize the team. Two men per row, there were 24 men in total, 12 of them in six rows at the front, and another six in the back. Ten women, 10 in five rows in the middle, followed Zhao Fuguo out of the team headquarters' courtyard.

At this time, the sky had already brightened, and some members of the community, both young and old, were standing on the roadside to watch the fun, and there were also children running after the team.

Xie Shen also came and followed Xie Yun all the way, chattering.

"Sister, don't worry about home. I will take good care of mom."

"Sister, let me carry it on your back and give it to you after we get out of the village."

“…”

Xie Yun patted his head and said with a smile, "Go back. Don't send me off. You have to go to school soon. I'll be back in ten days. If you need anything, go find the team leader or Director Yan. They will definitely find a way to contact me. I'll tell you about the training content when I get back."

Xie Shen hesitated, "Sister, can you bring me a bullet shell?"

He had wanted to say it before, but forgot.

Everyone laughed at him, "So you wanted the shells!"

Xie Shen loudly refuted: "No, I just can't bear to leave my sister. Asking for the shell is just a side job."

He then said to Xie Yun, "Sister, if you have one, bring it to me. If not, forget it. Don't bother looking for one specifically for me."

"Got it. If we go target shooting, there should be shell casings. I'll bring them back to you then."

"Why!"

Xie Shen was very happy. He followed Xie Yun and only ran back after the team left the village.

After leaving the village, Zhao Fuguo said, "Let's sing a song to boost morale. What do you want to sing?"

Zhao Hongxia said, "You have to ask us what we can sing."

Zhao Fuguo laughed and said, "Then what can you sing?"

The male comrade behind him shouted, "Sing 'Returning from Target Practice'."

"Okay, I'll start, and we'll sing together. The sun sets in the west, and the sky is red. Ready, sing!"

Everyone knows this song.

After one song was sung, the team became excited.

Zhao Fuguo continued, "Our training actually starts now. We're walking to the county. This will be our first weight-bearing training."

Xie Yun asked, "Aren't you training in the commune?"

Zhao was surprised and asked, "Who said that?"

"That's what Director Yan said."

"Lao Yan works with women, so she might not have explained it clearly. We met up with the main force at the commune, and then went to the county together for training. Our commune was a militia company, and our Liushutun Brigade was a militia platoon. After arriving in the county, we went to the training grounds of the armed forces. They had grounds and accommodations there, but our commune didn't have that."

Xie Yun asked, "How long will it take us to get to the county?"

"About four hours."

Xie Yun: “…”

Just happened to go there for lunch.