Chapter 42: Competitive Xie Yun
The content of militia training can be divided into three parts: theoretical teaching, including political and military theories; organizational and disciplinary training; technical and tactical training, including endurance exercises and practical combat techniques.
The most interesting part is the practical technical training, which is interesting and includes lying down, crawling, climbing poles, climbing walls, crossing rivers with ropes, martial arts training, aiming, shooting, and disassembling and assembling guns.
People of this era are serious about everything they do, including eating and training.
It can be said that everyone trained with the same vigor as those fighting for food during the famine years. Their eyes were firm and fierce, their lips were tightly pursed, and they dared not vent their anger at all.
Xie Yun was deeply impressed and practiced very seriously.
She had to be serious. Although she had practiced in her previous life, her performance in these training items was still not the best.
For example, when it comes to climbing a pole, there are many people who can climb faster than her.
The first time she climbed, she didn't know how to do it, and she climbed slowly and with great effort. This wooden pole was much harder to climb than the tree she had climbed to pick honeycombs before. It was smooth and there was no foothold.
After the training, Xie Yun stayed behind to practice more, and her roommates gave up their short rest to stay with her, teaching her how to exert force and coordinate her hands and feet.
Xie Yun was climbing the pole, and they were chattering below with their heads tilted back.
Looking at this group of lovely young girls, Xie Yun decided that next time when she eats, she must control her restless hands and grab fewer pieces of meat!
Xu Laowu also comforted her: "This is easy to learn. You just haven't climbed many trees before. Just practice a few more times and you'll be fine."
Xu Laowu climbs as fast as a monkey, a skill she says she acquired from climbing trees as a child. During the famine, when she was nine, she climbed trees to pick elm seeds, locust flowers, and bark—everything—to get food. The lower parts had already been stripped bare, so she had no choice but to climb higher, where she would eat half her fill before bringing it home.
At that time, the bark had been peeled off and the trunks were very smooth.
Xie Yun thought about it and realized that the original owner did not have this experience. At that time, her father Xie Tan was still alive, and these things were done by Xie Tan. He asked the original owner to stay at home to accompany Zhang Ruifeng who had just given birth.
Xie Tan took everything he had home and shared it with his wife and daughter. At that time, Xie Shen was a newborn and could only drink milk, and the original owner was still growing and needed nutrition. In the end, the three of them survived with some difficulty, but Xie Tan suffered from severe edema and eventually died.
Xie Yun carefully studied and understood everyone's experience and skills. After practicing a few times, he was able to climb well.
Before going to bed that night, she practiced for a while in the dark training ground with the company of several roommates, until she could crawl quickly and smoothly, until the instructor came with a flashlight to drive them back.
Xie Yun has a competitive nature. If he practices, he either doesn't practice at all or practices to the best of his ability.
Coincidentally, everyone else was just like her. Seeing her rapid progress, the others didn't want to fall behind, and everyone practiced a few more times, and everyone practiced very well.
Xie Yun's strengths lie in martial arts, aiming, shooting and disassembling and assembling guns.
The martial arts taught in the army at that time included grappling and fighting, and the moves were all very practical, such as the crotch kick... ahem. Of course, it wasn't called that, but the move was like that. When Xie Yun saw the instructor practicing it on a sandbag, he almost laughed out loud.
There were also people who chopped bricks with their bare hands, chopped them raw, punched them down, and broke the bricks in half. There was no blood or flesh on their hands...
Then there was a real fight, each treating the other as an enemy, punching each other to the flesh...
In terms of grappling and fighting, Xie Yun has always been ahead. The instructor who taught them martial arts even praised her after a training session.
"Xie, how do you pronounce the character after your name, the one with Wenwubei?"
He heard someone call her Binbin, but he had a hunch that the word should not be pronounced as Bin, so he decided to ask for clarification.
Xie Yun stepped out of the line and stood at attention. "Report to the instructor, my name is Xie Yun!"
"Well done, Xie Yun. Great training and excellent performance. I hope you can maintain this positive and hardworking spirit. Do you have any experiences to share with us?"
Xie Yun scratched his head and said, "Instructor, I'm very strong. I developed this from doing farm work. I get full work points and am a first-class laborer. As for other aspects, it's all thanks to your teaching over the past few days and the help of my comrades. This is my first time participating in training, and my foundation is poor. I dare not slack off. I even dream about punching and kicking."
The comrades behind him burst into laughter.
Wang Qingli said: "I can prove that what she said was true. She was boxing in the middle of the night on the upper bunk and almost fell off. She made the bed shake so much that it woke me up."
The instructor also laughed and said, "Okay, return to the team."
"yes!"
Xie Yun turned around and returned to the team.
After learning aiming and shooting, Xie Yun went to target practice and won first place in the shooting competition.
After the shooting, she asked the instructor if she could pick up the shell casings, but was refused.
The instructor told her, "We will have someone special to pick them up, and we'll give you two when the time comes."
Xie Yun: "Just two?"
"How many more do you want? We can use recycled shell casings. They are strategic materials, so try not to waste them."
Xie Yun: "Understood. Two is two. Thank you, instructor!"
Even decades later, there were still things like reloading bullets, let alone now when supplies are scarce?
On the night that the training camp ended, Xie Yun and the others all took a shower.
The conditions during militia training were better than she had expected. She could only take a shower once every five days, which was much better than at home. In the countryside, when the weather turned cold, there was no way to take a shower.
That night, lying in bed, thinking about the end of collective life tomorrow and leaving this exciting place, everyone was a little reluctant to leave and felt like they had not said enough.
Wang Qingli was the first to speak: "I don't want to go home. It would be great if I could continue training here."
Zhao Hongxia said: "I like training, but I miss home too."
Yan Yuying sighed and said, "It would be great if they could recruit female soldiers. Then Qingli could join the army. There should be quite a few female comrades in our brigade who want to join the army."
Song Zhaoxia said, "I want to be a soldier, too. Why don't you recruit female soldiers?"
Xie Yun said, "I know that. The '55 Military Service Law' stipulates that only male soldiers are conscripted. According to the regulations, all male citizens aged 18 and above are obliged to perform military service in accordance with the law. However, this is only an obligation; not all male citizens who meet the requirements can serve. Those who are not conscripted belong to the reserve force. We female comrades between the ages of 18 and 40 all belong to the second category of reserve forces."
Xu Wumei said, "That's not right. My boyfriend joined the army when he was 16. When the matchmaker introduced him to me, he said he was 22 this year, not even 23, and he'd already been in the army for six years."
Xie Yun said: "There will be some flexibility in actual implementation. But the law does stipulate that you must be at least 18 years old, and you still have to be 18 before June 30 of the year you turn 18."
Wang Jieyun said, "That's still not right. I heard there were female soldiers."
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