The two passionate military songs immediately brought the atmosphere at the scene to its peak.
The moment Yuan Yi stepped off the stage, all the officers and soldiers below the stage applauded enthusiastically.
Zhang Yang, the commander of the 82nd Army, turned and looked at Li Gang with a smile.
"Old Li, can I talk to you about something?"
Li Gang's nerves skipped a beat when he saw Zhang Yang's sly smile.
"Could they be plotting to take my soldiers?"
"No, that's impossible!"
"Don't even think about it, there's no way!"
"If there's no door, I can build you a window!"
"Heaven knows that if it closes a window, it will surely open a door!"
Zhang Yang wasn't annoyed by Li Gang's words; he still smiled and said...
"Old Li, how many years have we known each other?"
"We came from the same company back then, even if we weren't in the same platoon, we were still in the same class, right?!"
"You know the situation of our troops right now."
"We must not only pay attention to the soldiers' training, but also care about their mental health, living conditions, and all other issues."
"Being a military officer these days is tough!"
Zhang Yang immediately launched into a complaining mode.
"???"
"No, what does this have to do with me?"
Li Gang looked completely bewildered.
"What can an arts and culture soldier do? Can he be your psychological counselor? Or can he solve your life problems?"
"Sure, you don't know, now we need to enrich the lives of soldiers. After the military reform, the cultural troupes are no longer just at the level of the major military regions."
"We want to enrich the daily lives of our soldiers, but we lack a leader."
"Give me Yuan Yi, and I'll appoint him as the director of the arts and literature department in our army."
Upon hearing Zhang Yang's words, Li Gang looked on incredulously.
"When did the military start having this title of 'Director of the Arts and Literature Department'?"
"Your abilities have improved since you became a corps commander!!"
"You figured out this official position all by yourself!"
Hearing Li Gang's sarcasm, Zhang Yang ignored everything and immediately started acting like a rogue.
"Just tell me if it's okay or not!"
"Based on our friendship of over twenty years!!"
Li Gang rolled his eyes: "No way."
"but!!"
When Zhang Yang heard the word "however," his expression instantly changed from gloomy to sunny.
"But what? Stop keeping me in suspense!!"
"The higher-ups intend for him to get some experience in the military."
Zhang Yang's eyes lit up when he heard this.
"Sure thing, choosing our 82nd Group Army is definitely the right decision!"
"Our predecessor was the Long Live Army, with a glorious history and tradition!!"
"I can definitely train him to be a qualified People's Liberation Army soldier."
We'll see when the time comes!
"Later, he will also be going with me to perform at the outposts in the northwest."
"This can be seen as letting him experience firsthand the hardships of our People's Liberation Army soldiers!!"
Hearing this, Zhang Yang understood the intention behind it.
Everyone knows that joining the army is tough and training is tough, but if you go to a border post and experience it for yourself, you'll find that it's even tougher than in a regular military unit.
Border outposts are important fortresses on the frontier, military secrets, and an indispensable part of military forces.
Outposts are usually stationed in sensitive border areas, and the number of personnel varies depending on the location, ranging from two or three to several hundred. Because they are located on the frontier and undertake many extremely dangerous tasks, the hardships here are naturally unbearable for ordinary people.
China's borders are 55,200 kilometers long, including approximately 22,800 kilometers of land borders, 18,400 kilometers of mainland coastline, and over 14,000 kilometers of island coastline, for a total coastline of over 32,000 kilometers.
The environments along these borders vary; some are in snow-capped mountains, such as the Kunlun Mountains, and others are outposts within the Xinjiang province.
Or perhaps it's a sentry post guarding an island in the South China Sea, or a sentry post in the coldest place at the top of the rooster's comb on the map of the motherland.
They are all in remote, uninhabited places, with no one around for hundreds of kilometers.
"Whose idea was this? To go this far?!"
Before the military reforms, the 38th Army had an outpost located in the coldest place at the top of the rooster's comb on the map of the motherland.
Located at the border between Hulunbuir City in Inner Mongolia and Russia, Muhe Outpost is the northernmost outpost of the Beijing Military Region.
It has now been handed over to the Northern Theater Command.
It is located deep in the Greater Khingan Mountains, in a remote area with a harsh climate.
In winter, heavy snow closes off the mountains, making it impossible to get in or out. Every year at the end of the year and from March to May of the following year, the river surface is either not yet frozen solid or the ice layer has already melted and cracked.
With neither cars nor boats able to travel, Muhe became an isolated "island" on land.
It is isolated from the world for nearly half the year, hence its nickname "the isolated island in the snow".
Apart from the patrolling officers and soldiers, there is no human habitation for more than 300 kilometers around there.
Winters are exceptionally cold and long, with a frost-free period of only about 80 days a year. The lowest temperature reaches -57 degrees Celsius, making it known as "the coldest place in China".
Despite its extreme location, a border defense company is stationed there year-round.
The performance on stage was still going on, and Yuan Yi had made a good start.
The performances that followed also received applause from all the officers and soldiers of the 113th Brigade.
The performance lasted for three hours, after which all the soldiers of the 113th Brigade returned under the leadership of their officers.
Li Gang, along with Yuan Yi and his performance troupe, spent a week visiting all the brigade headquarters of the 82nd Group Army.
At a military airport outside Beijing, Li Gang, Yuan Yi, and a small group of song and dance troupe members waited.
"First time facing a transport plane, huh? Isn't our chubby girl awesome?"
Li Gang pointed to the rows of FAW-20 transport planes on the airport tarmac ahead and asked Yuan Yi.
Yuan Yi gave a thumbs up; he had seen pictures of this thing on TV and online.
But you can only truly feel its imposing and majestic presence when you face it for the first time.
A huge fuselage, long wings, and a plump body.
"Commander, are we going to Xinjiang Province in a bit?!" Yuan Yi asked in shock.
"Yeah, this is a perfect opportunity to deliver something over there. Let's hitch a ride!"
"Frog fun! So cool!!"
Airplanes are nothing special, and transport planes may not feel as comfortable as commercial airliners, but not just anyone can ride in one.
It's a strategically vital transport aircraft for the nation!
Li Gang and Yuan Yi traveled directly to the Xinjiang Military Region aboard the "Fat Girl" transport plane.
They then switched to military vehicles and took them directly to Pishan County.
The guide was a staff officer from a regimental headquarters of the border defense forces stationed in Xinjiang province.
"You'd better be prepared, the environment at Shenxianwan Outpost is very harsh."
"And the road is difficult to travel on!!"
Li Gang waved his hand: "If you can go up, we can definitely get over too!"
"Enough talk, lead the way!"
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