Chapter 23: Exercise Begins
The Great Merit Regiment barracks was extremely quiet in the early morning, with scattered lights dotting this solemn barracks.
Suddenly, the piercing combat alert rang through the entire barracks! The silent barracks was instantly awakened, soldiers quickly donned their equipment and rushed out of the dormitory to assemble rapidly by company unit. Chariots drove out of the garage, the entire regiment assembling urgently!
At the entrance of the Night Tiger Reconnaissance Company dormitory, Chang Ning was the first to rush out of the dormitory and saw that Miao Lian had already donned his steel helmet at some point, holding his rifle in his arms and standing there.
Seeing Chang Ning come out first, a look of half relief and half pride flashed across Miao Lian’s face. He believed that Chang Ning would soon be the pride of the Night Tiger Reconnaissance Company!
After Chang Ning stood in place, the other comrades of the reconnaissance company gradually assembled and stood in front of Miao Lian.
The duty soldier trotted up to Miao Lian, saluted: “Report to Company Commander Comrade, Night Tiger Reconnaissance Company full company assembly complete, awaiting instructions!”
Miao Lian returned the salute: “Fall in!”
“Yes!”
After the duty soldier fell in, Miao Lian looked at the spirited soldiers in front of him one by one: “At ease! Comrades, according to the Military Region Headquarters emergency order, the annual exercise has begun!
Our Group Army is the Red Team troops, our regiment is the vanguard regiment of the entire Red Team, and our reconnaissance company is the eyes and dagger of the entire regiment!
Comrades, do you have the confidence to complete the mission?”
“Yes!”
Then Miao Lian said sternly: “Train soldiers for a thousand days, use them in one moment! Comrades, the exercise is war, the front is the battlefield! What we face is the real enemy!
The enemy is armed to the teeth, the enemy is cunning and cruel!
To win this war, we must carry forward the excellent style of our scouts!
Brave and tenacious, seize victory!”
Chang Ning and the other soldiers in the ranks were inspired by Miao Lian, feeling their blood boiling. They shouted in unison: “Brave and tenacious! Seize victory!”
Seeing the troops’ morale was ready, Miao Lian looked down at his wristwatch, knew time was about up, and ordered to depart.
Chen Guotao stepped forward and shouted: “First Platoon, listen to my command, board the vehicles!”
After speaking, he led the soldiers of first platoon running toward the troop transport vehicle.
Chang Ning now also belonged to first platoon’s combat sequence. He followed closely behind Lao Pao onto the vehicle. For his first exercise, he still had to rely on this veteran soldier Lao Pao for more guidance.
The exercise is actual combat, no room for carelessness!
“Don’t be nervous, just play to your strength, and one more thing is obey orders!”
Lao Pao saw that Chang Ning sitting next to him was nervous and spoke to comfort him.
The veterans looked at this private with different equipment from them with eyes full of goodwill.
“Chang Ning, you have times when you’re nervous too. Relax, just follow me when the time comes.”
Cui Lianhe acted like a big brother, taking full responsibility.
Before Chang Ning could speak, the corporal sitting next to Old Cui began to tear him down.
“You can drop it, with your last battle record, I’m embarrassed to say it out loud! With Chang Ning’s strength, who leads whom then is really uncertain.”
“You’re tearing me down, huh? You wait for me!”
Saying that, Old Cui was about to lunge forward.
“Come on, you think I’m afraid of you!”
“Enough, quiet down!”
Lao Pao saw it was about time and quickly spoke to stop them. A little horseplay was fine, as long as Chen Guotao didn’t notice.
If discovered, everyone would get a reprimand, and now during the exercise, they couldn’t afford to be careless.
With everyone making such a fuss, Chang Ning’s taut nerves relaxed. He touched the service pistol in his arms, his heart now filled with calm.
‘What’s there to be nervous about? As long as I obey orders, how could a small soldier like me affect the battle situation. Chang Ning, you’re really hopeless. You have the system, what are you afraid of!’
Thinking about it, Chang Ning secretly summoned the experience bar that had already reached it. It was directly projected onto Chang Ning’s retinas, invisible to others.
“Name: Chang Ning”
“Age: 19 years old”
“Stamina: 400/??? （An ordinary adult male’s stamina is 100）”
“Rifle Shooting: 100/100 (cannot upgrade)”
“Knife Skills: 100/100 (cannot upgrade)”
“Sniper Rifle Shooting: 90/100”
“Note: This system level is linked to the host’s military rank. Please strive hard, host!”
With Old Ma the squad leader’s notebook, Chang Ning’s sniper technique experience bar had smoothly been brushed to 90 points. Based on the last rifle shooting experience, this sniper technique upgrade would require completing a certain mission or sniping someone valuable.
In this exercise, the most valuable was undoubtedly the Blue Team Commander.
But thinking he had no chance at all for independent action, Chang Ning suppressed that unrealistic idea in his heart. This wasn’t a novel, where a private could casually detach from the team for solo action.
‘With these four experience bars, getting a third-class merit shouldn’t be hard.’
Chang Ning pondered in his heart how to earn merit. This was a big deal concerning his golden finger upgrade!
……
On the highway between the mountains, the mechanized corps was advancing.
Military trains covered with camouflage nets were fully loaded with soldiers and various combat vehicles, like an unstoppable steel torrent.
The strategic strike force composed of missile transport vehicles, command vehicles, logistics support vehicles, satellite communication vehicles, etc., from the Surface-to-Surface Missile Unit of the Second Artillery raced past on the expressway where traffic had been temporarily halted.
Su-27 fighter groups occasionally flew through the clouds. The Army mechanized troops hugged the mountains as they advanced, main battle tanks lined up in columns, majestic and mighty.
The Army Aviation comrades piloted helicopters whistling past at low altitude. They sometimes had to perform patrol missions. An atmosphere of impending great battle tightly enveloped everyone on this position!
In a bush on a distant hillside, Chang Ning and his comrades lay quietly on the ground, peering through gaps in the grass and trees with binoculars observing that position.
This was already the second Blue Team position they had found.
What is most important on the battlefield? Of course, intelligence. So reconnaissance units are the first to enter the battlefield and the first troops the two sides engage, with casualty rates soaring straight up.
The Night Tiger Reconnaissance Company was relatively lucky. Since penetrating behind enemy lines, they hadn’t encountered any Blue Team reconnaissance units. Maybe they hid well, or maybe the enemy had already set up a dragnet waiting for them to walk into it.
None of this had much to do with Chang Ning. His main tasks now were vigilance, and finding Blue Team snipers and taking them out.
This was also the task for all snipers in the company, but Chang Ning was special. He could charge into close combat, or snipe from afar to cover comrades.
The forest was eerily quiet. The communicator behind him lowered his voice and repeatedly called into the microphone: “Dagger calling, respond if you hear…”
His fingers tuned the radio frequency, but the radio showed no response.
After trying all means, the communicator looked up and reported to Chen Guotao: “Blue Team is implementing strong electronic interference, headquarters has no response.”
Chen Guotao was using a telephoto camera to snap photos furiously of the distant Blue Team position. Hearing the report, he turned back: “Looks like Blue Team is using their newly formed Electronic Warfare Regiment. Keep calling.
If it really doesn’t work, send someone disguised to pass through the blockade line with intelligence.”
ps: Thanks to Junliang for the tip!!!
