Chapter 33: Tricking Cheng Cai
Cheng Cai is a very quick-witted person. In Gao Cheng’s words, he is “shrewd and clever.” He knows clearly that to get something, he must give something.
Chen Jun gave him special private training on things that were completely different from what other new recruits learned.
Cheng Cai realized that what he was learning was more advanced and definitely better than what other new recruits were learning. He also realized that Chen Jun was intentionally cultivating him.
Cheng Cai, who already liked to curry favor with the backbone, immediately elevated his attitude toward Chen Jun even further.
All sorts of fawning flattery and bootlicking aside, he even proactively helped Chen Jun wash his shoes and socks, eagerly doing things like serving tea and pouring water.
He was just short of bowing and scraping!
“Since Cheng Cai is an egoist, give him sufficient benefit temptation, continue to increase the dosage for him, and use a trick of fight poison with poison to make him unwilling to leave at all. Wouldn’t that solve the problem too?”
Feeling Cheng Cai’s flattery and ingratiation, Chen Jun’s previous idea of correcting Cheng Cai’s thought suddenly changed, and a crazy idea popped into his mind.
He prepared to use a subversive, counterintuitive approach to lead Cheng Cai onto the path he wanted.
This path couldn’t guarantee to be the right path.
But it could guarantee the maximum utilization of Cheng Cai.
Cheng Cai’s character was selfish and self-interested, overly competitive, and lacking team spirit. In special forces, each of these was a tumor-like flaw.
But this was limited to small-team operations in special forces with unique combat environments.
The company combat structure was completely different from special operations.
For grassroots companies conducting corps-level operations, as long as there were no major ideological and political problems, these personal flaws were actually not a big deal.
For Chen Jun, who planned to take the officer route in his military career and make the Seventh Company “overall fly high.”
It was not an issue at all.
Company combat relied on “obeying command.” Each squad and each person just did their own job. In battle, over a hundred people charged together, and individual influence was negligible.
Soldiers didn’t need too strong awareness, nor too much combat thinking, and certainly not dangerous small-team counter-terrorism operations.
They just needed to know to obey the squad leader’s orders and do whatever they were told.
They didn’t need the high level of unified team awareness required in special operations teams, where there were only a few action personnel, each crucially important.
Under this major premise…
Chen Jun didn’t need Cheng Cai to have much team awareness, didn’t need him to command anyone in combat, and didn’t need him to lead the team in behind-the-lines operations.
He just needed Cheng Cai to become a top sniper, able to step up in crucial moments, snipe the person he wanted to snipe, or take out some important firepower point, providing favorable conditions for the company’s overall advance.
Chen Jun didn’t care about other aspects at all, even if Cheng Cai was just a lone wolf.
So Chen Jun abandoned his previous idea and stopped wasting time and effort trying to turn Cheng Cai into a team player who understood comradeship and such.
He decided to take the most direct route.
Leverage Cheng Cai’s most excellent talent, use what Cheng Cai wanted most to tempt, attract, and hook him, binding him tightly to his side.
What did Cheng Cai want now?
Chen Jun knew it better than anyone!
Cheng Cai now only wanted to join Steel Seventh Company, so Chen Jun would get him into Steel Seventh Company, adding a little trick in between to make Cheng Cai think it was his help, white-knighting a debt of gratitude.
Later, if Cheng Cai wanted to become the company sniper, Chen Jun would cultivate him into a top sniper.
If Cheng Cai wanted to become a volunteer soldier and stay in the troops, then find a method to help him earn merit, add chips to him, and let him smoothly become a volunteer soldier.
Satisfy all of Cheng Cai’s demands.
And emphasize in each step that it was Chen Jun exerting all his effort to help him.
Let Cheng Cai continuously accumulate a debt of gratitude until the day he couldn’t pay it back. By then, even if Chen Jun tried to drive him away, Cheng Cai wouldn’t leave.
Moreover.
Perhaps by that day, feeling the warmth and emotion Chen Jun gave him, Cheng Cai might suddenly awaken on his own, change his selfish old habits, and understand what true comradeship really was.
That would be perfect then.
Once Chen Jun made the decision, he started executing it, beginning to “domesticate” Cheng Cai step by step with schemes.
Not only did he pour all his effort into cultivating Cheng Cai’s shooting, but he also gave him extra attention in other subjects, letting Cheng Cai feel all-around care.
These days of being specially cared for by the platoon leader made Cheng Cai both excited and happy, yet also uneasy.
He became even more deferential to Chen Jun!
As Cheng Cai’s shooting skills progressed rapidly, the new recruits who had dry-fired hundreds of times every day finally welcomed their first live-fire target practice.
Just touching the gun for the first time had already excited the new recruits, some even losing sleep the night before.
Now finally welcoming the real chance to fire, the new recruits were all thrilled with flushed faces, feeling all the previous hardships were worth it.
The company commander also attached great importance to the first shooting, making full arrangements in advance.
Not only was shooting very important for a soldier—accurate shooters were always the most sought-after—but there were also potential fatal dangers that must be noted.
Bullets don’t have eyes.
If an accident really happened on the new recruit range, lightly it would waste the company’s year of effort, heavily it could end a military career.
Safety assurance work had to be fully in place to ensure no accidents occurred.
Shi Jin led Wu Liu Yi and several squad leaders to personally zero the ten 81 rifles yesterday, which were already placed at the shooting positions in advance.
The new recruits prepared in the waiting area in advance, shooting by squad in sequence, receiving five bullets from the armorer, loading them into the magazine, and putting the magazine into the chest rig pocket.
The first squad to shoot was First Squad. After receiving the order, they were led by the head-up, jogging to the shooting position to stand by.
Now the new recruits had bullets in hand, guns placed in front of them, and every subsequent action had commands. The new recruits had to strictly comply and execute.
Anyone who dared not follow the commands and act recklessly would definitely get chewed out.
“Prone posture—load bullets!”
Today’s company duty officer was Chen Jun, who was responsible for the commands at the shooting position.
Hearing the command, the ten new recruits of First Squad immediately uniformly stepped forward a large step with the left foot, extended the left arm with palm down, and smoothly went prone.
Then they followed the action essentials taught by the squad leader.
They took the magazine out of the chest rig, loaded it into the empty slot of the gun, opened the safety, set the selector switch to semi-auto, pulled the charging handle to chamber a round, coordinated with both hands to present the gun, placed it on the support, and aimed.
After preparing, they waited a moment.
Chen Jun visually checked that all new recruits were ready, then gave the command for free shooting.
“Pa pa pa pa pa…”
Gunshots rang out sporadically.
The new recruits’ first time firing was inevitably nervous. Their excited emotions made it hard to control breathing, and their minds were muddled from tension.
The target practice scene was horrific, only describable as “a chaotic mess.”
