Chapter 285: Chapter 283: The Little Rocket Launcher

The group following her went from initial confusion to later amazement; if they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes, they wouldn’t believe anyone could be so skilled at learning to speak.

The street wasn’t even halfway down yet, and she had already learned most of the local dialect, it was simply miraculous.

Ling Chengyan glanced back at them, and the group shivered in unison, scattering like birds and beasts. Even the company commander was leading by example; if they couldn’t learn and keep up, they couldn’t blame anyone else.

When the group returned with their hands full of food and playthings, they saw Ling Chengyan sitting next to an elderly lady, between sixty and seventy years old.

The old lady wore a sky-blue blouse with embroidered edges, dark blue wide-leg pants, her pointed feet tucked into embroidered shoes, and two beautiful plush flowers adorned her hair bun, unexpectedly adding to her vibrant and pleasant aura despite her white hair.

The old lady was making lace with colorful silk threads, and Ling Chengyan sat beside her, helping to sort the threads while chatting softly with the lady, her posture dignified and demeanor gentle…

Zheng Qianjin and a few others were stunned—was this still their fearsome leader?!

Ling Chengyan sensed the gaze from a few people not far away but did not pay attention to them, continuing to speak softly with the old lady. Only after finishing sorting the threads did she bid farewell to the lady.

After leaving the lady, Zheng Qianjin and the others finally caught up.

“Commander, were you speaking the local dialect with the lady just now? I couldn’t understand a single word,” Zheng Qianjin looked confused.

“No,” Ling Chengyan answered lightly.

The old lady used to do business on the opposite shore for many years and spoke fluent southern dialect.

Liu Xianghu looked at the commander, glanced at the others, and also lowered his head without speaking.

Although Ling Chengyan hadn’t said much, she truly set an example. After a meal of rice noodles at a street corner stall, the others found excuses to leave one by one, leaving only Liu Xianghu.

“Why didn’t you go with them?” Ling Chengyan asked.

Liu Xianghu shook his head, smiling foolishly, “I’m dull; I couldn’t speak until I was three and a half years old, so I’m not going.”

Ling Chengyan also laughed, “You’re deft; that’s good enough.”

After enlisting, Master Zhou, who taught her, retired, and then she followed her senior Liu Xianghu. Later, when she was promoted to the third platoon leader of the Automobile Company, Liu Xianghu followed her.

After some casual chat, Liu Xianghu stammered, “In future tasks, don’t always protect me…”

Ling Chengyan paused, then chuckled, shaking her head, “I just think good steel should be used on the blade; your specialty is in vehicles and technology. Don’t worry, you’ll certainly be of use later.”

Back at the base, Ling Chengyan headed to the equipment department, and Liu Xianghu followed along.

Ling Chengyan had already obtained the requisition slip yesterday, and today she went to the equipment department to directly collect two sets of Type 69 40-mm rocket launchers, taking Liu Xianghu back to the barracks to get acquainted.

Both of them came out from the division, never having joined a field combat unit, and had never encountered these weapons primarily used for armor piercing and assault.

Luckily, the weapon’s structure wasn’t complex; Ling Chengyan and Liu Xiangjun were both familiar with machinery and weapon structures, quickly mastering the assembly, disassembly, and usage processes.

Liu Xianghu touched the 40-mm launcher, his eyes shining: “It would be great if we could find a place to try it out.”

Ling Chengyan smiled, “No hurry, I will apply for field training, there will surely be an opportunity to test it.”

Speaking a little slower, Ling Chengyan added, “If you want to be a shooter, you’ll need to improve your physical fitness.”

The 40-mm launcher itself is nearly 7 kilograms, a rocket over 2 kilograms; to exert its power, you need to carry at least a few rockets—adding up, this totals at least 20 kilograms of weight.

Carrying 20 kilograms of equipment over a long distance is no easy task, a bit less stamina and you’ll be exhausted before reaching the battlefield.

Liu Xianghu, though not tall, had a stocky build, promising potential in strength training, which was why Ling Chengyan selected him to nurture as a rocket shooter.

Then, the soldiers of Huicheng Team found that when going to the training field, Wu Qingyun, Zheng Hongwei, Liu Xianghu, Zhao Dahu, and others all added extra weight; even when not required, each carried dozens of kilograms during training, each time ending up sweating profusely and gasping for breath, yet none complained or asked for a reduction in weight.

Ling Chengyan also added weight, only hers was custom-made sandbags, with forty kilograms distributed on her legs, arms, and back, almost double the load of those soldiers.

Three days later, Ling Chengyan managed to secure a chance for field target training, and the soldiers of the Special Service Company finally saw the real reason why the company commander was pushing everyone to train their physical fitness so hard—Type 69 40-mm rocket launcher.

When two real weapons were displayed in front of everyone, they were all amazed at them.

No soldier dislikes good weapons, especially such powerful tools capable of piercing armor and striking down heavily armored tanks; pairs of eyes were glowing as if starved wolf pups had seen meat.

Ling Chengyan didn’t restrict others from touching them, rather ’fairly’ letting everyone personally experience the ’weight’ of these big guns; one set weighed nearly 10 kilograms, and adding the usual load carried during marches, even without extra rounds, exceeded 20 kilograms, testing the limits of stamina by running 1000 meters, legs felt like they were laden with lead, barely able to move.

Furthermore, there’s the precise design technology, learning to use optical scopes…those intellectually challenged are simply ruled out.

Everyone personally tried it; some voluntarily gave up. Of course, many were reluctant to quit, and Ling Chengyan didn’t deprive them of their right to compete, making everyone run with weighted loads, selecting the top ten based on results, then learning the scopes; if they couldn’t comprehend, two more were eliminated, leaving eight in the end.

These eight included those who had received early notifications, as well as several with physical and knowledge levels adequate.

While other team members practiced shooting, Ling Chengyan led the eight to familiarize themselves with the 40-mm launcher and learn the usage of optical scopes.

Besides Liu Xianghu, who had come in contact with actual equipment, everything for everyone else was a first encounter, thus no significant gap in learning progression, they all learned fairly quickly.

By the end of the day, the eight were able to relatively proficiently use optical scopes and accurately judge the potential deviation after a projectile’s launch, influenced by wind, how to correct deviations to hit the target, etc.

After this day, others were handed over to Zheng Qianjin for routine training, while Ling Chengyan accelerated the pace for the selected eight to familiarize themselves with the 40-mm launcher. After three days of learning, they finally engaged in live-fire training once, achieving a satisfactory accuracy rate of 70%.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep