Chapter 97: Guns

“This army gives me the feeling that it has been infused with a soul—every soldier knows what he must do, every soldier shares a single goal, and all can unite their strength toward one purpose; compared to them, soldiers from other tribes are aimless and clueless about what they’re even doing—but it’s not their fault, since most tribal leaders are just getting by too.” To be fair, Subutai’s perspective truly opened his eyes.

Jelme mused, “From what I’ve seen, that Soldiers’ Committee is quite excellent—it can prevent officers from beating or verbally abusing soldiers and from embezzling their pay.”

Others gradually voiced their own opinions; after they finished, Temujin sighed and said, “For the past month, I’ve thought we could learn many fine things from them and greatly strengthen our own tribe—but no matter what, we could never become as powerful as they are, and the end result would only be a grotesque hybrid.”

“Great Khan, you’re being too absolute. With your intelligence, if you can master their methods, you’ll surely surpass them and outshine them.” Boljir immediately countered upon hearing Temujin’s words.

“No, no—it’s not that. During this time, I’ve studied the words of the Revolutionary Army’s leaders. I especially love this phrase: ‘Military struggle is the continuation of political struggle.’ But what is their political core? It’s this: serving the people, making life better for everyone in the tribe.”

“But achieving this doesn’t depend on your intelligence—it depends on having little to no selfishness, ideally none at all. Only then can everyone believe in the ideal of eliminating exploitation and oppression. Yet isn’t it true that as long as one is human, one has selfish desires?”

“Take me, Temujin—I’ve become the tribe’s leader, and most of the tribe’s wealth is in my hands. I could use it to live luxuriously, take many beautiful women. But imagine a man bloated with food, dripping with grease, drowning in gold and silver, surrounded by countless beauties, shouting slogans of ‘serving the people’—how many would truly believe him?”

After asking this, Temujin looked around at his generals, who were silent. He sighed again: “But my selfish desires go far beyond even that. I want to lead you to unify all the steppe tribes, to ride the Mongol cavalry to conquer the Jin, destroy the Western Xia, and finally force the wealthiest of them all—Great Song—to surrender. When that day comes, all the land, wealth, and beauties of the world will be mine. That is my selfish desire: to make the entire world my personal property.”

Saying this, Temujin scanned his generals and added, “You all follow me for selfish reasons too. You know I’m different from other tribal leaders—I’m generous. When I fought alongside Jamukha against the Tatars, Jamukha kept all the spoils for himself, but I distributed them. Anyone who follows me, I never withhold rewards—cattle, sheep, gold, beauties, land—you name it, I can give it to you. That’s your selfish desire.”

“But here, you cannot rightfully claim wealth, land, or women—because to obtain them, you must exploit and oppress. This army is strong because its leaders constantly remind the soldiers they fight for themselves. Yet in the end, our soldiers are still fighting for us.”

After hearing Temujin’s words, Hobol, Boljir, and the others exchanged glances. They had thought learning here would let their army surpass the enemy and outshine them—but now they realized they could only copy the surface, never the core.

“Then what do we do? Are we just going to stand by and watch them grow stronger until they wipe us out?” Boljir said, visibly distressed.

“Not necessary, Boljir. It’s not yet hopeless. Though we cannot defeat them on the battlefield, we can corrupt them with beauties, gold, land, and status. Soon, many here will come over to us.” Temujin smiled mysteriously.

After the day off ended, it was time for the new recruits to join their units—and Temujin’s group finally got their hands on the weapons they had longed for.

As they caressed the deadly weapons in their hands, they were momentarily spellbound.

“Comrades, the weapon in your hands is surely familiar to you. Yes, it’s called a gun—its full name is the Type 56 Semi-Automatic Rifle. Its empty weight is 3.85 kilograms. This rifle not only has excellent accuracy but can also kill enemies through firepower, bayonet, and buttstock.”

“Comrades, firing a gun requires professional skill and strict safety procedures. In practice, you must strictly follow safety protocols and be guided and supervised by veteran soldiers.”

The veteran assigned to instruct them explained the steps of using the gun in great detail.

One: Inspect the weapon:

Upon hearing the command “Inspect the weapon,” step forward with your left foot, feet shoulder-width apart, and push the rifle forward.

Grasp the lower handguard with your left hand, press the stock against your right shoulder, grasp the grip with your right hand, use your left thumb to release the safety, remove the magazine, and hand it to your right hand to hold on the left side of the grip; hook the bolt handle with your left index finger.

When the commander inspects or you inspect yourself, pull the bolt backward several times with your left hand, then reinsert the magazine, pull the trigger with your right hand to fire, close the safety with your left hand, and shift your grip to the lower handguard.

After inspection, grasp the carrying handle with your right hand; as your right foot closes to your left foot, bring the rifle back and resume the standing-at-ease posture with one hand holding the rifle.

Two: Load the magazine:

Press the magazine release button and remove the magazine from the weapon.

Take several rounds and load them one by one into the magazine.

*Reinsert the magazine, ensuring it locks into place.

Three: Pull the bolt: Use your other hand to pull the bolt back, which chambers a round from the magazine, readying it for firing.

Four: Aim:

Focus your gaze on the sight or scope (if equipped).

Use one eye to align the front sight and rear sight; use the other eye to observe the target.

Five: Prepare to fire:

Gently touch the trigger, feeling the tension of the trigger spring.

Maintain steady breathing to reduce body movement and instability.

Six: Fire: Gently squeeze the trigger to complete the shot.

Though these six steps were simple, each recruit trained them for one to two days until they developed what was called muscle memory.

On the sixth day, they began live-fire practice. When they pulled the trigger, the rifle jolted sharply, and the bullet flew toward the target at a speed they couldn’t comprehend.

“Whoa, ten rings! Not bad! First time shooting and you hit ten rings? You’ll represent our company in the sniper competition.” The company commander, inspecting the range, patted Temujin on the shoulder and praised him.

But no sooner had he finished than a wave of exclamations erupted: “Damn, this guy’s insane! Ten shots, ten rings! Is he really shooting for the first time?”

The commander’s heart leapt—he’d thought one recruit hitting ten rings was already astonishing, but now he’d uncovered one who’d hit ten rings ten times in a row.