Chapter 1186

On the grassland, the men of the Fifth Squad were basking in the sun and repairing the road.

"Listen, the commotion from this exercise..." Old Ma tapped the stones while paving the road, sighing at the liveliness of the exercise area not far away.

"No matter how big the commotion is, it has nothing to do with us." Li Meng, who was on the side, spoke up.

He considered himself literary and always said discouraging things.

Old Wei glanced at him: "Just give it a rest. If they really let us participate in the exercise, we'd probably be written off as soon as we went up, and we'd be able to vomit from writing self-criticisms after coming back."

"Listening to that, you've written one before?"

"I participated in an exercise before, and after firing two shots, I was 'smoked' out." Old Wei shook his head, "Our squad leader is amazing; he seemed to have taken out more than ten people in the previous exercise, and the regiment even commended him."

Old Ma pressed down the corners of his mouth and waved his hands repeatedly: "That's all in the past, why keep bringing that up? If I were to participate in an exercise now, I'd also be in the group that gets 'smoked' as soon as I go up."

Xu Sanduo smiled: "Wang Yan, the squad leader, and the platoon leader participated too. They are all very capable and definitely won't get 'smoked'."

"Hey, you can't speak so absolutely." Xue Lin chimed in, "Wang Yan is indeed awesome, but fighting a war isn't like that. Listen to this commotion; since the exercise started, the artillery hasn't stopped, and it's one blast after another. No matter how capable he is, he'll still get 'smoked'."

Xu Sanduo smiled foolishly and didn't say anything.

"A vehicle is coming." Old Wei looked into the distance, where a vehicle was driving over, kicking up a long trail of dust, "A jeep, it should be Wang Yan. Damn, he must have been 'smoked' and came down. It's only been a few days, tsk tsk..."

Soon, the jeep stopped by the side of the road, and Wang Yan got out carrying some things.

"Oh my, you say you're coming, so just come, why bring things?" Old Wei immediately threw down the hammer and stone in his hand and ran over faster than Xu Sanduo, taking the things from Wang Yan's hands.

"You're really good at putting on an act; your drool even landed on my shoes." Wang Yan slapped Old Wei on the back.

He had been here a few times and was quite familiar with these people in the Fifth Squad; everyone could joke around happily and get along well.

"I'm just being polite with you. Come, come, come, have a smoke." Old Wei took the things with one hand and fished out cigarettes from his pocket with the other to serve him.

"Smoke mine."

"Oh my, not bad, your status has gone up, you're smoking Zhonghua now?" Li Meng leaned over.

"Swiped it from our company commander."

Old Ma laughed: "We were just talking about you guys earlier. Weren't you in an exercise? Did you get 'smoked'?"

"Definitely." Wang Yan replied, "From the moment we entered the combat zone, we didn't even last twelve hours before we were all 'smoked'."

"What about the squad leader and platoon leader?" Xu Sanduo asked.

"They were all 'smoked' too, we were together. We made the Blue Army anxious, so they used saturation strikes and took us all out. They are both frowning and writing reports; I didn't have anything to do, so I came over to take a look."

"Hey, Wang Yan, how many did you take out this time?" Xue Lin asked curiously.

"Dozens, at least, but it hasn't been tallied yet."

"You're not bragging, are you?" Li Meng was a bit skeptical.

"Am I that kind of person? You'll know when the time comes."

Old Ma said: "Don't be like that, we brothers have nothing to do, tell us about the process. Your Seventh Company is so awesome, how did you get 'smoked' as soon as you went up?"

There was nothing that couldn't be said, so Wang Yan gave them a fairly detailed account of the exercise.

He said, "Old Ma, artillery doesn't care if you're the Seventh Company or the Eighth Company; no matter how awesome you are, you can't withstand artillery fire. We had just finished fighting and were moving positions to hide, and were just there smoking and chatting, without a sound, when our bodies all started 'smoking'. That was the frustrating part."

"Awesome."

The men of the Fifth Squad praised him sincerely.

"You're really capable, Wang Yan." Xu Sanduo was also sincere.

Wang Yan waved his hand: "I was still thinking about taking out the Blue Army's command post and capturing the Blue Army commander alive, but I didn't even get a chance to show off before I was 'smoked' as soon as I went up. It's boring, boring."

He held a cigarette in his mouth, walked a few steps inside, and stomped hard on the stone road under his feet.

"Not bad, it really is true that many hands make light work; this road is clearly about to be finished. You guys are the ones who are truly capable."

"Capable, what's capable about it? Every day we're tired as hell, and I don't even know what the point of building this road is." Old Ma sighed, but then he laughed again, "But you can't say that; seeing this road being built day by day, I actually feel quite happy in my heart. It just feels like there's something to look forward to in these days, and it's not hard to endure."

"It's not hard to endure, but it's miserable." Li Meng sighed, "As soon as you open your eyes, it's carrying stones, sixty or seventy kilograms, and when you come back, you're building the road here under the sun. When night comes, you fall asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow. The sleep quality is great, sleeping until dawn. It's tiring..."

"You're the one who carries the fewest stones and complains the most." Old Ma glared at him, "Why so much nonsense?"

"Oh my, you won't even let me talk."

Wang Yan laughed: "There's nothing to say, you always have to have something to do. It's great now, everyone has spirit, and their bodies are better too. Right, Sanduo."

Xu Sanduo smiled foolishly and nodded: "The squad leader said, do meaningful things. Building the road is meaningful, everyone builds it, it's all meaningful."

"Old Ma, did our regiment commander really want to build a road here back then?"

"Could I lie to you? It's the truth."

Wang Yan nodded and smiled: "Then this road of yours definitely won't be built in vain; there will definitely be benefits after it's finished."

"Hi, I never thought about those things. If you think about benefits for everything you do, then you can't get anything done. If there are benefits, they belong to Xu Sanduo. Without this kid, I'm afraid this road would never exist in this lifetime."

"The squad leader said it's meaningful, so I built it." Xu Sanduo smiled foolishly.

So the credit belongs to the squad leader; this was something he didn't say, and perhaps he hadn't even thought of it. He just felt that this road wasn't something he wanted to build, nor was it something he built alone.

He had always believed that it was Old Ma who told him to build the road, and he hadn't heard the sarcasm in Old Ma's words. Anyway, he took it seriously.

Old Ma couldn't listen to these words; he felt embarrassed. Xu Sanduo was a simple, foolish kid, and his conscience was condemned...

Immediately, he waved his hands repeatedly: "Alright, alright, come inside the room and sit for a while, drink some water. Tell us more about the exercise; as soldiers, we love to hear about that."

Wang Yan followed suit, went with them into the squad room, and they laughed and joked together...

After sitting for more than an hour and having lunch there, Wang Yan bid farewell. He told Xu Sanduo to hone his skills well and told him that sooner or later he would be transferred back to a combat unit, where he could shoot guns and participate in exercises.

Just like that, under Xu Sanduo's gaze once again, Wang Yan drove back to the Seventh Company.

Coming to Xu Sanduo's place really wasn't easy; the round trip alone took nearly nine hours of driving, and a whole day was gone.

Usually, when Wang Yan came over, it was mostly during the unit's long-distance field training; this was a semi-fixed route, and only when he came this way would he stop by to take a look. At other times, it was mostly communication by letter.

Xu Sanduo's letters were very dry, generally divided into three parts: one part talked about himself, one part talked about the others in the Fifth Squad, and another part was his admiration for Wang Yan's heaven-defying awesomeness...

Just as he returned to the company and returned the vehicle to Gao Cheng, he was called over by Gao Cheng.

He smiled and said: "The statistics for our company's exercise results are out; we took out three hundred and twenty-seven Blue Army soldiers."

"Great, we're at a one-to-three exchange ratio; no matter where we go with this record, we can stand tall. The company commander will definitely get promoted next year."

Gao Cheng laughed, waved his hand, and asked again: "Do you know how many Blue Army soldiers you took out?"

Before Wang Yan could reply, he said it himself, "Eighty-six! Eighty-six! I didn't expect that your estimate of fifty or sixty was conservative. How long was the total engagement? You almost took out a whole company by yourself. If we had fought for two more days, I would believe you could take out a whole regiment."

"That would be an exaggeration; I can't take out tanks, armored vehicles, and the like."

Gao Cheng laughed heartily: "When I first received the news, I was stunned. I estimate that the directing department, when they saw this number, were also scared to death and must have suspected their equipment was broken. You don't know, how many people called me today, all asking about you. You're famous now."

"Wasn't I already famous? Before, during the grand competition, I was even on the News Broadcast."

"That's different." Gao Cheng waved his hand, "This is an exercise that completely simulates actual combat; it's a different matter from the grand competition. You proved your strong individual combat capability in the grand competition, but in the end, there was no actual combat record. The competition environment and the exercise environment are different. Now you've demonstrated it, and that's what's most important. In the end, no matter how well you train, you have to be able to apply it. Understand now, you silly kid."

"Whether I understand or not, it's just like that; I am firmly following the company commander's footsteps."

"I knew I didn't misjudge you, kid. Alright, go back, there's nothing for you to do."

"No reward?"

"There will definitely be a commendation, but the exercise isn't over yet, so don't be in a hurry."

"I was just asking; I already have a Second-Class Merit, aren't the others not being decided yet?"

"Not necessarily, if we push it to the end of the year, we can give you one too. Your quality is excellent, and you can get a Third-Class Merit every year just by training; you're not lacking in merits. At this time, you should promote a style of giving other comrades some opportunities."

"Isn't that what was given to Wu Liuyi? Our squad leader should definitely get one this time, right?"

"Don't you worry about that; there's a joint exercise next month, you guys have to maintain it, then we can talk about merits. If you get 'smoked' as soon as you go up, and I give you merits, would you have the face to accept them?"

"That would be very face-worthy; if you give it, we'd dare to accept it. How can you say we aren't tougher than those who just do useless posturing?"

Gao Cheng shook his head amusedly, then waved his hand: "Get lost."

Wang Yan strolled back to the squad, and unsurprisingly, the people in the squad already knew the news.

"The God of War is back." Gan Xiaoning greeted him with a smile.

"Brother Yan, you are my own brother. Eighty-six, that's truly heaven-defyingly awesome; you're even more of a God of War than the God of War." Bai Tiejun was very exaggerated.

Wang Yan smiled: "What's the use? Didn't we still get 'smoked' by their saturation strikes? Artillery is still what's awesome."

"What's this, are you going to defect from the Seventh Company?" Wu Liuyi walked over and put his arm around Wang Yan's neck.

"How could that be? I just expressed my determination to the company commander to firmly follow his footsteps. It's just a feeling; you say we were smoking and chatting, and suddenly we were 'smoked' by the Blue Army; no matter how I think about it, it's not satisfying."

"That's the truth, but there's no way around it. When the joint exercise comes, the artillery will also be annoyed. After all, fighter jets are all ultra-long-range, and they were still loading shells when they were taken out by tactical missiles."

Wu Liuyi comforted him, then turned and said, "But you were truly awesome this time; it sounds scary just hearing about it."

"Small matter, small matter, everyone stop talking about such a small thing; just know that I'm awesome, keep a low profile."

"Does this look like keeping a low profile to you?" Shi Jin said amusedly.

"No way around it, everyone treats me like a monkey to watch; I want to be low, but I can't."

"Alright, alright, stop surrounding him, we're all in the same squad, and it's not his first day, no need to be so curious." Shi Jin laughed, then asked, "How are Xu Sanduo and the others?"

"Still the same, just building the road; it looks like it's almost finished."

"Quite capable, it's been several months, carrying them back trip after trip, it's not easy. I'll go over and take a look next time."

Everyone was laughing and bustling; although Shi Jin changed the topic, it still returned to Wang Yan, and talking back and forth, it was still about the exercise, and everyone was quite happy.

Wang Yan didn't mind and laughed and joked with everyone...

Time passed in daily training and laughter, and before the experience from the last exercise had been fully absorbed, the Air Force joint exercise arrived.

Still the same point, as a grassroots soldier, the role Wang Yan played in the normal battle was still limited. But in local skirmishes, it was enough to turn the tide of the battle.

Having fully absorbed the lessons from the last time, and plus the fact that they were the dominant Blue Army in this exercise, the Seventh Company finally exerted its true role and powerful combat capability.

They scouted ahead, always the first in every battle; although their numbers dwindled as they fought, they persisted from the beginning of the exercise until the end. The Seventh Company was almost wiped out, and the company commander was 'smoked', but the Third Squad still retained considerable combat capability.

Because Shi Jin, Wu Liuyi, and Wang Yan were all there...

Their combat vehicle had long been written off, and the three of them formed a combat team, fighting from beginning to end, very fierce.

In this exercise, Wang Yan alone took out nearly two hundred of the opposing side. This was particularly prominent among the single-digit kill records of the crowd.

But people were not unable to accept it; after all, Wang Yan's individual combat capability was awesome, which was a consensus.

And compared to taking out eighty-six in less than twelve hours last time, taking out less than two hundred in over a week this time was actually easier to accept...

After this exercise ended, the regiment finally learned about the Fifth Squad building a road on the grassland.

Just like in the original drama, leaders at all levels went to take a look one after another, propaganda officers went to interview and take photos, and the Fifth Squad also went through a series of internal psychological struggles.

In the end, Old Ma did not greedily take Xu Sanduo's credit and pushed Xu Sanduo forward.

Xu Sanduo, just like in the original drama, after exchanging a few words with the regiment commander, was led to the Seventh Company's station...