Chapter 18

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

Since finishing his talk with the Principal, Lv Muzhi found He Zhonghan had quieted down considerably.

During classes, he no longer publicly voiced opposition to the Workers and Peasants Party; apparently the Principal had warned him.

Two major events had happened recently: the first was that the Student Company of Whampoa Military Academy left the school and headed north to Shaoguan Headquarters to serve as the Grand Marshal's personal guard.

Jiang Xiangyun and He Zhonghan, both students of the Student Company, were also sent by the Principal to Shaoguan to protect the Grand Marshal.

Lv Muzhi, Chen Geng, and others did not belong to the Student Company, so naturally they remained at the school to continue their studies.

After the Student Company departed for Shaoguan, another major event occurred in Guangzhou City: Acting Grand Marshal Hu Hanming revoked the wanted order against Merchant Corps leader Chen Lianbo, and Chen Lianbo telegraphed his support for the Grand Marshal's Office; the two sides seemed reconciled, and there were even rumors that Whampoa Military Academy would return all the seized Merchant Corps ammunition.

On the Whampoa Military Academy firing range, Lv Muzhi and Chen Geng were practicing marksmanship.

The ammunition seized from Chen Lianbo still lay in the Whampoa Military Academy warehouse; Principal Jiang and Representative Liao conferred and decided that rather than return it to the Merchant Corps, they might as well let the students use some for shooting practice—after all, with four million bullets, they couldn't finish them in a short time.

Chen Geng held up a Mauser Rifle imported by the Merchant Corps, worked the bolt with a click: "Fine gun, it's a pity to return it to the Merchant Corps just like that; who knows, after we give it back, those bullets might end up fired at us."

Lv Muzhi raised his rifle, aimed at the distant target, and pulled the trigger, firing one shot: "It is a pity; what's more of a pity is that such fine weather has only the two of us here at the range."

Chen Geng glanced at Hu Zongnan, Sun Yuanlang, and the others beside him, and whispered with a laugh: "What, aren't they people?"

Lv Muzhi didn't respond: "It's a pity Xiangyun and Xilian went to Shaoguan to guard the Grand Marshal; otherwise, regarding marksmanship, Xiangyun could give me some guidance."

"Hey, Muzi, don't look down on me like that; my marksmanship isn't bad either. Don't believe me? Wait until we report the targets—my score will definitely be over ninety." Chen Geng said, then immediately fired a shot at the distant target.

"What about Li Zhilong? How come he's been elusive as a dragon these days? Not even coming to the extra shooting practice?"

Lv Muzhi was curious; ever since the Principal and Representative Liao permitted using the Merchant Corps' ammunition for independent shooting practice on Sundays, the classmates had all rushed to line up for training, and almost no one went out on leave.

"As for that fellow Li Zhilong, Instructor Wu wants to put on some plays to promote revolutionary art, and since Li Zhilong is a Chu opera fan, he arranged for Li Zhilong to go plan the script together." Chen Geng, as usual, was adept at gathering all kinds of news.

But some intelligence Chen Geng couldn't uncover; Lv Muzhi held a piece of good news Chen Geng didn't know.

Bang!

After firing his last bullet, Lv Muzhi checked the gun, then put it back on the rack.

"You don't need to pity those Merchant Corps bullets anymore; we'll soon have our own equipment."

Lv Muzhi's words left Chen Geng puzzled: "Our own equipment? Where from?"

"Sometime this afternoon, aid from the Soviet Union will arrive, and then we'll all have to go move weapons." This was news Lv Muzhi had heard from the radio in the Principal's Office; he had always been the one asking Chen Geng for information, so as a courtesy, he was returning a piece of intelligence to Chen Geng.

"The aid has arrived? Wonderful! We've been waiting and waiting, and it's finally here!" Chen Geng was very happy and didn't question the truth of the news; Lv Muzhi had been frequently going in and out of the Principal's Office lately, so the information must be reliable.

Chen Geng's voice was a bit louder, and the other students shooting nearby heard it, gathering around one by one.

Hu Zongnan quickly finished the bullets in his gun barrel and, along with the others, crowded around Lv Muzhi: "Is this true? I heard the Russians use something called a Mosin-Nagant Rifle, with long range and high accuracy."

"Right, right, right; the weapons we're using now are still the Merchant Corps', and who knows when they'll be taken back—now we finally don't have to worry!" Sun Yuanlang, hearing this news, was overjoyed.

Guan Linzhen came over: "Brother Muzi, your news is really well-informed; it seems your trips to the Principal's Office weren't in vain!"

Lv Muzhi realized that since the last talk in the Principal's Office, He Zhonghan had quieted down, and along with him, Hu Zongnan and the others under him had become much more courteous to him, occasionally coming to him to fish for news.

The target reporter emerged from the target trench, took down the target papers one by one, and brought them to Lv Muzhi and the others.

"Here, this is Target Number Eight, Student Chen Geng's..."

"Target Number Nine, Student Lv Muzhi's..." Anyway, it wasn't an official test, so the target reporter didn't record scores, but simply handed the target papers to the students themselves according to their numbers.

"Yo! Muzi, I told you my marksmanship is piercing willows at a hundred paces!" Chen Geng happily patted his own target paper: "See? One hundred rings!"

Lv Muzhi looked over; ten bullet holes were all in the red center—one hundred rings at a hundred meters, a good score.

"Look at yours." Chen Geng craned his neck and glanced at Lv Muzhi's target paper: "You're not bad either—nine tens, one nine, ninety-nine rings, great improvement!"

The others also turned their attention to their own target papers; among these shooting students, quite a few had scores reaching one hundred rings.

These were all fed by the Merchant Corps' bullets! As long as enough bullets were fired, the hit rate naturally went up.

"Everyone, emergency assembly! Immediately go to the wharf to line up!" Weaponry Instructor Qian Dajun came to the firing range, apparently with something important.

When they arrived at the wharf, apart from the Student Company that had gone to Shaoguan to guard the Grand Marshal, the remaining several companies' students, over three hundred men, gathered at the wharf.

The Principal himself was in full uniform, leading all the instructors, looking expectantly eastward from the wharf.

In addition, Borodin, the Soviet political advisor stationed in Guangzhou, also came to the scene in person, standing beside the Principal.

Lv Muzhi roughly guessed that this must be the Soviet arms ship arriving early!

After a quarter of an hour, a warship indeed came from the east, and the flag flying on it was unmistakably a red flag.

Chief Instructor He Yingqin pointed at the distant warship: "Look! Principal, that is the Soviet Red Army's 'Volofsky' communications command ship; the arms aiding us are loaded on board!"

Political Advisor Borodin smiled: "Principal Jiang, this ship has eight thousand Mosin-Nagant Rifles, five hundred bullets per rifle, totaling four million bullets."

The Principal was extremely excited: "Now that we have bullets aided by the Russians, who would still care for the Merchant Corps' equipment? If the Merchant Corps dares to act up again, I'll make them taste our might!"