Chapter 71

The entire 702nd Regiment was pulled out to the grasslands.

Not the grasslands in front of them; they had to be pulled to another exercise field hundreds of kilometers away.

Along the way, the soldiers' hearts were almost swaying along with the swaying carriages; most Chinese soldiers counted the time they hadn't left the barracks in years.

Therefore, this kind of fully armed exercise always made them feel fresh and excited from the bottom of their hearts.

Ten thousand tons of equipment were pulled into the mountains, National Day combat readiness, temperate forest, mountainous terrain, altitude of 2100 meters, average temperature of 21.5 degrees Celsius.

The Steel Seventh Company was the vanguard company for this exercise.

Amidst the trembling sound of the troop transport carriages, people like Wu Liuyi, who were used to long-distance travel, had already started looking for places to sleep or play cards.

Bai Tiejun smacked his lips and leaned against Gan Xiaoning to hurry up and sleep.

Gan Xiaoning and Cheng Cai were playing poker.

"Squad Leader, is the formation for this exercise so large? We've already driven out of our garrison area," Gan Xiaoning threw out a pair of kings and asked.

Wu Liuyi also showed a curious expression, "It really is a bit strange. The whole regiment has been pulled out, and it's a large-scale exercise. I see the company commander's expression is very grave. Squad Leader, do you have any inside information?"

Although they were playing cards nonchalantly, they all felt heavy inside.

It was too sudden.

And it was such a large-scale collective operation exercise according to the rules.

For such a large-scale exercise, even a veteran like Wu Liuyi felt uneasy.

"Don't ask what you shouldn't ask, everyone sleep!" Shi Jin scolded coldly.

Cheng Cai glanced over and continued to hand out cigarettes to the other soldiers as usual.

Only this time, he had switched from Spring City to Hademen.

The previous alienation had been bridged by his cigarettes.

No one was coldly distancing themselves from him on the surface anymore.

Actually, that's what he thought.

He had interacted with half of the Seventh Company, the kind where they could greet each other with a smile when they met.

The military vehicles were eventually switched to a train.

Feng Yuxiu felt a bit dazed.

When he joined the army, he had also come by train.

This major exercise was also being attended by train.

Various motorized vehicles, tanks, armored vehicles, and even anti-aircraft guns were loaded onto the train.

"My mother, what is this all about? Oh my god," Bai Tiejun was stunned, his hometown dialect bursting out.

Feng Yuxiu suddenly felt his hair stand up on the back of his neck.

Heavy troops and heavy armor; this was the first time he had encountered such a large-scale modern exercise.

What kind of scene would such a large-scale active-duty exercise erupt into?

Just thinking about it made his hair stand on end and his whole body tremble.

This wasn't a life-and-death crisis of adrenaline from a duel; this was a battle that shook the soul.

Everyone was so stifled by the oppressive atmosphere that they couldn't speak.

"Board the train!" Gao Cheng issued the order with a serious face.

The soldiers boarding in an orderly fashion filed into the carriages one after another.

Another carriage was filled with guards carrying live ammunition.

"No moving around at will; report if you need to use the restroom!"

"No leaving the squad organization; report to your respective squad leaders if you have any issues!"

"Each squad leader must strictly implement discipline!"

Gao Cheng announced the requirements coldly and turned to leave.

All the soldiers sat down quietly, sitting silently with each squad as the center.

The train carriages made the sound of mechanical collisions.

The train rattled on the tracks, making a rumbling sound.

Most of these soldiers had never been this far away.

They looked curiously out the train windows.

Feng Yuxiu's ears suddenly twitched.

Cheng Cai, who was near the window, lowered his voice and spoke to a fellow villager beside him.

"I'm always thinking of useful ideas, always looking for ways. In this company sniper competition, I fell from first place to third."

"If there's no prominent direction in this exercise, I want to go to the Third Company. The company commander of the Red Third Company has spoken to me many times."

His fellow villager suddenly lowered his voice, "We're in an exercise now, don't talk about this."

Cheng Cai raised his head indifferently, "People always have to strive for progress. My upper limit in this place has been locked. I always feel like someone is pressing down on me, it's just... those followers who used to follow me in the first half of my life are now standing in front of me."

"And they often look back and mock me in a subtle way. Do you understand what that means?"

Cheng Cai's words made the fellow villager silent.

"I don't understand that, but isn't it pretty good staying in the Steel Seventh Company? The squad leader, including the platoon leader, and even the company commander value you highly."

"The Steel Seventh Company only has soldiers who are eliminated, not soldiers who jump ship. You're slapping the company commander in the face! You know, the company commander values this the most."

Cheng Cai smiled, "Then I'll be the first soldier to jump ship. There are too many good soldiers in the Steel Seventh Company; you can't get ahead here. The Third Company lacks elite soldiers."

Cheng Cai suddenly raised his head and looked at Feng Yuxiu, "What I want isn't being valued; what I want is first place. What I want is a performance that breaks the upper limit. Now someone is always pressing down on me. Just wait, just wait for this time."

Feng Yuxiu listened to Cheng Cai's near-farewell words with a calm gaze.

Whether in ancient times or modern times, or even the martial arts world of his previous life.

Such people are collectively known as traitors.

It's just that in the army, they become deserters, mere deserters of the Steel Seventh Company.

Now it's a three-year compulsory military service; Cheng Cai always wants to stay here in a legitimate way.

Only Feng Yuxiu knew that next year there would be a major reform of the entire army.

Three-year soldiers would become two-year soldiers.

People would leave faster and in greater numbers.

Consequently, more people fell silent afterward.

They didn't know how much longer it would take to arrive.

They were completely heading to a strange place, a strange environment.

Everyone was flustered and panicked.

Such a large-scale exercise made them feel flustered.

The silent atmosphere lasted for five hours.

Some leaned against each other to sleep, some looked at the scenery outside with worry.

More people sat straight, waiting.

Feng Yuxiu's chest rose and fell, the heat flowing within his body, raising his state to the best.

The sleepiness was gradually eliminated by him; the muscles and spirit of his whole body began to recover comprehensively, reaching a peak state.

The train gradually pulled into the station and stopped.

All the soldiers were transferred to military vehicles.

The military vehicles drove over layers of mountains and finally arrived at the place where the plains and barren mountains met.

The soldiers quickly set up camp in front of the mountains. Just as the field kitchen vehicle started preparing to cook, a staff officer ran out from the regimental headquarters in a hurry and said: "Regimental Commander's order, encountered enemy air raid, all our field kitchen vehicles have been destroyed!"

The soldiers looked at the sky, there was nothing: "What air raid?"

"We were destroyed with one sentence?" someone asked.

"Hypothetical enemy situation, understand? Each kitchen squad, prepare for emergency operations!" the staff officer said.

The kitchen soldiers had no choice but to dig into the soil in an open space not far from the barracks, sending soil flying everywhere.

In the field barracks, a large operational determination map of the regimental leaders hung on the wall. Regimental Commander Wang Qingrui said with some worry: "Basically, every slope exceeds the maximum elevation angle of our artillery, and the mountains are dense with forests, which is also a huge obstacle to the firing range of all heavy artillery."

"I have people on the vehicles; people don't have a maximum elevation angle," Gao Cheng said.

Wang Qingrui sighed: "That's the only way. Assault tanks are temporarily used as fire support, and several armored infantry companies will change formation into blades. Our opponents are a professional Blue Army unit."

"Professional Blue Army?" someone asked in confusion, is there an amateur one?

The Chief of Staff explained: "There is only one per military region, and their main business is to study the weaknesses of friendly forces, train against those weaknesses, and deal fatal blows in exercises. To put it bluntly, it's a professional fault-finding unit."

Wang Qingrui pondered for a while and emphasized: "The Blue Army in this exercise is also exceptionally mysterious. We haven't even found a shadow of the Blue Army unit yet. Their tactics are despicable, and four heavy-duty units have already fallen into their hands."

Gao Cheng remained indifferent and smiled: "That's because they haven't met me. I have the best scouts here, I'm waiting for them!"

Wang Qingrui stared at the arrogant Gao Cheng earnestly, "Don't underestimate them, this Blue Army is extremely dangerous!"

"Yes, yes, yes!"

Gao Cheng nodded with a smile, but he didn't take it to heart at all.

As the vanguard unit, his Steel Seventh Company had full confidence in annihilating this so-called Blue Army in one fell swoop.

This was the confidence and honor of the Steel Seventh Company!