After eating a breakfast that was not sumptuous, but nutritious and reasonable, Jia Run'an took Xu Xinsheng to meet Zeng Zhilin and Muttel to prepare to start the day's itinerary.

Since there will be a live-fire confrontation drill in which the whole battalion participates in three days, and the main energy of the departments under the jurisdiction of the "Ranger" battalion in the past few days has been focused on preparing for the exercise, the visit that Muttel arranged for Xu Xinsheng today is only to visit the battalion's station and take a look at the daily queues and simple tactical training of each unit. If it weren't for the expected live-fire confrontation exercise, Xu Xinsheng would even think that this trip to the most elite "Rangers" battalion of the Beiping Army was probably not as rewarding and feeling as the previous visit to the first regiment of the "Security Army" and the "Xianglong Fort" recruit training base.

However, it turns out that Xu Xinsheng's conclusion was made too early. As Xu Xinsheng stayed in the "Ranger" battalion and saw more officers and soldiers, the more he felt that his initial conclusions were wrong. Because, although the visit on the 14th day of the first lunar month seemed unremarkable on the surface, and although the daily queues and simple tactical training of the various units of the "Ranger" battalion were not much different from the relevant training seen in the previous two visits, especially the relevant training of the soldiers in the "Xianglong Fort" recruit training base, the "spirit" displayed by the soldiers who participated in the training, or the aura exuded by the soldiers, was completely different.

If it is said that the soldiers of the first regiment of the "Security Army" showed the kind of courageous and resolute momentum that the first-class elite soldiers of the cold weapon era usually possessed, and the recruits of the "Xianglong Fort" recruit training base showed a positive and vigorous momentum, then these veterans of the "Rangers" battalion, who had gone through the battle formation and tasted blood, displayed a kind of indifferent and ruthless killing atmosphere. These veterans may not be as standard and neat as the recruits of "Xianglong Castle" in terms of queue movements, but watching their queue training and watching them slowly walk towards you with not very standard steps can make you feel a kind of coercion and a kind of murderous aura that is rushing to your face; These veterans may not be as accurate and discerning as the soldiers of the First Regiment of the "Security Army" in terms of tactical movements, but if you look closely, you will find that their tactical movements are more concise and effective, and most of the time they are ruthless tricks that can defeat the enemy with one blow and take the opponent's life. It is worth mentioning that such momentum and skill are not only reflected in one or some soldiers of the "Ranger" battalion, but can be seen in all the officers and men of the "Ranger" battalion.

After carefully observing each of the "Rangers" battalion soldiers who appeared in front of him, he confirmed that they were indeed just ordinary soldiers of the battalion, neither by veteran and knowledgeable non-commissioned officers or junior officers, nor by the same group of soldiers pretending to be teams with different numbers to act in front of him, on the one hand, he was surprised by the elite of the soldiers of the "Rangers" battalion. On the other hand, there are also some people who do not understand that Weishenme, a unit that has not participated in many battles, has so many veterans of a hundred battles -- in Xu Xinsheng's impression, the battles fought by the Beiping Army are very limited. In addition to the Battle of Youyun, there was only the Battle of the Northern Han Dynasty, which was almost bloodless. It stands to reason that these two wars, which did not last long, were unlikely to produce so many battle-hardened soldiers for the Beiping Army.

All kinds of questions and incomprehension are naturally uncomfortable in my heart, so when the visit came to an end temporarily, and everyone returned to the back hall of the headquarters to drink tea and chat, Xu Xinsheng found the opportunity to put forward many of his questions, hoping that Zeng Zhilin or Muttel could solve his doubts.

Zeng Zhilin had no intention of concealing this -- in fact, there was no need to conceal it. He smiled, waved his hand and said to Mutel: "Brother Xu's question, I think it's still you who is thirty-five to answer." ”

Mutel nodded when he heard this, and said to Xu Xinsheng with a kind face: "It is reasonable that Brother Xu will have such doubts. Actually, it's not just Brother Xu, in my brother's opinion, I'm afraid that all people who come into contact with the 'Ranger' battalion for the first time will have such thoughts. The reason for this is that they do not know about the 'rangers' battalion, and only speculate on the level and strength of this force from the superficial phenomena.

Yes, when it comes to big battles, the 'Ranger' battalion, like the other units of my 'Flying Dragon Army', has only participated in the famous 'Battle of the Clouds', which is praised by the people of the world, and the Battle of the Northern Han Dynasty, which ended almost bloodlessly. It is common sense to conclude that these two wars alone would not have produced so many elite soldiers for our 'Ranger' battalion. However, if you carefully review the performance of the 'Ranger' battalion in these two wars, especially in the 'Battle of the Clouds,' and have an in-depth understanding of the course that the 'Ranger' battalion has gone through from its initial formation to the present, you will find that the 'Ranger' battalion can have today's record and become a strong army that has won every battle, which is actually a natural thing and an inevitable result. ”

As he spoke, Muttel opened the "chatterbox" and began to talk about the formation of the "Rangers" squad, the predecessor of the "Rangers" battalion, and told Xu Xinsheng in detail about the development process of this unit from small to large, from weak to strong, and the battles it experienced during it. In particular, during the "Battle of Youyun", he led the "Rangers" battalion and the "Wolf Tooth" battalion and other elite troops to cover the main force to recover the eight states behind the mountains and went out alone, swept through the Zhongjing Road of the Liao State, and since the end of the "Battle of Youyun" and the establishment of the Beiping Army, the "Rangers" battalion has almost formed a system to go north to "fight the grass valley", so that Xu Xinsheng can have a comprehensive understanding of this unit.

After listening to Mutel's story, all of Xu Xinsheng's previous doubts were immediately solved. For such a team that was founded when the beating team began to form its own armament, and has participated in almost all the battles experienced by the crossing team, for more than a year, it will basically go to Zhongjing Road and even Shangjing Road in Liao State to fight a circle of "grass valley" every two to three months, and advance as far as Guangyi City, Yikun Prefecture, which is less than 200 miles away from Linhuang Mansion in Shangjing, Liao State, good at fighting far from the rear and without supplies, and has the most haode officers and soldiers and the most haode equipment of the crossing team. For a unit that can definitely be called the strongest army in the world, its members are all elite soldiers in a hundred battles, and it is natural and logical that all of them are full of murderous energy, and there is really nothing to make a fuss about and incomprehensible. While marveling at the rich combat experience, proud achievements, and fearless fighting style of the "Ranger" battalion, Xu Xinsheng was also looking forward to the live-fire drill three days later, looking forward to the moment when he could have the opportunity to see this legendary unit and show its grandeur in front of him.

After happily spending a Shangyuan Festival with Zeng Zhilin, Muter, Jia Run'an, and others, as well as a group of middle and senior officers of the "Ranger" battalion, and after watching a day of still dull daily training, Xu Xinsheng finally looked forward to the live-fire confrontation drill that began on the 17th day of the first month of the lunar calendar.

Early that morning, Xu Xinsheng and Jia Run'an first came to the front hall of the battalion headquarters to watch Mutel, as the commander-in-chief of the "Rangers" battalion, assign tasks to the companies under him, and then the two changed into the camouflage combat uniforms prepared for them by Mutel, and followed Mu and Zeng to the exercise command post.

Although the exercise command post was three or four miles away from the exercise site, it was still possible to see all the conditions at the exercise site very clearly through the large high-powered telescope. Looking at the drill site filled with gunsmoke and people rushing back and forth, and listening to the explosions and gunfire that had not diminished much because of the distance of several miles, Xu Xinsheng suddenly had a feeling of being in a different world.

-- Artillery fire preparation, cavalry rapid assault, infantry follow-up, all kinds of artillery firing one after another, machine guns and rifles rang out, such tactical arrangements, such firepower equipment, Xu Xinsheng unconsciously had an illusion, as if he was not watching the confrontation drill of the "Rangers" battalion of the Beiping Army of the Great Zhou Dynasty through a telescope, but was sitting in front of the television set in his previous life's home, enjoying with relish an old movie depicting the war scenes of the First World War or a little earlier. In the ancient times of the 10th century, watching a confrontation drill with the characteristics of equipment and tactics in the late 19th and early 20th centuries seemed to Xu Xinsheng to be very incongruous, and he even felt a little out of order. So much so that he had to spend a while and a lot of effort to adjust his mentality, to coincide the scene in front of him with the real time and space now, and finally formed a thought in his mind, an unswerving idea - it will never be wrong to follow the "Qingyuan" brothers of the Beiping Army and follow the crossing team, and it is extremely wise and correct for him to accept the suggestions and conditions of his brother Jia Run'an and make the decision to join the crossing team.

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