Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 129 Duan Peng's Special Training

So what should have been a two-hour journey to Duanjiagou ended up taking four hours.

Unlike most women who have children in their teens or twenties, Duan Peng's mother gave birth to him in her thirties, so she is now over fifty. Duan Peng's father, on the other hand, passed away relatively early.

However, even though it was already late at night, Duan Peng's mother was still awake and sitting in the house waiting for him to return. As soon as she saw him come back, she excitedly said:

"Son! You said you were going to town to sell millet yesterday, why are you only coming back now!"

Upon hearing his mother's words, Duan Peng spoke up to explain:

“Mother, I was selling rice in the county town yesterday, but I ran into some Japanese devils who wanted to steal my rice. I was so angry that I fought with them. If the regimental commander hadn’t arrived in time, I might have died in town yesterday! These Japanese devils are too arrogant, so I’ve decided to join the Eighth Route Army and fight them!”

However, to Wang Gensheng's surprise, Duan Peng's mother did not object after hearing Duan Peng's words, but nodded and said:
"It's good that you're going to fight the Japanese with the Eighth Route Army. It would be a waste of your skills to use them for farming. Your father always said that martial arts are for protecting the country. So go ahead and do it with peace of mind! Don't worry about me. Your eldest sister, second sister, third sister, fourth sister, fifth sister, and sixth sister are all working in the village. With their help, your mother won't starve!"

Wang Gensheng was extremely surprised when he heard what Duan Peng's mother said. In the original story, Duan Peng said that he had an elderly mother to support and couldn't leave home, so Wang Gensheng thought that Duan Peng was the only son in his family!

But unexpectedly, it turns out that "only son" refers to Duan Peng, who is the only male!

This also explains why Duan Peng's mother was over thirty when she had Duan Peng; it turns out that she had several daughters before her!
Given the extent of male chauvinism in that war-torn era, if one couldn't have a son, one would naturally keep having more.

Seeing how understanding and righteous Duan Peng's mother was, Wang Gensheng, without hesitation, took out the canned meat he had brought with him and about twenty silver dollars from his bag, placed them on the table, and said to Duan Peng's mother:

"This is Duan Peng's resettlement allowance after joining the Eighth Route Army!"

However, as soon as Wang Gensheng finished speaking, Duan Peng asked in surprise:

"Commander, don't the Eighth Route Army soldiers not receive resettlement allowances?"

Wang Gensheng responded with a smile, explaining:
"Since you're not far from home, consider this resettlement allowance as an advance on your military service allowance! We Eighth Route Army soldiers do receive allowances!"

Duan Peng thought this made sense, so he immediately told his mother to put away the silver dollars and the canned meat.

Duan Peng and Wang Gensheng didn't stay long at his mother's house before leaving Duanjiagou. However, on their way back, when they passed Qingyun Town again, Wang Gensheng stopped and looked at the town in the night, asking Duan Peng:
"Duan Peng, are you familiar with Qingyun Town? Do you know how many puppet troops and Japanese soldiers are stationed here?"

Upon hearing Wang Gensheng's words, Duan Peng thought for a moment before replying:
"Not many. I saw about a hundred puppet troops! There were even fewer Japanese soldiers, probably only fifty or sixty! Commander, do you have designs on Qingyun Town?"

Wang Gensheng nodded in response to Duan Peng's question:
“That’s the idea. Our cavalry regiment is stationed in Majia Village, so this area within a hundred miles should be our base. Except for the county town, which we can’t conquer, we should take down all the remaining bunkers and such. Before, the cavalry regiment was just established and busy with patrols; now that training is almost complete, it’s time to practice real combat. Just training without fighting is useless!” Duan Peng said happily upon hearing Wang Gensheng’s words.

"Commander, doesn't that mean Duanjiagou can also be included in the cavalry regiment's base area and will no longer be oppressed by the Japanese! We won't have to pay grain and taxes to the Japanese anymore!"

That's right. Duanjiagou, where Duan Peng was located, was not yet within the base area, so naturally there was a position called "Maintenance Committee Chief" to collect grain and hand it over to the Japanese as military rations.

Wang Gensheng nodded in agreement.

"That's natural, but we have to take it slowly. We need to take Qingyun Town first! Of course, the most important thing is to train you first. Although your martial arts are not bad, you still need to learn marksmanship, horsemanship, and some tactical maneuvers. Otherwise, you won't be able to keep up with our cavalry regiment, let alone become a battalion commander!"

So the day after Wang Gensheng brought Duan Peng back to Majia Village, Wang Gensheng began special training with Duan Peng.

The first thing was climbing and rappelling training. It has to be said that these moves were no challenge for Duan Peng at all, even though he had never practiced them before.

But miracles happen with great effort! Duan Peng's physical condition, honed over a decade of martial arts training, is naturally incomparable to that of ordinary people who have never practiced martial arts.

Needless to say, his marksmanship was superb. He held the 17-18 pound Type 96 light machine gun very steadily in his hands. After being taught the three-point alignment aiming technique, and after Duan Peng finished a magazine and got used to the recoil of the light machine gun, he was able to ensure that every shot hit the target at a distance of 50 meters.

However, after Duan Peng put on the 40-kilogram (80-pound) full-body bulletproof armor tailored for him, his sense of security increased exponentially. He immediately smiled and said to Wang Gensheng:

"Commander, with this bulletproof armor, I feel like I don't even need a gun anymore. I can just grab a knife and fight my way in and out of those Japanese devils!"

Wang Gensheng corrected Duan Peng's words, saying:

"A knife is nowhere near as fast as a machine gun. You can fire thirty bullets with a single pull of the trigger, killing a dozen or even dozens of Japanese soldiers. You'd have to chase after them with a knife! Besides, bulletproof armor isn't foolproof. Even if it can stop the shrapnel from grenades and artillery shells, it can't stop the shockwave from the explosion. So you have to assess the situation before charging and not just charge head-on! And if you encounter a heavy machine gun with a large caliber, don't charge head-on either!"

Fortunately, the Japanese soldiers Wang Gensheng was dealing with were not American soldiers, so the Japanese heavy machine guns were only 7.7 mm caliber, the same as the Type 92 heavy machine gun, with limited bullet power. If he had encountered a large-caliber heavy machine gun like the American M2 with 12.7 mm caliber, Wang Gensheng's bulletproof vest would have needed at least two layers of armor to protect him.

Currently, only Wang Gensheng and Duan Peng are equipped with full body armor. The rest of the people are equipped with bulletproof helmets, bulletproof masks, and bulletproof vests. There is no way around it. Although the full body armor has a large protective area and can protect the limbs, the weight is directly doubled, from 40 pounds to 80 pounds. Ordinary people simply cannot wear it. Even the soldiers of the cavalry regiment carefully selected by Wang Gensheng cannot bear such weight.

Just as Wang Gensheng was giving Duan Peng, the future leader of his assault team, special training, the Lion Corps delivered the telegraph couriers that Wang Gensheng had requested to him.

(End of this chapter)