Chapter 22: A Succession of Surprises

Li Yunlong waved his hand with a huff. "Fine, fine, fine! Stop looking at me like I owe you a fortune; you’re all masters here!"

Turning back, Li Yunlong grinned. "Heh, forgive my brother here for the spectacle. These boys are just used to being poor; they can't help but lose their composure the moment they see something nice."

Xu Gaoxiang chuckled. This Old Li was always crying poor at the drop of a hat!

"Don't mention it! We're all brothers here, and everyone is doing this to fight the little devils, after all. I understand, I understand!"

"Take a look. Arno, open it up."

As Xu Gaoxiang spoke, Arno casually pulled a long wooden crate off the donkey cart. With a "creak," the crate was easily pried open, revealing the firearms inside.

Five rifles were neatly arranged in the top layer, their barrels shimmering with a cold, faint luster.

Zhang Dabiao was quick as lightning; he crouched down, snatched a rifle, and began to explore it with childlike wonder. *Click, clack...* He worked the bolt, the crisp sound of the spring mechanism ringing out melodiously.

Shouldering the rifle to aim, Zhang Dabiao pulled the trigger. *Clang!* The firing sensation was distinct. He weighed the rifle in his hands, his delight plain to see, his eyes practically glowing.

"What a fine gun! Commander! What kind of rifle is this?!"

"Old Zhang, you're quick on the draw!" The commanders of the second and third battalions, a step behind, scrambled to pick up the remaining rifles to inspect them.

"Hahaha, brother, why don't you explain these foreign devils' guns to these country bumpkins? Give them a real surprise!"

Li Yunlong feigned an air of profound knowledge. Although he had heard Brother Xu talk about these guns before, this was his first time seeing the real deal, and he certainly couldn't afford to show any weakness!

Xu Gaoxiang played along and didn't call his bluff, pointing to the rifle in Zhang Dabiao's hands. "The gun in your hands is called the M1 Garand semi-automatic rifle. It’s an American make, using 7.62×63mm ammunition. It uses an eight-round en-bloc clip, has an effective range of 457 to 730 meters, and features a gas-operated, rotating bolt locking mechanism."

"Its greatest feature is that it is a semi-automatic rifle; you only need to pull the bolt once, and it will fire until the clip is empty!"

The three battalion commanders immediately realized the power of this rifle. Who didn't know how effective a submachine gun was? This was practically half a submachine gun!

"Of course, practice is the only way to verify the truth. Why don't you all fire a clip and see for yourselves?"

Following Xu Gaoxiang's instructions, Arno took another crate from the second donkey cart, opened it, and produced an ammunition box filled with eight-round clips.

Zhang Dabiao and the others each took a clip and impatiently shoved them into the magazine.

"Be careful, everyone. It's easy to pinch your thumb when loading this rifle!" Xu Gaoxiang reminded them.

Li Yunlong laughed dismissively. "Don't you worry, brother! These are all tough men. They aren't afraid of losing a hand or a leg, so why would they fear a pinched thumb?!"

*Click!* Zhang Dabiao was the fastest. Once the bolt locked, he raised the rifle and aimed at the distant targets.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!* A rapid-fire sequence echoed, followed immediately by the second and third battalion commanders as they each began to fire.

After a haze of gunpowder smoke cleared, a crisp *ping* sound rang out as the empty clip automatically ejected—a truly melodious sound.

"Hahaha! What a powerful gun! High rate of fire, high precision! With these rifles, I can pin the little devils down!"

The second and third battalion commanders emptied their clips as well. Hearing Zhang Dabiao’s remark, they immediately clamored, "Old Zhang, don't think you can hog all the fun! Commander, you have to keep things fair!"

"Exactly! You can't let your first battalion have all the good stuff! Besides, with these guns, who wouldn't be howling to get at the little devils?"

Zhang Dabiao smiled without a word, and Li Yunlong watched on, beaming. Seeing this, the two battalion commanders realized what was happening.

Well! It seemed the commander had already made arrangements. "Fine, you old dog, you were just here to watch us make fools of ourselves!"

Xu Gaoxiang stepped in to smooth things over. "Everyone will get weapons, right, Old Li?"

Li Yunlong praised Xu Gaoxiang. "Exactly! Look at you lot and your lack of composure. With my brother Xu here, are you worried about not having good guns to use?"

Xu Gaoxiang shook his head. "Haha, Old Li, each of these crates contains five Garand rifles, complete with matching bayonets and spare parts. There are twenty crates in total—one hundred rifles."

"Each rifle comes with a basic load of 120 rounds, totaling 12,000 rounds of ammunition."

Zhang Dabiao and the others had been worried that while the guns were good, they would consume too much ammunition. Now, they had nothing to worry about!

Li Yunlong was overjoyed. "Hahaha, I’m rich!"

Xu Gaoxiang chuckled. "Old Li, I know you're happy, but don't get ahead of yourself just yet!"

Li Yunlong slapped his thigh. "Right! There’s still the machine gun!"

"Since you didn't decide on a specific model last time, I took the liberty of selecting one for you. I guarantee you'll be satisfied!"

Xu Gaoxiang immediately instructed Arno to retrieve the machine gun from a larger wooden crate.

This time, Li Yunlong dropped the act, curiously examining the machine gun, its barrel covered in oval cooling holes. "This looks familiar! Brother, tell me more about it!"

Xu Gaoxiang began his explanation. "This is the German MG42 general-purpose machine gun. Its predecessor was the MG34, which the Nationalist forces have in limited supply."

"This machine gun uses 7.92×57mm Mauser ammunition. It is fed by a 50 or 300-round belt. It has a theoretical rate of fire of 1,200 to 1,500 rounds per minute, a muzzle velocity of 755 meters per second, and an effective range of 800 to 1,000 meters!"

Upon hearing the rate of fire, Li Yunlong's eyes widened. "Brother, what did you say? 1,200 to 1,500 rounds per minute?!"

Zhang Dabiao and the others pricked up their ears, thinking they had misheard, their faces filled with disbelief.

Never mind anything else—just this rate of fire was like a torrential downpour! Given the way the little devils charged in formations, wouldn't a single burst wipe them all out?

"Of course, that is just the theoretical maximum. However, a skilled gunner can maintain a rate of 500 to 600 rounds per minute."

Hearing Xu Gaoxiang's explanation, Li Yunlong and his men were struck with awe. "Goodness gracious, even at 500 or 600 rounds a minute, that’s enough to keep any enemy pinned down!"

Li Yunlong laughed heartily. "Hahaha! What a treasure! With this rate of fire and this range, I’ll finally let the little devils know what real machine-gun fire suppression feels like!"

Xu Gaoxiang dropped another bombshell. "Old Li, I haven't even finished listing the advantages of this machine gun!"

Li Yunlong was eager. "Brother, tell me more!"

"It’s a general-purpose machine gun. As the name implies, you can attach a drum magazine and use it as a light machine gun, or you can use a belt, a heavy barrel, and a tripod to use it as a heavy machine gun!"

This time, Xu Gaoxiang had Arno demonstrate. Arno lifted the MG42 with one hand, while his other hand skillfully draped the 50-round belt over his arm.

He aimed at a dead, large poplar tree in the distance. *Zzzzt... zzzzt... shhh... shhh...* The sound was like a continuous tearing of heavy fabric. Accompanied by the muzzle flash, the tracer rounds streaked through the air, hitting the top of the tree first.

As wood chips flew, the point of impact slid down the trunk. In just a few seconds, the 50-round belt was spent, and the large poplar tree had been tragically torn in two!

Watching the terrifying power of the machine gun, Li Yunlong gasped. "Sss! How brutal!"

"But, I love it! Hahahahaha!"