232: Invitation from the coach of the Vietnam National Shooting Team

When it was Li Qinghe and the others' turn, the shooting range staff opened the iron gate.

As the previous tourists who had been shooting walked out, either excited or shaking their heads, one could hear them discussing their shooting experience.

"There's still a difference between American and Soviet weapons, but the M1 jams too often."

"I wonder why only one K54 from the firearms that China aided back then appeared here."

"The original AK's quality is still very reliable."

"..."

As Li Qinghe walked in, his mind was touched by something a tourist said.

After the Japanese surrendered in World War II, the French sent troops back to Vietnam, attempting to restore their former rule, so the Vietnamese leader went to China to request aid.

Thus, from fighting the French initially, to later fighting the Americans.

The Dragon Country People tightened their belts to support Vietnam, not to mention heavy weapons like the legendary 107 rocket launcher.

Just light weapons included the 54 pistol, 56 semi-automatic rifle, 56 submachine gun, 67 heavy machine gun, and a large quantity of other firearms and ammunition, with at least two million pieces aided in total.

But now, among the Vietnam War firearms appearing at the shooting range, there was only one K54; all the others had disappeared.

The Vietnamese government also consciously erased this history of Dragon Country People aid, just like the North Koreans, turning a blind eye to a period of history and desperately exaggerating their own role in it.

It's likely a manifestation of their guilt.

After driving away the Americans, the Vietnamese army's equipment was entirely replaced with American gear, which also, from another perspective, fostered the Vietnamese army's arrogance, claiming to be the third strongest in the world.

Ultimately, instigated by the Soviets, they would commit ungrateful acts against China.

Li Qinghe arranged for Zhang Meiqi and the others to choose their preferred firearms, while he observed a tourist shooting an M1 Garand rifle.

As the tourist who had just passed by said, it was true; the eight-round clip jammed twice, and he didn't know if it was due to the firearm itself or a lack of maintenance.

Turning his head, Zhang Meiqi and the others had all chosen the firearms they were going to shoot.

Li Mingyue chose the M16, Li Mingxing chose the RPD, and Zhang Meiqi stood behind the AK47; this choice was quite fitting for each of their personalities.

Li Mingyue is relatively quiet and more thoughtful; the M16, with its high shooting accuracy, small caliber bullets, and low recoil, is quite suited to her personality.

Li Mingxing, on the other hand, is a reckless individual, with an explosive and straightforward personality, always gritting her teeth and pushing until she's satisfied; the battlefield weapon RPD is a perfect match for her explosive personality.

Zhang Meiqi's personality is direct and straightforward, simple yet highly adaptable; the AK, which can suit any battlefield environment, is a good fit.

Li Qinghe looked around, temporarily decided not to try the M60, and stood behind the K54. This pistol was also strapped to an iron pole with zip ties.

It looked as if they were afraid of tourists taking it away.

But from Li Qinghe's perspective, there were several obvious advantages to having the firearm fixed in place.

Most of the tourists who come here to shoot, except for a small number who come to experience old Vietnam War firearms, have never touched a real gun.

Once the firearm is fixed, there won't be situations where novices point guns around indiscriminately, greatly reducing the risk factor.

And a fixed firearm can also, to some extent, reduce the muzzle jump caused by recoil.

From another perspective, it improves shooting accuracy to a certain extent.

It's just that the height of the pistol fixed on the breastwork was hard to describe.

For Li Qinghe, with his height, to shoot while standing there, he needed to bend at the waist to grip the pistol.

He almost had to adopt a half-squatting shooting stance, which wasn't very comfortable, but Li Qinghe stood behind the breastwork in a stance almost like a horse stance, gripping the gun with both hands.

Although the posture wasn't aesthetically pleasing, this stance also belonged to a type of isosceles triangle gun hold, so it didn't affect the shooting performance.

The coach nearby initially wanted to load the magazine into the pistol for Li Qinghe and disengage the safety, just like for other tourists.

But Li Qinghe smiled and said, "Let me do it myself."

The coach looked at the pistol tied to the iron rod, felt there was no danger, and let Li Qinghe operate it himself, but he still stood by Li Qinghe's side very vigilantly, closely watching Li Qinghe's movements.

At this distance, if Li Qinghe made any irregular movements, he could stop him immediately.

Under the coach's watchful eye, Li Qinghe skillfully inspected the firearm before inserting the magazine.

He test-fired one of the eight rounds first; it was a bullseye at the twenty-meter target. Although the gun was a bit old, its accuracy was well-adjusted.

As for the recoil that everyone criticized, the Russians felt it was fine, and Li Qinghe felt it was even less of an issue.

In his hands, the muzzle couldn't even twitch.

"Bang bang bang..." The remaining seven bullets instantly poured out.

The pistol didn't even twitch in his hand, making the coach's eye twitch slightly.

His eyes looked at the bullet holes concentrated in a small spot on the 20-meter target, and his pupils constricted again.

"Were you in the military before?"

Watching Li Qinghe deftly remove the magazine and cycle the action to check the chamber, the coach, while loading the magazine, turned to Li Qinghe and asked.

"No."

Li Qinghe's Vietnamese reply was concise, but he still offered a compliment: "Your firearms are well-maintained."

"Haha, of course! Although they are old guns, we maintain them no worse than new ones."

The coach grinned, boasting proudly, then asked Li Qinghe, "Continue shooting?"

"No, I'll try other firearms first." Li Qinghe left the pistol.

Li Mingxing, next to him, had already loudly emptied an entire ammunition belt; anyway, she hadn't seen how many hit the hundred-meter target, and she didn't know where the bullets had all flown.

After firing two hundred rounds, feeling her shoulder throbbing painfully, Li Mingxing didn't try any other guns. People who have played with machine guns tend to find other rifles not powerful enough.

"A Xing, how do you feel?" Li Qinghe walked behind Li Mingxing, seeing her looking like she had the will but not the strength.

"Brother Qinghe, the machine gun's rate of fire is too fast; that long belt of ammunition, I only pulled the trigger a few times and it was gone."

Li Mingxing saw Li Qinghe approach and innocently recounted her shooting experience to him.

"Hahaha, you can't just hold down the trigger when shooting a machine gun; you need to shoot rhythmically to maintain effective suppression."

Li Qinghe casually rubbed Li Mingxing's shoulder, his eyes looking towards Zhang Meiqi and Li Mingyue.

Zhang Meiqi and Li Mingyue were not like Li Mingxing; they didn't just hold down the trigger, even if their whole body trembled.

Zhang Meiqi had her AK47 set to single-shot mode, and like Li Mingyue, she was shooting steadily, one shot at a time.

Both of them were slightly bent at the waist, the rifle butt pressed tightly against their shoulders, one eye open and one eye closed, aiming seriously at the target.

This scene of beauties and guns was quite pleasing to the eye.

Seeing that Zhang Meiqi and Li Mingyue's shooting speed wasn't fast, and they wouldn't finish the bullets in their magazines anytime soon, Li Qinghe first walked behind the M60. The coach came over, holding a long ammunition belt, to help him install it.

The M60 machine gun has always had the nickname "the Pig" among American soldiers.

From this name, one can tell that the M60 is not a very easy gun to handle; its empty weight is 10.4 kilograms, and its replaceable barrel is different from other machine guns.

Because the bipod is located near the muzzle, while ensuring shooting accuracy, it means that each barrel has its exclusive bipod.

When truly on the march, this type of gun, along with its accessories, is a heavy burden.

The initial gun was designed by combining the German MG42's belt feed mechanism with the FG42 paratrooper rifle's gas system, creating a new general-purpose machine gun named T161.

It was later officially named M60.

The M60 is known by many people because of the movie "First Blood," in which Sylvester Stallone's father-in-law used an M60 to begin his crazy killing spree.

Among them, Stallone's action of using a sling for support and holding the M60 with one hand to spray bullets became a classic move in cinema.

It is said that after the film became widely disseminated, many retired veterans went to shooting ranges to try this shooting posture they had never used during their service.

As soon as he gripped the gun, Li Qinghe felt a sense of integration, as if the machine gun was an extension of his own body.

With a "click," it was cocked.

"Thump thump thump... Thump thump thump..."

Li Qinghe shot at the target 100 meters away with a calm, rhythmic three-round burst; the machine gun's recoil seemed non-existent to him.

Every bullet accurately hit the head of the human-shaped target.

The coach watched Li Qinghe's shooting rhythm, pouted, and muttered that he said he hadn't been a soldier, but this shooting rhythm was fooling no one; looking at the target paper in the distance, the impact points also seemed concentrated in the head area.

While Li Qinghe was playing with the M60, Zhang Meiqi and Li Mingyue switched positions to try other guns.

The two beautiful girls were very serious about shooting, aiming and aiming again before firing.

But even so, their thirty rounds of ammunition were used up before Li Qinghe's belt.

After they finished their bullets, they didn't get more, but instead walked behind Li Qinghe to watch.

"A-Qi, A-Yue, look how accurate Brother Qinghe is at shooting!"

Li Mingxing saw them approach and excitedly pointed to the target Li Qinghe had used for the pistol, gesturing to them.

As the three girls huddled together, chattering about Li Qinghe's marksmanship, his shooting rhythm also attracted the attention of several coaches.

These coaches exchanged glances with each other.

"A-Qi, A-Yue, A Xing, you can go try that pistol; there are still dozens of rounds left."

After Li Qinghe rhythmically fired over 100 rounds, he then held down the trigger to instantly empty the rest of the ammunition belt.

When Li Qinghe left the M60, Zhang Meiqi and Li Mingyue really did go to shoot the K54 as he suggested.

Fortunately, the pistol was also tied down, otherwise, with their control, the bullets would have flown who knows where.

"A Xing, do you want to try those two rifles?"

Li Qinghe put his arm around Li Mingxing's shoulder.

"Brother Qinghe, touch me here, it feels a bit swollen."

Li Mingxing, however, pulled his hand and pressed it onto her shoulder. Li Qinghe felt it with his hand.

He found that Li Mingxing's fair and tender shoulder was indeed a bit swollen; this was the consequence of not paying attention to rhythm while shooting the RPD just now, and just spraying bullets until the end.

Since they were outside, Li Qinghe found it inconvenient to pull out needles for acupuncture, so he gently massaged several acupoints on her shoulder for a while.

Li Mingxing was so comfortable that she snuggled into Li Qinghe's arms.

"Brother-in-law, are you interested in joining the national shooting team? We once won an Olympic gold medal."

A small old man dressed as a coach walked over to ask Li Qinghe.

Shooting Range Coach

Because they had just heard Li Qinghe and the coach conversing in fluent Vietnamese, they came over hopefully to inquire.

"Who are you?"

Li Qinghe frowned, looking at this short old man whose beard was even a bit white.

"I am a coach for the Saigon branch of the Vietnam National Shooting Team. I just saw your excellent shooting skills, so I'd like to invite you to join the national shooting team to bring glory to the country."

The old man's eyes held a hint of hope; this young man was a very talented shooting prospect, although he didn't know where he had practiced his shooting technique.

But he could steadily control machine gun fire to the head of the human-shaped target, with not a single bullet flying astray.

If they could recruit this young man into the Vietnam National Shooting Team, they might even win another Olympic gold medal.

Li Qinghe turned his head and saw two or three other coaches also paying attention to them.

Sure enough, it was a Vietnamese characteristic; coaches from the national shooting team usually worked part-time at the neighboring shooting range.

It was estimated that some of their team members were also discovered and recruited into the national team this way at the shooting range.

So, upon seeing Li Qinghe's shooting level, they quickly stepped forward to inquire. If they could produce another Olympic champion, perhaps they wouldn't need to work part-time anymore, and the salaries and bonuses from the state would be enough for them to live comfortably.

"I'm sorry, I'm not Vietnamese."

As soon as Li Qinghe uttered these words, the light in the old man's eyes quickly dimmed.

"Alright then, sorry to bother you."

The old man's retreating figure looked a bit dispirited; when a country doesn't invest money in a sport, recruiting team members is very difficult.

After all, those who do things purely for passion are few; in this society, without money, it's hard to get by anywhere.

Especially in Vietnam, a country where development is not yet very standardized, Saigon doesn't believe in love, nor does it believe in tears; only money is eternal love.

For a shooting team like the old man's, having fortunately coached an Olympic gold medalist was already very remarkable; finding another equally excellent shooting talent was extremely difficult.

However, Li Qinghe didn't take any of this to heart; he had no interest in worrying about Vietnam. He might consider worrying about other things, though.

So Li Qinghe bought 500 more rounds from the coach and tried out the RPD, AK47, and M16.

All these moments were captured by Li Qinghe's future camera, to be edited and posted online; videos of shooting with girls are quite popular among Dragon Country People netizens.

Only those few part-time coaches from the national shooting team looked at Li Qinghe's shooting results, which barely left the bullseye, and felt secretly disheartened.