Chapter 414: The Early Seventies

At the beginning of the new year, the country witnessed an event that shocked the world.

Liu Zhiye, commanding all the soldiers of the division, held their breath and waited, focusing on the great news that was about to be broadcast by the People's Broadcasting Station.

On April 24, the "Dongfanghong-1" artificial blue star satellite independently developed by the Xia country took off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and successfully flew into the sky.

This historic moment marks a new chapter in Xia's space industry.

At the moment the satellite was launched, more than 10,000 soldiers of the Second Guard Division were excited. They were well aware of the extraordinary significance of the "two bombs and one satellite" to the country's rise. This was not only a leap in science and technology, but also a solid symbol of the country's status as a great power.

At the scene, cheers and applause intertwined together, resounding through the sky, witnessing this glorious moment together.

This artificial satellite was successfully launched in one go using the Long March 1 carrier rocket independently developed by the Xia country.

The satellite's orbit is 439 kilometers from the earth at its closest point and 2384 kilometers at its farthest point. The angle between the orbital plane and the earth's equatorial plane is 68.5 degrees, and it takes 114 minutes to orbit the blue planet.

The satellite weighs 173 kilograms and broadcasts the song "The East is Red" at a frequency of 20009 MHz.

From then on, it realized Xxx’s call that “we also want to develop artificial satellites”.

"Dongfanghong-1" is the scientific star of the Xia country and an outstanding contribution made by the working class, the People's Liberation Army and intellectuals of the Xia country to the motherland.

On this day, people all over Xia were either lying in front of their windows or waiting in the wilderness, gazing at the night sky above their heads.

On this day, the song "The East is Red" resounded throughout the world, and the Xia people entered the space age from then on.

The road ahead is long and arduous, but every step Xia takes in its space exploration is firm and solid.

Later, Chief Engineer Sun, who was in charge of the overall design of the "Dongfanghong-1" satellite, said in an interview: I really can't describe the excitement I felt. You can imagine that it is not easy to get the first satellite into the sky under the current conditions in Xia country, because every screw was made by the Xia people themselves. I really felt proud.

The launch of the "Dongfanghong-1" artificial satellite made Xia the fifth country to successfully launch an artificial satellite entirely on its own after the Soviet Union, Country M, Country F, and China. It marked the beginning of Xia's march into space and greatly enhanced Xia's international prestige and status.

The successful development and launch of the first artificial satellite of the Xia Dynasty is a shining example of a country with strong science and technology. The "two bombs and one satellite" spirit it forged is an important part of the Chinese national spirit. It is extremely precious and must be remembered and passed on forever.

Xiaguo's technology is constantly improving, and its economic construction is also constantly adjusting.

This year, from February 2 to March , the State Council held a national planning work conference, drafted the national economic plan, and began to study the outline of the Fourth Five-Year Plan.

The conference put forward the slogan of "taking class... as the key link, focusing on war preparations, and promoting a new leap forward in the national economy" and called for "concentrating efforts on building the strategic rear of the Third Front."

The meeting stipulated that the total industrial output value in 17 would increase by 46% compared with , and the capital construction investment would increase by %. These investments would be mainly used in military industry and projects supporting military industry.

This year, the army's large-scale military training activities have entered a climax stage in full swing.

Up to now, the military system of Xia State is huge, with 36 armies in the army and millions of soldiers spread across the territory of Xia State. Among them, the northern defense line is the most powerful, like a solid wall of steel.

Looking back at the army structure in the early 1970s, each army had three infantry divisions, supplemented by diversified arms such as artillery and armored brigades, and the overall strength was firmly above 30,000 elite troops.

If we talk about the ace troops with outstanding combat power, the number of soldiers under its command exceeds 40,000, and its combat power is extraordinary.

The Beijing Garrison, a unit known as the best in the army, has a combat capability of a single division that is comparable to or even exceeds that of an ordinary infantry army, demonstrating its extraordinary military quality and combat capability.

The 2nd Guard Division is the shining pearl among the trump cards, and its military training is always at the forefront.

This winter, they once again took the lead in launching large-scale military training, tempering the iron will and practical skills of every soldier with even higher morale.

The artillery regiment of the 2nd Guard Division was training in the Yanshan mountainous area. After walking 70 or 80 kilometers of mountain roads fully armed, everyone was so tired that they lay down like dogs.

Company commander Song Shifa asked Li Shengli to quickly write a report to the headquarters, reporting on the company's marching and camping conditions; at the same time, he ordered each platoon and squad to collect straw and lay beds and arrange accommodation in designated areas.

At the same time, it was emphasized that when entering private houses, one must pay attention to observing the mass discipline and not damage or misappropriate any grass or tree of the people.

Song Shifa asked the deputy company commander Li Shengli to ask the kitchen staff to hurry up and boil water so that everyone could soak their feet. He also asked them to put more meat in the dishes to ensure that the soldiers could eat their fill.

After everything was arranged, he spread out the map and discussed the next day's marching plan with the instructor...

In accordance with the regiment headquarters' annual training plan for 1970, the winter camping and training were guided by Xxx's instructions of "prepare for war, prepare for famine, and serve the people" and "train well in this way", and focused on honing the officers and soldiers' revolutionary will not to fear hardship or death, "train their iron feet well, and step on DFX to death", and ensure that the troops could be deployed and fight at any time according to actual combat requirements.

To this end, the training intensity and difficulty are much greater than in previous years.

After discussion, Song Shifa and Li Shengli decided to keep the marching distance unchanged tomorrow, but to add air defense, assault and storming subjects and night marching training along the way.

Being able to “walk”, “eat” and “sleep” are the basic requirements for camping training.

However, after a week, the gap between the new recruits and the veterans had widened significantly.

Some of the new soldiers' backpacks were loose and their weapons and equipment were not carried neatly, so some soldiers fell apart halfway during the march. This was the most annoying thing for the company commander.

Song Shifa often said that we should train in peacetime as if we were in battle. If we were lax in peacetime, we would be defeated in battle. He asked Li Shengli to follow him and check the arrangements of each platoon one by one.

In fact, Song Shifa knew that he wanted to see how the soldier packed the backpack and was ready to give him a good beating.

Packing a backpack is a basic skill for soldiers. A backpack has three horizontal pieces and two vertical pieces, with a pair of Jiefang shoes inserted in the middle, which makes it clean and solid.

Usually, the veteran squad leader would often organize exercises for the soldiers in the squad. Li Shengli remembered that he once completed packing a backpack in 40 seconds in the dark. Of course, this result was not the fastest.

However, some new soldiers will become panic-stricken when faced with an emergency, and their backpacks will become like a broken dumpling, so it is inevitable that they will make a fool of themselves along the way.

Of course, at this time, the company commander Song Shifa wanted to know more about how the resting place was arranged for everyone.

So many soldiers came to the village all of a sudden, which made the brigade cadres very busy.

I heard that after receiving the task, they mobilized the entire village, requiring members to support the People's Liberation Army with practical actions and vacate the best houses for the troops to use.

Therefore, wherever Li Shengli and his companions went, they were warmly welcomed by their fellow villagers as if they were returning home.

Of course, the soldiers would not sit idle either. They put down their backpacks and picked up brooms to clean the yard inside and out.

When Li Shengli and his companions arrived at the third row, they saw backpacks, toothbrushes and teacups neatly arranged on the straw floor in the room.

Seeing this scene, Company Commander Song Shifa nodded repeatedly to express his satisfaction.

Whenever we arrive at the campsite, the busiest group is the kitchen staff. They don't even have time to tidy up their own quarters before they are busy setting up pots, cutting vegetables and cooking.

Fortunately, their company's quartermaster was very smart and modified an electric blower himself, which came in handy at the critical moment. Soon the full pot of water boiled.

Dinner was of course simple. Each class had a pot of stir-fried cabbage with meat, and everyone squatted together and ate rice. Despite this, everyone still ate with gusto.

It is not necessary to eat well, but to eat enough to ensure the basic needs of the human body. This is an important part of camping training.

Sometimes, some soldiers would eat less because they were tired or the food was not to their liking, and some would even hide and refuse to eat. At this time, the instructor would check and urge them one by one until they saw that everyone had swallowed all the food.

Night marching and emergency assembly training are essential subjects in camping training.

Sometimes, just when people are dozing off, a whistle suddenly sounds and the troops gather urgently.

Under the urging of the squad leaders, the soldiers quickly dressed, packed their backpacks, and carried their equipment. They assembled in just one or two minutes.

Some soldiers ran with the team before they were fully awake, stumbling along the way, and by the next day they didn't realize that they had already run a long circle with everyone at night. Such jokes were common.

One night, it was raining and snowing, and everyone was walking on the muddy field road wearing raincoats and carrying equipment.

Because it was dark and the road was slippery, after marching for dozens of kilometers, all the officers and soldiers in the company fell like mud monkeys, and three or four blood blisters appeared on their feet... However, this devilish high-intensity training made everyone learn the skill of sleeping while marching. Whenever the troops arrived at a place, the locals would treat our soldiers like their own children.

However, some of the recruits are as ignorant as children.

Once, Li Shengli and his company camped in a remote mountain village.

According to the unified arrangement of the company headquarters, each class had rice cakes for lunch at a fellow villager's home.

Among them, a class of soldiers were gathered together happily eating rice cakes. Just when they were about to finish eating, the old lady who was helping them light the fire stood up from behind the stove, pointed at the pot and asked if she could have some rice cake soup.

Instantly, everyone was dumbfounded, their faces red and they were speechless for a long time.

Why did he only care about himself and not think about the existence of this old lady at all?

Guilt, guilt, and more guilt. This incident hurt everyone's heart deeply like a needle.

Later, Li Shengli used him as a negative example and repeatedly educated the soldiers in the entire company.

…………

This annual winter camping and training may seem like an ordinary military training, but in fact it is an improvement in the overall quality of each soldier.

During the camping training, commanders and fighters practiced marching, cooking, camping and guarding in field environments such as rivers, mountains, plateaus, and Gobi deserts.

At the same time, we adopt a combination of mobile training and on-site training to conduct technical and tactical training, practicing offensive and defensive combat tactics such as breakthrough, detour, encirclement, pursuit, defense, and counterattack, as well as practicing tactical techniques such as fighting tanks, anti-airborne, and anti-air raid.

The navy organized a sea drill to improve the ability of sea combat and living, and the air force organized a transfer training to improve the mobility of the troops.

Camping and training exercises have cultivated the ability of the troops' commanders and fighters to "walk, fight, eat, live and hide" under field conditions and their spirit of hard work and perseverance, strengthened the relationship between officers and soldiers, and enhanced the unity between the military, government, and civilians.

Liu Zhiye thinks this kind of training is very effective. Not only winter training but also summer training should be carried out, and such training should be conducted several times a year.

Through such field training, everyone learned how to march, engage in actual combat, and deal with various emergencies; they learned how to integrate with the masses and do in-depth and meticulous ideological work; they also learned how to hone themselves and how to survive in difficult environments.

Under the outstanding command of division commander Liu Zhiye, the 2nd Guard Division has leapt into the top ranks of the entire army and has become one of the several ace forces with strong combat effectiveness.

In all the confrontation exercises, they have won high praise from all parties with their thunderous momentum, and their reputation has spread far and wide, becoming the focus of attention both inside and outside the military.

…………

Due to..., Xia's economy has been in a downturn in recent years, and there is little chance of integrating with the international economy.

Even the Liujiazhuang area, which has always had a prosperous economy, could not escape the impact. Its once rapid economic growth momentum seemed to have been paused by an invisible hand, and the growth rate has slowed significantly. The former glory is no longer there.

However, compared with other areas in the country that have been hit hard, Liujiazhuang still shows a certain degree of resilience.

This is due to the increasing export proportion of its light industrial products, which have become an important pillar of the region's economy and provided a certain buffer against the economic downturn.

Despite numerous challenges, Liujiazhuang is still working hard to find new growth points, striving to maintain its footing in adversity and waiting for the spring breeze of economic recovery.

Liujiazhuang.

On this day, Liu Zhiye went to visit some of the older generation who were participating in "labor" in the Liujiazhuang production team, as well as some senior intellectuals in Liujiazhuang.

Protecting these people is the greatest contribution Liu Zhiye and his colleagues have made in the past few years.

The Liujiazhuang area was originally located between the Yanshan Mountains and the Taihang Mountains. If Liu Zhiye really wanted to do something secretly here, it would be difficult for outsiders to detect it.

"Zhiye, you're finally back!" Gan Ning looked up suddenly and just happened to catch Liu Zhiye's gloomy face stepping into the threshold.

"Yeah." Liu Zhiye replied briefly, his expression unable to hide his fatigue and heaviness, as if he was carrying a heavy burden on his shoulders.

Seeing this, Gan Ning became even more confused and asked with concern: "What's wrong with you? What's bothering you?"

Liu Zhiye lowered his eyes slightly, glanced at Gan Ning, and sighed softly: "Alas, I just came back from the Xishan labor team. Today, there is another old..."

When Gan Ning heard this, her heart tightened suddenly, and she immediately asked: "...Is this really okay?" She was obviously aware of what Liu Zhiye had done, so she was particularly worried about him.

"Don't worry, everything is under control. For you, I will never take risks easily." Liu Zhiye gave Gan Ning a reassuring answer, and then changed the subject, "Where are the children? They should all be with mom now, right?"

Gan Ning caught a glimpse of Liu Zhiye's confident look, and put aside her worries for the time being. Her face darkened, and she said indignantly: "Those three troublemakers are hiding at my parents' house right now. They definitely won't dare to step into the house tonight."

Hearing this, Liu Zhiye couldn't help but smile and asked, "What's wrong with these three siblings this time?"

Gan Ning snorted coldly, with a bit of helplessness and blame in her tone: "It's that girl again, she's in trouble again! You don't know how much trouble she can make now. Even her class teacher came to visit her home today, saying that she had a fight with her classmates at school again..."

"Oh!" Liu Zhiye couldn't help rubbing his temples when he heard this, and an indescribable regret surged in his heart.

Back then, out of his deep love for his daughter and his concern about the bullying she might suffer in the future, he resolutely guided her into the world of martial arts.

All these efforts ultimately forged his daughter's fearless and resilient character. She would take action to solve problems without any nonsense. This courage also made him feel complicated at the moment.

"Hey! Something is wrong! It was obviously Xiaoxian who caused the trouble, why don't these two little ones dare to show up?" Liu Zhiye suddenly noticed something strange.

A rare look of embarrassment flashed across Gan Ning's face. She stammered, "In fact, it was because of these two little guys that the stubborn girl got so impulsive and injured someone..."

Liu Zhiye frowned upon hearing this and asked in astonishment, "What? Someone was injured? What on earth is going on?"

"Explain it to me clearly. I think these three need to be properly educated..."

Gan Ning couldn't help feeling uneasy, fearing that Liu Zhiye would really get angry.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that Liu Zhiye always likes to play with children, laugh and joke with them, and is even quite tolerant of their mischief.

However, once he gets serious, his severity is chilling.

He once used a belt to whip the naughty children's buttocks. Xiaoxian was one of the victims. The pain made her dare not sit down for several days.

This scene still makes Gan Ning feel frightened.

Gan Ning had no choice but to tell Liu Zhiye the details. It turned out that the little brothers Liu Wen and Liu Wu had entered primary school ahead of schedule this year.

Although they are the youngest in the class, thanks to their parents' excellent genes and careful feeding since childhood, they are actually stronger than children two or three years older than them.

The brothers, like their sister, also learned some martial arts.

Once they started, the brothers worked together and were able to break metal with their strength. They quickly established their prestige among the first-grade kids and became little bullies.

However, today the brothers encountered a strong opponent.

Liujiazhuang Primary School has recently received several transfers from military families, and they are no pushovers either.
Soon, sparks arose between them and the two brothers Liu Wen and Liu Wu, and a conflict was imminent.

Unfortunately, Liu Wen and Liu Wu were still young and were unable to defeat their opponents, and they suffered some losses.

This matter quickly reached the ears of their sister Liu Shuxian. How could she let it go when she heard that someone dared to bully her brother?
Liu Shuxian has always been decisive in her actions. She did not show any leniency. She waited for a long time for the military children on their way home from school and stopped them directly.
After learning the whole story, Liu Zhiye couldn't help rubbing his temples, frowning, and secretly groaning in his heart.

There is no need to ask further questions. Those who caused trouble must be the family members of the cadres of his Second Division.

As their teacher, his own child actually taught a lesson to the child of his subordinates. If this matter were to get out, it would be a complete loss of face for him and he would be extremely embarrassed!
(End of this chapter)