Chapter 199: A Rare Moment of Peace

Hu Hao chatted with Jiang Kai for a while. Jiang Kai informed him that the Crown Prince wished to see him, but his intention was for Hu Hao to avoid the headquarters for the time being. Naturally, Hu Hao agreed.

He had no desire to become cannon fodder in the Princes’ struggle for the throne. While the Crown Prince’s position was currently stable, the Grand Marshal’s situation was precarious, meaning trouble for the Crown Prince. As for the other Princes, though Hu Hao had never met them, he had heard enough to know they were all formidable figures.

After hanging up, Li Jingsong looked at Hu Hao.

“What is it?” Hu Hao asked.

“I have to say, the Commander truly favors you! But tell me, if the Commander found out about all the things we’re doing right now, would he die of anger?” Li Jingsong chuckled.

“Tch, I was forced into this by you guys! I wanted to go on a tour, remember? Did you let me? But then again, while the Commander might be furious right now, he’ll definitely be grateful to me in the future. In these times, whoever has the guns has the power! He’s still afraid of His Majesty, which is normal. But I’m not!” Hu Hao smiled.

“Why the hell should we be afraid of him?! As ordinary citizens, do you think His Majesty even spares us a glance? Look at the situation right now! Motherfucker, half the country has been lost, yet His Majesty and the High Command haven’t done a damn thing! Up to this point, they haven’t even formulated a single counter-offensive plan!

“All we ordinary citizens want is peace so we can survive! But look at them—not only are they not counter-attacking, they’re constantly retreating! The Empire has so many troops and so many young men, yet they still refuse to authorize a massive expansion of forces!

“The weapons in the arsenals are piled up like mountains! They’d rather let those weapons and ammunition rust away than hand them out to expand the military! Motherfuckers!” Xiao Quan began cursing vehemently.

“Hehe, aren’t they expanding now?” Li Jingsong asked with a smile.

“Give me a break! God knows what’s really going on! Only our Combat Zone was authorized to expand! What about the other Combat Zones? They still can’t hold their defensive lines!” Xiao Quan sneered at Li Jingsong.

“Mm, forget about them. We are going to counterattack! I refuse to keep running away! When does the running end?! We’ve been running from the southernmost tip of Tianyu Province all the way here! Still running?! I can’t afford to lose any more face!” Hu Hao declared.

“Report! General Li Jinghe just called! The troops have captured the underground bunkers and discovered the Allied generals inside. They all committed suicide!” a senior staff officer reported to Hu Hao.

“Have their bodies sent here! Preserve them in freezers and then send them to the headquarters! The headquarters needs them!” Hu Hao instructed the staff officer.

“Understood!” The staff officer nodded.

“Later, we need to plan out everything following our unit’s expansion. This includes our unit’s discipline, troop deployment, training schedules, and officer promotions. We have to handle these one by one.

“Every regiment must meticulously screen for outstanding grassroots commanders. Furthermore, tomorrow we need to visit the hospital to see our wounded brothers. We also need to see the fallen soldiers and select a plot of land to serve as a resting place for our martyrs. That way, future generations will have a place to come and pay their respects.

“Additionally, we need to organize the records of the fallen soldiers properly to make it easy for people to look them up in the future!” Hu Hao told Li Jingsong and Xiao Quan.

“Yes, there’s so much to do. We need to handle this properly!” Li Jingsong nodded in agreement. Xiao Quan also nodded beside him.

Meanwhile, over in Nage City, Lu Guangsheng’s troops had already posted conscription notices. Many civilians gathered around. Some, upon reading the notices, immediately headed to the recruitment stations to line up.

Others simply stood from a distance, quietly observing their country’s troops. They had never felt such affection for their nation’s military before. Seeing those young men constructing defenses and standing guard, the civilians just watched, terrified that they might suddenly vanish like a mirage.

Furthermore, the crowd of civilians outside the temporary military camp grew denser and denser, packed tightly together.

“Sigh!” Standing on the second floor of a ruined building, Lu Guangsheng looked down at the scene and sighed heavily.

“Regimental Commander, should we ask the civilians to leave? This is a military camp, and having them gathered so densely is dangerous. If an enemy drone spots them, we could be in trouble!” a staff officer advised Lu Guangsheng.

“What are you saying?! Ask them to leave?! Could they even bear to leave?! I was just thinking… back when we were in Bopa City, those civilians cursed us. I heard Hao-ge even lost his temper at the civilians in a shopping mall! Yet, the moment we enter enemy-occupied territory, we soldiers suddenly become their dearest family?!

“Ha! Before experiencing war, they looked down on us soldiers. But the moment war breaks out, we’re the first people they think of! People are truly impossible to understand!” Lu Guangsheng sat down.

He lit a cigarette and watched the scene below. Whenever a soldier emerged from the camp, the civilians would immediately grab hold of them and ask questions.

The soldiers patiently answered them, assuring them that they would be garrisoning the city from now on, and telling them not to worry because they had already annihilated the Allied forces previously stationed there.

The civilians stood outside the various military camps until past 11:00 PM before finally dispersing and heading home.

Meanwhile, Lu Guangsheng began sorting through the personnel files of his officers, evaluating who was fit to serve as a Regimental Commander and who could be a Battalion Commander. He needed to prepare these documents as quickly as possible and send them to Hu Hao for approval.

After a busy night, Hu Hao and the others woke up the next morning and immediately ordered the troops to depart for Daman City. Because Hu Hao had previously rescued the civilians there, Daman City was practically empty.

Hu Hao established his military camp within the university town. Once the troops arrived, Hu Hao ordered the soldiers of the artillery and tank regiments to begin conscripting. Meanwhile, Hu Hao headed to the hospital to visit the wounded soldiers and express his gratitude to the medical staff.

In the afternoon, Hu Hao, Xiao Quan, and several others headed to a nearby forest to select a plot of land for the martyrs who had fallen in the recent battles.

After a long, exhausting day, Hu Hao returned in the evening and had to review the personnel files sent by the Regimental Commanders. These files contained the promotion lists for outstanding soldiers and officers, as well as recommendations for Regimental and Battalion Commanders.

Hu Hao and his two deputies had to review each one to determine if they were qualified to be Regimental Commanders. Once the selections were finalized, Hu Hao issued orders to the Regimental Commanders, telling them to immediately send those designated as Battalion and Company Commanders to Daman City. Hu Hao intended to personally instruct them, leaving the troop conscription and basic training to their deputies.

Simultaneously, Hu Hao ordered them to select 500 of the sharpest veterans who possessed university degrees and excellent physical stamina, and send them to him as well. Hu Hao had a specific use for them.

Hu Hao’s sector was currently secure. The Allied forces didn’t dare push in his direction. They first needed to gather intelligence on exactly how many troops he commanded. Furthermore, the Allied forces currently on the offensive were stretched thin; they simply didn’t have the manpower to spare for an attack on Hu Hao’s sector. This bought Hu Hao a period of relative peace and crucial time to train his newly expanded forces.

Over on Jiang Kai’s end, however, the situation was vastly different. The Allied forces were relentlessly assaulting his defensive line! Several key defensive sectors were under sustained, ferocious attacks!

“Motherfucker! They’ve been attacking for five days straight, yet they’re still pushing this hard?! Their casualties aren’t small either! Why are they still attacking like this?!” Jiang Kai cursed as he stared at the map.

Five days had passed since Hu Hao annihilated the Allied forces in his sector. Every single day, the Allied forces would begin their assault at dusk and continue relentlessly until the next morning, sometimes even pushing past 11:00 AM. The troops holding the defensive line had suffered horrific casualties.

Jiang Kai had already dispatched four divisions of reinforcements to the front lines, yet it seemed the Allied forces had no intention of stopping.

“Fighting like this drains us too quickly! We just recruited a massive number of new soldiers in the rear, but they’re still undergoing training! If we send them into battle now, the losses will be catastrophic!” Sun Qinxue voiced his deep concern.

“We cannot send them in! Absolutely not right now! If those soldiers die, it would be a tragic waste!” Jiang Kai immediately shook his head.

“How about we ask Hu Hao if he has any ideas? Or perhaps we could have Hu Hao’s troops launch a coordinated assault with the 27th Corps to wipe out the Limaguo 11th Corps! If we can destroy that corps, the Allied forces along the entire defensive line will definitely be forced to divert a massive number of troops to guard against Hu Hao’s offensive!” Sun Qinxue suggested.

“Hu Hao barely has any veterans left right now! His troops are entirely composed of fresh recruits! The tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, and other heavy equipment were only delivered to them yesterday! Sending them into battle now would be no different from sending the raw recruits in our rear!” Jiang Kai shook his head, rejecting the idea.

“But if we let them continue this relentless assault, the soldiers on our defensive line won’t be able to hold out! Casualties are already astronomical!” Sun Qinxue argued anxiously.

“I know! The Allied casualties aren’t small either! I refuse to believe they can sustain this level of ferocity forever! Their losses are just as heavy as ours!” Jiang Kai maintained.

“That might be true, but Commander, have you considered that both of our flanks are currently insecure?! The Western Combat Zone and the Southern Combat Zone are still retreating! At their current rate…

“…they’ll be pushed all the way back to our position in ten days at most! When that happens, we’ll be completely surrounded! Right now, the Allied forces are launching a ferocious frontal assault, and our flanks are crumbling! If the Allied forces manage to pin us down here, we won’t be able to escape!” Sun Qinxue warned Jiang Kai.

The troops holding the other defensive lines were being continuously driven back by the Allied forces, posing a severe threat to both flanks of Jiang Kai’s defensive line. Specifically, the Allied forces advancing through the Western Combat Zone directly threatened Hu Hao’s troops.

(End of Chapter)