Chapter 37: Targeted

After rotating off the front line, Hu Hao and his squad headed straight for the designated air-raid shelters. When they arrived, the Logistics department had already prepared hot meals and dispatched clerks to register the scavenged Allied weapons, ensuring the bounty money would be wired directly into the soldiers’ accounts.

Once they had eaten their fill, the men collapsed to rest. Outside, the roar of artillery and the chatter of gunfire raged on, but it no longer concerned them. They had fought all night, and the relief troops were holding the line; there was no reason they would be called back up.

The exhausted veterans slept straight through to noon. When they woke, Logistics had another hot meal waiting for them. Zone Command had explicitly ordered that these veterans be well-fed, so rations were the least of their worries.

“Attention on deck!” a Major General barked as he entered the shelter, flanked by a sizable security detail.

Hu Hao and the soldiers, who were sitting around eating, merely glanced over.

“What’s going on?” Li Jingsong noticed the men hadn’t stood up. Afraid of causing a misunderstanding, he quickly stood up and addressed the officer.

“General Li, I bring orders from Zone Command,” the Major General said. He ignored the seated veterans and walked straight toward Li Jingsong.

“Oh? What orders?” Li Jingsong asked.

“Promotions. Because of your exceptional performance last night, particularly the capture of the enemy Generals, Command has authorized the promotion of fifty-five enlisted men to the officer ranks. Additionally, all participating junior officers are promoted one rank.

Furthermore, in recognition of the overall performance of your remnant forces, Zone Command is issuing a blank writ for one hundred additional promotion slots. This is the commission ledger. You are to fill in the names and return it to Command. Once registered, their new credentials will be issued immediately,” the Major General said, handing Li Jingsong a thick folder.

“Oho! That many promotion slots?” Li Jingsong laughed, taking the folder.

Hu Hao, however, sat there with his brows furrowed tightly.

“Hao-ge, we’re really going to be officers!” Huan Xingtao beamed, looking at Hu Hao. The other soldiers grinned at him as well.

“Hao-ge, what’s wrong?” He Jizhong asked, noticing that Hu Hao wasn’t smiling at all.

“Nothing,” Hu Hao forced a slight smile and shook his head.

Hearing the murmurs, Li Jingsong turned to look at Hu Hao, but he couldn’t read anything from the young Captain’s expression.

“Ah, right. Here is the paperwork for the thirty-six men you submitted on the initial raid roster,” the Major General said, handing over a sealed bag. “Since you are already a Division Commander, a battlefield promotion doesn’t apply to you. But the rest have been processed. They are all in here.”

Li Jingsong opened the bag. Seeing the stacks of new military IDs and rank insignias inside, he nodded with a wide smile.

“If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave. Congratulations to you all,” the Major General said.

“Understood. I won’t see you out. It’s a bit rough here, but next time we meet, drinks are on me!” Li Jingsong replied. The Major General gave a tight, fleeting smile and left.

“Come here, Hao-ge! Major’s rank!” Li Jingsong pulled the first ID booklet from the bag—it belonged to Hu Hao, confirming his promotion to Major, complete with his new insignia.

“Let me pin it on you!” Li Jingsong, oblivious to Hu Hao’s dark expression, stepped forward with the golden oak leaves.

“Congratulations, Hao-ge!”

“You moved up again, Hao-ge!”

“Congrats!”

The surrounding soldiers crowded in, laughing and cheering.

“Hao-ge, seriously, what’s wrong? You just got promoted—why don’t you look happy?” a nearby Colonel asked, finally noticing Hu Hao’s grim demeanor.

“What is it?” Li Jingsong paused, finally realizing Hu Hao looked deadly serious.

“Dammit. We’re being targeted,” Hu Hao cursed under his breath.

“What do you mean?” The cheering stopped instantly. Every officer and soldier in the vicinity went dead silent, staring at Hu Hao.

“Yes, we have merit. We bagged their Generals last night; giving us the bounty and the direct raid promotions makes sense. But this blank ledger for a hundred extra slots, plus the twenty extra from the raid? You think they just hand those out for free?” Hu Hao asked, looking at Li Jingsong and the men.

“What are you saying, Hao-ge? We fought like hell last night. Why wouldn’t they promote us?” a Regimental Commander asked in confusion.

“Are you stupid? If they promote one or two guys on the field, that’s normal. But mass, blanket promotions in the middle of an active war zone? There is only one reason a Command does that. They are sending us back into the grinder. Tonight. Fuck!” Hu Hao stood up, hands on his hips, and cursed loudly.

“What?!” The soldiers stared at him in horror.

“A mass promotion on an active battlefield means one thing: A Suicide Squad! They are turning us into a penal battalion! Do you understand? And you’re laughing! Go ahead, keep laughing!” Hu Hao yelled at them.

“Hao-ge, no… that can’t be right. We really did fight exceptionally well last night,” Li Jingsong stammered.

“If it was just a reward for fighting well, they would wait until the battle is over! Why bring the insignias here now? What about the wounded from our unit lying in the hospitals? Doesn’t Command care about their merit?

Why did they bring a blank ledger here and tell you to fill it out immediately? Because we are going back in. And it’s going to be a bloodbath. Do you get it now?” Hu Hao glared at Li Jingsong.

“Dammit… he’s right. Mass battlefield promotions aren’t allowed by regulation unless… I’ll be damned. A hundred blank slots! Motherfucker!” Li Jingsong’s face went pale as realization struck.

According to Eastern Spirit Empire military regulations, enlisted promotions were only tallied and awarded after a campaign had concluded, allowing for a comprehensive review of merit.

For senior officers, battlefield promotions were even strictly forbidden; earning a General’s star required a formal ceremony in the capital.

If a senior officer was promoted on the battlefield, it usually meant Command expected them to die and was giving them a posthumous honor in advance.

A mass promotion of junior officers and enlisted men meant only one thing: the unit was about to be thrown into a meat grinder from which they were not expected to return.

“Fuck this! We’re fighting again? Bullshit! I’m not fighting anymore! I’m done being a soldier! I’m going home!” a veteran stood up and screamed.

“Fuck them to hell! I thought this was a good thing, but they’re just buying our lives! Those Generals are all bastards!”

“I’m done! I’m deserting!”

The shelter erupted as the soldiers began to curse in outrage.

“This is going too far! We bled for them, and they still won’t let us go? Dammit, I quit!” Colonel Xiao Quan roared.

“No wonder…” Li Jingsong muttered, sitting down heavily. “No wonder when I told that bastard I’d buy him a drink next time, he just gave me that weird smile. The motherfucker knew I probably wouldn’t be coming back! Dammit! They’re using us!”

Hu Hao didn’t say anything more. He pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and stood there, his mind racing.

“Hao-ge, what do we do? If you say we run, we run!” a soldier shouted, looking at Hu Hao.

“Yeah, Hao-ge! We run together! If anyone tries to stop us, we kill them!”

“Exactly! We walk out of here together. Let’s see who dares to stop us!”

The agitated veterans crowded around Hu Hao, waiting for his word.

“Alright, alright, quiet down! Let me think!” Hu Hao barked. The men instantly fell silent, though their eyes never left him.

After a few tense minutes, Hu Hao turned to Li Jingsong. “Call the Division Commanders you know from the 28th Army. Ask them if they just received a mass promotion order too.”

“Ah… right!” Li Jingsong nodded. His guard immediately handed him the radio.

Li Jingsong quickly connected with a Division Commander from the 28th. After speaking for two minutes, he hung up and looked at Hu Hao. Hu Hao had been listening and already knew the answer.

It was the same for the 28th. That division had about 2,000 men left, and they had just been handed 100 blank promotion slots. The other commander confirmed it was the same across the board—every remnant unit had received around 100 slots, give or take a few depending on their remaining manpower.

“We and the 28th are being served up on a platter. Call your father. Ask him if he knows the overall situation at the front, the reinforcement status, and the enemy’s movements. Ask him right now!” Hu Hao ordered.

“Got it.” Li Jingsong dialed the Corps Commander’s direct line. The call connected, but within a minute, Li Jingsong hung up and looked at Hu Hao.

“My dad is on his way here right now.”

“Mmh. Fine. Brothers, stay calm. I’m going to go out and get the lay of the land. Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone. Do not panic. Understood?” Hu Hao commanded the room.

The soldiers nodded in unison.

Hu Hao, Li Jingsong, the other surviving 27th Army Division Commander, and several Colonels, including Xiao Quan, walked out of the shelter.

Just as they stepped into the daylight, several armored vehicles rolled up. Hu Hao recognized Li Tianyuan’s convoy. The vehicles stopped just long enough for the Corps Commander to step out before quickly driving off to hide from potential air strikes.

“You lot, come here!” Li Tianyuan called out to Li Jingsong and the officers.

Hu Hao and the others followed Li Tianyuan into the shell of a ruined building nearby.

“I just received the intel,” Li Tianyuan said, turning to face them, his hands clasped behind his back. “Our forces are pulling out tonight. A full retreat. And the units assigned to cover the rear… are you.”

“FUCK!” Li Jingsong screamed.

“Dammit! So last night was completely pointless? Why didn’t we just retreat yesterday?!” Hu Hao cursed furiously.

“This morning, we received intelligence that the Allied forces have divided their massive army and are marching on the neighboring provinces. There is no strategic value in holding Langcheng anymore. High Command has ordered our forces to break contact and withdraw to Dingkang Province, which sits behind Tianxiang Province. Therefore, Zone Command decided the general retreat begins tonight,” Li Tianyuan explained grimly.

“Retreat to Dingkang? What about Tianxiang, Tianhe, and Tianfu provinces? Are we just abandoning all of them?” Hu Hao stared at Li Tianyuan in absolute shock.