Chapter 70: Seeing Him in a New Light

Liang Wanyu sat quietly, watching Hu Hao stare up at the sky, blowing rings of cigarette smoke into the air. For some inexplicable reason, she felt a sudden, soft urge to comfort him.

It was a strange feeling. Back when they were at the military academy, Hu Hao had pursued her, but she had never once looked at him seriously. The gap between their social standings was simply too massive; Liang Wanyu knew perfectly well that she could never have any meaningful relationship with a commoner like him.

But now… seeing him on the battlefield. Seeing him command troops under fire. Watching him charge to the absolute front line, wielding a heavy machine gun and hurling grenades. Hearing so many hardened veterans respectfully call him “Hao-ge.”

She found herself genuinely looking at her former classmate for the very first time.

“Don’t think like that. You’re incredible; you’ll definitely survive this,” Liang Wanyu said softly, trying to offer some comfort.

“Ha. Incredible? Individual skill means absolutely nothing here,” Hu Hao replied without looking at her. “This is a war. It’s not a training exercise, and it’s certainly not a game. In war, people die.”

“Hao-ge! Hao-ge!”

Li Jingsong jogged over from down the trench line, followed by several other officers. Seeing them, Hu Hao raised a hand to signal his position.

“Hao-ge, look at you! You’ve got a beautiful woman keeping you company in the trenches! I couldn’t even tell under the helmet. And who might this be?” Li Jingsong grinned, teasing Hu Hao when he noticed Liang Wanyu sitting next to him.

“I am a war correspondent from the Propaganda Department of the General Staff,” Liang Wanyu answered with a polite smile.

“Oh! Oh, I understand. You’re here to shoot footage. I was wondering. Hao-ge, you have some serious luck!” Li Jingsong laughed, sitting down in the dirt opposite Hu Hao. The Regimental Colonels and Lieutenant Colonels accompanying him also found spots to sit down.

“Hao-ge, I heard a rumor that we’re launching a counter-attack across the river?” Xiao Quan asked, getting straight to business.

Liang Wanyu watched the exchange, utterly bewildered. These men were all older than Hu Hao. They all held higher ranks. Especially Li Jingsong—he was a Major General! Yet every single one of them was addressing Hu Hao as “Hao-ge.”

“Yeah. We’re attacking,” Hu Hao nodded firmly. “If we don’t attack now, we’re all dead anyway. Tell the brothers to get ready. Motherfucker, we’ve retreated over a thousand kilometers, and they’re still chasing us like dogs. It’s too damn humiliating!

Think about it. If we don’t wipe them out now, in 3 days, once they repair their supply lines and bring up fresh ammunition, they’re going to launch another massive assault right here. We’ll just be fighting them again!

Rather than waiting for that, we need to strike while they’re weak and put them in the ground! The Allied vanguard is out of ammo! Their heavy weapons are completely dry! If we don’t attack now, when will we ever get a chance like this?!”

“Is that true?! They’re out of ammo?!” The Colonels stared at Hu Hao in shock.

“Absolutely,” Hu Hao affirmed. “Look at this morning. How many artillery shells did the Allied forces actually fire? And look across the river now. It’s been quiet for over 10 minutes. The Allied infantry on the near bank have completely withdrawn!”

“Motherfucker! Let’s hit them! If they don’t have ammo, what the hell are we afraid of?!” “Exactly! Let’s wipe them out! They’re empty; it’s time to make them pay!”

The Colonels instantly grew excited, their eyes burning with anticipation.

“Hey, hey, hey! What is wrong with all of you?!” Li Jingsong asked, looking at his officers in disbelief. “Back in Langcheng, and during the breakout, none of you wanted to fight! Have you all gone insane?!”

“What do you know?!” Xiao Quan snapped back at the Division Commander. “Things are completely different now! Before, we were just trying to find a way to survive and escape! But now? If we don’t fight, they won’t let us live! Since we have to fight anyway, we might as well fight to the death! If I’m going to die, I want to take a pile of them with me! Motherfucker!”

“He’s right!” another Colonel chimed in. “They aren’t giving us a way out anymore! If we don’t risk our lives now, what are we waiting for?!”

“If this offensive goes smoothly today, we might actually buy ourselves half a month, maybe even a full month of rest,” Hu Hao added. “That will give us time to integrate the reinforcements and rebuild our combat strength before we go hunting the Allied forces again!”

“Exactly! We fight now so we can rest later! Look at those poor reservists. It’s a damn tragedy. Making them hold this line defensively is just sending them to die. If we don’t wipe the enemy out now, the fighting is only going to get harder!” the Colonels agreed, nodding heavily.

“When you go back, make it absolutely clear to the brothers: we must annihilate them,” Hu Hao instructed. “As for urban combat, our brothers aren’t strangers to it; they know how to fight street to street. Once we push across the river and enter the city, we advance methodically, block by block.

The city over there isn’t huge. If things go smoothly, we can completely devour them in 2 days. Hell, we might not even need two days! Without ammo, what are they going to fight us with?!”

“Understood. Don’t worry, Hao-ge. The brothers know the score now. If we don’t fight, we die. The only option left is to put our lives on the line,” Xiao Quan nodded.

He then turned to look at Li Jingsong. “Ha. Honestly, Division Commander, if the other Imperial Generals had even a fraction of your capability, we’d feel a lot better. But they don’t even have that! At the very least, you actually have the guts to stand in the trenches with us. I bet right now, most of the Imperial Generals are literally pissing their pants at the sound of gunfire!

I heard a hilarious rumor today,” Xiao Quan continued, looking back at Hu Hao with a grin. “Apparently, a Major General Division Commander from the 31st Corps had just arrived at the front line. An artillery shell landed near him, and the man actually pissed himself! Literally wet his pants! He sat in the mud, too terrified to stand up for half an hour! And when he finally managed to stand up… a stray bullet caught him right in the head. Dropped dead instantly!

The man didn’t fire a single shot, and he died like a dog. Tell me, what’s the point? If you don’t have the skills, don’t become a Division Commander!”

“Stop laughing at us,” Li Jingsong sighed miserably. “Do you think we actually want to be Division Commanders? We don’t! But High Command refuses to accept our resignations! What are we supposed to do? Let me tell you a secret: half the Division Commanders on this line want to apply for discharge, but the military won’t allow it. We are literally being forced to stay here at gunpoint!

Do you know how many Generals died yesterday? Over twenty! Twenty Generals! Fuck! What is the point of this? If you’re going to buy a government position, buy a civilian one! That way, when a war breaks out, you can at least run away! Sigh!”

Liang Wanyu sat quietly, listening intently as Hu Hao bantered with the officers.

“You don’t need to worry about being discharged,” Hu Hao laughed, looking at Li Jingsong. “You fought your way out of Langcheng with us. The Zone Commander would never let you retire now… assuming you don’t die first!”

“But I don’t know how to command troops in combat! You all know perfectly well I have absolutely no tactical skills!” Li Jingsong groaned. “Sigh. Hao-ge, what do you think about this: what if you shoot me? Just put a bullet right through my thigh! Then I can be medically discharged and sent to the rear!”

“Piss off. I’m not wasting a bullet on you,” Hu Hao laughed, waving him away.

The other Colonels burst out laughing.

“It’s not your personal bullet! It belongs to the Empire! Just shoot me once!” Li Jingsong pleaded half-jokingly.

“Just grab one of your guards and tell him to shoot you! Why are you trying to drag me into it?!” Hu Hao laughed again.

“True. Sigh…. What is the point of being a Division Commander? Why couldn’t I just be a normal civilian? Dammit… my Li family… up until today, we’ve lost over 70 people. Seventy family members dead.

In the entire Li clan, there are only about 30 of us left in the military. And as for Generals… ha… there are barely a handful left. The family is ruined,” Li Jingsong said bitterly. He pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and stared up at the sky.

“Your father is desperately trying to preserve what’s left of the Li family’s legacy. Do you really think he’d let you retire now?” Hu Hao asked.

“Sigh. Tell me, am I an unfilial son? I’m almost thirty years old, and I feel like I haven’t accomplished a single damn thing in my life. Last night, I lay in the mud and asked myself: what exactly has Li Jingsong done with his thirty years of life?

I thought about it, and I thought about it… and I realized, all I ever did was hang out with my degenerate friends, drink, sing, and chase girls. Ha. I really am just a useless rice bucket, aren’t I?” Li Jingsong laughed self-deprecatingly.

“Oh, shut up. Don’t go getting philosophical on us now. At least you got to experience all that fun stuff!” Xiao Quan scoffed. “What about us? Motherfucker, we spent our entire lives managing your troops for you!”

“Exactly! Our Division Commander wouldn’t show his face for an entire year, and we had to run the whole damn division for him!” another Colonel chimed in, laughing.

“Alright, alright. Brothers, from now on, you are my true brothers,” Li Jingsong looked at them seriously. “When this war is over, I’m taking all of you out for the time of your lives. It’s on me! I swear it!”

“Let’s focus on surviving first,” the Colonel replied dryly.

Li Jingsong nodded solemnly.

“Hey, Hao-ge. Once we finish this battle, you should be promoted to full Colonel, right?” Li Jingsong asked earnestly.

Liang Wanyu’s eyes widened in shock, and she stared at Hu Hao.

“Ha! Let’s survive first. And what the hell use is being a Colonel anyway? Ask the veteran Colonels sitting right here. Tell him, Xiao Quan. What’s it feel like to be a Colonel?” Hu Hao laughed, gesturing to the officers.

“It’s absolutely fucking useless! Your base salary goes up by 300 credits, and your annual bonus increases by 2000! That’s it!” Xiao Quan and the others laughed uproariously.

“Wait, isn’t he a Major? How could he jump straight to Colonel? He hasn’t even been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel yet!” Liang Wanyu blurted out, unable to contain her confusion when she noticed no one was questioning the massive leap in rank.

“He is a Lieutenant Colonel right now,” Xiao Quan explained. “It’s just that we’ve been fighting non-stop. There hasn’t been time to issue him his new insignia!”

“What?! You’re already a Lieutenant Colonel?!” Liang Wanyu gasped, staring at Hu Hao. “I remember you were just a Second Lieutenant when we graduated! It’s barely been a few days, and you’re already a Lieutenant Colonel?!”

“Wait… you two actually know each other?” Li Jingsong asked, finally realizing their familiarity.

“University classmates,” Hu Hao said simply.

“Son of a bitch! You really know how to keep a secret! You didn’t even say a word!” Li Jingsong cursed playfully.

“Seriously! That’s not cool, Hao-ge!” the other officers joined in the condemnation.

“Alright, alright! What was I supposed to say? None of you asked!” Hu Hao laughed, raising his hands in surrender.

“How did you get promoted so fast?!” Liang Wanyu pressed, still utterly baffled.

“Ha. It just happened. Honestly, my promotions have felt pretty inexplicable to me too,” Hu Hao shrugged with a modest smile.

“Bullshit it’s inexplicable!” Li Jingsong immediately interjected, defending Hu Hao’s honor to Liang Wanyu. “I’m telling you the absolute truth: if Hao-ge was made Zone Commander tomorrow, every single man here would think it was completely justified! If it weren’t for Hao-ge, every single one of us would be dead!

His merit is immeasurable! Do you know about General Jiang Kai? The Zone Commander himself? Let me tell you: if it wasn’t for Hao-ge, the Commander would have died two nights ago!”