The First Order

In the truck, Ren Xiaosu listened as the thugs of the Razor Sharp Company discussed their plans to break through the defensive line at Mt. Dingyuan. They not only had to think about how to break through at Mt. Dingyuan, but also consider the possibility of the enemy’s reinforcements arriving from Mt. Guan.

The reason Mt. Dingyuan was difficult to capture was because the Zong Consortium’s bandits were supporting them from the front line of Mt. Guan. In peacetime, the two groups of bandits looked wholly unrelated. But when war broke out, these two groups were clearly fighting on the same side.

So if they attacked Mt. Dingyuan, they would have to face the threat from Mt. Guan at the same time.

When the convoy was about to leave Fortress 178, someone suddenly stopped the convoy from the front. It turned out that Wang Shengzhi and Wang Shengyin were both waiting at the east gate. Zhang Xiaoman jumped out of the truck and asked, “Is there anything I can help you with?”

Wang Shengyin said, “Ren Xiaosu is in your company, right? We learned he would be heading out to the front line today after speaking to Commander Zhang. We’re just planning to bid him farewell, so we won’t really delay your journey.”

Looking at Wang Shengyin’s appearance, Zhang Xiaoman realized she was obviously one of the people from the Central Plains. He said unhappily, “When the troops are setting off for war, how can they be asked to wait just because someone wants to say goodbye? Get out of the way already. He’s a soldier of my Razor Sharp Company now, so I won’t allow him to meet you two.”

Zhang Xiaoman was already a little unhappy to begin with. How could his troops be stopped in their journey over such a trivial matter? What the hell?

Wang Shengyin said with a smile, “I’m sorry, we won’t say goodbye to him then. Can you hand this gift to him? Let him know that we’ll also be leaving Fortress 178 in three days. When we return to the Central Plains, we’ll definitely help him to find his friend named Li Shentan.”

“Alright, alright.” Zhang Xiaoman waved them off impatiently. “I’ll hand it to him.”

Then Zhang Xiaoman jumped back up into the truck and quickly led the convoy through Fortress 178’s gate. The copper bell behind them at the end of that long road stood at the center of the fortress unchanged. A group of soldiers watched Wang Shengyin, who was getting further and further away and muttered, “How enviable…”

At the moment, Wang Shengyin was still waving goodbye at the convoy. Meanwhile, Wang Shengzhi smiled throughout without a word.

Zhang Xiaoman handed the present to Ren Xiaosu and said, “During wartime, you shouldn’t be in a relationship. There’s only life and death to think about in war, understand?”

Ren Xiaosu did not reply. He took the box and opened it. He discovered it was a box of pea cakes, took one out, and stuffed it into his mouth. Then he gave the rest of the cakes to Zhang Xiaoman and said, “Y’all can share it.”

Zhang Xiaoman was stunned. “How can you let us have the snacks when it was given to you by a girl? Kid, what are you thinking?”

Ren Xiaosu stayed silent for a moment before saying, “It tastes bad.”

Zhang Xiaoman was speechless.

The group of soldiers around him snatched the snacks from Zhang Xiaoman’s hands and said, “If he doesn’t want them, let us have ’em. It’s so nice to have a girl send you something to eat, yet you’re still being picky?”

Ren Xiaosu was sitting in the corner. He knew his relationship with Wang Shengyin was not what the soldiers thought. They had only known each other for a little more than ten days. It hadn’t even been a month yet.

Perhaps Wang Shengzhi felt he would be useful in the future, so he quickly expressed his good intentions to him while they were still here.

But no matter what, Ren Xiaosu would not trust these “friends” he had only known for a little more than ten days. As for what would happen after Wang Shengzhi found Li Shentan, he did not care.

Judging by what Li Shentan and Si Liren were capable of, Li Shentan could definitely get away unscathed even if Wang Shengzhi had ulterior motives.

But when he tasted the pea cake, he was reminded of Yang Xiaojin. He wondered where that cap-wearing girl was now.

All of them probably thought he was dead.

Even Ren Xiaosu himself did not think that he had any hopes of survival at that time.

Before he could get revenge, Ren Xiaosu did not intend to get involved with other people. He would just treat them as passersby in his life.

Suddenly, Ren Xiaosu said, “Company Commander, why don’t we attack Mt. Guan head on instead?”

“Are you fucking crazy?” Zhang Xiaoman said with his mouth full of pea cake. “My pledge was to attack Mt. Dingyuan. Also, it’s more difficult to attack Mt. Guan than Mt. Dingyuan!”

Ren Xiaosu said calmly, “Didn’t you say that we have to prevent the reinforcements at Mt. Guan from coming to support Mt. Dingyuan during our attack? So even if we attack Mt. Guan, there should also be reinforcements coming from Mt. Dingyuan, right?”

Zhang Xiaoman pondered what he said. Then he realized Ren Xiaosu was implying that they should pretend to attack Mt. Guan first, then lay in ambush to pick off the reinforcements from Mt. Dingyuan when they headed to Mt. Guan.

This suggestion suited the Razor Sharp Company’s soldiers’ taste.

After all, positional defense still played the part of the “meat grinder” in modern warfare.

The officers of Fortress 178 were required to learn military knowledge during weekdays. Even though these men did not like studying, they still enjoyed reading case studies of wars preserved from before The Cataclysm.

One of the case studies detailing a battle for an airport perfectly explained what modern positional warfare was about. The attacking forces were ten times the number of the defensive troops, and they also possessed 122 mm howitzers and attack choppers. But even in those circumstances, it still took three months for the attackers to take the airport. During the battle, both sides suffered countless casualties.

This case study proved that as long as one side did not have a fully mechanized force and powerful aerial strikes they could depend on, positional warfare had to be taken seriously.

Whatever equipment they had, their enemies would have as well. In fact, the defenders would have also planted land mines, booby traps, and other forms of traps.

Bombarding the target with firepower required a huge price and intel on the enemy’s firepower deployment, earned by sacrificing lives.

If it weren’t for Ren Xiaosu, who had given the defensive deployment map to Qing Zhen, it would have taken Qing Zhen a very long time to take Position 313. At that time, the deadline set by the Qing Consortium’s headquarters was only one month.

A lot of people thought the era of positional warfare was no longer applicable in modern warfare, but that wasn’t the case at all.

The “Theory of the Omnipotence of Missiles” had still not reached full omnipotence yet.

In the case study Zhang Xiaoman and the others had read, the positions that were quickly conquered were bombarded by the air force. But now it was those flying beasts in the sky that were the overlords of airpower. Humanity’s planes were too fragile in comparison.

The Razor Sharp Company was currently up against two bandit lairs. Although they could call for supporting fire to bombard Mt. Dingyuan and Mt. Guan, what do they do after that? How were they going to fight the remainder of the Zong Consortium’s troops?

It was just two fucking bandit lairs. The real battle had not even started yet.

Zhang Xiaoman pondered things for a while. “But we might not be able to handle it when we get attacked on both sides.”

Ren Xiaosu asked, “Even if we don’t attack this way, we’ll still have to face attacks from both sides, right?”

“That’s true.” Zhang Xiaoman said, “But what if the reinforcements from Mt. Dingyuan don’t come to support them if there isn’t enough pressure on Mt. Guan?”

Ren Xiaosu said firmly, “Then we’ll put the pressure on them. Just leave it to me.”

“Will you pledge to that?” Zhang Xiaoman asked in surprise.

“Yes!”

The soldiers of the Razor Sharp Company in the truck suddenly felt something was wrong. They were still worried that a recruit like Ren Xiaosu would have his legs turn to rubber once he was on the battlefield. But why did it seem like Ren Xiaosu was more hellbent on seeking battle than they were?

Wasn’t Ren Xiaosu rumored to be a supernatural being? No one knew where he got the confidence to talk big.