As soon as Hu Hao got on the phone with Commander Jiang Kai, he was met with a barrage of scolding. From the very first sentence, Hu Hao knew that Jiang Kai had found out about his private conscription.
“Commander, how did you find out about this?” Hu Hao asked immediately.
“How did I find out?! The High Command already knows! They’ve been interrogating me all afternoon, demanding to know what exactly is going on. How much nerve do you have, daring to conscript troops privately?!
“Hu Hao, oh, Hu Hao. Do you know that the promotion channels for Generals are about to open? How could you make such a mistake at a time like this? Making such a rookie mistake—are you out of your mind?!” Jiang Kai roared over the phone.
“I am out of my mind! Commander, do you not realize how crucial Late City behind me is to the Allied forces? You expected me to hold off attacks from two entire Allied corps with just one division. And now, another corps is already moving this way!
“Commander, those people at the High Command are talking big while standing comfortably in the rear! Have them come here and defend! Motherfucker, they even dare to blame me!
“Late City has steel mills, thermal power plants, arsenals, and chemical plants. Do you know what that means to the Allied forces? Why do you think Late City hasn’t suffered a single Allied air raid so far? Why?
“Because this place is incredibly important to them! They need this place to produce strategic supplies—supplies they’ll use against our Eastern Spirit Empire! Does the High Command seriously not know that?
“Furthermore, we’ve already discovered nine Allied corps operating in this region—a total of 540,000 enemy troops! We have to defend a sector spanning hundreds of kilometers. Yet what did the High Command give us? 330,000 men. Still the same pre-war organization! And they expect us to hold the line for a month? Let them come here and try defending it themselves!” Hu Hao gripped the phone and shouted back.
“Don’t give me all that! That is not a valid reason for you to conscript troops privately!” Jiang Kai yelled, his voice thick with distress.
“Then tell me, what am I supposed to do?! If my sector is breached, the 27th Corps will immediately suffer, followed quickly by the 28th Corps! This entire defensive line will completely collapse! Tell me, how do you expect me to defend this with just one division? Tell me!” Hu Hao roared into the phone.
“Damn it! The High Command is demanding answers right now! They want me to relieve you of your command on the spot! Now you tell me, what am I supposed to do?!” Jiang Kai yelled back.
“Commander, you are the Commander. You have the authority to decide. I, on the other hand, am just a Colonel acting as a Division Commander. I don’t have much ability; all I want to do is defend our land and protect our people. I don’t want to walk down the street and hear civilians cursing at my back, calling me a useless deserter who couldn’t hold the line for them!” Hu Hao declared over the phone.
“Come to Headquarters immediately. The High Command explicitly ordered you to be arrested and sent to the capital to face a military tribunal!” Jiang Kai ordered.
“I’m not going. If I must go, it will only be after I finish fighting this battle. If I leave now, what happens to this defensive line?” Hu Hao replied without hesitation.
“Hu Hao, at a time like this, please don’t be so stubborn! Hand over command to Li Jingsong and come to Headquarters now! I’ll call His Majesty later to see what he thinks, and hope he can show some leniency!” Jiang Kai pleaded. He valued Hu Hao immensely.
“Commander, you’ve already pleaded for leniency from His Majesty, haven’t you? And he didn’t agree, did he?” Hu Hao asked pointedly.
Hearing this, Jiang Kai fell silent.
“There’s no need to beg. I will not go to the High Command, nor will I abandon my defensive line. If the people from the High Command dare to come here and arrest me, I’ll admit they have some guts. If you want to relieve me of command and strip me of my rank, I have nothing to say.
“But I will not leave my defensive line! I have tens of thousands of brothers here. If I leave, the moment the defensive line falters, my brothers won’t survive. Not only that, but all of Bopa City, Late City, and the troops of the 27th and 28th Corps on my flanks will be routed. I cannot take that risk!” Hu Hao stood firm.
Meanwhile, all the staff officers in the command center, including Xiao Quan, stared at Hu Hao in shock. They now knew that Hu Hao’s private conscription had definitely been discovered by the High Command.
And from what they were hearing over the phone, it sounded like the High Command wanted to send Hu Hao to a military tribunal. Their immediate thought was: That absolutely cannot happen. Hu Hao cannot leave.
“This is no longer up to you! Hu Hao, just come here! I’ll use my connections to protect you. The High Command is pressing this very hard.
“I actually wanted to wake you up earlier and demand an explanation. But you were sleeping, and considering you fought all night last night, I decided to let you rest first. The Military Police from the High Command are already here at Headquarters. Tang Junjie is leading them!” Jiang Kai told Hu Hao over the phone.
“Tang Junjie? Haha! Commander, if I fall into his hands, do you honestly think I’ll survive? Commander, I, Hu Hao, will not leave this place. Whoever has the guts can come here and try to take me away!” Hu Hao replied over the phone.
“You… don’t escalate this into something so severe! There’s still room to maneuver. If you act like this, how am I supposed to help you?!” Jiang Kai urged anxiously.
“You don’t need to help me. After this battle is over, just consider me dead. I will not appear on the Empire’s roster of generals either!” Hu Hao said, his voice laced with deep pain and suffocating frustration.
He had racked his brains, coming up with so many tactics to hold the defensive line and defeat the Allied forces. Yet, to the High Command, none of it mattered. They hadn’t even come to investigate; they just wanted to drag him straight to the capital.
Hu Hao knew that their priority right now wasn’t investigating the truth—it was destroying him, and subsequently, bringing down Jiang Kai. This definitely had ties to the Grand Marshal’s faction. But as for who exactly leaked the information, Hu Hao still didn’t know!
“Hu Hao, you can’t do this! They’re already here!” Jiang Kai yelled.
“Then tell Tang Junjie to come here! Tell him to come and take me away! Because I am not going!” Hu Hao reiterated.
“You…!” Jiang Kai was so anxious he didn’t know how to persuade Hu Hao anymore.
“Commander, destroying me is just a stepping stone to destroying you. A lot of people are hoping you fail to hold this defensive line right now. Why? Because they’re afraid your merit will grow too large! A place as critical as Late City—let alone one division, even deploying two full corps would be necessary! But do we have that many troops?!
“Once Late City falls, our troops will be forced to retreat hundreds of kilometers. How are the civilians in that entire abandoned region supposed to survive? How many times can our Empire’s forces afford to retreat hundreds of kilometers? Commander, have you ever considered that?
“Furthermore, the troops I conscripted are reservists from the refugees. They followed me just to get revenge. I led them to the front lines, I led them to seek vengeance—what is wrong with that?! Do we really have to force our Empire’s troops to retreat time and time again, leaving the civilians here to be slaughtered?!
“Commander, I don’t know what the High Command is thinking. And I don’t have His Majesty’s phone number. But if I did, I would ask His Majesty: does he still want this Empire?! If he doesn’t, he should get the hell out! He shouldn’t just occupy the latrine without shitting!” By the end, Hu Hao was shouting at the top of his lungs!
“Hu Hao! You absolutely cannot say things like that!” Jiang Kai yelled frantically from the other end.
“Afraid of what?! What has His Majesty actually done so far, besides issuing the General Mobilization Order?! The civilians have already been slaughtered like this, yet he’s still playing his political games?!
“For his own personal gain, he completely disregards the lives of our civilians! What the fuck time is it, and he’s still playing these games?! How many more days can he keep playing?!” Hu Hao roared over the phone.
“Hu Hao, oh, Hu Hao! You cannot say such things!” Jiang Kai continued to caution him anxiously.
“You might be afraid, but I’m not! I’m not begging him for anything, and I’m not counting on him for anything either! As long as I, Hu Hao, am alive for a single day, I will fight! I will fight the Allied forces! Whether I fight as a General or a common soldier, it’s all the same!
“So, tell that Tang Junjie to come here! Tell him to come, and we’ll see if I don’t dare kill him! Or, you can just order your troops to attack me! Clearly, the Empire doesn’t care about its defensive lines anymore, doesn’t care about its territory, and certainly doesn’t care about its people!” Hu Hao concluded. Hearing this, Jiang Kai fell silent.
“Commander, is there anything else? If this is it, then we’re done. Whoever wants to come, let them come! I, Hu Hao, can’t stop them from coming, but I can damn well stop them from leaving! If there’s nothing else, I need to deploy my defenses!” Hu Hao stated.
“You… sigh… how can you be so impulsive?!” Jiang Kai was completely out of options.
“If you aren’t impulsive when you’re young, when will you ever be? Besides, my impulsiveness isn’t for my own sake!” Hu Hao retorted, then immediately hung up the phone.
It was only then that Hu Hao noticed all the staff officers staring at him.
“Get back to your work!” Hu Hao ordered them.
“Hao-ge… the High Command wants to arrest you?” a senior staff officer tentatively asked.
“Mm. I privately conscripted troops, violating High Command regulations!” Hu Hao nodded.
“I told you this would be a massive problem! I told you, but you insisted on doing it! Now look what’s happened!” Xiao Quan pointed at Hu Hao and exclaimed.
“You’re just talking big from a comfortable spot! Without those troops, we would have been completely wiped out last night! Do you think you’d still be standing here talking to me right now?” Hu Hao glared at Xiao Quan.
Hearing this, Xiao Quan froze. It was true. If Hu Hao hadn’t conscripted those troops, they wouldn’t have been able to hold this place at all. The casualties from last night alone exceeded an entire division’s strength.
“But… but what do we do now? They want to take you away right now!” Xiao Quan asked anxiously, looking at Hu Hao.
“Let them come. We still have a line to defend anyway. If they dare come… I’ll just see what happens. Worst case, I become a deserter. Once I finish commanding this battle, I’ll just desert.” Hu Hao said as he sat back down.
(End of Chapter)