Dong Qipeng stared at the pulverized remains of the stone stool Hu Hao had smashed. He bent down, picked up a larger fragment, and squeezed it with all his might. It was solid rock; it didn’t yield a millimeter! After a moment’s thought, he walked over to Hu Hao.
“This is real, right? I’m not dreaming?” Dong Qipeng asked, standing right in front of him.
“What kind of dream would you be having in broad daylight? Remember what I told you. Do not let this secret out!” Hu Hao warned him.
“Mm. But Rat, if I suddenly become this powerful, Xu Hui, Zhao Yang, and the others are definitely going to notice!” Dong Qipeng pointed out.
“Let them notice. When they ask, tell them I taught you,” Hu Hao replied casually.
“Won’t they hold a grudge against you and say you’re playing favorites?” Dong Qipeng pressed.
“What favorites? They all know the four of us from our dorm are like brothers. Yes, they are our classmates, and we have a good relationship with them, but I have to take care of my own brothers first, don’t I?
“Besides, it’s not that I won’t teach them. I’m just not teaching them now,” Hu Hao explained.
“Why not now?” Dong Qipeng asked.
“Because right now, you need to establish your authority. You have to earn that authority yourself. Cultivating this technique has countless benefits. You’ll see them soon enough. Once the brothers submit to you, managing them will be easy.
“I can’t lead them every single day. Furthermore, this unit only needs one boss right now, and that’s you. If I taught all our classmates, who would the soldiers follow? They’d end up forcing you guys to fight it out for the top spot. We can’t have that!
“I will definitely teach them eventually, but for now, you must be the one leading the Special Operations Regiment. Do you understand? You must build your prestige through training. You are a combat veteran and you were promoted to acting battalion commander based on merit. You have real combat experience.
“Combine that with what I just taught you, and you’ll be able to manage this unit perfectly. If I simply appointed you as their leader out of nowhere, the men wouldn’t accept it!” Hu Hao explained his reasoning.
“I understand! When the time comes, I’ll tell them to come find you!” Dong Qipeng nodded.
“Tell them to find me after the rainy season ends. If they come looking for me within the next two months, I won’t teach them. Our priority right now is stabilizing the soldiers under our command, understand?” Hu Hao instructed.
“Understood!” Dong Qipeng nodded firmly.
“Good. That’s all for now. Take me to see the troops training! I need to give them some pointers as well!” Hu Hao said, walking toward the exit.
His primary reason for visiting today was for Dong Qipeng. He had considered teaching the others, but the timing wasn’t right. He needed to ensure absolute control over this elite unit first before elevating everyone’s combat capabilities simultaneously.
Hu Hao stepped outside and spent the next three hours observing the soldiers’ training. Glancing at his watch, he saw it was nearing 3:00 PM. Knowing the Allied forces outside Yonghe City would soon begin preparing their assault, he hopped into his car and headed back toward Daman City.
He had barely gotten in the car when Lu Guangsheng called.
“You’re awake?” Hu Hao asked with a smile as he answered.
“Hao-ge, I just got up. The staff said you wanted me to call you back, so I called immediately!” Lu Guangsheng replied cheerfully.
“I saw the combat report you submitted last night. You annihilated three regiments from the Vaal Kingdom, but you suffered four to five thousand casualties yourself. The report also mentioned inflicting significant casualties on another division, but didn’t provide specific numbers. Tell me exactly how those casualties occurred!” Hu Hao demanded, his tone turning serious.
“Yes, Hao-ge. Last night, we deployed three regiments to block the Vaal Kingdom’s 79th Division, and another three regiments to attack their 84th Division.
“Because the 84th Division was split across two locations, we used one regiment to stall two of theirs, while focusing our remaining forces to encircle and annihilate the other three regiments. During the assault, the attacking units suffered over 1,000 KIA, and the blocking units lost over 1,000 as well.
“We completely annihilated those three regiments. As for the casualties we inflicted elsewhere… our troops are still holding their positions, and the Vaal forces haven’t retreated yet. Visually, I estimate we killed at least another 2,000 of them, but we haven’t been able to confirm the exact numbers!” Lu Guangsheng reported proudly.
“Mm. Your tactical deployment was correct, but you shouldn’t have chosen that specific strategy!” Hu Hao stated bluntly.
“Ah?” Lu Guangsheng was confused.
“I told you before: your objective is to train the troops, not to annihilate the enemy. If I just wanted them dead, I wouldn’t even need to send infantry. I could dispatch a tank division and an air cavalry division, find the right opening, and crush them in one fell swoop!
“Training! How do you train troops? You rotate your units in and out of combat, letting them gain experience.
“Simultaneously, you must control the flow of the battle. You dictate how the Allied forces fight. But what did you do last night? You immediately engaged them in a decisive battle! They were practically begging for a decisive battle!
“You have a little over two divisions’ worth of troops there, and you’re still recruiting. They also had two divisions. After fighting like that, how many men do you have left? A few thousand? Now you have to focus on recruiting again? How many soldiers do you think we have to waste like this?” Hu Hao lectured him from the back of the car.
“Yes, Hao-ge. I… the moment the fighting started, I forgot. I just wanted to wipe them all out. I completely forgot about the training objective!” Lu Guangsheng admitted, realizing his mistake.
“Mm. Remember this: we can wipe out those two Vaal Kingdom divisions whenever we want. But we cannot wipe them out right now, because they don’t pose a fatal threat to us. They are the perfect whetstone to sharpen our troops.
“You know as well as I do that we lack veterans and qualified officers. So what do we do? We use the enemy as practice dummies. Moving forward, you drag the fight out. They are on our turf now. We decide how and when to fight.
“Use your artillery to bombard them. Deny them sleep day and night. Use your infantry to harass their perimeter. Do not try to swallow them whole; drag it out. If the Allied command believes our forces are small, they won’t send massive reinforcements.
“Even if they do send reinforcements, it will likely only be two or three divisions. But if you devour an entire force in a matter of days, the next wave they send will be an entire corps! Do you think you can hold off an entire corps over there?
“Remember these principles: The enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy camps, we harass; the enemy tires, we attack; the enemy retreats, we pursue. Grind them down slowly. Turn our recruits into veterans. Once you feel they are no longer useful for training, then you devour them in one gulp!” Hu Hao imparted his tactical wisdom.
“Yes, sir! The enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy camps, we harass; the enemy tires, we attack; the enemy retreats, we pursue!” Lu Guangsheng repeated the mantra immediately.
“Mm. Furthermore, utilize the mobility of our artillery and armored units. Move quickly, strike quickly, and retreat quickly. Hit and run. Do not let their forces pin you down. Control the tempo.
“Allow your subordinate commanders to exercise their own tactical judgment. They can use whatever methods they see fit. The only bottom line is: do not wipe them out all at once! I expect those two enemy divisions to forge four divisions of veterans for us. Use them well!” Hu Hao ordered.
“Yes, sir! I will remember. I guarantee I will forge four veteran divisions for us!” Lu Guangsheng promised firmly.
“Mm. How is recruitment going on your end? How many did you enlist yesterday?” Hu Hao asked, his tone softening slightly.
“We recruited quite a few yesterday. Since you ordered me to transfer one division to you, I managed to recruit another full division between yesterday and noon today. The only issue is the lack of officers. For now, I’m just gathering them together and dispatching some veterans to oversee their basic training and familiarize them with the weapons!” Lu Guangsheng reported.
“Good. That’s fine. Keep recruiting. Once you reach five divisions, stop. Also, you must recruit one division of absolute beginners—no prior military experience. We will train them from scratch.
“Remember the rules: no students, and no only children. Anyone else is acceptable. We cannot rely solely on veterans forever; their numbers will only decrease with every battle. We must start training our own fresh recruits!” Hu Hao reiterated.
“Understood! I will issue the orders immediately!” Lu Guangsheng acknowledged.
After chatting for a few more minutes, Hu Hao hung up. He leaned back in his seat and tried to rest. This car ride was the only chance he’d get to sleep, as he definitely wouldn’t be sleeping tonight.
Meanwhile, outside Yonghe City, an Allied staff officer reported to Corps Commander kelly: “We’ve detected Eastern Spirit reinforcements entering Yonghe City. Approximately two divisions’ worth!”
“Just as we feared!” Jasman said, his tone heavy.
“If that’s the case, the forces inside the city might not be any smaller than ours! Damn it!” Kelly cursed.
Jasman looked at him meaningfully.
“It seems we truly must request reinforcements. They are still bombarding our positions! Their artillery is firing indiscriminately, dropping shells everywhere, one by one. It’s maddening!” Kelly finally relented. He knew what Jasman’s look meant: he wanted Kelly to request reinforcements. The 1st Corps was a heavy mechanized unit; fighting a protracted urban battle was simply asking for catastrophic losses.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
The distant explosions continued to echo. Hearing Kelly finally agree to request reinforcements, Jasman sighed in relief. However, even with reinforcements, he still wasn’t sure how they were going to break this stalemate.
(End of Chapter)