Standing on the high ground, Hu Hao stared at the distant Allied encampment, deeply perplexed as to why they hadn’t dispatched reinforcements to retake the sector.
While he didn’t know the exact number of Allied troops that had landed in the Eastern Spirit Empire, early news reports had stated the Allied coalition—comprising over a dozen nations with a combined population exceeding ten billion—had prepared an invasion force of three million men. They certainly weren’t lacking in manpower.
In contrast, the Eastern Spirit Empire had announced alliances with several other nations prior to the war, but to this day, no one had seen a single allied soldier. Perhaps it was just because Hu Hao’s rank was too low to be privy to High Command’s secrets, or maybe the intelligence just hadn’t trickled down to the front lines yet.
“Hao-ge, why do you care about that?” a soldier asked, breaking his train of thought. “Isn’t it better if the enemy doesn’t come? If they don’t attack, all we have to do is hold out until dawn, and then we can retreat!”
“Mmh. That’s true in the short term. But this affects how we fight the rest of this war. Whether we survive tomorrow is a massive question, so I have to think about it. Brothers, get some rest. I’ll keep watch. Once I’ve figured this out, I’ll wake you and we’ll head down together,” Hu Hao told them.
“Alright, Hao-ge. You do your thing, don’t worry about us. Honestly, we can’t sleep anyway. We napped this afternoon, and right now, we’re just too wired waiting for the relief. We won’t be able to sleep until we’re off the line,” one soldier replied.
“Yeah, Hao-ge. Just ignore us. We’re just bored and wanted someone to talk to,” another added.
Hu Hao nodded. He didn’t know these men personally, but they trusted him implicitly.
He raised his binoculars again, scanning the Allied lines, turning the tactical puzzle over in his mind. Why no reinforcements?
Dammit, I don’t have enough intel!
Hu Hao cursed inwardly. If he were sitting in a Command Center with proper reports, he was confident he could decipher the enemy’s intent. But out here in the dirt, he had nothing. Despite his frustration, he kept his eyes glued to the enemy camp.
An hour passed. It was now past 4:00 AM, and the sky was beginning to turn a hazy gray.
“Hao-ge! Hao-ge!” Led by a few soldiers, Li Jingsong finally found Hu Hao on the high ground.
“Over here! You finished handing them over?” Hu Hao asked immediately.
“Done. What are you doing up here? It’s quiet now, right? If there’s nothing happening, let’s head down. As soon as the relief force gets here, we’re out!” Li Jingsong said as he walked over.
“Hao-ge!”
“Hao-ge!”
The soldiers who had escorted Li Jingsong—Huan Xingtao and the squad—also greeted him. Hu Hao nodded to them.
“Come here, take a look at this,” Hu Hao said, pulling Li Jingsong to a gap in the ruined wall and pointing toward the Allied camp. “Judging by the number of tents, there are at least three corps massed over there. Probably more, definitely not less.
Now tell me this: we fought a massive, explosive battle here tonight. We captured two of their Division Commanders. And yet, they didn’t send a single reinforcement unit to bail them out. Why?”
“Why do you care?” Li Jingsong didn’t even bother looking. He just stared at Hu Hao and complained, “Once our relief gets here, we go back to the bunker. It’s not our problem.”
“Are you mental? You’re a Division Commander, and I’m an officer! The grunts don’t have to worry about this, but we do! Are we just going to fight blindly? How the hell are you a Division Commander? The men only need to follow orders, but you? You’re not going to think? How are you going to fight the next battle? Just ignore the tactical reality and charge? Are you trying to get us all killed?” Hu Hao fired off a volley of questions, leaving Li Jingsong stunned.
“What are you staring at? Help me figure it out!” Hu Hao demanded.
“You really have too much free time. Let Zone Command worry about it,” Li Jingsong grumbled. “Yes, I’m a Division Commander. But I barely have any troops left! I want to care, but I need an army to command first!” Despite his complaining, Li Jingsong obediently picked up the binoculars and looked out over the camp.
“What am I supposed to see? It’s just tents, trenches, tanks, and machine guns. They’re all asleep,” Li Jingsong said, lowering the glasses and turning back to Hu Hao.
“Dammit, it doesn’t make sense. The Allied commanders aren’t idiots; they fight hard. There is no tactical reason for them not to send reinforcements to stop us tonight. There’s a deeper play here. It’s not as simple as it looks!” Hu Hao squatted down and pulled out a cigarette.
Seeing the pack in Hu Hao’s hand, Li Jingsong snatched it, pulled one out for himself, and lit it.
“You’re just overthinking it. Does it even matter?” Li Jingsong asked. “To be honest… even though I’m a General, I really feel bad for you junior officers. I didn’t think much of it before the war. But now that the shooting has started, and guys like you can’t be promoted to General, while useless ‘straw bags’ like me are put in charge… how are we supposed to win?
Sigh. Sure, the system benefits me. But look at you. Or look at Xiao Quan, your Regimental Commander. His capability is obviously lightyears ahead of mine. He’s been a Colonel for ten years, and he still can’t get a star. This kind of bullshit only happens in our Eastern Spirit Empire!” Li Jingsong said, taking a drag of his cigarette as he sat in the rubble.
“The Empire hasn’t fought a war in over a hundred years. It’s to be expected,” Hu Hao replied, sitting down. “Without war, there’s no battlefield merit. Without merit, common officers without connections or money have no path upward. What did you expect?
But if they keep this up now that the war is real, the military is going to collapse. Once the Colonels decide they’ve had enough and quit, the junior officers will follow. Then who’s going to fight your battles?”
“Exactly, Hao-ge,” Zhao Haibin chimed in, sitting down next to them. “Honestly, if I could get discharged right now, I’d take it. If it wasn’t for you, Hao-ge, I would have deserted already. Why should I hold this line? What does it have to do with me? I’ll never be a General. There’s zero hope. If there was even a sliver of a chance, we’d risk our lives for it!”
“Heh. Great minds think alike. I wanted to run, too,” Hu Hao laughed. “But with so many brothers looking to me, I couldn’t just leave. Otherwise, I’d have run off to live a comfortable life by now.”
“Heh. We brothers owe you, Hao-ge. Truly. The fact that we won, the fact that we’re alive—that’s your merit,” Zhao Haibin said earnestly. “But we feel the injustice for you. You have all this merit. You’re an officer who just commanded over ten thousand men in a victorious night assault. Why can’t you be promoted to General? You’re still just a Captain!
At best, because we captured those VIPs tonight, you’ll make Major. After that? Will you ever go higher? General Li, you’re sitting right here—over the next few years, would you even dare to promote Hao-ge any further?” Zhao Haibin asked, turning to Li Jingsong.
“How could I?” Li Jingsong asked defensively. “He’s twenty-two years old and already a Major. Go ask around—what unit in the entire Empire has an officer like that?”
“Right? That’s exactly why we feel it’s not worth it for Hao-ge,” Zhao Haibin said, throwing his hands up. “You have the talent. You have the Academy pedigree. But just because you haven’t served long enough, and because you don’t have noble connections, the absolute highest you’ll ever reach is Colonel—and even that will take years. So why fight? Why risk your life?”
The other soldiers nodded in agreement, looking at Hu Hao.
“Haha! Well, if I can’t get promoted, then I might as well get rich! I have to get something out of this, right?” Hu Hao laughed.
“Hahaha!” The tension broke, and the soldiers laughed with him.
“Right, right! I almost forgot!” Hu Hao slapped his knee. “Speaking of getting rich, I completely forgot! The Allied weapons scattered across the battlefield—that’s all money! Pick them up! Hand them over to Logistics; they pay a bounty for captured gear!
Grab as many as you can carry! Dammit, if we can’t get rank, and we can’t make money, who the hell is going to fight a war? Am I right?” Hu Hao stood up enthusiastically.
“Oh crap, you’re right! I forgot about that!” Li Jingsong realized. “Brothers, go scavenge weapons! The market rate for a standard rifle is about 2,000 Eastern Spirit Credits. We get a 30% cut—that’s 600 credits a gun! Hurry up and grab them! Four guns is a month’s salary!”
“He’s right!” The soldiers immediately jumped to their feet.
“Get down there! Go scavenge! Whatever you pick up is yours!” Hu Hao encouraged them.
The soldiers scrambled down into the ruins. Within minutes, word spread throughout the remnant forces. Everyone began scavenging rifles. It didn’t matter if it was an Allied weapon or a dropped Imperial rifle; they were all worth money to the Logistics department.
There was no need to fight over the loot. Over 80,000 men had clashed in this sector over the past two days, and the vast majority of them hadn’t survived. The ground was littered with firearms. The only limitation was weight—a man could only carry four or five rifles before they became too heavy to haul. Still, the soldiers were ecstatic. It was real money in their hands.
By 5:00 AM, the relief forces finally arrived. Hu Hao and his squad waited while Li Jingsong and the other Division Commanders completed the handover. Hu Hao didn’t bother picking up rifles; instead, he had scavenged a massive sack of grenades. Seeing this, the soldiers helped him gather even more, handing them over to Hu Hao or Huan Xingtao to carry.
“Let’s go, brothers! We’re heading back!” Li Jingsong shouted after finishing the handover.
“Let’s go! Let’s go!” The soldiers emerged from their hiding spots, every single man weighed down by several captured rifles slung over their shoulders.
“Holy shit, they hit the jackpot! Every man is carrying thousands of credits!” The relief troops—a division from the 29th Army—watched with envy as the heavily burdened veterans prepared to leave.
“Hey, that’s not right! You can’t take all of them! Leave some for us!” a Brigadier General from the relief force yelled at Li Jingsong.
“There’s plenty more out there! Find your own! And hey—stay sharp!” Li Jingsong yelled back with a grin.
“Find the air-raid shelters!” Hu Hao shouted to the fresh troops as he walked past. “The enemy is definitely going to shell this position soon. Get into the shelters before the barrage starts. Don’t come out until it’s over!”
“Listen to him! Hao-ge is giving you free lessons! Don’t just sit in the rubble like idiots, or one shell will bury you alive!” the retreating veterans echoed, laughing as they marched toward the rear.