Chapter 403 Bickering before battle
The sound of artillery fire from s.h.i.+chuan Village was intense. Ren Xiaosu had lit up as many as seven campfires out there. Meanwhile, the Zong Consortium’s soldiers did not think too much and decided to bombard those areas first.
Actually, it was very chaotic on the battlefield. Most of the time, the officers would not even have time to consider their actions too carefully, and it was normal to fight the moment they spotted their enemies.
Only a small number of commanders could remain calm in the chaos and take the right course of action. And it was these commanders who would emerge victorious from a battle. Some would then go on to become famous military leaders.
The artillery fire quickly put the Second Company and Third Company, who were currently storming the machine gun positions, on high alert. When they heard the sound of the bombardment, they thought the Razor Sharp Company had already started the attack on the town!
Importantly, the battle plan was for the three companies to rendezvous before launching an attack on the town. It was practically impossible for a single company to capture s.h.i.+chuan Village, and the casualty count would definitely be disastrous as well.
Both Second Company and Third Company called in to Zhou Yinglong at the rear in unison. They were hoping he could stop the recklessness of the Razor Sharp Company. Although the Razor Sharp Company had just accomplished great things by taking mountain forss, there were two things in a battle that all soldiers were afraid of. One was cowardice, and the other was arrogance.
An army c.o.c.ksure of its invincibility was doomed to defeat.
When Zhou Yinglong heard about the situation at the front line, he got anxious. He quickly found a radio operator to contact the Razor Sharp Company in the hopes they could still get through to them.
In the end, the call went through very quickly. Zhou Yinglong said anxiously, “Did you guys start attacking s.h.i.+chuan Village already? Zhang Xiaoman, are you crazy? Didn’t I tell you to wait until you joined up with Second Third Companies before launching an attack? If your Razor Sharp Company suffers heavy casualties, I’ll hold you responsible!”
Zhang Xiaoman said innocently, “Battalion Commander, we’re eating right now. We didn’t start attacking s.h.i.+chuan Village.”
Zhou Yinglong was taken aback. “Are you sure? Then what’s with the sound of the bombardment?” Zhou Yinglong could still hear the artillery bombardment on the other end while holding the receiver to his ear.
Zhang Xiaoman patiently explained, “I told Ren Xiaosu earlier that since we were very close to s.h.i.+chuan Village, we shouldn’t light any campfires or risk ending up as targets for the enemy. In the end, he ran off to a faraway place and started many campfires. He said he wanted to make the enemy at s.h.i.+chuan Village waste some of their sh.e.l.ls….”
It went silent in the call. Zhou Yinglong had not expected a situation like this. He said in a daze, “Where’s Ren Xiaosu?”
“Oh yeah, where’s Ren Xiaosu?” Zhang Xiaoman looked around but could not find Ren Xiaosu. Then he saw another group of campfires lighting up in the distance. He said numbly, “He went out to start a few more campfires.”
But this time, the Zong Consortium’s troops in s.h.i.+chuan Village seemed to have realized that something was amiss. They gradually stopped their bombardment.
But after waiting half the night, Zhang Xiaoman did not see another campfire light up. Meanwhile, Ren Xiaosu had also not returned yet.
He muttered to Jiao Xiaochen, “I wonder what Ren Xiaosu’s up to now?”
When dawn was about to break, Ren Xiaosu finally came back. Zhang Xiaoman leaned forward and sniffed. He could still smell gunpowder on Ren Xiaosu. “Where have you
been?”
“When I saw that Second Company and Third Company still hadn’t arrived even after waiting for so long, I thought I’d go help them,” Ren Xiaosu explained.
Zhang Xiaoman froze. He realized he had underestimated Ren Xiaosu’s ferocity. He still had the strength to go and help his allies.
As they were speaking, Second Company and Third Company finally arrived. The commander of Second Company was still wondering as they walked over, “I wonder who helped us destroy that MG position with a grenade…”
Zhang Xiaoman glanced over at Ren Xiaosu. At this moment, Ren Xiaosu was squatting behind the bushes and quietly watching the silent s.h.i.+chuan Village in the distance.
Zhang Xiaoman did not say anything else. He turned to Second Company and Third Company and said, “Why have you only just arrived?”
Both Second Company and Third Company were puzzled. “Didn’t y’all encounter any ambushes last night?”
“We did!” Zhang Xiaoman said, “If our Razor Sharp Company can be stopped with just a machine gun, we’re willing to give up our name of ‘Razor Sharp’ to y’all!”
The faces of both Second Company and Third Company’s commanders darkened. Zhang Xiaoman was too f.u.c.king arrogant recently!
“Was it really that easy for y’all to take out the MG nests?” Second Company’s commander said unhappily, “The trenches they dug were so effective that even our mortars couldn’t cause any damage to them. Zhang Xiaoman, don’t get too c.o.c.ky. We don’t care about getting the ‘Razor Sharp’ name.”
What the Second Company and Third Company’s commanders did not know was that the Razor Sharp Company did not even encounter any living enemies in the course of their march. However, this did not stop Zhang Xiaoman from full-on mocking them.
“Don’t stray from the subject.” Zhang Xiaoman said, “Rest up during the day. We’ll start by launching an aggressive attack on s.h.i.+chuan Village at midnight. Our Razor Sharp Company will be responsible for creating an opening, so y’all better not drag us back.”
The moment he said that, the commanders of Second Company and Third Company got so angry they nearly lost their appet.i.tes! However, this was the culture at Fortress 178. As long as you were good at fighting, it wouldn’t matter how tough your words sounded!
Even though Second Company and Third Company were angered by this, they had to accept it. During their rest, all they could think of was how to win back their reputation during the attack on s.h.i.+chuan Village.
The commander of Second Company quietly held a meeting with his officers. “I don’t want any of us losing our reason later just to prove our worth, understand?”
The officers said, “Understood, sir!”
The company commander’s responsibility was not only to lead in a battle, but also to know when to remind their soldiers to be cool-headed. Fighting a war was a matter of life and death, so one must not allow their emotions to rule their heads.
But immediately after the commander of Second Company was done speaking to his men, he heard Zhang Xiaoman loudly say, “Everyone, don’t be in a hurry when attacking s.h.i.+chuan Village tonight. It’s fine even if we allow Second Company and Third Company to get the credit. We’re a team, after all, so our Razor Sharp Company shouldn’t be hogging all the contributions, right?”
This time, Second Company’s commander nearly vomited blood.
It was normal to have some friendly bickering before a battle. They were all veterans with a lot of battlefield experience and knew how to put aside their emotions when going into battle.
Zhang Xiaoman was on very good terms with Second Company and Third Company. Otherwise, he would not dare to talk nonsense like this before a battle.
The commander of Second Company turned around and looked in the direction of the Razor Sharp Company. He saw Ren Xiaosu sitting alone with his eyes closed. Someone in the company muttered, “That’s Ren Xiaosu, right? I heard he scaled a 700-meter-high cliff with his bare hands during the attack on Mt. Dingyuan.”
“Are you serious?” A Second Company soldier asked skeptically, “Even Battalion Commander Zhou couldn’t do that, right?”
When Jiao Xiaochen heard the discussion about Ren Xiaosu in Second Company, he remarked, “When Ren Xiaosu came back early in the morning, he said he went to help you guys. Weren’t y’all asking who helped you to take out the MG nests? It was him.”
The commander of Second Company was stunned. Jiao Xiaochen would not lie about such a thing. “I heard he’s a supernatural being, right? What’s his power?”
Jiao Xiaochen went silent for a moment. “We don’t know either.”
For a second, all of the soldiers at the camp looked at Ren Xiaosu either intentionally or unintentionally. They all had the same thought on their minds: ‘Is this the person Commander Zhang chose? No wonder that the commander chose him.’