The First Order

Ren Xiaosu stared blankly at the hundreds of hand grenades placed in front of him and was at a loss for words. Second Company’s Commander Li Haichen looked at Zhang Xiaoman and said, “Remember this: We gave the grenades to you so you can help reduce the number of casualties to our Second Company and Third Company. Don’t take the grenades and venture out too deep into enemy lines. Otherwise, even if you manage to achieve something great, I’ll still report y’all to the commander.”

In the end, Zhang Xiaoman managed to move Second Company’s Commander Li Haichen by giving the reason that this would help reduce the casualties for their side. During the attack on Shichuan Village last night, Second Company suffered more than ten casualties. They were all good friends who trained and got along well with each other. Any achievements in battle were not as important as staying alive, and this was the consensus among the officers of Fortress 178.

When it was time to fight the tough battles, they would fight the tough battles. But if there was a better choice, they would definitely prioritize the survival of their troops.

“Don’t worry one bit.” Zhang Xiaoman said with a smile, “We’re sister units, so why would we do something like that? Come, come, Ren Xiaosu, put away these grenades. We’ll continue attacking after night falls.”

Ren Xiaosu watched quietly as Zhang Xiaoman negotiated with Second Company and Third Company. A group of soldiers were smoking and chatting off to the side, and some of them had even taken off their shoes. The entire building was filled with a strange odor that was mixed with the smell of cigarettes. However, the cigarettes were different from those the private troops of the other strongholds smoked. Even while the soldiers were chatting, their guns remained in their arms at the most convenient positions.

Old Xu had mentioned to him that Fortress 178 was a different kind of place. At that time, Ren Xiaosu thought that since they were all strongholds, how different could they be? But now he understood what Xu Xianchu meant when he saw how different it really was.

Ren Xiaosu put away the grenades while asking Zhang Xiaoman, “I think we should be more careful during our attack. The layout of Shichuan Village is very complex, and the Zong Consortium has recently built some new buildings. We can’t guarantee that they might not have some tricks up their sleeves. I get the feeling that our attack on Shichuan Village has gone too smoothly.”

Things that went too smoothly would always make Ren Xiaosu a little uneasy.

Zhang Xiaoman didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “You call this easy? If it weren’t for the fact that you could accurately drop those grenades, do you know how many of our people would have died in this town? You didn’t know, but Battalion Commander Zhou was prepared to sacrifice the entire Forward Strike Battalion here.”

Ren Xiaosu was stunned. “Is it that serious? He’s prepared to sacrifice the entire Forward Strike Battalion for this urban combat?”

“That’s right.” Zhang Xiaoman sighed and said, “Only by taking Shichuan Village and clearing out the long-range artillery emplacements hidden here can the troops in the rear regroup at the FOB with no worries and carry out the next stage of the battle plan.”

Next to them, Jiao Xiaochen added on, “Wars these days are all about modern firearms and explosives. Our Forward Strike Battalion’s role is to clear all obstacles during the early stages of the war. After that, we’ll take on the temporary role of scouts to handle infiltration and recon in order to patch any missing map intel for the rest of our troops. We have basically no involvement in the main battles after that.”

“Then did we get sent here as cannon fodder?” Ren Xiaosu frowned. Why did it sound no different from being cannon fodder to him?

But Zhang Xiaoman immediately rejected any suggestion of that. He said seriously, “We’re not cannon fodder. Fortress 178 has never required cannon fodder to win a war. It’s just that the division of our fighting forces is different. Today’s sacrifices will lead to a victory for the rear forces. This is also the reason why all the candidates for the successor of Fortress 178’s commander must come through the Razor Sharp Company. Only those who have risked their lives before have the right to ask others to fight for him.”

Ren Xiaosu was silent. Jiao Xiaochen clapped him on the shoulder and said happily, “Commander Zhang came from the Razor Sharp Company. If we’re really cannon fodder, and if the commander was willing to be cannon fodder as well, then what makes us so special that we can reject the notion of that?”

Understanding dawned upon Ren Xiaosu. It was probably because of the current commander leading by example that Fortress 178 was such a cohesive force.

So what did it mean when Zhang Jinglin specially arranged for him to join Razor Sharp Company after he had said that he wanted to be posted to the most dangerous unit in the fortress?

“How long are we going to fight this war?” Ren Xiaosu asked.

“Until the Zong Consortium is completely destroyed, of course! We’re going to fight all the way northeast til we reach Mt. Pingluo.” Zhang Xiaoman said, “Until a hyena like the Zong Consortium is totally destroyed, there won’t be any peace in the Northwest.”

That night, right after the sun set, the Razor Sharp Company led an attack into the interior of Shichuan Village.

During the day, the enemies in the town seemed to have received orders to take back the lost ground. But in urban warfare, it was always the attackers who were at a disadvantage. The route the enemy had chosen to break through was exactly where Second Company and Third Company were stationed.

The two company commanders were already filled with anger, and the more they thought about it, the more pent-up they got. Now that the enemy had come knocking on their door, they would definitely strike at them mercilessly.

When they broke through the enemy lines, the machine gun positions they captured still had heavy machine guns and ammunition that could be used. However, Zhang Xiaoman and the others from Razor Sharp Company did not take them because they were already carrying a lot of weight.

Now that all of these firearms and ammunition were in the hands of Second Company and Third Company, they wanted nothing more than to rain down a hail of bullets on the enemy. Several walls even collapsed from the heavy gunfire.

Li Haichen was roaring with rage from behind a machine gun as he fired at the enemy ruthlessly.

The defenders of Shichuan Village made several waves of attacks, but they were unable to break through the defensive line Second Company and Third Company had set up. They were forced to retreat.

After the second day of surprise attacks ended, the Razor Sharp Company led the rest of the troops to advance five kilometers into Shichuan Village. Only a small portion of the Zong Consortium’s troops were still putting up a stubborn resistance in some buildings in the north.

This battle made the defenders of Shichuan Village extremely sullen as they had thought their firepower could hold back the enemy. In this urban warfare, there were more than a dozen emplacements with sufficient firepower. There were also many soldiers hidden within buildings, ready to snipe any of the invaders.

But after two days, they suddenly felt like their defensive positions had been constructed out of paper. They simply could not hold back Fortress 178’s soldiers.

Sometimes, they would even get hit by a grenade before they saw any signs of the enemy!

It was too frustrating!

According to their initial plans, they would be laying waste to the entire Forward Strike Battalion of Fortress 178 here in Shichuan Village. But in the end, all it took was three companies from the Forward Strike Battalion to capture Shichuan Village.

In fact, if this hadn’t been urban combat, the effects of the grenades going off in an open space would not have caused as much destruction as it did.

But now, the dark houses that were supposed to act as a defensive barrier for the garrison ended up turning into targets for Ren Xiaosu to attack.

The next night, Battalion Commander Zhou Yinglong felt a little numb when Zhang Xiaoman gave him a sitrep. Zhou Yinglong had asked Commander Zhang Jinglin for more time to complete their mission. Only by having more time could they comfortably capture Shichuan Village in battle.

As such, the armored brigade to the rear temporarily slowed their advance. But as soon as he bought some time for the Forward Strike Battalion, Zhang Xiaoman, who was at the front lines, actually told him they might be able to take Shichuan Village by the next day?