Chapter 1233, For Tomorrow

Just as the tide of people slowly broke through the southwestern forest, Kyung’s main force also began to construct a defense line at the edge of this forest.

The line of Xuanen Mountain, Laifeng Mountain, and Yongshun Mountain had been constructed into an ironclad block.

Behind the battle line, hundreds of forward bases were connected into a huge logistical supply network.

After the unification of the Southwest, Qing reorganized and reorganized all the troops into two Category A group armies and one Category B group army, totaling 230,000 troops.

The so-called Category A Group Army means that it is fully staffed, has plenty of ammunition, and is ready to go to the battlefield ready to fight.

A Category B army, on the other hand, was not fully staffed and needed to be replenished.

But now, regardless of whether it’s Category A or Category B, regardless of whether you’re fully staffed or not, it’s time to start the most brutal battle of all.

There were forty-six barriers in the entire southwest, and the total number of people had been counted by the first census, plus the stragglers totaling nine million six hundred thousand.

In fact, originally the number of people in the southwest was going to be a bit more, but the southwest was in a similar situation as the Central Plains and had also experienced heavy fighting.

Barrier 112 and 113 suffered an experimental body attack when they collapsed, with a mortality rate of over 80%.

Nowadays, although the barriers were rebuilt, the total number of people in these two new barriers that were rebuilt was just over 100,000 people.

When the Li Clan, Yang Clan, and Qing Clan fought, the number of people killed and injured was hard to count, and there were also a large number of civilians and stragglers who fled to the Central Plains and the Northwest, causing a large amount of population loss.

So this led to the fact that there were only a few tens of thousands of people left in some of the original Li’s barriers.

Qing Yi had returned to the frontline at this time, and as the highest military commander, the commanders of the three group armies all needed to report directly to him.

Perhaps those soldiers and officers down below were still not clear on what they had to face, but Qing Yi was well aware of it.

Thankfully, it was fortunate that Qing Zhen had explained to him at the beginning that the missile forces had to be separated from the bombs and vehicles, or else after the AI had invaded the missile force’s military base, I’m afraid that Qing’s missiles would have long since landed on his head.

These days, Qing’s forces tried to send more than a dozen reconnaissance teams to the deeper parts of the forest, trying to count the number of enemies and their speed of travel as much as possible.

However, all of the scouting units had all dropped like a stone.

After confirming at the rear command that all the scouting teams were lost, Qing Yi stopped this pointless move.

Just like when military base 012 was invaded, the enemy they were facing was not only people, but possibly sparrows in the sky.

The unusual reconnaissance plan would no longer work, and no matter how many people were sent in to scout, it would probably be a pointless sacrifice.

In the rear general headquarters, the conversations of all the generals and combat staff lowered a bit, as if a low pressure had suddenly enveloped the place.

Qing Yi stood in front of the huge sand table model and watched silently.

Qing Zhen put him in this position not just because he was close to him, or because he was thankful for his uncle’s kindness in providing relief back then.

Rather, Qing Yi himself has the qualities of an excellent commander, he may not be able to see as long as Qing Zhen, but in the field command, the control of the details is very few people can reach.

Suddenly, Qing Yi said, “Take the company as a unit, 45 kilometers deep, and establish stress outposts beyond the defense line, convey the order.”

When the chiefs of staff in the command headquarters heard these words, they knew the role of these outposts.

After all means of reconnaissance failed to work, these temporary, rudimentary outposts were like nails stuck in the mountains beyond the defense line.

Their role was to serve as an early warning for the main rear defense line with the radios they carried when the enemy actually arrived.

In a war, if one could learn of enemy intelligence an hour or two hours in advance, it would be a completely different outcome.

Even if the defense position was at first level of combat readiness, there would still be most of the soldiers in a state of rotation, and if everyone was kept tense at all times, the soldiers would collapse before the enemy arrived.

Therefore, this one or two hour period was the biggest buffer.

However, it also meant that the soldiers of those outposts would be the first casualties in the war, and no one would survive.

These one or two hours were exchanged for the lives of all the soldiers in the outpost.

There would always be sacrifices in war, and what Qing Yi had to do was to make sure that every sacrifice, had meaning.

The Chief of Staff asked in a low voice, “Sir, can we win this war?”

Qing Yi glanced at the Chief of Staff and said, “This is not something we have to consider right now.”

The Chief of Staff visibly froze for a moment, in fact, this statement itself was stating that Qing Yi did not have much certainty about this battle, “Sir, then what do we have to consider?”

“To consider, how much time we can buy for the rear,” Qing Yi said.

At this moment, in addition to being busy cooperating with the army’s dispatching, the thing that Qing’s various hub departments in the rear were doing the most was burning classified documents.

Everything was being done in secrecy, and all the classified units were being regulated and blocked by the secret forces under Xu Concealment’s command.

Many people with a sensitive sense of smell sensed that this was like a precursor to a retreat.

Some tried to find ways to get the information out, but the secret units under Xu Concealment’s command were more elite than they had imagined, and more adept at this kind of classified mission.

……

On the border between the Northwest and the Central Plains, the soldiers of Post 218 were standing on the hillside in front of the post, lined up in a long row to pee, ready to compete to see who could pee farther.

The furthest was the winner, and the closest was the loser.

The squad leader looked at the soldiers around him and couldn’t help but feel that he was indeed a bit old ……

A soldier next to him who pissed the farthest asked with a thieving head, “Squad Leader, you’re going to lose this, willing to bet, you have to admit it.”

The squad leader said a bad luck: “Say what you want, I can’t give you my matching gun.”

“I want that medal of yours,” the soldier smiled thievishly, “I heard that you got that when you fought Zong?”

“No way!” The squad leader flatly denied, “You also really dare to ask for it, that’s what I traded my life for, when someone offered fifty thousand dollars, I didn’t even sell it, you change one!”

“Then give me your sister’s photo,” said the soldier.

The squad leader immediately became angry: “You deserve it!”

The soldiers on the side laughed and each lifted their pants up, “You kid must want to take the squad leader’s sister photo again ……”

The squad leader did not have the good sense to say, “All give me a roll to practice physical fitness!”

“By the way squad leader, have you seen the Major? I heard that the battle at Zong’s, the Major Marshal also participated in it,” the warrior asked.

Although the post was not particularly far from the 144th Barrier, and they sometimes went to the 144th Barrier during their shifts, they did not belong to the Sixth Field Division, but rather under Zhou Yinglong’s troop number, so they did not cross paths with Ren Xiaosu.

Originally, Ren Xiaosu’s reputation was already very high as the Northwest Major Commander, and after the Sixth Field Division won the Sorcerer Kingdom, Ren Xiaosu’s reputation even reached its peak.

Therefore, everyone who might have crossed paths with Ren Xiaosu would be surrounded by others chasing after gossip about Ren Xiaosu.

As soon as the squad leader in the post heard this, he immediately came into the spirit: ”When we fought Zong’s, the Major and I were both in the Vanguard Battalion under Division Commander Zhou, he was in the Sharpshooter Company, and I was in the Second Company. At that time, the first day that the Major Marshal just came to the vanguard battalion, he made a mess of the vanguard battalion ……”

A soldier curiously said, “Squad Leader, you said that the Major is so strong, how far can he pee? Have you ever compared yourself to him?”

The squad leader looked at the soldiers under his command without a good mood, “How dare I compare this with him, wouldn’t that be a self-inflicted humiliation.”

“Also ……”

“We’re so close to Barrier 144, I don’t know if we’ll have a chance to see the Major in the future.”

“What are you thinking about, we are the border defense here, how can we have the chance to see a big shot like the Major.”

The difference between this outpost facing the Central Plains and the one facing the Sorcerer Kingdom was that the environment here was not as harsh, and you could grow your own vegetables such as cabbage and scallions near the outpost.

There were usually 30 people in an outpost, which had a complete infrastructure: physical training equipment, a small canteen, a book and newspaper area, dormitory barracks, latrines, and fecal incineration ponds.

Just then, a soldier suddenly saw a man at the bottom of the hill who was running fast and furiously up the hill, “Someone’s coming, not in uniform, just one man.”

“Battle readiness,” said the squad leader, “Beware it’s a Transcendent attack!”

However, just as he finished speaking, the squad leader felt that something was wrong, because the more he looked at the figure, the more familiar he felt, “Wait, it’s the Major!”

Ren Xiaosu climbed all the way up the mountain to the outpost, and it was only a few minutes from when the sentries spotted him to when he ascended.

In front of the gate of the outpost, all the soldiers were looking at him with excited faces.

However, Ren Xiaosu didn’t care about this, but said to the squad leader, “Which unit?”

“Zhao Shuai of the 173rd Regiment Vanguard Battalion of the 3rd Field Division!” The squad leader stood up straight and replied.

Ren Xiaosu nodded, “I’m Ren Xiaosu of the 6th Field Division, do your post communications remain open?”

“Smooth,” the squad leader nodded frantically, “The border posts are connected to telephone lines, they won’t be affected.”

“Connect me to the 178th Fortress Command,” Ren Xiaosu said.

The squad leader rushed back inside the outpost and dialed the phone, then the operator transferred the line to the 178th Fortress side.

Once it was connected, Ren Xiaosu went inside and picked up the phone, while the others all exited the room and consciously stood guard outside the door.

This kind of direct call to the command is classified, so ordinary soldiers naturally have no right to listen in.

As Ren Xiaosu listened to the familiar voice of Zhang Jinglin on the phone, he said briefly, “The Central Plains has fallen, I initially judged that the entire Central Plains has fallen into the hands of Wang’s AI, their troops are slowly advancing towards the northwest, and I believe that the southwestern part of the country should be the same.”

On the phone, Zhang Jinglin was silent for a moment and said, “Got it.”

“I will wait in this outpost for another day to observe enemy troop movements, so if something happens you can call the phone here,” Ren Xiaosu said.

“Well,” Zhang Jinglin said, “We’ll talk again in eight hours, so take a rest first.”

After saying that, Zhang Jinglin hung up the phone.

There wasn’t too much communication between them, Zhang Jinglin didn’t question whether Ren Xiaosu’s judgment was accurate or not, and Ren Xiaosu didn’t ask Zhang Jinglin how he was going to react.

Over the years, the two sides already knew each other well, Ren Xiaosu believed that as long as this news was passed back, Zhang Jinglin would definitely make the most correct decision.

Ren Xiaosu walked out from inside the post, and it was only now that he had the time to survey the squad leader, “Huh, haven’t we met before?”

The squad leader immediately became exuberant, and the soldiers on the side were then sure that the squad leader hadn’t bragged to them before.

The squad leader stood at attention, “In the past, when you, Major, were in the Sharp Knife Company, I was a third-class private in the second company.”

“I see,” Ren Xiaosu smiled, “Where’s the dormitory, I need to take a rest.”

From the time he spurred Luo Lan to now, Ren Xiaosu hadn’t closed his eyes for close to 48 hours, he needed to get a good night’s sleep and then face this even more dangerous world.