Chapter 382, To Fight or Not to Fight

178 The fortress existed for war, so it was destined to be not quite the same as the other barriers from the very beginning of its birth.

The streets did not have a wide array of stores, nor were there pedestrians dressed in particularly colorful clothing; some girls changed into long skirts early in the spring season, but the long skirts were also made of coarse cloth.

The clothing in the entire fortress was monotonous in color, either dark blue, earthy yellow, or dark green.

At this time, the textile dyeing technology of the 178 fortress was still stuck in the most basic dip-dyeing and roll-dyeing, and the clothes that had been worn for a long time would still lose their color.

As Wang Sheng Yin said, the northwest is one of the most suitable places to grow cotton, but here there is a lack of technology, all the forces are in the development of the military industry, as well as efforts to let everyone eat enough.

Where was the time to study anything fancy?

After Xu Xianchu left, Ren Xiaosu and Wang Shengzhi and the others walked out of the small building and carefully surveyed the legendary fortress.

Pedestrians on the street would all give them sideways glances when they saw them, as those of them, with the exception of Ren Xiaosu, looked a bit out of place here.

Wang Shengyin had also changed into a long dress at this time, only that blue dress didn’t look like it could be produced in this fortress at all, Wang Shengyin said that this kind of blue was called Tiffany Blue, and it was popular in the Central Plains, a color worn by a female singer.

Ren Xiaosu said that 178 Fortress probably won’t have that kind of star singer, and he saw that the women in this 178 Fortress are carrying flat burdens like men.

Ren Xiaosu suddenly asked Wang Shengzhi, “How do you think Mr. Zhang will deal with Zong?”

Wang Shengzhi looked up at him and smiled, “You want Fortress 178 to help you take revenge, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Ren Xiaosu admitted frankly, “But if this wasn’t Fortress 178’s own decision, I wouldn’t have dragged anyone else down with me, I could have done just as much on my own.”

At this point Ren Xiaosu was thinking that if 178 Fortress was unwilling to send troops against Zong to clear this obstacle on the trade route, then he would infiltrate Zong himself.

What Li Shentan could do, he might not be unable to do.

Wang Shengzhi laughed, “Look at the pedestrians on this street.”

“Huh?” Ren Xiaosu froze for a moment.

“Surprisingly, people are carrying their own grain out on flat burdens and carrying it where?” Wang Shengzhi asked.

“Carrying it out to sell?” Ren Xiaosu said.

“The crops are outside the fortress, these are just ordinary residents, what grain are they selling?” Wang Shengzhi laughed, “They’re spontaneously concentrating all the grain they’ve stockpiled into the hands of the 178th Fortress garrison.”

“What is this for?” Ren Xiaosu froze, he really didn’t know much about military matters, he had encountered an advanced military command skill before, but at that time, he didn’t have the skill map to learn it.

“This is the 178th Fortress getting ready for war, all the food is converging into the hands of the defenders for wartime deployment,” Wang Shengzhi explained with a smile, “If you’re determined to take revenge on Zong, then don’t worry, Mr. Zhang wouldn’t have let me come to the Northwest if he hadn’t thought it through, he’s already made his own decision .”

178 Fortress wanted to realize the huge mineral reserves, make the life of the residents in the fortress better, and obtain better armaments, then it was necessary to open up this commercial road.

The Zong Clan, however, would not allow this to happen, how could they allow others to sleep soundly on the side of the couch, this was the inevitable result of the development and growth of an interest group.

……

178 Fortress’s humble conference room, a group of officers argued around a huge sand table model, Zhou Yinglong shouted, “I’ve long been looking at Zong’s eyes, you all know that, Zong’s group of old boy’s troop deployments are all facing our 178 Fortress, what’s the intention, I don’t need to tell you more, right?”

“Everyone knows this,” someone said, “I traveled to the River Valley region a while ago and found that the Qing Clan is also stirring up things over here, but Qing Zhen’s plans aren’t in our 178 Fortress, and now that all of his men have gone to fight the Yang Clan, only the Zong Clan is left in the River Valley region. ”

“If we want to open up the commercial road, the best route to build is to take that road in the Dingyuan Mountains, it is said that that road was still a highway before the disaster, right? This is the quickest road, but that Dingyuan Mountain is still in the hands of Zong’s bandits, and the northern Guanshan Mountain is tantamount to Zong’s forward base,” Xu Xianchu analyzed, “So even if we don’t fight Zong, this line of Dingyuan and Guanshan Mountain must be mastered in our own hands.”

“Grasp it how?” Zhou Yinglong retorted, “We don’t have enough manpower to fight, but to occupy is a bit of a stretch, how many people do you have to put there to prevent Zong’s sneak attack? And when Zong cuts off the retreat of the defenders of Ding Yuan Mountain from the road, the generals there will immediately become isolated islands, it’s desperate to think about it.”

“Right, Lao Zhou has a point, there is no such thing as a thousand days of defense against thieves,” said a pugnacious man, “Zong’s right in front of us, these old boys have been too restless these years, taking Fort 178 as an imaginary enemy everywhere, the kindness of us guarding Fort 178 to help them fend off the western enemies, they have forgotten!”

During the night, the entire conference room was noisy and bustling with words from the left and the right.

And Zhang Jinglin always stood beside the sand tray, quietly looking at the veins on the sand tray model, which covered such a large area that it actually encompassed the entire southwest and northwest, and even a small part of the Central Plains.

But at this time, someone suddenly said, “But what if the western enemy comes again when we fight Zong?”

Everyone looked at each other in disbelief, and Zhou Yinglong hesitated for a moment and said, “It’s been sixteen years since they’ve come, it can’t be that coincidental, can it?”

The speaker said calmly, “Because of the hair color and race, our people have never been able to infiltrate into their camps, and similarly, they have not been able to infiltrate over, so we are all unsure of each other’s situation, how do you know that they won’t really come? What if we just really catch up, that’s a belly flop.”

Fortress 178 had ignored the Zongs for so many years, not because they were able to willingly put up with hyenas running amok at their doorstep, but they had a more important mission that prevented them from spreading out their forces.

Zhou Yinglong and the others felt somewhat stifled, and they had to admit that the mission came first.

Zong, Qing, Yang, and the Central Plains could not thank them, but a mission was a mission.

Suddenly, Zhang Jinglin said, “Fight.”

The conference room was quiet for a moment, everyone could hear each other’s breathing, Zhou Yinglong and the others’ eyes lit up with light, and their cheeks gradually flushed with the blood bravery that preceded every great battle.

Sensei what this conference room was talking about, sensei how many different ideas each of them had, only Zhang Jinglin was the only one who spoke with a single hammer.

When Zhang Jinglin made a decision, it meant that the war had really come.