Chapter 388, War Maniacs

Since it was decided that they would fight Guanshan to lure the bandits from Dingyuan Mountain out of their nest, it was necessary to quietly enter the river valley region so that their actions wouldn’t be discovered in advance.

Now that Zong’s eyes and ears are all over the Northwest, 178 Fortress’s plan is to purge the river valley area of bandits first, so that when it comes to the real war, these backstabbing bandits won’t bring any trouble to the forward base.

Zhang Xiaoman felt that Guanshan should be more difficult to fight, but Ren Xiaosu didn’t think so, because a part of the bandits died in Yan Liuyuan’s curse that was like a heavenly collapse, and he guessed that that group of bandits came from Guanshan.

He guessed that the bandits came from Guanshan. At that time, they were in the vicinity of Kaole Mountain, and the nearest bandit dens were Tangwang Mountain and Guanshan, but the bandits in Tangwang Mountain had long been squandered by Wang Congyang, so it could only be the bandits from Guanshan.

However, Ren Xiaosu didn’t say anything about this, that battle on the wilderness seemed to be still in the news blockade of the Zong Clan, and 178 Fortress didn’t know about it.

178 Fortress was five or six hundred kilometers away from the battlefield at that time, no matter how much artillery fire, the fortress could not hear a single movement.

But Ren Xiaosu knew very well that if it was really as he had guessed, Guanshan was definitely not as difficult to fight as he had imagined, and on the contrary, it was much easier than Dingyuan Mountain.

The sharp knife company was like a group of rats that suddenly abandoned their trucks, one by one carrying their guns and artillery supplies through the gully, ambling around by day and night, doing their best not to be discovered by the enemy in advance.

When hiding in the shadows of the gully to rest during the day, Zhang Xiaoman said to Ren Xiaosu, “Although I don’t know what your extraordinary ability is exactly, but since you said you can put pressure on Guanshan, then I’ll believe you, but don’t come to the place and say you can’t do it, if you can’t do it, no matter who you belong to I’ll directly shoot you.”

Ren Xiaosu didn’t say anything, but instead hugged his automatic rifle and leaned against the gully with his eyes closed.

Everyone was slowly eating their individual rations, they were now secretly infiltrating the river valley area and could not build fires to cook and light up cooking smoke.

However, what surprised Zhang Xiaoman was that Ren Xiaosu seemed to be more capable of suffering than they were. When everyone was resting, there was always a need for someone to stand guard in shifts, and the other soldiers were all sleepy and complaining, but Ren Xiaosu never complained about anything, and if he was allowed to stand guard, he would do so, and it didn’t matter if he stood for a while longer.

Zhang Xiaoman had deliberately observed that Ren Xiaosu was really serious and conscientious when he stood guard.

This sharp knife company commander muttered in a low voice, “Worthy of being the person the commander has his eye on.”

Everyone looked at Ren Xiaosu with even harsher gazes, not because they had to have a hard time with Ren Xiaosu, but when they learned that this might be the next commander, they would always think: I’m comparing myself to this person, where exactly is he worse than him, and on what grounds did he become a candidate for commander.

And Ren Xiaosu here, not only is standing guard, there are marching everyone to take turns to carry heavy machine guns and mortars, that thing is really heavy, mortars are better, only 29.4 pounds, although carry up long-distance running is also difficult, but also in the acceptable range.

And the caliber 12.7mm heavy machine gun weighs 50 pounds, but also to carry their own marching backpack, they traveled to the distance between Guanshan Mountain and Dingyuan Mountain is still more than a hundred kilometers, the road is still difficult to walk, some soldiers in order to carry this thing, the skin of the shoulders are worn out.

But Ren Xiaosu never complained about anything either.

Ren Xiaosu’s strength and agility were balanced nowadays, so he looked very thin, and at first, Zhang Xiaoman was deliberately making things difficult for Ren Xiaosu so that he would suffer.

As a result, Zhang Xiaoman was surprised that Ren Xiaosu looked thinner than all of them, but carried the heavy machine gun without any ambiguity, and even took the initiative to share some of the burden for other comrades.

The troops are like this, you are tough, you have the strength, I will respect you. If you are delicate, I will look down on you.

Just wilderness marching these days, everyone’s impression of Ren Xiaosu has changed, this kid is really tough and strong!

Vaguely, the sharp knife company comrades are thinking in their hearts: not bad.

But this does not mean that everyone fully recognized him, enough to be qualified to do the next commander, just have the physical strength and perseverance can not.

At this time, Zhang Xiaoman calculated: “Guanshan is almost 30 kilometers away from Dingyuan Mountain, if Guanshan calls for help from Dingyuan Mountain, then Dingyuan Mountain can arrive in almost half an hour or so, we have to dig a good trench on the road in advance to ambush them, or else we might not be able to beat the bandits.”

Ren Xiaosu said, “This gully is a natural trench.”

“That’s true,” Zhang Xiaoman suddenly asked, “Are you really confident that you can put pressure on Guanshan to call for help?”

Ren Xiaosu calmly said, “I made a military order.”

The correspondent in the Pointed Dagger Company was always in contact with the forward battalion in the rear, the forward battalion had set off the day after they had pulled out, and at this point, it should be sixty kilometers behind them.

Only the forward battalion’s goal was not Guanshan and Dingyuan Mountain, they wanted to construct a defense line in the north to avoid Zong’s counterattack southward after taking Guanshan and Dingyuan Mountain.

Of the group armies in the 178th Fortress, except for a combat brigade left behind to complete the defensive force, the rest were already prepared to head to the battlefield.

Ren Xiaosu curiously said, “Company Commander, does Zong really have 200,000 troops?”

Zhang Xiaoman sneered, “How big is Zong’s territory before he dares to claim he has 200,000 men? Oh no, if you count the straggler regiments and private forces they just expanded, it seems like they do have 200,000 people. But my 178 Fortress hans can fight to the last soldier, and I’m afraid his Zong’s soldiers will die a few hundred deaths and a so-called combat brigade will collapse.”

Only then did Ren Xiaosu realize that this Zong’s path was the same as Li’s, taking all the stragglers who can’t do anything to be strong soldiers, and there were also private troops who were such accomplished characters.

If Qing’s also so engaged, Ren Xiaosu estimated that they can come up with more than 400,000 troops ……

But this kind of army, what use is it?

Ren Xiaosu asked, “Then how many people are in the Zong Clan’s regular army?”

“Around 90,000,” Zhang Xiaoman said, “But this is last year’s intelligence.”

Ren Xiaosu nodded, he suddenly also felt that this battle wasn’t that difficult to fight, although the regular army of 178 Fortress on the battlefield only had seventy-five thousand people.

However, how did it feel like Fortress 178 wasn’t that strong, was this an illusion?

Ren Xiaosu felt that there was something odd about this, if 178 Fortress only had these fighting strengths, of course it could stand in the Northwest, but it definitely wasn’t enough to make a real consortium stand in awe.

Also, before, Luo Lan wanted to kill Zhang Jinglin, but Qing Zhen didn’t agree.

Did Qing Zhen want Zhang Jinglin to return to the northwestern part of the country to keep the Zong Clan in check, or did he want Zhang Jinglin to continue guarding the inland humans so that they wouldn’t be subjected to another foreign war?

Or maybe it was both, Ren Xiaosu always felt that the Qing Zhen in his impression was not a fanatic who only knew war.