March 23 Crisis

  "Report!" Gao Jiancheng straightened his clothes at the door and then gave a loud report inside.

  "Come in." A calm voice came from inside.

  "Company Five, Battalion Seven, Commander Gao Jiancheng reporting for duty." Gao Jiancheng gave a neat and respectful salute to Liu Wenjing.

  Liu Wen's name sounds quite elegant, but in fact he himself is also gentle and weak. However, those who have seen him fight know that he is a fierce warrior. He never commands from the second line in battle, always charging forward at the front, as the team's political commissar would say: "Even the bravest of men can't surpass him."

  "Tell me, what's going on?"

  "Huh? What's going on? I don't know, what wind blew you here, Director Liu? Look at me, I haven't even changed shifts yet, and nothing is ready to welcome you." Old Gao himself felt a bit subservient.

  "Don't play dumb with me, I'm asking you a question." Liu Wen slapped the table, "Bai Yaoming has already confessed, and you're still denying it here? Do you want me to give you credit for another merit?"

  Gao Jiancheng glared fiercely at Bai Yaoming who was standing there, silently cursing him as an idiot.

  "Older brother." Old Gao lit a cigarette from the pack he pulled out of his pocket, handed one to Liu Wen, and said, "Really, nothing's going on, don't let Lao Bai spout nonsense."

  "Hmph, it seems you're determined to stick to your story. Speak up, what's the deal with two companies getting into a group fight on their first day of meeting?"

  Gao Jiancheng gave Bai Yaoming a white eye, thinking to himself, "You're not stupid, are you? You're also meddling in this matter, and now that it's come to this point, can't you say something?" Bai Yaoming stood upright, his expression unchanged.

  "Squad leader, I've already punished them."

  "Punishment? So you know why they fought? Tell me."

  "I don't know, report."

  "I don't know, you're punishing them, and yet you're so self-righteous. Go get those soldiers over here, I want to see what kind of troops High Jiancheng has trained in the past six months." Liu Wen waved his hand for the guards to go find the leaders of the 3rd and 7th companies.

  "What's going on? Why drag me into this?" Mao San felt wronged, but the team leader had given an order and he couldn't disobey.

  "The person from the Seventh Company's report team has arrived." The guard saluted Liu and left.

  "What are your names?" asked Liu Wen.

  "Reporting to team leader, Zhao Guotong."

  "Reporting to the squad leader, Puppy."

  "Reporting to the team leader, I'm Mao, Mao San."

  The three men all had a look of tension on their faces, each with different expressions. Zhao Guotang looked slightly tense, but his eyes were firm and resolute. Gouwa seemed very calm, occasionally glancing at Zhao Guotang beside him, apparently taking cues from him. Mao San's eyes darted back and forth, evasive. Liu Wen took in their expressions, committing them to memory.

  "How old are you?" Liu Wenwen asked the puppy.

  "Reporting to the team leader, fifteen years old."

  "Oh, he's just a kid." Liu Wen said to Gao Jiancheng, "Why did you bring such a young child here too?"

  Gao Jiancheng whispered a few words in Liu Wen's ear, and Liu Wen looked up and down at Zhao Guotang and Gouwa with a hint of surprise.

  "Reporting to the team leader, the monitor of Class 4, Grade 3, Bai Qiming, leads all five members of our class to report to you."

  Three people came with Bai Qiming and Fan Tong. As the saying goes, "enemies meet face to face, their eyes are red", both sides stared at each other tightly.

  "Everyone is here, let's talk."

  "I'll go first." Dawei and Fansong chimed in unison, demanding that they be allowed to speak first.

  "Alright then, let's take turns speaking, Fan Tong you go first."

  Fan Tong then recounted the process, only making some changes at the beginning. It was the people from the Seventh Company who provoked their patrol team of three companies, and then dislocated the arm of their squad leader. They found the people from the Seventh Company to reason with them, but were beaten instead. Then, the comrades from the Third Company saw it and came to help.

  Gouwa listened to one side and really wanted to kick him two feet, fabricating nonsense was not so fabricated. When it was his turn, Gouwa didn't dare to fabricate randomly, and completely told the whole thing from start to finish.

  Bai Qiming knew that Fan Tong was lying as soon as he heard Dog Wa's words, but he didn't expose him, he just glanced at Fan Tong. Fan Tong didn't dare to look at Bai Qiming and turned his head to the other side.

  "Alright, I know everything now, you can go down."

  Liu Wen's move left people on both sides, including Gao Jiancheng and Bai Yaoming, somewhat surprised.

  "Yes." Several people didn't dare ask more and turned to leave.

  "Hmph, don't be so smug, you'll get what's coming to you." Dog Wa thought of Fan Tong's arrogant expression when he left the house earlier and felt like spitting in his face, "What kind of person is that?"

  "Alright, let's catch up another day. I'll head back to my run first, the task from Gao Yanwang isn't done yet," Zhao Guotang couldn't muster up any interest at all now, his mind was preoccupied with why Liu Wen looked at him with that weird gaze after listening to a few words from Gao Jiancheng.

  When there was no one around, Bai Qiming turned around and grabbed Fan Tong's collar, pinning him heavily against a tree. "What do you mean?"

  "Cough, cough." Fan Tong's face was red from being choked, almost unable to breathe. "Boss, I don't understand."

  "Don't understand? Then I'll make you understand." Bai Qiming's grip on his hand tightened, and Fan Tong's hands flailed about wildly.

  "Haven't you said enough?" Bai Qiming relaxed a bit.

  "Boss, cough, I'm doing all this for you, I just want to speak up for you." Fan Tong said while coughing.

  "You're just going to vent on me like that and give me a big face?" Bai Qiming tossed Fan Tong aside, turned around and left.

  "Alright, let's get down to business. Bring the map." Liu Wen had the guard put the map on the table, not mentioning what had just happened, and Gao Jiancheng was happy he didn't bring it up.

  "You see, this is Xiao Wang Zhuang. To the south is the vast mountain range. In the past 45 kilometers was the enemy's garrison point. If the enemy wants to attack, they can only pass through the mountain pass not far from Xiao Wang Zhuang. In other words, whether it's us or the enemy, whoever wants to attack must go through this mountain pass."

  "Squad leader, why is such an important location given to our 7th company to guard? Not to mention other things, we simply don't have enough manpower."

  "We are attaching great importance to this mountain pass, and the enemy is also eyeing it. You see, on your east and west sides, there are troops of a regiment assisting, and through intelligence, we know that the enemy has roughly three regiments of troops as well. The most important thing is that at present, both armies are in a state of recuperation, and neither dares to fire the first shot. In this way, we have an opportunity."

  "Ah, I see. So, taking advantage of the current stalemate, we'll deploy most of our troops to other places where it's easier to annihilate the enemy, and leave a small portion of our forces here in this easy-to-defend but hard-to-attack terrain to confuse the enemy."

  "It's like this. I came over this time with just one purpose, which is to make you understand the importance of this place, and absolutely don't be careless, after all the enemy isn't a fool."

  "The team leader has a problem, which is that I don't have enough manpower, and now they are all newcomers. I'm afraid of some other accidents happening at that time."

  "I've already thought of that. I've transferred fifty people from elsewhere to supplement your team, and isn't Wang Wei with you? You can go with him to get a few more."

  "Yes, Captain." Gao Jiancheng happily gave Liu Wen a salute. Solving the personnel issue was equivalent to solving half of the problem.

  "Bai Yaoming, you and Gao Jiancheng hurry up with the handover, I have other things to attend to on my end. Wait for a bit and then you can come with me, I have another task for you."

  "Yes."

  But nobody knew that just five kilometers away from the mountain pass, a troop was quietly approaching.