More than a dozen troops from Fortress 178 had secretly left the forward operating base. For example, when Zhou Yinglong informed the Razor Sharp Company to attack the Beiwan River, they also pretended to go out for cross-country training and never returned to the base. Another example was the independent regiment that Xu Xianchu was originally in that went west of the Blackstone River.
These troops were actually deployed to make it difficult for the spies to figure out the situation. Once these troops left the forward operating base, all communications would be under Wang Fengyuan's control.
Moreover, in order to make the spies believe him, Zhang Jinglin did not even eat for two days and starved himself to the point of losing a lot of weight.
It was also around this time that they locked onto Li Xiang. Li Xiang even casually asked Lin Yuze, the person in charge of the cafeteria, "How's the commander's appetite recently?"
As the commander of an infantry brigade, Li Xiang did not have the authority to participate in the planning of the battle. Therefore, he used Zhang Jinglin's appetite to guess if Fortress 178 had any backup plans.
This was because everyone in Fortress 178 knew that Commander Zhang's appetite would plummet when he was in trouble.
If they did not catch the spy, they could only keep the plan to themselves. However, Zhang Jinglin knew very well that if he did not reveal the plan, he would not be able to stop Ren Xiaosu.
Later, after they caught the spy, Ren Xiaosu had already left the Razor Sharp Company and could not be contacted.
Therefore, after they caught the spy, Wang Fengyuan immediately asked Zhang Jinglin what to do about Ren Xiaosu.
But it was already too late. Zhang Jinglin could only hope that Ren Xiaosu could survive.
Wang Fengyuan whispered, "Fortunately, he made arrangements for the Razor Sharp Company. Otherwise, if this meritorious unit was wiped out, I would never be able to live with my conscience for the rest of my life."
"That's to be expected," Zhang Jinglin said calmly.
Zhang Jinglin knew that when Ren Xiaosu decided to go to Stronghold 146, he would definitely arrange for the Razor Sharp Company to be stationed somewhere safe. It was just like how this young man had arranged for Li Xiaoyu and Yan Liuyuan to be stationed in the school in town. Zhang Jinglin knew this young man too well.
Just as he had expected, Ren Xiaosu had gone to Stronghold 146 by himself. Furthermore, Wang Fengyuan had received confirmation that their informant had seen the garrison troops of Stronghold 146 searching for Ren Xiaosu while hiding in a residential building.
As for Ren Xiaosu, he fought his way out of the encirclement and disappeared without a trace.
Zhang Jinglin looked at Wang Fengyuan and said calmly, "Even if he blames me, I will accept it. It is my duty, and I cannot be indecisive."
To Zhang Jinglin, he could clearly weigh the pros and cons of Ren Xiaosu against the entire Fortress 178.
Wang Fengyuan was stunned. He was worried that this matter would create a rift between that young man and Fortress 178.
Wang Fengyuan looked at Zhang Jinglin, only to discover that Zhang Jinglin was not as open-minded as he had said.
Previously, it was just an act for the spy. Now, he was really nervous.
…
The battle in the Gobi would not end so quickly. The Soong Clan's troops responsible for crossing the Gobi this time were extremely strong. Even if they were ambushed, they could still form a tenacious defense immediately and retreat as they fought.
This was the Soong Clan's hope for the entire war. Therefore, not only did every soldier have to pass a strict political review, but they also had to undergo extremely arduous military training.
However, none of this surprised Xu Xianchu. He already knew what kind of troops he would be facing.
In fact, there were still some omissions in Fortress 178's plan. For example, would it negatively affect the plan if a superhuman like Xu Xianchu did not appear on the main battlefield?
But Zhang Jinglin had no choice. Xu Xianchu's ability to command small-scale military operations, as well as his superpower's ability to attack and defend in small-scale battles, were too outstanding. Therefore, Xu Xianchu was definitely the best candidate to command the ambush in the Gobi.
But what Zhang Jinglin and Xu Xianchu did not expect was that Ren Xiaosu would help them fill in the gap.
Of course, if Xu Xianchu found out about this, he might not even thank Ren Xiaosu.
The battle in the Gobi was still ongoing. The Soong Clan had been waiting for this day for a long time, and so had Zhang Jinglin.
However, if the Soong Clan were to stake everything on the Gobi as their last chance to turn the tables, it could only be said that they had miscalculated.
Actually, at this point in the war, Fortress 178 had already won more than half of the battle.
After Zhang Jinglin's plan to lure the Soong Clan into a trap was completed, the battle at Mt. Wuchuan suddenly made significant progress.
Previously, Fortress 178 had a hard time seizing the high ground. At that time, the Soong Clan's commanders felt that Fortress 178 was just so-so.
In fact, Fortress 178's weapons and equipment were not as good as the Soong Clan's, and the Soong Clan still outnumbered Fortress 178 by more than twice. However, the Soong Clan's commanders selectively ignored these conditions. They only felt that defeating Fortress 178 would prove that they were more powerful.
But in the midst of that stormy battle, the Soong Clan suddenly realized that Fortress 178's troops were undefeatable.
No matter how many troops they sent, the soldiers of Fortress 178 who were already at their limits could still hold on for a while longer.
Some of the positions changed hands many times. But the actual data showed that it would take Fortress 178 two to four hours to take down the Soong Clan's positions. But it might take the Soong Clan a day and a night for them to fight their way back.
Furthermore, there were clearly very few Fortress 178 soldiers at those positions. Even if they managed to take them down, the Soong Clan's troops would discover that some of them were pretending to be corpses with explosives in their hands before perishing together with them.
This kind of war with no end in sight and an enemy that could never be defeated was terrifying.
…
After the Soong Clan's troops were successfully ambushed in the Gobi, Zhang Jinglin immediately ordered the mechanized troops, who had been resting, to be fully deployed on the battlefield. Zhou Yinglong had already desperately opened up a safe passage for the mechanized troops, and these mechanized troops were like the last straw that broke the camel's back for the Soong Clan's troops at Mt. Wuchuan.
And to a lot of people's surprise, the pontoon bridge over the Blackstone River had already been built again in just three days. It was originally supposed to take 15 days for the mechanized troops to cross.
While Zhou Yinglong was resting in the rear, he fell asleep while eating his meal. The medics at the rear quickly carried him away. When they cut open his clothes with scissors, they discovered this newly promoted brigade commander was covered in tiny wounds. There were even two shrapnel fragments stuck in his thigh that had not been removed yet.
The nurse who was cleaning his wounds next to him was shocked when she saw them.
There was also a soldier whose wife was a nurse at the makeshift medical center. When she saw his wounds, she cried and scolded him for being careless while bandaging them.
The soldier said impatiently, "Stop crying, alright? Help me bandage my wounds. I still have to return to the team. We were the ones who took down the positions. Now that we're about to win, we definitely can't let those bastards steal the credit!"
"Get lost, hurry up and go get your credit. I'll settle the score with you when we get home." The nurse tied a bow on the gauze and chased her husband away while crying.
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