When Ren Xiaosu heard Zhang Xiaoman say this, his eyes lit up. “If you’re unhappy about them having code names, we can give ourselves code names as well.”
“Oh, right!” Zhang Xiaoman became excited and exclaimed, “My code name shall be ‘Screw the Flying Eagles’!”.
“Then my code name will be ‘Screw the Zong Consortium’! Fu Rao, you look like you’re in a vegetative state lying on the stretcher, so you can be called ‘Vegetable’!”
Fu Rao was instantly enraged while lying on the stretcher. “Why should I be called ‘Vegetable’? I’m totally fine!”
“Since you claim to be fine, show us that you can walk by yourself!”
Fu Rao was speechless.
These gruff men from the Northwest started laughing. Just half a day before, Fu Rao was dramatically calling out to be left there to die while Ren Xiaosu insisted on saving him.
But half a day later, they were back to bantering with one another. Perhaps this was what comrades were.
At this moment, everyone looked at Ren Xiaosu and asked, “Xiaosu, what’s your code name?”
Ren Xiaosu thought for a moment and said with a smile, “My code name is ‘Thanks.’ You can just call me ‘Thanks’ from now on.”
Fu Rao and Zhang Xiaoman were confused.
Everyone realized that Ren Xiaosu would really resort to anything just to make them thank him. Ren Xiaosu was the one who suggested giving themselves code names. But actually, he was waiting for them to take the bait!
Meanwhile, Ren Xiaosu was so happy that it felt like he was in a dream. If so many people called him that every day, wouldn’t he harvest a huge number of gratitude tokens soon?
Ren Xiaosu looked at the others. “I’m still a little unfamiliar with the code name I gave to myself. Why don’t you all call me it a few more times so I can get used to it?”
However, Zhang Xiaoman and the others turned around and left, ignoring him.
“Hey, is that how you treat your comrade? What’s the big deal with calling me by my code name!”
“Hey, hey, say my code name!”
And so, the plan to assign everyone in the Razor Sharp Company a code name died off just like that.
But before the Razor Sharp Company could advance any further north, they received another new order from Zhou Yinglong. This time, Zhou Yinglong wanted them to infiltrate from the rear of Mt. Qiangwan to destroy the ferries in the harbor there.
A tributary of the Beiwan River was north of Mt. Qiangwan. By destroying the harbor, they could prevent any defeated troops from leaving by the river after Mt. Qiangwan got captured.
Since they intended to win the war, they could not allow the enemy to have a chance to regain their effective strength.
Upon receiving this order, Zhang Xiaoman and the others could not rest anymore. They immediately infiltrated from the east side of Mt. Qiangwan and arrived at a destination about 10 kilometers east of the harbor within a day and a half.
At this moment, artillery was booming from Mt. Qiangwan. Supposedly, the Forward Strike Battalion and some reinforcements who arrived there later had been attacking the place for two days. But based on Zhou Yinglong’s estimations, it seemed like the enemy was still going to put up a fight for another week before capitulating. Therefore, Zhou Yinglong ordered the Razor Sharp Company to destroy the Zong Consortium’s route of retreat in advance.
Zhang Xiaoman was watching the garrison forces at the harbor through his binoculars from a hill. “I guess most of the troops have gone to join the battle, so there’s only one company stationed here now. Something also looks a little strange. Look, they’re loading some stuff onto the ferries. I wonder what they’re moving.”
“If it’s only one company, they’ll be easy to attack,” Ren Xiaosu said.
Currently, the Razor Sharp Company did not regard any enemy troops of the same tactical grouping as a threat. Zhang Xiaoman said, “It’s better to attack them sooner rather than later, so let’s do it now. After we take the harbor, we’ll retreat immediately and join up with Battalion Commander Zhou.”
They were going to conduct the operation immediately. The garrison troops at the harbor seemed to be moving around in a hurry. The soldiers were loading stuff onto the ferries with all their might with their guns slung over their shoulders.
There were seven medium-sized ferries docked at the harbor. When Ren Xiaosu and his company appeared, the Zong Consortium soldiers were all shocked. Before they could organize any effective resistance, the entire company was blown apart by Ren Xiaosu.
But all of a sudden, the radioman at the rear shouted, “Captain, Battalion Commander Zhou wants to speak with you!”
After instructing Ren Xiaosu and the others to blow up the ferries, Zhang Xiaoman walked over with a bewildered look. Weren’t they in the middle of a battle? Why would they radio him at a time like this?
When he answered the call, he heard Zhou Yinglong shout, “Where are you right now? Have you arrived at the harbor?”
Zhang Xiaoman said proudly, “We didn’t fail. We’ve already captured the harbor. We’re blowing up the ferries right now.”
Zhou Yinglong’s voice cracked as he shouted, “Hurry up and retreat! All of you, retreat now!”
Zhang Xiaoman was stunned. “Why? Did y’all lose the battle?”
“It’s not that we lost the battle, but that all the enemy positions at Mt. Qiangwan have been abandoned. Those bastards of the Zong Consortium took advantage of the moment we temporarily withdrew from the mountain and escaped. They only left some soldiers behind to cover for them. The main forces are probably heading towards you as we speak!” Zhou Yinglong shouted.
Zhang Xiaoman felt his scalp tingle. “Zhou Yinglong, fuck your grandpa! Why didn’t you say so earlier!”
Then Zhang Xiaoman disconnected and shouted, “Pack everything and retreat!”
But just as he finished speaking, everyone heard chaotic screaming erupt!
No one could have fucking expected this. Didn’t they say it would still take another week for the enemy at Mt. Qiangwan to capitulate? So why were they retreating in advance?
What they did not know was that the Qing Consortium’s mechanized infantry in the Northeast had already blitzkrieged the Beiwan River and captured the position by storm.
The garrison troops at Mt. Qiangwan started panicking because of this. They did not know whether the Qing Consortium would turn their sights to them after they were done attacking the Beiwan River.
Meanwhile, the Zong Consortium’s headquarters wondered what the Qing Consortium was up to. Were they going to join in the conflict and start a full-scale war against the Zong Consortium, or would they leave after pulling off that attack? They did not want to end up becoming the next Li Consortium. Didn’t the Li Consortium get wiped out like this?! Therefore, the Zong Consortium decided to draw back all of their defensive lines and see what the Qing Consortium was up to.
However, this made life difficult for the Razor Sharp Company. It was too late for them to get away now. Several loud explosions boomed at this moment as Zhang Xiaoman turned around and saw Ren Xiaosu and the rest of the Razor Sharp Company throwing TNT into the cabins of the ferries. Six of the ferries had already turned into massive fireballs and were burning so fiercely that the surface of the river resembled a fiery cloud.
Zhang Xiaoman said in a panic, “Stop, stop blowing them up! We have to fucking keep one for ourselves!”
The garrison troops of Mt. Qiangwan had almost reached the harbor. When Ren Xiaosu saw that there was at least one battalion of soldiers making their way over, he asked, “What’s the matter?”
“Get on board! We’re gonna escape on a ferry!” Zhang Xiaoman roared.
The Razor Sharp Company had only this path of escape left. All the other routes were blocked by the Zong Consortium soldiers who were retreating from Mt. Qiangwan!
The Zong Consortium soldiers in the distance sank into despair when they saw that the ferries had all been blown. Someone picked up a heavy machine gun and fired at the ferry that Ren Xiaosu and company were on. Fortunately, the powerful recoil sent most of the bullets flying up into the air, only managing to hit one person from the Razor Sharp Company.
Zhang Xiaoman shouted on the ferry, “Do any of you know how to drive this?”
“We don’t have anything like this in the vicinity of Fortress 178, so of course we don’t know how to drive it,” Jiao Xiaochen muttered.
Zhang Xiaoman crawled towards the cabin and said, “We have to get this running even if we don’t know how! If the ferry doesn’t move, we’re all gonna die!”
