Before P5092 came to the Northwest, there were really no other places left for him to go. Moreover, under the threat of force by Ren Xiaosu, he decided to join the Northwest to see if the people here were really as Ren Xiaosu had described.
Therefore, his willingness to join the Northwest was at most 30% voluntary.
At that time, P5092 considered going to jail so he could have some peace and put an end to his past with the Pyro Company before coming out to live as a normal person.
If the Northwest were not to his liking, he would return to the Pyro Company and go to jail.
But it was different now. After working with Wang Yun, P5092 suddenly felt that all his previous partners paled in comparison to him. This was a partner a military commander should have.
He clearly understood what data P5092 asked for and could immediately answer with a quick recollection when P5092 asked for a strategic position to be identified.
Working with a colleague who was so proficient at his job gave P5092 a sense of complete control over the troops.
This was a completely different kind of feeling.
In the past, whenever P5092 felt there was something wrong with the troops, he could not find the root of the problem because he was not good at spotting some details.
But now, he could grasp the entire situation very clearly.
This was the difference between writing with your toes and writing with your hand. To an outstanding commander, this was a world of difference!
P5092 and Wang Yun were considered equal status. They were both recruited by Ren Xiaosu for the Northwest, so there wasn’t really any differentiation in their ranks.
The two of them got along as partners in battle command. Wang Yun was his adjutant, and the two of them quickly became best friends in private!
This was a friendship between comrades, a friendship where they trusted each other. They were more like best friends.
In contrast, the friendship that Zhang Xiaoman and Wang Yun shared, which was built upon cursing at the Great Hoodwinker together, appeared a little inferior.
All of a sudden, Zhang Xiaoman felt like he had been left out.
At this moment, Ren Xiaosu looked at Zhang Xiaoman and asked, “Oh yeah, where’s your dad?”
Wang Yun and Ji Zi’ang looked at Ren Xiaosu in silence. No one answered him. However, Zhang Xiaoman started cursing, “That old bastard! How dare he take advantage of me in front of the future commander!”
Ren Xiaosu was baffled. Wang Yun explained in a whisper, “Zhang Xiaoman’s father is someone else. The Great Hoodwinker was lying.”
Ren Xiaosu did not know whether to laugh or cry. What the heck was that Great Hoodwinker trying to pull?
In the evening, the Northwest’s 6th Combat Brigade packed up and advanced towards Mt. Zuoyun from Mt. Youyu. They expected to arrive within two days.
P5092’s orders were for everyone to march quickly and seize the advantageous terrain of Mt. Zuoyun while the Wang Consortium was engaged in battle with the expeditionary army.
Otherwise, it would not be that easy to occupy Mt. Zuoyun once the two sides’ had a temporary ceasefire.
As the 6th Combat Brigade had yet to appear on the battlefield, the expeditionary army was still unaware that the brigade was in the vicinity. The barbarians were in the open, while they operated in the shadows.
However, Ren Xiaosu looked at the map curiously and asked, “Since Mt. Zuoyun is north of Mt. Daniu, shouldn’t it be considered the rear of the expeditionary army? And it’s also some distance from where the battlefield is, so why are we going there?”
“It’s precisely because it’s at the rear of the expeditionary army.” P5092 said firmly, “As for why we’re going there, I’ll explain later.”
Two days later, the 6th Combat Brigade arrived at Mt. Zuoyun safely. The mountains here were towering and steep. P5092 thought that this was indeed the position he wanted.
After walking around the mountains for a long time, P5092 suddenly pointed in a direction and said to the regimental commanders, “I want defensive fortifications to be built there within three days. Not temporary fortifications but a defensive line where we can put up a tough fight!”
However, Ji Zi’ang said from next to him, “It shouldn’t take three days.”
He and Wang Yun had recently joined the Prosperous Northwest together, but while Wang Yun was doing really well so far, Ji Zi’ang was just sitting idly around with nothing to do.
Ever since he knew his wife and child were really safe, he truly wanted to do his part for the Northwest. He also started seeing himself as a Northwesterner now.
Yet while he was the first to acknowledge the Northwest, he ended up contributing the least? He could not accept this.
When he heard P5092 needed defensive fortifications to be built, he immediately volunteered for the job. This was something he could do!
Ji Zi’ang was an earth-type supernatural being and was best at altering surface topography. Be it rock, soil, or even brick houses, all of that was within the scope of his abilities!
After saying that, Ji Zi’ang used his power to make changes to the terrain of the area that P5092 pointed out.
P5092’s eyes lit up. Under normal circumstances, defensive fortifications would be built with stone or sandbags, so it was far less sturdy than what Ji Zi’ang had built.
He asked Ji Zi’ang, “If I draw a simple defensive operations map of the fortifications, can you build them immediately?”
“Yes,” Ji Zi’ang said.
With that, P5092 looked at the mountainous terrain and immediately marked details of the defensive fortifications on the drawings.
This set of drawings tested P5092’s basics greatly. In the defensive position, there would be blinds, frontline trenches, support trenches, travel trenches, communication trenches, concealed trenches, dugouts, weapon emplacements, and foxholes[1], built for the purpose of fire support, mobility, and survivability operations.
If they had not seen it with their own eyes, no one would have imagined that a defensive operations drawing could be so detailed. Just for the trenches alone, P5092 clearly indicated where the foxholes, exits, and drainage channels should be located.
There were also watchtowers and suppressive fire points indicated, while places that needed walls and ditches were clearly marked as well.
The regimental commanders of the 6th Combat Brigade were surprised by P5092’s professionalism as they used to build their defensive fortifications quite shoddily. After all, most people from Fortress 178 were quite crude.
After P5092 was done drawing, he said, “Build it according to this!”
However, Ji Zi’ang was dumbfounded when he saw the drawings. “What’s a foxhole? And what’s a weapon emplacement? I used to be in charge of intelligence gathering and have never fought positional warfare before, so I don’t know much about the defensive fortifications that you’ve mentioned. If only I knew their structures, that would be great. Unfortunately, I’ve never learned about them before.”
P5092 was a little disappointed. A lot of people’s understanding of defensive fortifications was that all they needed to do was to dig some trenches, even though that was not the case.
But it was good enough for now. With Ji Zi’ang around, the time taken for the troops to build the defensive fortifications would be greatly shortened, and it would be easier for his plan to succeed.
But before P5092 could say anything further, Wang Yun suddenly said from nearby, “If I can draw the three-dimensional diagrams of those structures in the defensive fortifications from memory, can you build them according to the drawings?”
Ji Zi’ang was taken aback. “I just need to know what they look like.”
P5092 looked at Wang Yun. “You can draw all the structures’ diagrams?”
“Yes, all of them.” Wang Yun pointed at his head.
[1] In the military action against Vietnam in the late 1970s, the People’s Liberation Army dug a large number of so-called “cat ear holes” (猫耳洞). A cat ear hole, a more or less horizontal foxhole, refers to a hole in the side wall of a trench or soil slope that can be used for shelter.
