Chapter 8: A Surprise Discovery During the Town Raid

That day, in order to gather the latest intelligence about the surrounding area, Zhang Yun had sent Lao Zhang and a few men early in the morning to scout several nearby towns and villages. Yet, no one returned despite waiting and waiting, which left Zhang Yun increasingly anxious. It wasn’t until dusk that Lao Zhang and his group finally appeared.

“Platoon Leader, we’ve got everything clear. Liujia Town ahead still has some Nationalist troops stationed there, but not many. About 30 kilometers to the left behind the back mountain is Xiaohuozhuang, where we last encountered the Japanese. That place is right next to the Pingliao highway. I reckon the Japanese there were scared off after we killed a dozen of them last time. I saw about fifty to sixty Japanese soldiers stationed there, along with a hundred or so puppet troops, with several machine guns. To the right behind the back mountain is Yujiakou Town. This town is currently a no-man’s land, occupied by a gang of bandits and rogue soldiers led by the local outlaw Liu Sandao. There are rumors he’s planning to side with the Japanese,” Lao Zhang and his men reported after consolidating their information.

“Good work. Everyone, go back and rest. Take these next couple of days to recover—there will be a combat mission soon,” Zhang Yun said, impressed once again by the professionalism of his veteran scouts. He patted a few of them on the shoulder in praise, arranging for them to rest. Traveling dozens of kilometers back and forth was no easy task.

After the scouts left, Zhang Yun pondered the surrounding situation carefully, then opened the confiscated external system and began to explore its various functions again.

Previously, only the captured data page was visible, but with a thought wave, a map page appeared just like flipping through pages on a phone’s home screen. The map resembled those in battle royale games but wasn’t very detailed; it was modeled after a simple map Zhang Yun had placed in the company headquarters. The remarkable thing was that any area Zhang Yun or his scout soldiers had personally traversed was shown in great detail. The map could zoom in and out according to Zhang Yun’s thoughts, much like a satellite map on a phone.

Clearly, this map couldn’t conjure information from thin air; it relied on the map data Zhang Yun had collected and was corrected based on the places he and his soldiers had physically scouted. At present, the map couldn’t mark which areas were enemy-held, which were controlled by the Nationalists, or which by the Eighth Route Army. But once scouts passed through an area, the map would mark friend and foe.

Red zones represented Japanese-occupied areas, green zones were under Eighth Route Army control (with Zhang Yun’s own forces in dark green and allied units in light green), yellow zones were controlled by the Nationalists and local warlords, and the remaining territories occupied by bandits and rogue soldiers appeared in gray.

This was easy enough to understand—like a game map with the fog of war lifted. Unfortunately, it couldn’t provide real-time monitoring, only showing actual conditions within a 200-meter radius around the scouts. Otherwise, it would be incredibly powerful.

Full visibility, godlike slaughter! Zhang Yun envied those cheat-enabled travelers who had even more powerful hacks.

According to the current rules, Zhang Yun and his soldiers could gain extra loot only by capturing Japanese-held and gray areas. However, Zhang Yun guessed that once the puppet troops began passive resistance against the Japanese and active opposition to the Communists, defeating the puppet units and seizing their territory would also yield extra rewards.

Furthermore, since the Super Civilization chose an expansion vanguard commander — an independent force deployed on a planet — the unit had a cap of 80,000 troops. The system also explicitly forbade sharing its information with others, including the existence and functions of the system itself. After all, it was a cheating hack; how could others be allowed to know? If the secret were revealed, the system might destroy or disappear on its own.

(Alright, this was to prevent the protagonist from rising too quickly or attracting higher authorities prematurely, which could cause censorship. You get the idea. The protagonist would eventually become a brigade commander, moving through Shanxi, Chahar, Hebei, and Shandong.)

Zhang Yun mulled over the situation and called over the deputy platoon leader and the three squad leaders to discuss the next steps.

“We can’t touch Liujia Town for now. The brigade and regiment headquarters keep emphasizing maintaining unity in the Anti-Japanese front. There are too many Japanese at Xiaohuozhuang—we’re no match for them. Only Yujiakou Town looks like an easy target. Just a few dozen bandits there; a round or two of gunfire should scatter them. It’s a good opportunity to mobilize the people,” Deputy Platoon Leader Liu Changqing said, agreeing with Zhang Yun’s assessment.

“Right, Platoon Leader, bandits aren’t hard to fight. It’ll be good for the new recruits to get their first taste of blood,” Third Squad Leader Qin Sheng also approved.

First and Second Squad Leaders nodded continuously.

“Then it’s decided,” Zhang Yun summarized everyone’s opinions and made the call. “Deputy Platoon Leader, go find Lao Tang and have him prepare two days’ rations starting tomorrow. First, Second, and Third Squad Leaders, you need to drill the new recruits’ tactical maneuvers again tomorrow. We can’t have them mess up on the battlefield. Tell the new soldiers a fight is imminent; if they want to survive, they have to train seriously. We’ll keep eating meat tonight and tomorrow night. Day after tomorrow early morning, we march—target: Yujiakou.”

“Yes, sir,” the deputy platoon leader and the three squad leaders responded in unison, their faces full of joy. These veterans had long been itching to try out their new rifles properly.

Soon, when the three squad leaders returned to the unit, both new recruits and veterans burst into cheers. It wasn’t just because of the meat meals over the past two days, but also because these ten dull days of training had worn on everyone’s spirits. The new recruits were eager to experience the atmosphere of combat and test their marksmanship.

...

On the third day at dawn, Zhang Yun set the plan in motion. Lao Tang and two veterans stayed behind to guard the village, while the others marched toward Yujiakou Town. Zhang Yun issued all the rifles to the new recruits, with forty rounds each. Those without rifles carried long spears. The veterans received sixty rounds each, plus two grenades. Like a lion pouncing on a rabbit, Zhang Yun was going all out, determined to score a strong opening victory and test just how generous the loot was for capturing cities and towns.

Currently, Xiaowang Village had little to defend anyway. All weapons were with the soldiers, with only a handful of bullets and grenades left behind. Liujia Town nearby still had Nationalist troops stationed, so the Japanese and puppet forces couldn’t reach the village for now. But the presence of Lao Tang and his two men was meant to reassure the villagers, preventing them from thinking the Eighth Route Army was just like other forces that might abandon them at any moment.

They brought two days’ rations partly to prepare for emergencies and to ensure enough supplies for maneuvering in the mountains, which would also help train everyone’s ability to march with a heavy load in rugged terrain.

With everything ready, Zhang Yun looked over the neat ranks of more than fifty brave men before him, his heart swelling with pride. With a grand sweep of his hand, he commanded, “Move out!”

The deputy platoon leader and Lao Zhang’s group led the vanguard, with Zhang Yun bringing up the rear. The fifty-plus soldiers marched in single file along the mountain path.

Their destination: Yujiakou!