From the 7th Steel Company to the Synthetic Division

The expansion of the 7th Steel Battalion into the 7th Steel Brigade was not publicly announced, and the main expansion personnel came from the 84th Group Army and cadets from various military academies.

Chu Zhangang was not from the 84th Group Army, so naturally he had no impression of the Steel Seventh Brigade.

So when I heard the name "Steel Seventh Brigade," it felt like it just popped out of nowhere.

"I remember there was something like the Steel Seventh Battalion, which was even featured in the military newspaper before. But where did this Steel Seventh Brigade come from, and which unit does it belong to?" Chu Zhangang asked in confusion.

"It's a pilot unit of the 84th Group Army, expanded from the 7th Steel Battalion, and it's been established for less than two weeks," the staff officer replied earnestly.

"Established in less than two weeks?"

Chu Zhangang was even more shocked when he heard this, realizing that another formidable opponent had emerged.

He frowned and stopped talking. Instead, he took the documents from the staff officer and began to read them carefully, wanting to know who the Steel Seventh Brigade was.

……

On the Red Army command helicopter.

"Reporting to the brigade commander, the 535 command post reports that all the forward positions of the 535 defense line have been destroyed by artillery fire, and the attack has been confirmed to have come from the 708th." A technical staff officer reported.

"Oh, sore loser, trying to cheat?"

Wang Qingrui was amused and remained completely calm, issuing the order: "Immediately notify the troops to repair the fortifications. Their main force hasn't arrived yet, so there should still be time to repair them."

"The 535 Command said it's impossible to repair. The enemy is conducting continuous artillery fire, and personnel can't get to the position. It will be difficult to repair in a short time," the technical staff officer continued.

"Has Wang Kezheng on the other side gone mad? The command has already made a decision, yet he is still attacking. This is blatant disobedience to orders," Political Commissar Tian Baoguo said sternly.

"Reporting to the brigade commander, there's new information."

Intelligence officer Qiu Ming reported loudly: "The long-range artillery battalion attached to the 708th Brigade is accelerating its advance towards Langshan and may launch a second round of artillery strikes against our side."

Furthermore, the electronic warfare unit intercepted a new intelligence report, and Wang Kezheng did not comply with the exercise command's decision, refusing to implement the 708th Brigade's decision to withdraw from the exercise.

Hearing that Wang Kezheng had actually defied orders, refused to carry out the ruling, and insisted on continuing to fight against the Seventh Steel Brigade, they were shocked.

Chen Jun, Gao Cheng, and the others' expressions changed.

It wasn't that I was scared by the 708th Brigade's intention to fight, but rather that I was speechless at Wang Kezheng's behavior. I couldn't believe that someone who had become a brigade commander could be so willful.

Wang Qingrui was never one to back down from trouble, and he saw that Wang Kezheng was defying orders and wanted to fight him.

Without the slightest hint of cowardice, he said, "Since Wang Kezheng wants a decisive battle and thinks we are easy targets, then we will accompany him to the end."

"hey-hey."

Chen Jun suddenly laughed and said in a humorous tone, "Brigade Commander, you won't have the chance to fight Wang Ke to the death this time."

"Ok?"

Wang Qingrui looked at Chen Jun with suspicion, then laughed and said, "You little rascal, have you been up to no good again? Tell us about it."

Gao Cheng and the others were also drawn in by Chen Jun's words, and they all cast curious glances at him.

"No no no."

Chen Jun extended his index finger and waved it, deliberately whetting everyone's appetite as he said, "The secret cannot be revealed. Wait a little longer, and you will know the answer."

Seeing that Chen Jun wouldn't say anything, the crowd had no choice but to remain silent, though their curiosity only grew stronger.

I'm curious what kind of sneaky trick Chen Jun has been up to behind everyone's back.

……

"Incredible, absolutely incredible."

After reading the document, Chu Zhangang was deeply impressed and gave it extremely high praise.

"Yes, when we first received the report, none of us believed it. We thought it was a typo, but it turned out to be correct," the captain said in shock.

"Do not."

Chu Zhangang shook his head and said, "What I meant by unexpected was that the Theater Army issued this report so quickly and so early, which is completely different from the past."

"How is it different?" the captain asked curiously.

“In the past, the report would only be issued after the combat exercise was completely over, the debriefing meeting was held, each catering unit went back to finish its summary, and the commendation and award ceremony was held. It would take at least half a month to a month in total.”

Chu Zhangang frowned, paused for a moment, and muttered, still puzzled, "But why is this time different? The events of that day were reported on the same day. This is the first time I've ever seen anything like it. Can we guarantee there won't be any mistakes?"

The captain's staff officer was equally baffled and could only awkwardly scratch his head.

"Besides this official announcement, have you heard any other news?" Chu Zhangang wanted to use rumors to help him understand the situation.

"No."

The captain shook his head, then added, "However, there's an urgent notice from the theater army following this, which you haven't seen yet, sir."

Upon hearing this, Chu Zhangang reopened the folder, flipped to the last page, and began to read.

At the very end, there was indeed an urgent notice, which stated that the military and political leaders of each army group and the military and political commanders of their respective brigades must arrive at the Army Training Base at 8:00 PM the following day to convene the first phase summary meeting of the Decisive Battle 2001 exercise.

No leave shall be granted to anyone, and no mistakes shall be tolerated.

"This is a mistake in your programming; you almost ruined my important plans."

After Chu Zhangang finished reading, he closed the folder and sternly criticized the captain, implying that the emergency notice had not been placed first and that the importance of the matter had not been properly understood.

……

The war zone had already issued the notice, while Wang Kezheng was still on his way to the war zone, having just boarded a helicopter.

Even traveling at top speed, it would take an hour to reach the war zone headquarters.

However, less than ten minutes after the helicopter took off, the exercise command called the helicopter, asking the crew to hand over the headset to Wang Kezheng.

"I am Wang Kezheng. What do you want?" Wang Kezheng's tone was not friendly.

He was very unhappy about the command center's premature decision.

How could they possibly have a good attitude?

"This is Deputy Commander Liu from the exercise command headquarters. The commander of the theater army has instructed me to inform you that you must immediately proceed to the exercise site at the Wolf Front Training Base. The theater army commander will be holding an exercise debriefing meeting here at 10:00 PM tonight. Please arrive as soon as possible." The command headquarters issued the order again.

"What? A debriefing meeting? The exercise hasn't even started yet, and they're already holding a debriefing meeting? What kind of debriefing is this?"

After Wang Kezheng finished speaking, he put down his headphones and said in an extremely angry tone, "It's simply unbelievable! It's an extremely unserious farce, treating acting like a game, no, treating it like acting."

After complaining in frustration and anger, Wang Kezheng said to the crew, "Get me Political Commissar He Yazhou from flight 708 right away. I need to talk to him."

"Yes!"

The crew quickly took action and connected to the 708th Brigade's radio.

"Old He, where are you now?" Wang Kezheng asked loudly. Wang Kezheng thought he was connected to He Yazhou, but little did he know that he had fallen into Chen Jun's trap. The crew had actually connected to Chen Jun's phone.

"Wherever you want me to be, that's where I'll be," Chen Jun said jokingly.

However, the noise inside the helicopter was very loud, and the white noise from the electrical circuits affected communication, so Wang Kezheng did not immediately notice the problem.

He continued speaking loudly into the headset: "Old He, here's the thing, the exercise command just called me and asked me to come to the Wolf Forward Base to attend the exercise debriefing meeting."

"Isn't this nonsense? Huh? If you're going, you go in my place. I'm about to get to the theater army staff; I don't have time for this stuff."

Wang Kezheng was still fantasizing that once he arrived at the General Staff Headquarters, he could persuade the Chief of Staff to allow the exercise to be repeated.

I don't know.

Upon hearing Wang Kezheng's words, Chen Jun could no longer hold back his laughter and said, "Brigade Commander Wang, you really can't skip this debriefing meeting. You're the main character in this whole thing. Everyone else can skip it, but you can't."

When Wang Kezheng realized that the other party was actually joking, he finally understood that something was wrong.

With his neck stiff, he asked, "Who are you??"

"Hahaha."

Chen Jun laughed and continued to tease, "It's normal that you can't recognize my voice, but if I say I'm Chen Jun, you'll definitely recognize me."

Also, did you receive the message I sent you? It was a gift I specially prepared for you.

"Chen Jun!!!"

Wang Kezheng was genuinely surprised, and his tone even rose an octave.

When He Yazhou showed him the information, Chen Jun's terrifying meritorious service and awards left a deep impression on him, and he could immediately recall the name upon hearing it.

"Chen Jun, Chief of Staff of the 7th Steel Brigade, that's you."

Wang Kezheng then realized something was wrong. Why was the call he made to his own political commissar being sent to Chen Jun's cell phone? There must be something fishy going on.

However, he didn't realize at that moment that the crew had deliberately called Chen Jun.

I thought they had used some kind of communication technology to intercept the signal.

So he roared in a very annoyed tone, "You occupied my camp by illegal means, and won the judgment by dirty tricks. What exactly do you want to do next?"

"I don't mean anything by it, I just want to let you know."

Chen Jun suddenly stopped smiling and said in a very formal official tone: "On behalf of all the officers and soldiers of the Steel Seventh Brigade, I congratulate you on becoming the first deputy division-level prisoner captured alive and brought back to the base since the establishment of the Steel Seventh Brigade."

"You're talking nonsense! I'm perfectly fine, almost at the war zone, how are you going to capture me alive?!" Wang Kezheng angrily shouted.

However, before Chen Jun could reply, the changes in the cabin spoke volumes.

The helicopter co-pilot walked over, and three burly men followed from behind the camouflage curtain at the rear of the cabin.

The one leading them is Tuo Yonggang!!
Surrounded by four burly men with hostile eyes, Wang Kezheng realized something was wrong. He blankly put down his headphones, staring wide-eyed in disbelief, and asked, "You...you're not from the Army Aviation Brigade?"

"Congratulations, you got it."

Tuo Yonggang did not lead a team to attack the 708th Brigade's camp, but unexpectedly he got the chance to capture the Blue Army brigade commander alive. He was overjoyed.

"Commander Wang, please introduce yourself."

The pilot, who came out of the cockpit, introduced himself with a big smile and a serious expression: "I am Xing Feng, the battalion commander of the Army Aviation Battalion of the 7th Steel Brigade of the Red Army."

Our Chief of Staff Chen asked me to give you a special report on the battlefield situation.

Xing Feng, the battalion commander with only the rank of lieutenant colonel, felt no pressure whatsoever when facing Wang Kezheng, who held the rank of senior colonel, and leisurely sat down opposite him.

"The current situation is this: after we destroyed your 708th Brigade's barracks, we also locked onto the frequency band of your conversation with Political Commissar He Yazhou."

Upon learning that you two were to meet on the highway, we originally planned to dispatch armed helicopters for a low-altitude airstrike after your meeting to decapitate and eliminate you both, thus ending this exercise completely.

However, as our high-altitude drones developed, your convoy continued to advance towards Langshan, and did not follow the command's order to withdraw from the exercise.

Therefore, our Chief of Staff Chen had a new idea and decisively abandoned the decapitation and elimination plan.

We chose to continue monitoring your conversation and successfully intercepted your call for an Army Aviation Brigade helicopter to travel to the Theater Army Staff to report our intelligence.

So Chief of Staff Chen decided to turn the tables and devise a plan to capture the brigade commander alive.

Our army aviation battalion dispatched a helicopter, posing as a crew attached to the Blue Army's 15th Brigade, to provide support and intercept communications destined for the 15th Brigade.

The 15th Brigade is an attached unit, which you are not familiar with, and you are eager to complain.

The plan went even more smoothly than expected. You didn't see through our scheme at all, and didn't even have any doubts. You cooperated with us obediently.

So, in the end, we arrived at the current situation, and you became a prisoner of our Red Army.

Wang Kezheng was initially very angry, but after hearing the meticulous execution process, which was completely flawless, he realized that he had lost completely.

I couldn't feel angry, and instead, I calmed down.

But when he talked about how he had been captured alive, he became more and more angry. After thinking for a long time, he didn't know how to refute it and could only come up with two words.

"Despicable, shameless."

"You're absolutely right. To deal with an enemy, you need to be ruthless, and as a prisoner, you need to obediently admit defeat."

Xing Feng's words were a veiled criticism of Wang Kezheng, implying that he was a sore loser.

"Who wins and who loses is not up to you. I'll tell you today that the 708th Brigade will never lose. You think you've won just because you captured me? What a joke. When my political commissar and his men arrive at Wolf Mountain, you'll be the ones crying."

Wang Kezheng was indeed unwilling to admit defeat at this time, because his troops had not suffered any losses.

He has absolute confidence in the strength of the 708th Brigade.

I believe that under the leadership of Political Commissar He Yazhou, as long as we can successfully reach Langshan, the 708th Brigade will be able to crush the 535 defense line with overwhelming force.

When the time comes, Wang Kezheng will be able to confidently tell everyone at the summary meeting.

The command's decision was wrong!

Even with all its logistical supplies destroyed, the 708th Brigade still possesses formidable combat power and could easily take down a newly formed rookie brigade.

If it is proven that the exercise command's decision was wrong, then he will be fine for disobeying the command's orders.

Because none of them are left.

Naturally, there was no result.

Despite his arrogant and reckless demeanor, Wang Kezheng is actually very meticulous in his work and had long ago prepared a "backup plan" for his disobedience.

As long as the 708th Brigade can reach the assembly point, as long as the 535 defense line can be captured.

Everything he does will become reasonable. (End of Chapter)