From the 7th Steel Company to the Synthetic Division

Chu Zhangang was unaware that the war zone commander was right next to him, which is why he dared to threaten the directing department in such an arrogant tone.

Zhou Sling, the chief commander in charge of the directing department, is a senior colonel, just like Chu Zhangang. This rank would be somewhat intimidating to ordinary divisions and brigades, but it would be less so for an elite brigade like the 909th Brigade.

Even in some routine combat exercises, the directing staff has to give face to the elite troops.

Combat strength equals status.

This is an unspoken rule in the military.

Chu Zhangang never expected that even at this point, several hours after dark, the war zone commander would still be in the command post and hear his threatening words.

When Chief of Staff Shen's voice came through the microphone, Chu Zhangang's heart skipped a beat.

He thought to himself: It's over!

When Chief of Staff Shen angrily and forcefully refuted his threats, and clearly told Chu Zhangang that if he did not handle this matter properly, the consequences would be even more severe than Wang Kezheng's punishment.

For Chu Zhangang, who loves to study the thoughts of his superiors and especially enjoys flattering them.

Chief of Staff Shen's words were like a bolt from the blue.

Brigade Chief of Staff Ding Kai was right next to him. Although he couldn't tell who was speaking, he knew perfectly well how serious the tone of the speaker was and how terrible the consequences would be.

The brigade commander openly threatened the director-general, but was severely punished by a superior officer in return.

For Ding Kai...

It was equally explosive.

In those brief two or three seconds, the chief of staff's lips trembled as he looked at Chu Zhangang, whose face had turned deathly pale, and cautiously advised, "Brigade Commander, at this moment, you must calm down, calm down, and calm down again."

We're about to win! The political commissar isn't here, so you absolutely mustn't act rashly.

"Click~"

The chief of staff's persuasion seemed to sink without a trace. Chu Zhangang's expression remained unchanged; he simply stared blankly and slowly put down the microphone.

Then, as if he had lost his soul, he stumbled toward the conference table in the middle.

"Who was that person on the phone just now?" Ding Kai followed and asked in a low voice.

"It's Chief of Staff Shen," Chu Zhangang replied woodenly.

"what?"

Ding Kai's face immediately turned sour: "Chief of Staff Shen, we've really run into a trap this time. His temper is typical of Brigade Commander Wang Kezheng."

"He only gave me three minutes to think it over." Chu Zhangang was extremely nervous.

"Brigade Commander, we absolutely cannot back down! This is a serious political issue. To be defeated is to sacrifice, to retreat is to desert."

"No, I have to report to the commander immediately. We absolutely will not withdraw from the exercise."

After Ding Kai finished speaking, he turned around and prepared to make a phone call.

"and many more."

Chu Zhangang stopped Ding Kai, forcibly suppressing his emotions and calming himself down for a moment before saying, "You're right. I was too impulsive. If you go and tell the leader, he definitely won't be satisfied. I should apologize to the leader."

After saying that, he walked back to the phone, picked up the receiver, and said to the operator, "Connect me to the director's office."

"Yes!"

The operator quickly took action, and the call was connected in no time.

"Reporting to the commander, I know I was wrong, I apologize..."

"I understand, saying anything more would be pointless."

Chief of Staff Shen interrupted Chu Zhangang, and before Chu Zhangang could finish his prepared self-criticism, he swiftly hung up the phone.

"Beep beep..."

Chu Zhangang was bewildered by Chief of Staff Shen's actions as he listened to the busy tone on the phone. He said with a completely blank expression, "You heard what the commander just said, right?"

"I heard."

Ding Kai nodded seriously and even helped Chu Zhangang put the microphone back in place.

"What did the chief of staff mean by his last sentence? I haven't even given a single word of self-criticism or a self-criticism yet. He doesn't even know how profound my self-criticism is, so how could he... think that what I said was nonsense?" Chu Zhangang couldn't understand.

"It seems the leader only asked you to make a decision, not to write a self-criticism," Ding Kai reminded him.

"But I should at least report my next decision and thoughts," Chu Zhangang insisted.

"Didn't you say you were wrong? The commander believes that you have already rejected your decision to withdraw from the exercise, and this matter ends here and should not be mentioned again," Ding Kai translated.

"So, you mean no criticism and no investigation?" Chu Zhangang couldn't believe it.

"This is my understanding, and it should be roughly correct," Ding Kai said hesitantly.

"Excellent, decisive and efficient. You truly deserve to be a commander who has fought in real battles. If we don't win this final battle, then everything we say will be pointless."

Chu Zhangang quickly recovered and his fighting spirit was rekindled.

He took three steps as fast as he could and quickly returned to the conference table.

I started studying maps again.

"Brigade Commander, I have to go back now. Please give me your instructions."

Li Zuo, who had been completely still even when Chu Zhangang was yelling and shouting, got up from his cot once Chu Zhangang had returned to normal.

Given this perfectly timed transition, it's hard not to suspect that Li Zuo had already woken up, but because Chu Zhangang was still angry, he didn't dare to wake up.

"Xiao Li, come here and join us."

Chu Zhangang called Li Zuo over and said, "After we finish our discussion, you take the brigade's operational deployment back with you."

"Now that the reconnaissance team has joined us, tomorrow's attack will definitely go much more smoothly," Ding Kai said happily.

“Yes, I also have a reconnaissance battalion that has been lurking right under the Red Army’s nose. Chen Jun would never have dreamed of that,” Chu Zhangang said excitedly.

"Captain Hong sent me to ask for instructions. Our three companies have already infiltrated the 535 defense line. We hope to start moving upwards during the artillery preparation phase, so that we can appear on the Red Army's position after the artillery attack ends, and strive for a surprise victory." Li Zuo said, explaining the reconnaissance battalion's idea.

“That’s a great idea! The Red Army has a special operations company. If they capture our political commissar, we can use our reconnaissance battalion to give the Red Army a big surprise,” Ding Kai said, his eyes shining.

“Good, Hong Yi’s idea is very good and can be used as one of the deployments after the general offensive begins.” Chu Zhangang did not approve the plan on the spot. When it comes to formulating combat action plans, Chu Zhangang is extremely exclusive and prefers the plans he comes up with.

Using alternative plans as a "fool's bluff," Chu Zhangang got into his rhythm and said, "Now, let me talk about the tactical coordination and cooperation for the final attack on the 535 defense line."

Based on the intelligence gathered so far, the Red Army has deployed two and a half battalions on the 535 defense line, and after nearly ten days of fortification and waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out.

The remnants of the Red Army that were defeated by our troops at Anxi River have most likely withdrawn by now and will certainly be deployed to the high ground defense operations.

If the reconnaissance battalion were to launch a solo assault, it would certainly suffer losses against three battalions of the Red Army.

Given that we had been hiding in the wild for six or seven days, with food and water supplies not being guaranteed in time, and our physical strength was already severely depleted, I felt it was not advisable to act prematurely.

Ideally, we should wait until all our central, left, and right flank troops have arrived at Wolf Mountain.

The 2nd Motorized Infantry Battalion was tasked with the main attack, the reconnaissance battalion with the supporting attack, the 3rd Motorized Infantry Battalion as the reserve force to provide support from the flanks, and the armored battalion to circle around to the rear of the Red Army and cut off the Red Army's supply lines.

After the first and second battalions of the artillery regiment arrived at Nanshan, they entered Hill 330 on the east side of the 535 defense line as quickly as possible and quickly prepared for artillery attack.

The final assault will take place tomorrow at 17 PM.

Chu Zhangang's offensive plan was formulated under the condition that the Blue Army troops arrived at the designated position at full speed and that all conditions were as he had expected.

If this plan is launched simultaneously, the Red Army, which lacks coordination, will be caught off guard and unable to coordinate effectively.

That's definitely a good solution!

"Why didn't we start the attack earlier? The artillery regiment set off at three in the morning and could have reached Langshan around noon to conduct reconnaissance and correct the artillery data. By 15 p.m., they would all be fully equipped," Ding Kai asked, puzzled.

"No, I want to give the Blue Army the wrong impression, to make Chen Jun feel that his harassment along the way has been very successful, and that the capture of the political commissar has thrown our command post into disarray."

Chu Zhangang spoke confidently and eloquently, using psychological tactics against the Red Army.

After pausing for a moment, he continued, "Our Blue Army has been on a long march of six or seven days. Even if we can reach the Wolf Mountain front line ahead of schedule, we will be exhausted and will hardly have enough energy to launch a rapid offensive."

By changing the time to 5 PM, each unit will have enough time to rest, recuperate, and prepare for the major battle that night.

Furthermore, 5 PM is lunchtime, and if an attack is launched at that time, the Red Army will be eating and could be caught off guard.

Furthermore, the darkness of the day made it easier for Hong Yi's reconnaissance team to launch their attack.

During the artillery preparation phase, the 2nd Motorized Infantry Battalion moved forward rapidly. Once the artillery preparation was over, the 2nd Motorized Infantry Battalion launched a frontal assault.

The special operations battalion and the 3rd motorized infantry battalion launched a flank attack, aiming to end the battle before 8 PM.

From the start of the attack to the end of the battle, Chu Zhangang only wanted three hours. This shows that even though the political commissar had been captured, Chu Zhangang still felt that the 7th Steel Brigade was very weak in terms of direct strength and was no match for the 909th Brigade.

From beginning to end, they never even considered whether the 7th Steel Brigade would have any other follow-up measures, or whether they would obediently stay on the position and wait for them to attack.

This excessive and misplaced self-confidence will soon make Chu Zhangang regret his actions.

After listening to Chu Zhangang's entire line of reasoning, Li Zuo felt that this approach did not bring into play the "value" of the reconnaissance brigade's painstaking efforts to infiltrate for so many days.

However, others dared not speak out like Hong Yi, directly opposing and questioning Chu Zhangang's plan to his face.

I could only offer a suggestion: "Brigade Commander, Captain Hong once led us to infiltrate the front line of position 535 for reconnaissance and discovered a new rainwater gully."

We can send a decapitation strike team to stealthily climb up from there and reach the Red Army's command post directly.

This was actually Hong Yi's battle plan, and he even wanted to personally lead the team to carry out this decapitation operation and wipe out the Red Army's stronghold in one fell swoop.

Li Zuo simply presented Hong Yi's battle plan as a suggestion.

"No."

Chu Zhangang immediately refused, sneering, "Not to mention that the success rate of the decapitation operation is extremely low, failure would only expose your location."

Even if the decapitation strike succeeds, it will only be a small, localized victory and could easily disrupt the overall plan.

During our 909th Brigade's 3,000-mile march, what did our commanders want to see on the large screen in the command center? Did you even consider that?

Chu Zhangang's habit of flattery and sycophancy was on full display at this moment.

The other brigade staff officers present, Li Zuo and Ding Kai, were pure soldiers who only thought about winning the battle and naturally did not understand these intricacies.

After waiting a few seconds and seeing no one answer, Chu Zhangang raised his head and said with a hint of pride, "What the commander is looking at is the fighting spirit of our 909th Brigade. Where is the fighting spirit embodied? It is the style of brave and tenacious continuous combat."

Therefore, we intentionally slow down our advance. The central and right flanks should pay attention to their pace during tomorrow's march and absolutely not go too fast. They can also try to appear exhausted.

The Red Army would surely assume that we would not be able to launch an attack immediately after reaching Langshan.

We, on the contrary, acted swiftly and without delay, catching the Red Army off guard and putting them in a passive position.

If we arrive too early, the Red Army and the commanders will focus all their attention on our preparations.

Especially the Red Army, would then have the opportunity to prepare for a decisive battle with us, and we absolutely, absolutely cannot give them that opportunity.

Chu Zhangang believed that what he said was very good, and the offensive tactics he devised were impeccable.

It can both win the exercise and please the leader.

However, anyone with a sound mind could see the strong hint of flattery in Chu Zhangang's words, turning war into a matter of human relationships.

"The brigade commander means to launch the battle with surprise and speed." Ding Kai felt the incongruity was too strong, so he added just the right amount of information.

Yes, this is one of them.

Chu Zhangang didn't hear what he wanted to hear, thinking that everyone hadn't understood yet, and continued: "Secondly, and very importantly, we must fully demonstrate the solid training results of our 909th Brigade."

Therefore, from the moment they enter the position, the artillery preparation must be thorough, and all key targets on the 535 defense line must be destroyed without exception.

The command post and the 2nd Motorized Infantry Battalion advanced rapidly, the main attacking force formed an assault formation, and the reconnaissance battalion suddenly emerged, appearing before the Red Army like divine soldiers descending from the sky.

Tactical maneuvers such as the flanking maneuvers of the 3rd Motorized Infantry Battalion must not only be fast-paced and well-organized, with a powerful momentum and perfect precision, but also be executed in one go, with beautiful and neat movements.

The goal is to both score points and win, and moreover, to score high enough to satisfy the superior.

Compared to the previous paragraph, the second paragraph that Chu Zhangang added was more direct and explicit, and had a stronger flavor of formalism.

They deliberately turned the exercise into a performance show just to please the leaders watching it.

I'm afraid Chu Zhangang is probably the only one in the entire war zone.

As a soldier under Hong Yi's command, Li Zuo's thoughts were just as pure as Hong Yi's. Hearing Chu Zhangang's words, he couldn't help but twitch his lips.

But he didn't have Hong Yi's guts; no matter how dissatisfied he was, he could only keep it to himself. (End of Chapter)