It's better to conquer them than to command the steel torrent

Chapter 2｜Welcome to…the Grand Federation
"I swear to strictly obey the orders of my superiors, to be forever loyal, to defend the Republic at all costs, and to destroy any enemy."

————Bundeswehr enlistment oath
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Winter seven years later.

A fierce gale swept across the sky and earth, and a cold and damp current from the Arctic Ocean marched straight southward, and the heavy snow that followed covered the wilderness in silver overnight.

Pieces of floating ice appeared on the Yi Bo Sea, and this lake on the northwestern border will soon freeze over.

A row of red brick barracks stands beside the hills at the border crossing. It is dawn now, and soldiers are standing on the watchtowers with loaded guns.

In one of the barracks...

The first feeling Shang Ke had when he regained consciousness was cold. The dim morning light shone on his face, but there was no warmth at all.

"It's too cold."

He reached out his hand dazedly, trying to grab the air conditioner remote control on the bedside table, but all he felt was cold leather and metal.

When he opened his eyes in confusion, he saw the log beams, red brick walls and cement floor.

Huh? A dream within a dream?
This was Shang Ke’s first reaction.

Unfortunately, it didn't take long for him to accept the status quo - he was awake and everything around him was real.

God have mercy on me! How could this happen?
Looking around, he faced reality and took out his personal ID from the pocket of his brown-green military uniform. He stared at the words "Federal Defense Army" for several seconds.

"Scary, but fortunately, at least it's not a historical timeline."

Shang Ke, feeling mixed emotions, put on his clothes while shivering, then squatted beside the small coal stove to warm himself. He stared at the bright flames, trying hard to think, feeling as if he were in another world.

Before sleeping, I was just a student of South China University of Technology, but after sleeping, I transformed into a so-called captain of the Federal Armed Forces?
To be more precise, he was a captain of the army military police, with the courtesy name Zhicheng. He was twenty-seven years old and his background was not bad.

After sorting out his thoughts, he breathed a sigh of relief. At least this Federal Republic of Sino States, although it sounded confusing, was actually a complex of Eastern countries.

But before he had time to think about it, Shang Ke quickly realized that he was facing an imminent test.

Or rather, the mission.

Since last year, the border dispute between our country and the neighboring Ivan Rus Empire has become extremely tense. It has not only been limited to bloody conflicts, but has now escalated to the level of small-scale fighting.

The ruling party has been unable to exercise restraint following public outrage following an ambush on its border patrol last month.

In a strong response, the military was ordered to organize a retaliatory operation.

After careful selection, the 24rd Battalion of the 3th Border Defense Brigade stationed on the east coast of the Yibo Sea was responsible for this operation. As a member of the Army's 1st Mobile Infantry Division, he and a dozen other officers from different units were assigned to observe the battle and exchange and learn valuable practical experience.

Shang Ke spent a full half hour carefully piecing together the fragmented common sense memories in his mind until someone knocked on the door to remind him to go to the battalion headquarters for a meeting.

A female lieutenant, who looked to be in her twenties, stood at the door and said unhappily, "That's Commander Shang, right? Hurry, the meeting is about to start, and you're the only one missing."

Shang Ke was called out without any explanation.

The soldiers were clearing the snow on the road to the base. The roar of engines came from afar, and more than ten trucks slowly drove into the base. Four of them were towing artillery pieces, and the gun bodies and barrels were covered with white snow.

This seems to be an artillery company sent by the brigade headquarters to evade the enemy's desperate actions after being attacked, Shang Ke recalled.

"So luxurious? A fully motorized artillery unit." He sighed, then followed the female lieutenant into the battalion headquarters.

The battalion headquarters meeting room was actually just a slightly larger room, but now it had twice as many people as usual entering it, making it seem quite crowded.

Shang Ke noticed something strange as he entered the room. The officers who had been talking at once were all silent, as if his arrival had caused the silence.

Seeing the awkwardness of the situation, Chief of Staff Xu Bowen, who had come specially to take charge, immediately continued the conversation, pointing to the hanging map and saying, "If the original route is blocked, you can take the western path along the lakeshore to retreat to the border. Patrol boats are on standby for support."

"If you want to save trouble, you might as well send planes to drop bombs." Someone muttered.

"Do you have any brains? If you send out the air force, the situation will be difficult to handle." Xu Bowen glared at him.

"Commander-in-Chief, the snow may not stop for a long time. The Russians rarely go out on patrol on snowy days. If we go there, we might just wait there and freeze in vain." A captain said helplessly.

A few people wanted to complain, but they couldn't continue because Shang was present.

Shang Ke knew that the border defense units were not opposed to retaliatory actions. On the contrary, they were indignant about the deaths of officers and soldiers in their patrol team. However, the current weather conditions were indeed not optimistic, and a forced attack was quite dangerous. Unfortunately, this action was a political task and could not be shirked. It had to be done even if it was necessary.

As for why everyone minded him, there was nothing he could do. Military police were disliked by everyone, let alone a military police officer who came all the way from the capital.

Exchange and learning? The other infantry, cavalry, and communications officers were genuinely there to learn from experience, but what were the military police doing? Clearly, they were there to supervise.

Afterwards, Xu Bowen finally determined the decision-making plan for this operation and signed the combat order and combat situation briefing.

Officers from various mainland units drew lots to decide how many people would accompany the operation, after all, not all of them could go.

Shang Ke, who was in a trance, did not hesitate when faced with a pile of paper balls. He picked one at random and opened it, only to find that he had won the lottery.

"Ahem—" Xu Bowen coughed twice and said thoughtfully, "Zhicheng, you are not considered a combatant. Let's replace you with someone else."

Although some people present were gloating, it was better to have less trouble than more. Xu Bowen really didn't want Shang Ke to get into trouble. His father, a member of parliament, had sent a telegram the day before yesterday hoping that he would keep an eye on him.

Shang Ke was a little hesitant - bullets have no eyes, and his life was in danger, but it was unacceptable to just give in under the current circumstances.

It’s better to be tougher!

He immediately insisted, "Chief of Staff Xu, I've been trained as well. I won't hold back, and a cross-border attack requires witnesses."

This is the truth. In addition to learning military discipline and counter-espionage skills, military police and military police officers must also receive combat training and learn infantry tactics.

After his insistence, Xu Bowen hesitated for a moment and finally agreed.

The organizational and dispatching capabilities of the border defense forces are worthy of recognition. After the pre-war meeting, the participating units assembled in an orderly manner according to orders.

The operation can be simply described as ambush and evacuation. One team looks for opportunities to ambush, while the other is responsible for providing cover, with a clear division of labor.

The ambush team consisted of two infantry platoons, reinforced by an engineering squad and two heavy machine guns, totaling about eighty people; the covering team consisted of a platoon, reinforced by a mortar, totaling about forty people.

Staff Officer Liu, who had accompanied Shang Ke to the ambush unit, was from the 14nd Regiment of the 42th Infantry Division, a standing field force stationed year-round in Northeast China. As for the female lieutenant, she had also been selected, but only as a cover unit, and her unit was the 77th Field Mapping Battalion, a unit seemingly unrelated to combat operations.

When the two of them arrived at the barracks on the east side of the base on a three-wheeled sidecar motorcycle, the soldiers there were already making preparations. Several draft horses pulled a trailer from the ammunition depot, loaded with all kinds of ammunition.

"... Bring enough ammunition, full canteens, and three days' worth of rations. Squad leaders, check them. I wonder if anyone dares to skimp this time!"

The sturdy Northwestern man spoke loudly, and when he saw Shang Ke and the other two coming, he casually raised his hand and saluted, but as soon as he put his hand down, he felt it was inappropriate, so he saluted again.

"Deputy Fang Rui of the First Company of the Third Battalion greets the two commanders!"

(End of this chapter)