Blood-Red Front

When Lin Zhiyuan led the Shu army soldiers to the outskirts of Binxi, it was already three o'clock in the afternoon.

The battlefield was filled with the sounds of gunfire, and the roadsides were littered with the wounded soldiers of various units and the corpses of civilians.

Some houses were engulfed in flames, and some trams were hit by bombs, with no passengers surviving.

Just as Lin Zhiyuan was considering which way to go, a jeep that had just passed by reversed back.

A colonel got out of the car and looked at Lin Zhiyuan in surprise, saying, "Lin Zhiyuan? Didn't the commander order you and Chang Weiguo to escort the equipment back to Zhongdu? What are you still doing here?"

Lin Zhiyuan did not recognize the colonel in front of him, and his memory offered no clues. He could only reply, "I encountered a company of Shu soldiers on the road and decided to return to the battlefield with them."

"Nonsense! Utter nonsense! The enemy won't play house with you!"

Turning back, the colonel ordered the guard who got out of the co-pilot's seat, "Take them to the military headquarters. The corps commander will make arrangements for him."

"yes!"

The guard saluted Lin Zhiyuan: "Sir, please follow me."

Having returned to the battlefield with a heart full of passion, Lin Zhiyuan is now unsure of what to do next, so he decides to go to the military headquarters to check on the situation.

Following behind the guards, the further in we went, the more dire the situation became.

Besides the bomb craters left by the bombing, there were wrecked and retreating troops everywhere, with wounded soldiers missing limbs and broken legs.

Even Lin Zhiyuan felt immense pressure from such a bloody scene.

As for Shang Kebing, needless to say, she clung tightly to Lin Zhiyuan, even tugging at his clothes, her head bowed, not daring to look around.

After walking for more than ten minutes, the guard pointed to an inconspicuous low building and said, "Sir, we've arrived. The 8th Army headquarters is just ahead."

Lin Zhiyuan turned around and said to Ma Daxi, "Take everyone to rest by the roadside for a bit, I'm going to see the army commander."

"No problem."

"Everyone! Rest where you are!"

On the other side, after following the guards into the military headquarters, Lin Zhiyuan immediately saw the national war situation map hanging on the side wall.

On the map, the area outside the Great Wall is colored red and the area north of the Gobi Desert is colored blue.

Several huge red arrows protruded from outside the pass.

Just as Lin Zhiyuan was checking the map, someone next to him said, "Right now it's only the area outside the pass and the northern desert, but I'm afraid the southern desert, Jizhou, Jinzhou, and Binxi regions will soon be marked in red as well. The Kingdom of Rossiya may also take advantage of the chaos to invade the Western Regions."

Lin Zhiyuan nodded secretly. Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Shanxi, Xinjiang—this person's judgment was extremely accurate.

Lin Zhiyuan turned around and saw a kind-looking man wearing glasses and carrying two stars on his shoulders. He was Huang Zhengjie, the commander of the 8th Army.

Lin Zhiyuan immediately saluted and said, "Sir!"

Huang Zhengjie, commander of the 8th Army, gestured to Lin Zhiyuan: "Come with me."

Walking up to a table, Huang Zhengjie said with a headache, "I specifically transferred you back to Kyoto, why did you come back on your own?"

"Sir, in this national crisis, everyone has a duty to defend our land!"

"Don't talk big to me." Huang Zhengjie interrupted Lin Zhiyuan's long speech.

"The battlefield is not child's play. One shell can reduce everyone to nothing. How am I supposed to face your father then?"

In the early days of the revolution, Huang Zhengjie served as Wu's father's bodyguard. Wu's father had also contributed greatly to his becoming the army commander. If Lin Zhiyuan had died here, they would never have been able to meet again.

"Sir, the soldiers outside are the ones who came with me." Lin Zhiyuan pointed in the direction of Ma Daxi.

"The people of Shu Prefecture sent their sons thousands of miles to the battlefield in Binxi, where they survived for less than half a minute on average."

"Since I joined the military, three men’s sons have died in battle. The same way the officers wrote the death notices for their fathers, they wrote the same death notices for my father."

Lin Zhiyuan knew very well what kind of meat grinder Binxi was. Even with his cheat-like abilities, he could only defend against infantry sniper shots at most. If he encountered heavy artillery or even heavy aerial bombs, he would have no chance of escape.

But for Lin Zhiyuan, regardless of whether this Chu Sheng is the Japanese or not, since he has transmigrated to this world, killing them is something Lin Zhiyuan must do.

"You..." Huang Zhengjie shook his head helplessly.

After thinking for a moment, Huang Zhengjie picked up a map from the side and said, "If you insist on staying, that's fine. Go to Dingjia. Muya is here too."

The Mu family and the Lin family were old friends, but during the revolution, the entire Mu family was wiped out by the Qi Dynasty, leaving only one daughter who grew up in the Lin family.

Upon hearing the name Mu Ya, Lin Zhiyuan pictured a tall, slender figure, but he immediately dismissed the image from his mind.

After glancing at the map, Lin Zhiyuan shook his head. Dingjia was more than 20 kilometers away from the battlefield, about the same distance as where he got off the bus to return to Binxi.

"Sir, I want to go to the front lines."

In front of everyone, Lin Zhiyuan volunteered to go to the front line, giving Huang Zhengjie no chance to refuse.

For the sake of morale, Huang Zhengjie must not openly show favoritism under any circumstances.

Of course, this was a request that Lin Zhiyuan dared to make based on his own status; if he were an ordinary person, he really wouldn't dare to say such a thing.

If you really threw him into the most dangerous place, without professional training, he definitely wouldn't survive an hour.

Huang Zhengjie racked his brains for a long time before finally coming up with a place that was both the front line and relatively safe.

"Then go to the front line in Nanzhen."

Due to the continuous bloody battles, the Xia army suffered heavy casualties and could not replenish its forces in time. The Dajiangkou front had been forced to shrink to the Wenhe area.

The Nanzhen line is the rear deep position west of Wenhe, where the main force salient is located.

This area is on the front line, but it is not the most tragic salient; it has depth and a way to retreat.

Even if the front line can't hold out, they can retreat to Dingjia in an orderly manner and won't be surrounded and annihilated.

Lin Zhiyuan carefully examined the location of the positions on the map, nodded in agreement, and said, "I'll lead the team out right away."

"Wait a minute," Huang Zhengjie said. "Given your current position and the situation of the Shu army, your actions are neither legitimate nor justified."

He gestured to the chief of staff beside him, who then brought over a document.

Huang Zhengjie took the document and then handed it to Lin Zhiyuan.

"I've issued you a transfer order to form an independent battalion, mainly composed of those soldiers who have fallen behind. You will serve as the battalion commander, a major. If you encounter any defeated or remnant soldiers, you can incorporate them into the independent battalion for combat."

"However, I don't have any extra weapons to allocate to the Independent Battalion at the moment. I can only replenish them for you once the subsequent supplies arrive."

"Thank you, sir!" Lin Zhiyuan stood at attention, turned around, and left the military headquarters.

Before leaving, Lin Zhiyuan grabbed a stack of newspapers from the table; he needed to check on the latest situation.

……