391 The copper bell

After repeatedly confirming with Zhang Xiaoman through the radio, Zhou Yinglong finally believed that they had really taken Mt. Guan.

The Forward Strike Battalion's original plan was to first deploy the Razor Sharp Company to attack the bandits at Mt. Dingyuan, which they felt was easier to take. After that, the Razor Sharp Company would move to attack the stronger forces at Mt. Guan together with Second Company.

But in the end, Mt. Guan was taken not long after the Razor Sharp Company set out.

Zhang Xiaoman asked on the radio, "Battalion Commander, does this count as our credit?"

"Yes, yes, yes," Zhou Yinglong replied. "What are the Razor Sharp Company's casualties? If there's too many casualties, take a short rest and wait for reinforcements."

"We didn't suffer any casualties." Even as Zhang Xiaoman said that, he was finding it hard to believe. As such, he did not bother hiding the truth. "There were only about a 100 bandits on Mt. Guan, and they were all killed single-handedly by Ren Xiaosu. I'm shocked by it, let alone you. We had only planned for him to pin down the bandits on Mt. Guan. But in the end, he pinned them down so hard that all of them died."

Then Zhang Xiaoman even heard Zhou Yinglong take a deep breath through the radio before shouting, "What the!"

At this moment, Ren Xiaosu was wiping the blood off his body by a stream behind Mt. Guan. After that, he changed back into the Razor Sharp Company's combat uniform.

Jiao Xiaochen and the others watched Ren Xiaosu as they collected the ammunition and supplies a short distance away. "Did y'all see that? He's acting like it's no big deal after killing over a 100 people. He's a little too calm, ain't he?"

"I wonder what he did before coming to Fortress 178…."

"I heard he was also a refugee. He was even a student of Commander Zhang's and well-known as ruthless in town. That's what Old Xu told me."

Ren Xiaosu stood at the edge of the stream after changing back into the uniform of the Razor Sharp Company. This was just the beginning of his revenge. He still had a lot more battles to fight.

Zhang Xiaoman finished reporting to Zhou Yinglong. He asked Jiao Xiaochen, "Count everything we collected."

"We've collected two 12.7 mm caliber HMGs that came with wheeled mounts and gun shields, 31 ammo boxes, and two mortars," Jiao Xiaochen reported. "There's also a lot of rifles, but those are useless to us."

Having more guns wasn't necessarily better. They would still need people to carry them to be effective. So the rifles were not much different from scrap metal to them.

"Take the mortars and rounds, dismantle the wheel mounts and gun shields from the HMGs before taking them, and grab the HMG ammo too." Zhang Xiaoman said, "The gun shields of the machine guns are more useful in the plains. It's not convenient for us to bring them while on the march. Wait, something's wrong. Weren't there any grenades there?"

Jiao Xiaochen shook his head. "No, we didn't find a single grenade."

"Were those bandits so poor they couldn't even afford grenades?" Zhang Xiaoman wondered.

It was not that the bandits on Mt. Guan were poor, but that Ren Xiaosu had already stuffed seven full boxes of grenades into his storage space before heading down the mountain.

Before he obtained any Explosive Poker cards that were at least "sixes," Ren Xiaosu felt he could use the grenades as a replacement. As for how powerful a "quad-six" bomb was, he couldn't gauge that yet.

Zhang Xiaoman looked at the pile of firearms with shimmering eyes. Even the Razor Sharp Company was only equipped with the standard weaponry whenever they headed out for battle. They did not usually get issued with so much firepower. So they had to depend on their own abilities to get whatever they could from the battlefield.

Jiao Xiaochen shouldered a machine gun. "This thing's mine!"

As he finished speaking, Ren Xiaosu grabbed the machine gun out of Jiao Xiaochen's hands. Jiao Xiaochen was stunned for a moment. Then he heard Ren Xiaosu say, "Platoon Commander, let me carry it for you."

Jiao Xiaochen was moved to tears. He was such a competent soldier and had such great esprit de corps. Just what kind of an angelic teammate was he!

"Thank you, Ren Xiaosu," Jiao Xiaochen said.

"Gratitude received from Jiao Xiaochen, +1!"

Ren Xiaosu realized it was rather easy to gain gratitude tokens at Fortress 178.

Now that his quest was almost complete, he thought he maybe should continue gaining more gratitude tokens even after the quest.

"Captain," Ren Xiaosu looked at Zhang Xiaoman and asked, "what do we do next?"

"We'll besiege Mt. Dingyuan." Zhang Xiaoman replied, "The Forward Strike Battalion and Engineering Battalion are about to reach our north. They're going to establish an FOB there, so we can't have the bandits in the rear go and make trouble for them."

"Is the FOB essential?" Ren Xiaosu asked. He was not doubting him but just humbly asking, "What's the use of an FOB?"

Ren Xiaosu's impression was that a forward operating base was just a place where one could eat.

Zhang Xiaoman patiently explained, "By using the FOB, it can greatly reduce the time the troops spend traveling from the rear to the front lines. It can also extend supply lines to a place closer to the enemy's location. For example, an armored brigade must resupply at an FOB before venturing further into the depths of the battlefield."

Ren Xiaosu nodded to show he understood. "Then how are we attacking Mt. Dingyuan?"

"Commander Zhou said we don't have to do a head-on attack, so we only need to blockade them on Mt. Dingyuan." Zhang Xiaoman said, "Now that Mt. Guan has been taken, the plan has changed. As such, our mission is no longer considered too difficult, so we should try to keep our casualties to a minimum. After the FOB is built, there'll be new troops coming to provide us with fire support. Then it'll be much easier to capture our target."

That same night, everyone took a short rest atop Mt. Guan. While the soldiers took off their shoes and sat by the campfire, Ren Xiaosu walked away quietly.

Zhang Xiaoman looked at the solitary Ren Xiaosu, who was standing near the edge of the cliff. He suddenly said to the other soldiers, "Looks like he's got something on his mind."

"Captain, it's cuz our feet stink."

Zhang Xiaoman joked, "Don't you think he's weighed down by something?"

"A little."

Zhang Xiaoman turned around and looked at Ren Xiaosu's back. He had a feeling that Ren Xiaosu had been through much more than they imagined. He went up to Ren Xiaosu with some piping hot vegetable soup. "Here, eat your fill."

"Mhm, thank you, Captain," Ren Xiaosu said.

However, Zhang Xiaoman did not walk away after handing the soup to him. Instead, he asked, "I heard you recently arrived at Fortress 178. Why have you chosen to come to such a poor place?"

Ren Xiaosu gave Zhang Xiaoman a look. "I didn't plan on coming here, but there's something important that I have to do, and I also share some common goals with Fortress 178."

"Oh, I see." Zhang Xiaoman nodded.

"Captain, why did you join the Fortress 178 army?" Ren Xiaosu asked.

"I was born in Fortress 178." Zhang Xiaoman said with a smile, "The first thing the young men in the fortress do when they turn 16 is to get a physical to see if they can qualify as soldiers. Some people even attempt suicide after failing the test due to flat feet."

"Why?" Ren Xiaosu asked in surprise.

Zhang Xiaoman looked to the northwest like he could see Fortress 178. Then he replied with a smile, "So they can get a chance to prove they're brave warriors when the copper bell in the center of the fortress tolls."