20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 614 Young Marshal
As noon approaches, a gentle breeze blows.

The mountains are dim and floating; the grass and trees in the woods are rustling.

Zhao Zhengbei struggled all over and suddenly woke up. He subconsciously looked for the gun, and when he saw the gun in his arms, he breathed a sigh of relief.

My mind gradually became clearer...

In the first blocking battle, the Fengtian Army won a tragic victory and finally saved some face.

At this moment, the trench seemed inexplicably more spacious.

Although there were slight footsteps around, there were few human figures to be seen.

The food and kettle were placed at hand, but they were already cold. The addition of meat dishes to the floating surface was a real reward.

Zhao Zhengbei hurriedly picked it up and gobbled it up. In the blink of an eye, he had finished it all.

Finally, he licked the grease off the edge of the lunch box, stood up, and stood on tiptoe to look towards the front of the position.

The brothers are cleaning up the battlefield, burying the bodies, repairing the defense lines, and rescuing the wounded...

The destruction of human nature by war lies in the fact that it not only makes people unleash their most primitive animal nature, but also makes them abide by the most stringent laws.

Swinging back and forth between human and non-human, often taking people by surprise.

Some people have mental breakdowns, some lose themselves, and a very small number of people enjoy it.

No wonder war is an art...

Suddenly, not far away, there were faint groans, occasionally mixed with curses.

"Oh my god, you're a veterinarian, right? I'm not an animal, can you be gentler?"

"Stop torturing me and give me a good time!"

Zhao Zhengbei frowned and followed the sound to the open-air wounded soldiers camp behind the position.

Along the way, wherever I looked, all I saw were mutilated bodies and dull eyes.

Of the 120 brothers that Bei Feng originally brought with him, more than half were killed or wounded in just one night, and only about 40 people escaped.

Soon, he found Fu Chengyu behind the position.

Fu Chengyu's face was covered with bandages, with the exception of his eyes, ears, mouth and nose, and the broken arm became his symbol.

There was a bandage on his upper arm and gauze wrapped around the broken part of his forearm. He was gasping for breath, neither awake nor unconscious, in a state of wanting to die.

Several former comrades were guarding Fu Chengyu. When they saw the north wind coming, they all stood up, nodded and greeted him.

"Sir!"

"How is he?" Zhao Zhengbei asked.

"Look at this, it's okay!" Several brothers also had a half-understanding, "Anyway, they have been rescued for the time being, and they said they would send them back this afternoon."

"Return to Fengtian?"

"That should be it. It's either Fengtian or Jinzhou. There's no point in staying on the front line like this."

As he spoke, Fu Chengyu seemed to be moved. He half-squinted his eyes and looked at Bei Feng, mumbling weakly, "Sir, I have to go back first..."

"Go back, Xiao Fu, you have done your duty."

Zhao Zhengbei leaned over and sat down, holding Fu Chengyu's hand tightly, then suddenly pulled it away and asked, "Why is your hand so hot?"

"Who knows?" someone asked in surprise, "Logically speaking, with so much blood spilled, this person should be cool!"

Someone else immediately retorted: "Don't talk nonsense if you don't understand. If a person is cold, how can it be good? He should be warmer. If he is cold, he will be bad!"

"What did the veterinarian say?"

"Listen to his nonsense. I saw that the way he sewed the wound just now was not as good as my grandma sewing the soles of shoes!"

Everyone was talking about it, but in fact no one really understood. They just thought that since the person was still breathing, there shouldn't be any big problem.

As he was talking, he couldn't help but jokingly said, "Oh, okay, Xiao Fu has finally made it this time, but we still have to suffer in the future."

At this point, everyone rushed to introduce themselves to their families and begged Xiao Fu to help bring a letter home after he arrived at the rear hospital.

However, Fu Chengyu remained silent.

When I went to see him again, I found that he had fainted again.

Everyone looked at each other and smacked their lips and said, "Forget it. He won't remember it even if we tell him. Let him have a good rest."

Seeing this, Zhao Zhengbei lowered his voice and asked, "What happened today? Why are there so few people on the battlefield?"

Someone responded, "We counted the casualties this morning and found that 30% of the entire regiment was killed, which is not a small number."

"That shouldn't be so little, right?"

"Oh, I just heard that the original regiment commander was injured last night, and the headquarters sent another one over. It seems that the original members all went to the camp, leaving us temporary recruits to do the work, damn it."

Zhao Zhengbei nodded, thinking that this was normal.

Although everyone is a member of the Fengtian Army, they are still personal soldiers. Even if they are treated equally on the surface, there is inevitably some favoritism in private.

Unexpectedly, while we were chatting, we suddenly heard a few shouts from behind.

"Where, where, where is Zhao Zhengbei?"

Upon hearing this, Bei Feng hurriedly turned around, only to see Lin Zhidong, led by several lightly wounded soldiers, rushing towards this side.

"Little Fatty, are you alive?"

Zhao Zhengbei stood up and smiled. This was much more meaningful than greetings like "Have you eaten?"

"Look, I've made money again!" Lin Zhidong came over and said hurriedly, "Stop talking nonsense. I've been looking for you for a long time. Come with me."

Zhao Zhengbei was slightly confused and asked, "What's the matter?"

"What are you asking? The young marshal is here and wants to praise you in person!"

Lin Zhidong came forward, grabbed Beifeng, and walked towards the regiment camp.

He was so excited that he even felt a sense of honor, as if he was being blessed by heaven. He sighed as he walked:
"Well, that's why they say 'wealth and honor are sought in danger'! Zhengbei, you deserve to be promoted to a high position. The prince and Guizi Guo came to inspect just now, and Staff Officer Li helped you to get credit. You must perform well. When you become a general in the future, don't forget us poor brothers!"

"To the point of that?"

"How could it be possible?" Lin Zhidong exclaimed, "Although the young marshal is just a brigade commander, he is the crown prince!"

"I mean you, is it that serious?" Zhao Zhengbei frowned and said, "I see that you are almost as good as seeing the emperor."

"Don't say that. We graduated at the same time. You are the battalion commander, and I am still a company commander. How can I not be anxious?"

Lin Zhidong didn't care at all and jogged along with Bei Feng.

Soon, the two arrived at the regiment camp.

From afar, there were four teams standing on the open ground, in neat and orderly formation, all facing the same direction.

In front of the central army tent, a young man stood with his hands behind his back, surrounded by a dozen senior generals in tweed coats.

Rather than saying that he is a young man, it would be better to say that he is more like a teenager.

Bei Feng was considered a young man among the officers, but the man in the distance was even younger than him.

Although the young marshal is already in his early twenties and has already married and had children, there is still a hint of childishness, even naivety, between his brows.

It’s not that he is immature, but in this situation, in front of a group of battle-hardened veterans, he is really just a child.

Next to the young marshal stood a tall middle-aged officer, with a thin face, a small mustache on his upper lip, and a sharp look, which showed his self-esteem, pride, and even self-righteousness. All the soldiers knew who he was - Guo Guizi.

The young marshal and he were both teachers and friends, and to put it in a cheesy way, they were even inseparable.

He stood beside the young marshal, with his own dignity, like a division commander, a guard, a comrade-in-arms...

Lin Zhidong walked forward quickly in a standard running posture, stood at attention and saluted, full of energy.

"Report to the commander, the Marine Battalion Commander, Major Zhao Zhengbei has arrived!"

All the soldiers looked at him in unison, making Bei Feng feel somewhat uncomfortable.

He walked over with his head down, saluted, and reported his name, position, and original unit number.

However, before the young marshal could say anything, Guo Guizi shouted sternly without even looking away:
"The voice must be loud, and the soldiers must be vigorous and energetic!"

Zhao Zhengbei frowned, then shouted loudly: "Marine Battalion Zhao Zhengbei, report in!"

The young marshal nodded, walked over, saluted, and then extended his hand, smiling, "Thank you for your hard work, Captain Zhao. I just heard that you were very brave in the battle last night, so I wanted to see you. How are you? Are you not injured?"

Seeing that the other person was so young, Zhao Zhengbei felt a little awkward, but he smiled and said, "No injuries, no hardship, it's all my duty."

The young marshal sighed and said, "If everyone could be as brave as Captain Zhao, the Fengtian Army would not have been defeated."

As he said this, he suddenly turned around, raised his hand and called over an officer one by one.

"Captain Wang, you must make use of this person!"

"Yes!"

The officer was in his thirties. When he heard the young marshal's order, he nodded immediately.

Seeing Bei Feng was a little confused, the young marshal said, "Captain Zhao, this man is called Wang Shengwen, and he is the new regiment commander appointed by the headquarters."

Zhao Zhengbei suddenly realized what was going on and said hurriedly, "Don't worry, sir. I will do my best to help you win this battle."

This was a perfectly normal polite remark that no one could find fault with, but it certainly was not gratifying at all.

But when Guo Guizi heard this, he snorted inexplicably and said, "If the West Route Army hadn't been so incompetent, there would have been no need to fight a blocking war. They caused the mess, and now we have to clean up the mess."

When everyone heard this, they couldn't help but look at each other.

Although this is not wrong, it always sounds a bit depressing at the moment.

The young marshal's expression changed slightly, but he respected him, trusted him, and even spoiled him, so he covered it up casually.

"No matter what, I still hope that this war can end quickly so that the brothers can return home safely."

Upon hearing this, the soldiers naturally nodded.

"After all, this is also a civil war. Win or lose, it's not glorious." Guo Guizi suddenly muttered again.

After hearing this, Zhao Zhengbei couldn't help but frown, his eyes full of confusion and puzzlement.

The young marshal then whispered a few words in agreement, saying, "Brigade Commander Guo is right. This war is indeed meaningless, but we still have to fight. I just hope it can end as soon as possible."

Then he turned to his adjutant and asked, "How is the itinerary going? I have to talk to my fourth uncle and try to mediate the war as soon as possible."

The young marshal's voice was so soft that only a few officers nearby could hear it clearly.

Everyone else agreed, but Zhao Zhengbei's face immediately turned cold and he became silent when he heard it.

However, his rank was too low, and no one cared about his expression except Lin Zhidong.

Finally, the Prince and Guo Guizi said a few words to boost morale in front of the soldiers, and the inspection work ended there.

Several senior military officers returned to the headquarters to discuss the next combat strategy.

All the soldiers were very moved, and then burst out with even greater fighting spirit.

Although the emperor is gone, the concept of the emperor still exists, and everyone feels that it is a great honor to accompany the "crown prince" to the battlefield.

But there are always exceptions...

…………

"Zhengbei, what was that look in your eyes just now?"

Back in the trench, Lin Zhidong asked while carrying a sandbag: "The young marshal praised you, why are you not happy? If you said something nice, he might have promoted you to deputy commander on the spot."

"I can't explain it." Zhao Zhengbei leaned against the earth wall, cleaning the barrel of his gun and saying, "This battle was so fucking suffocating."

"What's wrong?"

"We are fighting desperately on the front line, and he is calling us 'Big Brother' all the time, and he even says that this battle is meaningless. Is he worthy of the brothers who died on the front line?"

When Lin Zhidong heard this, he was so scared that he rushed forward, covered Beifeng's mouth, and looked around vigilantly.

"Brother, don't say such nonsense! Do you still want to stay in the military camp in the future?"

"Just tell me, I didn't say anything wrong, did I?" Zhao Zhengbei pushed Lin Zhidong's hand away. "This war was fought for the Zhang family. So many brothers died, but he still has no intention of doing anything. What the hell!"

"Hey, the more you talk, the more excited you get!" Lin Zhidong advised, "Don't worry about whether it's right or not, you can't say this!"

"I'm just chatting with you!"

"You trust me quite a bit."

"It's okay, I know where your home is."

Lin Zhidong curled his lips and said, "Well, don't say that about the young marshal. He is still good to us. The prince can go to the front line, which is not bad."

Zhao Zhengbei ignored him and continued to talk to himself: "And that Guizi Guo said that civil war is not glorious. What is he talking about?"

"That's actually true." Lin Zhidong thought for a moment and said, "The country is in crisis, and civil war is indeed shameful."

"We have to fight, no matter how dishonorable it is!" Zhao Zhengbei said, "The situation is like this. If you don't fight and I don't fight, we can live our own lives. So why not just split up?"

Lin Zhidong was suddenly speechless. After thinking for a long time, he waved his hand and said, "This is not something we can worry about."

After all the arguing, it seems that no matter what you say, there is some truth to it.

In the end, I simply stopped thinking about it and just focused on the task at hand.

As they were talking, rumors suddenly spread in the trenches.

Several brothers who were on duty at the regiment headquarters came back and said that there was a quarrel among the superiors. When asked what they were arguing about, they could not answer.

In short, the young marshal and other senior generals held a very long meeting in the central military tent.

About two hours later, several military vehicles slowly left the camp and returned to the Shimenzhai headquarters.

Everyone then started whispering to each other.

After a while, the newly appointed regiment commander, Wang Shengwen, strode towards the trench and went straight to Beifeng and others.

Seeing this, everyone stood up and saluted.

When he was about to ask the reason, Captain Wang called out Zhao Zhengbei by name.

"Have!"

Zhao Zhengbei responded, but he didn't know what he meant.

"Go and pick up two reconnaissance companies, follow me." Captain Wang immediately ordered, "Attention to the rest of the battalions and companies, after dinner, organize your equipment, and the reinforcements will arrive at the front line tonight, so be on standby at any time!"

(End of this chapter)