Chapter 119: Calm Afterward

  After everyone left, Wekes and Brant closed the door and came before Gao Yang.

  Gaoyang sat down on the chair, propped up his legs, lit a cigarette and said faintly "What happened? Tell me!"

  Gao Yang's arrival at the command room spread quickly throughout the entire army in the shortest time. Zhang Xinghai, who also didn't sleep that night, stood up and said in a low voice, "I'll go find Du Jun to apologize!"

  Hu Conglu, who had been hastily driven out of the command room by Gao Yang and rushed to the Second Regiment to report, grabbed Zhang Xinghai with one hand. "Xinghai brother! What are you doing? Have you gone mad? This is not the time for this!"

  Zhang Xinghai struggled twice, but couldn't break free from Hu Conglu's hand. He sighed and looked at him, saying "Conglu, I thought carefully last night, we were too impulsive! The Chief of Staff doesn't understand the situation here, we should explain it clearly to them! But us, we..."

  Zhang Xinghai was almost thirty years old, after the passionate impulse of last night, he returned to the troop department and calmly thought about it before suddenly realizing that things were not so simple!

  Why did so many young officers receive the news in such a short period of time? How did they go to the command center? This is a war zone! Why didn't anyone stop so many officers from suddenly leaving the front-line troops to head to the command center?!

  Even if the mercenaries' officers were unable to stop them, what about the local mid-ranking officers? Why didn't the regimental and battalion commanders stop them? Didn't they know what was going on?

  Zhang Xinghai thought of this and felt a chill in his heart! It was clear that he and his young friends had been used as pawns!

  After understanding this point, thinking about other things becomes much clearer. Openly disobeying military orders on the battlefield! Defying commanding officers! Abandoning one's post! And even proposing to let the highest commander verify the order!!!!!

  Zhang Xinghai felt an urge to cry! Any of these is an unforgivable crime!

  When he finally came to his senses, Zhang Xinghai slapped himself several times. "Stupid! You're really stupid, you're a complete idiot!"

  Zhang Xinghai was anxious like an ant on a hot pot and didn't sleep all night!

  Xinghai Zhang, who was anxious in his heart, just wanted to go and apologize to Gao Yang. Hu Conglu, however, held him tightly and wouldn't let go. Just as the two were struggling, Zhang Zhonglin walked in, covered in dust.

  While having breakfast, a wave of shells suddenly came from the south of Ningde City! None of them hit the heads of the officers and soldiers of the Sixth Division who were having breakfast, all of which fell into Ningde City!

  The troops stationed on the south side did not find any trace of the enemy! At that time, the sixth division's position was in a state of panic.

  Only the Second Regiment, which was resting near the division headquarters, reacted the most quickly. Zhang Zhonglin and the regimental commander immediately reported to the division headquarters and led their troops to rush south by train!

  The artillery positions of the Second Division were discovered a few kilometers away from Ningde City! After a brief and intense close combat, the Second Division's artillery troops, with almost no guards, were completely annihilated!

  Zhang Zhonglin returned to the command center and saw Zhang Xinghai pulling and tugging at each other, asking in surprise "What are you doing?"

  Hu Conglu hastily told Zhang Zhonglin about what happened in the command room between Gao Yang and the chief of staff while tightly hugging Zhang Xinghai.

  "Oh, okay, you both let go!" Zhang Zhonglin received the news without showing any special expression, and just asked the two to calm down first.

  Hu Cong and Lu finally calmed down. They looked at Zhang Zhonglin together. "Sigh~" Zhang Zhonglin first sighed, sat on the nearby ammunition box, lit a cigarette, and said in a low voice, "Xing Hai brother, I understand your thoughts! However, you really can't go find Du Jun now!"

  "Why?" Zhang Xinghai asked in a low voice after calming down.

  He exhaled a ring of cigarette smoke, and Zhang Zhonglin looked at the two people and said in a low voice, "I also understand now. What we did yesterday had a big loophole! However, it's already done, and regretting it now is useless. Now we should think carefully about how to make up for it!"

  Zhang Xinghai smiled wryly, slumped down on the ammunition box, lit a cigarette and said "Make up for it? How can we make up for it? We are disobeying military orders! Commander Gao is a ruthless and decisive person! Since the rebellion began, how many officers have been executed under martial law? What are we?"

  Zhang Zhonglin said faintly, "What you said is right, we did disobey military orders, but! We had a reason for it! It wasn't without cause that we disobeyed military orders. Of course, the most important thing isn't this. The important thing is......"

  Zhang Zhonglin paused for a moment, swept his eyes over the two people staring at him tightly, and continued to say "What's important is that although Commander Gao is decisive in maintaining military discipline, he also understands the principle of not blaming the masses!"

  "Is the law not to blame for the masses?" Zhang Xinghai muttered. Suddenly, his eyes lit up and he looked up at Zhang Zhonglin with a trembling voice, saying "Your meaning is..."

  "It's simple. General Gao can't possibly execute all the officers involved in this matter! If we were all executed, what would happen to the troops? What would other officers think? Moreover, this matter is not that simple! Those who followed General Gao and rose to high positions with him, did they do this without his knowledge?" Zhang Zhonglin's eyes flashed with a hint of anger as he spoke in a low voice.

  "And for General Gao, this is also a very good opportunity." Suddenly, Hu Conglai standing beside him said.

  "Huh?" Zhang Xinghai was somewhat taken aback.

  "Since the days of the Security Regiment, local officers and mercenary officers have been the two fists of Commander Gao! They helped Commander Gao sweep across several provinces and made great contributions!" Hu Zonglu said calmly.

  "It's just that success or failure depends on Xiao He. As Gao Dingtai's power grew, the ambitions of local officers also grew rapidly. Most of them came from humble backgrounds, hadn't read many books, let alone attended military school." At this point, Hu Zonglu glanced at Zhang Xinghai.

  Zhang Xinghai looked at him with some curiosity, not understanding why he suddenly looked at himself.

  "Xing Haige, your last operation in Magic City to capture Huang Laoban was actually a failure! Moreover, as a negotiator, you destroyed the enemy's command center, which is against military law!"

  Hu Congluo coughed lightly and continued, "But Director Gao forgave you! Not because he appreciates you so much, but because of you... and us! We are the trusted officers that Director Gao has carefully cultivated! Otherwise, do you think you could have returned to military school after capturing Huang Lao's action? This is Director Gao protecting you!"

  Zhang Xinghai's mind was struck by lightning, and he stared blankly at the two people in front of him. He had originally thought that he was the leader among his peers in college, with the best grades and the clearest understanding of things.

  It suddenly dawned on me that I was the biggest fool! These younger brothers are more clever than one another!

  "What?" Zhang Xinghai suddenly remembered that when he was in college, Principal Brant had always praised him as the most outstanding student.

  In the past, I was quite self-satisfied, but now that I think about it carefully, in the eyes of my instructor at Brant, I probably looked more like a pure soldier, without so many fancy ideas.

  Looking at Zhang Xinghai, who was slightly bowing his head and remaining silent, Hu Zonglu shook his head and continued to say: "The local military officers thought that they could become a military leader like others under the warlords! But Commander Gao didn't give them the opportunity! Commander Gao would rather promote German mercenaries as high-ranking officers than suppress them! Therefore, with Wekes, the chief of staff, as the main target, the German mercenaries became their primary target!"

  "Yesterday, they just happened to have a good excuse and took advantage of our young and hot-blooded personalities, using us as pawns. They not only attacked the Chief of Staff but also pushed us into the spotlight! What a clever move, killing two birds with one stone! After all, it's obvious what High Commander is thinking, waiting for us to grow up quickly so we can replace the German mercenaries in their posts. This army can't always rely heavily on German mercenaries as officers. I mean, just think about it, after only a few months of military school, you can become a junior captain? High Commander's intentions are so obvious, who can't see that?"

  Zhang Xinghai smiled wryly and said in a low voice, "I didn't see that coming!"

  Zhang Zhonglin patted his shoulder and said in a low voice, "Don't worry, Commander Gao's personality is very strong! They won't have a good ending if they do this to force Commander Gao's hand! With Commander Gao's personality, it's likely that things will backfire on them this time! Unless they're desperate and do something......"

  Hu Zonglu directly interrupted his words, saying lightly "Can't jump! I don't know if you've noticed, but almost all the company-level officers are very strange! Usually they don't make a sound, but as soon as Commander Gao gives an order, they'll rush to their deaths without hesitation! And there are many qualified company-level officers who have never been promoted for so long! They've never complained about anything and remain loyal to Commander Gao! So no one can do anything in the army, all the troops are firmly in Commander Gao's hands! If they want to jump out of desperation, they'll be torn to pieces immediately!"

  Zhang Zhonglin sighed and said in a low voice, "This time's incident will definitely cause a great stir! As for how to solve it, everything has to wait for Commander Gao to make the decision!"

  In the command room, Gao Yang's cigarette had long been extinguished. With a gloomy face, Gao Yang sat quietly, his chest rising and falling slightly, this time he was really angry!

  "A bunch of idiots!" Gao Yang suddenly threw away the cigarette in his hand and cursed. The young officers he had high hopes for performed too poorly this time!

  Vicks and Brant exchanged a glance before stepping forward and saying "Sir! I request to resign from all military posts! Please approve."

  Gao Yang calmed down his emotions, looked at Wekes and nodded slightly. This incident had a great impact on Wekes' prestige! If he was to continue in office, those young officers must be severely dealt with!

  Weix's voluntary resignation gave Gao Yang a good excuse. But this matter won't end so easily! "Since you've started it, how it ends is no longer up to you!"