Liu Jiangyuan didn't know what Fang Chen thought about this? He only knew that he was numb and even his thoughts became difficult.

The so-called "new recruits" are actually refugees who have just been recruited into the army and have received basic training for two weeks.

In peacetime, the training period for newly enlisted recruits is at least three months long. This is only the primary stage. If it is a field force, the basic training period will reach half a year or even longer. Only those who win in the final assessment are qualified to become soldiers.

The current training is different from the past. Physical fitness, off-road, long-distance obstacles and other events have been cancelled, shooting, fighting and equipment operations have been listed as training focus. Even the most basic military courses like queues have been simplified to the minimum level.

Liu Jiangyuan is an old-fashioned officer. Of course, he would not agree with these changes. However, in the face of the helpless current situation, he could only remain silent.

The front-line death rate is astonishingly high. In order to maintain the combat effectiveness of the front-line troops, the logistics supply center can only repeatedly compress the training time of the recruits. With the basis of strengthening potions, physical fitness and skill training are of course completely abandoned. The meaning of soldiers' existence is only to kill mutant creatures. They only need to learn to shoot, fight, and lose more opponents in the battle of abandoned cities, which is enough.

Every day, the battles are made with the old and the new. The proportion of combat personnel entering the abandoned cities is often the first and the veterans. Although the Air Force provides full support to the eastern frontline, there are airships responsible for monitoring over each abandoned city. There are always various ways to approach silence and launch a sudden attack from unexpected locations for people. In this war of attrition that cannot be seen, it is difficult to say who is the real hunter? Who is the real prey?

Only soldiers who have struggled from the brink of death know that searching with their eyes and mind consciousness is absolutely not enough. Although personal computers are connected to surveillance airships, those formulaic data cannot be believed at all. Humanoids are not zombies, they have hundreds of variants. The agility and speed of blood corpses are beyond imagination. They can move quickly in any complex terrain. High-rise buildings and underground ditches are not obstacles at all, but become the best hiding place.

If you want to survive in the battle and kill those damn mutant creatures, you must know more.

When recruits first arrived at the front line, veterans would tell them: learn to use their noses and fingers.

Mutant creatures have strong odors, which can be used to distinguish the other person's movements and traces to a large extent. As for fingers, it refers specifically to the touch of the traces found, such as feces, footprints, secreted mucus, etc.... You must contact them yourself to determine whether these traces are fresh or old, and to judge the specific time left behind, so as to determine whether there may be mutant creatures hidden around you.

The preciousness of battlefield experience is self-evident. The military headquarters has also specially produced similar brochures to distribute to recruits, requiring everyone to memorize them. However, the training period is too short and recruits cannot remember too much content at all. They can only respond hastily and use their lives to verify the links that have been recorded by the dead.

The battle death rate and the supplement rate have never been balanced. The 517th Division's lack of personnel rate was as high as 30%. Liu Jiangyuan had no choice but to adjust the proportion of new and old combat troops entering the city repeatedly. From the initial 50%, then forty, thirty, twenty...

Fang Chen seemed to be able to see through what Liu Jiangyuan thought at the moment. He sighed and shook his head repeatedly: "If this continues, there will probably be no veterans again. The situation on my side is similar to yours. Now, as long as you have experienced two battles in the city, they can be considered veterans. But even so, these soldiers only account for one-quarter of the total number of the division."

Liu Jiangyuan pondered for a moment and asked seriously: "Do you think we can win this war?"

This question was very strange. Fang Chen turned his gaze to Liu Jiangyuan and stared at him with confusion in his eyes

After a long time, Fang Chen shook his head slowly: "I haven't considered this issue. Because there is no need to think about it at all. In any case, we must fight. Mutant creatures will not..."

"You didn't understand what I mean."

Liu Jiangyuan blew up the ashes, wiped the hot sweat from his cheeks, and interrupted the other party's words with accentuation: "We have the most advanced weapons, the number of troops exceeds any period in history, and the material supply is sufficient, occupying a defensive advantage in the geographical environment. However, since the outbreak of the virus, almost every battle has not been won. Many people have died in battle, and more people have been replenished. We transport hundreds of mutant creatures from abandoned cities every day, but never really drove them out of the city. Don't you think this is a very terrible vicious circle?"

Fang Chen is certainly not a fool to be able to become a general who commands a division. He thought for a while and soon understood the hidden meaning in Liu Jiangyuan's words.

"You mean...Su Hao?"

Liu Jiangyuan took a big sip of cigarette hard and nodded with a dull expression: "He is the best soldier I have ever met. He is very familiar with mutant creatures and knows their weaknesses and basic habits. It is no exaggeration to say that Su Hao has truly won the first victory since the biological war. Without him, we would not have lived until now.

Fang Chen felt a twitching in the corners of his eyes, and his heart was beating for no reason. He swallowed a mouthful of saliva, stood up, walked quickly to the door, scanned the surroundings vigilantly, and then closed it.

Although this is a private conversation between two teachers and commanders, it cannot be guaranteed that no one can eavesdrop. Now is not a peaceful period with sound legal system. Many inadvertent complaints may be infinitely amplified by those who are interested, from a few insignificant words to a huge cause that is fatal.

"The guys in the military only know how to fight for power and profit. They seem to have no interest in winning biological wars. After three years, the front line remains the same. Even the Lujiang we seized was occupied by mutant creatures again. None of the big men came forward to be responsible for this, and the military only issued documents and deprived several combat commanders. Humph, those guys were not in the combat organization, and they were purely the trusted confidants of a high-ranking official. Not only did they receive punishment when they returned, they changed their positions in another department. Anyway, the ones who died in battle were always subordinate officers and soldiers, and they had nothing to do with them."

Fang Chen extended his thinking consciousness detection tentacles to the extreme, and he judged every suspicious signal around the room with a nervous expression. He lowered his voice and hurriedly wanted to stop Liu Jiangyuan: "I understand your feelings. But now is not the time to talk about these things. We'd better discuss it in a different time and place."

"A change of time?"

Liu Jiangyuan raised his head and looked at Fang Chen who was sweating on his head with a tired face, and smiled bitterly: "I don't know if I can survive until that time. The 517th Division has only more than 300 new recruits this month, and your 5th Division is not much better, and the supplement rate is about the same as mine. From the beginning of this year, the vacancies for supplementary soldiers have been maintained at more than 60%. Now, the 517th Division, including the logistics and support departments, has less than 4,000 personnel. With the current combat consumption, we will be completely wiped out in less than two months."

Fang Chen fell into silence. He slowly walked back to the chair and sat down, took several sips of cigarettes in succession, and gasped heavily. He was not sure, but asked expectantly: "Old Liu, what do you...what do you want to say?"

“We’re abandoned”

Liu Jiangyuan sneered and pointed out the key to the problem: "We are not the direct line of those in the military headquarters. They cannot take care of us or treat us preferentially. There are not enough recruits to supplement it, it is just an ostensibly pretext. If the entire division is completely wiped out in battle, they have enough excuses to restore the organization. Of course, important positions such as division commanders and chiefs of staff will definitely be held by others. We have only two endings: either die on the spot; or escape from the abandoned city alive, and then sent to the military court, and sentenced to death under the pretext of "cowarding the enemy in the face of battle."

"Don't think I'm talking nonsense. I'm very sober and don't talk nonsense. Look at the people around us. Lao Zhou died in the battle in Guangzhou last year. The remaining UU Pei returned to the new Nanjing base for adaptation. 77 Pei suffered heavy losses in the siege of Wuhu. Kang Mingguang was dismissed on the spot and took to the No. 1 base in Beijing, and there was no news again. There was also Li Hansheng's 48 Pei, who also suffered serious losses in the war and retreated to the rear for rest and was ordered to go to Xinjiang to take charge of the construction of the new base city. During the Dragon Boat Festival, I called him and 48 Pei had changed a new commander. He told me that Lao Li disappeared on the base construction site last year and was judged as "fleeing for fear of crime" by the Investigation Committee of the Ministry of Military Law. Now, the division commander and chief of staff of 48 Pei are both directly appointed by the military department."

Looking at Fang Chen's slightly trembling gaze, Liu Jiangyuan's eyes released a strong ruthlessness as the sun deep. He raised his index finger with his right hand and pointed to the ceiling: "As long as it is a failed battle, someone needs to be responsible for it. The definition of the word "failure" is actually not accurate. In the eyes of many people, long-term stalemate, excessive losses, and even consumption exceeds profits should be considered failure. We have been sent here since the Battle of Hefei, and about half of the division-level commanders on the eastern front were replaced by various reasons. I have checked that they are all people without backgrounds. After the troops were removed from their posts, they have also been appointed to new commanders. This practice is no longer the internal military system we are familiar with, and has completely become a competition for individual forces."

"Look at our neighbors: UU Pei's new recruits have always been 100%; 79 Pei's supplies and ammunition have never been lacking; it only took Pei three months from completing the establishment to being an armored division. Look at the daily performance of these troops. The number of mutant creatures killed never exceeded twenty, and the battle rate was zero for several weeks. Haha, even so, they were still listed as "model troops", "fist division", "defender division"... Those guys received military rewards one after another, with banners and certificates being poor, and various military equipment and material guarantees were sufficient. What about us? The subordinate officers and soldiers could only get the minimum "class D ratio", and even the daily refrigeration power in this hot weather could not meet."

Fang Chen was silent and threw away the cigarette butts in his hand. He felt that his palm was covered with sweat, but there was no temperature at all. It was cold and wet, as if he was holding an invisible piece of ice.

Liu Jiangyuan did not say nonsense.

Just yesterday, when Fang Chen was routinely inspecting the troops, he found that several soldiers died of heatstroke.

Since last year, various combat supplies in Pei have been in short supply. Food, drinking water and ammunition are barely available for maintenance. The shortage rate of medicines, bedding and fuel is as high as more than 60%. According to relevant military regulations, this place is a special war zone with high temperature or extreme cold environments. The barracks of thirty people must be equipped with air conditioners. However, when Fang Chen took over the military camp from the previous batch of garrison troops, he had never seen similar items and had not received any corresponding ration list.

As for the neighboring troops... Last week, when Fang Chen led his soldiers through the 79 Pei station and headed to the abandoned city, he found that the division's personnel actually had ice cream and soda supplies.

At that time, Fang Chen's subordinates were indignant. Fang Chen could only smile bitterly at this. The new division commander of 79 Pei is said to be the nephew of a member of a military department. Of course, people like him who have no background cannot be compared with him.

Fang Chen had similar thoughts to Liu Jiangyuan. However, he was not as radical as Liu Jiangyuan, and he spoke out the thoughts in his mind directly.

Liu Jiangyuan stared at Fang Chen with a cold and firm tone: "I am willing to die in battle like a real soldier, but I am never willing to become a victim of power struggle. If the current situation continues, no more than two months at most, our ending will be to die in battle or be imprisoned by the Military Law Department."

Fang Chen looked at him deeply, kept licking his lips, and his tone became decisive: "Tell me what are you going to do?"

"Leaving the line of defense without authorization is a serious crime of death. However, staying behind is also death. Our only way to live is to go south."

As he said that, Liu Jiangyuan stood up, took out a map from the table drawer, spread it on the table, and pointed to the abandoned city of Guiyang, located in the southwest: "This is the sphere of influence of the 505th Army. They are very powerful, and Su Hao is a trustworthy guy. Apart from him, I can't think of anyone else who will take us in."

Fang Chen kept frowning and asked, "How should we go? The distance from here to the new Guiyang base is too far. Once we leave, we will be discovered soon. No one will provide us with supplies along the way, and it is very likely that we will be surrounded and annihilated by neighboring troops. Maybe no one can escape."

"The best way is of course to break the whole into pieces and rush out."

Liu Jiangyuan raised his thumb, pressed the current garrison area of ​​his troops heavily, and drew a line connecting to the southwest region on the map: "I have been secretly storing various materials since the beginning of the year. The food consumption is enough to last for more than two months, and the fuel can last about 4,000 kilometers. There are always some people who will die, but as long as they arrive at the new Guiyang base alive, there will be no more danger."

The last sentence is not redundant. Whether Liu Jiangyuan or Fang Chen can't help but think of the scene when Su Hao led a commando of hundreds of people to resist the pursuit of creatures on the road and save himself from the monsters during the Battle of Hefei.

"This is definitely not treason, I just want to win this war under the leadership of a more suitable person.

Liu Jiangyuan looked directly at Fang Chen and said seriously: "He is different from the idiots in the military. He has never lost. He is likely to be the only person who can lead everyone to win the war. Although he is not a member of the military and has no prominent background."

Fang Chen felt the blood rushing on his cheeks in an instant, burning his entire head hot.

He gritted his teeth hard and a decisive word broke out from his teeth: "I'll listen to you, let's do it now."

Zhao Zhikai has always been a figure who perfectly combines theory and practice. After receiving Yuan Zhicheng's promise, he issued an order for dispatch as soon as possible.

A total of twenty divisions left their respective garrisons and began to move towards the southwest. Among them, twelve divisions belonged to new or resting and supplementary troops. The new recruit rate was as high as more than 60%, and the combat effectiveness was worrying. However, in the face of the number that had an absolute advantage, the quality of the soldiers was completely offset by the numbers.

The Xi'an base sent seven divisions, three armored divisions, two mobile infantry divisions, one airborne division and two infantry divisions left the bases they were stationed, headed south along the railway, gathered in designated areas, forming a semicircular encirclement net, and constantly moved closer to the direction of Xin Guiyang.

This is a large-scale joint military operation. In order to ensure success, the Air Force dispatched more than 300 fighter jets of various types to the Xi'an base. All adjacent theaters within the border line sent troops to move in the same direction. Among them, there are large-caliber self-propelled artillery that disappeared from the army sequence when the virus broke out, and there are also large numbers of long-range artillery units that have not been invested in biological warfare.

High-energy radiation weapons are only banned for mutant creatures, but they can be widely used in wars between humans. After all, dead people will not be resurrected in the airflow generated by shell explosions. However, viruses will mutate again and become the most terrifying existence that humans cannot resist.

Zhao Zhikai did not directly issue a verdict on Su Hao's "traitor" to leave the seat. He issued relevant documents on the "Southwest Region Joint Military Exercise" in the army. The entire military operation disguised itself in the name of "exercise", and it became natural to mobilize troops on a large scale. Although the goal of the plan was to completely solve the 505th Army, it would always be good if administrative means could be used to reduce casualties of subordinate troops.

The sea search troops have found nothing. Although the navy has picked up the wreckage, Su Hao has not been found. There is no corpse, and there are not even fragments of human body. He seems to have completely disappeared into the air or been decomposed by sea water. As a last resort, he even used words such as "suspectedly swallowed by large marine creatures" in the report submitted by the navy.
Chapter completed!