Chapter 190: Fierce Battle (Part 3) [Volume 3 – The Place Where My Heart Feels At Peace]

Qianye naturally wouldn’t let the expeditionary army retreat in peace. The officers couldn’t stop his pursuit and continuous attacks despite doing their best to keep the retreating soldiers in formation. Fighters fell one after another under his relentless assault. At this time, Qianye was like a wolf stalking his prey—he bit off large chunks from time to time, causing the expeditionary army’s wounds to gradually expand.

Qianye tailed them out of the village and only gave up when he felt several snipers lock onto him.

Thick smoke surged from the unextinguished flames and wreckage. The two guard captains were drenched in blood as they came over to meet him. It was unknown whether the blood was theirs or the enemies’. However, their spirits were obviously higher than before the battle began, and raging flames could be seen burning in the depths of their eyes. Their gazes toward Qianye were also different from before.

Qianye was quite clear as to what their gazes embodied. It was respect for an expert and could even be considered worship. Qianye could be said to have won the two guard captains’ respect from this point onwards.

An idea flashed through Qianye’s heart—it was as if the sudden realization tore through the dense mist like a bolt of lightning—he was no longer a lone wolf but a commander who needed to lead the whole battlefield!

Qianye’s strategy wasn’t wrong in terms of maximizing personal accomplishments. Snipers were independent units who, under normal circumstances, could only exert their full potential when they were free to choose their own position. But a commander was different—he needed to let all his subordinates see him, trust him, and let them know that the commander would always be with them.

The situation here was different from when he was in the 131st company. The latter was a seasoned squad—Bao Zhengcheng and his officers all served as sturdy nodes of command on the battlefield. Such a coordination was built over the countless battles in which they risked their lives together. Qianye’s hurriedly assembled squad, on the other hand, had no such cooperation and neither had they accumulated much confidence. That was especially why they required a strong commander.

The person most qualified for such a position was Wei Potian. Qianye had seen his fighting style back at Darkblood City and also during the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt. His imposing attitude and the way he fought at the head of his troops to storm the enemy directly were qualities suited for open confrontations on the battlefield. One merely needed to look at his reputation and position in the Broken Winged Angels to see that his style was suitable for leading troops.

But Qianye had learnt only killing methods during the Yellow Springs Training Camp and his time with the Red Scorpions. Maintaining morale became the single most important factor in order to win an outnumbered battle without the aid of steep fortifications and geographical advantage. That meant he had to collapse the enemy head-on.

That was the difference between a soldier and a general. This age belonged to the strong and only the strong reigned supreme!

Qianye appeared on the battlefield with an indomitable attitude from the moment he tossed out that vampire grenade. Anyone who dared challenge him, from second lieutenants to lieutenant colonels, were all killed! This dealt a huge blow to the expeditionary army’s morale while lifting their own at the same time.

Finally, the expeditionary army’s first assault was thus repelled.

In addition to the two guard captains, the fighters from among the seedlings had also gathered before Qianye. They were previously tasked with leading their own small groups during the organization phase. After going through the previous battle, all of them had become the core of their respective squads. Some of the more experienced veterans were already beginning to reorganize their members as soon as the battle ended.

Qianye didn’t say too much and only gave out simple instructions. “Perform a casualty check and reorganize the defenses. Remember to distribute weapons and equipment to everyone now that we have sufficient armaments.

After everyone hurriedly dispersed to attend to their duties, Qianye climbed to the badly damaged watchtower alone and gazed at the distant expeditionary army. They had retreated for over a thousand meters and were reorganizing their troops. It was obvious that the enemy commander was apprehensive of Qianye’s Eagleshot and had all the troops retreat well outside its range before marshaling the soldiers.

Qianye’s sight was fixed upon a certain lieutenant colonel standing in front of the troop formation. In truth, his Eagleshot could definitely reach the latter. It was just that, due to the great distance, the officer would likely have enough time to evade.

“Sir, you’ve been wounded.” It was a young and tender voice full of obvious nervousness.

Qianye turned around to see a young seedling girl. The dust and blood on her face couldn’t conceal her delicate and beautiful features.

Following the little girl’s gaze, Qianye looked down to find a large bloodstain around his waist. There was a badly mangled wound that was still bleeding.

Qianye himself couldn’t recall when he had been wounded. Perhaps it was when he had run through the hail of bullets to fight against the assault squad that had gathered in the plaza, or perhaps he was sniped while pursuing the retreating expeditionary army. He secretly activated his blood energy and discovered a strand of cold origin power lingering around the wound, preventing it from healing.

The one who had shot Qianye apparently possessed a special ability. This kind of rare cold attribute origin power was quite useful in battle. That soldier would likely become an expert given enough time to develop. But unfortunately, he had encountered Qianye. Qianye had clearly committed him to memory despite not knowing the exact person—each and everyone who had attacked him with origin power were destined to be on his list of martial accomplishments.

This was war.

Outside the village. The lieutenant colonel’s expression was solemn, and the seventh division’s battalion commander beside him wasn’t looking any better.

The seventh division commander suddenly spoke, “I’ll lead the charge during the next battle!”

The lieutenant colonel shook his head. “Our division’s assault battalion commander, my vice regimental commander, and another battalion commander all died within the village. Do you think you’ll fare any better if you go?”

The battalion commander roared, “At least I don’t fear death!”

The lieutenant colonel replied coldly, “No one here fears death! But the sacrifice must be effective! What good will charging in do apart from serving as the brat’s target? Will it win us the battle?”

The battalion commander’s face turned blue and white. He couldn’t help but sneer, “Indeed, no one fears death, but I wonder whose men was it that ran away just now.”

The regiment commander snorted but didn’t retort. The men in question were naturally the soldiers under his command.

The battalion commander checked the time and turned rather anxious. “When do we attack?”

“We rest for until dawn at least. The troops are in no condition to fight at the moment.”

“But we of the seventh division can’t wait any longer! We must eliminate these seedlings before dusk tomorrow!”

“That’s your problem.”

The battalion commander couldn’t hold back any longer and started shouting, “Don’t think the 15th division will be unaffected if the seventh division gets in trouble. Don’t forget that all of us are in this together.”

The lieutenant colonel’s expression became as gloomy as black stone as he stared fixedly at the seventh division’s battalion commander. Only after some time did he turn toward his aide and barked, “Go, go and request reinforcements from the division commander! I need true reinforcements!”

The orderly jumped onto the jeep and drove away as if he was flying. Their distance from the 15th division was no more than 10 kilometers—reinforcements would flock toward them by noon the following day. As for how the local 10th division would react, that was a matter for the generals to ponder on.

No sooner had the seventh division’s battalion commander recovered his composure than the 15th division commander said coldly, “Why did your seventh division only send one battalion? Don’t forget that once this matter is disclosed, our 15th division will only suffer to a certain extent, while the seventh division will be pushed to the forefront as the mastermind behind everything!”

The battalion commander’s expression turned unsightly once again.

The lieutenant colonel didn’t say much more than that. He believed that the battalion commander would understand the meaning behind his words. He then called the vice commander over and began to go over the casualty reports.

The expeditionary army had abandoned nearly 400 corpses during the first assault. Their casualty rate was over one fifth. Although he trusted Qianye’s side to fare just as badly, the present casualty rate had far surpassed his expectations. Furthermore, they weren’t even able to capture the village.

The vice commander major hurriedly entered and whispered, “Commander, things don’t look good. Our officer casualty rates are too high. Some of our brethren are refusing to fight.”

“How many did we lose?” the lieutenant commander asked begrudgingly.

“Over 50 junior officers have died!”

“What!?” The lieutenant colonel could no longer keep his calm. He exchanged a few words with the major before turning to sneer at the seventh division’s battalion commander. “This is the rank five soldier from your reports!? Have you ever seen a goddamn rank-five soldier kill so many lieutenants!?”

By the end, the lieutenant colonel was already shouting at the top of his lungs with spittle flying onto the face of the seventh division’s battalion commander. The battalion commander couldn’t find anything to say—he could only laugh bitterly without even having the chance to wipe off the spittle on his face.

In the village, Qianye only applied basic treatment to his wounds before he was up and about, checking the situation of the village defenses. The total casualties among the seedlings and guardsmen combined for a little over 100, well within the acceptable range. After experiencing the previous life and death battle, Qianye could no longer see fear within their young eyes but instead saw courage and worship.

A general who appears in the most dangerous places and charges toward the most powerful enemies will inevitably gain the love and respect of his soldiers.

Gazing at the young warriors who had gathered around him, Qianye calmly said, “Persevere for a while longer. We only need to overcome the next assault because reinforcements will arrive tomorrow evening. This is the Far East Wei Clan’s domain. A mere expeditionary army division commander is nothing before an upper-rank aristocratic family of the empire.”

The surroundings became momentarily silent following which the seedlings began to cheer, their exhaustion and pain seemingly swept away. The expeditionary army, to them, was an insurmountable giant entity, the rulers of the Evernight Continent. They might not fear death, but their futures looked completely barren—even if they won this time, what about the next?

No one had told them before what this village was. Perhaps many among them didn’t even know the Far East Wei Clan, but the words "upper-rank aristocratic family of the empire" couldn’t be clearer. They signified an existence that could contend against the colossus that was the expeditionary army. It also implied that their futures weren’t so hopeless as long as they survived!

The battleground was always full of unexpected surprises—what they saw arrive wasn’t Wei Potian’s reinforcements but instead the 15th division’s reserves.

This time, the 15th division had dispatched a whole regiment. Sending out two regiments across areas within a short period of time was already their limit. At Broken River City, 20 kilometers from them, the 10th division continued to maintain their silence.

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User "rendezvous on memory lane" asked about military ranks used in MoE so I'm posting them here for reference. The links go to relevant Wikipedia pages.

Officer Ranks: Second Lieutenant --> First Lieutenant --> Captain --> Major --> Lieutenant Colonel --> Colonel --> Brigadier General --> Major General --> Lieutenant General --> General --> Marshal

Junior Officers: Second Lieutenant, First Lieutenant, Captain

Senior Officers: Major, Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel