Chapter 327: “the Army’s Number One Battalion” – Invited By The Zhu Rihe Commanders!
Sun Dongping was forced to flee the main position on foot, heading for the nearest Hill Number Six.
In his view…
As long as he could reach Hill Number Six, withdraw all personnel from Hill Number Six back to the main position, and switch to defending the main position, he could definitely turn the situation around.
No matter how fierce the special operations platoon’s combat effectiveness was, it could not possibly stand against over a hundred people.
Although Hill Number Six had no tanks stationed, as a fully mechanized combined arms battalion, the infantry were equipped with armored infantry fighting vehicles for transport and firepower support.
With a dozen infantry fighting vehicles or personnel carriers withdrawing, the special operations platoon really wouldn’t be able to hold out.
Special forces soldiers were not supermen immune to bullets; this time, for the surprise attack, they had not brought anti-armor heavy firepower, so they truly had no advantage in front of infantry fighting vehicles.
And as long as they could hold the main position, even if Hill Number Five and Hill Number Six were completely lost, the Blue Army could still secure a draw.
Although Sun Dongping found it hard to accept a draw—he wanted to thoroughly crush Steel Seventh Company underfoot—the current situation left him no choice.
The main position had to be held; losing it would mean complete defeat.
And as Sun Dongping left the Blue Army Battalion Headquarters, the deputy battalion commander and the staff officers who remained were not idle either; they were doing everything possible to salvage the situation.
Someone ordered the attacking Blue Army tank group to accelerate their charge toward the Red Army rear area.
Upon learning that their main camp had been surprise-attacked by the Blue Army and that their battalion commander had fled in fright, the morale of the Blue Army tank unit plummeted.
However.
Despite the heavy blow to morale, the Blue Army tank group did not slacken.
Instead, under this life-and-death crisis, they further increased their marching speed, abandoning the pursuit of the Blue Army heavy artillery company and heading straight for the Red Army rear area.
The Blue Army tank unit was the only hope of victory, but their attack still needed a little more time.
The staff officers and deputy battalion commander at Blue Army Battalion Headquarters were all “experts” rigorously selected from the entire army, each an elite standout from their companies.
They were very clear about the current situation and knew that the Blue Army’s greatest crisis was time.
To buy time for the tank unit, everyone at Blue Army Battalion Headquarters chose to fight with their backs to the water, ordering all relevant Blue Army personnel on the main position to gather, with the battalion headquarters staff officers personally joining the fray to desperately resist the Red Army special forces’ mop-up.
They had to hold back the Red Army special forces’ advance to give the Blue Army any room to maneuver.
Otherwise, once the Red Army special operations platoon took out the Blue Army command post, they could quickly clear the threats on the main position and fully control it.
As soon as the Red Army announced control of the main position, it would mean the Red Army had won this exercise.
At that point, anything the Blue Army did would be futile.
From the command down to every warrior, the Blue Army truly lived up to being elites of the First Blue Army Brigade; their fighting will and combat thinking were impeccable.
Even in this extremely passive situation with the command post under attack, they could still organize defense and offense.
No wonder dozens of units from across the army had basically all lost in confrontation exercises against the Blue Army, with only one unit barely managing a draw.
With the Blue Army’s ferocious combat effectiveness, traditional units truly got utterly dominated when facing them.
Unfortunately.
Steel Seventh Battalion was not a traditional combat battalion.
As a combined arms unit at the forefront in Zhu Rihe, Steel Seventh Battalion not only had tactical play far superior to the Blue Army, but their warriors’ individual soldier qualities were also far superior.
Especially this Chen Jun, who had rigorously selected and put great effort into forging them, and even specially sent them for special training with A Detachment, receiving the most cutting-edge modern special forces training methods, already at the national forefront as a modern special operations platoon.
From the platoon-leading deputy company commander Tuo Yonggang down to every special forces soldier, their combat effectiveness was extremely ferocious.
Not even mentioning old A’s one-to-over-twenty ratio.
A one-to-ten combat loss ratio was effortless.
The Blue Army warriors on the main position, no matter how firm their fighting will, ultimately fell to the vast disparity in strength.
Most of them were logistics personnel to begin with, now facing the Red Army’s elite ace special forces.
It really was asking too much of them.
Even if the Blue Army warriors resisted as stubbornly as possible, in front of the Red Army special forces, it was still like an ant trying to stop a chariot; they couldn’t even manage to delay time.
The Red Army special forces advanced from both flanks, their momentum like a fierce tiger pouncing into a flock of sheep.
No one could block their advance.
The battle lasted less than five minutes, and over a hundred people from Blue Army Battalion Headquarters and the electronic warfare company, including others, were all “slaughtered clean” by the Red Army special forces.
Over a hundred people, smoking, walked out of the tents, looking at each other with eyes full of helplessness.
But even more was shock!
They, who had won thirty games in a row overwhelmingly, had always felt “invincible under heaven,” able to casually crush any Red Army unit.
But today, there was a one hundred and eighty degrees reversal; they were easily crushed by the Red Army.
This huge reversal brought a psychological drop that no Blue Army present could accept, feeling dazed as if living in a dream.
Living in the dream imagined by some Red Army unit!
“Report to deputy company commander, we’ve spotted a fleeing enemy officer. Observation shows it’s a colonel, but we don’t know who exactly; heading straight toward Hill Number Five.”
“Go, capture him alive.”
As soon as Tuo Yonggang heard that the escapee was a colonel, and the entire Blue Army main position had been cleared with no sign of the Blue Army battalion commander, he immediately knew what was up.
Thinking of capturing the Blue Army battalion commander alive, Tuo Yonggang felt particularly energized.
And with Tuo Yonggang issuing the pursuit order, Sun Dongping’s escape was hereby declared a failure; two legs couldn’t outrun four wheels.
Several special forces soldiers took a jeep and quickly intercepted Sun Dongping.
The Blue Army “famous general,” who had won over twenty confrontation exercises in a row and already gained considerable fame across the army, thus became a Red Army captive.
And with the Blue Army battalion commander captured alive, the battalion headquarters completely eradicated, the main position was fully controlled by the Red Army.
Tuo Yonggang personally went to the highest point of the main position, pulled down and discarded the Blue Army’s main battle flag, and replaced it with the Red Army battle flag he had brought.
With the Red Army’s flag on the Blue Army main position, fluttering and snapping in the wind.
The final Red-Blue confrontation of the “Lijun 1999” entire army confrontation exercise finally came to an end, with the Red Army occupying the main position for victory.
The undefeated First Blue Army Brigade heavy battalion welcomed their first defeat in life.
While Steel Seventh Battalion, the entire army’s first formally established combined arms unit, also undefeated to date, continued to maintain its awesome perfect record.
The numerous high-ranking military leaders who had specially rushed to watch this century war, gathered in the directing center.
Seeing the Red Army flag flying over the Blue Army position, witnessing this peak battle fought to the fullest, they could no longer suppress their inner excitement.
“Worthily a long-famous unit; their strength is undoubtedly top-notch. This battle was truly exhilarating to watch.”
“The Red and Blue sides fought fiercer and fiercer toward the end, both playing their trump cards; it really had my heart in my throat.”
“Both sides used their ultimate moves; who would win couldn’t be predicted until the very last moment.”
“This Steel Seventh Battalion on the Red Army side—their play style is truly elusive, with all sorts of ghostly tactics. I simulated it in my mind for a good half day, but I still couldn’t crack the Red Army’s tactics.”
…
The senior leaders from the Military Commission and various war zones all shared their feelings and thoughts, deeply touched in their hearts.
At this moment, they truly realized the huge advantage of synthesized informatized units.
Traditional units were simply too weak in front of them.
Air-ground integration, multi-branch unified command could unleash so many tactics that regular troops couldn’t even dream of matching.
Tactical diversity, command efficiency, establishment superiority.
In every aspect, absolute leads.
After watching this battle, every leader profoundly realized from the bottom of their hearts that synthesized military reform units had basically become a foregone conclusion.
Whether they liked it or not, they had to accept fully reforming their troops in the future, entering the full informatization era.
It was precisely the influence on the various military region chiefs that made the value of this battle to the entire army inestimable.
It became a core milestone of military reform!!
And for the Red and Blue sides participating in the exercise, victory or defeat was merely a surface result; deep down, it had far more profound significance.
The most crucial being tempering.
In this intense confrontation exercise, as the entire army’s only two formally established combined arms units, the Red and Blue Armies both gained ample experience.
Allowing them to verify their strengths and find their weaknesses.
With this precious experience, as long as they continuously strengthen their weaknesses in the future, their combat effectiveness would surely rise to the next level, becoming true ace elite units.
And for the Zhu Rihe Combined Arms Tactics Base, built with the nation’s full resources piled up.
It was born to enhance the entire army’s combat effectiveness, and inevitably had various issues at its inception, with much room for improvement.
This currently domestic peak showdown provided them with extremely valuable experience.
Allowing the directing staff to further optimize the design and layout of confrontation exercise plans through this experience, designing more, better, and more exquisite confrontation plans.
And the capability improvement of Zhu Rihe directing staff was extremely important for the entire army.
Because as long as Zhu Rihe’s training capability stepped up, it could cultivate more and stronger armies, allowing combined arms tactics to perform even stronger.
This was also the secret weapon for China’s over a million troops to conquer enemies on future battlefields.
When the directing staff’s notification reached Red Army Battalion Headquarters, announcing the Red Army’s victory in this confrontation exercise, Gao Cheng, Man Guangzhi, and others were so happy they nearly jumped up.
The other staff officers were even more excited, raising their hands in cheers.
“We won, oh~~”
“Steel Seventh Battalion is the most awesome; we are the strongest.”
“Now we’re the entire army’s number one battalion; let’s see who dares not to be convinced, hmph hmph.”
…
Hearing all sorts of cheers and jubilation in the tent, even the most calm and composed Chen Jun was infected by the atmosphere, his emotions uncontrollably becoming excited.
One side rejoicing, one side worrying.
Compared to the Red Army side plunging into a sea of joy, the entire battalion proud of the victory and of being part of Steel Seventh Battalion.
The Blue Army heavy battalion was utterly miserable, the whole battalion looking wretched.
As the saying goes.
The higher you fly, the harder you fall.
The Blue Army heavy battalion, having won thirty games in a row, had flown far too high; now losing to Steel Seventh Battalion, the fall hurt terribly.
It even affected the First Blue Army Brigade; even the brigade commander and others had faces as black as charcoal.
People in the army don’t like to lose.
Especially in the extraordinary Zhu Rihe.
If they couldn’t even beat Red Army units, what face would Zhu Rihe have to claim externally that they were the Red Army units’ whetstone?
Literature has no first, martial arts no second.
With Zhu Rihe’s Blue Army battalion defeated, it meant they were inferior to Red Army Steel Seventh Battalion.
Fortunately, Steel Seventh Battalion had an impressive record itself, touted as the entire army’s first combined arms battalion, with certain strength and status across the army.
The First Blue Army Brigade lost to Steel Seventh Battalion, so they were still in the same boat.
Not a total wipeout.
Perhaps having witnessed Steel Seventh Battalion’s strength, Chen Jun’s outstanding talent and ability in command, unmatched across the entire army.
When the exercise ended and Red and Blue sides cleared the battlefield, returning to Zhu Rihe Base for rest and preparation to head back.
The person in charge of Zhu Rihe Base directing staff surprisingly sent someone in the evening to specially invite Chen Jun, to host a casual dinner with him.
According to the process for previous participating units, Zhu Rihe Base leaders wouldn’t interact with participating units at all.
People from Zhu Rihe were very proud!
Now breaking precedent to specially send someone to call Chen Jun, though not stating the reason, anyone could see the intention.
Gao Cheng had long known Chen Jun’s dream, knew that Chen Jun, like him, was tied to Steel Seventh Company for life, unlikely to separate.
So he wasn’t worried at all that Chen Jun going over would be “poached” by Zhu Rihe leaders.
Political instructor Ma Tianxiang, however, got anxious, worried Chen Jun would be “tricked away,” urgently brainstorming ways for Chen Jun to fake illness and skip it.
Chen Jun was Steel Seventh Battalion’s absolute pillar; without him, combat effectiveness would drop by at least half.
Ma Tianxiang had put in no small effort and cost to join Steel Seventh Battalion, still counting on it to realize his life dream.
If Chen Jun got poached midway, his dream might be doomed.
Concerning his life’s great plan, how could Ma Tianxiang not be anxious.
Man Guangzhi didn’t say anything, but odd anticipation gleamed in his eyes; exactly what he was anticipating, only he knew.
Don’t think Man Guangzhi was modest, eager to learn, diligent, the most hardworking cadre in Steel Seventh Battalion.
Actually, he had ambitions too.
Deep down, he was the same as Gao Cheng, a very competitive person.
Doing staff officer for one, two, even three years was completely acceptable to someone as diligent as Man Guangzhi, no problem at all.
But he absolutely wouldn’t do it for life.
Man Guangzhi harbored a big dream in his heart; he also wanted to be a chief officer.
Chen Jun’s ability to read people was extremely strong; he naturally spotted the little idea in Man Guangzhi’s heart, but had no intention of exposing or pointing it out.
Because although Man Guangzhi harbored ambitions, he was a very genuine person.
He would actively seize opportunities but wouldn’t play petty tricks.
Just like when he fought to join Steel Seventh Battalion.
Knowing this was enough for Chen Jun.
After all, one mountain can’t hold two tigers; Steel Seventh Battalion already had one dragon and one tiger over quota. With Man Guangzhi staying, he was doomed not to rise.
As long as Chen Jun and Gao Cheng were there, anyone coming to this unit could only be third in command.
Chen Jun knew Man Guangzhi had great ambitions and was also a man of great talent; forcibly keeping him in Steel Seventh Battalion made no sense.
If he encountered a good opportunity, Chen Jun was very willing to send him blessings.
