This Move is Brilliant

Gunpowder smoke and the stench of blood mingled together, swirling in the mountain wind, acrid enough to make a man retch.

Zhang Xueming pinched out the cigarette butt between his fingers, casually stuffed it into his pocket, and didn't even glance at the carnage strewn across the slope below.

That wasn't a battlefield.

That was an abattoir.

Chu Shixin jogged over, the excitement still fresh on his face, his voice as booming as ever.

"Reporting, Battalion Commander!"

"Nearly three thousand enemies eliminated! Our side... our side has zero casualties!"

By the end, even his own tone carried a surge of disbelief and wild joy.

What the hell kind of immortal feat was this!

Say it out loud and no one would believe it!

Zhang Xueming nodded, his expression flat, as if this were only natural.

"Have the Brothers clean up the battlefield and tally the Spoils of War."

"Also, bring the Captive over. I have questions."

Dai Xiansheng soon marched over a middle-aged man in a silk robe with a goatee, his legs shaking like sieves from fear.

The moment the man saw Zhang Xueming, he dropped to his knees with a "thud" and kowtowed like pounding garlic.

"Spare my life, Officer! Mercy, sir!"

"I'm just an accountant dragged up the mountain—I'm a good man!"

Zhang Xueming ignored his wailing, instead taking a captured rifle from Dai Xiansheng.

On the gun's body, the chrysanthemum emblem gleamed starkly under the sunlight.

"Type 38 Rifle, standard issue for the Japanese Imperial Army."

He tossed it in front of the man who called himself Master Wang. The clang of metal against the ground made the latter flinch violently.

"Master Wang, is it?"

Zhang Xueming crouched down to meet his eyes, a genial smile on his face.

"As an accountant, do you recognize This Thing?"

Master Wang stared at the rifle on the ground, then at Zhang Xueming's fathomless eyes. Cold sweat poured down instantly.

He knew—this absurdly young Officer wasn't easy to fool.

"I... I, sir..."

"Think before you speak."

Zhang Xueming's tone remained mild.

"I don't have much patience."

"I'll give you two choices."

Dai Xiansheng chimed in from the side, his voice cold enough to freeze.

"One: go down and keep your Brothers company right now."

"Two: answer our Battalion Commander's questions honestly and earn merit to atone for your crimes."

Master Wang's body trembled harder. A foul, sour stench seeped from his crotch.

He was utterly broken.

"I'll talk! I'll talk! I'll tell you everything!"

"It's the Japs! Everything came from the Japs!"

"They give us money every year, give us guns, and tell us to fight against the Feng Army!"

Zhang Xueming's eyes sharpened.

"What do they want?"

"Maps... they want maps..."

Master Wang spilled everything like beans from a Bamboo Tube.

"They call it... field surveying! Every year, a hundred or so Japs dressed as merchants come into the mountains, carrying strange boxes on their backs, and stay for ten days to half a month!"

"Our chief sends men to guide them, to protect them!"

"In these mountains around Hunchun, they know the terrain better than the locals!"

Zhang Xueming and Dai Xiansheng exchanged a glance, both seeing the gravity in each other's eyes.

These little Japs had big appetites.

They were preparing for a future invasion!

Zhang Xueming stood up and brushed the dirt off his pants.

"Alright, I understand."

He turned to Dai Xiansheng.

"Go tell the remaining captives."

"If they want to live, they'd better make up for their crimes with merit."

"Aren't they familiar with the mountains? Aren't they good guides?"

Zhang Xueming's lips curled into a cold smirk.

"From today on, we're forming a Forest Protection Squad."

"Their sole job is to catch those Japanese spies sneaking into the mountains for surveys!"

"One catch, one reward!"

"Anyone who dares to keep cozying up to the Japs will end up just like those on the hillside today!"

Dai Xiansheng's eyes lit up, and he slapped his thigh hard.

"Battalion Commander, that's a brilliant move!"

"This is turning their own trick against them!"

The captured bandits, hearing they could live and even earn rewards by catching Japanese, had no objections.

One after another, they scrambled to join the Forest Protection Squad, vowing to turn over a new leaf and serve the Feng Army.

The enemies who had just been fighting for their lives were now "their own people" in an instant.

Master Wang, appointed on the spot by Zhang Xueming as the squad's Captain, wept with gratitude and kowtowed a few more times.

The command post's phone line was soon connected.

On the other end came Yang Yuting's hearty laughter.

"Xueming, you kid can really deliver! That was a clean fight!"

"Zero casualties, wiping out three thousand bandits—are you trying to reach the heavens?"

Zhang Xueming leaned back in his chair, rubbing his brow.

"Uncle Yang, don't flatter me."

"I've squeezed out some intel here. Those Japs won't rest until they've swallowed us whole."

He recounted everything he'd learned from Master Wang.

There was a moment of silence on the line.

Yang Yuting's tone turned serious.

"A fine Pull the Firewood from Under the Pot!"

"Turning bandits into hunters to catch their old masters—that's a clever move!"

"Xueming, this reverse 'use Chinese to control Chinese' approach of yours, I think it'll work!"

"I'll report this to the Marshal right away and put in a commendation for you!"

Just then, a staff officer rushed in, handing Zhang Xueming a freshly received telegram.

Zhang Xueming glanced at it, and his brow instantly furrowed into a knot.