Just Like This, Defeated?

On the battlements of Kulun city.

The White Bear Army's city defense commander watched everything before him with a pale face.

"Hold the line! Hold it for me!"

He roared into the telephone, his voice hoarse.

"Tell the Second Line of Defense to push up through the trenches! Hurry!"

"Where's the disciplinary unit? Send them in! Anyone who dares to take a step back will be shot on the spot!"

However, his orders could no longer turn the tide.

When the first wave of Feng Army soldiers charged out from the dust and smoke of the artillery fire, the city defense commander's pupils contracted sharply.

They were soldiers with yellow skin!

They weren't tall, but the killing intent in their eyes sent a shiver down his spine.

What terrified him even more was seeing that among the Feng Army ranks, there were over a dozen soldiers carrying strange metal canisters and holding long spray tubes.

"What is that?"

Before he could figure it out, he saw those soldiers aim at the trenches where the enemy was still resisting stubbornly and pull the triggers.

"Whoosh!"

Over a dozen long streams of fire erupted, turning the entire trench into a sea of flames.

Piercing screams echoed through the sky.

Countless White Bear soldiers, engulfed in flames, writhed in agony on the ground. The terrifying sight completely shattered the defenders' morale.

"They're devils! They're devils!"

The White Bear Army's lines completely collapsed.

Soldiers cried out, dropped their weapons, and fled backward in a desperate scramble.

The main force of the Feng Army, stepping over enemy corpses and flames, roared as they charged down the trenches.

Just then, White Bear Army reinforcements rushing from the third line of defense met the Feng Army head-on in the narrow trenches.

"Kill!"

Chu Shixin led the charge. He threw away his empty Boxer pistol, gripped his saber with both hands, and swung it down at a White Bear officer who was rushing forward!

The saber flashed, and blood splattered!

The officer, along with his rifle, was cleaved in half.

"Brothers! Charge with me!"

Chu Shixin's bravery instantly ignited the fighting spirit of all the Feng Army soldiers.

They roared and engaged the enemy in the most primitive, most brutal close-quarters combat.

Swords clashed, rifle butts smashed, bayonets stabbed!

Inside the trenches, shouts, screams, and the clang of weapons mingled into a chaotic din.

From his command Tank in the distance, Zhang Xueming observed the entire battle through his binoculars. When he saw that the infantry had become locked in a deadly struggle with the enemy, he grabbed the intercom and issued his final order.

His voice was cold, yet carried a resolute determination to burn everything.

"All troops! Fix bayonets!"

Zhang Xueming's battle at Kulun, like a bird with wings, spread across the land of Kyushu overnight.

The Northern Prefecture regime strictly blocked the news, but how could such a thing be contained?

Merchant caravans returning from the front lines, refugees, and even some conscientious newspaper reporters, through various channels, turned the news of the Feng Army's decisive victory over the White Bear Army into leaflets, into special newspaper editions, into whispers in every street and alley.

"Did you hear? Brigadier General Zhang Xueming, under Kulun city, utterly routed the White Bear Army!"

"More than routed! They say over ten thousand were beheaded! The White Bear Army's corpses filled the trenches!"

"Is it true? The White Bear Army was so formidable, and they just collapsed like that?"

"Absolutely true! My second uncle's cousin's nephew is in Fengtian, and the news has gone viral there! They say Brigadier General Zhang used a tactic called 'Xu Jin Barrage,' and there were strange creatures that spewed fire, burning the White Bear Army until they cried for their mothers!"

For a time, the name Zhang Xueming became the hottest topic of conversation in every street and alley.

People no longer doubted if he was just putting on a show, nor did they worry if he was a pawn abandoned by the Northern Prefecture.

When the battle report detailing the Feng Army's use of flamethrowers to incinerate the enemy circulated among the populace in handwritten copies, everyone understood that this Brigadier General Zhang was serious.

He wasn't acting.

He was truly risking his life to carve out a path forward for this long-suffering nation.

Thus, a surging undercurrent began to gather among the people.

"Donate money to Brigadier General Zhang! He must be short on funds for the war!"

"Right! We can't fight on the battlefield, but we can contribute our efforts and raise some military funds, can't we!"

Chambers of commerce, local gentry, and even ordinary citizens across various regions began spontaneously raising funds for Zhang Xueming.

They didn't know where to send the money, but they firmly believed that as long as they had the intention, a way would be found.

Chengde.

A young man, holding a crumpled newspaper, burst into the room in a huff.

"Dad! Look! Hurry up and look!"

His father, a shrewd and capable-looking middle-aged man, sat in a grand armchair, leisurely smoking his pipe, not even lifting an eyelid.

"What's all the fuss? Did the sky fall?"

"It's more important than the sky falling!" The young man slapped the newspaper onto the table. "Brigadier General Zhang won in Kulun! A great victory! He annihilated the White Bear Army! The score for Ulan City is settled!"

His father blew out a smoke ring and casually said, "Oh."

The young man grew anxious and snatched the pipe from his father's hand.

"Dad! What kind of attitude is that? Brigadier General Zhang is fighting desperately on the front lines, avenging us, and all you say is 'Oh'?"

"Then what do you want me to do? Beat gongs and drums, march in the streets? And then wait for those lackeys from the Northern Prefecture to raid our house?" His father glanced at him sideways.