Volume One, Chapter 14: The Furious Commander—Li Yunlong, Get Out Here Right Now!
The headquarters of the 386th Brigade, 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, was thick with a suffocating atmosphere, heavy enough to drip with tension.
The brigade commander paced back and forth in the command room like a tiger trapped in a cage, hands clasped behind his back.
The floor was littered with cigarette butts.
His eyes were bloodshot, and the usually imposing calm on his face was now replaced by raging fury and indescribable grief.
The destruction of the Hongya Cave arms factory and the sacrifice of Zhang Wanhe—this blow was devastating, so immense that even a battle-hardened warrior like him struggled to bear it.
In a single night, the entire 129th Division’s logistics, indeed the entire Eighth Route Army’s supply chain, had been set back by three years!
“Report!”
With this announcement, Li Yunlong, Zhao Gang, and Lin Mo entered the command post.
The moment Li Yunlong saw the commander’s ferocious expression, his heart sank.
He knew there was no escaping the impending scolding today.
Sure enough, the commander exploded like a lit firecracker the instant he laid eyes on him.
“Li Yunlong!”
With a roar, the commander charged forward and kicked Li Yunlong squarely on the backside, sending him stumbling.
“You son of a bitch, get over here!”
Pointing a finger right at Li Yunlong’s nose, the commander spat in his face.
“You think you’re something now, huh? Getting smart, causing trouble for me!”
“Lately, you’ve driven the enemy crazy! They’ve blown up our headquarters’ arms factory! Hundreds of people—Director Zhang Wanhe and all lost!”
“Tell me! Who’s to blame for this?! Is it not you, Li Yunlong?!”
The commander’s voice grew louder and angrier with each word, brimming with rage and sorrow.
He wasn’t truly blaming Li Yunlong; he merely needed an outlet for his pain.
There was no place for the torment inside his heart to be voiced.
Li Yunlong lowered his head, a six-foot-tall man reduced to a chastised child, enduring every insult without daring to reply.
He too felt stifled and pained.
Damn it, he was fighting the Japanese to defend his homeland—how could there be mistakes?
But when he thought of the fallen workers and his old comrade Director Zhang, his grievances were instantly drowned in overwhelming guilt.
Zhao Gang tried to step forward and explain but was shot down by a glare from the commander.
“And you, Zhao Gang! You’re the political commissar, the one responsible for morale! You just let him run wild? Have you learned nothing about discipline?!”
Having finished berating Li Yunlong and Zhao Gang, the commander’s gaze finally settled on Lin Mo.
This was his first time meeting the fabled “Mr. Lin.”
A young man who appeared refined, even somewhat frail.
The commander’s fury slightly abated, but his tone remained stern: “You’re Lin Mo?”
“Yes, Commander,” Lin Mo replied with calm dignity.
“I ask you,” the commander fixed him with a hard stare, “Yamamoto Kazuki’s special forces came to your doorstep. Your independent regiment fought them off, losing twenty-three men but killing fifteen of theirs. Is that true?”
“Yes.” Lin Mo answered steadily.
“Bang!”
The commander slammed the table so hard that the teacup jumped.
“Twenty-three lost for fifteen! You had the advantage in manpower, firepower, and terrain—and you fought such a disgraceful battle! And you have the nerve to say ‘yes’?!”
“You graduate from Yenching University and still act like a damn fool?!”
The commander’s anger flared anew.
To him, this defeat was a disgrace to the independent regiment and a slap in the face to him as commander.
Hearing the commander scold Lin Mo, Li Yunlong stepped forward anxiously, standing in front of Lin Mo with his chin raised, saying, “Commander! This isn’t Lin’s fault! It was my command error! If you want to yell, yell at me!”
“Get out of my sight!” The commander kicked Li Yunlong aside again.
Everyone expected Lin Mo to shrink under the commander’s wrath.
Instead, Lin Mo slowly lifted his head and met the commander’s eyes, speaking each word deliberately: “Commander, you are right. We fought a disgraceful battle.”
His voice was quiet but silenced the entire command post.
“However, may I ask you one question?” Lin Mo’s tone remained calm, yet carried an undeniable force.
“If we hadn’t set up those early warning devices in advance, do you think Yamamoto’s special forces would have been content with just a skirmish in the valley?”
“They would have crept in like ghosts, silently reaching our research institute, our regiment headquarters, even penetrating the main command! A direct decapitation strike! And if that had happened, what do you think would have become of our entire command system?”
“At that point, the price we paid wouldn’t be twenty-three soldiers. It would be… the entire North China Eighth Route Army’s command system!”
Lin Mo’s words cut through the harsh reality like a sharp blade and doused the commander’s raging fire as if with a bucket of ice water.
The commander was stunned.
He looked at this young man before him, whose clear and resolute eyes showed no fear, only a calm insight into all things.
Indeed, he had only seen the ugly casualty ratio without considering the consequences if they had lost that “disgraceful” battle.
He wasn’t a fool; he immediately grasped the stakes.
A chill ran down his spine.
If what Lin Mo said was true… the consequences would be unimaginable.
The atmosphere in the command room grew eerily tense.
Li Yunlong and Zhao Gang also looked at Lin Mo with shocked expressions.
None of them expected Lin Mo to speak so boldly to the commander.
Moreover, every word was logical and irrefutable.
This scholar not only could manufacture guns and cannons but wielded a mind of tactical brilliance and a tongue sharper than any blade.
The commander was silent for a full thirty seconds before looking at Lin Mo again, his gaze transformed.
From anger and scrutiny to… an indescribable complex emotion.
There was shock, admiration, and a trace of… fear.
“You… continue.” The commander slowly sat down, his voice hoarse.
He realized he might have seriously underestimated this young man before him.
And underestimated the opponent Li Yunlong had provoked this time.
“The leader behind this enemy special reconnaissance unit is Yamamoto Kazuki, a typical special operations fanatic.”
Lin Mo showed no sign of fear as he moved to the map and picked up a pointer.
In that moment, he no longer seemed a subordinate receiving a reprimand, but a chief of staff outlining an operational plan.
“His tactical focus is not territorial conquest but precise strikes, decapitation operations, paralyzing command, and sowing terror. Last time, I was his target.”
“This time, it was the Hongya Cave arms factory. This proves he has placed our military-industrial system at the highest priority for attack!”