Hu Hao and Mo Qin stood together at the back entrance of the bunker, sharing a smoke as they watched the torrential rain hammer the earth.
"Don't carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, Hao-ge. Ultimately, we are just two men among tens of billions. As long as we do our duty, fight to the best of our abilities, and defeat the Allied forces in front of us, we've fulfilled our obligations to the people of the Eastern Spirit Empire.
"We are soldiers. We aren't scientists, and we aren't royalty. We don't possess the power to single-handedly change the course of the entire world. The only thing we can control is being the best soldiers we can be!" Mo Qin offered, trying to ease the heavy burden he saw weighing on his friend.
"You're right. First and foremost, we are soldiers," Hu Hao nodded, exhaling a plume of smoke.
"And you've already achieved incredible things! I honestly never imagined that in such a short time, we'd all be looking up to you like this!
"We graduated from the same academy, slept in the same dorm room... yet the gap between us is astronomical. As a soldier, you are undeniably successful!
"At the very least, you haven't led our brothers to pointless deaths, and you've crushed countless Allied units. As for the future of Yuanling Planet? How could we possibly plan for that? If we're lucky, we might live to see eighty. If we aren't, we could die in the next second. Worrying about the grand scheme is pointless! Let's just focus on the battles right in front of us!" Mo Qin continued his pragmatic pep talk.
"Mm. Speaking of which... any news on your family? Or Wang Yao's?" Hu Hao asked, turning to look at him.
"No," Mo Qin shook his head, his expression darkening slightly.
"One of the reasons I pushed for your promotions to General was so that when High Command publishes the official gazette, your families might see your names. At least they'll know you're alive and fighting here," Hu Hao revealed his underlying motive.
Mo Qin looked up, genuinely touched by the gesture.
"They can't reach us right now, but as long as they know where we are, they'll find their way here eventually. Right?" Hu Hao smiled reassuringly.
"Yeah. As long as they're alive, there's hope," Mo Qin nodded firmly.
"After the rainy season ends... the true nightmare begins. Not just for the Central Region, but for the entirety of Yuanling Planet," Hu Hao said, staring back out into the rain.
"Is it really going to be that bad?" Mo Qin asked, surprised by the sudden shift to pessimism.
"Worse than you can possibly imagine. Once the initial shock of war wears off, people become numb. They become cruel. The nations in the other four regions have finally found an outlet for their internal crises.
"Their populations are genuinely starving. Do you honestly think they'll simply give up and go home? War is legalized robbery. It's plundering! And who do you plunder? The weak. The defenseless! Sigh," Hu Hao sighed heavily.
"What about our Eastern Spirit Empire?" Mo Qin asked anxiously.
"We're doomed. The Empire will fall. It's an absolute certainty. No matter how brilliant the Emperor is, no matter how fiercely our armies fight, the nation will collapse.
"Perhaps three million Allied troops can't break us. But what about thirty million? If thirty million aren't enough, what about three hundred million? The invading nations won't care about casualties. They only care about securing arable land!
"They need land and resources to survive. As long as their governments hand them a weapon—even if it's just a rusty sword—the starving masses will march on the Central Region. For the people of the other regions, this invasion is their only chance at survival. They might die in battle, but their families back home might get to eat. That is the brutal reality of this war," Hu Hao explained grimly.
"No... that can't be right! The Northern Combat Zone, the Northeast Combat Zone, and vast swaths of the Northwest and Central Plains are still perfectly safe! The Allied forces haven't even reached those areas yet!" Mo Qin argued, his eyes wide with disbelief. He couldn't accept Hu Hao's apocalyptic vision.
"Safe? For a few months, perhaps! The Allied forces have already tasted blood and stolen vast riches. Meanwhile, the nations of the Central Region are still sluggish and divided. If I were the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, I would already be courting other starving nations. I would promise them a share of the spoils in exchange for troops to help conquer the entire Central Region!
"I guarantee you, our northern neighbors—the Dongxian Kingdom and the Dongzhi Kingdom—and the Dongjun Kingdom to the northwest will hold out for a few months at most. The next rainy season won't be as severe as this one; it's just the 'plum rain' season. The Allied forces will be able to launch limited offensives then.
"After that, it's open season on Dongzhou, Lingzhou, and all the other nations nestled in the heart of the Central Region. None of the thirty-five nations in this domain will escape! Every single one is within striking distance of the starving empires from the other domains!" Hu Hao predicted with chilling certainty.
"But... an invasion of that scale would require the participation of dozens of nations! The Central Region has over ten billion people!" Mo Qin protested.
"They will participate. Do the nations in the other four domains have a choice? If they don't join the plunder, they starve. If they don't join, the victorious Allied forces might turn on them next! What do you think they'll choose?
"Meanwhile, the thirty-five nations of the Central Region remain bitterly divided. They've spent the last century bickering over minor border disputes. The Royal Families all despise each other. Do you honestly believe they can suddenly unite against a common foe? Impossible.
"That's why I'm so desperate to finalize the training of the Special Operations Regiment. The moment they're ready, I'm sending them out to extract the families of every officer in this Group Army! Securing our families is the absolute most we can hope to achieve right now!" Hu Hao confessed his urgent priority.
"No wonder you've been expanding the army so aggressively. They officially authorized you for a single Group Army, but I bet even without that authorization, you would have found a way to raise an army of 400,000," Mo Qin realized.
"400,000? What good is 400,000? I told you, the true nightmare is yet to come. 400,000? Even four million wouldn't be enough! My only bottleneck right now is a lack of qualified officers. If I had the officers, I'd raise an army of four million tomorrow.
"But we have to train officers ourselves from scratch. And pilots! We're recruiting pilots desperately, but the training cycle is incredibly long. We just have to wait. We cannot win this war relying solely on infantry!" Hu Hao stated, his frustration evident.
"Then... Hao-ge. Tell me the truth. Can you... can you protect the people of this region?" Mo Qin asked softly, his eyes fixed on Hu Hao.
Hu Hao remained silent, staring into the rain.
Mo Qin lowered his head. He knew it was an unfair question. No commander in the world could guarantee the safety of an entire population against the coming storm.
"I will do everything in my power. But if my lines break here... then the people of the Central Region should prepare for annihilation," Hu Hao finally answered, taking a long drag from his cigarette. Mo Qin looked up, struck by the absolute finality in Hu Hao's voice.
"You have a plan, don't you? You have some level of confidence," Mo Qin deduced.
"I can't say I have confidence yet. I'm waiting for the right opportunity," Hu Hao shook his head slightly.
"What opportunity?" Mo Qin pressed.
"The opportunity is arriving right now," Hu Hao pointed at the torrential downpour.
"Oh!" Mo Qin finally understood. Hu Hao intended to use the paralysis of the rainy season to rapidly expand his territory, secure resources, and forge his massive, unformed army into a hardened fighting force.
"Hao-ge... there's something I've been wanting to ask you, but I wasn't sure if it was my place," Mo Qin hesitated.
"Since you've already brought it up, just ask! Holding it in isn't healthy!" Hu Hao chuckled, the heavy atmosphere breaking slightly.
"Hehe. Promise you won't get mad if I say something stupid?" Mo Qin asked cautiously. Hu Hao nodded.
"Hao-ge, with your strategic vision... why haven't you warned His Majesty? Or the other nations of the Central Region? If you told them the truth, wouldn't they prepare? We could mobilize the entire strength of the Empire, perhaps even the entire Central Region, to repel the Allied invasion!" Mo Qin asked earnestly.
"You are incredibly naive. First: would they even believe me? You heard what I just said. Did you believe me initially? Do you truly believe the Allied forces intend to conquer every single nation in the Central Region?" Hu Hao countered.
"I didn't believe it before, but after hearing you explain it, I do! But... I admit, the politicians and Kings probably wouldn't believe it," Mo Qin conceded.
"Second: even if I screamed it from the rooftops, what good would it do? Even if His Majesty managed to conscript ten million men tomorrow, so what? Do we have ten million rifles? And more importantly, do we have any competent Generals to lead them?!" Hu Hao demanded.
"But... surely ten million armed men is better than no resistance at all!" Mo Qin argued.
"Wrong. A routed, starving mob of ten million armed men is infinitely more terrifying than the Allied army. Not only would they inflict unimaginable horrors upon their own civilian population to survive, but their catastrophic collapse would permanently shatter the morale of the entire nation!" Hu Hao corrected him sharply.
"Is it really that bad?" Mo Qin looked at him skeptically.
"You have no idea how quickly human morality evaporates in the crucible of war. To survive, to live just one more day, people are capable of atrocities you cannot even fathom," Hu Hao said, his voice dropping to a whisper. He had seen it all in his previous lives.
"But... but what about the other nations? If they were warned, they could prepare their defenses!" Mo Qin persisted.
"Do you think they don't know?! Do you think His Majesty didn't know the Allied forces were massing before the invasion began?! He knew! And what could he do?! Ah?! The Empire is controlled by massive, entrenched noble clans! Did they want to fight?!
"The pampered scions of the nobility refused to fight! They only mobilized when the blade was literally at their own throats! Did any of our 'esteemed' generals rush to the front lines before the Allied forces actually made landfall?! No!
"Even right now, with the Empire burning, the High Command in the Imperial Capital is still playing politics! They leaked my intelligence to the enemy! Why? Because they are entirely consumed by their petty struggles for internal power! They haven't even realized the Empire is teetering on the edge of total annihilation!" Hu Hao's voice rose in anger, his frustration with the corrupt, incompetent leadership boiling over.
Mo Qin stood in stunned silence, absorbing the horrifying truth. After a long moment, he nodded slowly. "I... I was naive. Sigh."
"Let them fight their petty political wars. One day, the real war will end. Maybe we'll be forty years old when it happens. Maybe our sons will be forty! Ha! Who knows!" Hu Hao laughed bitterly, staring at the black, oppressive clouds churning overhead. Mo Qin simply watched him, a profound respect settling in his heart.
"Hao-ge! Hao-ge! Urgent report!" a staff officer sprinted out of the bunker, shouting over the roar of the rain. "The Allied forces at Jinhe City are deploying into assault formations!"
"What? They gave up on digging their trenches?" Hu Hao laughed, turning to face the officer.
(End of Chapter)