Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 120 Quarrel
Upon hearing Bai Chongxi's words, Su Yaoyang replied without hesitation, "If that's the case, our security force alone cannot withstand it."

"Mingxi..." Seeing this, Li Zongren was afraid that Su Yaoyang would anger Bai Chongxi, and was about to speak up to smooth things over.

“Delin, let him speak.” Bai Chongxi interrupted him, staring intently at Su Yaoyang. “Kid… I know you have some skill and have won a few battles.”

But this is no reason for you to bargain with your superior. Do you even know the principle that military orders are absolute?

"Military orders are as solid as mountains?" Su Yaoyang felt a surge of anger. "Commander Bai... I know the principle that military orders are as solid as mountains and military law is merciless, but that is not a reason for giving orders blindly."
It's already excessive to expect a local security regiment to fight off an entire Japanese division. Now you want us to fight off the North China Area Army? What kind of logic is that?
"If this isn't clarified today, I'll have something to say even if this case goes all the way up to Chairman Chiang Kai-shek!"

Bai Chongxi spent decades in the military, fighting countless battles, both large and small. When he got angry, he was quite frightening.

But Su Yaoyang wasn't one to be trifled with. He'd even met big shots from a level-five civilization. Was he going to be afraid of being bullied by others?

Bai Chongxi's voice was quite loud, but Su Yaoyang's voice was even louder, reaching the adjacent operations room and shocking everyone.

"My goodness...that's amazing."

"Whose subordinate is so brave that he dares to stand up to Bai Chongxi, the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Military Commission and Minister of Military Training?"

Soon, many heads peeked out from the nearby offices, but when they realized the sound was coming from Li Zongren's office, they all quickly withdrew their heads in fright.

Seeing that Su Yaoyang dared to talk back, Bai Chongxi laughed instead of getting angry. "Fine...fine, I've been in the military for decades and this is the first time I've seen such a bold young man. Do you think that just because I'm not your direct superior, I can't control you?"

"You know what, it's really true!"

Since they had already started arguing, Su Yaoyang decided to go all out. "Let me put it this way, my Nanjing Security Regiment was originally a local armed organization."

I didn't take a single copper coin from the central government, nor did I receive a single bullet. I prepared everything myself, and to this day, my name isn't even on the Ministry of Military Affairs' roster.

Even if you are the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Military Commission, you have no right to order an ordinary civilian to their death, do you?

"Hey……"

Not only was Li Zongren stunned, but Bai Chongxi was also dumbfounded.

Su Yaoyang seems to be right. He doesn't even have military status. Strictly speaking, he's just an ordinary citizen. No matter how powerful he is, he can't command an ordinary citizen to fight. If word gets out, wouldn't he lose face?

"You...you..." Bai Chongxi was speechless for a moment, but then he suddenly remembered something and sneered, "You, Su Yaoyang, although you are just an ordinary citizen, your security regiment is a local armed force, isn't that right?"

According to the laws of the Republic of China, local armed forces were also under the leadership of the Ministry of Military Affairs and the General Staff.

"Besides, you recently received an order from the Ministry of Military Affairs to be under the control of the Fifth War Zone. You have to accept that, right?"

"I admit it!" Su Yaoyang readily admitted.

But then he changed his tone, "I'm quitting this security chief position. Do whatever you want. You can send another chief to take over. I'm going to take my wife and find somewhere to live now. Is that alright?"

"hiss……"

Even Li Zongren gasped. This kid was ruthless; he was going to quit. "Nonsense!"

Seeing that the situation would spiral out of control if he didn't step in, Li Zongren shook his head helplessly: "Look at yourselves, do you still look like soldiers?"
Jiansheng... there should be limits to your jokes with the younger generation.

I told you long ago, this kid is like a donkey, you have to go along with him.

If you really piss this kid off, he'll just walk away. Are you going to clean up that mess in Taierzhuang for me?

And you, Mingxi, Jiansheng is still your superior, no matter what. Although his joke was a bit excessive, that's no excuse for you to disregard your rank and talk back to your superior.

"joke?"

Before Su Yaoyang could react, he saw Bai Chongxi, who had been looking angry, burst into laughter and shake his head repeatedly: "Delin, you were right. These young people nowadays are really something else."

He then walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder, "Good lad, you have quite the temper, you almost embarrassed me."

But as the old saying goes, heroes have always emerged from among the young. Young people should have the vigor of youth. What's the point if they're all like us old men? Delin, don't you agree?"

Seeing Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi's expressions, Su Yaoyang knew perfectly well that Bai Chongxi was joking with him. He breathed a sigh of relief, but his face also turned red.

In fact, to put it bluntly, half a year ago he was just a young man who had just stepped out of school. The innocent naiveté in his eyes hadn't faded yet when he was thrown into this parallel space by that Level 5 civilization creature.

Although he has experienced a lot in the past six months, his ability to command troops is far inferior to that of Bai Chongxi, a veteran of the Guangxi clique who has spent half his life on the battlefield.

Thinking back, it makes sense. If Bai Chongxi were really as irritable and unreasonable as he just showed, would he have been able to reach his current position?
He quickly saluted Bai Chongxi, his face flushed, and said, "Lord Jian... I was rude just now. I hope you will be magnanimous and not hold it against a junior like me."

"Hey...you did the right thing." Bai Chongxi waved his hand dismissively: "If it were me being targeted like this, I would have turned against him long ago."

What kind of soldier is he if he doesn't even have this much backbone? A few days ago, I had a huge argument with the Chairman at a military conference over the 20th Army Corps, so I decided to come to Xuzhou to clear my head.

Su Yaoyang's eyes narrowed: "The 20th Army Corps...you mean Tang Enbo...Commander Tang?"

"Who else could it be but him?" Bai Chongxi said irritably.

Li Zongren frowned, opened his mouth as if to say something, but ultimately held back.

He could tolerate it, but Bai Chongxi could not. He said coldly, "Delin ordered him to quickly advance to Taierzhuang on the 20th and attack the 10th Division from both sides with the 31st Division. But no matter what orders Delin gave, this kid just stayed in Zaozhuang and didn't move. He treated the general's orders as a joke."

After I learned the news, I reported the situation to Chairman Chiang Kai-shek, but he actually defended Tang Enbo, which made me so angry that I argued with him on the spot. In the end, I ran to Delin's place in a fit of anger.

I heard he hasn't slept well for almost half a month because of the battle in Xuzhou. My arrival can at least help relieve some of his burden.

These words left Su Yaoyang stunned. As expected of a big shot, he actually dared to argue with the chairman, and more importantly, he dared to abandon his work and come to Xuzhou after the argument.

(End of this chapter)