Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei's War Journey

Chapter 106 Winter of Turnips, Heading to a New Battlefield (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

Inside Lishifield School, Lu Mingfei, dressed in a brand-new second lieutenant uniform, with the dark blue Medal of Merit around his neck, symbolizing the highest honor, and the Iron Cross First Class and the Iron Cross Second Class pinned above the left breast pocket, sat attentively listening to the lecture.

This is Prussia's West Point Military Academy, which has trained a large number of famous officers for Prussia. However, due to the heavy losses of officers at the front, many college students and soldiers who performed well at the front were sent here for intensive officer training, which often lasted only three to six months.

Just then, the teacher's voice came from the podium, "Lieutenant William Hans, please stand up and answer my question."

Lu Mingfei stood up in response, his back ramrod straight. He could feel dozens of eyes on him and the Blue Max Medal hanging around his neck as he stood up.

Those gazes held a mixture of curiosity, envy, or even jealousy.

Standing on the platform was Major von Strach, a typical Prussian General Staff officer with graying sideburns, sharp eyes like an eagle, and impeccable uniform. He had no combat medals on him, only a few medals for long service and military education.

He was explaining the coordinated defense and counterattack of company-level units in complex terrain, with the blackboard covered with dry tactical symbols and terrain maps.

"Lieutenant Hans, based on the example of the 3rd Infantry Company's defense at Oak Ridge that I just described, suppose you are the commander, and the right flank machine gun position has been destroyed by enemy artillery, while communications on the left flank have been cut off."

"You only have a partially staffed infantry platoon and two mortars in your reserves, and the enemy is launching an attack on you. What is your response?" Major Strach continued, pointing his pointer at the blackboard.

Upon hearing Major Strach's question, all the students in the classroom turned their attention away from Lu Mingfei and began to think about the problem. Many students frowned and subconsciously made notes in their notebooks, trying to sort out their thoughts, but they could not come up with a good solution in a short time.

Lu Mingfei's gaze swept across the simple map on the blackboard. The contour lines and symbols quickly came to life in his eyes, as if they had transformed into the grotesque craters on Dead Man's Mountain, the slope of Hill 304, and the barbed wire outside Fort Dumont.

He didn't answer immediately; the silence lasted for about five seconds. Major Strach's brow twitched almost imperceptibly, while the other cadets exchanged glances. Some thought that even this heroic lieutenant was stumped.

But Lu Mingfei quickly spoke up: "Reporting to the major, first send a messenger to request artillery support from the battalion headquarters, and re-establish contact with the left flank positions. Order the remaining units on the left flank to hold their ground and organize a ring defense in platoons or squads, focusing on defending the flanks."

"Secondly, the gap on the right flank is a deadly threat. I will personally lead that understaffed infantry platoon to immediately redeploy new machine gun positions to the right flank, and deploy mortars in concealed locations behind the defensive line to provide fire support for both flanks."

"At the same time, all non-combat personnel, cooks, and lightly wounded soldiers in the company headquarters were ordered to immediately collect the scattered weapons and ammunition. Under the command of a sergeant major, a second simple defensive line was to be established about fifty meters behind the core position. Their task was to provide the last line of defense and support in case the core position was breached, and to ensure that the soldiers in front could safely retreat to the support trenches in the rear."

"If I ultimately determine that the position cannot be held, I will order the troops to retreat in an orderly manner, using the new machine gun position on the right flank as a fulcrum, retreating in batches, with only one squad retreating at a time, maintaining fire support throughout the retreat, and absolutely not allowing any rout."

Major Strach remained silent longer than ever before, his sharp eyes lingering on Lu Mingfei for a long time before finally nodding slowly. He tapped the edge of the podium lightly with his pointer and continued, "A—a very comprehensive contingency plan, Lieutenant Hans. Your thinking clearly demonstrates a concept: the commander's responsibility is not only to win battles, but also to prepare for possible defeats and preserve the spark for the next battle at the lowest possible cost."

"Classmates, Lieutenant Hans's plan is good, but it's not the only one. I hope we can come up with a more aggressive plan. After all, it's easy to give up a position, but it takes a very high price to take it back."

Major Strach wanted to be more explicit, but he swallowed his words when he saw the medals on Lu Mingfei's chest.

The young man before me was not a theoretical student; his plan had been tested in a real meat grinder with the lives of himself and his comrades. Directly criticizing such a retreat plan as cowardly or passive might touch upon something inviolable.

"That concludes today's lesson. After class, please use Lieutenant Hans's plan and the hints I just gave you to independently complete a supplementary assignment on the defense of Oak Ridge and hand it in before class tomorrow."

Major Strach eventually ended the conversation, then packed his things and left the classroom.

Lu Mingfei understood the meaning behind Major Strach's words, but he didn't want to refute anything. This was his principle. After Major Strach left, he also packed his things and prepared to leave.

Today marks one month since he arrived in Berlin, and he has arranged to meet Caesar for drinks.

"Are all the recipients of our country's Blue Max award cowards like you?" Just then, an arrogant voice rang out behind Lu Mingfei.

Lu Mingfei's fingers, which were tidying up his notes, paused. However, he did not turn around immediately. Instead, he tidied up all his things before slowly turning around.

He was a tall, young student with meticulously combed blond hair. His face was filled with undisguised arrogance and contempt, his chin slightly raised, and his eyes defiantly piercing Lu Mingfei.

Lu Mingfei met his gaze calmly. He recognized the other person as a scion of a Junker aristocratic family in Berlin, whose name seemed to be von Eichendorff. He was somewhat well-known among the trainees for his radical offensive rhetoric and his pride in his pure military lineage.

"Are you asking me, cadet von Eichendorff?" Lu Mingfei's voice wasn't loud, but it clearly echoed throughout the suddenly quiet classroom.

"Of course I'm asking you, Lieutenant Hans." von Eichendorff emphasized the word "lieutenant," as Lu Mingfei was the only one among these trainees to be awarded an officer's rank.

"I heard your complete retreat plan just now, and I must say, it was very thorough, as thorough as an accountant doing bookkeeping, rather than a commander thinking about how to win. Abandon the position? Orderly retreat? Is this the bravery that the Blue Max badge around your neck represents? Or has spending too much time on the front lines made your bones go soft, and all you've learned is how to escape more gracefully?"

His words were sharp and sarcastic, full of double attacks on Lu Mingfei's background and choices. The surrounding students held their breath. Some looked on with anticipation, some frowned and thought it was too much, and some had their eyes flickering, as if they had been resonated with by von Eichendorff's words.

After all, the idea of ​​prioritizing offense is quite popular among young officers, and they have always been instilled with the concept of holding their ground.

At the same time, some aristocratic students looked down on Lu Mingfei, an officer from a commoner background. What's more, this young officer, who was about their age, had already won the highest honor, Blue Max, which made them feel like they were being trampled on by commoners.

Lu Mingfei did not immediately refute. He raised his hand and gently smoothed out a slight wrinkle on the cuff of his military uniform. His movements were very composed. Then he took a step forward, getting closer to von Eichendorff.

The step wasn't fast, but the instant he took it, an invisible pressure, like a tangible tide, suddenly spread out, causing von Eichendorff to instinctively straighten his back, his arrogance fading slightly, replaced by a hint of wariness.

He felt as if the air around him had become thick, making it difficult to breathe.

"Von Eichendorff, have you ever been to the battlefield? Have you ever seen what a battlefield is like?"

"Have you ever heard a soldier's scream? Not the shouts on the training field, but the kind of screams that come from someone whose intestines are spilling out and who's trying to push them back in—a disjointed sound squeezed from the deepest part of their throat. Have you ever seen a soldier who was just talking to you get sliced ​​in half by a huge shrapnel shell, his intestines and brains splattered all over you?"

As Lu Mingfei spoke aggressively, he took another step forward, and the fine beads of sweat on von Eichendorff's nose were almost visible.

Von Eichendorff felt as if he were facing a ferocious beast that wanted to devour him, and he could even vaguely smell blood.

He was so frightened that he trembled all over, his face turned pale, and his Adam's apple bobbed up and down. He wanted to speak up and refute, but under the shadow of that murderous intent, he had no courage to say a word.

The surrounding students were also stunned by Lu Mingfei's sudden aura.

"I didn't say the attack was wrong, cadet von Eichendorff." Lu Mingfei stepped back slightly, creating some distance, but his gaze remained fixed on his opponent.

"I'm just telling you that before every attack order is issued, you who will be sitting in the command post in the future should think about what the outcome will be for the soldiers who carry out this order."

After saying that, he took his things and turned to leave. He didn't make things too difficult for the noble student, which reminded him of Caesar.

These cadets will have to do internships on the front lines after graduating from this military academy before they can become real officers. The real battlefield will educate them then, and that will be more effective than any amount of talk he could give them now.

Lu Mingfei pushed open the heavy classroom door and stepped into the corridor. The students in the corridor, seeing him, subconsciously lowered their voices and cast complicated glances at him. Lu Mingfei was already used to this, or rather, he didn't care.

However, some of the people who were promoted to this military academy from the front lines would respectfully salute Lu Mingfei when they saw him.

After all, only those who have actually been on the battlefield can understand how valuable that Blue Max is; it must have crawled out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, literally.

The sun was already setting. Lu Mingfei looked at his watch. This watch, which he inherited from Herman, was really sturdy. It had accompanied him through so many battles and was still intact.

It was time for his appointment with Caesar, and he quickened his pace. The streets of Berlin were wide and clean, with magnificent buildings on both sides, especially the Brandenburg Gate. Lu Mingfei's gaze swept over the exquisite sculptures and ornate shop windows, but his heart remained calm, even somewhat indifferent.

He turned into a relatively quiet street, his destination a rather unassuming little tavern that Caesar had discovered, which, according to him, at least wouldn't have a bunch of fools staring at Blue Max there.

Lu Mingfei pushed open the heavy wooden door of the tavern, and a smell of malt liquor, tobacco and old wood wafted out. The light was dim, and a few regulars sat in the corner, only lazily raising their eyelids at the entrance of this unfamiliar officer.

Caesar was already inside. He was sitting at a table by the window, having taken off his flight jacket and wearing only a military shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing his muscular forearms.

A glass of frothy dark beer sat before him as he looked down at an open flight manual. The light from the window outlined his angular profile, and his short, golden hair stood out even in the dim light.

The Blue Max Medal wasn't worn on his coat, but Lu Mingfei knew it must be carefully kept in an inner pocket; it was not only an honor but also a symbol of their friendship.

Hearing footsteps, Caesar looked up, a slight smile playing on his lips, and said, "Three minutes late, got entangled with those hero worshippers in class?"

Lu Mingfei sat down opposite him, placed his briefcase on the empty chair beside him, and replied vaguely, "More or less."

He then ordered the same dark beer from the bartender who came over.

"It seems our aerial knight is adapting well?" Lu Mingfei picked up the wine glass that had just been brought to him, took a sip, and the bitter liquid slid down his throat, allowing him to relax a little.

"More interesting than I imagined." Caesar closed the manual, leaned back in his chair, and relaxed.

"At least I don't have to smell the mud and corpses. The roar of the engine is much better than the sound of cannonballs, although if I fall, I might die even faster."

"What did you learn today? How to gracefully fly an airplane into the clouds?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"How to avoid being shot down by those old French fighter planes, and how to drop bombs on their heads more effectively," Caesar said, mimicking the up-and-down motion of a fighter plane with his hands.

He paused, then looked at Lu Mingfei: "And you? How was your elite education at Lishifield? Is there any rising star from the General Staff who'd like to give you, a frontline soldier, a theoretical lesson?"

Lu Mingfei twitched the corner of his mouth, recalling von Eichendorff's pale face just now: "Yes, but I taught him a lesson."

He briefly recounted the little incidents that occurred during and after class.

After listening, Caesar silently took a large gulp of beer, his Adam's apple bobbing, and then he chuckled softly, "This reminds me of my younger self."

"I also felt like you used to be, with the same golden hair as you, so I just said a few words and that was it," Lu Mingfei said with a smile.

"You should have said a few more words for me, cheers!" Caesar said with a smile, handing his glass to Lu Mingfei. The two clinked glasses and then drank the wine in their glasses in one gulp.

For the past month, whenever time allowed, the two would often sneak out at night to meet at this inconspicuous little tavern and have a few drinks.

The two drank one glass of wine after another, getting each other drunk.

Although the two seemed to have had a good month, the mark of the front lines was deeply ingrained in their bones.

At night, they would still dream of those terrible cannon sounds, and the dead soldiers would appear in their dreams, tormenting them. Only by getting drunk could they stop thinking about those horrific things.

The two men, swaying from their drinks, stood up and went to the front desk to pay the bill. They had drunk a total of twenty glasses of beer.

With Britain imposing a naval blockade on Prussia, supplies began to run out in Prussia, and prices for everything skyrocketed.

The price of beer is a microcosm of this. Before the war, a glass of dark beer like this would cost around 10 pfennigs, but now it has risen to 30 pfennigs a glass. They consumed a full 600 pfennigs in one night.

It's important to know that 100 pfennigs equals 1 mark, and the monthly allowance of an ordinary Prussian private was only about 10 marks. This one drinking session cost more than half a month's allowance for an ordinary soldier.

"I'll pay—" Lu Mingfei staggered to the bar, took out his marks, and started paying. He had become a sergeant and officer before Caesar and had recently started receiving his allowance. A second lieutenant's allowance was 80 marks a month, and with the money he had saved in the previous months, he was now much richer than Caesar.

After paying, the two staggered out the door, singing as they walked. Just then, a little girl of about eleven or twelve years old came to them, holding out a box in her hand and saying, "Brother—could you give me some money or food—"

Lu Mingfei and Caesar's singing came to an abrupt halt. The dizziness and fleeting pleasure brought on by the alcohol deflated like a balloon punctured by a needle.

They stopped, still swaying slightly, but their eyes fell completely silent when they met the little girl's empty yet pleading eyes.

Lu Mingfei silently took out a few marks from his pocket and put them into the girl's box. This money was enough for the little girl to have a few full meals.

The little girl suddenly raised her head, her eyes flashing with disbelief. She then bowed deeply to Caesar and Lu Mingfei, and like a startled fawn, turned and ran quickly into the dark alley behind her, disappearing from sight.

Lu Mingfei and Caesar stood still, neither of them speaking.

This wasn't the first little girl they had helped; they encountered children begging on the streets every time they went out.

The war not only claimed lives on the front lines, but also plunged the world at the rear into chaos. The fathers of these children may have died in Verdun, on the Marne, or on some unknown battlefield on the Eastern Front.

Their mothers might be working tirelessly in a military factory that operates day and night, relying on meager wages and equally meager food rations, yet still unable to feed their growing children.

Food supplies in Prussia are becoming increasingly strained. Bread, once the staple food, is becoming darker and harder. Families with begging children like this may not even be able to afford such bread, and they may have begun to eat turnips that were originally used to feed pigs.

Moreover, in order to support battles like Verdun that required massive amounts of artillery shells, a frenzied resource plundering was underway within Prussia.

The copper components on the roofs of most public buildings, the copper railings and sculptures in parks, were dismantled and melted down to make shell casings. Even the copper bells that had hung in churches for generations were not spared; they were requisitioned and melted down. The rubber on car tires was also forcibly stripped off for military use.

The whole of Berlin, and even the whole of Prussia, was like a giant whose flesh and blood were gradually drained away, leaving only a skeleton, struggling to support a war that seemed to have no end. The surface order and magnificent buildings could not conceal the pervasive sense of desolation brought about by the scarcity of resources.

However, at least on the surface, everything seems to be barely holding on. There aren't so many children begging that they can be seen everywhere, and social order hasn't collapsed.

Within Prussia, there were still a large number of adult men who were either under or over the age of conscription, or exempted from military service due to their involvement in important military production, who maintained basic production in factories and farms in the rear.

However, this fragile balance was completely shattered half a month later by another earth-shattering piece of news from the western front.

The Battle of the Somme broke out.

The Supreme Command issued an unprecedented conscription order, recruiting all men aged 17 to 60 across the country.

Lu Mingfei, who had only completed half of his military training, could only lead his troops to a new battlefield.