Republic of China, 1922: Rise from the Post-Zhili-Fengtian War

As night fell, Jinzhou City descended into utter silence.

Gu Cheng and Zhang Tingshu, along with Yang Song and three guards who had changed into civilian clothes, quietly walked out of the regimental headquarters, their footsteps light, and headed west along the bluestone path.

The city had not yet recovered from the Zhili-Fengtian War, and the scene was one of shocking devastation.

Many houses had their roofs blown off by shells, their charred wooden beams leaning precariously, and broken bricks and tiles scattered everywhere... It should be noted that Jinzhou was not only an important military town, but also a distribution center for trade between Northeast China and the interior of China, and home to the largest market in western Liaoning.

But now, most of those shops have broken doors or are covered with fire marks. Only a few houses have faint oil lamps shining from them. The occasional crunching sound of them kicking shell casings and other debris is particularly jarring. The low howling of wild dogs in the distance makes the place seem even more desolate and bleak.

"No wonder Mu Haisheng and his men couldn't find food; look how dilapidated the city is."

Zhang Tingshu frowned.

Gu Cheng glanced at him: "What, you're really planning to find food in the city?"

Zhang Tingshu was taken aback, then turned to look at him: "So what you said back then that if you had guns, you'd have food? Weren't you planning to 'rob the rich to help the poor' in the city?"

Gu Cheng winked at him mysteriously: "Right now we're the garrison ourselves, how can we rob the people? Besides, when we build the camp, we'll need the wealthy families in the city to contribute their labor... If we're 'robbing the rich to help the poor' now, it'll be harder to carry out our work later."

Zhang Tingshu teased, "Alright, I knew you were cunning. You're still the same as when you were in the military academy. You and Hanqing come up with the ideas, and we just run the errands."

Infected by his relaxed tone, Gu Cheng withdrew his gaze from the ruins: "I have a way to get food... but let's go to the city defenses first and see how well the brothers are doing at night."

When they entered the city during the day, they saw that the soldiers in Jinzhou were not well-defended. The first stop of their patrol was definitely to make a surprise return visit to see if those guys were still the same as before and whether they had been more diligent at night.

The group moved quietly along the dilapidated walls and soon reached the foot of the West Gate tower.

Compared to the daytime, the city's defenses had indeed improved slightly: the small gaps that had collapsed had been barely filled with rubble by the soldiers, a simple wooden watchtower had been erected next to the city gate, and a few sharpened tree trunks lay across the roadside as makeshift barricades.

But this improvement could not hide the predicament—each sentry post had only two or three soldiers, carrying old-fashioned bullets in their arms, and the bullet pouches at their waists were so flat that they could hang down to their knees, obviously with few bullets left.

Most of the crenellations on the city wall are still missing, and the night wind blows in through the gaps, bringing a chill even in the middle of summer.

Gu Cheng and his group moved with utmost stealth, using the cover of night to approach the sentry post step by step. When they were less than ten feet away, a young soldier beside the watchtower suddenly noticed the movement, hurriedly gripped his rifle, and shouted in a low voice, "Who's there?!"

The other soldiers also woke up instantly, raising their guns in alertness, their eyes filled with tension—in the aftermath of the war, bandits or stragglers could appear at any time in Jinzhou City at night, so they had no choice but to be vigilant.

But when they realized that the newcomer was Commander Gu, who had entered the city during the day, the men were immediately shocked. They quickly lowered their guns, straightened their posture, and saluted him, saying, "Commander Gu!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than the platoon leader who had been in charge of the west gate sentry post during the day rushed out of the makeshift guard tower in a panic: "Commander Gu? You...you're here checking the posts in the middle of the night?"

Gu Cheng waved his hand, a gentler smile appearing on his face: "Why aren't you lighting a fire at night? It's windy here at night; you must be feeling quite cold."

The platoon leader quickly replied, "Back then, we lit fires because the brothers wanted to have something hot to eat—we couldn't afford any light at night. As you probably know, things outside the city have been quite unsettled lately. If we lit lanterns, it would be like showing our sentry posts to the enemy. If we were spotted by bandits or Zhili scouts, not only would we suffer, but we might also endanger the entire city's defenses."

Zhang Tingshu raised an eyebrow, scrutinizing him with interest: "Judging from what you're saying, you seem like someone who truly understands leading troops... But with the limited equipment you have, will it be of any use if trouble really comes knocking?"

The platoon leader's face showed even more guilt. He lowered his head and said in a low voice, "Sir, we also want to defend the city, but the regiment is really short of equipment and manpower—"

I heard that many brothers died or were wounded in the battle of Dalinghe. My post can only send two people at most, and we don't have enough bullets; each of us only has two or three rounds.

Gu Cheng remained silent.

He already knew when he passed by the city wall that Jinzhou was something they had risked their lives to protect, and their determination to defend it now was undoubtedly genuine.

However, the regiment was short-staffed, its guns were old, and it lacked ammunition, which were also practical problems.

"These things must be reported."

Seeing that Zhang Tingshu's expression had also become serious, Gu Cheng said softly, "No matter what, we have to find a way to get some equipment."

His friend nodded repeatedly: "I understand... I'll draft a telegram and send it out in your name first thing tomorrow morning."

Gu Cheng nodded in agreement, then asked the platoon leader's name, Li Dazhu, before slowly saying, "I will find a way to solve the equipment problem as soon as possible. I will never let you guard the city with empty guns. You just need to guard your posts and watch the city gate. I'll take care of the rest."

The soldiers were invigorated upon hearing this. Li Dazhu straightened up and saluted again: "Don't worry, Commander... as long as the brothers are still breathing, we won't let a single fly into the city! By the way, we've received the dried meat and rations you sent."

Gu Cheng nodded slightly, gave a few more instructions on the precautions for guarding the post, and then led his men to continue patrolling along the city wall.

After inspecting two posts, which were similar to the situation at Li Dazhu's post, Zhang Tingshu leaned closer to Gu Cheng and said, "It's clear that Mu Haisheng's men are honest and hardworking. Despite their poor equipment, they're still doing their best."

At this moment, the group had quietly slipped back to the regimental headquarters. Gu Cheng took a deep breath of the slightly cool air: "Think about it, it's easy to figure out what happened... Because we were guarding the Luanzhou front line, Brigade Commander Sun didn't attend the meeting a few days ago, but he should still know that Jinzhou was going to be rotated to Tang Yulin."

Zhang Tingshu immediately understood the implied meaning: "So you mean, this Sixth Master is abandoning his brothers in Jinzhou?"

Gu Cheng turned around and glanced at the guards following closely behind him, lowering his voice even further: "Not only did he ignore it, he probably even used the regiment's organizational structure to ask the commander-in-chief for military pay and equipment."

Zhang Tingshu was secretly startled upon hearing this, but he quickly became serious and said, "That's quite possible. The military reorganization has just begun, and the new unit designations for Jinzhou haven't been issued yet. Brigade Commander Sun has already requested supplies from the Marshal, so it's impossible for them to be allocated to us."

Gu Cheng nodded, then smiled at him: "So our unit, which has been abandoned by our superiors, has to figure out how to get some food, drink, and equipment ourselves!"