Courtyard House: I Rely on Time-Space Trade to Build a Nation

All of this happened in the blink of an eye.

Only then did Dazhu suddenly blow his whistle.

With a "whoosh," dozens of soldiers appeared out of nowhere in front of the pass, raising their guns and aiming, the bolts rattling loudly.

What's even more chilling is that figures suddenly appeared on both sides of the hillside, and you could even see the shadows of light machine guns set up—Zhao Desheng's men had completed the encirclement!

The twenty or so soldiers from the 1st Regiment were completely terrified. They stared at their platoon leader, a gun pressed against his head, screaming in agony.

Looking at the 6th Regiment soldiers who clearly had an absolute advantage in numbers and firepower, all of them had lost the arrogance they had shown earlier.

"Release...release them! Put down your guns! Put them down now!" The platoon leader was terrified, tears and snot streaming down his face from the pain, and he screamed hoarsely.

Clang, clang, the rifles were thrown all over the ground.

The bound villagers were hurriedly untied, and they helped each other up, crying and running towards Zhao Ping'an.

Zhao Ping'an glanced at them and his heart sank: there were only eight! And each of them had bruises and injuries.

More importantly, there was no bride, and no groom who was supposed to come and fetch her!

"What's going on? Where are the other two people? Where's the bride?" Zhao Ping'an turned around and sternly questioned an older villager who had been released.

The villager knelt down with a thud and burst into tears:

"Sir! Those beasts! The bride... the bride has a fiery temper. She struggled when they dragged her out. That officer saw she had some nerve..."

He actually... he actually tried to commit adultery on the spot, disregarding the freezing weather... The bride refused and crashed her head into a nearby rock... She died!

The groom saw this, his eyes red with rage, and tried to fight them, but...he was shot dead! His body...his body is still lying in that ditch over there!

Om-!

Zhao Ping'an felt a surge of heat rush to his head, and his vision blurred.

Since his transmigration, he has witnessed famine, war, and apathy.

But such blatant atrocities happened right before my eyes, in the very zone I was responsible for defending! And it was done by bastards who called themselves "friendly forces"!

Rage instantly consumed reason.

Zhao Pingan grabbed the platoon leader, whose face was ashen and who was begging for mercy, and yanked him close to him as a human shield. At the same time, he roared angrily at his troops:

"Fire! Shoot! Fire! Kill them all! Leave no one alive!"

"Da da da—!"

"Bang bang bang—!"

The moment the order was given, the soldiers, who had been holding back their anger and had their guns pointed at the target, pulled the triggers without hesitation!

In particular, the Maxim heavy machine gun emitted a muffled and terrifying roar, spitting fire and raining bullets like a steel storm, instantly engulfing the twenty or so unarmed soldiers of the 1st Regiment who stood frozen in place.

The screams were drowned out by the deafening gunfire.

In just over ten seconds, silence returned to the pass, except for the "platoon leader" who had been used as a human shield by Zhao Ping'an.

All that remained was the smoke of battle and the corpses strewn all over the ground.

The gunfire ceased, leaving only the sound of the wind and suppressed breathing in the valley.

"You actually dared to fire, Zhao Ping'an! You're finished! When I get back, I'll tell the regimental commander that you and your older brother are both dead!" The platoon leader's roar and curses startled Zhao Ping'an.

This isn't right, is it? Shouldn't the other party see that you dare to fire and then beg for mercy, begging you to spare their life?

This isn't right. Could it be that the other person also has some kind of protective system like me?

Thinking of this, Zhao Ping'an's heart tightened.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!" The Mauser pistol fired in rapid succession, smashing the opponent's head into a bloody mess.

Still not feeling safe, he rushed to the side, grabbed a Czech light machine gun, and sprayed bullets all over the other person's body, just in case the other person was Xing Tian.

When all the bullets were fired, Zhao Ping'an finally came to his senses. His chest heaved violently, and his hand holding the gun trembled slightly.

He knew that he had acted impulsively just now. This order meant a complete break with the First Regiment, and could even lead to big trouble.

But looking at the eight villagers who had escaped death and were now weeping bitterly, and thinking of the newlywed couple who had died tragically, Zhao Ping'an felt no regret whatsoever.

"Clean up the battlefield, find the bodies of the villagers... and collect them properly." Zhao Ping'an's voice was a little hoarse.

"Battalion Commander Desheng, please take your men and escort the villagers back to their village. Report today's events to the regimental commander truthfully."

Zhao Desheng walked over, looked at the corpses of the 1st Regiment soldiers scattered on the ground, then at Zhao Ping'an, whose face was ashen, and patted him heavily on the shoulder.

Without saying anything, he turned around and went to make arrangements.

Three days later, Zhao Dongliang returned from headquarters, followed by the enforcement team. He summoned Zhao Ping'an and, in a menacing manner, kicked him, sending him tumbling.

"You brat, why couldn't you have arrived sooner to wipe out those bandits and save the entire group of brothers? You good-for-nothing! You're being punished by not being allowed to eat for two days!" A casual rebuke made the four members of the enforcement team turn green with rage.

"Commander Zhao, we need to take Battalion Commander Zhao Ping'an back to Beiping City and hand him over to the military law department for processing." The leader of the enforcement team was a company commander who spoke with a forced smile.

"Do as you please, I won't make things difficult for you," Zhao Dongliang said with a smile, waving his hand dismissively.

"Battalion Commander Zhao, please!" The enforcement team members breathed a sigh of relief.

"Beep~ Beep~ Beep!" The whistle on Zhao Ping'an's chest blew instantly from the large pillar behind him.

Dozens of fully armed soldiers suddenly emerged from the barracks courtyard behind them, flanking the four law enforcement teams in a chaotic yet orderly fashion, and setting up their weapons.

Despite it being the dead of winter, the enforcement team members broke out in a cold sweat instantly.

"Hmm, it seems Battalion Commander Zhao has official duties to attend to. Next time, please be sure to go to the military law department." The leader wasn't stupid either, so he quickly gave himself a way out, and without waiting for Zhao Ping'an's reply, he led his men away in a sorry state.

This caused a burst of laughter from the soldiers.

This incident later caused quite a stir at the division headquarters, and the 1st Regiment was particularly agitated.

But Zhao Dongliang retorted with unusual firmness, insisting that "bandits impersonating soldiers of the 1st Regiment were robbing and committing crimes, and were discovered and wiped out by a patrol team of the 6th Regiment."

In addition, there was a tearful accusation signed and fingerprinted by villagers from Xiaolizhuang and Wangjiazhuang.

And Zhao Ping'an "coincidentally" sent a few "small yellow croakers" to a key figure in the division headquarters through Lou Bancheng's connections.

Ultimately, the matter was downplayed and classified as a "misunderstanding and accidental conflict," and the matter was dropped.

But from then on, the feud between the 6th Regiment and the 1st Regiment became even more intense.

The entire 1st Regiment hated Zhao Ping'an, this "ruthless" newly promoted young battalion commander, while Zhao Ping'an and the officers and soldiers of the 6th Regiment...

They gained a deeper understanding of the arrogance and cruelty of the 1st Regiment, and that sense of shared hatred for the enemy unconsciously grew stronger during daily training and "lectures".