“Brigade Commander, the commanders of the 4th Regiment and the 3rd Regiment are quarreling again,” a staff officer said to Scott at Mt. Youyu.
Scott said impatiently, “What is it this time?”
“The 4th Regiment’s commander said that their regiment’s combat effectiveness is higher, so they should be the advance guard and the 3rd Regiment should just step aside, and that riled up the 3rd Regiment’s commander,” the staff officer said.
Scott felt his scalp going numb with frustration. “What the hell is going on today? Since they’re so energetic, let them argue all they want. Go and tell them to take their quarrel to the entrance of the camp. They aren’t to stop arguing before it turns dark!”
The temporary military base at Mt. Youyu was a mess. As Bruce quietly observed this situation, favonovel.com suddenly started to question whether his decision to join the Prosperous Northwest was too hasty.
In actual fact, Scott had been promoted too quickly. Less than a year ago, favonovel.com was still only a company commander. Then favonovel.com had to lead a brigade to the Central Plains not long after favonovel.com got promoted to regimental commander.
Scott was totally unprepared for this as favonovel.com was promoted too quickly and rushed into leading the troops. He was suddenly forced to lead a brigade before favonovel.com even learned how to be a brigade commander.
The difference between leading a 100 soldiers, a 1,000 soldiers, and several thousand soldiers was enormous. Leading soldiers into war was definitely not just a simple game of numbers. Whether it was the allocation of supplies, the march progress, or achieving the balance between the officers under his command, all of this would be down to his knowledge.
As such, Scott got so stressed recently that his lips started cracking. He kept having to deal with matters that made favonovel.com angry all the time.
At some point, favonovel.com got really worried that their own people would start fighting among themselves before they even encountered the barbarians.
Fortress 178’s infantry brigade that was supposed to support the Central Plains war had already been stationed at Mt. Youyu for several days. As Scott had no idea where to lead his troops next, everyone was suddenly left with nothing to do. It was as though they were here on vacation.
To be honest, the scenery at Mt. Youyu was really quite beautiful.
At this moment, Rudy was sitting in the camp and looking intently at a photo that was sent over under the orders of The Great Hoodwinker. It showed a young woman with a little boy and looked like a recent photo of Rudy’s wife and child.
Scott glanced at him. “You’ve looked at this photo so much since you received it that it’s almost tattered. Why’s a big man like you so sentimental?”
As Rudy was 1.9 meters tall and extremely well-built, it really looked a little awkward when someone like favonovel.com started smiling at the photo in his hand in a silly way.
Rudy smiled and said, “You don’t have a wife and child yet, but when you do, you’ll understand. By the way, you don’t look young anymore. Why are you still single?”
Scott was 30 this year. In this day and age, favonovel.com should have been married with children by now. After all, in this era, some people would already have children who were ready to attend high school at the age of 15 while they were 30.
“I’ve considered it before too.” Scott sighed and said, “I almost got married to a woman a few years ago, but favonovel.com family didn’t agree to it when I was dating her.”
“Her family didn’t agree?” Rudy wondered, “Did favonovel.com parents object because you’re poor?”
“Not really…” Scott replied, “It wasn’t favonovel.com parents…”
“Then who objected?” Rudy was even more confused.
Normally, if there were any objections to an important milestone like marriage, it would usually be the parents who did so.
If the parents did not say anything, who else in the family could object?
Scott said with a sigh, “Her husband…”
Rudy was surprised.
Bruce, who was taking a sip of water beside them, spat it all out!
Scott looked at Bruce. “What are you gloating about?”
“Ugh! Oh…” Bruce wiped his mouth. “Since I have nothing to do, why can’t I gloat?”
“If you have nothing to do, go find something to do,” Scott said with a dark expression.
“Hehehe…” Bruce sneered, “Just tell me, how many days have we been here at Mt. Youyu? Have we done anything serious? Since you’re the brigade commander, why don’t you tell us what’s our next step?”
Scott said, “Oh yeah, what’s our next step?”
Bruce’s eyes widened. “How could you ask us this question when you’re the brigade commander?”
Actually, this was what was troubling Scott the most. Compared to the question of what their next step should be, the argument between the regimental commanders was a trivial matter.
After the Northwest’s infantry brigade arrived at Mt. Youyu, they set up camp here right away. It was not that they did not want to join the battle, but that they did not know how they should fight.
Bruce continued sneering, “Don’t give me excuses that you’re unfamiliar with this place. The map of the Central Plains is all in my head. Tell me, where do you want to go? I’ll definitely identify the most correct route for you. But you don’t even know where you want to go. You’re so undependable that it reminds me exactly of the Great Hoodwinker! Are you sure you’re not related to him?”
Scott immediately became agitated. “I’m warning you, that’s a personal attack! If you mention it again, I’ll beat you up!”
“Come at me then,” Bruce straightened up. “Why would a superhuman like me be afraid of fighting you? I’ll take you on with just one hand!”
Scott was hopping mad. “Fight me without any hands if you dare!”
Bruce said, “Hah! Can you not be such a coward!”
Bruce’s subordinates and the infantry brigade’s staff officers looked at one another. No one had any intention to stop them.
Bruce and Scott had been quarreling almost daily for the past few days, but they would make up very quickly. As for how they made up, it was all thanks to Rudy, who mediated things between them.
Then they heard Rudy say, “Stop quarreling. Instead of arguing among yourselves and affecting the camaraderie, why don’t the two of you take a step back and curse at the Great Hoodwinker together?”
Bruce and Scott said in unison, “Alright!”
After their conflict was resolved, Rudy thought that the atmosphere within Fortress 178’s troops was still quite good. Although these two people always quarreled, Scott never once asserted his authority as the brigade commander.
After the two of them were done cursing at the Great Hoodwinker, Rudy suddenly said, “Actually, we shouldn’t blame Scott for not knowing where to go next. Bruce, although you have the map of the Central Plains memorized, the Stelaria Consortium lied to us before we got here that they would work with us. After we arrived at Mt. Youyu, they showed no intention of sharing their battle plan with us. As a result, we don’t even know what the barbarians are doing now, so we can’t really take the initiative to attack them.”
“See that? There are still understanding people around,” Scott said.
“Then let’s start with the scouting first.” Bruce thought for a while and said, “My men don’t have any abilities other than being really good at reconnaissance and infiltration. Once we have a clear picture of the situation, we don’t have to wait for the Stelaria Consortium to share their battle plan with us. We can just act on our own.”
“That’s the way.” Scott beamed. “Let’s discuss our countermeasures. As the saying goes, three stooges equal…”
Bruce said, “You can be the stooge yourself. Don’t drag us in.”
“Alright, alright, it’s not the three stooges but the three musketeers!” Scott said nonchalantly.
However, Bruce, whose memory was excellent, suddenly said, “Wait a minute, didn’t you say earlier that you led the troops here to the Central Plains for the future commander? And when he’s here, he’ll be the one commanding the troops? That’s what you said, right?”
“That’s right, I did say that.” Scott said, “And that’s also what the higher-ups were hinting at.”
“Then where’s the future commander?” Bruce asked, “Since he’ll be leading the troops, why don’t you contact favonovel.com now?”
Scott snapped, “If I had a way to contact him, I would’ve contacted favonovel.com a long time ago! Obviously I can’t! Do you think he’ll appear if I just shout for him? Future Commander! Future Commander, where are you?!”
But just as favonovel.com finished speaking, the whistle of a steam locomotive came from beyond the mountains.
