Twenty Seven Years

  Chapter 406 Regrouping

   July 20th

  Bressi, Nanre City

There are finally a lot of civilians on the street today, but they did not come out because Nanre City has restored its former peace, but because the Equality Army is distributing supplies and wartime refuge manuals to them from door to door, so as to ensure that after the battle breaks out, their Innocent victims should be avoided as much as possible.

  Except for the soldiers responsible for distributing supplies, the troops stationed in Nanre City were divided into three groups, one was responsible for stepping up the construction of fortifications, the other was responsible for guarding against sudden attacks by the government forces, and the other took a break to replace other troops at any time.

  In the tallest building in the city, Morais slowly put down his binoculars, returned to the conference table and sat down.

  The military officers sitting on the left and right sides of the conference table, and the cadres of various ministries who took over the work of the city hall looked at him in silence.

  The atmosphere in the hall is much heavier than outside.

  Because when the government army came, the people could hide and surrender, but the equal army had no way out.

"Snapped."

  Moles lit a cigarette with a lighter, took a puff, and squinted his eyes in the smoke he exhaled: "They won't just watch us build the fortifications."

   Everyone did not speak.

   "All the recruits have been transported to General Joseph in the early hours of this morning, right?" Morais asked a subordinate.

   "Yes." After being stared at for an answer, the officer replied, "Seven thousand recruits have come."

   There was a commotion at the conference table.

  The strength of the Equal Army is far lower than that of the government army. If Joseph wants to capture Puluo City and rescue the Fourth Division trapped in Nanre City, the addition of these 7,000 recruits will not affect the battle situation too much.

   "What's going on at Signevillen Sea?" Morais asked about the battle situation between Bash and Pruman's army and the Allied forces of Welland and Bressi thousands of miles away.

   "The coalition forces of Wellland and Bresci are retreating steadily, but they have reached a cooperation with the Shennai Empire. The Shennai Empire will vacate the port to provide them with supplies and maintenance..."

   "That is to say, they are ready to fight a protracted war." Morais took a puff of cigarette, "Then they can't be expected to affect here for the time being."

   "Boom boom boom."

   "Come in."

   "Commander, General Joseph has a telegram."

   "Say it straight."

The communications soldier stood one or two meters away from the conference table, looked directly at Morais and said: "General Joseph said that they will organize a counter-offensive in two days, and we are required to strictly guard against the government forces and make corresponding preparations. In addition , the recruits will, under the leadership of Commander Brian, launch a feint attack on the government forces near Nanre City when necessary to ease our pressure."

   "Two days later? Isn't it only four days left for them to capture Puluo City?" Some people ignored the meaningless second half of the content and raised objections to Joseph's time arrangement.

   "Go out first." Morais beckoned and looked at the officer.

  Joseph gave them a notice the day before yesterday, saying that they would capture Puro within seven days. If it takes another two days to act, there are only four days left, which is more urgent than the government army's attack on Nanre City.

   Can you beat it?

   No one is sure.

"General Joseph should be making the most complete preparations." What Morais can do is to have absolute trust in Joseph, and pass this trust on to the subordinates present, "I still say that, the time is only seven days, we There was a lot of pressure, as did General Joseph's side."

   "But until now, General Joseph has not disclosed their detailed combat plan to us. They will never hide it from us. Doesn't this mean..." The officer did not say "the plan has not yet been formulated".

  Morais understands the worries and wavering of comrades at the moment. Tens of thousands of government troops are gathered less than 20 kilometers away, and countless spears and cannons are aimed at this place. Who can be at peace?

   "Boom boom boom."

   At this time, the knock on the door sounded again.

   "Come in."

  As soon as Morais finished speaking, a soldier walked in quickly, breathing quickly: "Master! The government forces outside the city have taken action!"

"what?!"

"So fast?!"

   "It's only the second day, if we really fight, we won't last long!"

   "Don't worry, speak slowly." Morais asked calmly.

   "The government army advanced a few kilometers towards Nanre City, and sent people to use loudspeakers to call on the people to evacuate Nanre City. The government army will guarantee their follow-up lives..." the soldier said.

   This is further pressure from the government forces. Their move is more to show the public, to let the public know that a war is about to break out, they should evacuate as soon as possible, and get a far better resettlement with the government army than staying here.

  The citizens of Nanre City are the biggest support for the Equality Army to stick to Nanre City. It is precisely because of the large number of citizens staying in the city that the government troops dare not attack easily.

If the citizens really listen to the government army and leave, turning Nanre City into an empty city where only the Pingping Army remains, then the government army will not have to worry about accidentally injuring the people, and will be at a disadvantage in public opinion, exacerbating the loss of popular support, and attacking with an absolute advantage. Clean up the fourth division of the Pingping Army.

  Is the city closed?

   Almost instantly, this thought arose in everyone's mind.

  When the city is closed, the people will not be able to get out, and they can continue to rely on the people to make the government army fearful and relieve the pressure to a great extent.

   But the city is closed, and the Equality Army, which claims to build an equal and free world, can still say such things with peace of mind?

  They deprived the people of their freedom to leave, and they chose to use the people as a shield, so does the International Equality Alliance deserve to be called the International Equality Alliance?

   Morais is waiting.

   Wait for the comrades present to speak.

  He wanted to understand the attitudes of these people in front of him first.

If some of these people propose to close the city, or use other means to prevent the people from leaving, and try to bind the people tightly with themselves, it means that the morale of the army will be shaken even more than he imagined, and the comrades will be killed without confrontation. Terrified.

  If no one mentions the closure of the city, agrees with him, and respects the choices of the people, then this battle will still have to be fought. At least the comrades are still the same comrades, and what they pursue and firmly believe in has not changed.

  The officers and cadres looked at each other, trying to see what the other was thinking from the eyes of each other.

   "What? You don't even have the courage to put forward your own ideas?" Morais said after a few minutes of silence.

   After a fierce struggle, an officer looked at Morais: "If the people really want to leave, we can't stop them."

   "Why can't you stop it?" Morais asked with a half-smile.

The officer's face was sullen, and he couldn't do it as easily as Morais: "How can I stop... won't I become the person I hate the most if I stop us? And doesn't it just give the government army a legitimate reason to attack? They will hold it when the time comes." If we launch an attack in the name of saving the people, even if innocent people are injured, it can be blamed on us."

  Morais did not make a statement, and glanced at the others: "What about you? What do you think?... To put it simply, do you want to close the city to prevent the people from going out, or are you willing to respect their wishes?"

  “…Let the people decide for themselves.”

"agree."

"agree."

  …

  The latter was unanimously chosen in the end, and no one made a suggestion that would defeat the purpose of what they were fighting for here.

  Morais breathed a sigh of relief, but remained unmoved on the surface: "Do you know what the consequences will be if you make this decision?"

   "People will really leave." One person said.

"People influence each other. When one family leaves, its neighbors leave. When two families leave, a street of people leaves. When a street of people leaves... there are not many people left in Nanre City. Morais clearly put the situation in front of everyone, "As long as two-thirds of the people can walk away, the government army can let go of the fight. You know what the consequences will be if you make this decision." ?"

  Heavy-hearted comrades, no one answered this time, but everyone knew the result.

"But isn't this what we faced at the beginning?" Morais asked back, "The government and the old forces are ten times and a hundred times stronger than us, and we are fighting alone. Since when did we get used to hiding behind the people, waiting for the fruits of victory to fall into our hands?"

  Some comrades who had just thought of closing the city came back to their senses.

  The situation just now was never an option for them.

Morais stubbed out the cigarette: "Of course the people have the right to decide whether to stay or not. That has nothing to do with us. We don't interfere. What we have to do is to defeat the government forces, so that there will be no oppression and exploitation in this land. The power of the people exists."

  His powerful words hit everyone's hearts like thunder.

"Tell me something I haven't revealed to you all this time." Morais put his own gun on the table, his eyes were firm and his tone was firm, "If it wasn't for General Joseph's arrangement, I would lead you to take the initiative to attack , Even if it is death, you have to die in front of the people. Let them see with their own eyes that the comrades of the International Equality League are really fighting for equality and freedom for them. After us, there will be no such desperate people.”

"It's time to fight!" the chief of staff said, "It doesn't matter if the people leave or not! This battle is settled! Let everyone see! We can't just sit and wait! They want to return this land to It's absolutely impossible to look like a ghost before!"

"Yes! Why should we be afraid?! Should we be afraid when we are surrounded?! Should we be afraid if we sacrifice?! We are fighting for what we deserve, what are we afraid of?! We are driving out the rotten things, we What are you afraid of?!"

   "If I were afraid of death, I would not join the Equality Association, the International Equality League, let alone sit here."

   "Is it possible that we still have to surrender? We will be trampled under their feet, and we will return to the old world where we were not treated as human beings, had no personality, no dignity, and no equality and freedom to speak of?"

   Gradually, everyone became passionate.

  Not long ago, the anxiety caused by the delay in reinforcements has disappeared.

  During the period of siege, the oppression of the government forces increased day by day, and their belief was clouded by fear. But one person is as firm as ever, and everyone's power is reawakened.

  They have nothing to lose and really nothing to fear.

   Now the fight is not to lose, but to gain.

"Since they have all gone out to appeal to the people, our people should also go and tell the citizens of Nanre City that the Equality Army will not interfere with their decisions and they can leave at any time. At the same time, we want to assure all citizens that we are confident in defending Nanre City. Hot City, we will not give up here before the last of our comrades falls, and we will not let any citizen be affected!" Morais arranged in an orderly manner.

"Yes!"

"Step up the construction of the fortifications! I will give it another day!" Morais continued, "I was worried that the government forces would launch an attack in the middle of our construction of the fortifications. After all, they don't have to wait for Nanre City It will become stronger and stronger, and it will take a higher price to take this place. Looking at it now, the situation is not that critical. Compared with fortifications, they should hope that the people will leave here first, and let go of the attack when there is no more restraint. So We can build with confidence today, and set up our lines of defense one by one before the evacuation of the people is complete."

  Morais saw the other side of the impact of government forces calling on people to leave Nanre City.

  Without the people, the government forces will naturally attack without scruples.

  But during the evacuation of the people, they couldn't do it for safety reasons, so they just gave the Equality Army another period of safety. Although the safety period was short, it was enough for them to complete the remaining fortifications.

   "In addition, General Joseph has sent us frequent telegrams in the past few days, reassuring us to persevere. It is time for us to reply and tell them that we can push forward steadily. No matter how long it takes, we will persist until they capture Puluo City!"

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

   "Let's go! Dismiss the meeting!" Morais watched the officers and cadres leave the conference hall to implement various tasks.

  The only remaining chief of staff took a sip of water, and the feeling exuded by the whole person was completely different from that before the meeting: "It should have been like this long ago."

   "What should it be?" Morais pretended to be stupid.

"Rectify the morale of the army." The chief of staff poured two glasses of water helplessly, "Look at what it looks like before, everyone can't eat and sleep, so they are rushing to send a telegram to General Joseph, asking the reinforcements to rush immediately coming."

"Actually, I wasn't sure about everyone's attitude before." Morais took a big sip from the water glass, and in front of the chief of staff, he lost his momentum and became loose and tired. "I'm worried that everyone will be warmed by the government army. Boiling a frog kills the will to fight, and at the same time I don’t know how to solve it if it happens.”

   "Don't you solve this well?"

   "Is there? I didn't do much just now. It's everyone themselves or that one who is united and high-spirited." Morais doesn't think everyone's emotional changes have anything to do with him.

  The chief of staff smiled, walked to the window, and looked at the location where the government troops were stationed in the distance: "I think you have done a good job. It seems that you have become the bottom line in everyone's heart, preventing everyone from collapsing, and helping everyone to regroup."

   "Okay, stop flattering." Morais couldn't stand being praised by others, so he called the chief of staff to sit down, "Let's discuss the battle plan."

  (end of this chapter)