"Well, since you are so determined, I respect your choice, but before a formal agreement is reached, I have a few more requirements that must be stated in advance: first, we have taken full control of the stone bridge before the battle, and have placed explosives under the bridge, and no vehicles are allowed to pass through the stone bridge for 24 hours; Second, although fighting broke out between us, it was short-lived, and the casualties on both sides were negligible; Thirdly, we will destroy the ammunition carried by the convoy on the spot after seizing it, and only take some of the food and fuel with us, which you must report truthfully, and you must not use these materials again during the exercise. ”

After a short and quick period of consideration, Weiss proposed his own supplementary conditions.

The second lieutenant on the other side, Florenz, weighed up and reluctantly accepted Weiss's conditions. With Dio's acquiescence, Weiss stepped forward to shake the second lieutenant's hand, and by the way, brought Nikolai back.

The soldiers on both sides retreated, and the two commanders assigned several people to count the supplies of the convoy and handle the handover formalities in a simple manner. According to the results of the negotiations between the two sides, when reporting to the exercise headquarters, the alert force escorting this transport convoy, including the driver of the car, a total of 1 officer, 5 non-commissioned officers, and 52 soldiers, none of them were killed or captured, but survived through the prisoner exchange, but 2 cars, 14 trucks, and 18 tons of supplies - half of them were food supplies and half of them ammunition supplies, all of which became trophies of the 3rd Provisional Battalion of the Baston Student Regiment.

Among the trainees, only 13 have truck driving skills, and counting the two "substitutes" Nikolai and Weiss, there are only 15 drivers. In addition, considering that the more vehicles there are, the more difficult it is to conceal their whereabouts, after much deliberation, Weiss and Dio agreed to take only 2 cars and 11 trucks carrying food supplies, and the remaining 3 trucks full of ammunition supplies will be "reimbursed" on the spot. Of course, before leaving, the trainees brought extra oil drums for their trucks, so as not to be forced to abandon the vehicles on the way due to lack of fuel.

It took less than half an hour for the two to sort everything out.

Cunison and Cullens, who had gone out on horseback to reconnoitre, were still unheard of, nor did Major Brooks, who had previously accompanied Nikolai on the ranch.

Dio was very decisive this time, and after consulting Nikolai, he directly ordered everyone to set off.

After a long day, especially the frequent use of the friend or foe identification system during the sneak attack on the stone bridge, Weiss was particularly tired. Therefore, he did not ask Ying to be the vanguard this time, and in order to balance the thoughts and mentality of the students of each squad, Dio arranged for the 3rd squad to go to the front four cars, and the 2nd squad to sit in the back four cars, and the meritorious 1st squad was protected by these two squads in the middle.

Leaning beside Nikolai, Weiss fell asleep in a few moments. After some time, he woke up in a daze, and found Nikolai sleeping soundly in his arms.

In order to transform the half-finished aircraft in the ranch, this guy was busy for a day and a night, and it is estimated that he did not sleep for a few hours.

Weiss cautiously stretched his aching arms and turned his head to look out of the car.

The night is dark.

"Awake?" There was a not-so-familiar voice in front of him.

Following the sound, it turned out to be the second-year student who had been severely reprimanded by Kunison, Hart Resos.

"Hmm. How long have we been on the road? Weiss asked quietly.

Hart replied, "It's been more than four hours, almost five hours!" ”

It was a good night's sleep.

"Have you ever passed by an enemy outpost?"

"Uh...... A total of three checkpoints were passed, two by the bridge and one in the woods, all of which were relatively vulnerable to damage, and the number of soldiers at each checkpoint was about the same, probably less than ten people. ”

"Oh." Weiss replied softly. As previously speculated, the attackers relied on this route to get supplies to the front line, both because of the current stretch of air and rail capacity, and because they intended to launch a surprise operation on this side – either to force the defenders on the flank in a new offensive or to strike directly behind the defenders when they counterattacked.

Either way, in the most anxious moment of the war, it can become a surprise soldier who dominates the situation on the battlefield.

Thinking of Nikolai's political judgment that the defender would eventually win, Weiss couldn't help but speculate that the attacker's move might be to maximize the consumption of the opponent's forces in the case of a doomed defeat, so as to achieve the effect of "winning despite defeat".

In the face of such a general trend, a mere battalion of student soldiers, no matter what they do, is an insignificant existence. In other words, Nikolai saw through this early on, and his own efforts and struggles eventually returned to the original point.

This is the difference, the prince will have a kind of difference.

In this rickety carriage, Weiss soon fell asleep again.

When I woke up again, it was still dark, but the car had stopped.

Weiss had not even looked around him when he heard Nikolai say to him, "You sleep snoring, grinding your teeth, and talking in your sleep." ”

Belch......

Before Weiss could say anything, Nikolai had already diverted the subject: "We seem to have arrived at the first hidden spot of the plan, and there is a forest outside the car. ”

Weiss took two deep breaths, feeling cleared his mind and his body's fatigue basically dissipated.

"What time is it?" He asked Nikolai.

Nikolai's watch had luminescent hands, which allowed him to tell the time without the help of external light, a high-class equipment not only found in ordinary cadets, but also in ordinary officers.

"A few minutes to five o'clock."

Weiss stood up and moved his limbs without hurry, and whispered to Nikolai: "I think our plan may end sooner than expected." ”

"You noticed that, too?" Nikolai said, "This route is important in the eyes of the enemy, so they will quickly mobilize mobile forces to come and round us up. If we had sent transport ships to carry the Marine Corps, we would have to finish up today. ”

"How far did you fly north yesterday?" Weiss asked.

Nikolai calmly replied: "It was less than a hundred kilometers, the engine failed, and the forced landing was quickly discovered by them." ”

With that, he paused, then said indignantly, "I hate the engine of Cadiz!" ”

"What's the use of hate?" "When there is a suitable opportunity in the future, how about we join forces to create a top-of-the-line engine factory?" ”

Nikolai almost didn't think about it: "Okay, it's a word!" ”

Building an engine is a relatively long-term plan, and the top priority now is to find a way to "survive" as long as possible in this conference and make contributions to our own camp as much as possible.

As soon as Weiss got out of the car, he was met by the herald of the battalion headquarters, and Theo sent him to summon a meeting of the captains to discuss the operation.

Before the meeting of the four began, Weiss had already sorted out his thoughts and thought of the current response strategy - in the face of the enemy's inevitable encirclement and interception, the most rational way was to break up the whole and disperse the action, so as not to end up with the end of the whole army.

Regarding Weiss's proposal, Dio, the "hesitant brother", hesitated for a long time as usual. The two third-year students, who were the commanders of the other two squads, were obviously not willing to listen to one of the second-year students, but they couldn't come up with a better way, which led to a very depressing atmosphere in the four-person meeting.

Weiss had no choice but to urge: "It is estimated that as soon as dawn comes, the enemy's air and ground reconnaissance forces will appear." We'd better make up our minds as soon as possible. ”

Dio argued, "But we have traveled at least four hundred miles this night. Judging from the direct release of the checkpoints along the way, they completely regarded us as a transport team returning with empty vehicles, after all, the telephone line was cut off by us, and those people could not quickly contact the higher headquarters. ”

"Here's the problem!" Weiss frowned and said, "Every time you pass through a checkpoint, you leave an indelible trace. When the enemy has restored communications, it is only necessary to contact the checkpoints along the way, know our approximate location, and then conduct reconnaissance and search accordingly. ”

Squad 3 Commander Dresler angrily asked, "This seriously flawed plan wasn't up to you whimsical guys?" It's too late to talk about these and those questions! ”

Weiss did not lose confidence because of the other party's accusations, and he said aloud: "That's right, you got to the point!" This situation fully reflects a very serious problem: our troops lack strong and effective means of reconnaissance, and can only rely on foot and horseback to carry out limited reconnaissance. If we can detect in advance that the enemy has a large number of checkpoints along this route, we can adjust our plans accordingly instead of being reactive as we are now. ”

Dresler snorted: "Fighting behind enemy lines, it's good to have horses!" Didn't you build a flying machine? The result? As it turned out, not only did it not work, it dragged us back! ”

Weiss said quickly: "It was not very successful, but it still gave us some important information and gave us important insights. After the drill is over, we will submit a special report to the school committee and the general staff to strengthen the use of aerial reconnaissance technology, and perhaps by the time you enter the army, the aircraft will already become the standard reconnaissance configuration of the army units. ”

"Of course, you can even put the report directly in front of the president." Dresler sneered.

As soon as these words came out, the atmosphere had changed its flavor. Squad 2 Commander Hawkes quickly glared at Dresler and said in a reminding tone, "It's far away!" ”

Realizing that his inappropriate remarks could be a keg of dynamite that ruined his military career, Dresler shrank his head and deliberately avoided Weiss's gaze.

Although Weiss didn't intend to make a fuss about this kind of thing, he wouldn't sit back and watch others be so contemptuous, he deliberately blackened his face and swept the faces of the three third-graders in front of him with a gloomy gaze: "Some things, right and wrong, will be determined in the future, and it is useless to say more now." Now, we must make up our minds whether we should sit here and wait, or leave as soon as possible; Whether to continue to act together, or to disperse. My opinion is...... Disperse your operations in squads, and if necessary, split your squads into squads to deal with the enemy with agility and maneuver! ”