On the morning of May 5, the Western Front Command, stationed in Lengxi Township, received two pieces of good news. The first is the "Flying Dragon Knights," who were urgently transferred to the Golden Horn Bay three days ago to rush to the aid of the naval fleet, and are about to return in triumph this afternoon after ending the war at sea. The second good news is that Roland Colas, the regent of the Far East, will also visit Cold Creek under the escort of the "Flying Dragon Knights" to comfort all the soldiers and civilians who are on the front line of the West.

The news of His Royal Highness Regent's visit to the front line to inspect and express condolences soon spread throughout Lengxi Town, and the morale of officers, soldiers, militia guerrillas and even ordinary people at all levels on the entire Western Front battlefield was greatly boosted, expecting His Royal Highness Regent to bring victory blessings to the Western Front, just as he had led the southbound legion to conquer the "Twilight Fortress" and inspired the Far Eastern Navy to defeat the powerful Imperial fleet.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Roland rode the humane two-legged wyvern lent to him by Fanny, and descended to Lengxi Town under the escort of many dragon vein knights, and was immediately warmly welcomed by all the soldiers and civilians, and the cries of "Long live" rose higher and higher.

Roland jumped off the back of the flying dragon, first warmly hugged Marshal Pavel who came to greet him, and then shook hands with the high-ranking generals who came forward to meet him in order of rank, and gave a military salute.

Accompanied by Marshal Pavel, Roland visited the barracks and civilian houses to listen to the feelings of the soldiers and civilians at the bottom about the war.

Listeners in front of the radio can only hear the edited and processed front-line recordings, although not too distorted, but after all, they have been cut and slightly official. As a person concerned, Roland fully felt the true thoughts of the local soldiers and civilians, especially when he heard those orphans who lost their parents in the war describe their family experiences in childish words, and a few simple sentences outlined the tragic scenes in the war.

On the day when the Imperial Army launched the battle to cross the river, Jiangdong Village was hit by an air raid, and a 500-pound aerial bomb fell near the house where the little girl's family lived, and the shock wave of the explosion instantly leveled the house and buried her family alive in the rubble. The little girl's parents and infant brother were killed, and she was the only one who was dug out of the rubble by the villagers, and then treated by a priest of the Far Eastern Army who rushed to Jiangdong Village in time to provide relief.

"The bomb took her legs, but at least she survived, luckier than her parents and brother."

The chaplain who helped save the little girl said to Roland. Presumably having seen so many of these family devastation at the front, Mr. Reverend's nerves had been tempered to be unusually tenacious, and he did not think that the little girl who had lost her legs had anything to be particularly sympathetic to compared with thousands of other victims of the same kind.

"But what about the future?" Roland asked the priest with a sad heart, "I mean, when the war is over, able-bodied adults like us will always have the strength to rebuild our homes from the ruins, but how can a war orphan like her, who has lost her family and health, start a new life?" ”

The pastor was stunned by Roland's question, and said with a wry smile: "To be honest, I didn't think about it that much...... Your Highness, how to help these poor orphans survive in times of peace is a question for you and the cabinet ministers to consider, and I am only thinking about the war in front of me, and I don't even know if I will live to see peace come, and how dare I have too many extravagant hopes for the future. ”

Roland had to admit that the priest had a point. It is his unshirkable responsibility as a ruler to rebuild his homes from the ashes of war and to properly accommodate those who have lost their property and health as a result of the war, and it is too early to consider these issues before the dawn of victory.

In the course of this brief conversation, Roland discovered that the chaplain's mentality was pervasive on the Western Front. The officers and men stationed on the Western Front had not tasted victory since the beginning of the year, and the orders issued by the command always frustrated the young men in the army, and they went from retreat to retreat, except for defense and defense, as if the only mission of these Far Eastern soldiers was to shrink their heads and hide in their positions and wait to be beaten, silently enduring the aggression of the Imperial Legions.

For more than three months, the imperial invaders first wantonly wielded butcher knives in the vast fields on the west bank of the Zhuolang River, ruthlessly slaughtered the anti-Japanese people and guerrillas, drove all the local residents into concentration camps and imprisoned them, forced men to dig trenches and become cannon fodder, forced the old and weak women and children to sew military uniforms and wash their uniforms day and night, and worked hard in exchange for a little black bread that barely survived. The day before yesterday, the Imperial Army brazenly crossed the Turbid Lang River and burned the flames of war to the east bank of the river, and many villages like Jiangdong Village were bombarded by imperial artillery and airships, and countless families were wiped out overnight. The tragedy of the orphan girl with a broken leg is by no means an isolated case, and there are more tragic cases than this, and the headquarters does not dare to show it in front of Roland, lest it will cause the young and vigorous regent to lose his cool due to anger, and he is even more afraid that the general public will learn through the radio and newspapers about the purgatory-like torture suffered by the compatriots on the Western Front in the past 100 days and nights, and then feel disappointed and even indignant at the Western Front garrison's blind retreat from the war, which will attract the accusations of the whole people, and make the officers and soldiers of the Western Front, who were already holding back their fires, bear the pressure of public opinion for no reason.

In fact, such accusations are already beginning to emerge. Roland also heard criticism of the garrison on the Western Front more than once in Krasbourg. One of the most widely supported views is that the troops on the Western Front have not achieved an inch since the start of the war, in stark contrast to the triumphant southward march. What is even more tragic is that the regular army on the far east and west fronts is not as brave as the militia guerrillas, and most of the news reports from the western front are about how the guerrillas were witty and brave and won more with less, but they rarely mention the achievements of the regular army, which is really disappointing.

The lackluster fighting on the Western Front, coupled with the pressure of public opinion from the rear, inevitably depressed the local garrison and generally felt pessimistic about the trend of the war. If it cannot be improved for a long time, it will inevitably lead to war-weariness among the vast number of officers and men, and the combat effectiveness of the troops will also be weakened as a result.