Chapter 98: Chapter 97, comrades, charge with me!
“Hurry, hurry, hurry! Move faster!” Kodi shouted loudly.
At his side, two infantry platoons moved quickly. These soldiers, still in the uniform of the Alliance Legion, had now become reliable troops.
Although they were not as dependable as Kodi’s old unit, he believed that with his efforts over these days, they should be willing to fight for the governor.
Besides, today’s mission was for Revival City.
Kodi came from Abandoned Cave Society and was among the first batch of soldiers to heed the call and join under the governor’s command; Perbov was his former superior.
When Perbov was ordered to form the 2nd Battalion, Kodi was promoted too, assuming the role of squad leader. After the battle for Revival City concluded, he was elected as a political commissar, donning a black coat, a red military cap, and epaulets, looking stylish and domineering, a striking contrast to the ordinary soldier’s attire.
It’s hard to say how much the clothes had played a part in Kodi’s willingness to take on the role of political commissar back then.
Of course, he understood the responsibilities that came with his position more clearly.
To be honest, even after a half-day of lessons on loyalty to the Empire, loyalty to The Emperor given by the nuns of the Holy Lily, followed by a heartfelt half-day lecture from the governor himself, he was still not very clear about what exactly a political commissar should do.
The so-called ‘forcing a duck onto a perch’ was just like this.
When he first arrived at the company, facing over a hundred unfamiliar faces, Kodi was nervous.
But his crisp uniform, the bright red cap, and epaulets forced him to straighten his chest firmly and quickly assume his role.
During these days, he had made contact with every soldier. He now knew everyone’s name, their past, and their reasons for enlisting.
In his view, he didn’t have any special methods. He chatted with everyone, understood what they were thinking, then shared his own thoughts with them.
Why enlist as a soldier? Because we want to change the world. No one wishes to live in this disordered, chaotic wasteland world filled with death and hunger. Now, a savior has descended from the heavens, the governor himself, and we must seize this opportunity. This is the only chance to change our fate and, by extension, the fate of the entire world.
Why say so? Kodi used his hometown, Abandoned Cave Society, as an example.
The people of Abandoned Cave Society once lived a life far worse than that of the citizens outside Revival City or you soldiers of the Alliance. But now, Abandoned Cave Society has warmed and fed its inhabitants without question. Everyone lives in solid concrete houses with jobs and industries, and the roaring heavy machinery is producing hope in bulk.
Those plastic steel alloys, those machines, engines, car bodies… As these items increase, it signifies that people’s lives are getting better and better.
Abandoned Cave Society has undergone an earth-shaking transformation. And why have they come to Revival City? It’s because they want to help the governor bring the same drastic changes to Revival City.
Kodi had spoken these words to almost every soldier in the company during these days.
He did so tirelessly, his words sincere.
He then established a Soldiers’ Committee, allowing everyone to share their thoughts, where he either facilitated discussions or provided answers. Then he selected the most suitable dozen or so soldiers, those with the most progressive and firmest thoughts, to assist the squad leaders in their work.
As a result, a special piece of information came to light at that time. A soldier mentioned that before he enlisted, there was an underground passage from the inner city to the outer city where he lived. He had stumbled upon it accidentally and knew it was being used for smuggling. He didn’t dare divulge it earlier because someone who discovered it with him vanished into thin air just days later for talking too much.
But now, he had the courage to speak up.
Kodi then passed this information to his former superior. Perbov really made a catch there, apprehending what was said to be a high-ranking official of the Alliance.
Of course, that was just a minor incident, and Kodi didn’t pay too much attention to it, instead continuing to focus on constant conversations and interactions with the soldiers.
He didn’t feel like he was doing ideological work; he was simply conveying his own thoughts to every soldier in the most sincere and earnest way possible.
Then, in a daze, he received Captain Yan Fangxu’s commendation, saying that his and his unit were the best at ideological work and were awarded a silk banner.
When he brought the silk banner back, it was met with the cheers of the entire unit.
This might have been that sense of team honor that The Governor had talked about during training.
When Captain Yan Fangxu announced the need to select a unit to undertake the task of food distribution, he communicated with the company commander at the earliest opportunity, eagerly volunteering for the mission.
During the mobilization, he made it clear to all soldiers.
“This is a great deed, distributing food to the whole city, so that no one has to go hungry; there are rebels and cult members in the city, they are very bad, and they may very well cause chaos. Their objective is to oppose The Governor’s rule using the hunger and death of countless innocent civilians.”
What we need to do is to protect the food, defend our achievements, and crush the schemes of these traitors and cultists.
The soldiers fully understood the objective of this battle and their morale soared.
This gave Kodi a new insight: The Governor had said that warriors need to know what they are fighting for.
And just now, they had received new orders: The convoy responsible for transporting food had been ambushed while delivering to Distribution Point 2, and they needed their support.
Without a second thought, after communicating with the company commander, the commander took a platoon to continue securing the distribution points where civilians were already lining up. He, on the other hand, took two platoons, about sixty soldiers, to support the transport convoy.
By the time he arrived at the scene, he found that the fighting was still ongoing.
The attackers had not yet succeeded.
The soldiers guarding the food trucks, wearing different uniforms from theirs, must be a platoon from the 3rd Battalion of the Infantry Regiment. They were fighting the enemy by using the vehicles and two outward-facing houses as cover.
They were under some pressure as many rioters in various clothes, armed with a mix of crude and sophisticated weapons, were besieging them, numbering at least a hundred.
Seeing this, Kodi was much relieved.
Thank goodness, the situation hadn’t escalated to an unmanageable level.
He could tell that the comrades from the 3rd Battalion, although lacking heavy firepower and having to protect the grain trucks to avoid breaking through, were at least holding their ground solidly. Those rioters were not able to break through either.
But getting a bit closer, he noticed that his previous assessment might have been a little off.
The casualty rate among the 3rd Battalion’s comrades was unusually high.
At this point, he saw among those rioters a few individuals who were clearly different from the rest. They weren’t holding weapons, but instead, white mists were condensing in their hands.
Once thrown, these white mists caused compressed air explosions, the impact of which was nearly equivalent to that of a grenade’s explosion; the scattered wind blades also resembled shrapnel wounds.
Those must be the so-called cultists.
Kodi hesitated no longer and shouted, “Support our comrades! Warriors, follow me in the charge!”
————
Comrades, charge! Let’s get those monthly tickets!
