We must boost the morale of this group of people in the shortest possible time.

"Attention, everyone! Stand at attention!" Zhang Fan roared.

Almost as a reflex, all the student soldiers stood up, legs together, chest out, stomach in, and eyes forward.

Anyone who has gone through military training will have an almost instinctive reaction to these orders.

"Line up!"

"Look to the right!"

"Report your numbers!"

1! 2! 3! ... 125!

"I am the acting brigade commander of the 102nd Airborne Brigade." Zhang Fan strode past several rows of student soldiers, waving the battlefield recorder on his wrist in front of them. "Whoever has the highest rank among you, step forward!"

"Sir!" A bespectacled student soldier in his twenties at the head of the column stepped forward and saluted. "Brandon, Second Lieutenant of the 5th Reserve Company, 5th Division of the Milan Defense Force, reporting to you!"

Zhang Fan is now the only surviving soldier in the 102nd Airborne Brigade. According to Lane's "Wartime Soldier Regulations," if all the soldiers before him are killed, unless there is a new appointment from his superiors, he, as a private, will be the "acting brigade commander" until the end of this battle.

In Lieutenant Brandon's understanding, "brigade commander" was at least a senior colonel, even though the other party was also young and looked only a few years older than him. However, judging from the rank insignia on the other party's battlefield recorder, it was indeed "brigade commander," and the system could not fake it, so he naturally addressed Zhang Fan as "commander."

“Brandon, tell me how you got here.”

"yes!"

Brandon explained that after the death of Lieutenant General Domir Khan, commander of the 3rd Division of the Fazhan Army, the 3rd Division withdrew from the battle and retreated, but the Milan front defense forces were subsequently met with a fierce retaliatory attack from the Fazhan Army.

In particular, the Third Division of the Fas Khan Army, after losing its commander, was filled with grief and heroism, and fought almost as if they didn't care about their lives, charging forward regardless of the cost.

The 5th Division of the Milan Defense Forces, which was on the front line of the 3rd Division of the Fas Khan Army, suffered repeated defeats and eventually had to retreat across the board to avoid the enemy's advance and buy time.

Due to the rushed preparation time for the retreat and unfamiliarity with the terrain, the Fifth Company, which was a reserve force, got lost during the retreat and lost contact with the main force of the Fifth Division. While wandering around, they were captured by the pursuing Fas Khan Army.

Zhang Fan was right; this was a group of student soldiers who had never been on the battlefield.

"Brandon, pick out the four men with the best military skills from the Fifth Company."

"Yes, sir!" Lieutenant Brandon then called out the names of four men, and four male soldiers stepped forward and stood in a row at the front.

"You five go and take the weapons of the Fas Khan soldiers, organize the rest of you to advance immediately, and have the female soldiers take good care of the wounded." Zhang Fan checked the time. "We can't stay here any longer; the Fas Khan army's search party will be here soon."

"Yes, sir!"

The five soldiers saluted in unison, then went to prepare for their respective tasks. With Zhang Fan there, this group of student soldiers suddenly had a leader.

The weapons and clothes of the five Phos soldiers were stripped off, their bodies were thrown into the woods and buried simply, and the unconscious Phos soldier was also tied up and gagged with a cloth.

Mmm!

The Phos soldier woke up, glared at Brandon who was tying him up, and then struggled, but his mouth was stuffed with cloth and he couldn't make a sound.

"Sir, what should we do with him?" Brandon instinctively took a step back after being glared at by the Fass soldier, then adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, not daring to look at the fierce eyes of the Fass soldier, and lowered his head to tighten the rope.

Zhang Fan witnessed all of this.

"Forward, all!"

"Brandon, you stay."

The remaining student soldiers, guided by the four male soldiers, began to leave the dirt road and head into the dense forest.

The female medic named Ruthia had changed into the uniform of a Phos soldier and kept looking back with some concern as she walked.

The student soldiers quickly disappeared into the dense forest, leaving only Zhang Fan, Brandon, Fass soldiers, and a military knife on the dirt road.

"Brandon, is Ruthia your girlfriend?" Zhang Fan suddenly asked.

“Sir, Ruthia is my fiancée,” Brandon replied, his eyes slightly red.

“Ruthia is very beautiful, and she loves you very much, I can tell.” Zhang Fan nodded, then his tone changed, “But you didn’t act like a man, you failed to protect her.”

“Sir, I…” Brandon adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses again, as if secretly wiping away tears.

“A real man doesn’t solve problems with tears.” Zhang Fan stared into Brandon’s eyes, his gaze piercing.

A cowardly soldier is a coward, and a cowardly general makes a whole troop coward. Brandon was the highest-ranking officer in this student army. For this student army to rally its spirits, their commander had to stand up first.

Even though Lucia still loves Brandon, from now on, Brandon will have a scar called "coward" etched in his heart that will never heal. Whenever he sees Lucia, he will be reminded of what happened today, and he will feel ashamed.

This young couple may live in the shadow of this tragedy for the rest of their lives.

Let's see this through to the end and go all the way.

Zhang Fan pulled on the ropes binding the Fass soldiers, then pulled out the captured military knife and handed it to Brandon.

“He’s yours,” Zhang Fan said to Brandon, pointing to the bound Phos soldier.

“I just tied a slipknot, and the rope binding him will be untied in a few minutes.” Zhang Fan patted Brandon on the shoulder. “I’m off.”

“Sir…” Brandon looked at the military knife in his hand in horror.

But Zhang Fan had already left without looking back.

Mmm!

The Phos soldier began to struggle violently, trying to break free of his ropes as he glared menacingly at Brandon, attempting to intimidate the student soldier who clearly had no experience of killing.

Brandon gripped the military knife with both hands, his body trembling uncontrollably...

...

Zhang Fan quickly caught up with the student soldiers ahead. He had to lead them away from the main road and into the forest to avoid the Fas Khan army.

With a group of over a hundred prisoners missing, the Fas Khan army couldn't possibly ignore it and would likely send a search party soon.

Staying on the highway would be suicide; only by venturing into the forest could they possibly evade the search party, and especially the reconnaissance planes of the Fas Khan Army.

Unlike Earth, Milan Star has no rural areas.

Once you leave the city, the area outside is mostly uninhabited, except for some factories and fortified strongholds along the roads.

In this era of highly advanced technology, agriculture has evolved into intensive greenhouses surrounding cities. Resources are concentrated in cities, and most people cannot survive outside of them.

As a result, modern warfare has evolved into urban warfare, and even the few field battles are mainly focused on key transportation hubs or eliminating enemy forces.

Guerrilla warfare has almost disappeared.

When it comes to guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines, China can be considered their ancestor!

Heading back, the nearest defense line of the Ryan National Army is only a few hundred miles away, but the closer they get to the front line, the denser the defenses of the Fas Khan Army will be. If there are only a few people, Zhang Fan is confident that he can lead them through the Fas Khan Army's defense line back to Ryan.

However, with over a hundred people, this student army could not possibly have successfully crossed the border.

The only chance of survival was to keep moving forward, as the defenses would become increasingly sparse the further back the Fas Khan army went.

Zhang Fan led the student soldiers forward, intending to take an inverted "U" shaped route to bypass the Fas Khan army's defenses and return to Ryan from the outskirts. But this meant they would have to travel an additional thousand kilometers.

"Sir..."

Before anyone knew it, Brandon had caught up and was walking alongside Zhang Fan.

Zhang Fan turned his head and glanced at him. He saw that Brandon had taken off his gold-rimmed glasses, his eyes were bloodshot, his eyeballs were full of blood vessels, his lips were tightly closed, the veins on his neck had not yet subsided, and the lines of his face had become strong and powerful.

The student's childishness was gone; blood was dripping from the military knife in Brandon's hand...

"Here you go." General Zhang Fan sheathed his sword and handed it back to Brandon.

"From this moment on, you are a true soldier."