The news of the young general eloping with the beautiful princess was overshadowed by another event. After all, in the eyes of ordinary people, eloping is just entertainment news for leisure time, while political news is related to the people's daily lives.

In news footage from the national television station, Marshal Zhu Yifu of the Principality of Lane, looking haggard and dressed in a gray shirt, was being interrogated on charges of using his military power to seize control of Lane through a coup.

The interrogator opposite him was agitated, listing his numerous crimes, while the marshal, who had changed out of his military uniform into civilian clothes, sat in the interrogation chair and looked no different from an ordinary white-haired old man. His expression was indifferent, his face was tired, and he did not utter a word from beginning to end.

After the news was broadcast in Lane, people became increasingly worried about the country, and the General Staff at the front in Milan reacted particularly strongly. It is said that General Andrea was taking a passive approach to the war and kept shrinking the defensive line in order to coerce the Lane royal family into releasing Marshal Zhu Yifu, which caused the situation on the front to deteriorate rapidly and many defensive lines to be on the verge of collapse.

The most vehement reaction did not come from the General Staff, but from a special unit called "Shadowfang".

This was actually expected by many, after all, Huangfu Qingyi, the captain of the "Shadow Fang" special forces team, was Zhu Yifu's student. "Shadow Fang" can be said to be the most elite of Zhu Yifu's elite forces. "Shadow Fang" is organized as a brigade, but even the Ryan military headquarters cannot directly command this special force.

At that time, "Shadowfang" was carrying out a training mission in the Chaotic Lands, using those chaotic small forces as opponents for practice.

People had speculated that Fassham's army might break through the defenses somewhere on the Milan front, but no one expected that the breakthrough would occur in the chaotic land thousands of miles away.

While the fierce fighting on the Milan front drew everyone's attention, the Fashan army suddenly amassed a large force in the triangular area where Fashan, Ryan, and the Chaotic Lands met and launched a surprise attack. The Ryan border garrison was caught off guard and the enemy army drove straight in.

Although the independent fleets stationed at Muli, Haige, and Anlin managed to plug the breach and begin to encircle and eliminate the intruding Fashan army, stabilizing the situation, this also meant that the independent fleets had to "suppress bandits" here and could not get away.

When the responsibility was investigated afterward, all the evidence and traces pointed to "Shadow Fang," because the main breakthrough point of the Fashan army was in the area where "Shadow Fang" was training at the time. It was because "Shadow Fang" also contracted its defensive line that the distance between the defensive lines widened and a gap appeared.

This wouldn't have been a big deal, since it didn't lead to a large-scale invasion by the Fashan army; at most, it would have been a military punishment. But for some reason, the Senate seized on it, escalating it from a simple military decision-making error to accusations of "colluding with the Fashan army" and "treason," ultimately labeling Huangfu Qingyi a traitor.

The matter wasn't too serious yet, since words alone weren't enough to prove anything, and the Senate's power wasn't so great that it could convict someone of treason based on just one side of the story.

Unfortunately, at this time, several pieces of intelligence were leaked from the Fashan army. They were maps of the Ryan army's garrison in Muli, Haige, and Anlin. After tracing the source, it was discovered that the source of the intelligence was "Shadow Fang".

Huangfu Qingyi was a prized disciple of Marshal Zhu Yifu, so he had the motive to betray the country. Now that there was "concrete evidence," Yingya was truly unable to defend himself.

Huangfu Qingyi, the captain of "Shadow Fang," was not good at verbal sparring and was even more annoyed by the verbal attacks of scribes. The way he cleared his name was simple and brutal.

Didn't you say you suspected me of treason? Fine, Huangfu Qingyi will lead the "Shadow Fang" army deep into the rear of the Fashan army to clear his name with concrete actions.

Because of the presence of the "Shadowfang" team, the rear of the Fashan army near the Chaotic Lands was thrown into chaos.

Fashan's army began to mobilize troops from nearby areas. After failing to encircle and annihilate the force, Fashan's army changed its strategy and began to consolidate its defenses.

Strangely, the Fashan army kept reinforcing its front lines in the neighboring chaotic lands, while turning a blind eye to the Shadowfang that had already infiltrated. This was tantamount to cutting off the Shadowfang's retreat route back to Lion, while letting the Shadowfang do whatever it wanted behind Fashan's lines.

For this reason, Shadowfang will not be able to return to Lion in the short term.

"You didn't go with 'Shadowfang' to the rear of Phos?"

Inside the temporary command post of the Muli, Haige, and Anlin three-star independent fleet—the 358th Regiment's base in Benghazi—Zhang Fan looked at Huangfu Qingyi sitting opposite him and poured him a glass of wine with some surprise.

"That's your mindset. Who says that wherever there's 'Shadowfang,' there's bound to be me?" Huangfu Qingyi raised his head and downed the wine in his cup in one gulp.

"Is this really not a problem?" Zhang Fan asked, still somewhat surprised. "'Shadowfang' has all gone behind Phos, while you, the supreme commander, are not here."

“I’m not of much use here either. ‘Shadowfang’ has already broken up into smaller units, disorganized into platoons and companies. We’ll be fighting a guerrilla war behind Phos for a while.” At this point, Huangfu Qingyi laughed. “Brandon is better at this than I am. Don’t forget he was trained by you.”

"Brandon?" Hearing this name instantly brought Zhang Fan's thoughts back to when he first arrived in Milan and was still a mercenary accumulating combat points on the front lines.

I really miss those days.

I wonder how that group of student soldiers is doing now? Judging by the timeline, they should have graduated from Shadowfang's training camp long ago.

"You might not know this, but Brandon and Ruthia are already married. But to be honest, Shadowfang really struck gold." At this point, Huangfu Qingyi suddenly said through gritted teeth, "I don't know how you taught Brandon and the others your 'sixteen-character mantra,' but I had them act as the Blue Team using your tactics, and I led the rest of the team to surround and wipe them out. Damn it, it was incredibly frustrating; I've never fought such a disgusting battle!"

"What sixteen characters?" Zhang Fan didn't react for a moment.

"When the enemy advances, we retreat; when the enemy camps, we harass; when the enemy tires, we attack; when the enemy retreats, we pursue." Huangfu Qingyi said through gritted teeth, "Who came up with such a despicable tactic? Fortunately, they are not the real enemy, but on my side. Now let the Fashan army get their turn."

"Ugh..." Zhang Fan was speechless. He said that ***'s tactics were disgusting, and that he should be careful not to get struck by lightning.

“Brandon would be more suited to command this kind of guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines than I am.” Huangfu Qingyi leisurely filled his wine glass. “The situation is now very clear: my ‘Shadowfang’ is stuck behind Phos and can’t return, and your independent fleet is pinned here and can’t get away. No one will be eyeing us anymore.”

“Yes, I should have taken the independent fleet back to Adelaide.” Zhang Fan nodded, saying with some helplessness, “I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint everyone this time.”

"What are you pretending for?" Huangfu Qingyi glanced at Zhang Fan sideways. "Do you think I don't know, even if others don't?"

"Your fleet's main force is not the garrison troops of Muli, Haige, and Anlin, nor the 358th Regiment, nor even that powerful 'White Tiger Brigade'!"

"Your trump card..." Huangfu Qingyi licked his lips and stared into Zhang Fan's eyes, "is that little-known 'Academy Army' that has never attracted outside attention!"

"Is that right?"

“Uh…” Zhang Fan was speechless for a moment.

“I understand discipline. I won’t pry into your military deployments,” Huangfu Qingyi said with a piercing gaze. “No matter where that ‘Academy Army’ is now, you can send me there too. I’ll be your ordinary private.”

"Why do you want to go to them so much?" Zhang Fan asked, puzzled. "You're a perfectly good special operations battalion commander, leaving your soldiers behind in Fars, and you insist on coming here to be a regular private?"

“Because of the ‘Lone Wolf’.” Huangfu Qingyi’s expression suddenly turned serious. “Although I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I can sense that they also took advantage of the chaos to get in.”

"I don't know where they're hiding now, but I'm absolutely certain," Huangfu Qingyi said to Zhang Fan with unwavering certainty, "'Lone Wolf' will inevitably encounter your 'Academy Army' in the end!"

“I know the ‘Lone Wolf’s’ fighting style best. They’re ruthless and cruel. Over the years, the number of ‘Shadow Fang’ members killed by them far exceeds the number of casualties in other battles!” Huangfu Qingyi slammed his fist on the table. “We used to struggle to capture their ‘Wolf King,’ but now things are different! Consider it another favor I owe you. Put me in the ‘Academy Army’ as a soldier!”

Zhang Fan stared at Huangfu Qingyi for a long time before finally signing a warrant and handing it to him.

"This is the last transport ship bound for Adelaide. It will depart in 10 minutes. If you board now, you might be able to catch my 'Sabertooth' Independent Division."

"Thanks!" Huangfu Qingyi didn't say much, snatched the token, and ran away as fast as he could.

Zhang Fan continued to leisurely drink by himself, then pulled the female adjutant next to him over and pressed her onto his lap.

"Squirling around in front of me, do you think I'm blind?"

"Hehe—" Yuna, the current major and deputy commander of the 358th Regiment, covered her mouth and chuckled. "Captain, what are you doing? Don't touch me like that—ah—"

"Someone will see us, shall we go somewhere else?"

"Change what?!" Zhang Fan ripped Yuna's black stockings off and said viciously, "It's better if they see me. What your superior needs to do now is make sure everyone knows clearly that I'm in Benghazi!"

"My battlefield is here, let's make a big splash!"