Chapter 1500: Chapter 1417: The Qin Army’s Infighting

“Where are we going?” A young soldier of the Qin Army carrying a weapon nervously asked his comrade beside him.

This assembly was completely different from previous training because during training, they were never given ammunition.

Now they carried rifles, brought weapons, and even the only machine gun of their unit had been brought out, the officers’ faces were solemn, clearly not the usual routine.

They even received some food before departure. This made them very happy because it had been a long time since they’d had so much to eat.

“I heard we’re going to the 210th Division’s 3rd Regiment; the soldiers in the 3rd Regiment were stirred up and have rebelled.” That comrade claimed confidently, having heard somewhere about the 3rd Regiment’s rebellion.

“Ah?” The young man glanced at his comrade in surprise, he truly hadn’t expected his first departure from the camp with weapons would be to fight his own people.

He couldn’t believe it but felt much sympathy for those who had rebelled. They were also starving before; if not for the bit of food given to them when they left, they might have been considering rebellion too.

Or maybe, they wouldn’t dare to rebel but would scatter like birds and beasts because no one would risk their life on an empty stomach.

“So, we’re going to fight our own people?” The young soldier lowered his voice to ask his comrade, knowing well that his question was sensitive, he was very cautious.

“I don’t know either, if… fighting starts, we’ll see.” That comrade clearly also didn’t want to shoot at his own people, hesitantly replied.

Actually, they didn’t know what was really happening, all the information was hearsay. They only knew they were pulled out of the barracks, given ammo, and carrying such terrifying things as machine guns.

“Brothers!” An officer standing at the side of the squad finally spoke up at this moment, pressing the pistol on his waist, loudly shouted: “Our rations were embezzled by the people above! If we continue like this, we will all starve to death!”

Upon hearing this officer’s shout, everyone started to discuss, they indeed had too little food before, now they knew, it was because someone had embezzled their rations.

“Starving to death is still dying, we might as well go demand an explanation from those bastards! Even if His Majesty blames us, we have a reason! What do you say!” The officer, with a raised voice, incited all the soldiers, and there began to be some responses from the crowd.

Obviously, this was planned, with the officer’s confidants stirring up the crowd, the atmosphere quickly became heated.

“No more fighting our own people?” The young soldier still didn’t know what was happening, he just wanted to know if he’d get an extra piece of dried bread tomorrow.

Although it wasn’t tasty, that bread did stave off hunger once swallowed. Just drinking thin porridge, people could die.

“Seems likely, we still have to fight… just, against different people.” That comrade, who was more astute, immediately realized that their troop seemed to be preparing to rebel.

Rebellion is a terrifying word. Their wives, families, and elders were still back home, would this problem affect their families?

Thinking this, he heard the officer continue to shout: “There’s no food at the division, then we’ll go to the military headquarters! If there’s none there, we’ll go to General Chen and ask why they don’t give us food!”

“We are not rebelling, we just want to stay alive, want to eat enough! We joined the army for the country, even risking our lives, yet they still want us to starve, why!” He said, pulling out the pistol from his waist, waving it excitedly: “Brothers, what do you say!”

“Right!” Quite a few people agreed with the officer’s view: indeed, they joined the army, already risking their lives, yet they’re not even given a full meal, it’s too much bullying.

For so long, they were already overwhelmed with the fear of going to the battlefield, now tormented by hunger, these soldiers were on the verge of eruption, and now they had a channel to vent, immediately becoming fervent.

“Whoever doesn’t give us a place to reason is who we will kill!” The officer chopped his arm forward, loudly ordered: “Follow me, to the military headquarters!”

“To the military headquarters!” Almost everyone shouted in unison, and the long column of troops moved once again. Not far away, another military camp was already in chaos, with dozens of corpses lying on the ground.

Several trucks loaded with soldiers wobbled along the road, further away, another barracks had been set aflame by unruly soldiers, thick black smoke rolled towards the sky, making the whole area look like a battlefield.

And this was the Qin Country’s controlled area, behind the front lines, where the Tang Army had not yet arrived! But here, it seemed a new war had already erupted.

The station of the 93rd Army was in chaos, the unruly soldiers of the Qin Country attacked their own military headquarters, the 93rd Army’s commander was killed in his own command post, dying somewhat inexplicably.

Logically, he had the opportunity to leave but simply did not. Logically, he should know many things, but just had no chance to express them.

As for whether someone was pouring oil on the flames, trying to cover up something during this military disturbance, no one knew.

What happened next further broke Chen Li, a mutiny ultimately evolved into an internal war on the front lines of the Qin Army… tens of thousands attacked each other, murder and arson everywhere, the Qin Country mobilized two nearby armies to finally completely suppress the unruly soldiers.

But the whole process was really too bloody, the Qin Army fought its own people, momentarily accusing each other as rebels, no one could tell who were the good guys, by the end, casualties were innumerable, blood flowed like a river.

Before the Tang Army attacked, the Qin Army itself already had about 50,000 soldiers injured or killed, and these soldiers, on Chen Li’s papers, were supposed to be “well-trained, usable new recruits.”

Now, these forces, in whom Chen Li placed high hopes, meant to replenish the front lines and reshape the backbone of the troops, were all “consumed” in this chaos.

After finally quelling this chaos, Chen Li completely lost the ability to control the battle situation. At the end of February, he had to abandon the Great West Gate and retreat to Shahun, relying on the Qin Country border defenses.

Indeed, if Shahun fell, the northern Tang Army could invade Qin Country itself! What was even more despairing was that, due to lack of preparation, Shahun’s defenses were unfinished, and much of the supplies hoarded at the Great West Gate were lost again…

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Updated with one more chapter.