Movie: Get Alpha Dog at the start

Chapter 1267 Yue Weishan's Highlight Moment

The sky over Xi'an was stained leaden gray by the smoke of gunpowder, and even the midday sun had a sickly, dim yellow hue.

In the distance, the banners of the Zhen Song Army fluttered in the wind, like a flock of greedy vultures circling above their dying prey.

Lu Zhaopeng used binoculars to investigate the defenses on the city wall.

"The guards on the city wall look much younger than before. They must have been reinforced with another batch of student soldiers. They all have sallow complexions, probably due to insufficient food. If even the guards are not getting enough to eat, what about the people in the city?"

Lu Zhaopeng's voice was hoarse and filled with hatred: "Blind Liu is trying to starve the whole city to death."

Yue Weishan, who was lying prostrate beside him, did not respond immediately, but continued to observe through his binoculars.

"Food can be managed, the key is ammunition."

Yue Weishan finally spoke: "Comrade Zhaopeng, is it true that the Bailu Plain you mentioned last time really hiding grain and ammunition?"

Lu Zhaopeng turned his head and found that Yue Weishan's eyes, which were always as sharp as an eagle's, were now flashing with a trace of longing he had never seen before—no, more like the despair of a drowning person grasping at the last straw.

"Yes, it exists, but..."

Lu Zhaopeng hesitated. He recalled Qin Hao's aloof attitude when they last met, and how Qin Hao's eyes, which seemed to see through everything, were filled with distrust.

"Bai Hao is a very special person. He's a very sentimental person, and he's incredibly caring towards those around him. But towards strangers, well... he's a bit cold, and it's very difficult to persuade him."

Yue Weishan suddenly grabbed Lu Zhaopeng's shoulder with such force that Lu Zhaopeng frowned.

"Do we have any other choice? If this continues, Xi'an won't last much longer. In a while, people might even resort to cannibalism in the city!"

"Okay, I'll take you there."

Bailuyuan, Bai Family Compound.

Qin Hao was playing with his son, who was fiddling with a bullet casing in his hand. The little guy had asked Qin Hao for it a few days ago and treasured it like the back of his hand. No matter what Leng Qiuyue said, he wouldn't let go of it and even wore it to bed.

Suddenly, the little guy called out towards the outside of the yard: "Zhao Pengda".

Qin Hao turned around and saw Lu Zhaopeng leading a long-faced man toward them.

Lu Zhaopeng rubbed the little guy's head: "Good boy."

Leng Qiuyue realized that Lu Zhaopeng had brought people to see her husband, so she took the little one to play in the backyard.

Just as Lu Zhaopeng was about to introduce himself, Yue Weishan stepped forward: "I am Yue Weishan, and I have long admired Mr. Bai's name. His speech at Peking University was truly inspiring; we, the GMs, were all deeply moved."

Qin Hao waved his hand and laughed, "Mr. Yue, you flatter me. I'm just a scholar, merely offering my words. To truly realize the dream of a strong nation, we still need patriots like you."

Lu Zhaopeng stood to the side, his brows furrowing unconsciously. He knew Qin Hao all too well—this man, who always kept his distance from strangers, was unusually warm towards Yue Weishan.

After the three were seated, Leng Qiuyue poured tea. Qin Hao slowly skimmed the tea foam, waiting for Yue Weishan to speak first.

“Mr. Bai,” Yue Weishan put down his teacup, his voice turning somber, “to be honest, Xi’an is in imminent danger. Liu Zhenhua’s Zhen Song Army has besieged the city for months, and the city’s food and ammunition are running low. I heard that there are provisions and ammunition stored at Bailu Plain, so I have shamelessly come here…”

Qin Hao readily admitted, "There are indeed some supplies in stock, but Brother Yue, these supplies belong to more than a dozen villages in Bailu Plain and are temporarily stored here with me. If I give them away for nothing, how can I explain it to my fellow villagers?"

Yue Weishan's fingers tightened on his knees, the fabric of his military uniform trousers making a soft rubbing sound.

"We don't have much cash on hand right now. How about this: we'll pay a deposit first, and the rest will be covered by an IOU. Once things are out of trouble in Xi'an, we'll settle the principal and interest..."

Just when Lu Zhaopeng thought Qin Hao would refuse again, he saw him wave his hand.

“Brother Yue, you’re slapping me in the face! Although I am not talented, I disdain profiting from the national crisis. I will give you these supplies at 80% of the market price, and I will not charge you a penny of interest.”

Yue Weishan's eyes instantly reddened. He stood up abruptly and bowed deeply to Qin Hao: "On behalf of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Xi'an, I thank you for your noble sentiments, sir!"

Lu Zhaopeng was dumbfounded. This was completely different from what he had expected—when did Qin Hao become so "righteous"?

The night was as dark as ink. Qin Hao led the two through a dense locust grove. Moonlight was fragmented by the branches and leaves, dappling the path. After walking for about half an hour, the view suddenly opened up, revealing a cave entrance. It was not easy to spot without careful observation, and there were also security guards on patrol nearby.

"This is it." Qin Hao took out a set of keys from his pocket.

When the warehouse door opened, even the well-informed Yue Weishan gasped in surprise. Inside, neatly stacked were not only bags of grain, but also boxes of bullets and grenades.

Before he came, he thought Qin Hao had just set up a small workshop to produce and sell his own supplies to the security regiment. He never expected that Qin Hao would hoard so much grain and ammunition.

Little did they know that this was only a small part of Qin Hao's accumulated wealth.

Yue Weishan: "Mr. Bai, we have too much food and ammunition here, and we don't have enough manpower. Could we transport some of it out first?"

Qin Hao nodded: "Of course, no problem. But there is one thing I hope Brother Yue can help give instructions on: if the Zhen Song Army discovers the grain and ammunition being transported, do not reveal that it was obtained from Bailu Plain. Otherwise, if Liu the Blind leads a large army to attack and obtains these grain and ammunition, Xi'an will be even more difficult to defend."

Upon hearing this, Yue Weishan's expression turned solemn: "Mr. Bai, rest assured, even if we die, we will not reveal a single word."

Under the cover of night, Yue Weishan led his men to leave Bailuyuan with grain, fodder, and ammunition. Whether he used human lives to fill the gaps or dug tunnels to deliver them, whether the grain, fodder, and ammunition could be delivered into Xi'an was up to fate.

Before leaving, Lu Zhaopeng suddenly asked, "Why did you suddenly change your mind?"

“Don’t think of me as heartless. My uncle once said: ‘A house is a signboard, land is a burden, and money is a death trap.’ Food and ammunition are not as important to me as the safety of the people of Bailuyuan. My family who gave me birth and raised me are here, and I must put them first.”

Lu Zhaopeng stood there stunned for a moment, and only came to his senses after the transport team had gone quite a distance before he quickly caught up.

When Yue Weishan left Bailuyuan with the first batch of grain, fodder, and ammunition, he deliberately chose a secluded mountain road. Under the moonlight, more than thirty wheelbarrows creaked and groaned, each accompanied by two strong men, their guns hidden in the haystacks, ready to deal with any emergencies.

"Remember everything clearly!" Yue Weishan lowered his voice and said to the young leader, "If we encounter the Zhen Song Army, destroy the grain carts first! We absolutely cannot let a single bullet or grain of rice fall into Liu the Blind's hands!"

The young man nodded solemnly, his Adam's apple bobbing: "Rest assured, Mr. Yue, our brothers would rather jump off a cliff than be taken prisoner!"

The convoy moved like a silent earthworm, struggling to traverse the folds of the Qinling Mountains. The distant flames of Xi'an were faintly visible, and Yue Weishan gripped his pistol tightly at his waist.

……

The night was deep, the darkest hour before dawn. Outside the south gate of Xi'an, the Zhen Song army's position was dotted with campfires, and the occasional weary figure of a patrol could be seen moving about; vigilance had plummeted to rock bottom. The months-long siege, like a heavy millstone, had not only crushed the defenders' patience but also broken the will of the besieging soldiers.

Two miles from the city gate, in the shadows of a ditch, suppressed breathing could be clearly heard. Yue Weishan lay prone on the cold, damp earth, his eyes, like those of a hawk, peering through the sparse weeds, fixed intently on the open area ahead.

Beside him were dozens of comrades who were equally exhausted but had resolute eyes, as well as more than a dozen wheelbarrows and carts loaded with heavy supplies.

The sacks contained life-saving food, and the wooden crates held ammunition more precious than gold.

"Now!" Yue Weishan's voice was deep and hoarse, yet carried a steely, penetrating force: "Charge!"

Like a flood bursting its banks, the elite suicide squad, composed of brave revolutionaries and the transport team following closely behind, charged towards the smoke-filled breach! Gunfire, grenade explosions, and screams instantly erupted!

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

"South Gate! They're charging the South Gate!"

After a brief moment of deathly silence, the Zhen Song Army's position erupted in panicked screams. Bullets flew erratically, leaving trails of death between the two sides. The defending army's machine gun positions also opened fire frantically, suppressing any reinforcements from the Zhen Song Army.

Yue Weishan charged ahead, feeling bullets whizzing past his ears, the scorching air burning his cheeks. He saw a comrade carrying a grain sack fall to the ground in front of him, the blood on his chest starkly visible in the flash of the explosion.

He had no time to stop. He trudged through the soft, scorched earth, his feet sinking deep into the ground, and used his body to push a wheelbarrow stuck with corpses forward with all his might, roaring meaningless syllables as he tried to squeeze every last drop of strength out of his body.

This less than one-mile charge was stained with blood at every step. People kept falling, but many more gritted their teeth, even dragging supplies with their hands, and tumbled into the narrow city gate, which reeked of gunpowder and blood.

"Finally in!"

The moment the city gates closed again, Yue Weishan looked at the dozen or so comrades who remained beside him, covered in blood, and was overcome with grief. Fifty men in total, and now only a handful were left.

The only saving grace was that they managed to bring in the dozen or so supply wagons.

"Food! Bullets!" A emaciated young soldier, dressed in a tattered student uniform, rushed to a wheelbarrow, clutching a heavy wooden crate tightly. Tears welled up in his eyes, and he cried out hoarsely, "We have bullets! We can hold out! We can hold Xi'an!"

……

Meanwhile, at the Zhen Song Army camp.

"What?! Someone broke through the blockade and sent the supplies in?" Liu the Blind jumped up from the tiger-skin chair like a brown bear with a steel needle stuck in its butt. Because of the excessive force, his gums, which had been swollen from days of anxiety and anger, were pulled, and the pain made his vision go black. His single eye was instantly filled with ferocious blood vessels.

The officers and staff below were terrified and dared not even breathe.

"Who! Who the hell is in charge of the South Gate?! I'll skin him alive!" Liu the Blind roared, spitting everywhere.

A staff officer, trembling like a leaf, forced a report: "Reporting...Reporting to the Commander, the one in charge of the second line of defense outside the South Gate is...is Regiment Commander Wang..."

"Fatty Wang?!" Blind Liu's face twisted like a demon's: "Tie him up! Tie him up—!"

Heavy footsteps and desperate pleas for mercy grew louder as they approached. Commander Wang, as round as a ball, was dragged in by two guards, his swollen face smeared with snot and tears: "Commander! Commander, spare me! I...I'm innocent! Those people came too suddenly, and there were reinforcements in the city...their firepower was too intense..."

"Shut up!" Blind Liu grabbed a scorching hot bronze inkstone from the table and slammed it down with all his might! The heavy inkstone whistled through the air and landed with a dull thud, hitting Commander Wang squarely on the fat forehead! Blood and brain matter splattered out instantly!

Commander Wang didn't even utter a sound. His obese body collapsed to the ground like a lump of mud, his limbs twitched a few times in a nerve-like manner, and then he remained still.

Dark red blood quickly seeped into the blue brick floor. The tent was deathly silent, filled with a heavy stench of blood and extreme fear.

"Did you see that?!" Liu the Blind panted heavily, staring at his single, blood-red eye as he scanned every pale-faced officer in the tent.

"Neglecting duty! Letting the enemy into the city! Disrupting morale! This is the consequence! If I find out any other slacking off, any bastard who dares to let me down, they'll suffer even worse consequences!"

"Get the hell out of here! All of you get out! Increase security! If you dare let even one rat into the city, I'll shoot you all!" Blind Liu waved his hand like he was shooing away flies.

The officers, as if granted a pardon, dragged away the mangled corpse of Commander Wang, leaving nothing behind but the nauseating stench of blood and deathly silence.

Just moments ago, Liu the Blind Man was furious, but now he was like a deflated balloon, slumping heavily back into his chair with a thud. He was panting heavily, his one eye staring blankly at the small Xi'an city mark on the map, his fingers unconsciously tapping the table, making a monotonous "tap, tap" sound.

How much could a few dozen men possibly deliver? He calculated. At most, it would only sustain the starving defenders in the city for a few more days. Food? It wouldn't satisfy the hunger of hundreds of thousands; ammunition? It wouldn't fill the enormous consumption hole in Xi'an.

But this "success" itself is like a shot in the arm, more terrifying than any amount of food or ammunition! It can reignite the dying fighting spirit of the soldiers and civilians in the city amidst their despair.

On the other hand, although his men were numerous and powerful, their fighting strength could not be guaranteed if they did not receive effective supplies.

What's even more troubling are those writers and newspapers outside! In those "false reports," his name has long been portrayed as a demonic figure of a "butcher," an "executioner," and a "predator who lets his troops plunder"!

What worries him even more is... even if he manages to finally conquer Xi'an, can he hold onto a city that is devastated and nearly deserted?

After wiping out tens of thousands of his old troops, is Blind Liu still the once-powerful commander of the Zhen Song Army who dominated Henan and Shaanxi? He'll probably be worse than a stray dog!

"We can't continue fighting in Xi'an!" (End of Chapter)