174 – The moment when the last trust is shattered
‘Heroes’ who succeeded in recovering the Yalu River
However, at this moment, their situation was literally the worst.
Their joy of capturing the Yalu River, a long-cherished historical goal, had already been almost diluted over time.
At this moment, the emotion they are feeling is intense fatigue from the situation in which they are taking their positions at the forefront while protecting the front line.
And more than that, it was the terrible hunger that was strangling them.
“ha… ”
“… Seriously… aren’t we all starving to death like this?”
“You’ve been eating only skin porridge for a week already.. No, there’s no way prisoners starve to death?”
“I want to go home quickly… When will the replacement shift come?”
Over the past few weeks, food supplies and troop movements have literally been cut off.
Regarding the munitions, it was tolerable to a certain extent in that there were almost no battles after coming to the Yalu River.
The biggest problem, however, was food.
Even if water could be used by purifying the Yalu River flowing right in front of it, there was no solution to the food problem.
It was not one or two people, but the amount that more than 100,000 people ate in a day was staggering.
If the number is small, it is possible to try to procure local procurement somehow, whether it is fishing or catching wild animals, but no matter how hard you try, it is absolutely impossible to procure food for a large army of 100,000 on the spot.
For this, of course, periodic supply was essential, and because of this, the guild masters and their lieutenants, who noticed something unusual a while ago, tried to save even a little food in case of an emergency… but now even that has reached its limit. was in the middle
In order to save food as much as possible, they were literally sticking out until the skin, but no matter how much they cherished and cherished, it was virtually impossible to survive indefinitely without more supply here.
and. One more serious problem with food.
It was about the replacement of hunters and soldiers standing guard in preparation for the Abyss, who had fought and climbed up to this point, and were now ready to attack.
The stress people receive on the battlefield is greater than you can imagine.
No matter how hard a person has a steel mentality, if you endure for several hours a day in a situation where life and death are dancing in front of your eyes, you will inevitably experience tremendous stress that far exceeds the mental pain you experience in normal circumstances. There was no
to put it simply
Even those who live ordinary daily life right now are guaranteed two days off a week, and not giving rest to soldiers who are standing without a promise in the midst of the stress of life and death literally turns them into a loser. It’s nothing different from what you say.
Therefore, in a situation where the war lasts for a long time, it was the standard for a wise commander to periodically replace soldiers in the forefront in the name of vacation or shift,
There was also provision in the military law to do so.
But..
Regardless of the existence of such a provision at this moment,
Currently, no specific news related to the change of troops has been coming down.
At this moment, there is only one news that is being consistently heard from above.
We were discussing whether or not to march with Yodong here, so we just asked them to wait a little longer, and whenever they heard these stories, not only their adjutants, but also guild masters, hunters, and even ordinary soldiers. All of them could only automatically burst into anger.
“Wait. How long are you going to wait?”
“You want us to wait until we all die of starvation or throw ourselves into the Yalu River out of stress?”
“Those guys can afford to have a leisurely political fight in the capital! But we have no food to eat tomorrow!”
“What the hell is the treatment of soldiers like this? As a hero! If you’re a hero, you shouldn’t be treated like a hero!”
The occupation of the Yalu River, which they accomplished with blood and sweat.
However, the expeditionary force’s dissatisfaction with the fact that the only thing that returned immediately after that was severe hunger and mental fatigue was stabbing the sky as the days went by.
The meal, which was edible at first, has gotten worse day by day since arriving in Yodong.
Not to mention being recruited from the rear, even scheduled vacations were being rejected because they didn’t know how things would turn out in the future.
From the point of view of the soldiers who risked their lives, even those who were full of patriotism had no choice but to burst into anger.
And in this time bomb atmosphere,
One day, an incident happened.
“What is this?”
“Looks like a supply… when did you bring it?”
Countless supply boxes piled up at the entrance to the defense line.
Looking at them, which arrived in almost a few weeks, the faces of the hunters and soldiers began to feel a deep sense of anticipation.
The fact that they were able to eat full for the first time in a while in a situation where their meals were getting poorer day by day was enough to automatically put a smile on their lips.
“It’s great, the sheep aren’t that plentiful, but this should suffice for at least a few days.”
“Let’s get inside quickly. I am starving to death.”
Of course, there was no guarantee that what was inside was food, and depending on the situation, there was a possibility that it might be an arsenal such as a weapon.
In the meantime, supplies have been pushed back to the push, so I couldn’t be sure what was inside these boxes that arrived here until I checked the contents.
However, even taking that into account, supplies in themselves are good in the front where everything is lacking.
So, in anticipation, the soldiers exerted their strength to carry the boxes inside and began to check the contents.
“Now then, shall we take a look at what you heard?”
“Couldn’t it be that there’s a bunch of military ration kits or something?”
“That’s good too, although honestly I prefer something sweet. Anything to eat is welcome.”
Thinking that now, even the military rations without a taste tip could be eaten deliciously enough, the soldiers opened the lid of the box with a look of anticipation under the guidance of the commanders.
By the way..
“… This… this… what the hell is this?”
“What? What’s inside… !”
The next moment, the expressions of the soldiers who checked the contents of the box began to stiffen.
What was in it was… First of all, it was a bag of rice.
A bag of rice actually contained in a wrapper called Icheon hem rice.
However.. during transportation, the bags were burst in places, and the contents were leaking out and filling the inside of the box.
That in itself wouldn’t be a big problem to be honest.
You can simply assume that this happened because of a slight shock during food transportation.
But..
The problem is the rice spilled out of it.
To be precise, it was about the contents that flowed out with the rice.
gravel and sand.
The rice bags contained only about 30% of the rice grains themselves, and most of the contents consisted of gravel and sand, which appeared to have been put in for added weight.
And this wasn’t just limited to this box.
The rest of the boxes in the back, which I opened just in case, were in the same situation.
Among them, the inner case was the same for the ones whose sacks had not burst.
Like..
‘Supplies’ that openly deceive the starving soldiers
watching these,
The soldiers who were there began to feel the anger they had been suppressing all this time exploding all at once.
like that
At the same time that even the last remaining faith completely disappeared, over 100,000 soldiers and hunters stationed in the Yalu River began to explode in earnest.