Over ten minutes later, Su Chen had most of the men change into women's clothing.
Big red padded jackets and thick padded trousers, with red headscarves on their heads—the whole group looked quite festive.
There were also a dozen or so soldiers dressed as normal men, who now looked at their comrades' ridiculous appearances with both relief and schadenfreude.
"Squad Leader One, I have to say, when you dress up, you look pretty convincing!" Squad Leader Six teased cheerfully.
Wang Hai glared at him: "Even if I were a woman, I wouldn't look twice at you. Just look at your sorry state!"
Squad Leader Six burst out laughing: "Then I'd better thank heaven and earth. If I married someone like you, I'd probably wake up from nightmares!"
The dozen or so soldiers not in women's clothes all burst out laughing, and the ones in women's clothes rolled up their sleeves in fury.
"Company Commander!" Zhao Xiaodong said with a bitter face. "Will this really work? I just looked in the mirror and nearly threw up. Will the Red Team really believe it?"
Su Chen patted his shoulder: "You have to believe in yourselves and be convinced that you are simple, honest common folk. Only if you let go completely will the opponent believe you!"
"Being ugly isn't your fault, but having poor psychological resilience is! " Su Chen said sincerely. "Everyone, loosen up, loosen up! There are plenty of ugly women in the world—you're not special!"
"Hahaha...." The dozen male soldiers doubled over with laughter.
The soldiers dressed as women's mouths twitched uncontrollably!
Just because they were dressed as women and looked a bit ugly didn't mean they actually were ugly!
Just then, the village chief came over with a dozen or so middle-aged women.
"Comrade Company Commander!" the village chief said with a smile. "These women are the most eloquent in our village. Have them help—you won't go wrong!"
"Comrade!" A big, hefty woman smiled and said, "I'm Li Cuihua, the Women's Association Director. Just tell us what you need us to do, and we'll definitely get it done!"
"Right, Comrade, just give your orders. We're one family, military and civilians alike—we'll do anything!"
Su Chen grinned mischievously: "Then I'll trouble you, big sisters. Let's see...."
.......
Ten kilometers away, the Red Force Command Headquarters stood on a flat open field.
About two companies' worth of troops were guarding the place.
Inside the headquarters, Army Commander Yao Guangzhi of a southeastern army unit was smiling as he studied the operations map.
"The Blue Army still wants to run? Hahaha, even if they were possessed by Wang Junxia, they couldn't outrun our tanks and armored vehicles!"
A staff officer said with a smile, "Sir, we expect to complete the encirclement of the Blue Army by ten tonight. By twelve tomorrow morning, we can wipe them all out!"
"Good!" Yao Guangzhi slammed his fist on the table, laughing cheerfully. "By thoroughly beating the Blue Army this time, our officers and soldiers will be completely familiar with our new equipment."
"If we fight a few more times like this, aiming to wipe out the Blue Army in even less time, we'll surely work out new tactics!"
Everyone in the command headquarters nodded in agreement.
In their minds, the Blue Army shouldn't be a worthy, evenly matched opponent—they should be like targets, beaten around until they fled, serving as weak monsters to give them experience points.
"Lao Yao!" the Chief of Staff said quietly, "I heard that your future son-in-law is right there in the Blue Army! He's only just started his internship, and you came in and hit them so hard. Don't crush the poor kid's confidence!"
Yao Guangzhi chuckled: "That kid is a top student from the National Defense University, and he's full of himself. His father put him in the Blue Army to knock some of the arrogance out of him, so he doesn't go around showing off all the time!"
"I'll teach him a good lesson this time. It'll also help his father out, and let him see that I'm worthy of being his future father-in-law."
"So!" Yao Guangzhi said with a sly grin, "The harder we hit, the better. Young people aren't afraid of that!"
The Chief of Staff wore a bitter smile: "That kid has a father like that, plus a scheming future father-in-law like you—he's truly unlucky!"
Yao Guangzhi laughed triumphantly: "We're all doing this for his own good!"
"Report!"
Just then, a lieutenant ran in and saluted Yao Guangzhi: "Sir, a group of local villagers is outside, saying they've come to show their appreciation for us!"
"Hm?" Yao Guangzhi looked at the Chief of Staff: "We're just holding an exercise. The common folk still come to thank us? That's too kind!"
The Chief of Staff smiled: "These past couple of days, we've given away a lot of plastic bottles and cardboard to the locals. Military-civilian unity—they must be moved by what we're doing!"
Yao Guangzhi nodded with a smile and said to the lieutenant, "Have the Guard Company go out and thank them properly, but don't take too long. We'll be moving forward soon!"
The lieutenant said awkwardly, "Sir, the villagers said they want to see you in person! Otherwise, they won't leave!"
"What?" The Chief of Staff frowned: "Nonsense! The Army Commander has so much to do, where would he have time to go out? Have the Guard Company deal with it!"
The lieutenant forced a smile: "We can't handle it, sir. The ones who came are all young women. They keep pushing forward, and we can't exactly push back!"
"All women?" The Chief of Staff and the others stared in astonishment.
"Yes!" the lieutenant nodded. "They said they've lived here for a long time and have watched many exercises, but they've never seen a unit as impressive as ours—beating the Blue Army in just one day."
"They guess our unit must be an elite unit, so they want to see the commander and personally offer you water to drink!"
The Chief of Staff hesitantly looked at Yao Guangzhi: "Lao Yao, this....."
"Hahaha....." Yao Guangzhi beamed with delight: "The common folk have sharp eyes—they saw at a glance that we're an elite unit."
He looked at the Chief of Staff with mock reproach: "We're human, not gods. So many young girls came with such curiosity—surely we can grant them this little wish!"
He announced loudly: "Everyone, follow me out. Once we've seen the civilians, we'll move out immediately!"
"Yes!"
At the gate, Su Chen, mixed in the crowd, saw Yao Guangzhi striding forward at the front from afar.
"Uncle Yao?" Su Chen opened his mouth in surprise, not expecting that his future father-in-law would be the one commanding the Red Team this time.
Instantly, the face of that icy beauty surfaced in his mind.
But a wicked smile immediately crept onto his lips: "Uncle Yao, sorry about this! Yao Na, I'm doing this for your father's own good—he can't keep going like this!"
"Everyone listen up, we proceed as planned!" Su Chen said quietly.
Everyone nodded silently, now completely letting go, and followed the big sisters in front, waving their little hands desperately.
The big sisters from the village were all sturdy and robust, blocking the way in front.
"Sir, you're truly impressive!"
"Sir, come, have a bowl of spring water from our hometown!"
Li Cuihua rushed toward Yao Guangzhi, full of admiration.
Seeing the commanders had come out, the guards gave up trying to stop them and let everyone through.
Yao Guangzhi and the others were soon surrounded by the "young women."
He happily took the bowl from Li Cuihua's hands: "Thank you, fellow villagers. We People's Army are always ready to fight and to protect our common folk at any time. This is our duty, and it will continue forever!"
As he spoke, he raised the bowl and began to drink.
But suddenly, his gaze landed on the face of a young man in the crowd.
In an instant, Yao Guangzhi's eyes nearly popped out.
"Uncle Yao!" Su Chen waved at him with a grin: "Long time no see!"
Pfft.....
Yao Guangzhi sprayed the entire mouthful of water all over Li Cuihua's face!