Munitions Empire

"Why hasn’t the messenger we sent out come back yet? Where’s the radio operator? Where’s the radio operator? Battalion 1, how are things going with Battalion 1? Who knows? Who actually knows what’s happening over there?” Inside a concealed command post, a frustrated general of the Qi Army interrogated his subordinates.

But his subordinates were almost as confused as he was: they had no idea what was going on, and to this point, the entire troops had not regained control.

In the beginning, there were these screaming planes continuously circling and attacking overhead, each dive delivering a massive bomb.

Being utterly unable to resist, his division had almost lost all its heavy artillery, and its positions were left completely riddled with holes.

To make matters worse, as soon as those bizarre aircraft finally left, their positions were swamped by the Tang Army’s artillery fire.

It was truly overrun! The enemy had assembled nearly 500 guns focused solely on bombarding his position. The shells fell like they were free, completely destroying his defenses.

In order to have his troops continue fighting, as a division commander, he had dispatched all the officers and radio operators he could find to pass on orders and fortify the trenches for defense on the spot.

As a result, few of the personnel he had sent out had returned to report back. And those who did were messenger runners or radio operators from second or third-line positions.

The news they brought back was almost laughable: some said the front line had been breached by the enemy, others saw a kind of tank they had never seen before wreaking havoc on the battlefield, and yet others claimed that the enemy had broken through the second line of defense.

He didn’t believe any of these reports. Because he couldn’t accept that the enemy could break through two defense lines so swiftly—it meant his defense had completely failed.

So, he immediately sent out radio operators again, hoping to gather genuinely useful information. But this time, not a single radio operator returned, all having disappeared without a trace.

"Boom!” Not far away, another explosion occurred, this time visible without the need for binoculars, the rising black smoke clearly seen.

The general frowned and moved to the window to look in the direction of the explosion: “Isn’t that the number 10 main bunker of the third-line defenses? What happened?”

"Don’t know, by the look of it, it must have been directly hit by artillery fire,” the adjutant approached and said with a grave expression.

"Is the enemy’s artillery that accurate?” Mentioning this made the Qi Country general’s headache terribly.

His artillery positions had been completely altered beyond recognition by the Stuka dive bombers, and they were still not operational, making it impossible to join the battle.

Thus, when the Tang Army launched their ground attack, there was only sparse fire support on his section of the defense line. Most of the explosions were from Tang Army shelling, causing him immense frustration.

What further irritated him was that a nearby supply station connected by railroad tracks had been bombed, destroying all the ammunition that hadn’t been transported to him in time.

This meant that nearly all of the upcoming supplies might not reach him on time. For this division commander, this was definitely bad news.

Communication had collapsed, and now supplies had been destroyed, and with the enemy choosing this precise moment to attack, the situation had deteriorated to the extreme.

Now, his only reliance was that His Royal Highness the Third Prince would react swiftly and immediately dispatch support troops to assist.

"Send our reserves forward! Whether or not they’ve breached the first-line defense, reinforce the second-line positions! At all costs, we cannot lose the main positions of the second-line defense!” The Qi Army division commander gritted his teeth, deciding to commit his reserves without knowing anything about the actual situation.

There was simply no other choice; the scene was too chaotic. If something went wrong with the positions, his tenure as a division commander would come to an end.

Just a few minutes before the Qi Country division commander gave his order, in front of the main position of the number 10 bunker on the Qi Army’s third line of defense, Liu Guozhu’s Tank 4 had cleared its spot.

An improved Tank 2 chassis outfitted with a 105mm caliber self-propelled howitzer crept into position under the cover of the infantry.

Inside the open square-shaped turret, the artillery loaders shoved a shell into the breech and closed the breech block.

Just now, Tank 4’s 75mm cannon hadn’t managed to breach the robust concrete bunker, and that machine-gun position was still firing non-stop at the Tang Army.

Bullets sparked off the armor of Liu Guozhu’s Tank 4. With so many rounds incoming, the paint on the tank’s front section was no longer discernible.

Yet, Liu Guozhu still ordered his gunner to keep firing, launching one high-explosive shell after another towards the machine-gun bunker’s firing ports far away.

This strong suppression did indeed reduce the casualties on the Tang side. Meanwhile, the 105mm self-propelled howitzer had finished loading and was given the chance to fire.

"Fire!” The gun commander, covering his ears, shouted the command to attack. The artilleryman triggered the firing mechanism, and the whole carcass of the gun recoiled as a shell was shot directly toward the distant machine-gun bunker.

“`

The forceful artillery shell hit the brash machine gun bunker directly, blasting the concrete bunker to pieces.

A plume of black smoke soared into the sky, and the Qi Country division commander, inside his own command bunker, saw the dark column of smoke—it was the explosion here.

After this bunker was destroyed and silence fell, the Tang Army troops once again launched a charge, countless soldiers shouting loudly as they stormed the high ground in the distance. Qi Army soldiers abandoned their helmets and armor, collapsing en masse, with innumerable hands raised in surrender.

One Tank IV after another was active on the battlefield, covering the Tang Army soldiers as they laid siege and took fortifications. The troops of Qi Country had already lost two lines of defense, and their last border defense line was also on the brink of collapse.

Located between the third and second line of defense was the main heavy artillery position of the Qi Army, which was surrounded by ammunition depots of various sizes, small barracks, and field hospitals.

Anyway, on the first day of the Tang Army’s offensive, all these facilities had been lost. Whether the Qi Army’s last line of defense could hold was no longer of much consequence.

In a trench, trembling Qi Army soldiers had no idea what was happening. From time to time, messengers and officers rushed past them, all in confusion without knowing what to do.

Those who poked their heads out could see the black smoke rising from the main position not far away; some even saw Tang Army tanks rolling over the barbed wire.

But the commanders still could not believe that their two defensive lines in front had been breached by the Tang Army in just one morning.

The superior officer next to them was still clutching the collar of a messenger, loudly demanding what had happened, when Tang Army soldiers already leapt into the trenches and began firing.

These charging Tang soldiers, armed with Thompson submachine guns, were like tigers in the trenches. They pressed forward along the trenches, knocking down dazed Qi soldiers one by one.

"Tang Army! The Tang Army is coming!” A Qi Army soldier had just shouted in alarm when a grenade exploded among the crowd.

The dust thrown up blotted out the sun; in an instant, Qi soldiers in the trench were left sprawling. All they could hear was a ringing in their ears, and their eyes could see nothing.

Touching his chest, a Qi soldier found his palm covered in blood. Before he had time to scream, a Tang soldier, carrying a submachine gun, hurried past him.

"Tatatatata!” Before the dust from the explosion settled, the continuous sound of gunfire began to echo in the trench. Some were hit and screamed, some begged loudly for mercy, but these sounds were no longer clear to the Qi soldier lying in the corner.

In the division command post, the Qi division commander who had just sent someone to check what exactly happened on the main position 10, had yet to receive definite news when gunshots rang out outside his command post.

"What’s going on?” The division commander angrily questioned his subordinates, and at the same time, a Qi officer tumbled into the command post, pointing outside and shouting, “Tang Army! The Tang Army is coming!”

"Nonsense The division commander wanted to scold his subordinates and tell them to stay calm. But before he could finish his first sentence, a bullet flew in from outside.

The bullet hit the wall, then ricocheted at an odd angle, striking the kerosene lamp hanging from the roof beam.

"Dang!” With a crisp sound, the bullet shattered the kerosene lamp, startling everyone who instinctively ducked.

Just as they were reaching for their weapons at their waists, a Tang soldier holding a submachine gun burst into the room.

He shouted, pointing the dark muzzle of his gun at the high-ranking officers of Qi Country in the room: “Don’t move! Raise your hands!”

These division commanders and officers, who thought they were in the far rear, away from danger, looked at each other, not knowing what to do immediately.

"Tatatatata!” The somewhat nervous Tang soldier squeezed the trigger, releasing a dozen bullets.

Suddenly, people were tossed around the room, some knocking over tables and chairs, some crouching and scurrying, and others instinctively raising their hands.

"All of you, put your hands up for me!” The Tang private, not sure how he had become the father of a bunch of Qi divisional officers, shouted again.

This time, all the Qi officers, now mentally prepared, cooperatively lifted their hands without hesitation.

"Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot! I’m the division commander!” Fearing the young man would shoot him dead, the Qi division commander, his hands raised high, quickly added, clarifying his identity.

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