Munitions Empire

Chapter 611: 611: 570 two bodies

Chapter 611: 570 two bodies

The person inside the carriage did not speak but simply pushed open the door. Because they were unsure if the person inside was armed, Xiang Ziyu and his squad leader did not dare to approach carelessly.

"I am the Prime Minister of Qi Country!” At this moment, an elderly man’s voice came from the carriage. He spoke slowly, stepping out of the carriage as he spoke.

There were bloodstains on his body, and fresh blood had dyed his official robe red. His movement exiting the carriage was somewhat sluggish, and his eyes were full of bloodshot threads.

"Where is the King!” Upon seeing the old man emerge from the carriage, the paratrooper squad leader asked with his weapon ready, “Is he inside?”

"Yes, he is certainly inside.” The old man smirked bitterly and answered, “He is already dead

Long before Tang Country’s paratroopers reached the carriage, Jiang Xian of Qi Country had already died. Something had been amiss when he boarded the carriage; in fact, at that time, His Majesty, the King of Qi Country, had already passed away.

He had been suffering from a serious illness for some time and had been taking medicine. Just now, he had been frightened and jolted for a long while, and his illness had finally worsened, leading to his death before he could be captured.

"Squad leader! He’s injured!” Upon seeing the bloodied Prime Minister of Qi Country, Xiang Ziyu noticed the Prime Minister’s wounds.

Whether he failed to evade in time or was trying to protect Jiang Xian, the Prime Minister had several bloody holes in his body, which at that moment were still oozing blood, staining half of his body red.

The old man was merely holding on, standing in front of two enemy paratroopers, maintaining the last vestiges of his country’s dignity.

"It’s a pity, whether you are the Prime Minister of Qi Country or its King … you will not be capturing any of us.” The Prime Minister shivered, nearly losing his balance.

In reality, he should have been dead by now, but he was still insisting, standing there stubbornly, unwilling to fall.

In the end, after an indeterminate amount of time, he finally lost all his strength and collapsed heavily onto the ground tiles, closing his eyes.

Only at this moment did Xiang Ziyu and his squad leader approach, cautiously peering through the wide-open carriage door to see the scene inside.

Inside the carriage lay a man dressed in splendid attire, motionless on the floor with bloodstains and bullet holes in the seat next to him.

Xiang Ziyu climbed into the carriage, knelt on one knee, and looked down at the man lying on the ground. It was indeed Jiang Xian, an exact match to the photograph previously circulated among the Tang Army.

"It should be him.” Xiang Ziyu said to his squad leader outside the carriage, “He’s definitely dead, and there are no gunshot wounds on his body.”

The squad leader furrowed his brow, then hopped onto the carriage, pushed Xiang Ziyu aside, and emptied the magazine of his firearm into Jiang Xian’s body, “Now he has gunshot wounds!”

He lifted his head to look at Xiang Ziyu, “Your credit is already substantial. Remember, this is the honor of our squad, our platoon, our company, even our battalion! You know what to say!”

"I understand! Squad leader.” Xiang Ziyu knew the credit wasn’t his, so he accepted everything quite frankly.

Their squad had killed the Prime Minister and the King of Qi Country! This was a collective honor for their squad! Or rather, it could become an honor for their entire paratrooper troops! ℟₳ŊỗВЕṢ

"Round up the other Qi Country people in the courtyard, take away those you can quickly! Look around on the way back to see if there’s anything that can prove the King’s identity, take that too!” the squad leader said, waving at the paratroopers in front: “Our objective has been achieved, we can retreat now!”

"Jiang Xian has been killed! The King is dead! Retreat!” The remaining paratroopers began to shout as they followed, they did not come here to fight to the death with Qi Country’s defenders.

Since the target had been accomplished, retreating was their best option. To break contact with the Qi Army and regroup at Donghe Bridge with the 2nd Battalion was what they should be doing now.

Sure enough, soon a paratrooper, holding his weapon, ran over panting heavily. It took him a while to catch his breath before asking, “The company commander from the 2nd sent me to confirm, was Jiang Xian, the King of Qi, really killed by you?”

"Yeah! We’re preparing to retreat! He’s over there in the carriage!” the squad leader pointed to a carriage not far away, “You can go have a look for yourself.”

Indeed, the soldier ran over with his weapon and took a look before running back, standing at attention to salute, “I have confirmed it! It is indeed Jiang Xian!”

"Then tell your company commander to retreat! We’re leaving this place too! There’s no reason for us to continue fighting here.” The squad leader replaced his magazine, checked his remaining spare ammo, and with a wave of his hand, prepared to lead his men away.

"Yes!” The soldier saluted sharply and ran off, disappearing over the courtyard wall. He was quick, and his wall-scaling maneuvers were adept.

As the paratroopers began to retreat, a sharp shrieking sound came from the sky. Two Stuka Dive Bombers descended from the heavens, howling as they dropped two 500-kilogram Aerial Bombs on the smoke-filled estate.

The massive explosion frightened the paratroopers who had started to retreat from the estate. They could distinctly feel the ground beneath them shudder.

This was a sensation absent from their drills, as they had never actually had Stuka Dive Bombers supporting them in battle.

Following that, two Stukas commenced a dive and strafing attack, unwilling to spare anything around the manor as they continuously poured their ammunition onto the Qi Army below.

During the assault, these two Stukas spotted the Red Dragon Flag laid out on the ground and thus avoided those marked areas as much as possible.

However, the next pair of Stuka Dive Bombers arriving were unable to see the red flags on the ground due to the thick smoke.

Not wanting to let the King of Qi Country escape, these pilots had to take the risk of dropping bombs, once again smashing them into the interior of the manor.

The good news was that all the Tang Country Paratroopers inside the manor had already withdrawn, so there were no cases of friendly fire.

The bad news was that the aerial bombings from above rendered all the efforts of the Tang Army to capture prisoners futile. To ensure their own safety, the slow-moving prisoners were all abandoned or killed along the route of retreat.

"I see the thick smoke on the ground! I see the thick smoke! Preparing to continue the attack! Cover me, cover me!” over the radio, the pilot aboard the Stuka excitedly yelled to his comrades.

Another two Stuka Dive Bombers turned sharply in the air and plummeted, dropping a 500-kilogram aerial bomb onto the Qi Army’s position from close to the ground.

The two bombs exploded one after the other, blowing away the other end of the still-confused Qi troops. Unaware that their Majesty the King had already died from a heart attack, these Qi soldiers were desperately hoping to recapture the manor to stabilize the situation.

Ignoring the aircraft overhead, they rushed into the manor, searching for any survivors. But in the midst of chaos, no one knew what exactly had transpired.

"Strafe them! Do you see that group of Qi people? Fire! Fire!” Inside the cockpit of the trailing FW-190 Butcher Fighters, the pilots were also screaming excitedly.

Four fighters swept over in turn, their machine guns firing and raising clouds of dust and dirt, sending the scrambling Qi soldiers into disarray.

Just like the Qi troops, none of the Tang planes circling above the manor knew that the King of Qi Country was already dead.

They continued with the attack plan, dropping one heavy bomb after another, as if money was no object.

At the same time, the all-out counterattack from the Qi troops on the ground further convinced them that the King of Qi was still inside the manor at that moment.

So they kept dropping bombs, one after another, onto the small manor obscured by thick smoke, disregarding visibility.

Soon, a pilot inside a Stuka noticed something different. He saw Tang paratroopers retreating, and those Dragon Banners, serving as friend-or-foe identifiers, seemed to be moving back as well.

So, holding down the communication button, he reported, “I don’t know what’s happening, but I see our flags retreating!”

Below him, paratroopers on the ground had retreated to their drop zones, where their identifying Dragon Banners were even more conspicuous.

After confirmation, the pilot continued to report over the radio: “Repeat, I see the Dragon Banner retreating!”

Soon, another Stuka Dive Bomber pilot also confirmed the news: “That’s right! I also see the paratroopers retreating! I don’t know why, but they’re moving towards the open area!”

At that moment, the voice from headquarters came through the headset: “I order you to cover our forces, cover the retreating paratrooper troops! Repeat! Cover the retreating paratrooper troops! Block the Qi Army’s pursuit!”

"Understood!” replied the pilot of the circling Stuka Dive Bomber immediately.

However, after the two Stukas made a wide circle around the manor, they still didn’t see the Qi troops chasing from the thick smoke.

It seemed the Qi Army had no intention to pursue, so the Tang paratroopers retreating from the battle did so at their leisure; they even managed to find and take with them almost all of their bags and gear.

So, after circling twice to confirm the situation, the pilot of the Stuka Dive Bomber assigned to cover the ground troops spoke again: “Beehive! Beehive! This is Wasp One! This is Wasp One! I do not see Qi troops in pursuit! Repeat! I do not see enemy troops in pursuit!”

Another pilot from a different plane also reported: “This is Wasp Four! I also do not see enemy troops in pursuit!”

"I do not see them either!” said another pilot through the radio.

"Keep watching, keep watching!” came the somewhat resigned reminder from headquarters over the radio: “Subsequent forces, continue bombing the target! Ensure that the manor is completely destroyed!”

"Acknowledged, Sir!” replied the pilot who had just arrived at the battlefield, still excited. After responding, he pushed his control stick down: “Starting my dive now, cover me!”

Munitions Empire

Please describe your opinion