Hu Hao crouched over the map, actively testing Bo Gang and Ye Zifeng’s tactical intuition by asking them to predict the size of the Allied relief force. After enduring their blind guesses, Hu Hao finally explained the strategic logic that guaranteed the Allied Corps Commander would dispatch two full Divisions.
“So, assuming two Divisions are marching into Santong County… and we devour them… what do you think that Allied Corps Commander—whatever his name is—will do then? Do you think he’ll ever dare to dispatch troops toward our sector again?!” Hu Hao smirked, tracing the supply lines on the map.
Bo Gang and Ye Zifeng stared at him, absolutely paralyzed by the sheer audacity of his words.
“What? I asked you a question,” Hu Hao prompted them, noticing their stunned silence.
“Hao-ge… devouring two entire Allied Divisions?! Hao-ge, are you dreaming right now?! Hao-ge, wiping out that single Division last night was a massive victory, but that was because we held the absolute tactical advantage of surprise! And the enemy… the enemy was… uh… how should I put this? You explain it!” Ye Zifeng stammered, entirely at a loss for words, turning to Bo Gang for help.
“What is there to explain?! Hao-ge is a brilliant commander!” Bo Gang blurted out immediately.
Ye Zifeng rolled his eyes violently at Bo Gang. Of course I know Hao-ge is a brilliant commander! he thought frantically. But you can’t say that right now! If you stroke his ego, he’s actually going to try and fight two full Divisions!
“Oh! Right, right! It wasn’t just that Hao-ge commanded brilliantly, it was also because the Allied forces were acting like complete idiots! Right? That’s what you meant, Regiment Commander Ye?!” Bo Gang quickly caught on, backpedaling furiously.
“Are you two really that terrified of dying?” Hu Hao asked, raising an eyebrow.
“This isn’t a joke! This isn’t about being afraid to die! Hao-ge, please wake up! You literally just said there are two full Allied Divisions marching this way! The pontoon bridges are only a two-hour drive from here; we can easily extract the loot and fall back across the river right now! Why on earth would we stay here and try to fight two Divisions?!” Ye Zifeng pleaded urgently.
“Ha! Do you realize what happens if the Allied coalition permanently occupies this bank of the river? We will be entirely pinned down on the defensive line! We will lose all ability to project force outward! How are we supposed to rescue the civilians trapped in the occupied territories then?!
Furthermore, how are those civilians supposed to escape?! You saw what happened tonight! We fought and won, and the civilians finally believed the Imperial Army hadn’t abandoned them! Bo Gang, do you remember what the civilians were screaming when we first rolled into this city?!” Hu Hao asked, standing up and glaring at them.
“I remember,” Bo Gang nodded grimly.
“I am going to devour them! If we annihilate these two Divisions, I can easily wipe out the remaining two Divisions whenever I please! Motherfucker, they actually dare to threaten my defensive line?! They’ll soon learn that Hu Hao’s front line isn’t something ordinary men can breach!” Hu Hao declared fiercely, staring down at the map.
Ye Zifeng and Bo Gang looked up at him in profound shock.
“Go procure as much high-explosive ordnance as you can find. I am going to send those Allied bastards flying. Hmph. They actually dared to come back here,” Hu Hao sneered, turning his back on them and walking toward the hangar doors.
“Ah?” Ye Zifeng and Bo Gang exchanged a deeply confused look, having no idea what kind of apocalyptic trap Hu Hao was brewing in his mind.
“Hao-ge! The forward recon elements near Daman City just reported visual confirmation! The Allied reconnaissance aircraft is currently flying over their position, heading directly toward us!” a radioman shouted, sprinting over to Hu Hao.
“Good! Are all our units fully concealed?!” Hu Hao stopped and turned back to Ye Zifeng and Bo Gang.
“Report! All infantry units are deeply concealed!” Ye Zifeng snapped to attention.
“Report! All armored elements are heavily camouflaged within the treeline!” Bo Gang echoed the salute.
“Excellent,” Hu Hao nodded in satisfaction. The two commanders quickly jogged over to join him.
“Hao-ge, how exactly are we going to fight them?” Ye Zifeng asked nervously.
“You’ll see when the time comes. I didn’t cross this river just to scurry back with half a haul; I’m not leaving until I’ve bled them dry!” Hu Hao replied cryptically.
“But Hao-ge… we’ve already secured an astronomical amount of loot! Look at all this! We have attack helicopters, main battle tanks, APCs, assault rifles, heavy machine guns, and artillery pieces! We’ve practically emptied their armory! Isn’t this enough?!” Ye Zifeng argued, gesturing toward the massive warehouses.
“This little pile of scrap? It’s nothing,” Hu Hao rolled his eyes dismissively.
“Hao-ge… are you absolutely dead set on fighting this battle?” Bo Gang asked, staring at him intently.
“What? You have a better idea?” Hu Hao countered.
“No. If you order us to fight, we fight. Honestly, I have over a hundred tanks under my command now, and we slaughtered enough Allied bastards last night to avenge the civilians. If we have to lay our lives on the line to hold this ground, I’m ready,” Bo Gang stated with grim resolve.
“Bullshit. It’s not time to lay our lives on the line yet! I have never commanded my brothers to throw their lives away pointlessly, and I never will!” Hu Hao snapped, rejecting Bo Gang’s fatalism.
“Then Hao-ge… how exactly are we fighting them?!” Ye Zifeng asked again, completely lost.
“Go secure the high explosives from the armory! I want as much as you can physically move! And gather a massive amount of iron sand! If you can’t find iron sand, crushed gravel will do!” Hu Hao ordered Ye Zifeng.
“We’re planting landmines? We have plenty of anti-tank and anti-personnel mines in the armory!” Ye Zifeng offered eagerly.
“How many men can a landmine kill?! Two?! Three?! I am trying to annihilate two entire Divisions! Do you think a few scattered landmines are going to cut it?!” Hu Hao asked sarcastically.
“Then… where are we planting the explosives?! And how?!” Ye Zifeng asked, thoroughly bewildered.
“Just gather the materials first! I need to physically survey the city layout. We can’t move until that Allied recon plane clears our airspace,” Hu Hao instructed.
“Oh! Understood! We’ll start hauling the explosives out of the armory right now!” Ye Zifeng nodded, finally grasping his immediate task.
Roughly half an hour later, the Allied reconnaissance aircraft completed its sweep of Santong County and banked away, heading back toward Xike City. Hu Hao had no idea if the spotter plane had detected any anomalies through the camouflage, but regardless of what they saw, the Allied Corps would inevitably march on the city.
“Let’s move. We’re heading into the city. Order the logistics teams to resume the extraction!” Hu Hao told Ye Zifeng and Bo Gang.
“Yes, sir!” The two commanders immediately radioed their subordinates to resume operations.
Hu Hao jumped into a commandeered civilian vehicle and drove toward the urban center of Santong County, with Ye Zifeng and Bo Gang following closely in a separate car. Hu Hao drove straight to the southeastern perimeter of the city, the exact vector from which the Allied forces would approach.
He parked on the outskirts and surveyed the road network. The Allied Divisions were massive; they wouldn’t funnel their entire force down a single highway. They would split their columns and enter the city through multiple arterial roads.
“You two, mark these coordinates on your maps! I want the buildings at these specific intersections completely demolished! We are going to intentionally block these avenues with rubble, forcing the Allied columns to funnel into these four specific streets to enter the city!” Hu Hao ordered, pointing toward the sprawling urban sprawl.
“Understood!” Bo Gang and Ye Zifeng quickly pulled out their tactical maps and marked the designated intersections.
“Get back in the cars. We’re going to drive down every single avenue and identify exactly which structures need to be dropped to create the funnel,” Hu Hao instructed.
“Hao-ge… why are we blowing up the buildings to block the roads?” Ye Zifeng asked, completely failing to grasp the tactical objective.
“I am paving their road to hell,” Hu Hao replied flatly as he got into the driver’s seat.
“Road to hell?” Ye Zifeng and Bo Gang exchanged another baffled look, but they quickly climbed into their car and followed him.
“Blow this intersection! And this one! These roads lead toward the western commercial district; I want them completely blocked! Deny them access!” Hu Hao ordered over the radio as they drove.
“Hao-ge, even if we block the roads with rubble, won’t their infantry just climb over it?” Ye Zifeng asked over the radio.
“They won’t. When they arrive, their absolute priority will be securing a massive staging area to rest and regroup after the forced march. They will prioritize wide, open spaces to park their armor. Only small reconnaissance patrols will bother climbing over the rubble to scout the blocked sectors; the main body will follow the path of least resistance,” Hu Hao explained smoothly.
Hu Hao methodically surveyed the city, identifying key choke points. He deliberately left four major arterial avenues completely clear. All four of these avenues converged directly onto the massive central plaza of Santong County—the exact same plaza where the previous Allied Division had established their motor pool. Directly adjacent to the plaza was a sprawling, open public park, providing the perfect overflow area for an exhausted, massive military force. It was the ideal resting ground.
“Radio the combat engineers! Order them to bring the explosives and the remote-detonation rigs here immediately!” Hu Hao ordered after completing the survey.
“Hao-ge, what about the roads leading south and southwest?! If we don’t block those, won’t the Allied forces just use them to escape once the ambush starts?!” Ye Zifeng pointed out a massive flaw in the encirclement.
“Are you an idiot? If we pre-emptively block every single exit route out of the city, the Allied Vanguard will instantly realize they are walking into a massive, prepared kill box! Do you think they’ll actually march their main body into the city if they suspect a trap?!” Hu Hao scolded him.
“Ah… then… how do we stop them from escaping?!” Ye Zifeng asked anxiously.
“They won’t escape. We are going to wire those roads with explosives as well! Just hurry up and get the engineers here!” Hu Hao ordered.
“Understood!” Both commanders immediately radioed the combat engineers. Hu Hao spent the time conducting a final, meticulous survey of the central plaza and the adjacent park.
Roughly half an hour later, the combat engineers arrived in heavy transport trucks, unloading massive crates of high-explosives and miles of detonation cord. Hu Hao split them into two teams.
“Bo Gang! You take your team and immediately demolish the buildings at the intersections I designated earlier! Ensure the rubble completely blocks the main avenues! Ignore the small alleyways; their armored columns cannot navigate them anyway!” Hu Hao ordered.
“Yes, sir!” Bo Gang nodded, quickly organizing his demolition teams.
“Ye Zifeng! You take the second team! Pry open the manhole covers in this plaza! There are four massive, transverse sewer mains running directly beneath this concrete. I want you to pack those mains with an astronomical amount of high explosives! Pack the iron sand and gravel tightly around the charges to create a massive fragmentation effect!
Then, move to the park! There are two major drainage culverts running around the perimeter of the artificial lake; wire those as well! If you find areas in the park without subterranean access, order your men to dig massive trenches! Pack the trenches with explosives, pile heavy boulders on top of the charges, and cover them with dirt!
Finally, scavenge some tombstones from the local cemetery and plant them over the freshly dug trenches! The Allied soldiers will assume they are mass graves from the recent purges; they are deeply superstitious and won’t dare disturb a gravesite!” Hu Hao detailed the apocalyptic trap.
Ye Zifeng and Bo Gang stared at Hu Hao, their eyes bulging and their jaws practically hitting the floor. They were absolutely speechless.
“What are you waiting for?! Move! We don’t have all day!” Hu Hao barked, snapping them out of their daze.
“Hao-ge… how… how did you even conceive of something so demonic?! If we successfully wire this plaza… when you detonate those charges… there won’t be a single Allied soldier left breathing! This is military-grade high explosive! Even if the fragmentation doesn’t shred them, the sheer concussive overpressure from a subterranean blast of that magnitude will liquefy their internal organs! Hao-ge… you are… you are truly…” Ye Zifeng stammered, unable to find the words to describe Hu Hao’s terrifying brilliance. He simply gave Hu Hao an incredibly reverent thumbs-up.
“Hao-ge, I’m going to go blow those buildings right now! I guarantee we will funnel every single Allied soldier directly into this plaza! We are going to bury them all! Hao-ge, you are a goddamn genius!” Bo Gang cheered, sprinting toward his demolition teams.
“Hurry it up! And make sure the engineers handle the detonators carefully!” Hu Hao yelled after them.