Hu Hao told the staff officers to keep shelling. He wanted to ensure the Allied forces got no rest tonight. While the bombardment would affect his own men slightly, they were safe within the bomb shelters and didn’t have to worry about being hit.
The Allied forces were in a different situation. They had no idea when or where the shells would land, making it impossible for them to sleep soundly. If they failed to rest tonight, their offensive tomorrow morning would surely suffer.
“Shelling them all night?” Xiao Quan asked, looking at Hu Hao.
“Yes, keep shelling. The Allied units are right there on the opposite bank; it’s not like they’re going to retreat. If we let them rest, they’ll just organize their attack tomorrow at their own pace. Shell them!” Hu Hao nodded firmly.
“Alright, let’s shell them. We have plenty of ammunition anyway!” Xiao Quan agreed after a moment’s thought. Following his lead, the artillerymen began adjusting their firing parameters based on the data from the staff and the frontline observers.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Suddenly, the sounds of explosions echoed from their own artillery positions. Hu Hao stood up immediately and rushed to the rear observation post.
The Allied artillery had begun to retaliate!
“Locate the Allied artillery positions and wipe them out! They actually have the nerve to fight back? They’re asking for death!” Hu Hao roared at the artillery staff.
“Understood! We’re calculating the coordinates now!” a staff officer shouted back.
Boom! Boom! Boom! The opposite bank was also erupting in flames.
“We should be fine. Our artillery is still firing,” Xiao Quan remarked.
“Call them! Find out the status of our rear batteries! Have they been hit?” Hu Hao shouted.
A staff officer immediately picked up the phone to contact the batteries. After a moment, he returned to Hu Hao. “Hao-ge, the artillery is fine. They say the Allied shells missed them. However, they want to cease fire for a moment to let the staff here finalize the coordinates so they can eliminate the Allied guns first!”
“Good. Tell them to cease fire!” Hu Hao nodded and returned to the forward observation post.
Wang Yao and the other newly assigned officers watched from the command post. Their understanding of war was largely based on propaganda and training films, and they watched the live feed with intense focus.
“Hao-ge , the Allied forces probably think they’ve hit our batteries. Look at them—they have no intention of stopping,” Xiao Quan said, standing beside him.
“Hmph. That’s exactly what I want them to think. Let’s do this: when we fire back, don’t use Artillery Position No. 3. Have Artillery Position No. 2 fire instead. What do you think?” Hu Hao suggested.
“You want the Allied forces to believe our primary artillery position has been destroyed?” Xiao Quan asked.
“Hehe, would that work?” Hu Hao grinned.
“It should. We’re fighting tomorrow anyway, and our guns aren’t out in the open. It’ll be hard for Allied reconnaissance planes to spot them!” Xiao Quan nodded.
“Contact the batteries! Position No. 3 is to remain silent. Position No. 2 is to open fire on the Allied artillery!” Hu Hao shouted to the staff.
“Understood! Position No. 3 cease fire, Position No. 2 open fire!” the staff officer relayed the command.
“Lao Xiao , we might just have a massive harvest tonight!” Hu Hao laughed.
“A massive harvest?” Xiao Quan looked at him.
“Think about it. I’ve already ordered a new artillery position to fire. Do you think the Allied forces can swallow this insult?
“They’re a full corps with five divisions; every division has an artillery regiment, plus a corps-level artillery brigade. Do you think they’re afraid to duel me in artillery?
“I reckon once they see the new position firing, the commander over there will be incredibly smug. Don’t you think?” Hu Hao chuckled.
“That’s possible. But what if the opponent is suspicious? What if they think we’re just baiting them?” Xiao Quan asked.
“It doesn’t matter. After we take out this battery, we’ll keep firing. We’ll keep baiting them to use their artillery. I want to see how long they can hold back. Besides, we aren’t losing anything by firing. Our drones know exactly where they are; we just need to drop shells on them. Killing even one is worth the cost!” Hu Hao said.
“Fine!” Xiao Quan nodded.
Boom! Boom! Boom! The Allied shells continued to rain down on Hu Hao’s silent batteries as if in retaliation.
Ten minutes later, Artillery Position No. 2 launched its counter-attack. Explosions soon began to bloom across the Allied artillery sites on the opposite bank.
The booming of the impacts sent Abusai rushing to his observation post to survey his own artillery positions.
“What’s happening? How does the Eastern Spirit Empire still have artillery?” Abusai shouted in shock.
“It’s a disaster. They’ve hit our battery. They still have more artillery—they were trying to bait us into firing!” the Chief of Staff realized immediately as he saw where the shells were landing.
“Dammit! How could they have this many cannons?” Abusai demanded.
“I don’t know. The Commander of the 87th Division is the son of the 27th Corps Commander. He likely got a lot of extra hardware from his father,” the Chief of Staff guessed.
“That profligate brat! To use cannons like this! Order our other batteries to shell that new position. He wants to duel? I have a full corps—I have far more artillery than him!” Abusai roared.
The artillery of his 2nd Division was likely finished, with many guns destroyed. However, he felt a small sense of victory knowing he had already ‘destroyed’ the first position. In a duel of numbers, he believed he would still come out on top.
Soon, the Allied forces retaliated again. Hu Hao ordered Position No. 2 to fall silent and had Artillery Position No. 4 open fire instead. This third round of counter-battery fire left Abusai in disbelief.
“How is this possible? How many cannons does the 87th Division have? Are they an artillery division? How can they have this many?” Abusai shouted. Before his troops had even launched an attack, two of his artillery regiments were already out of commission.
“Commander, it’s possible they really do have that much fire support. We can’t keep firing. If we continue, we’ll lose everything before we even understand what we’re up against. It’s night; our drones and scouts can’t get a clear read on their numbers. I suggest we stop the retaliation for now!” the Chief of Staff warned.
“Damn it! Li Tianyuan is spoiling his son too much, giving him this many cannons; does he not care about the other units? This profligate brat dares to shell like this. He has no idea how precious cannons are!” Abusai spat, frustrated that he hadn’t gained the upper hand.
“Commander, we should stop. Truly, we should stop!” the Chief of Staff repeated.
“I don’t believe Li Tianyuan would dare favor his son this much. That’s already three regiments’ worth of fire. I refuse to believe he has any more!” Abusai shouted.
“But what if he does?”
“I’ll keep shelling then! I refuse to believe a single division has more artillery than my entire corps!” Abusai had lost his cool. He was determined to wipe out the 87th Division’s artillery tonight to minimize his losses during tomorrow’s probing attack.
“Yes, sir!” the Chief of Staff had no choice but to order the next artillery regiment to locate and shell the new position.
When the Allied forces fired back yet again, Hu Hao was thrilled. He shouted to Xiao Quan, “See that? Another one! I knew it—we’re going to take out several of their regiments tonight! Haha!”
“I really didn’t expect this,” Xiao Quan said, shaking his head with a smile. “What is our opponent thinking, trying to out-duel us in artillery?”
The veteran staff officers in the command post also began to laugh. Wang Yao didn’t quite understand the humor, but he could tell that Hu Hao was winning this exchange.
“Order Artillery Position No. 1 to locate this new Allied battery and wipe it out! Dammit, I’ll show them. I might be an infantry division, but I’ve got the firepower of a whole artillery division. Hehe, you want to play with me?” Hu Hao laughed.
“Understood!” the staff officers replied with grins of their own.
“Hao-ge, a call from Wu Kexiao, the Commander of the 2nd Regiment!” a signalman said, bringing over the phone.
“Mhm. Old Wu, what is it?” Hu Hao asked.
“Hao-ge, why has the shelling started? Are we taking any losses?” Wu Kexiao asked over the line.
“As if I’d let us take a loss! We’re currently feasting on Allied artillery. Is there anything else?” Hu Hao replied cheerfully.
(End of Chapter)