Abusai was extremely frustrated, and he had no idea who to vent to. An entire corps under his command was actually being bullied like this by the Eastern Spirit Empire’s forces. Their artillery was bombarding his troops with absolute impunity. Was this the legendary military strength of the Eastern Spirit Empire—ranked third in the world—commanded by a “young master general”?
Abusai couldn’t quite wrap his head around it. When he was transferred here to lead the attack, it was done at the strong insistence of the Mara Empire. This was because of the industrial city of Late City located here. The industrial equipment and factories within that city were of immense importance to the Allied forces.
Therefore, when Abusai heard his unit was being deployed for this offensive, he was quite pleased. At the very least, he saw an opportunity to earn significant merit. He never expected to be hit with such a stifling blow the moment he arrived!
“Boom! Boom! Boom!” The explosions outside continued, making Abusai increasingly irritable.
“Corps Commander, if this bombardment continues, our soldiers won’t dare to rest. How are we supposed to attack tomorrow? We must come up with a solution now. The Air Cavalry can’t be deployed yet; without ground cover, sending them toward the enemy’s artillery positions is out of the question. And our infantry… we can’t possibly launch an attack at this hour, can we?” The Chief of Staff spoke to Abusai anxiously.
“I know!” Abusai stared straight ahead and nodded.
“How about we order our troops to retreat? Retreat a few dozen kilometers, and then reorganize for the attack tomorrow?” the Chief of Staff suggested.
“No, if we do that, we won’t have many hours left to fight during the day tomorrow. You know how hot it gets during the day. Our soldiers are already unaccustomed to the climate here. Even when our troops were staying indoors previously, hundreds of soldiers suffered heatstroke every day. If we set out too late tomorrow, forget about attacking—our soldiers will collapse from heatstroke before they even fire a shot!” Abusai shook his head.
Hearing this, the Chief of Staff felt stuck as well. Retreating was wrong, but staying was wrong too. What were they supposed to do?
“Phew!” For the first time, Abusai felt indecisive. If he ordered his remaining artillery regiment to open fire now, then during tomorrow’s daytime assault, his troops would have no artillery cover, leading to even greater casualties.
If they didn’t open fire now, the Eastern Spirit artillery definitely wouldn’t stop, which would also impact tomorrow’s operations. Don’t be fooled by the fact that only a dozen or so cannons were firing—even if they didn’t kill many, the sheer terror would keep the men from getting any rest!
“Corps Commander, if there really is no other way, we’ll postpone the attack by a day. For now, let’s have our soldiers build defensive works and dig trenches. How about that? Tomorrow during the day, our soldiers can rest in the trenches. This way, we won’t have to worry about their artillery, and we’ll keep our men busy for now.
Digging trenches during the day tomorrow would be too hot anyway. Furthermore, looking at our opponent… they are either completely incompetent at war or extremely shrewd. Judging from how they ambushed Ren Kefu’s troops, our opponent is certainly not incompetent.
Moreover, the sheer amount of artillery they deployed today far exceeded our expectations. We need to take this opponent seriously, and we need to solidify our own defenses first. We cannot bank on a rapid breakthrough of their lines!” the Chief of Staff advised Abusai.
“Hmm, you’re right. We originally planned to take the frontline positions in one day. From the looks of it now, launching the attack a day later is acceptable. We still have time.
Alright, go order our soldiers to start digging trenches. The soil here is easy to dig. Have them dig individual foxholes first, and then connect them!” Hearing this, Abusai could only nod in agreement. Postponing the attack was the only option now; it was the only way to allow the soldiers below to stop worrying about tomorrow’s offensive.
“Yes, sir!” The Chief of Staff immediately went into the command center to issue orders to the various units, instructing them to begin excavating defensive works.
Upon hearing the orders, the frontline soldiers had no choice but to comply. Grabbing their entrenching tools, they began digging defensive works right where they were resting. Under the leadership of their officers, some Allied soldiers quietly advanced to within 200 meters of the riverbank and began silently digging trenches!
“Report, reporting to Staff Officer Liu! The 4th Regiment just called in. They spotted the Allied forces digging trenches on the opposite bank!” A staff officer reported to the senior staff officer on duty at the desk.
“What? Digging trenches? Now?” Upon hearing this, the staff officer stood up.
“Yes, that’s what the 4th Regiment reported. And it looks like a lot of them!” the staff officer replied.
“Artillery staff officer!” the senior staff officer shouted.
“Here! Staff Officer Liu, what is it?” The artillery staff officer ran over and asked.
“The 4th Regiment spotted the Allied forces digging trenches. I think there’s no need to wake Hao-ge for this. Could you have your artillery coordinate with the spotters from the 4th Regiment and bomb them?” Staff Officer Liu asked him.
“Yes, no problem. Anyway, Hao-ge said we can bomb freely. We’ve already rotated through two shifts of artillerymen. The reservist soldiers are taking turns firing now, brushing up on their artillery skills!” The artillery staff officer smiled.
“Alright, go on! Bomb them, just bomb them!” Staff Officer Liu on duty nodded with a smile. Soon, the sound of explosions echoed from the clearing across from the 4th Regiment. Hu Hao’s artillery had begun bombarding the area.
“Motherfucker, do you have too many artillery shells or something? You’ve been firing for so long, and you’re still shooting?!” Abusai, seeing the opposite bank’s artillery resume firing—and specifically targeting the soldiers digging trenches on the front line—immediately started cursing loudly.
The Eastern Spirit artillery only ever paused when they were changing targets, and each pause lasted less than ten minutes. Every time the Allied forces thought the bombardment had stopped, the cannons would roar again. It was maddening.
In truth, changing targets didn’t take that long. The main reason for the pauses was that the cannons needed to cool down. Firing continuously put immense pressure on the barrels, making them prone to malfunction. So, the general routine was ten minutes of firing followed by ten minutes of rest. Right now, they were perfectly timed to bombard the Allied troops constructing defensive works.
Meanwhile, on Hu Hao’s side, the soldiers didn’t care that the artillery was firing. They just kept sleeping; even if they couldn’t sleep, they had to try. However, hearing the booming sounds from the opposite bank brought a bit of joy to their hearts.
In one of the air-raid shelters, Wang Yao and his group were still wide awake, staring into the pitch-black darkness. The sounds of artillery outside made it impossible for them to sleep. Furthermore, they all had things weighing on their minds.
Feeling restless, Wang Yao sat up, pushed aside the curtain, and stepped outside, pulling out a cigarette, preparing to light it.
“No lighting fires!” At that moment, a soldier on duty outside immediately shouted.
“Why?” Wang Yao looked at the soldier, displeased.
“The Allied forces might have already reached the opposite bank. If you light a fire, they’ll kill you. If you want to smoke, that’s fine—crouch down, light it, and then go smoke somewhere else!” the soldier told Wang Yao.
“How do you know so much?” Wang Yao asked, looking at the soldier with a hint of curiosity.
“Our platoon leader said so. No fires in the trenches at night, not even a single sliver of light. The moment a light appears, you expose yourself, and it will cost you your life. Alright, I’m not talking to you anymore. I need to change positions. If the Allied forces hear sounds, they might open fire too!” After speaking, the soldier hunched over and scurried away.
Seeing this, Wang Yao crouched down, ready to strike a light.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!” Barely a second after he crouched, the sound of bullets striking the trench echoed right above his head, followed by the distant crack of gunfire.
“Fuck me!” Wang Yao cursed out loud, then froze in shock.
“What happened? What happened?” At that moment, Mo Qin and the others rushed out.
“Crouch down, everyone crouch down!” Soldiers in the distance shouted. Immediately, the heavy machine gunner on duty on their side swung his weapon around and unleashed a volley of suppressing fire toward the source of the enemy shots.
“What happened?” Mo Qin and the others crouched down, looking at Wang Yao, who was sitting on the ground in a daze.
“Ah, ah, it’s nothing, it’s nothing! Help me inside. Yes, hunch over, hunch over! Don’t stand up, or our heads will be exposed!” Wang Yao hurriedly instructed.
“Oh, what’s going on? You weren’t hit, were you?” Dong Qipeng asked as he helped Wang Yao up.
“No, no. Let’s talk inside!” Wang Yao said. Once they helped him back into the air-raid shelter, they gathered around, eager to know what had happened.
But Wang Yao just sat there. He tried to light his cigarette, but his hands were trembling so badly he couldn’t get it lit.
“Let me do it,” Mo Qin said, taking the lighter and lighting the cigarette for Wang Yao. Wang Yao took a deep drag, then looked at them.
“Do you guys… do you know? Just now, if I hadn’t listened to that soldier and crouched down, I would be dead. It was a matter of one second. A second might even be too long. The moment I crouched, bullets flew right over my head. Motherfucker, motherfucker, I… I…!” Wang Yao stammered, overwhelmed with lingering fear.
The others just watched him. They knew Wang Yao was terrified, but they didn’t think it was that big of a deal. However, they didn’t realize that for Wang Yao, it was a huge deal—it was a matter of life and death!
“It’s fine, you got lucky. It’s fine!” Mo Qin patted Wang Yao on the shoulder.
“Yeah, I got lucky. But tell me, tell me… in war, can we always rely on luck?
Before we came here, we heard that the casualty rate in the Southwest Combat Zone was over 80%. Out of five men, only one walked off the battlefield alive. Tell me, tell me, what will happen to us here? Will it be the same for us?” Wang Yao asked them, his eyes wide.
(End of Chapter)