Hu Hao stood there, motionless. The staff officers also stood by, awaiting his next command. There wasn’t much left to do in the command center; the entire force had entered the counter-offensive phase.
“Report! Hao-ge, 89th Division Commander Li Jinghe is here!” a guard ran in from outside and announced to Hu Hao.
“Show him in!” Hu Hao said, walking further into the command center. Just as he did, he saw Li Jinghe stepping inside.
“Hao-ge!” Upon entering, Li Jinghe stood before Hu Hao and saluted.
Li Jinghe was a Major General, while Hu Hao was only a Colonel. Yet, Li Jinghe still saluted him. This was because Hu Hao knew how to fight and could win. Just moments ago outside, Li Jinghe had witnessed the brutal devastation on the defensive lines and understood how valiantly the soldiers had fought. Facing an assault from three Allied corps, Hu Hao had actually managed to hold the line.
Not only had he held it, but he was now launching a counter-offensive! To Li Jinghe, this was a profound shock, and his respect for Hu Hao deepened immensely.
“When will your troops be in position?” Hu Hao returned the salute and asked.
“Report to Hao-ge: my vanguard armored regiment has arrived. The rear units are arriving in succession. It should take about half an hour,” Li Jinghe replied.
“Good. Come here!” Hu Hao immediately called him over to the map.
“Have your troops deploy and arrive here… and here… and here. I’m giving you half an hour. In half an hour, our forces need to cross the river and fight. We’re going to wipe out those Allied forces. My troops will advance alongside yours. My men are all veterans; they’ll teach your recruits how to fight.
“Once the river crossing operation begins, your forces must fan out and push toward Santong County from these two directions. I want all the Allied forces herded into Santong County! My Division Chief of Staff, Li Jingsong, is currently on the opposite bank cutting off their retreat. As long as we drive them over…
“…once they’re funneled into Santong County, our artillery and tanks will charge in and slaughter them! The Allied forces have been fighting for over four hours; they are extremely fatigued. Suddenly facing such a catastrophic defeat, they definitely won’t be psychologically prepared. By charging in like this, we can shatter their morale in one fell swoop,” Hu Hao instructed Li Jinghe.
“Yes, sir! I will issue the orders immediately!” Li Jinghe took a phone from his orderly and began issuing commands to his regimental commanders.
“Call our regimental commanders. Order them: at exactly 1:00 AM, our forces, alongside our brothers from the 89th Division, will launch a coordinated counter-offensive across the river!” Hu Hao told Xiao Quan.
“Yes, sir!” Xiao Quan immediately picked up the phone to contact Wu Kexiao, Bai Ye, and Lu Guangsheng, ordering them to launch the river-crossing operation at exactly 1:00 AM to annihilate the Allied forces on the opposite bank.
“Sigh!” Hu Hao stood in front of the map and let out a heavy sigh.
“Order our soldiers to hurry up and transport our wounded into the city! Quickly! We didn’t have time to evacuate them earlier; use this lull to get them out!” Hu Hao instructed the staff officers.
“Yes, sir!” The staff officers immediately began calling the subordinate units.
Hu Hao walked back to his seat and sat down. He didn’t feel happy at all. He knew that while they might completely annihilate the Allied forces tonight, his own troops had suffered catastrophic casualties.
If he had been able to conscript more troops earlier, perhaps things wouldn’t have turned out this way. Facing such a massive Allied offensive, his forces had paid an agonizingly heavy price. Yet, the High Command had actually wanted to investigate him for expanding his forces! Right now, Hu Hao just wanted to curse someone out. If they gave him enough troops, he could launch a full-scale counter-offensive against the Allied forces and reclaim the lost territories!
“Boom! Boom! Boom!” The artillery bombardment continued to extend its reach. By now, the morale of the Allied forces had completely shattered. The only thought in the minds of the Allied soldiers was to run—to run far away from the bombardment zones!
The artillery shells rained down around them like a torrential downpour, as if they cost nothing, leaving the soldiers with nowhere to hide. Many Allied soldiers who weren’t even in the bombardment zones yet began fleeing toward Santong County in sheer panic!
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
“Damn it! Why is this happening?! Where did they get so many troops?! This is impossible! Where the hell did their troops come from?!” Hakes roared furiously.
“General Hakes, we must break out immediately! The Eastern Spirit tank units are about to encircle us! We need to use our remaining tanks to break out right now, otherwise, once their encirclement is complete, we’ll never get out!” Abusai advised Hakes.
“Break out?! We still have tens of thousands of troops! How are we supposed to break out?! Our men are still pinned down at the front lines! If we leave, what happens to those soldiers?!” Hakes demanded.
Abusai stood there in silence, but inwardly he thought: Your troops are pinned down at the front lines, but mine are already buried there! I don’t even have any troops left! The forces I had remaining…
…were mostly committed tonight. I thought we could finally breach the Eastern Spirit defenses, but I never expected such a disastrous turn of events.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!” The explosions were drawing closer and closer to them. They all knew this was the Eastern Spirit artillery extending its bombardment zone. With a bombardment like this, they couldn’t even begin to imagine how many of their troops were dying.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!” Right at that moment, explosions erupted from behind them once again.
“Damn it! The enemy tank units have arrived in the rear?!” Hakes immediately sprinted to the rear observation port. As soon as he looked out, he saw tanks deploying in the distance, currently firing upon Santong County.
Furthermore, those tanks had locked down the main exit routes from Santong County. This meant that their retreating forces could only fall back as far as Santong County. If they wanted to retreat further, their only option was to break out!
“Corps Commander Hakes! We must gather our remaining tank units and initiate a breakout immediately! Immediately!” Ren Kefu also shouted anxiously.
If they didn’t break out now, once the Eastern Spirit forces from the opposite bank charged over, they would be completely trapped in a highly confined area. By then, death would be their only option.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!” The Eastern Spirit tanks continued firing at key targets in Santong County, aiming to destroy the buildings and seal off the main roads for the Allied main force.
“Where is our artillery?! Where is our artillery?!” The frontline Allied soldiers had been bombed completely out of their fighting spirit. Right now, their only hope was for their own artillery to open fire and cover their retreat. Yet, even now, they hadn’t heard a single shot from their own guns.
“Hao-ge, the Allied forces are finished! Look at those explosion zones. With every blast, you can see the silhouettes of Allied soldiers being blown into the air. Their troops are incredibly densely packed right now!” Li Jinghe pointed toward the Allied positions and told Hu Hao.
Hu Hao nodded, then raised his wrist to check his watch. It was almost 1:00 AM.
“Are our troops ready?” Hu Hao asked Xiao Quan.
“They are ready! Our brothers are already in the armored vehicles. Just give the word, and our forces will move out immediately!” Xiao Quan confirmed.
“Like I said: we move out at exactly 1:00 AM!” Hu Hao nodded.
“Yes, sir!” Xiao Quan acknowledged.
Very quickly, 1:00 AM arrived.
“Brothers, river-crossing operation! Wipe out those Allied forces! Motherfucker, they’ve been suppressing us for days! Now it’s time to settle the score!” Sitting inside their armored vehicles, Wu Kexiao and the other commanders roared into their radios.
“Wipe them out! Avenge our fallen brothers!” Lu Guangsheng also shouted at the top of his lungs!
“Wipe them out!” The surviving soldiers roared in unison.
“Move out!” Lu Guangsheng, Wu Kexiao, and the regimental commanders of the 89th Division began issuing the command. The Eastern Spirit forces utilized the pontoon bridges previously built by the Allied forces to launch their river-crossing assault!
Within minutes, some of the Eastern Spirit units had crossed the river. They began pushing toward Santong County. Along the way, many surviving Allied soldiers saw the Eastern Spirit armored units and immediately tried to flee, only to be swiftly gunned down by heavy machine gun fire.
By this point, the Allied forces here had completely lost any cohesive command structure. Although they still had tanks and armored vehicles, they were all fighting independently. They failed to form any effective defensive line and posed no threat to the Eastern Spirit forces. The Eastern Spirit counter-offensive forces steadily compressed the enemy toward Santong County.
“Good! Excellent! To actually launch a counter-offensive—excellent!” Jiang Kai exclaimed excitedly in his command center.
He had originally been prepared to order a retreat, but he never expected Hu Hao to truly deliver a miracle. Not only had he held the positions, but moving forward, they would only have to face 11 Allied corps instead of 14! With Hu Hao’s forces holding strong, Jiang Kai was now confident they could hold out for two months. Now, it all depended on whether the troops in the other sectors could hold their lines.
“Commander, this is a massive victory! We must report this merit to His Majesty and let him know that Hu Hao is a general who truly knows how to fight! Look at the front lines—look at how valiantly Hu Hao and his troops fought! This is exactly the kind of general the Empire needs right now!” Sun Qinxue said to Jiang Kai.
“Mm. Once Hu Hao finishes this battle, we will send all this drone footage to His Majesty so he can see for himself!” Jiang Kai nodded in agreement.
(End of Chapter)