Hakes simply refused to retreat; he wanted to hold out right here.
“What did you say?! Defend this place?! This is just a small county town, it barely has any air-raid shelters! You want us to hold here? Tell me, once the Eastern Spirit forces unleash their bombardment, where are our soldiers supposed to hide?!
“Furthermore, the reinforcements you mentioned are still over 300 kilometers away! Even if they set out right now, they won’t arrive until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest! Do you honestly think the Eastern Spirit forces will let us hold out until tomorrow afternoon?!” Abusai yelled at Hakes, profoundly dissatisfied.
“Let me tell you, it’s impossible for us to hold out until tomorrow afternoon! Our opponent is not an idiot; they won’t just sit there and let us hold this position while our reinforcements arrive! They will undoubtedly annihilate us entirely before our reinforcements get here!
“General Hakes, I beg you to calm down and think clearly! We cannot possibly hold out that long! The opponent in front of us is not one of those young master generals we encountered elsewhere!” Ren Kefu also yelled at Hakes.
He hadn’t wanted to clash with Hakes initially. He didn’t have many troops left and had no desire to fight for control.
But now that Hakes insisted on holding this position, Ren Kefu was furious. If they stayed, Ren Kefu firmly believed their opponent would completely annihilate their forces right here. Then, his 7th Corps wouldn’t have a single soul left—not even the veterans or the wounded. Therefore, he resolutely opposed this idea.
“I said, we must hold out here! I believe my troops can hold out until tomorrow afternoon, perhaps even tomorrow night! The Eastern Spirit forces do not have such a resolute will to fight! They’ve spent their lives in a wealthy nation; they don’t dare put their lives on the line!” Hakes stood there and shouted back at the two of them.
“Don’t dare put their lives on the line?! When we attacked their positions today, what do you call what they were doing if not putting their lives on the line?! We threw nearly 80,000 men at their defensive line of barely 20,000! We fought for four hours, they suffered massive casualties, yet we still didn’t see them retreat! And you’re telling me they lack the will to fight?! Are you blind?!
“Can’t you think of a better excuse to persuade us? Isn’t it just because the arriving reinforcements are also from your Kabuguo?! You want them to arrive here, annihilate the Eastern Spirit defenders, and take control of Late City for Kabuguo, don’t you?! Do you think we can’t see through your scheme?!” Abusai sneered as he yelled at Hakes.
“I am also acting in the interest of our Allied forces! As long as we break through here, the entire Eastern Spirit defensive line will collapse! Their troops will have no choice but to retreat! Isn’t that highly beneficial for our entire Allied army?!” Hakes immediately shot back.
He had indeed received a call from the Kabuguo Commander, ordering him to hold his ground with his troops. As long as he held out for a dozen hours or so, the Kabuguo reinforcements would arrive.
“Hmph, beneficial?! Do you think our opponent is an idiot?! Do you think they don’t know we have reinforcements coming?! Even if we aren’t completely annihilated by then, the Eastern Spirit forces can simply fall back to their defensive lines. They have reinforcements arriving too! Do you honestly believe your Kabuguo forces can breach their defensive lines with just a single corps?!
“Furthermore, what if the Eastern Spirit forces that attacked our artillery positions also fall back to their defensive line? Tell me, can your single corps take them down?! Stop dreaming! We cannot hold this place! We must break out immediately! We break out to the east; we have friendly forces over there!” Ren Kefu declared.
Hearing this, Abusai shot Ren Kefu a glance. He knew perfectly well that the forces to the east belonged to Limaguo’s 11th Corps. However, he didn’t want to expose that right now; the priority was forcing Hakes to order a breakout.
“No! We must hold our ground here! I truly never expected you two to actually fear the Eastern Spirit forces!” Seeing them insist on breaking out, Hakes immediately began mocking them.
“Hmph, using such tactics on us is useless! The Eastern Spirit forces might have useless generals, but their soldiers are still well-trained! You just underestimated them yourself, and you’ve already tasted the consequences! You’re still underestimating the Eastern Spirit forces?! That’s just asking to die!” Abusai roared.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!” The explosions in the distance continued to rage while the three commanders argued endlessly.
After arguing for several minutes, Abusai finally snapped and cursed directly at Hakes: “Fuck you! If my troops are completely annihilated here, your Kabuguo must give our Mara Empire an explanation! You stubbornly cling to your delusions, thinking only of the profits in Late City! If our troops are annihilated, I will have the Mara Empire Air Force bomb Late City to rubble!”
Having delivered his ultimatum, Abusai immediately stormed out. He needed to be with his troops and figure out a plan. Since Hakes refused to order a breakout, he had to set up defenses. He couldn’t just let the Eastern Spirit forces annihilate them all.
“Our Limaguo will also demand an explanation from you! Our opponent is clearly incredibly formidable. Even now, we don’t know where the forces that attacked our artillery positions came from, yet you actually dare say we should hold our ground here! Damn you!” Ren Kefu finished his piece and stormed out as well!
“Corps Commander, is it really wise for us to do this? If our troops are completely annihilated, it will definitely incur the wrath of their two nations toward our own!” the Chief of Staff warned Hakes from behind.
“Hmph, what wrath? As long as we hold our ground and our reinforcements break through the Eastern Spirit defenses and enter Late City, there won’t be any problems! Do you think they’re really worried about being annihilated? They’re worried that if they suffer massive casualties in the defensive battle, they’ll secure far fewer benefits once we take Late City! That’s why they’re so anxious!” Hakes sneered.
“That makes sense!” The Chief of Staff nodded in agreement.
“Order our troops that have already entered the city to establish defensive positions immediately! We’re going to fight the Eastern Spirit forces in the streets! Hmph, holding out for 10 hours won’t be a problem for our troops!” Hakes ordered his Chief of Staff.
“Yes, sir! The orders have already been issued. Our troops are fanning out to various locations within the city,” the Chief of Staff confirmed with a nod.
“Good. They were right about one thing: our opponent is no simpleton. To be able to turn the tables in a situation like this… he is a master of command. I never expected the Eastern Spirit Empire to possess a general like him!” Hakes said as he walked toward the observation port.
The moment he reached the observation port, he was immediately consumed by fury.
In the distance, he saw the Eastern Spirit armored units ruthlessly hunting down his slower retreating troops. Not only was artillery bombarding them, but the armored vehicles and tanks on the ground were launching a slaughter-like assault on his men.
“Damn it! How many of our troops have made it inside the city?!” Hakes spun around furiously and yelled at his Chief of Staff.
“We don’t know. Our troops are entering the city from all directions, so there’s no way to get an accurate count right now,” the Chief of Staff shook his head.
However, when the Chief of Staff looked out at the distant situation, a dreadful feeling washed over him as well. In the distance, massive numbers of their troops were still exposed. Artillery shells were exploding right next to them; a single blast would send several soldiers flying. And right behind the retreating soldiers, the Eastern Spirit ground forces had actually caught up!
“Damn it! This is bad! This is really bad! The Eastern Spirit forces actually crossed the river! How did they cross the river?!” Hakes stared at his Chief of Staff in absolute shock.
“Well… could they… could they be using the pontoon bridges we built to counterattack?! That’s impossible, right? They wouldn’t have calculated even that, would they?” The Chief of Staff could scarcely believe his own thought.
“Damn it! We’ve been played!” Hearing this, Hakes instantly knew his Chief of Staff’s terrifying guess was true. The Chief of Staff hadn’t fully processed it yet and just stared blankly at Hakes.
“They calculated this all along! They waited until we built enough pontoon bridges, and then they launched their artillery barrage! They specifically wanted us to build the bridges for them to save time! They also wanted to bait us into committing a massive force to the offensive, so their artillery could wipe out a massive number of our soldiers in one fell swoop! Damn it! It was all calculated! Every single bit of it was calculated!” Hakes roared furiously.
He hadn’t realized this earlier. He had assumed the Eastern Spirit response was solely an artillery barrage and that they hadn’t sent ground forces in pursuit. Who would have thought that trailing behind the bombardment zones, the Eastern Spirit ground forces had actually launched a river-crossing assault?!
“Damn it! What do we do now?!” The Chief of Staff finally understood the severity of the situation.
“We probably haven’t gotten many troops back. Our corps committed over 40,000 men to the front lines, and we had a massive number of artillerymen in the rear! Now, they’ve all been crushed by the Eastern Spirit forces!” Hakes said, his face draining of color.
He had previously thought he could rely on his remaining troops to hold this position. But the true number of troops that actually made it back to Santong County might only be around 10,000. Combined with the reserves he had held back, they might have 20,000 men, definitely less than 30,000. Meanwhile, the Eastern Spirit forces encircling them numbered roughly the same. And the Eastern Spirit forces had artillery! Hakes truly didn’t know if he could hold out anymore.
“Damn it! Our frontline infantry is being hunted down by the Eastern Spirit forces!” Abusai, who had just left, suddenly burst back into the room, shouting at the top of his lungs.
“I know!” Hakes replied, his voice lacking its previous confidence.
“Then what are you waiting for?! Break out! Order the breakout! Staying here is just waiting to die!” Abusai roared at Hakes.
(End of Chapter)