When Li Jinghe reported that the Allied forces barely had any troops left inside the city, Hu Hao immediately refused to believe it. He refused to believe the Allied forces would just leave the city empty. Hu Hao had an incredibly precise grasp of battlefield dynamics; he knew the enemy definitely had troops remaining—they were just hiding somewhere.
“Order your troops! Occupy the high ground immediately! Immediately! Also, keep a close watch on any places where troops could be hiding! Issue the orders right now!” Hu Hao roared at Li Jinghe.
“Go on!” Li Jingsong urged his cousin anxiously.
“Ah, yes, sir!” Li Jinghe snapped out of his daze and immediately began calling his frontline Regimental Commanders, ordering them to occupy the high ground and to keep a close watch on any potential hiding spots.
At first, the frontline commanders were reluctant to follow these orders, but once Li Jinghe mentioned they came from Hao-ge the Regimental Commanders immediately ordered their troops to disperse and seize the high ground, then keep watch on any potential hiding spots.
It was currently dusk; to launch an assault, they would need to fire illumination flares. Meanwhile, Hu Hao stood there, his brow deeply furrowed as he stared intently at the situation inside Santong County.
“Hao-ge, is something wrong?” Li Jingsong walked over and asked.
“It’s impossible that nothing is wrong! The Allied forces know they have no way out; there’s no way they won’t fight to the death! You just said the Allied resistance isn’t fierce. Think about it: does that seem normal to you?
“Right now, they are cornered beasts; they will fight desperately! It’s just that, for the Allied forces, the time to fight desperately hasn’t arrived yet!” Hu Hao said, his eyes fixed on the city ahead.
“Hasn’t arrived yet? Our troops have already pushed inside, and it’s an entire division!” Li Jingsong pointed out.
“Ask Bo Gang if he’s finished sweeping the battlefield yet! If he is, order him to get here immediately! Also, order our Air Cavalry to take off immediately and stand by to support Santong County! Our troops have already pushed inside; retreating now is impossible.
If the Allied forces launch a sudden counter-charge, our troops will be thrown into chaos! They can only dig in and hold their ground!” Hu Hao instructed Li Jingsong.
“Understood!” Li Jingsong immediately called for a communications officer to bring him a radio so he could contact the subordinate units.
Meanwhile, deep within the city, Abusai, Ren Kefu, and Hakes sat in an air-raid shelter. Gunfire and explosions raged incessantly outside, yet the three of them sat in eerie silence. Hakes checked his watch, then glanced outside, noticing it was already quite dark.
“Is it time to make our move? The Eastern Spirit forces have already pushed inside. Whether we succeed or fail, this is our last stand. In truth, even if we succeed, it’s meaningless. We’re just dragging Eastern Spirit soldiers down to hell with us!” Hakes said.
“We need to pave the way for our follow-up forces. We couldn’t defeat the 87th Division, so we can only hope the follow-up forces can. Besides, we haven’t won a single battle against this opponent. Let’s consider this a fight for our own dignity; we can’t just let them slaughter us without a fight. There are over 10,000 wounded soldiers here. Tell me, do you think the Eastern Spirit forces will spare them? Which of our soldiers doesn’t have the blood of Eastern Spirit civilians on their hands? Do you really think they’ll let us go?” Ren Kefu replied from his seat.
“Indeed. Right now, all we can do is fight to the death and inflict as much damage as possible on this Eastern Spirit 87th Division! Our Allied Headquarters just called; we can only rely on ourselves now. Reinforcements will not reach us anytime soon.
“Currently, troop levels are stretched thin everywhere else. Coupled with the fact that our opponent is a master tactician, it’s even more impossible for the follow-up forces to reinforce us now. We truly can only rely on ourselves. Ha! What else can we rely on? With the few troops we have left, how else can we fight?
“They’re essentially telling us that our only option is to wait for death. But dying in battle is the most honorable way to go. I never imagined that in just a few short days, my entire corps would be completely annihilated by them. Even now, I still can’t figure out exactly how my troops were wiped out!
“Our troops were hit by their counter-offensive at the most inexplicable moment and beaten to a pulp! Our three corps had 180,000 men! A full 180,000 men! Even if our opponent was an entire division—hell, even an entire corps—it’s impossible for us to have lost this quickly!
“And then there’s your Kabuguo 32nd Corps. Even now, we still don’t know exactly how they were completely annihilated! Tell me, just what kind of person is our opponent? I truly want to know who he is! Is he really just the descendant of a military aristocratic family, a playboy, as our nation’s intelligence claims?!” Abusai said, his voice laced with profound agony.
He had never imagined that, as a Corps Commander participating in the invasion of the Eastern Spirit Empire, he would ever face the day he died in battle. As a Corps Commander, he didn’t need to personally go to the front lines; he only needed to command from the rear. But even commanding from the rear had proven unsafe. Now, he was facing the final moments of his life.
“Sigh, what’s the point of talking about this now? Saying anything is useless. I just hope our nations and our generals can remain calm when they encounter this opponent in the future. They need to carefully analyze him and avoid acting rashly.
“My corps truly died an unjust death! We were clearly on the verge of breaking through the Eastern Spirit defensive line, but then came the counter-offensive! Motherfucker, they actually managed to launch a counter-offensive at the most critical moment?!”
Hakes cursed as well. The three of them no longer blamed each other; instead, they shared a sense of mutual misery. They were all Corps Commanders, yet they had failed so utterly and completely.
“Enough talking. Fire the signal flares. Let our hidden soldiers launch their final counter-attack! The Eastern Spirit forces should all be inside by now. Listen to the entrance of our air-raid shelter—the Eastern Spirit forces are launching a heavy assault! I estimate our guard unit at the entrance won’t be able to hold out much longer!” Ren Kefu cut them off, not wanting to continue the depressing conversation.
“Mm, fire the signal flares!” Abusai nodded in agreement.
“Go fire the signal flares. Order our soldiers to launch the final counter-offensive!” Hakes ordered his Chief of Staff.
“Yes, sir!” The Chief of Staff nodded solemnly, then turned and walked out. A few minutes later, several signal flares shot into the sky from within the air-raid shelter.
“Fuck!” The moment Hu Hao saw the signal flares, he knew trouble had arrived. Li Jingsong and the others, however, were still confused.
“Rat-a-tat-tat!”
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
Intense gunfire erupted throughout Santong County. Previously, the gunfire had been localized to a few specific areas, but now it was everywhere.
“I knew it! Bring me my weapons!” Hu Hao roared. A guard immediately brought Hu Hao’s rifle and backpack. Hu Hao quickly checked his ammunition, then turned to Li Jingsong:
“Order the soldiers: do not panic! Hold their ground and fight defensively! Just hold on until Bo Gang’s troops arrive!”
“Yes, sir!” Li Jingsong and Li Jinghe both nodded rapidly. Hearing the massive eruption of gunfire from within the city, even an idiot would know what was happening.
“Division Commander, phone!” a communications officer brought the radio to Li Jinghe.
“Hello?!”
“Hello, Division Commander! The Allied forces are pouring out of the sewers and the collapsed rubble! There are so many of them! Countless Allied soldiers are launching suicidal charges against us! They’re just rushing our troops with their weapons!” a Regimental Commander roared frantically over the radio.
“Can you hold them?! Can you hold the line?!” Li Jinghe shouted back.
“We can hold, but casualties are massive! We occupied the high ground, but there are simply too many Allied soldiers! They’re fighting without any regard for their lives! Our soldiers are struggling!” the Regimental Commander yelled.
“Hold the line! Reinforcements will be there soon!” Li Jinghe shouted. He then looked at Hu Hao!
“Order your armored regiment to move in! What are they waiting for?! Are your armored units just standing around playing games right now?!” Hu Hao roared at Li Jinghe.
“But what if those Allied soldiers try to break out? Wouldn’t they just run away?” Li Jinghe hesitated.
“Afraid of what?! This entire area is our territory! Where could they possibly run to?! Besides, do you think they’re idiots?! Inside the city, they have defensive fortifications and buildings to rely on for cover. If they break out, wouldn’t they just be asking to die?!” Hu Hao roared back.
Earlier, after assaulting the city center, Li Jinghe’s tank units had withdrawn because they hadn’t encountered any significant resistance.
“Ah, yes! I’ll order them to charge back in immediately!” Li Jinghe quickly grabbed the radio to call his Tank Regiment Commander. Meanwhile, Hu Hao, accompanied by a few guards and a communications officer, started running toward the city.
“Hao-ge! Hao-ge! Don’t go! What are you doing?!” Seeing Hu Hao actually heading toward the city, Li Jingsong immediately grabbed him.
“How am I supposed to know anything standing out here?! Besides, I want to see exactly what kind of state our opponent is in! I’m going in!” Hu Hao told Li Jingsong.
“You can’t, Hao-ge! You can’t go! It’s not like before; fighting is breaking out everywhere inside! And… and the troops fighting inside aren’t yours! If you go in, who are you going to command?!” Li Jingsong pleaded, pulling Hu Hao back and lowering his voice.
Hu Hao froze, realizing Li Jingsong was right. The troops fighting inside were all Li Jinghe’s men. Thinking of this, Hu Hao felt a wave of frustration. Although he had been placed in overall command of Li Jinghe’s forces, he could only directly command Li Jinghe himself; he had no idea if the subordinate officers and soldiers would actually listen to him!
(End of Chapter)