Hu Hao and his squad drove their scavenged civilian vehicles northward at top speed. They didn’t dare slow down; if the enemy launched a pursuit, they could easily be intercepted. Speed was their only armor.
After driving for about an hour with no sign of enemy pursuit, Hu Hao finally let out a sigh of relief. Huan Xingtao and his men had actually managed to hotwire a civilian city bus. Hu Hao sat near the front, staring out the window at the passing landscape.
In the distance, the lights of several other cities still glowed brightly. The civilians living there likely had no idea that their homes would soon become occupied territory. What would their lives look like from tomorrow on? No one knew.
Thinking about this, Hu Hao felt a nameless, burning resentment toward the Empire’s entire military command structure. He resented them for abandoning these citizens. It wasn’t that the Empire’s military lacked strength, nor was it that the soldiers lacked the courage to fight and die. The tragedy was that the entire command hierarchy was saturated with incompetent, aristocratic “straw bags”—pampered “Young Master” Generals who had no business leading men into war.
“Hao-ge, are we really going to be okay this time?” He Jizhong asked, looking at Hu Hao.
“I don’t know for certain, but it shouldn’t be a major issue. We’re just small fish. The enemy won’t fixate on us. Their eyes are on the main force the Zone Commander is leading. Right now, our escape route is completely different from the main army’s designated path of retreat, so we should be fine,” Hu Hao replied, shaking his head but still offering reassurance.
“That’s good. We only feel secure when we’re following you, Hao-ge. When we follow them, we feel like dead men walking. They would abandon us without a second thought; to them, we’re worth less than dogs,” He Jizhong nodded grimly.
“Ha!” Hu Hao let out a cold laugh and didn’t reply.
The bus continued its journey north, followed by a massive convoy of scavenged civilian cars and trucks carrying the remnants of the 27th and 28th Armies. They had completely abandoned their armored personnel carriers.
They couldn’t use the armor because they knew they wouldn’t reach Dingkang Province before dawn. If the enemy air force could break through the Empire’s air defenses at night, they would undoubtedly rule the skies during the day. Military armor on the open road would be an irresistible target for bombers, so they had no choice but to blend in with civilian traffic.
Meanwhile, roughly two hours after the retreat began, the Allied air force executed their planned strike against Jiang Kai’s main column. However, the Eastern Spirit Empire was not unprepared. Forewarned by Hu Hao’s analysis, the Empire had scrambled two full fighter divisions, supported by other air assets, to brutally intercept the incoming Allied transport planes.
The Allied commanders were caught completely off guard. They had assumed their airdrop would face minimal resistance, never expecting the Eastern Spirit forces to have perfectly anticipated their exact strategy!
As the Eastern Spirit fighters tore into the formations, the Allied transport planes found themselves trapped. Retreating was impossible without breaking formation and being picked off, but holding course meant flying into a meat grinder. Their only option was to open their doors and force the paratroopers to jump early, straight into the chaos.
The moment the paratroopers left the planes, the Empire’s mobile anti-air units—which Jiang Kai had moved to the very front of the column—opened fire. Searchlights locked onto the descending Allied soldiers, and heavy anti-aircraft machine guns shredded them in mid-air.
Hu Hao knew nothing of this, nor was it his concern. His convoy drove through the night in complete safety, encountering zero resistance.
By the next morning, Hu Hao’s convoy had reached the heartland of Tianxiang Province. They didn’t dare stop to rest; they kept pushing rapidly northward toward Dingkang Province.
High above them, massive dogfights were breaking out as the air forces clashed again. However, the fighters paid no attention to Hu Hao’s convoy. From the air, the sprawling line of buses, sedans, and delivery trucks simply looked like a column of fleeing civilian refugees.
For Zone Commander Jiang Kai, however, the situation had rapidly deteriorated into a nightmare.
His main force was only a few hours away from reaching the safety of Dingkang Province. But the Allied forces, enraged by the ambush of their airdrop the previous night, retaliated with overwhelming force.
That morning, the Allied coalition launched over five hundred fighters escorting more than a hundred heavy bombers in a massive, concentrated push to break through the airspace directly above Jiang Kai’s line of march.
The Eastern Spirit air force, failing to anticipate such a massive daytime surge, could not hold the line. The Allied bombers broke through and unleashed a devastating bombardment on the retreating columns. The casualties were catastrophic.
Hu Hao and his men, driving safely in their civilian vehicles far from the main route, were completely oblivious to the slaughter.
Jiang Kai had hoped that after enduring the horrific bombing run, the worst was over. He was wrong. A second wave soon appeared—this time consisting of over four hundred fighters escorting three hundred transport planes. Having broken through the Empire’s air defenses, the transports flew directly ahead of the retreating columns and began a massive daytime airdrop.
In a single operation, the Allies dropped three full airborne divisions less than 150 kilometers from the Dingkang Province border, perfectly severing Jiang Kai’s path of retreat.
The moment the Allied paratroopers hit the ground, they moved with ruthless efficiency. They seized every critical chokepoint, blew up every bridge along the route, and established fortified defensive lines on the opposite banks of the rivers.
“Order the forces in Dingkang Province to reinforce us immediately! We cannot attack the enemy across the rivers—they’ve blown the bridges! If we want to assault their positions, we need to construct pontoon bridges, but their artillery won’t give us the chance. The Allied air force has destroyed every bridge within a fifty-kilometer radius on both our left and right flanks!
Grand Marshal, I urgently request that you order the Central Combat Zone to deploy forces southward immediately to crush these airborne divisions from the rear!” Jiang Kai yelled into the satellite phone, currently sheltering in a requisitioned civilian farmhouse.
“I have already issued the orders,” the Grand Marshal replied grimly. “However, the Central Combat Zone reports that their units are currently digging into the new defensive line. It will take them approximately seven hours to assemble a strike force and reach your position.
Furthermore, they can only spare three divisions for the counter-attack. The forces currently in Dingkang Province only consist of a single vanguard corps. The remaining two corps will not arrive for another twenty-four hours, and that vanguard corps must leave at least one division behind to man the defensive trenches.”
“Tell them to hurry! The enemy bombers are carpet-bombing our positions as we speak. Our troops have nowhere to hide in the open; there are no major cities nearby for cover!
And if we try to seek shelter in the nearby towns, the civilian casualties will be astronomical. The people here have no idea the enemy has pushed this far; they haven’t evacuated yet. Grand Marshal, please order them to move faster! I will continue attempting to organize a breakout from this side,” Jiang Kai pleaded desperately.
“I will press them. But you must find a way to break out as quickly as possible. According to our reconnaissance flights, the Allied armored pursuit force—consisting of three full corps—is less than twenty hours away from your rear guard. You must break through the airborne blockade within fifteen hours, or your entire army will be annihilated,” the Grand Marshal warned.
“Understood!” Jiang Kai shouted before slamming the phone down.
“FUCK!” Jiang Kai roared in fury. They had been so close to a successful retreat. But the Allied commanders were absolutely determined to devour his army. Jiang Kai had wiped out two of their airborne divisions last night, so today, they simply dropped three more in broad daylight.
Worse, the relentless Allied bombing made it impossible for Jiang Kai to even assemble his troops for a coordinated breakout attempt, let alone actually execute one.
“Commander, every major bridge within fifty kilometers is gone. And even if we try to reroute and march toward bridges further out, the enemy bombers are faster than us; they’ll just blow those bridges before we get there. Commander, what do we do?” Chief of Staff Sun Qinxue asked, his face pale with panic.
“What do we do?! How the hell should I know what to do?! I can’t even gather my men to form an attack line! What else is there to do?!” Jiang Kai raged.
He checked his watch. It was 9:00 AM. Based on High Command’s timeline, they had to break through the paratroopers by 1:00 AM tomorrow, or they would be caught between the anvil of the blockade and the hammer of the armored pursuit.
“What are we going to do…?” Sun Qinxue muttered, seeing Jiang Kai’s fury and realizing the sheer hopelessness of the situation. Their only real option was to wait for the Central Combat Zone reinforcements from Dingkang Province to attack the paratroopers from behind. But how were they supposed to survive for the next six hours under this aerial bombardment?
Meanwhile, on the civilian bus far away from the carnage, Zhao Haibin handed a ringing satellite phone to Hu Hao. “Hao-ge! Hao-ge! The Division Commander is on the line for you!”
“What does he want?” Hu Hao asked, taking the phone.
“Hello? This is Hu Hao. What’s up?”
“Heh heh! I just got the news this morning! Last night, the Allied forces actually tried an airdrop! But our Commander had ordered the air force to lay an ambush, and our mobile anti-air units tore them to pieces on the ground. We completely wiped out two entire Allied airborne divisions! My friend, your merit for this prediction is astronomical!” Li Jingsong laughed enthusiastically over the line.
“Your merit isn’t exactly small either, but wait—hold on a second!” Hu Hao interrupted him abruptly.
“What is it?” Li Jingsong asked, confused.
“I need to ask you: when exactly did you get this news? When did the enemy attack last night, and why the hell are you only finding out about it this morning?” Hu Hao demanded, his brow furrowing deeply.
“Oh, well… I asked a friend of mine this morning. Another General. He said the ambush happened around 10:00 PM last night. Why? Is there a problem?” Li Jingsong replied.
“Dammit, there’s a massive problem! The Commander’s main forces are almost certainly under heavy attack again today. Based on a standard march pace, our troops should either be arriving in Dingkang Province right now, or they are stalled just short of the border. Call them back! Ask them if they’re currently under air attack!” Hu Hao ordered sharply.
“Ah? Under attack again? Impossible. They failed last night. Why would the Allies try another airdrop during the day?” Li Jingsong asked, skeptical.
“They will! Make the damn call and ask!” Hu Hao insisted.
“Alright, alright!” Li Jingsong agreed, preparing to hang up.
“Wait! Remember this: do not tell them where we are! Absolutely do not give them our location! Do you understand me?!” Hu Hao shouted into the receiver.
“Ah? Uh… alright, I got it,” Li Jingsong replied, bewildered by the instruction, but agreeing nonetheless.