Up on the firing line, Hu Hao was simultaneously repelling the Allied amphibious assault and trying to protect Liang Wanyu. In truth, his “protection” mostly consisted of making her stand directly behind him. Because his battlefield instincts were so sharp, he could anticipate and avoid danger before it arrived.
The elite guard platoon assigned to Liang Wanyu wasn’t nearly as lucky. Several of the guards had already been killed or severely wounded. Liang Wanyu knew this, but she forced herself to endure it. She knew she had a duty to capture the incredible bravery of these soldiers on film so the citizens back home could see the reality of the war.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Hu Hao continued to hurl his grenades. On the opposite bank, Allied grenadiers fired their grenade launchers in retaliation, raining explosives down on the Imperial trenches. There was no avoiding it; this was a brutal, life-or-death meat grinder. Both sides used whatever weapons they had, relying on whatever was most lethal.
“Hao-ge, this sector is stable! Go check the other areas; we can hold them here!” a Regimental Commander roared over the gunfire.
Hu Hao and Liang Wanyu had already traversed through the defensive zones of several different regiments. The battle had been raging for almost 2 hours, yet the Allied forces showed no signs of stopping. They were relentlessly throwing bodies at the river.
“Motherfucker!” Hu Hao cursed, pulling Liang Wanyu down into a crouch.
His forehead was slick with sweat. It was the peak of summer, the Eastern Spirit Empire was located in a tropical zone, and Dingkang Province was inland—the heat and humidity were absolutely suffocating. Combined with the sheer physical exertion of hurling heavy grenades non-stop, Hu Hao was exhausted.
Seeing Hu Hao sitting there panting, sweat pouring down his face in rivers, Liang Wanyu pulled a pack of tissues from her pocket and offered one to him.
“No need. Waste of time,” Hu Hao waved her hand away.
“Alright, stick close. We’re heading back. A lot of reinforcements just moved up to this sector; they should be fine now,” Hu Hao said. He stood up, grabbed Liang Wanyu’s hand, and began leading her back down the trench line.
Caught up in the adrenaline of the moment, Liang Wanyu didn’t find the gesture inappropriate. From the very beginning of the assault, Hu Hao had been gripping her hand or pulling her gear to guide her every time they moved, so she naturally let him pull her along.
Hu Hao didn’t stop fighting on the way back. Whenever he spotted an Allied assault boat nearing the shore, a grenade immediately flew out to meet it.
It took them about 20 minutes to fight their way back to Hu Hao’s original designated sector. The concentration of Allied troops here had thinned out significantly, but they still refused to retreat. They were still pushing hard. Hu Hao shoved Liang Wanyu behind him, snatched a discarded rifle from the dirt, and resumed firing across the river.
“Hao-ge, are the Allies out of their damn minds?! Why are they still charging?!” a Battalion Commander yelled, sliding into position next to Hu Hao.
“Who cares if they’re crazy?! Just beat them back! We’ll talk after we kill them!” Hu Hao roared back.
He emptied his magazine, ducked down into the trench, and grabbed several discarded empty magazines from the mud. Having run out of loaded spares, he popped open a fresh ammo crate and began frantically thumbing loose rounds into the magazines himself.
“Have you guys always fought like this?” Liang Wanyu asked, watching him load the bullets with blinding speed.
“Like this? Today is a good day! The enemy failed to break our line today! Before this? Ha… we were chased like dogs. We were relentlessly beaten and bombarded. The brothers had no choice but to throw their lives on the line just to survive another hour.”
Hu Hao paused, looking up at her camera. “By the way, can that recording actually be broadcast?”
“Yes, it can!” Liang Wanyu nodded immediately.
“Good. Then I have something to say,” Hu Hao stared directly into the camera lens.
“To the Imperial Generals sitting safely in the rear: learn some actual damn military strategy! Stop screwing over your own soldiers! Do you know how many of our brothers died completely meaningless deaths?! They were thrown into the meat grinder and killed because of you incompetent ‘Young Master’ Generals and useless Straw Bags!
Motherfuckers! You lost several entire provinces in just 10 days! If you don’t know how to fight a war, step down and give your command to someone who does! Stop obsessing over your aristocratic family interests! If you pampered idiots actually stepped onto this battlefield, you’d be slaughtered in seconds—what a damn shame!” Hu Hao spat venomously at the lens.
“Are you insane?!” Liang Wanyu gasped, lowering the camera. She silently resolved to edit that entire rant out before submitting the tape.
“I’m not insane. Motherfucker, you have no idea how badly the brothers have been screwed over by those Generals! Whatever, I’m done talking,” Hu Hao grumbled. He slapped the freshly loaded magazine into his rifle, stood up, and resumed firing.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Liang Wanyu crouched in the dirt, staring up at Hu Hao’s back. She truly felt like she didn’t know the man standing in front of her anymore. The transformation was staggering.
“Hao-ge! Hao-ge, the enemy is falling back!” a soldier suddenly screamed.
Hu Hao saw it too.
“Brothers, SHOOT! Motherfucker, kill every last one you can!” Hu Hao roared.
The Imperial veterans didn’t need to be told twice. They unleashed a furious volley at the retreating Allied soldiers.
About 5 minutes later, there wasn’t a single living Allied soldier visible on the near bank. They were either hiding behind the far embankment or had retreated completely out of range.
Seeing the coast was clear, Hu Hao and the veterans finally slumped back against the trench walls, completely drained.
“Medics, tend to the wounded! Gather the brothers’ bodies and get them on the transport trucks to the rear!” Hu Hao ordered, his voice hoarse.
Liang Wanyu looked around. The trench was carpeted with bodies—a dense, horrifying layer of the dead. But looking across the river, the water and the far shore were also choked with Allied corpses. The Imperial soldiers had made them pay dearly for this assault.
“Phew.” Hu Hao sat in the mud, lit a cigarette, and took a long drag.
He watched Liang Wanyu filming the aftermath for a moment. Once he finished his cigarette, he stood up, grabbed his binoculars, and carefully scanned the opposite bank.
“Motherfuckers. They’ve completely withdrawn. There won’t be another attack this morning,” Hu Hao declared, lowering the binoculars.
“Hao-ge, they’re really stopping?” Several Battalion Commanders hurried over, eager for his assessment. Liang Wanyu also turned her camera toward him, curious to hear his tactical breakdown.
“They can’t fight anymore. The Allied coalition is out of ammo,” Hu Hao explained. “Think about it. Did you notice their artillery only fired one single barrage this morning? Meanwhile, our Imperial artillery hasn’t stopped pounding them all day. The Allied casualties today are absolutely astronomical compared to ours.
Where’s my phone? Who has my phone?!” Hu Hao suddenly shouted, looking around.
“Hao-ge, right here!” He Jizhong jogged over and handed him the satellite phone.
Hu Hao immediately dialed Zone Commander Jiang Kai. As he put the phone to his ear, he noticed Liang Wanyu pointing the camera directly at his face.
“Why are you filming me?” Hu Hao scowled, raising a hand to block the lens.
“Just let me film! Put your hand down!” Liang Wanyu swatted his hand away.
“Commander? It’s Hu Hao. The Allied forces have retreated,” Hu Hao said the moment Jiang Kai answered. “Commander, do we have an accurate estimate of how many troops they have left over there?”
“…”
“Not many? You can’t confirm? Did they receive any reinforcements this morning?” Hu Hao pressed.
“…”
“None, right? They started with 8 corps. Between yesterday and today, their total casualties must exceed 300,000 men. That means they have less than 200,000 combat-effective troops remaining. Hell, it might be less than 150,000. Commander, are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Hu Hao’s voice grew urgent.
“…”
“ATTACK! We launch a massive counter-offensive right now and devour their remaining 8 corps! If we wipe them out here, the crisis on this front is completely resolved! The next time the Allied coalition tries to push, they’ll think twice before chasing our army this aggressively!
If we don’t hit them back and make it hurt, motherfucker, they’re just going to keep coming! Commander, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! The Allied commanders will never expect us to counter-attack! After getting chased and beaten for days, if I were in command, I would have wiped this pursuing vanguard off the map by now!
Commander, do you still have operational authority?! If you do, order the assault and annihilate them!” Hu Hao roared into the phone.
His blood was boiling. Previously, he hadn’t wanted to fight. In fact, almost no one in the Imperial Army had wanted to fight this disastrous war. But now, it was unavoidable. The General Mobilization Order had been issued; there was no running away anymore.
The mindset of the veterans had fundamentally shifted. They had seen hundreds of thousands of raw conscripts slaughtered in the mud. They knew they had to fight to the death. But they wanted to fight under a commander who actually knew how to win, not just die meaninglessly under incompetent leadership.
“…”
“No?! Why the hell not?! Commander, think about this! If we don’t seize the initiative and attack now, within 3 days the Allied forces will resupply and launch another massive assault on this exact location! We’ll be dragged right back into a war of attrition!” Hu Hao yelled, furious at Jiang Kai’s refusal.
“…”
“I’m telling you, Commander, if we don’t take this opportunity to break them, we’re just going to be forced into another retreat! When does the retreating end?!” Hu Hao demanded.
“…”
“Fine! Don’t attack! Motherfucker, you don’t have a single ounce of courage! What kind of bullshit Commander are you?!” Hu Hao exploded, cursing out the highest-ranking officer in the Combat Zone.
Liang Wanyu’s jaw dropped. She stared at Hu Hao in absolute shock, terrified by his sheer audacity. He was screaming at a full General without a shred of fear.
“Motherfucker! Useless trash!” Hu Hao cursed viciously, slamming the satellite phone down.
“Let it go, Hao-ge,” a nearby Battalion Commander sighed, patting his shoulder. “We told you earlier: the Imperial Generals are nothing but straw bags. You should have believed us.”
“It was the perfect opportunity! Do you guys understand that?!” Hu Hao vented to the surrounding officers. “As long as we maintain air superiority, we could absolutely crush them! Even if they fall back and force us into urban combat, we’d win! They have no ammunition left! Wiping them out right now would take minutes!”
“Take a break, Hao-ge. Don’t stress yourself out over it,” Zhao Haibin said, walking over and handing him a bottle of water. “If you were the Zone Commander, the brothers wouldn’t have had to retreat this far, and we wouldn’t have lost so many men. Drink some water.”
Hu Hao took the bottle. He noticed Liang Wanyu staring at him with wide, idolizing eyes.
“Here,” Hu Hao tossed the bottle to Liang Wanyu, then turned back to Zhao Haibin. “Grab me another one.”