Colonel Sama couldn’t believe an entire Allied Regiment was actually surrounded. He immediately ordered the Division’s communication staff to re-establish contact with the Battalion Commanders in Daman City.
The moment the connection was made, the deafening roar of overlapping explosions and frantic, desperate screams for reinforcements blasted through the radio speakers.
Sama and Ilo exchanged a deeply unsettled look.
“How could the Eastern Spirit Army possibly have a force that size operating this far behind the riverline?” Sama asked, his voice tight.
“We can’t waste time wondering how; we have to move! If they’ve successfully encircled the 3rd Regiment, the attacking Imperial force must be larger than two full regiments!
Do we deploy the entire Division to relieve them, or do we leave a Regiment behind to hold Santong? My primary concern is that if we fail to break the siege in Daman City tonight, they will inevitably march on Santong tomorrow!” Ilo analyzed the strategic threat.
“We deploy the entire Division. All three remaining Regiments!” Sama decided immediately. “You’re right. If they hit Santong tomorrow, the urban combat will destroy the city. More importantly, we cannot risk the Imperial military base falling back into their hands!
If they destroy the Imperial munitions stockpiles we found there, the logistical loss for the coalition would be catastrophic! Securing those stockpiles was our primary objective; it alleviates a massive logistical burden for our home countries.
Move out! We annihilate this Eastern Spirit force! Contact the 3rd Regiment Commander and order them to hold the line at all costs! And order the Division headquarters staff to immediately relocate to the Imperial military base and fortify it!”
“Yes, sir!” The surviving staff officers snapped to attention.
“Come on, Ilo. Let’s mobilize our Regiments. We ride together!” Sama ordered.
Within minutes, the vast Allied motor pool in the western plaza of Santong County roared to life, and the massive armored column began its hurried march toward Daman City.
Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Daman City, the few surviving Imperial civilians who hadn’t been purged yet remained hidden in the ruins. But as the deafening roar of the Imperial tanks echoed through the streets, they cautiously peeked out from their cellars and shattered windows.
When they saw the Imperial crest emblazoned on the armor, tears of absolute joy and relief streamed down their faces. They fell to their knees and prayed with everything they had that the Imperial Army would slaughter the monsters occupying their city.
…
“Kill them! Tanks, load armor-piercing rounds! Aim for the load-bearing pillars and structural support beams! Bring the buildings down! Crush those bastards!” Hu Hao roared into the radio, watching the Allied troops desperately returning fire from the shattered dormitory windows.
“Understood! Load AP rounds!” Bo Gang bellowed the command to his gunners.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Imperial tanks immediately switched from high-explosive fragmentation shells to solid armor-piercing sabot rounds. The hyper-velocity kinetic penetrators punched straight through the flimsy cinder block walls, shattering the thick reinforced concrete pillars that supported the multi-story dormitories.
With their primary structural supports obliterated, the massive buildings began to groan and slowly collapse in on themselves.
“Holy shit! That is incredibly effective! Why didn’t we just use AP rounds from the start?! We wouldn’t have wasted so many HE shells!” Bo Gang cheered, watching an entire dormitory block fold inward, burying hundreds of Allied soldiers under thousands of tons of concrete and steel.
“Keep firing! Accelerate the collapse!” Hu Hao yelled.
“Hao-ge, what are your orders for the main body?!”
Ye Zifeng jogged up to the command APC, having just arrived with the rest of the 1st Regiment.
“Did you locate Liu Shuyi? He’s holding the outer perimeter to intercept any Allied patrols,” Hu Hao asked, looking down from the hatch.
“Yes, Hao-ge! We made contact. His men already neutralized the scattered patrols,” Ye Zifeng reported.
“Good. Get in the APC,” Hu Hao nodded, dropping back down into the vehicle. Ye Zifeng quickly followed him inside.
“Listen to me. The Allied Regiment trapped here has undoubtedly radioed for reinforcements. The closest Allied force is the Division currently stationed in Santong County. I estimate they will dispatch a relief force of at least two Regiments, heavily supported by armor.
I need you to immediately sweep your infantry companies. Find out who among them served as tank crewmen before the war—specifically drivers and gunners. Have them commandeer the Allied tanks parked in the plaza right now!
Once they’ve secured the armor, you will march your entire force back to this location,” Hu Hao pointed to a spot on the tactical map. “This small town we passed on the highway between Santong and Daman.
You will establish a massive ambush along that highway. Maintain absolute light and noise discipline. When the Allied relief column rolls through, your infantry will initiate the ambush! Heavy machine guns will sweep their APCs the moment their infantry dismounts, while your commandeered tanks hit their armor from the flanks. We are going to devour their reinforcements!”
“Two full Regiments?!” Ye Zifeng swallowed hard, staring at the map.
“Are you scared? Do you know exactly how many Allied troops were garrisoned in this city before we arrived?” Hu Hao asked pointedly.
“I don’t know the exact number, but… I assumed it was maybe a Battalion?” Ye Zifeng guessed.
“It was a full Regiment. And we just annihilated them with a single mechanized infantry Battalion and a single Tank Battalion. What the hell does it matter if they send two Regiments to reinforce?! We are still going to devour them!
Remember the plan: maintain absolute silence! No headlights! Wait until the main body of their column enters the kill zone! Have your infantry pre-aim their rocket launchers with armor-piercing warheads! The first volley must cripple the majority of their APCs! If we hit them while they’re strung out in a marching column, the shock and awe will shatter their cohesion, and the slaughter will be easy!” Hu Hao instructed fiercely.
“Understood, Hao-ge! I’ll execute the plan!” Ye Zifeng nodded, his confidence bolstered by Hu Hao’s absolute certainty.
“Go! Sort out your infantry! Find those former tankers and get those Allied vehicles moving immediately!” Hu Hao ordered as Ye Zifeng climbed out of the APC.
“Yes, Hao-ge!” Ye Zifeng sprinted back toward his men.
Hu Hao stood up through the hatch again, watching with grim satisfaction as another massive dormitory building slowly toppled sideways, throwing a massive cloud of dust into the night air.
He nodded to himself.
A few minutes later, roughly five hundred Imperial infantrymen sprinted across the campus under Ye Zifeng’s direction. They descended upon the massive Allied motor pool parked in the plaza. While the Allied tanks weren’t as technologically advanced as the Empire’s latest models, armor was armor, and a 120mm cannon was still a 120mm cannon.
Seeing the massive column of commandeered Allied tanks rumbling out of the city toward the ambush point, Hu Hao grabbed his radio handset.
“Bo Gang! Bo Gang! This is Hu Hao!”
“Hao-ge, what are your orders?!” Bo Gang responded instantly.
“Finish them off! I’m giving you exactly ten minutes to bring every single remaining building down! We have another operation tonight! Don’t worry about conserving your AP rounds! There’s a massive stockpile of Allied munitions in the motor pool; once you level the dorms, you can restock your magazines directly from their supply trucks!” Hu Hao ordered.
“Copy that! Ten minutes! We will level this entire campus!” Bo Gang roared into the net. Hu Hao handed the handset back to the radioman.
“Hao-ge… you truly are incredible,” the radioman whispered, staring at him in awe. “If the Imperial Generals had fought like this from the very beginning, we never would have lost so much territory.”
“Ha,” Hu Hao chuckled softly, choosing not to reply.
Exactly ten minutes later, the final dormitory building collapsed with a deafening roar, burying the last remnants of the Allied 3rd Regiment.
“Li Jiahang! Li Jiahang!” Hu Hao called over the net.
“Hao-ge! Standing by!” Li Jiahang replied eagerly.
“The campus is yours. Begin mop-up operations. Execute any survivors you find in the rubble. Once the campus is clear, hold your position! Do not exit the city until I give the order! Bo Gang and I are heading out to handle another objective,” Hu Hao commanded.
“Understood!” Li Jiahang acknowledged.
“Bo Gang! Bo Gang! Order your crews to re-arm immediately! You have ten minutes to restock your magazines from the Allied supply trucks! Move!” Hu Hao barked.
“Copy that!” Bo Gang immediately ordered his tank crews to swarm the abandoned Allied supply convoy parked in the plaza.
The Imperial tankers rapidly transferred the heavy 120mm AP and HE shells from the Allied trucks into their own autoloaders. Once the Tank Battalion was fully re-armed, Hu Hao and Bo Gang roared out of Daman City, racing down the highway toward the ambush point.
“Hao-ge, you are a tactical genius!” Bo Gang’s ecstatic voice crackled over the radio as they sped through the night.
“Ha! Don’t celebrate yet! Our mission tonight is far from over! I’m going to keep you boys very busy tonight!” Hu Hao laughed.
“Hao-ge, you just point us at a target, and we’ll blow it to hell! We follow your lead!” Bo Gang cheered.
The morale of the Imperial soldiers was absolutely soaring. Tonight’s operation had been incredibly smooth—so flawless it almost felt surreal. If any other Division Commander had been in charge, they likely wouldn’t have even possessed the courage to launch the assault in the first place. But Hu Hao not only had the courage, he had the absolute tactical brilliance to guarantee a flawless victory.
Before long, Hu Hao and Bo Gang’s armored column arrived at the designated ambush point: the small, abandoned town bisecting the highway.
“Ye Zifeng! Order your infantry to conceal themselves inside the civilian courtyards lining the main road! Get your heavy machine guns and anti-armor rocket teams onto the rooftops immediately!
Bo Gang! Order your tanks to breach the courtyard walls and conceal themselves inside the properties! Make sure the main guns do not protrude past the walls! Camouflage the barrels with foliage! Move! Once you are in position, cut the engines and maintain absolute darkness!” Hu Hao roared over the command net.
“Understood!”
“Copy that!”
Both commanders initiated the complex ambush deployment.
“Liu Shuyi! Do you copy?!” Hu Hao called the Recon Commander.
“Hao-ge, I’m here!” Liu Shuyi replied instantly.
“The moment the ambush is triggered and the firefight begins, you will lead your Recon Company on a wide flanking maneuver! I want you to bypass the ambush entirely and push back toward Santong County! I need to know exactly how many Allied troops are left garrisoning that city!
Hold your position for now. If you try to flank before the Allied relief column arrives, you’ll run straight into their vanguard! Wait for the shooting to start, then slip past them in the chaos. Do you understand?!” Hu Hao instructed carefully.
“Understood, Hao-ge! Consider it done!” Liu Shuyi confirmed.
“It really is a blessing to serve under Hao-ge,” a Recon Platoon Leader muttered to Liu Shuyi. “As reconnaissance elements, we are constantly exposed to the risk of unexpected meeting engagements. But Hao-ge anticipates everything; he mapped out our exact infiltration route to guarantee we don’t accidentally run into the enemy main body!”
“Exactly,” Liu Shuyi nodded proudly. “Hao-ge’s brilliance isn’t just about charging the front lines. Look at what we accomplished in Daman City tonight. We annihilated an entire Allied Regiment, and they didn’t even get the chance to touch their heavy weapons! We completely slaughtered them! If any other commander was in charge, they’d still be debating whether or not it was safe to cross the river!”
“Captain… you have no idea. When Hao-ge led us to clear those outer checkpoints… it was like watching a demon at work,” the Platoon Leader who had accompanied Hu Hao whispered, a note of genuine awe in his voice. “Three or four heavily armed sentries at a time… and Hao-ge slaughtered them in the blink of an eye. Those Allied bastards were dead before they even knew they were under attack. Hao-ge’s close-quarters lethality is terrifying!”
“Are you serious? He took out three or four sentries simultaneously before they could even react?!” Liu Shuyi asked, staring at his subordinate in disbelief.
“I swear to God! We watched him do it with our own eyes! Honestly, if our Recon Company had even a fraction of Hao-ge’s infiltration skills, our operational efficiency would skyrocket. We could neutralize enemy listening posts without breaking a sweat!” the Platoon Leader sighed wistfully, deeply envious of Hu Hao’s lethal prowess.