“Dismount! Everyone, dismount!” Surviving Allied officers screamed frantically from the burning column.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
In Hu Hao’s mechanized infantry regiment, every single ten-man squad was equipped with an anti-armor rocket launcher. Across the entire regiment, that meant nearly 200 rocket launchers raining fire simultaneously. Furthermore, the ambush was anchored by Bo Gang’s 40 main battle tanks, augmented by the 70 commandeered Allied tanks currently manned by Ye Zifeng’s former tank crews.
With over a hundred tanks and two hundred rockets firing from a fully concealed, elevated enfilade, the results were apocalyptic.
Even though Ye Zifeng’s men hadn’t driven a tank in years, at this point-blank range, they didn’t even need to aim. The first volley alone instantly annihilated nearly half of the Allied armored column. The surviving vehicles were trapped. With burning wrecks completely blocking the road ahead and behind them, the only way to move was to ram their way out. But the moment an Allied APC attempted to smash through the wreckage, it was immediately targeted and obliterated by another rocket or tank shell.
“Damn it! How is this possible?! How did they set an ambush here?!” Colonel Sama stared in absolute horror from his command vehicle near the rear of the column.
He watched helplessly as his APCs were ripped apart. Most of his infantry didn’t even have time to unbuckle their harnesses before they were incinerated inside the armored troop compartments. In a single, devastating minute, his three Regiments had lost over half their combat effectiveness.
“Dismount! Colonel, get out of the vehicle! Run!” his driver screamed, popping the hatch.
BOOM!
The driver barely finished the sentence before a rocket slammed into the APC’s engine block. The command vehicle violently exploded, engulfing the interior in a raging inferno. Very few men survived an internal detonation like that; those who did were either burned alive, roasted by the superheated metal, or suffocated as the fire consumed all the oxygen.
Rat-tat-tat! Rat-tat-tat!
From the windows of the civilian houses lining the street, Imperial heavy machine guns and assault rifles opened up on the surviving Allied soldiers who had managed to scramble out of their vehicles.
The Allied troops were completely disoriented. Deafened by the explosions and blinded by the flames, they had no idea where the fire was coming from or where to find cover. Before they could even raise their rifles to return fire, they were cut down. The Imperial infantry had specifically pre-sighted the rear exit ramps of the APCs; the moment an Allied soldier’s boots hit the pavement, they caught a bullet.
Fweeeee—POP!
Several Imperial soldiers fired illumination flares high into the night sky. The brilliant, glaring light washed over the kill zone, casting stark shadows and clearly outlining every single surviving Allied soldier desperately trying to hide behind the burning wreckage.
“KILL THEM ALL!” Imperial officers roared from the rooftops, their blood boiling with adrenaline.
They had never fought a battle like this in their entire lives. Most of these veterans had survived the agonizing, humiliating retreat from the coastal provinces, where they had been relentlessly pounded by Allied artillery and chased like dogs. To suddenly turn the tables and execute a flawless ambush that annihilated three elite Allied Regiments in minutes… it felt like a dream. The previous weeks of slaughter had been an endless nightmare, but tonight was a glorious, bloody vindication.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Hu Hao fired his rifle from the rooftop, methodically picking off Allied soldiers attempting to break out of the kill zone.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Imperial rocket teams relentlessly pounded the surviving vehicles. Barely five minutes into the ambush, all organized Allied resistance had completely evaporated. The vast majority of the Allied soldiers died without ever firing a single shot, completely unaware of how they had walked into such a devastating trap.
“Retreat! Fall back!” surviving Allied officers screamed. But the moment they moved, they were either blown apart by a detonating APC or cut down by the relentless Imperial crossfire. The street was a literal shooting gallery. Anyone who tried to run died instantly.
“Brothers, move out! There’s barely anyone left!”
At the edges of the town, where the Allied vanguard and rearguard tanks had been reduced to burning hulks, Imperial platoon leaders ordered their men out of the houses. The infantry surged into the street, rapidly compressing the kill zone and hunting down the few remaining survivors.
“Tank commanders, listen up! If your immediate sector is clear of enemy armor, break cover and advance! Hunt down any surviving Allied vehicles! Machine gunners, keep your eyes peeled for anti-armor infantry; protect your tanks!” Bo Gang roared excitedly over the net.
“Brothers! Clean them up!”
With the enemy armor completely neutralized, there was no longer any need for the Imperial infantry to remain elevated. They poured out into the streets, sweeping the burning wreckage and executing any Allied soldiers still breathing.
“KILL!” The Imperial soldiers roared, their morale soaring to unprecedented heights.
Hu Hao stopped firing. He lowered his rifle and smiled softly. The ambush had succeeded beyond his wildest expectations. He had anticipated a brutal firefight lasting several hours, but the Allied forces had been effectively annihilated in less than ten minutes. The sheer density of their marching column combined with the devastating shock of the first volley had completely shattered them.
“Hao-ge! Hao-ge!” Ye Zifeng’s voice crackled over the satellite phone.
“Haha! Order the infantry to sweep the street! Leave no survivors!” Hu Hao laughed, answering the call.
“Hao-ge, this is incredible! This is what real war feels like! Hundreds of vehicles and three full Regiments… and we just completely devoured them! If we told anyone back at Zone Command about this, they wouldn’t believe us! Hao-ge, I genuinely feel like I’m dreaming!” Ye Zifeng yelled excitedly.
“Haha! I feel like I’m dreaming too! But honestly, their sheer arrogance is what killed them. Motherfucker, to march through an uncleared urban zone in a dense column like that… they practically dug their own graves!” Hu Hao laughed. He truly hadn’t expected three entire Regiments to fold so quickly.
“Hao-ge, you are a tactical god! The brothers worship you! But Hao-ge, you absolutely have to teach us how to fight like this! This is how the Imperial Army should be fighting!” Ye Zifeng pleaded.
“Mmh. Just finish cleaning up the stragglers first,” Hu Hao smiled. He fully intended to train his officers; if he didn’t, he would eventually exhaust himself trying to micromanage every single battle.
“Understood! I’ll pass the order down now! There aren’t many left anyway; most of them died trapped inside their APCs!” Ye Zifeng reported.
“Good. No prisoners. I don’t care what intelligence value they might have. Kill them all,” Hu Hao ordered coldly.
“Absolutely! I wouldn’t dream of taking those animals alive! Motherfuckers!” Ye Zifeng cursed viciously.
The small town they had used for the ambush was completely devoid of civilian life. Judging by the dried bloodstains pooling in the alleys and the massive, freshly dug mounds of earth the Imperial soldiers had discovered in a vacant lot behind the town, the Allied forces had massacred the entire population. The town had housed at least ten thousand civilians; they were all dead. The soldiers didn’t need to say a word to each other; they all knew exactly who had dug those graves.
“I surrender! Please, I surrender!” several wounded Allied soldiers screamed, holding their hands up as the Imperial infantry approached.
The Imperial veterans didn’t speak their language, but even if they did, they would have pretended they hadn’t heard. They simply raised their rifles and executed the surrendering soldiers on the spot. There would be no mercy tonight.
Hu Hao stood on the roof, silently watching his men sweep the carnage below.
“Hao-ge!”
“Hao-ge!”
Ye Zifeng and Bo Gang climbed onto the roof, grinning from ear to ear.
“You’re here,” Hu Hao turned around, a smile returning to his face.
“Heh heh. Hao-ge, didn’t you mention earlier that we were going to hit the military base next? When do we move out? We’re ready to roll right now!” Ye Zifeng asked eagerly.
“Mmh. Actually, Ye Zifeng, I want you to formally transfer command of all the men currently operating the commandeered Allied tanks over to Bo Gang,” Hu Hao suddenly ordered.
“Ah? But those are my infantrymen!” Ye Zifeng protested immediately.
“I know. Transfer them to Bo Gang. I will immediately allocate fresh reinforcements from our reserve pool to replace your missing infantry the moment we return to Bopa City. You won’t lose a single man on paper,” Hu Hao promised with a smile.
“Alright. I’m an infantry commander anyway; I honestly wouldn’t know how to tactically deploy a massive armor formation. Bo Gang, you lucky bastard, you just scored big!” Ye Zifeng nodded, quickly realizing his own limitations and congratulating his friend.
“Haha! Hao-ge, you aren’t just giving me temporary command of these tanks for tonight, are you?” Bo Gang asked, his eyes gleaming with hope.
“Whether it’s temporary or permanent depends entirely on your performance tonight,” Hu Hao said, his tone turning serious. “The Allied Division that occupied Santong County arrived with five Regiments. We annihilated one Regiment in Daman City, and we just wiped out their three-Regiment relief column here.
That leaves exactly one Regiment remaining in this entire sector, and they are currently garrisoning the Imperial military base in Santong. The night is still early. I am handing you command of over a hundred main battle tanks. Your objective is to annihilate that final Regiment and secure the military base. Do you have the confidence to execute the mission?”
“Ah?! Just using the tanks?!” Bo Gang gasped, his confidence instantly evaporating. He wasn’t sure he could break a fortified infantry regiment using only armor.
“I’ll attach a mechanized infantry Battalion to support your advance and screen your tanks from Allied anti-armor rockets,” Hu Hao amended.
“No, no, no! I can’t do it! I’m sorry Hao-ge, but I truly don’t know how to command an assault of that scale! I don’t have the confidence!” Bo Gang immediately waved his hands, terrified of failing.
“Then why the hell do you want command of a massive tank formation?!” Hu Hao stared at him, deeply disappointed.
“Hao-ge, I want to command them, but I know I don’t have the tactical capability right now! But Hao-ge… I have you! You can teach me! I swear, if you just walk me through the tactical deployment and tell me exactly how to hit them, I’ll lead the charge myself!” Bo Gang argued, completely unashamed of relying on Hu Hao’s brilliance.
“Motherfucker,” Hu Hao sighed, exasperated by Bo Gang’s blatant dependency.
“Hao-ge, I swear, if you teach me, I’ll learn it instantly!” Bo Gang promised.
“Hao-ge, honestly, you’re going to have to walk him through it,” Ye Zifeng chimed in, defending his friend. “A hundred main battle tanks is the equivalent of an entire Armored Brigade! All he’s missing is the accompanying mechanized infantry to make it official! You can’t expect a Battalion Commander to suddenly know how to execute Brigade-level armor maneuvers overnight. He really doesn’t have the skill for it yet.”
“Sigh. Fine,” Hu Hao relented. “Ye Zifeng, I’m leaving you in command here. Detach one Infantry Battalion immediately and order them to mount up; they are deploying with Bo Gang. I will accompany the armored assault.
Furthermore, contact Li Jiahang in Daman City. Inform him that the relief column has been neutralized and the immediate threat is resolved. Order him to thoroughly sweep Daman City and locate the primary civilian grain silos.
Finally, tell his men to spread the word to the surviving civilians in Daman: they must evacuate immediately and head toward Bopa City. It is highly likely the Allied coalition will dispatch another force to investigate this sector once they lose contact with this Division!” Hu Hao issued his final orders before heading back to the command APC.