Hu Hao looked out over the burning kill zone and knew the Allied forces were completely broken. This was the terrifying reality of modern mechanized warfare.
If two regiments engaged in conventional trench warfare, the battle could drag on for half a month as both sides slowly ground each other down. But in a perfectly executed ambush like this, where overwhelming, concentrated firepower was brought to bear in a confined space, an entire regiment—or even an entire division—could be wiped out in minutes. The vast majority of the Allied soldiers died before they even comprehended what was happening.
Down below, Ye Zifeng was on the radio with one of his Battalion Commanders.
“What? There’s a massive crowd of civilians surrounding your perimeter? And they want to enlist?! What exactly is going on?!” Ye Zifeng asked, his voice rising in surprise.
Hearing Ye Zifeng’s exclamation, Hu Hao turned toward him.
“They’re a mix of reservists and angry young men. A lot of them just watched their families get slaughtered by the Allied garrison… alright, hold on a second,” Ye Zifeng covered the receiver and looked up at Hu Hao.
“Hao-ge, the Battalion Commander in Daman City just reported that a massive crowd of surviving civilian youths is begging to join the army. They want to pick up rifles and fight the Allied forces. Some of them are so desperate they’re practically trying to rip the guns out of our soldiers’ hands!”
“Accept them,” Hu Hao ordered immediately. “Tell the Commander to draft them right now. Give him the criteria: no active students, no one with physical disabilities, no one over the age of thirty-five, and absolutely no one who is the sole provider for a wife and child.
Furthermore, order the men to grab megaphones! They need to broadcast a warning to the entire surviving population of Daman City: tell the civilians to evacuate immediately and run toward Bopa City! They cannot stay in Daman!
The Allied coalition is definitely going to send a massive retaliation force to investigate this slaughter. If a full Allied Corps marches on Daman, we do not have the combat strength to hold the city! Tell the people to run!” Hu Hao instructed firmly.
“Understood! I’ll relay the orders!” Ye Zifeng quickly got back on the radio and passed Hu Hao’s exact instructions to the Battalion Commander in Daman City.
After finishing that call, Ye Zifeng immediately contacted another Battalion Commander, ordering him to rally his troops and prepare to march toward Santong County with Bo Gang’s armored column.
Once he finally hung up, Ye Zifeng looked at Hu Hao hesitantly, clearly wanting to say something.
“What is it? Spit it out,” Hu Hao said, noticing his expression.
“Hao-ge… running an unsanctioned conscription draft is incredibly risky. If High Command finds out we’re recruiting our own private army, we’re going to be in massive trouble,” Ye Zifeng warned him nervously.
“What are you afraid of? I’m not officially incorporating them into the Imperial Army roster! I am classifying them as a localized ‘auxiliary reserve force’! If we get pinned down and start losing, we call in our ‘auxiliaries’ to reinforce us! What’s wrong with that?!” Hu Hao shot back.
He had absolutely zero faith in the Imperial High Command. If the General Staff possessed even a shred of strategic competence, the Eastern Spirit Army wouldn’t have collapsed so catastrophically in the first place. Furthermore, they were currently operating completely blind; only the top brass in the Capital truly knew how badly the other Combat Zones were failing.
Because of this, Hu Hao deeply doubted their leadership. Frankly, he was probably the only officer in the entire Empire audacious enough to openly question High Command’s authority.
“Mmh. I suppose you’re right. If we don’t have enough troops, how the hell are we supposed to defeat the Allied coalition? The majority of the units in our Combat Zone are raw conscripts, and we’re tasked with defending a massive 200-kilometer front! If we don’t aggressively expand our numbers, we’re dead anyway!” Ye Zifeng nodded, finally grasping the brutal necessity of the plan.
“Good. I’m leaving you in command here. Bo Gang and I are heading to Santong County. Remember what I said: ensure the civilians evacuate! We just annihilated nearly an entire Allied Division in this sector; there is absolutely zero chance the Allied High Command won’t send a massive retaliation force to investigate!” Hu Hao reminded him one last time.
“Understood. Don’t worry, Hao-ge, I’ve got it handled here,” Ye Zifeng nodded.
Hu Hao climbed down the ladder and walked over to the armored column.
“Hao-ge! These captured tanks are incredible!” Bo Gang cheered as Hu Hao approached. “Our Tank Regiment currently only has two active Battalions, with roughly 90 main battle tanks in total. But with the 70 tanks we just commandeered tonight, we essentially have the combat power of an entire Armored Regiment all to ourselves!”
In the Eastern Spirit Empire, an Armored Division was structured differently than an Infantry Division. A full-strength Armored Division consisted of 10,000 men (2,000 fewer than an Infantry Division). It comprised four Tank Battalions (with 45 main battle tanks each, totaling 180 tanks) and eight Mechanized Infantry Battalions (650 men each) to provide screening and support.
With the addition of the captured Allied armor tonight, Bo Gang alone was currently commanding over 110 main battle tanks. That was more armor than half an Imperial Armored Division!
“Mmh. Consider these tanks our private assets. We are not officially reporting them to Zone Command, nor are we handing them over. The requisition bounty for turning them in is practically worthless anyway. As a Division-level command, we possess the operational discretion to decide which captured assets are essential for our continued combat effectiveness,” Hu Hao stated smoothly. He knew exactly what Bo Gang was hinting at.
“Heh heh! I knew it, Hao-ge! We’re keeping them! If you add these to our original two Tank Battalions, the 87th Division effectively wields more armor than a dedicated Armored Division!” Bo Gang laughed gleefully.
“Haha!” Hu Hao chuckled, pointing a finger at him approvingly.
Hu Hao climbed into his designated command APC. To avoid detection, the armored column bypassed the main roads running through the town, opting instead to churn through the adjacent agricultural fields until they cleared the ambush site before merging back onto the highway. They rapidly accelerated toward Santong County.
…
Meanwhile, inside the Imperial military base in Santong County, the surviving Allied Division staff officers had successfully relocated their command center. They had been maintaining constant radio contact with Colonel Sama’s relief column… until the connection suddenly went dead.
“Report! We have lost all contact with the relief column! The connection has been dead for nearly half an hour! Based on their projected marching speed, they should have reached the outskirts of Daman City by now!” a Major staff officer urgently reported to the remaining Regimental Colonel in charge of the base.
“What?! You’ve lost contact for half an hour?!” The Colonel jumped to his feet, staring at the Major in shock.
“Yes, Colonel! We have completely lost communication with Colonel Sama, Colonel Ilo, and every single Battalion Commander in the column! It doesn’t make any tactical sense! They deployed three full Regiments! Even if they encountered a massive Eastern Spirit force, or even if they were engaged in a fierce firefight, the commanders would have time to transmit a sitrep back to base! But we have heard absolutely nothing! We have no idea what is happening!” the Major reported, his voice tight with anxiety.
“You’re telling me they vanished instantly?!” The Colonel clasped his hands behind his back, pacing anxiously around the command room. He stopped abruptly and glared at the Major.
“Yes, sir! Instantaneous total comms blackout!”
“Impossible! They couldn’t have been annihilated! That is absolutely impossible! Sama and Ilo are both highly decorated, combat-experienced commanders! Furthermore, they commanded three full Regiments! Even if they were ambushed by an entire Eastern Spirit Division, they would have had plenty of time to establish a defensive perimeter and call for support! Tell me the truth: is our comms array malfunctioning?!” the Colonel demanded.
“Negative, sir! We can still establish a clear connection with Corps Command! We already reported the blackout to the Corps Commander. They attempted to hail the column from their end as well, but they reported the exact same total blackout! They are still trying to re-establish the link!” the Major shook his head frantically.
“Then… is it possible the Eastern Spirit Army has deployed some sort of advanced electronic warfare weapon? Are they jamming our frequencies so we can’t receive their transmissions?!” the Colonel hypothesized.
“It’s possible… but we’ve never encountered anything like that during this entire campaign! Why would they suddenly deploy an experimental weapon in this specific sector?!” the Major asked skeptically.
“Mmh. Good point. But we cannot rule it out entirely! The Eastern Spirit Empire is incredibly wealthy; they possess the industrial capacity to develop all sorts of advanced weaponry. Look at the gear we’ve encountered! Their main battle tanks, their assault rifles, their heavy machine guns, their fighter jets—they are all vastly superior to ours!
Our coalition nations are poor; we could never afford to mass-produce equipment of that caliber! You have no idea how much ordnance is stockpiled in the armory on this base alone! There are enough rifles, APCs, tanks, and RPGs sitting in those warehouses right now to fully equip two of our Divisions! The Eastern Spirit Empire’s wealth is truly staggering!” the Colonel sighed enviously.
“That’s undeniably true. It’s a pity their Generals are all incompetent straw bags. However, Colonel, this isn’t the time to admire their logistics! What are your orders?!” the Major pressed.
“What can we do?! It’s the middle of the night! We wait for dawn! I am not overly concerned about their safety; they have three Regiments! Didn’t the initial intelligence indicate the Eastern Spirit force in Daman City was only a single Division?” the Colonel reasoned.
“We cannot confirm if it’s only a single Division, sir! That was merely an assumption based on the speed of the encirclement!” the Major corrected him.
“Mmh. Even if they are facing an entire Eastern Spirit Corps, I am confident they can hold out until sunrise! Furthermore, our primary objective is to secure this military base and its massive logistical stockpiles!
My Regiment’s priority is ensuring the safety of these munitions! Once the sun rises, the Corps Commander will undoubtedly dispatch a massive force to investigate the situation. For now, we lock down the base and hold our ground!” the Colonel decided.
“Understood. But Colonel… shouldn’t we dispatch a recon element toward Daman City to investigate the blackout?” the Major asked, still deeply uneasy about the three missing Regiments.
“Mmh. I suppose we could. But honestly, sending a small patrol out in the middle of the night is pointless. If our comms are genuinely being jammed, a patrol won’t be able to report back anyway!” The Colonel nodded vaguely, but ultimately dismissed the idea.
“Very well. Then we wait for dawn,” the Major sighed, realizing he couldn’t force the issue. He didn’t command any combat troops, and he couldn’t override a Regimental Colonel.
At that exact moment, Liu Shuyi and his Recon Company were tearing down the highway toward Santong County in their commandeered civilian vehicles. They had pushed the cars to their absolute limits, the speedometers hovering around 120 km/h. To avoid drawing attention, they drove with their headlights off and maintained a staggered, dispersed formation, ensuring they wouldn’t present a clustered target if they encountered an Allied patrol.
Very quickly, they arrived at the outskirts of Santong County. They turn off the engines, concealed the vehicles in the brush, and silently advanced into the occupied county on foot.