Hu Hao watched the battle unfold from the command APC. He didn’t need to personally intervene anymore; his soldiers were more than capable of handling the final cleanup.
Suddenly, a guard from the rear perimeter sprinted up to the APC and reported that a massive crowd of civilians had gathered behind their lines. Hu Hao turned around and saw thousands of people—young men, the elderly, women—standing in the dark. More silhouettes were visible in the distance, hurrying toward the base.
“Tell the civilians to stay back. The front line is still an active combat zone; they can watch from here, but they cannot advance,” Hu Hao instructed the guard.
“Yes, sir!” The guard nodded and sprinted back.
Hu Hao sighed heavily, turning his attention back to the raging battle.
“Young man, are you boys attacking the Allied bastards in the military base? Can you beat them?” a middle-aged civilian asked one of the perimeter guards.
“Of course we can beat them! We’re fighting under Hao-ge’s command! We aren’t following those incompetent ‘Straw Bag’ Generals anymore; if it were up to those cowards, they wouldn’t have even dared to cross the river!” the young soldier replied proudly.
“Young man, you must get revenge for us! Those Allied soldiers… they aren’t human! They’re absolute animals! You have to avenge our families! And the Allied soldiers who were in the city earlier… they ran away! You have to find them and kill them too!” an elderly woman pleaded, grabbing the soldier’s sleeve.
“The Allied forces that occupied the city earlier tonight? We already annihilated them,” the soldier told her gently. “They mobilized and marched out of the city because we attacked their garrison in Daman City. We ambushed their relief column on the highway. We wiped out three full Regiments—nearly six thousand men.
Right now, the only Allied forces left in this entire sector are the ones trapped in that military base. By the time this night is over, the entire Allied Division that purged your city will be completely annihilated. We aren’t taking any prisoners. We aren’t leaving a single survivor.”
The surrounding civilians stared at the young soldier in absolute shock.
“You really wiped them out?!” “You killed them all?! Thank God! I knew the Imperial Army wouldn’t truly abandon us!” “Good! They deserve to die! Thank you… thank you for avenging my son!”
The civilians wept openly, overwhelming the soldiers with tearful gratitude.
“Please, everyone, do not push forward! Our Hao-ge explicitly ordered that you must stay behind this line! The front is too dangerous; please wait here!” the guard who had just returned from Hu Hao’s APC shouted, trying to keep the emotional crowd contained.
“Who is this Hao-ge?!” a man yelled from the crowd.
“He’s our Division Commander!” the guard replied proudly.
“Thank your Division Commander for us! Thank him from the bottom of our hearts!” another civilian yelled.
The news spread rapidly through the crowd like wildfire: the Imperial Army had already hunted down and slaughtered the Allied troops who had massacred their families earlier that day. Hearing this, the civilians wept even harder, their eyes fixed on the brilliant flashes of the tank cannons bombarding the base in the distance.
“Hao-ge! Hao-ge! Several doctors and nurses just arrived from the city! They’re asking if we need medical assistance!” a guard sprinted up to the command APC and reported to Hu Hao.
“Mmh. Tell them to set up a triage area behind our lines. We definitely need doctors. We have combat medics, but they’ll likely be overwhelmed soon. Tell them to prepare; the wounded will be evacuated to their position shortly,” Hu Hao ordered.
“Report! Hao-ge, we’ve successfully neutralized the Allied detachment guarding the armory! Our men have secured the perimeter! Regarding the barracks: we’ve already collapsed three of the buildings! The final two will be brought down momentarily!” Bo Gang’s excited voice crackled over the radio.
“Good. No survivors. Fight hard. The civilians of this city are standing right behind us, watching us. Show them what we do to monsters. Show them that we will exterminate every last one of them,” Hu Hao ordered, his face grim.
“Understood! Total annihilation! Leave no survivors!” Bo Gang roared his confirmation.
Hu Hao stood by the APC, listening to the deafening CRACK-RUMBLE echoing across the night as another massive barracks building collapsed under the relentless tank fire. Hundreds of Allied soldiers were being crushed to death.
“Driver, advance! And tell the rear guards to hold the line! Do not let the civilians follow us; it’s still too dangerous!” Hu Hao ordered his radioman.
“Yes, sir!” the radioman relayed the orders, and the APC rumbled forward.
“Hey! We want to go see! We want to see those animals die!” “Let us through! We want to see!”
Seeing the armored column inching forward, the crowd of civilians surged against the perimeter guards.
“Please, everyone! You cannot go forward! The firefight isn’t over! Our Division Commander expressly forbade you from entering the combat zone!” the guards shouted desperately, linking arms to hold the crowd back. They didn’t want the civilians to get hurt; it would only compound their immense guilt.
“When can we go look?!” a man yelled furiously.
“I will ask Hao-ge! If Hao-ge says it’s safe, we will let you through!” a Platoon Leader yelled back, trying to calm the situation.
“Then go ask him right now! I want the heads of those Allied bastards! I’m going to use their severed heads to honor my murdered father!” a young man screamed, his eyes bloodshot with rage.
“Yes! We want their heads!” the crowd roared in agreement.
“Alright! I’ll ask right now!” The Platoon Leader, realizing he couldn’t control the mob’s fury much longer, quickly dialed Hu Hao’s satellite phone.
“Hao-ge, the civilians are demanding to be let through. They say they want to harvest the heads of the Allied soldiers to use as offerings for their murdered families. They’re trying to push past the perimeter!” the Platoon Leader reported anxiously.
“Once the firefight is completely concluded, let them through,” Hu Hao replied heavily. He wasn’t celebrating this victory. He felt no joy. The Imperial Army had failed its most fundamental duty: to protect the nation and its people. This victory was merely a bloody, belated apology.
“Sigh,” Hu Hao lowered the phone, staring blankly ahead.
CRACK-RUMBLE!
The final, deafening crash signaled the collapse of the last barracks building. The primary engagement was over. Now, it was just a matter of sweeping the rubble and executing the survivors.
As the Imperial infantry cautiously advanced into the sprawling wreckage of the collapsed dormitories, they fired without hesitation the moment they saw any sign of movement.
“Hao-ge!” “Hao-ge!”
When Hu Hao finally stepped out of his APC near the center of the base, the surrounding soldiers immediately saluted and greeted him.
“Mmh. You all fought well. Where is Liu Shuyi?” Hu Hao asked, noticing the sporadic gunfire had almost completely ceased.
“Hao-ge, I’ll go find him!” a radioman volunteered, sprinting off into the ruins.
A moment later, Bo Gang jogged over.
“Hao-ge! We didn’t let the civilians down! Total annihilation!” Bo Gang grinned fiercely.
“Excellent. Where is the armory? Take me there immediately,” Hu Hao demanded.
“Right this way, Hao-ge! We don’t know exactly what’s inside yet, but the Allied forces stationed a heavy guard detail right outside the blast doors, so it’s definitely packed with munitions!” Bo Gang led the way.
“Of course it is,” Hu Hao nodded confidently. The entire reason the Allied Division had marched on Santong County was to secure those specific munitions. They simply hadn’t realized that the weapons they had bled to secure were about to be stolen right out from under them.
“Hao-ge!”
Liu Shuyi jogged over. His head was wrapped in a thick, blood-stained bandage.
“You’re wounded? Is it serious?” Hu Hao asked, his brow furrowing in concern.
“It’s nothing, Hao-ge! Just a bullet graze across the scalp!” Liu Shuyi laughed dismissively.
“You fought brilliantly tonight. Honestly, I didn’t anticipate the Allied garrison here would be quartered in civilian-style buildings, so I hadn’t formulated a specific tactical approach for this assault. I never expected you to take the initiative and block the exits to trap them inside!
Bo Gang, if Liu Shuyi hadn’t locked those bastards in, your tanks wouldn’t have had such an easy time bringing the buildings down around them!” Hu Hao praised them both warmly.
“Absolutely! The moment my tanks rolled up and saw the Recon boys had them completely bottled up, I knew the battle was already won! Captain Liu saved us a massive headache,” Bo Gang agreed enthusiastically, clapping Liu Shuyi on the shoulder.
“Heh heh. Hao-ge, I just copied exactly what you did in Daman City! I’m just a quick learner!” Liu Shuyi grinned sheepishly.
“You did exceptionally well. I will personally speak to your Regimental Commander. When the next round of promotions comes down, your name will be at the absolute top of the list,” Hu Hao promised.
“Thank you, Hao-ge!” Liu Shuyi beamed.
“Hao-ge, my APC is right here. Let’s ride; the armory is on the far side of the base,” Bo Gang offered.
“Hao-ge! The rear perimeter guards just called! The civilians saw the buildings collapse and know the battle is over! They are demanding to be let through!” a radioman interrupted.
“Mmh. Bo Gang, contact 2nd Battalion Commander Wu Xunqi. Order his men to drop the perimeter and allow the civilians into the base. Ensure their safety as they navigate the rubble.
Whatever the civilians choose to do to the corpses of the Allied soldiers, your men are to completely ignore it. Do not interfere!
However, order your men to thoroughly strip the corpses first! Collect all cash, weapons, and intelligence documents! These Allied bastards are loaded with cash they looted from our people; that cash is now our spoils of war. I will use it to purchase essential supplies for the Division!” Hu Hao instructed.
“Understood!” Bo Gang and the radioman nodded, immediately relaying the orders.
Hu Hao climbed into Bo Gang’s APC and headed toward the massive armory complex. He was praying that the warehouses were fully stocked; he desperately needed those weapons to arm his new recruits.
Meanwhile, roughly 300 kilometers to the south, in the Allied-occupied city of Xike, an Allied Lieutenant General was pacing furiously inside his Corps Command Center.
He had just been abruptly awoken from his sleep with catastrophic news: he had completely lost contact with an entire Division under his command. It wasn’t just the Division Headquarters; every single Regiment and Battalion within that Division had vanished simultaneously from the comms net.