Glancing at his watch, the Tang Army squad leader in the yard looked up, aware that the artillery barrage was about to begin, and the Tang Army’s assault was about to commence.
Indeed, as he stood up and patted the mud off his trousers, the whistling sound of shells began tearing through the sky above him.
According to the intelligence provided by the little boy, the coordinates of the Tang Army’s artillery strike were very specific: they avoided areas that might still contain Qi Country civilians, concentrating the bombardment on regions where the enemy Troops were stationed.
The earth shook, and compared to the artillery battery of over a hundred 155mm howitzers, a single person was utterly insignificant.
The heart-wrenching howl of shells ripping through the air involuntarily made the children in the yard cover their ears. They did not cry or shout, which somehow made it all the more heartbreaking.
Soon, the shells flying overhead began to land, and the ground started shaking nonstop, with debris rolling down the slopes, crumbling walls breaking apart once more, and the relatively intact doors of the yard creaking at that very moment.
Then came the deafening roar of explosions, getting closer and closer, mixed with other sounds—the collapse of buildings, the breaking of glass or ceramics, and the dry branches of nearby trees creaking and swaying in the artillery fire.
Similar bombardments had happened every day in the past few days, only the purpose had not been as clear as today.
However, none of those bombardments had been as fierce as today’s, because after this round of artillery fire, there was to be a real assault.
Soon, the vigilant Troops of Qi Country realized something was amiss. They saw the Tang Army’s assault guns and tanks, and also noticed the thousands of infantrymen charging with grenades.
Fierce fighting quickly erupted, but the gunfire came from within the city. The reinforcing Troops of Qi Country suddenly found defense lines constructed by Tang Army Soldiers on the road they were advancing on.
"What’s going on?" A Qi Country commander looked disbelievingly at his subordinates, unable to understand how the enemy had appeared inside the city walls.
His subordinates also couldn’t answer this question because they had recently been preoccupied with killing Qi Country civilians and looting local property, completely neglecting the city’s defenses.
Logically, wasn’t it the responsibility of the troops stationed at the city defenses? It shouldn’t be up to their internal garrison troops.
"Useless!" Seeing his subordinates unable to answer, the commander violently pushed one aside, drew his command knife, and pointed forward: "Attack! Take this position, annihilate the Tang Army!"
"Long live Qi Country!" Fueled by the ferocity built up from slaughtering civilians for so many days, the Qi Country Soldiers howled as they charged with bayonets toward the Tang Army’s defensive position.
"Ping!" With a crisp gunshot, a Qi Country platoon leader leading the charge screamed as he rolled down the rubble pile, the shot from the Tang Army sniper echoing oddly across the battlefield.
Immediately after, the sound of submachine guns rang out, and a blanket of bullets swept down the Qi Country Soldiers who were charging up the rubble, knocking them all down.
In just an instant, at least a platoon’s worth of Qi Country Soldiers fell on the path of the assault, but those devils, their eyes bloodshot from killing, still screamed and surged forward, stepping over the bodies of their comrades, inching closer to the Tang Army’s defense line.
"Hahaha! See that? Soldiers who have killed and seen blood are different!" the commander of Qi Country boasted smugly to his subordinates, convinced that his troops only needed one charge to capture the enemy’s position.
As long as they could quickly reach the breach in the city walls, they could prevent the Tang Army from entering the city, and they could hold the position.
While the Qi Country commander was relishing in pride, the Tang Army’s machine gun position on the flank opened fire. Tracer Bullet rounds suddenly swept into the crowd, mowing down group after group of densely packed Qi Country Soldiers.
The already uphill-attacking soldiers of Qi Country instantly collapsed. The courage they had bolstered through slaughter dissipated in an instant amidst the relentless chatter of machine guns.
The remaining men cried out and fled backward, abandoning their wounded and dead comrades amidst the rubble and ruins.
The scene before him turned the Qi Country commander’s face into an expression of extreme distaste. He had just fantasized about breaking through the Tang Army’s defense line in one fell swoop, but now the enemy had counterattacked so swiftly.
Therefore, he continued to wave his saber, loudly encouraging his soldiers: "Attack! Attack for me! Those who charge will be rewarded! Everyone will be rewarded with Gold Coin!"
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If bloodshed could not motivate the morale, money would be tried. Indeed, the Qi Country Soldiers rallied once more, a new batch storming in, blending into the retreating crowd, and launching another assault.
They clambered over the ruins and debris like ants, moving forward incessantly, stepping over the fresh corpses left by their companions, recklessly advancing towards the Tang Army’s defense lines.
This time, more Chicago Typewriters sounded, more bullets flew straight at them, and the Qi Country Military, charging in tight formations, once again experienced what it’s like to be in a hail of bullets.
They didn’t even have time to regroup before the advancing soldiers of Qi Country were once again routed. The defeat had come so swiftly, they hadn’t even spotted the majority of the Tang Army’s hiding spots.
The enraged military of Qi Country launched another attack, their numerical advantage so overwhelming they didn’t mind losing more men.
After all, if they could just block the breach, it would be seen as a great success. No one would question the loss of life, and if the casualties were high, they could even request reinforcements.
No sooner had an assault force of over two hundred men been repelled than another two hundred plus charged forward with guns, shouting loudly as they closed in on the Tang Army’s position once again.
"Damn, there are really a lot of them," the machine gunner who had found a new firing angle flipped open the gun’s magazine. His assistant loaded a new belt of ammunition and stepped aside, supporting it.
The gunner worked the action, readying himself to open fire once more and pressed his sight against the dense mass of Qi Country soldiers.
The next second, he pulled the trigger, the buttstock thudding against his shoulder, with a continued heavy force that gave him an unparalleled sense of security.
Every few rounds, a tracer bullet streaked out of the barrel, allowing him to accurately determine whether his fire was covering the intended targets.
With the assistance of tracer bullets, the machine gun’s accuracy increased dramatically. Another wave of Qi Country soldiers fell, their bodies nearly covering the front of the Tang Army’s defensive line.
Without counting, it was clear that nearly 300 bodies lay there. Everyone was experienced, so they knew that an entire battalion of the Qi Country forces had been virtually wiped out.
Seeing a third of his troops annihilated, the battalion commander of Qi Country grew anxious. He wanted to supervise the battle himself but feared getting his head blown off by a Tang Army sniper.
So he hesitated, paced around his hiding spot, and ultimately dismissed the idea of risking his life.
"You!" He grabbed a company commander and ordered, pointing to the fleeing troops, "Rally them for me! Attack again! One more attack! At all costs! Take this place!"
In an attempt to motivate his men, he even played the expert, "The Tang Army doesn’t have much ammunition! They must be running low! Just one more attack and they’ll collapse!"
After speaking, he pushed forward, shoving his chosen sacrifice out from the ruins where they were hiding. The company commander staggered but managed to find his footing, ducked his head, and immediately trotted off towards the troops.
Running significantly reduced the chances of being hit by a sniper, a lesson paid for with Qi Country lives and verified by countless others; it was exceptionally accurate.
But this time, it seemed the company commander’s luck had run out. Tripping over a stone, he barely managed to stay upright and stopped mid-way.
His previous sprint may have drawn the attention of the Tang Army sniper. Then suddenly, a gunshot was heard, and the Qi Country company commander, intended to round up the fleeing soldiers, was dead with his brains splattered on the ground.
Watching his chosen scapegoat get killed, the battalion commander of Qi Country turned to another company commander, "You... go!"
The company commander swallowed hard, gritted his teeth, and rushed out from cover. He moved swiftly, carefully bypassing the previous company commander’s body and finally found a relatively safe spot to start loudly berating the collapsed Qi Country soldiers to stop retreating.
The battlefield remained in chaos. At that moment, at the end of the rubble, on a fairly spacious street, a number 4 tank crushed the stones that blocked its path, shielding a squad of infantry as it revealed its tracks at the street corner.
"Tang Army! The Tang Army are coming!" The remaining company commander had sharp eyes and immediately spotted the enemy on the other side.
Knowing that the situation was beyond recovery, the Qi Country battalion commander bit his teeth and pushed the sharp-eyed company commander, "You! Lead your men and hold them off! Once we’ve taken this side, we’ll come to support you! Go now!"
The battalion commander had received a strict order not to retreat a single step and to hold the line at all costs. Since he hadn’t reached the city walls yet, he could only try again.
It didn’t matter in the end; it was just soldiers dying. He knew another battalion was on its way.
"Attack! A reward of 50 Gold Coins for those who lead the charge!" The battalion commander, brandishing his saber, paced back and forth, loudly announcing the rewards with an air of imposing grandeur.
Meanwhile, in a courtyard, a Tang Army squad leader left his rations with a little boy, saying, "Take care of the people here. If you run into Qi Country men, run fast!"
After his instructions, he headed towards the battlefield, stripping the submachine gun from his back and quickly climbed to the top of the wall.