Chapter 91: We Have to Outsmart Them

Hu Hao ordered the entire Imperial force to immediately sink into deep concealment and maintain absolute radio and light silence. He stood on the flat roof of a two-story civilian home, peering through his binoculars into the darkness.

“They’re here,” Hu Hao noted, observing a massive cluster of headlights piercing the gloom on the horizon, moving rapidly from the direction of Santong County.

“They really came. Look at all those lights; that’s definitely a massive relief column!” Ye Zifeng agreed, standing next to him on the roof.

“Mmh. I honestly hope they sent as many men as possible. The more they send to die here, the easier it will be for us to seize the Imperial military base in Santong. We have to move fast tonight. If we can secure that base before dawn, we win a massive strategic advantage,” Hu Hao said, lowering his binoculars.

“Hao-ge, are you saying that after we wipe this column out, we’re marching straight to Santong County to assault the military base?” Ye Zifeng asked, his eyes widening.

“If we don’t take that base, what the hell are we even doing here? Fighting a war without clear logistical objectives is just pointless slaughter,” Hu Hao replied, glancing at him.

“I understand that, but… can we actually do it? There’s still a full Allied Division garrisoned over there!” Ye Zifeng voiced his concern.

“I know there’s a Division over there. But think about the math! They are dispatching at least two full Regiments to relieve Daman City right now. We just annihilated the single Regiment that was garrisoning Daman.

That means there is currently only one Regiment left holding Santong County, and likely only one Regiment holding the Imperial military base!

Once we wipe out this relief column, we bypass Santong entirely and strike the military base directly! Simultaneously, we deploy blocking forces along the highway between Santong and the base to ambush any reinforcements they try to send! In warfare, if the enemy refuses to leave their fortifications, you strike their vital organs and force them out into the open!” Hu Hao laid out his overarching strategy.

“Hao-ge… when you put it like that, it makes perfect sense. They sent this massive relief column because they were terrified we would cut off their rear logistical lines, weren’t they?” Ye Zifeng asked, suddenly understanding the enemy’s psychological state.

“That’s part of it. The Allied command currently has no idea how large our force is. In their minds, a force capable of rapidly surrounding and annihilating an entire elite Regiment must consist of at least two Regiments, if not a full Division.

Are they terrified? Absolutely! They are terrified I might launch a sudden assault on the military base tomorrow and blow the armory sky-high! If I destroy those munitions, this entire Allied Division’s operation yields absolutely nothing!

I’ve heard the nations in the Allied coalition are incredibly poor. Even if they aren’t, scavenging munitions from captured Imperial armories saves them the massive logistical burden of shipping supplies across the ocean. More importantly, it saves them time. In war, time is the most critical resource. Therefore, they are terrified of losing those munitions. They need them,” Hu Hao analyzed confidently.

“Mmh. But… if the Allied Division Commander was actually calm and rational, wouldn’t his smartest move be to abandon Daman City, consolidate his remaining forces entirely around the military base, and just wait for Corps-level reinforcements?” Ye Zifeng asked, proposing a sound counter-strategy.

“Ha! Their Division Commander isn’t calm. I blew his brains out!” Hu Hao chuckled softly.

“What?!” Ye Zifeng stared at Hu Hao, completely flabbergasted.

“Before I linked up with you, I raided their command post in Santong. I killed their Division Commander and two Brigadier Generals. Even if they somehow survived the grenade blasts, they are absolutely in no condition to command.

Therefore, the officers currently commanding this Division are their Regimental Colonels. And those Colonels are terrified! Their commanding officers were just assassinated under their watch; they are going to face massive disciplinary action! Combined with the looming threat of us destroying their precious armory, they are panicking! They are desperate for a quick victory to offset their failure. Did you really think they wouldn’t march out to fight us?” Hu Hao smiled coldly.

“Hao-ge… you… you are a terrifying strategist. You literally calculated every single step and forced them into a death trap!” Ye Zifeng gaped, looking at Hu Hao with newfound reverence.

“I have to outsmart them, Ye Zifeng. If I don’t outsmart them, how do we secure the supplies we need? If I don’t outsmart them, how do the surviving civilians trapped in those cities escape? If I don’t outsmart them, it’s our brothers who die in the mud, and they’ll rightfully curse me as an incompetent ‘Straw Bag’ commander!” Hu Hao sighed heavily, staring out into the darkness.

“You’re right. You’re absolutely right. Hao-ge, the brothers are truly blessed to follow you,” Ye Zifeng nodded solemnly.

The headlights of the approaching column were drawing much closer now.

“Get back to your command vehicle. And remember: the primary and secondary combat commanders should never ride in the same vehicle. If an RPG hits your APC, the entire chain of command is instantly decapitated. I need to make sure the junior officers understand this protocol moving forward,” Hu Hao instructed.

“Understood! I’m heading down now!” Ye Zifeng saluted and quickly climbed down the ladder.

Hu Hao remained on the roof with his radiomen, waiting patiently in the dark.

The Allied relief column was advancing at breakneck speed, their massive armored convoy thundering down the highway toward Daman City.

“Report! We still cannot establish contact with the 3rd Regiment!” a staff officer shouted over the roar of the command vehicle’s engine, looking at Colonel Sama.

“Still no contact?! That Regiment has over 2,000 combat infantry, plus another 1,000 logistical and support personnel! How could an entire Regiment of 3,000 men simply vanish off the net so quickly?!” Sama demanded, his face tight with anxiety.

“We don’t know, sir! We’ve been trying to raise them continuously for the past half hour, but there is absolutely no response. I fear the worst,” the staff officer replied grimly.

“Damn it! We must reach Daman immediately! Even if the 3rd Regiment has already been broken, we must pin the Eastern Spirit forces in place! Once the sun rises, we will call in a massive carpet-bombing run and obliterate them!” Sama cursed, slamming his fist against the armored bulkhead.

If they allowed this Imperial force to escape after destroying an entire Regiment and assassinating the Division command staff, the Corps Commander would absolutely skin them alive. Their chances of ever being promoted to Brigadier General would be completely ruined.

“Report! Colonel, we are approaching the final civilian town before the Daman City limits! Once we clear this town, we will arrive in Daman shortly!” the staff officer reported.

“Maintain maximum speed and push straight through! This Eastern Spirit force cannot possibly be that massive; they are likely a single Division at most! As long as we block their primary retreat route, we have them trapped!” Sama ordered, his mind racing with tactical scenarios.

“Yes, sir!” the staff officer acknowledged. The massive armored column surged forward, blindly plunging into the dark town.

Standing on the roof, Hu Hao watched the massive Allied column roll into the kill zone. The vanguard consisted of main battle tanks, followed by an endless stream of armored personnel carriers and supply trucks. There were easily seven to eight hundred vehicles in the convoy.

“Motherfucker. That isn’t two Regiments. They deployed all three of their remaining Regiments!” Hu Hao muttered, immediately dropping to a crouch to avoid being silhouetted against the sky. His radiomen instantly followed suit.

“Radio!” Hu Hao snapped. The radioman shoved the handset into his palm. Hu Hao instantly dialed Ye Zifeng.

“The enemy force is three full Regiments! Order the infantry to hold their fire until my signal! When the ambush is triggered, the rocket teams must prioritize the enemy APCs! Do not waste rockets on empty trucks! Acknowledge!” Hu Hao ordered rapidly.

“Understood!” Ye Zifeng confirmed.

Hu Hao hung up and immediately dialed Bo Gang.

“Bo Gang! The moment I give the signal, your tanks must instantly obliterate the enemy armor at the front and rear of their column! You must trap them inside the town! We are going to devour them right here!” Hu Hao commanded.

The Allied column was advancing in a dense, three-vehicle-wide formation. Their entire convoy stretched for roughly two and a half kilometers. Conveniently, the main thoroughfare cutting through the town was roughly two kilometers long.

Hu Hao had already deployed heavily camouflaged tanks and APCs near the town’s entrance specifically for this scenario. If they could destroy the vehicles at the front and back, the entire Allied force would be gridlocked in a massive traffic jam of burning metal.

The Allied vehicles roared down the main street. Hidden inside the dark, abandoned houses lining the road, thousands of Imperial soldiers watched silently as the enemy rolled past. The Allied column was moving incredibly fast.

“Advancing in a dense column like this through an uncleared urban environment? They really think the Imperial Army doesn’t know how to fight! They’re practically begging to die!” Hu Hao sneered, watching from the roof.

Originally, Hu Hao had only planned to block the exit of the town, not the entrance. A standard, tactically sound marching formation for two Regiments should have stretched for at least 10 kilometers; a highly cautious commander would have staggered it over 20 kilometers to avoid exactly this kind of ambush. Hu Hao had planned to let the vanguard tanks pass, destroy them to halt the column, and then slaughter the strung-out APCs.

He never imagined the Allied commander would be arrogant enough to compress three entire Regiments into a dense, two-and-a-half-kilometer traffic jam!

Their arrogance wasn’t entirely unfounded; they had spent the last week effortlessly chasing and slaughtering disorganized Imperial conscripts. They genuinely believed the Eastern Spirit military was entirely incompetent.

Hu Hao crouched on the roof, his eyes tracking the vanguard tanks as they approached the far edge of the town.

“Hao-ge! The Allied vanguard has reached the center of the town! Do we engage?!” Bo Gang called over the radio, his voice vibrating with adrenaline.

“Wait! Let them reach the exit! Wait for the signal!” Hu Hao ordered, instantly hanging up.

A kilometer was nothing for a tank at cruising speed. It took less than a minute.

“FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!”

The moment the Allied vanguard tanks reached the edge of the town, Bo Gang’s tanks opened fire.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Hyper-velocity armor-piercing rounds slammed into the lead Allied tanks at point-blank range, instantly turning them into catastrophic fireballs that completely blocked the highway.

Simultaneously, thousands of Imperial infantrymen hiding on the rooftops and inside the second-story windows along the main street stood up, leveled their rocket launchers, and pulled the triggers.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A massive, terrifying volley of anti-armor rockets rained down from above, slamming directly into the thin top armor of the Allied APCs. The deafening roar of hundreds of simultaneous explosions instantly shattered the night, the massive fireballs illuminating the entire town as if it were broad daylight!

“Damn it! Ambush! We’re under attack! Dismount! Dismount immediately!” Surviving Allied commanders screamed in terror as the vehicles around them detonated.

Several Allied APC drivers panicked and violently swerved, attempting to crash through the civilian houses lining the street to escape the kill zone. But the Imperial rocket teams were waiting for exactly that. The moment an APC turned, exposing its softer side armor, it was instantly obliterated by a concentrated volley of rockets.

The Allied tanks, which Hu Hao had designated as priority targets, suffered the heaviest casualties. The moment the tanks were neutralized, the Allied infantry lost any hope of breaking the encirclement through sheer firepower.

“Dismount! Get out of the vehicles!” Allied vehicle commanders screamed, kicking open their hatches and raising their rifles, desperately trying to find cover behind the burning wrecks.

But the moment their boots hit the pavement, they were instantly cut down. The Imperial infantry was positioned in the houses on both sides of the street, creating a brutal, inescapable crossfire.