Chapter 204: A Stunned Hu Hao

Receiving Jiang Kai’s call ordering an immediate retreat, Hu Hao was taken aback. He hadn’t expected the order to come so swiftly! Just this afternoon, Jiang Kai had told him to ‘prepare to retreat at any moment,’ and now, by evening, the order had arrived!

“Yes, Commander! Where are my troops retreating to?” Hu Hao asked immediately.

“Retreat toward Zhongzhou Province! Establish a defensive line at Qihe City. The forces of the Western Combat Zone will also be retreating there. Once we arrive, we will redeploy according to the High Command’s orders!” Jiang Kai explained.

“Are you kidding me?! The High Command doesn’t even have a preliminary defensive plan ready?!” Hu Hao asked in disbelief.

“They don’t have shit!” Jiang Kai cursed.

“Holy shit! If we keep retreating like this, even if we reach Zhongzhou, the moment the Allied forces catch up, we’ll just have to retreat again! My god, where exactly are our troops supposed to retreat to?!” Hu Hao also began cursing into the phone.

“Don’t worry about that for now! Just retreat immediately!” Jiang Kai ordered.

“Yes, sir! I will prepare to retreat immediately!” Hu Hao agreed, purely to placate Jiang Kai. In reality, he had absolutely no intention of retreating!

After hanging up, Hu Hao shook his head and grumbled, “Motherfucker, even if I were going to retreat, I wouldn’t do it like this! With a retreat like this, the moment the Allied forces launch a pursuit, everyone’s doomed! Damn it, those pigs in the High Command!”

“Like I’ve said, you can’t trust those high-and-mighty lords in the High Command! What do they know about fighting a war?! They were just born into the right families. From the moment they were born, they were destined to be the lords of the High Command! Motherfuckers!” a senior staff officer nearby chimed in.

“Sigh, forget about them. We’ll execute our own plan!” Hu Hao declared.

Meanwhile, over at the 27th Corps, Corps Commander Li Tianyuan had also received the retreat order from the headquarters, instructing his troops to fall back to Zhongzhou Province immediately.

Upon receiving the order, Li Tianyuan completely ignored the Allied forces stationed across the river. He immediately boarded his vehicle and led his troops in a rapid retreat.

While on the road, Li Tianyuan called Li Jingsong!

“Song’er, we just received orders to retreat! What about your side? Are you guys retreating too?!” Li Tianyuan asked the moment Li Jingsong picked up.

“Ah, you guys received the retreat order too? We got it as well! We’re currently retreating right now!” Li Jingsong quickly covered up, lying to his father!

“Mm. Sticking close to Hu Hao over there shouldn’t be a problem for you! We’ll meet up in Zhongzhou! Sigh,” Li Tianyuan sighed, feeling somewhat relieved upon hearing that Li Jingsong was also retreating.

“Mm, I know. Dad, pay attention to safety! I’ll come see you when we get there!” Li Jingsong replied, a wave of emotion suddenly hitting him. He managed to suppress it, however, and Li Tianyuan didn’t notice anything amiss!

“Alright, we’ll meet in Zhongzhou!” Li Tianyuan said before hanging up.

“Sigh,” hearing the dial tone, Li Jingsong sighed heavily and stared out at the forest.

His division had departed at noon and had only just arrived at Muqiao City. He was currently stationed in an underground air-raid shelter. Outside, the civilians were fleeing the city. Li Jingsong had also received Hu Hao’s orders: do not stop the civilians; let them flee!

Back with Li Tianyuan, his troops had been marching for roughly two hours before they ground to a halt. The road ahead was completely jammed with civilian vehicles. Anxious, Li Tianyuan climbed onto the roof of his vehicle and stared at the endless sea of cars stretching toward the horizon.

“Damn it! Are there any other roads?!” Li Tianyuan asked his staff officer anxiously.

“We’d have to detour 50 kilometers east to find another northbound road! However, I estimate that road is completely blocked as well! Right now, all our civilians are fleeing, and they’re all heading north!” a staff officer replied.

“Honk the horns! Also, dispatch troops ahead to clear the road! Hurry! We must retreat with maximum speed!” Li Tianyuan roared.

“Yes, sir! I will notify our guard units immediately! If our Air Force retreats as well, the skies here will no longer be safe! Allied bombers could arrive at any moment to launch airstrikes!” the staff officer nodded in agreement.

It wasn’t just the 27th Corps that was stuck; the entire retreating army was caught in massive traffic jams. Countless refugees were driving north, completely clogging the roads. With so many vehicles packed together, accidents were frequent.

Whenever an accident occurred, the entire column would grind to a halt. The civilians had to get out, clear the wreckage, and only then could they continue moving. Consequently, the entire retreat process was agonizingly slow.

Meanwhile, Jiang Kai and the headquarters personnel were flying to the rear in Air Cavalry helicopters. Looking down at the endless line of vehicles below, Jiang Kai could only sigh.

Back in Late City, Hu Hao’s Guard Regiment had begun taking control of the factories. When Huan Xingtao’s troops arrived, they found the factories completely deserted. The equipment, the computers—everything was untouched. In times like these, no one cared about computers or machinery; they only cared about finding a vehicle to escape in.

“Hao-ge! Hao-ge, call from Huan Xingtao!” a communications officer handed the radio to Hu Hao.

“Mm,” Hu Hao took the receiver.

“Hello? This is Hu Hao. What’s the situation on your end?” Hu Hao asked.

“Hao-ge, we found a massive number of tanks here! They’re all brand new! Straight off our tank factory’s production lines! All brand new! There must be thousands of them!” Huan Xingtao shouted excitedly.

“What did you say?!” Hu Hao’s voice shot up an octave in shock.

“Hao-ge, the warehouses are packed with tanks! Row after row, parked perfectly! Hao-ge, you have no idea—there are so many!” Huan Xingtao reported, standing atop one of the tanks.

“Good! Good! Wait… can they be driven?!” Hu Hao was already pacing excitedly around the command center; this was a completely unexpected windfall!

“They’re in the finished goods warehouse! Of course they can be driven! And they have fuel! Our soldiers just started one up—it runs perfectly!” Huan Xingtao replied.

“Good! Good! Wait… hold on, I’ll call you back!” Hu Hao was so thrilled his mind went blank. He didn’t even know how to begin deploying this massive asset; he needed a moment to calm down.

Tanks! Thousands of them! The Eastern Spirit Empire was primarily a flat plain; when utilized effectively, tanks were practically invincible in land combat! Hu Hao hung up the phone and began pacing rapidly around the command center, his hands clasped behind his back, trembling with excitement!

“Someone! Contact Lu Guangsheng, Ye Zifeng, and Wu Kexiao immediately! Order them to pull every single tanker from their ranks and send them here immediately! Tell them I want them right now! I don’t care if they’re drivers, gunners, or commanders—I want them all sent here immediately! I’m going to build a massive armored armada!” Hu Hao roared in excitement.

“Yes, sir!” The staff officers immediately began calling the three Division Commanders, relaying Hu Hao’s orders to send all their tankers back.

“Fuck yeah!” Hu Hao nervously grabbed a bottle of mineral water, chugged it down, and cursed again.

He truly never expected to find so many tanks sitting idle in the factories! Thank god his troops had secured the area first! If the Allied forces had arrived before them, all those tanks would have fallen into enemy hands. The Allied forces would have then used Eastern Spirit tanks to further their invasion of the Eastern Spirit Empire!

“Hao-ge, the orders have been relayed! I told them to send the men here with maximum speed!” a staff officer reported.

“Good! Good! Hey, come here!” Hu Hao beckoned to Wang Yao. Hearing this, Wang Yao immediately walked over.

“See this? Here, and here—these are all forests! Every time we drive a tank out, hide it in these two locations! You must hide them well! Motherfucker, our tankers haven’t even finished their training yet!” Hu Hao pointed at the map.

“Understood! I’ll issue the deployment orders shortly!” Wang Yao replied.

“Good! tell me, why do our factories have so many tanks sitting around?! If we have this many tanks, why haven’t we expanded our forces?! And why weren’t they issued to us?!” Hu Hao asked, looking at Wang Yao.

Wang Yao looked back at Hu Hao, equally perplexed. He honestly had no idea.

“Alright, go handle your tasks. I figure you probably don’t know either!” Hu Hao waved him off.

“I’ll get to work!” Wang Yao immediately turned and left. Hu Hao found a chair and sat down to collect his thoughts.

Less than five minutes later, Huan Xingtao called again. Hu Hao immediately picked up.

“Hao-ge, I just received a report from the 1st Battalion! They found a massive number of warehouses packed with ammunition at the bullet factory! They said they’re currently inspecting the 11th warehouse, and every single one is filled to the brim with crates of bullets!” Huan Xingtao reported. Hu Hao stood there, utterly dumbfounded!

“Hao-ge?! Hao-ge?!” Huan Xingtao yelled into the receiver.

“Ah? Oh, I’m here! What did you just say?! ‘A massive number of warehouses packed with ammunition’?! How much is there?! How many rounds?!” Hu Hao asked, his voice trembling in disbelief.

“I don’t know! How could we possibly know?! The warehouses are massive, and they’re completely packed! We don’t have an inventory manifest! How could we possibly know the exact number?!” Huan Xingtao replied.

“Mm. Right… transport them! Dispatch vehicles and transport them to our position immediately! Hurry! Transport them through the night! what day is it today?! Is this my lucky day to strike it rich?!” Hu Hao felt like he was dreaming.

Thousands of tanks! And ammunition measured by the warehouse! Hu Hao’s brain completely short-circuited; he literally didn’t know how to process this information.

He had originally only wanted to secure the factory equipment! He never imagined the factories would be sitting on such a massive stockpile of finished goods!

(End of Chapter)