Chapter 185: No Saving Them

“Boom! Boom! Boom!” The explosions continued to rage. Relying on their trenches and the element of surprise, Hu Hao’s forces had completely blinded the Kabuguo 32nd Corps in a single strike.

The Allied forces never expected to be ambushed here. Consequently, the soldiers and officers had absolutely zero psychological preparation. Crucially, the ferocious initial barrage instantly neutralized a massive number of Allied troops and heavy equipment.

By the time they reacted, they couldn’t even muster enough troops to organize a defense. Many vehicles, struck during the panic, had veered directly off the road and crashed into the river below. Countless Allied soldiers were knocked unconscious by the fall.

The shock of the cold water quickly jolted them awake. Realizing they were still in the river, they looked up to see a barrage of deafening explosions. Dozens of soldiers, blown high into the air by the blasts, plummeted into the water alongside them. The river surface instantly dyed a deep, gruesome red.

“Damn it! Counterattack! Counterattack! They’re in the forest! Hurry, find cover!” Many officers hid behind vehicle tires, roaring at the top of their lungs.

“Boom! Boom!” Those very vehicles were the primary targets of the rocket launchers. As per previous orders, every vehicle was to be struck at least once, regardless of whether it was already disabled or not. Everything had to be blown up.

“The Allied forces are finished! They’re finished! They don’t have many men left!” the staff officers surrounding Hu Hao shouted joyfully upon seeing the situation unfold!

“Rat-a-tat-tat~” The helicopters continued strafing the Allied forces from above, leaving them with absolutely nowhere to hide.

Some helicopters even fired upon the river surface. Seeing they couldn’t hold out on land, many Allied soldiers had jumped directly into the river, hoping to escape the onslaught!

“Hurry! Order the vanguard tank units to turn around and reinforce us immediately! Hurry!” Fritsch roared frantically.

He realized his side was returning almost zero fire; the gunfire was entirely originating from the forest. He knew his troops were undoubtedly being slaughtered. Otherwise, how could there be no return fire?!

“Corps Commander, we must leave! We have to retreat quickly! If their Air Cavalry arrives, we won’t be able to escape! Retreat, hurry!” a senior staff officer urged Fritsch.

“Retreat?! How can we retreat?! Our troops are all engaged up front! Tell me, how are we supposed to retreat right now?! Damn it! Charge forward!” Fritsch bellowed.

His three infantry divisions and one artillery division were all under attack. If he couldn’t rescue them this time, his corps would be reduced to nothing. The only troops he would have left would be his personal guard regiment and the logistics units.

But what use would escaping with those units be? Furthermore, their orders were to reinforce the troops in Santong County. They hadn’t even reached Santong County yet, and they had already been ambushed. How was he supposed to explain this to the Allied Commander?

“Corps Commander, we have to go! Their Air Cavalry is here! Hurry!” The Guard Regiment Commander roared. He spotted the Air Cavalry swooping toward them from the distance, following the highway and launching rockets at the vehicles along the way.

The heavy machine gunners aboard the helicopters relentlessly strafed the soldiers below. They were flying quite high, estimating an altitude of roughly 200 meters.

“Fire! Shoot those Air Cavalry down! Shoot them all down! Hurry! Don’t let them get close! We absolutely cannot let them get close! Hurry up and destroy them!” the Guard Regiment Commander yelled.

The Allied soldiers were actually attempting to fight back, but the Air Cavalry’s firepower was simply too overwhelming. Compounded by their ignorance of the situation ahead, they could only fight a fighting retreat. Even so, they still suffered massive casualties as soldiers were continuously gunned down.

“Kill them!” The Eastern Spirit tank regiment commander roared. The Allied forces no longer possessed any functional tanks in this sector. Bai Ye and the commanders at all levels ordered their tanks and armored vehicles to charge out toward the edge of the forest!

“Charge them! They don’t have many men left! Completely annihilate them!” Hu Hao stood up and roared. The other staff officers immediately grabbed their phones, ordering the Regimental Commanders to have their soldiers leave the trenches, charge the highway, and wipe out the remaining enemy forces.

“Kill them!” The soldiers raised their rifles and sprinted toward the highway!

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

“Rat-a-tat-tat!” The soldiers fired as they ran. The moment they spotted surviving Allied soldiers or encountered any resistance, the heavy machine guns in the rear immediately provided suppressing fire.

By this point, the trees in front of Hu Hao’s position had basically all been felled, severed entirely by the relentless heavy machine gun fire. The soldiers leaped over or crawled under the fallen trunks as they continued their charge.

“Jump! Hurry!” Seeing the Eastern Spirit forces charging out, and realizing there were barely any survivors left around them, many Allied soldiers shouted to their comrades before diving into the river.

They all knew that if they didn’t jump, they would be dead meat once the Eastern Spirit forces reached them. However, jumping wasn’t necessarily safe either. The helicopters had been keeping a close eye on the river surface. The moment the Allied soldiers surfaced, heavy machine gun fire rained down upon them.

“Kill them!” In the distance, Hu Hao’s troops continued charging toward the highway. To completely annihilate the Allied forces, they had to break cover and eliminate any enemy soldiers attempting to fight back.

“Contact the Air Cavalry! Have them follow the highway, track down the Allied tank division, and destroy those tanks! Tell them to go immediately! We don’t need Air Cavalry support here anymore!” Hu Hao ordered a staff officer behind him.

“Yes, sir!” The staff officer immediately contacted the Air Cavalry commander, ordering them to hunt down the 32nd Corps’ tank division and wipe them out!

“Hao-ge, this battle was decided far too quickly! They were completely unprepared!” the senior staff officer laughed joyfully.

“They sent at least three divisions, yet an entire three-division force dared to march in such a dense formation without an ounce of caution! They were just asking to die!” Hu Hao sneered proudly as he watched the battle unfold in the distance.

The battle had progressed incredibly smoothly. No one had expected Hu Hao to set up an ambush here, let alone in broad daylight. The Allied soldiers had initially assumed they only needed to be cautious when passing through small cities; they never imagined the Eastern Spirit forces would ambush them in a forest.

“Kill them!” In the distance, Hu Hao’s troops continued to surge forward, firing relentlessly at the Allied soldiers. Seeing his men charge out, Hu Hao felt immensely satisfied.

He knew there weren’t many Allied soldiers left alive on the highway. In truth, right after the first volley, Hu Hao knew the Allied forces were doomed. Many of their soldiers had been gunned down inside the trucks before they even had a chance to dismount.

As for the soldiers who managed to jump from the trucks, they found themselves facing a torrential hail of bullets with absolutely nowhere to hide. They could only fall to the ground, filled with bitter resentment.

“Hao-ge, the Allied command vehicles in the rear are retreating! They’re falling back toward Nage City!” a communications officer reported to Hu Hao.

“Do we still have Air Cavalry over there?!” Hu Hao immediately asked.

“Yes, we still have Air Cavalry engaged at the front. They’re currently in pursuit! However, the rest of the Air Cavalry has already headed toward the Allied tank division!” a staff officer replied.

“Then destroy them! Do not let them reach Nage City! If they reach the city, it’ll be difficult for us to engage them; fighting street battles isn’t worth it! Kill as many of them as possible right now! Once their numbers dwindle, they won’t dare stay in Nage City!” Hu Hao roared at the communications officer.

“Yes, sir!” The communications officer immediately began contacting the Air Cavalry units in the rear.

“Motherfucker, I never expected this! Truly never expected it to go this smoothly!” Hu Hao laughed.

“Hao-ge, we’ve absolutely crippled an entire corps! Merit like this… even those Lieutenant General Corps Commanders or Combat Zone Commanders might not have achieved anything comparable!” a staff officer smiled.

“Never mind that. Order the troops to finish this quickly! We must be fast!” Hu Hao instructed the staff officer.

“Yes, sir!” The staff officer immediately picked up the phone to relay the order.

Meanwhile, somewhere between Nage City and Daman City, the 32nd Corps’ tank division had just received word of the attack in their rear. They immediately turned their vehicles around and began rushing back to rescue their comrades. As for the forces in Santong County, they simply couldn’t afford to care about them right now.

“Increase speed! Damn it! How could the Eastern Spirit Empire possibly have troops back there?! That’s impossible! We didn’t spot a single trace of them!” After shouting the order into his radio, the Tank Division Commander began cursing furiously.

He truly couldn’t understand how Eastern Spirit troops could be operating in their rear. They had marched along that exact same route and hadn’t noticed a single enemy soldier.

“Report! Telegram from the Corps Commander! He orders us to abort the rescue mission! We are to proceed to Santong County and rendezvous with the forces there immediately! He states our troops can no longer be saved! He orders us to preserve our strength, advance rapidly to Santong County, and merge with the forces there!” A staff officer handed the telegram to the Division Commander.

“What did you say?! Abort the rescue mission?! They can’t be saved?!” The Division Commander stared at his staff officer in utter shock.

“That’s what the telegram says. However, we don’t know the specific details of the situation!” The staff officer handed over the telegram. The Tank Division Commander quickly grabbed it and read it carefully, finding that the staff officer had spoken the truth.

“How is that possible?! It’s barely been thirty minutes since they called for help! We have tens of thousands of troops! How could they be beyond saving already?! It’s impossible for them to be completely annihilated!” The Division Commander simply couldn’t believe his eyes. Based on his understanding of the telegram, it seemed their main force had already been wiped out.

(End of Chapter)