Munitions Empire

When dawn was barely breaking, the Tang Army commenced its assault on Fengjiang City. Unlike the usual Tang Army which waited for Dahua Empire's counterattack, the 7th Army deployed new troops and initiated another advance into the city district.

Without any artillery preparation, the Tang Army started the attack. The Dahua troops were unprepared and faced what could only be described as war fanatics.

Before breakfast at the temporary headquarters of an infantry battalion stationed in a factory they had seized the previous night, the battalion commander gathered his three company commanders to assign tasks for the attack.

He stood at a rubble-filled corner with a table in front of him while nearby soldiers distributed ammunition that logistics had delivered in the middle of the night, just in time.

Pointing at the hastily drawn map on the table, the Tang Army's battalion commander briefly described the situation, "Beyond the factory is a street! Across the street is a residential area which is quite chaotic!"

"The artillery fire from yesterday must have completely destroyed it. I guess it's now just ruins. Dahua's troops might not defend in the ruins, but we must be cautious." After that, he looked at his three key subordinates.

"As the first assault squad, 1st Company will rush into the ruins to clear any possible Dahua or Qin Country troops stationed there. If we encounter fierce resistance, we will call for artillery support." The 1st Company commander pointed to the marked residential area on the map and confirmed.

The battalion commander patted his shoulder confidently and guaranteed, "Don't worry, including the artillery from the adjacent battalion, we have a total of 20 mortars. As long as they dare to be there, we dare to flatten it!"

The 1st Company commander nodded his head and reassured, "Then there's no problem. The main attacking 1st Company will seize the target."

The 2nd Company commander took over the discussion and repeated his mission, "2nd Company will bypass along the street to establish defensive positions on the flanks. Our men confirmed this morning that the side also has a factory, and the terrain appears fairly open."

The battalion commander turned to the 3rd Company commander, whose unit had sustained the greatest losses from the previous day's main assault, now reduced to just over 80 soldiers.

With a questioning tone, he asked, "3rd Company suffered heavy losses yesterday, and today's task is relatively light. Can you handle it?"

The 3rd Company commander immediately assured solemnly, "No problem. We will establish defensive positions on the other side. If the enemy counterattacks from this direction, we will repel them."

Looking at the 3rd Company's commander, the battalion commander nodded and then reminded, "Pay attention to sniper placement and try not to set booby traps... they just complicate things for us. Understand?"

It wasn't that they were unwilling to destroy the city, but they needed to consider the follow-up troops. If they planted a lot of mines here, it would be almost impossible for the following troops to use this area.

"Understood!" "Understood!" "Got it!" Hearing the battalion commander, the company commanders immediately responded.

The battalion commander looked at his subordinates once more, waved his hand, and adjourned the meeting, "Let's begin the attack then!"

The company commanders, grasping their steel helmets, walked out of the partly collapsed factory ruins, and the various units, after being prepared, began the attack according to the pre-planned offensive.

At a Dahua defending force's position where soldiers were eating breakfast, a sentinel suddenly shouted loudly. They hardly had time to clear their bowls and utensils before the battle fiercely erupted.

"Tatatatatata!" The distinctive sound of the covering MG-42 machine gun resonated in the early morning sky as a squad of Tang Army soldiers, armed, swiftly crossed the street.

A soldier was shot in the thigh while running and fell in the middle of the road, only to be hit by more bullets.

Blood spread along the uneven road, filling the gaps between the stones and the road surface. No one paid attention to this new corpse, as the city was littered with dead bodies.

The Tang Army soldiers who had crossed the road immediately began to organize fire suppression. The firepower of the Type 56 assault rifle was very formidable; a fire team of three to five could overpower a full squad of Dahua defenders facing them.

More Tang Army soldiers crossed the road, and immediately, Dahua troops from a higher position in the ruins started throwing hand grenades down, attempting to push back the Tang Army that had crossed the street.

Several hand grenades exploded near the foxholes where Tang Army soldiers sought cover in the rubble, making it difficult for them to raise their heads.

A Tang Army soldier, hit by shrapnel, was covered in blood as a medic knelt beside him, ceaselessly trying to stop the bleeding, but the blood continued to stain the unique camouflage uniforms of the Tang Army.

A squad leader who had crossed the road was gesturing various hand signals to his fellow troops across the street, calling for artillery support and indicating the enemy's approximate coordinates.

"Boom! Boom!" Soon, the Tang Army's mortar shells began to hit the ground, with the first few shells landing behind the Dahua military's ruins defense line. However, as time progressed, several more shells landed right on the Dahua forces' defense line.

Unfortunately, the next few shells landed on the road and also blocked the Tang Army's further advance.

"Damn it! The dispersion is so wide, haven't they ever fired a mortar before?" Holding his steel helmet and terrified nearly to the point of wetting his pants by his own troops' shells, the Tang Army squad leader cursed loudly.

He had just been "cross-fired" by a friendly shell from behind. If the aim had been even slightly more exaggerated, it would have "sunk" all the seven or eight brothers who had crossed the road.

Braving the artillery fire and gun smoke, the squad leader had to stand up, gesturing as noticeably as possible to make the supporting fire from his rear a bit more accurate.

From the Tang Army's starting position, the squad leader stood up facing away from the enemy without any cover, waving his arms like a madman prepared for suicide.

After the second round of shelling, the mortar shells from the Tang Army were much more precise, mostly landing on Dahua's defensive positions, shrouding the area in gun smoke and momentarily silencing the gunfire.

The squad leader who stood up to gesture was also luckily not hit by bullets; although he gestured for a long time, by the time Dahua soldiers reacted and fired at him, the bullets all miraculously missed this brave soul.

So, they say on a bloody battlefield, the madman risking his life might not necessarily be the first to die, and the coward hiding in the corner might not necessarily live to a ripe old age.

Everything depends on whether fate still wants you alive; if it doesn't, even if you are hidden in the most secluded bunker, you might still be taken away by a stray shell...

Another group of Tang Army soldiers crossed over the corpse lying in the middle of the road and rushed across, putting the Dahua troops on the back foot.

Their closer-range firepower density truly was no match, and once suppressed, it became easy for the Tang Army to approach and eventually wipe them out with thrown hand grenades.

The scene before them unfolded thus, the Tang Army grenade throwers inching closer under a barrage of bullets, crawling near the Dahua troops' ruins defense line, and then pulling out hand grenades to deliver their "gifts."

After a series of explosions, another few dozen Tang Army soldiers had crossed the road. They began climbing the ruins under machine gun cover and gradually drove the Dahua defenders from their high ground.

The Dahua soldiers who lost the high ground immediately became disarrayed, began retreating, and then the collapse continued unstoppably.

The Tang Army began firing from behind them, killing those Dahua soldiers trying to flee. These Dahua defenders, initially in large numbers, died in droves on the route of their retreat.

The road seemed to have become safe, so Tang Army's 2nd company began a flanking maneuver across the road. A passing medic, upon checking a corpse in the middle of the road and realizing the person was beyond saving, ran forward a few steps, catching up with his large unit.

"Boom!" A large-caliber shell fell, landing on a rubble pile beside the road, the massive explosion scattering stones and dirt and making the earth tremble with its roar.

That was from the Dahua forces' 150mm howitzer; clearly, the enemy seemed intent on supporting their troops, but the Tang Army had already expelled the defenders from the ruins, and the enemy's artillery fire landed behind the advancing Tang forces.

However, soon, several large-caliber shells fell on the industrial area where the Tang Army's battalion headquarters was located, showing that the Dahua artillery troops had shooting parameters that included the suburban factory now occupied by the Tang Army.

Sadly, after seven or eight shells fell, the enemy ceased their shelling—because day had already begun to break, and the engine sounds of the Tang Nation Air Force's dive bombers began echoing across the entire Fengjiang City.

Hundreds of Stuka Dive Bombers carrying a type of bomb never before seen by the Dahua Empire commenced their day's work.

This weapon could certainly be described as brutal for the Dahua soldiers stationed in Fengjiang City.

The Great Tang Group's chemical plants had supplied the Tang Army with a large quantity of fresh and expensive chemical agents. Among these agents was one used to produce illumination and smoke signal flares.

Yes, the Tang Nation Air Force had begun equipping white phosphorus bombs, prepared to use this terrifying weapon to surprise the Dahua forces: the emergence of new weaponry often reaps countless lives, and this time was no exception.

The Stuka Dive Bombers, laden with white phosphorus bombs marked with various warning signs and painted in special colors, swooped down from the sky and dropped these special bombs onto the heads of the Dahua defenders.

Immediately following, a horrific scene unfolded. White smoke permeated the battlefield, as if everything were burning, everything emitting smoke, the air filled with a suffocating scent mixed with scorching heat, tormenting everyone.