Chapter 569: The vige in front of 528
The battle on the ground was still raging on, and Liu Guozhu felt the slight jolts atop his own tank. Peering through the cracks of themander’s view window, he saw the vige ahead and the routed soldiers crowded on the road.
The Qi Country’s troops had beenpletely defeated, and these retreating soldiers from the Qi Army finally showed their so-called true colors.
At least one-fifth of these units were even equipped with Shireck Flintlock Guns, they had no steel helmets, and some weren’t even fully equipped with individual gear.
The troops of the Third Prince were known to have the worst equipment, which is why they neverpleted their rearming before the outbreak of the war.
The original n was that, with the support of strong defensive fortifications, it wouldn’t matter much if the troop’s equipment was slightly inferior.
But who could have known that the positions would bepletely lost on the first day ofbat, exposing the Qi Country’s troops in the open field and revealing their outdated equipment.
Now, the Qi Army couldn’t even think of organizing a counterattack, they couldn’t even muster enough to reorganize their defenses.
Liu Guozhu looked at the Qi soldiers blocking his path and felt that wasting time on these enemies, who had long since lost their will to fight, was a crime.
To him, these men had been frightened out of their wits by the bombers, they would only surrender or flee,pletely devoid of any will to resist.
He thus ordered his driver to drive the tank directly forward, since more Tang Army soldiers were catching up behind him.
At the rumbling of the engine, the Qi soldiers began to panic. A Tang tank burst through the trees, shot out, and terrified them into a scattered flight.
“The Tang Army ising!” A soldier screamed at the top of his lungs as he scattered, prompting those around him to start running in chaos as well.
“Tat-tat-tat!” The coaxial machine gun began firing bursts, and the attack from mere dozens of meters away caused countless deaths and injuries among the Qi soldiers who had just settled down to camp.
These Qi soldiers wereters; they had not heard the sound of the tank engines because Liu Guozhu and his men had already stopped here for a rest before they decided to pause in this clearing.
In fact, thebat quality of the Qi Army was really poor, it could even be said theycked proper training and didn’t know whatbat was all about.
Before setting up camp, these men had not even sent out patrol squads to scout the perimeter, nor had they arranged for sentries.
They were merely fleeing and had not anticipated that the enemy’s attack would be faster than their retreat.
So when Liu Guozhu burst forth, the Qi soldiers panicked once again; they ran out of habit, and some even raised their hands in surrender.
No one noticed that only one tank,manded by Liu Guozhu, had broken out of the woods, and nobody saw that there weren’t even any Tang soldiers behind it.
Yes, nearby there was only Liu Guozhu’s Tank No. 4. He had contacted his toon leader just minutes ago, and thetter with another tank were currently waiting for supplies in the next vige.
Unknowingly, Liu Guozhu’s tank had moved to the very front of their forces, and not far ahead was another small vige.
“Tat-tat-tat-tat!” The coaxial machine gun kept firing, mowing down those Qi soldiers who turned their backs to the enemy.
One after another, the Qi soldiers fell,pletely breaking thest line of psychological defense.
They began to give up running, surrendering en masse, all raising their hands high and waiting for the judgment of that steel beast on their lives or deaths.
Thank God, as soon as Liu Guozhu saw that the situation was under control, he immediately ordered a cease-fire.
The sound of machine gunfire stopped, and the battlefield fell silent again. Liu Guozhu opened the hatch and poked his head out, looking down at the Qi soldiers within arm’s reach.
“Stack your weapons over there! No tricks!” Liu Guozhu shouted loudly, surrounded by vast numbers of Qi soldiers.
The Qi soldiers never expected the driver of the terrifying tank to be a child; they looked somewhat stunned at the young figure before them, and eventually resigned to their fate, stacking their weapons on the cleared ground beside the tank.
Soon, a squad of Tang Army soldiers arrived. They had a truck with them, carrying ammunition and various assorted items.
The Tang soldiers that arrived consisted of roughly two squads. The reason for their scattered arrival was that they encountered arge number of fleeing Qi soldiers along the way and had to allocate a substantial number of troops to guard these surrendering enemies.
“The road is pretty much blocked by these captives. You guys with the tanks got here fast, but the following infantry had a tough time,” said the toon leader, lighting a cigarette, to Liu Guozhu.
In front of him, his men stood with weapons held, continuing to disarm the Qi soldiers. He raised the cigarette pack in his hand, Liu Guozhu shook his head and raised his hand to signal a decline to the kind offer.
Tank soldiers weren’t allowed to smoke on the tanks, and Liu Guozhu was just a kid who hadn’t grown his full set of hair yet, so he didn’t smoke at all.
“Thanks! Our tank toon is in the next vige over! We’re in need of manpower to have a look at the vige ahead!”
“With tank cover, I don’t mind! Twelve people, and me… that’s about all we have… the truck will have to stay behind; it’s just dead weight if we bring it along,” the infantry toon leader was willing to follow and pointed at the truck behind him as he spoke.
“Get ready, we’re moving out now! We’ll take that vige so we can rest there for the night,” Liu Guozhu’s tactical n was crystal clear.
“No problem at all! Your nk is my responsibility!” the infantry toon leader delegated tasks, “Squad leader 1, take a few men to upy the edge of the forest on the nk! Find a ce with a good view and set up the machine gun!”
After finishing his instructions, he pointed to another direction, “The rest of Squad 1 will be under mymand! Follow the tank and keep to the right nk for guard! Keep low! And keep an eye on any movements on the sides of the vige!”
Liu Guozhu pressed his throatmunicator, reminded his driver to start the vehicle, and then continued to remind the infantrymen, “I’ve opened fire before, so they’re definitely aware of us in the vige! They’ve probably prepared themselves, so don’t let your guard down!”
“Got it! Old Zhang! Old Zhang! Get the mortar down from the truck! Set it up! Ifbat breaks out, aim at the vige and fire! Suppress the enemy’s firepower!” The more cautious infantry toon leader turned back to the group that stayed behind and shouted.
An old soldier raised his arm; he was once a man from Zheng Country, but now he was a man of Tang Country, without much talent, he just muddled along in the military…
Under his direction, a few from Squad 2 who stayed behind to watch the prisoners came to assist, lifting a 60mm caliber mortar from the truck; a piece of support weaponrymonly equipped bypany and toon level units.
Because of its small size and ease of instation and operation, it was particrly favored by the frontline troops. In this battle, the mortar seldom had a chance to demonstrate its capabilities and thus was left on the truck, following the advance.
Now, with the indirect fire support ready, Liu Guozhu felt more assured, and hemanded his tank to turn around, leaving behind a group of puzzled Qi soldiers, and charged towards the nearby vige.
The rumble of the tank’s engine burst forth along with plumes of ck smoke. The leading infantry, carrying MG43 machine guns, had already entered the forest, while the remaining troops had spread out, taking attack formations along the road.
Liu Guozhumanded his tank to brazenly drive down the highway, charging straight toward the vige of Qi Country.
Soon, gunfire echoed from the vige ahead. Liu Guozhu quickly retracted his head and stretched his hand to close the hatch above.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his own infantry lowering their bodies, their advance slowing down.
All the men skillfully sought cover; it must be said that thebat aptitude of the Tang Army was much higher than that of the Qi Army’s.
“Attention! Enemy attack! Locate the enemy’s fire source! Can you see the shooter’s position?” Liu Guozhu asked his gunner, as he searched through themander’s observation window for the enemy’s firing location.
The gunner, peering through his own scope, couldn’t make out the target either, since his view was even more restricted. Although it was clearer, he could only see buildings within the vige.@@novelbin@@
“Damn it.” Liu Guozhu had to once again lift the hatch above him, peeked out quickly, then ducked back in toin.
He saw Qi soldiers scattered throughout the vige, along with Qi Army trucks, startled warhorses, and a mess of supply boxes piled haphazardly along the roadside.
“Machine operator! Fire the hull machine gun! Don’t bother aiming, just strafe! Suppress the people in the vige!” Liu Guozhu loudly issued the firing order.
Then he ordered his gunner and loader in front, “Load the high-explosive shell! Open fire when you have a target! Don’t wait for mymand!”
The loader quickly pulled out a shell from beside him and adroitly slid it into the cannon’s breech. By then, Tank No. 4 was still advancing, but because it was driving on the road without much jostling, the loader was able to operate smoothly.
Only then did Liu Guozhu btedly order a halt, and the tank shook slightly before it stopped in the middle of the road.
The machine operator, who had just hung the drum on the machine gun, pulled the trigger, and the hull-mounted machine gun began its relentless roaring.
Simultaneously with the machine gun’s ceaseless strafing, the short barrel 75mm caliber cannon on the turret of Tank No. 4 belched a thick cloud of smoke,unching a shell!
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