Chapter 1123: 1044 No Retreat
Zhao Jie fled without looking back, abandoning his defensive position and the city’s southern airport outside the walls to Luo Xiao’s Fengjiang Troops. He himself escaped directly towards Pingfeng, where he convened with tens of thousands of soldiers coming to support him and managed to establish a stable footing there.
The speed of his retreat was so fast that Fengjiang Troops had already occupied the southern district of the city, and Li Mingshun’s Troops hadn’t even reacted yet.
By this ti, the eastern gate had also been taken by the Great Tang Empire’s Troops, and the nearby Imperial City was also affected: Zhao Ji, who was there, was now less than five kiloters away from the front line.
Actually, if one were to move in a straight line, the distance might be just a bit over three kiloters: Li Mingshun’s Troops were fighting desperately, but they really couldn’t hold on for much longer.
“Your Majesty, if we don’t retreat quickly, we’ll truly be unable to escape,” Li Mingshun again sought out Zhao Ji while eating breakfast, by which ti he had discovered that the situation was even worse than he had anticipated.
The Fengjiang Troops had already cut off the road to the northern warehouse; two-thirds of the Imperial Capital was now encircled, almost all of the outer defenses were lost, and there was no longer any contact with the northern airport.
At this very mont, they had only two options left, to either go towards Wangdu or Xiqing: The remaining cities in these two directions were few, and they would be split into two different pathways by the Imperial Capital.
“If we lose the Imperial Capital, won’t we just be sitting ducks?” Zhao Ji scoffed coldly, enjoying his breakfast: Even under these circumstances, the food reserves in the Imperial Palace were plentiful. He could eat whatever he liked, with a table filled with exotic delicacies.
After all, the coronation ceremony had just been held yesterday, and there was still a lot of ingredients left. While speaking, Zhao Ji stuffed another large chunk of at into his mouth.
Two beautiful won sat beside him, nervously serving Zhao Ji—one holding a wine cup and the other holding a plate filled with chunks of at.
They also didn’t wish to stay in this dangerous place and were even reluctant to serve Zhao Ji, who was now at his wits’ end, but they had no choice. In tis of chaos, a woman’s fate is often beyond her own control.
If they didn’t succumb to Zhao Ji’s sexual intimidation, they were likely to be thrown into the army to beco “items” for rewarding the soldiers.
Despite disliking Zhao Ji’s deanor, Li Mingshun still prioritized the overall situation, speaking up to persuade: “The enemy has already breached the city, our troops lack anti-tank weaponry and can no longer stop their advance… By afternoon, they might potentially reach the Imperial Palace.”
Hearing this news, the two won serving Zhao Ji’s al turned pale with fright, but Zhao Ji still dismissed it with a wave of his hand: “General Li! The Imperial Capital cannot be lost! You must defend this place, no matter what thod you use!”
Li Mingshun wanted to erupt in anger but ultimately held back: With the Imperial Capital surrounded on three sides, his Troops were indeed exhausted.
As the Dahua Empire’s capital city, the defense preparations of the Imperial Capital were actually quite thorough, but like almost all cities, it’s impossible to stockpile military munitions within the city.
In fact, there were four munitions depots in the southeast, northwest, and southwest of the Imperial Capital, the ammunition stocked in these depots critical for defending the city. But now, the southern and eastern munitions depots were essentially empty, otherwise Zhao Jie wouldn’t have left without blowing up these important locations.
Previously, to support the civil strife in Fengjiang, about one-third of the Imperial Capital’s munitions had been drawn away, all taken from the southern and eastern depots.
The northern depot had already been lost yesterday, taken over by Fengjiang Troops, who didn’t execute the command to destroy the ammunition but chose a dignified surrender instead. Surrendering often seems more honorable with so assets to hand over.
Consequently, the only ammunition depot left in Li Mingshun’s hands was the one in the west of the city, and even the munitions there had decreased after more than ten days of continuous battle.
While he had a noninsufficient amount of ammunition on hand, it was also not exactly in abundance. Moreover, with the expected reinforcents slow to act, the Imperial Capital was actually in a state of helpless isolation.
“Your Majesty! With insufficient ammunition and delayed reinforcents, if we don’t retreat now, everything will be over!” Nearly sobbing, Li Mingshun emphasized the difficulties they faced once again.
He wasn’t one to fear death for the sake of his own life; he simply didn’t want to witness the Dahua Empire, entrusted to him by Zhao Kai, perish before his eyes.
Zhao Ji chewed the at in his mouth, silently staring at Li Mingshun who had hurried over. In fact, he was in a period of confusion, clueless about what he truly wanted anymore.
He had previously racked his brains, acting recklessly, even selling out Zhao Chen, all for the sake of rushing back to compete for the throne that belonged to him.
Now that he had ascended to that position, the thing he had struggled for all his life was finally in his grasp; at this mont, he had lost his sense of purpose and suddenly felt a sense of relief and boredom.
In the northern direction of the city, a Type 5 Tank that had penetrated into the city was rolling its tracks, twisting its clumsy body to crush over a collapsed wall.
Following behind this tank, Fengjiang Soldiers were clearing the surrounding buildings, where Dahua Soldiers had taken civilians as hostages and refused to surrender no matter what.
The Fengjiang Troops didn’t waste words, directly throwing Hand Grenades into the rooms. The scene was quite bloody; countless civilians were killed or injured, but the Dahua Soldiers inside were swiftly eliminated.
The battle was incredibly intense; the Fengjiang Troops were all too familiar with this rhythm of assault. To be honest, the environnt they faced during urban combat in Fengjiang was much better than this.
At that ti, when the Dahua Troops were attacking Fengjiang, at least they had the support of heavy artillery, and many snipers were scattered among them. Both sides had to fight with extre caution, a level of gruesoness far greater than what was before them now.
The Dahua Troops stationed in the Imperial Capital had very few heavy weapons and equipnt. The heavy weapons that had been purchased from the Great Tang Empire over the year, along with the new gear, were all lost with Zhao Chen’s surrender.
Now, the Dahua Troops inside the city had little more than a Shireck Type 1 bolt-action rifle in the hands of most of them, which speaks volus about their combat effectiveness.
The tank, like a force of nature, smashed through a wall and then swiveled its turret to fire at a Dahua defensive street barricade that was spewing flas. The barrage hit.
Instantaneously, the hit barricade fell silent, and Fengjiang Troops took the opportunity to close in from both sides of the street, throwing Hand Grenades to clear out the enemies near the barricade.
The remaining dozen or so Dahua Soldiers raised their hands and chose to surrender. No matter how elite they were, they couldn’t overco an opponent with tanks.
Such events were happening all over the city, with block after block, district after district falling under the control of Fengjiang Troops. And as the attacking forces encountered so tall buildings, they had no choice but to pause, waiting for the follow-up forces to arrive for a strong offensive.
After all, these reinforced concrete buildings were indeed too sturdy, plus their natural height made it difficult for the defenders to attack directly from above.
However, once the 107 Rocket Artillery, Tanks, and large-caliber guns gradually joined the battle, these buildings couldn’t hold out for long.
Seeing that he couldn’t hear the order he wanted from Zhao Ji, Li Mingshun had no choice but to leave the Imperial Palace and return to his temporary command center, beginning to redraft the defensive lines.
Frankly, his efforts were already in vain: more and more Fengjiang Troops were arriving, and his situation was getting increasingly dangerous.
The Fengjiang Troops in the north were pushing south, the forces in the east were attacking westward, and the southern troops were also incessantly moving north… Now, the area of the Imperial Capital under Li Mingshun’s control was less than two-thirds.
“We’ve temporarily stopped the tanks in the north… but the enemy is reinforcing. If we can’t co up with a solution by noon, we’ll have to retreat again,” one officer explained the situation to Li Mingshun: “Retreat to Rongfu Square… we might be able to hold out for a while longer, at most until tomorrow morning.”
Another general hastily added, “The situation in the south isn’t too good either. Our Troops are holding on the north side of South Eight Avenue, and the enemy tried to cross the street but was barely repelled by us.”
“I know,” Li Mingshun looked at the road leading to the west gate, pointed, and said, “Have the 1st Division of the Imperial Guards retreat here to rest… take control of the entire road, ensuring that the Troops can pass through here and transfer outside the city at any ti.”
“General!” The officer next to him was startled upon hearing Li Mingshun’s order and then instinctively shouted out.
“Are we just preparing to give up the Imperial Capital?” Another general also didn’t understand Li Mingshun’s command; he knew the situation was a bit collapsing, but the proactive abandonnt of the Imperial Capital was sothing that they, the Imperial Guards, would not even dare to think about.
“I know you might not understand, but I have to prepare a way for His Majesty The Emperor to leave the Imperial Capital,” Li Mingshun explained: “With the current situation, you should all be clear that the possibility of holding here is virtually nil.”
“To stand fast at the Imperial Capital, to die here… I think everyone shares the sa resolve as I do. But the late Emperor entrusted the Empire to us, we can’t let the Dahua orthodoxy be destroyed on our watch, can we?” he asked, his gaze sweeping over the officers in the command center.
No one spoke. If there was a sliver of hope to live, naturally, they wouldn’t want to die here. Since Commander Li Mingshun was already prepared to give up the Imperial Capital, they naturally accepted such an order.
“Yes!” Finally, a general stood at attention and saluted in response, and the others also followed suit in saluting, issuing a succession of affirmations.
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