Chapter 1190: 1110 saw the butcher
At the sa ti, arriving at South Island were not only the jet fighters of Sixth Lord but also other aircraft squadrons of the air force.
For instance, the Yir-2 attack aircraft squads, which were far more ferocious than the Stukas, especially when equipped with large-caliber rockets.
Although they couldn’t perform pinpoint bombing revenge strikes like the Stukas, these planes’ strike capability was top-notch. What frustrated their enemies even more was that these attack aircraft were faster than the Stukas, with more enduring and savage firepower.
Arriving alongside were also the Butcher Fighter squads. Though not as powerful as the jet fighter squads, they had the advantage of reliability, lower airfield requirents, and greater numbers.
However, the Butcher Fighters now had a different role within the Tang Nation Air Force; their missions shifted from air superiority contests to enemy attack escort and direct involvent in ground attacks.
Yes, the robust and powerful Butcher Fighters, which were considered the mainline fighter jets of the Poplar Empire, had beco second-tier nannies within the Tang Nation Air Force, relegated mostly to ground attack roles.
In the ruins of Great Southern Bay’s city, behind a pile of debris, a group of Mirage Country goblin soldiers were preparing their lunch. They had lost a third of the city and were still locked in bitter combat with the Tang Army inside.
Everyone knew that organized resistance would soon collapse. As the fight dragged on, the garrison without supplies or reinforcents in Great Southern Bay was bound to fail within days.
Yet, they were defending the territory of their country, and surrender wasn’t sothing they would easily consider. They clung to a sliver of hope that the Tang Army’s trans-ocean offensive would eventually lose montum.
“Don’t worry! The Tang People won’t keep this up for long. Fengjiang was the sa; even Zhao Chen with all his ferocity was ultimately driven out of Fengjiang by us,” said a Mirage Country officer, who had served in Fengjiang, holding a al box as he reassured his jumpy soldiers.
Recently, Tang Nation snipers had been particularly active, appearing and disappearing within the ruins, severely impacting Mirage Country soldiers’ morale.
But Mirage Country had little ans to respond. They had never prioritized sniper operations; the few snipers they had were treated as precious assets, rarely deployed.
Additionally, infantry developnt had never been a focus for Mirage Country’s military. When their navy fell, they realized too late the importance of land battles.
“Sir, can we really win?” A child soldier, perhaps only in his teens, dressed in a uniform and wielding a Shireck Type-1 rifle taller than himself, asked the officer in a naive voice.
“As long as we bravely keep fighting! Hold on! We can win!” The officer stirred the al box contents that looked like pig slop with his spoon and continued encouraging the soldiers.
They had already lost their power plant, lost their waterworks, lost the nearby wells… Now, there was nothing left to rely on except courage.
In the sky, the faint sound of aircraft engines could be heard. At this mont, hearing the sound of planes almost certainly ant they were Tang Nation aircraft.
The Mirage Country officer raised his head to look into the sky. That one glance nearly caused him to drop the al box in his hand out of shock.
He couldn’t believe his eyes. He rubbed them in disbelief at what he saw above: Butcher Fighters!
Back in Fengjiang, during his ti as a rcenary, these aircraft served as Fengjiang’s mainline fighters, endlessly buzzing over his head like a botherso drone.
Back then, these planes brought him an inexplicable sense of security. Now, to Mirage Country soldiers, they were nothing short of death incarnate!
“Damn it! How could the Butchers be here?” He muttered, instinctively realizing what had happened: “Fuck! They’ve captured the airfield! It’s over… Everything’s over now!”
He knew too well how strong Tang Nation’s air force was. The instant realization of what this ant hit him like the sky falling. Fengjiang’s air force was formidable; Tang Nation’s air force… was an even greater force of destruction!
“Sir, what’s wrong?” Many Mirage Country soldiers hadn’t seen the Butcher Fighters before and feared the Stuka far more than the Butchers.
This officer wasn’t truly afraid of the Butchers themselves but of what their presence signified—Tang Nation’s air force! If the Tang Army gained control of the ground airfields, countless Stukas would soon fill the skies.
Sure enough, the Stukas, which had decreased in numbers over the past two days, once again reappeared in large waves. In reality, they didn’t co from the air force but from returning naval aircraft carriers that had sent attack aircraft squads to drop their leftover ammunition on Great Southern Bay.
To allow many of their older aircraft to independently cross the ocean, Tang Nation had secretly modified many of their planes in advance.
Stukas, Yir-2s, and Butcher Fighters were all equipped with disposable auxiliary fuel tanks. These devices temporarily increased their range and would be discarded mid-flight.
In this way, the Stukas with a range of only about 1,000 kiloters, the Yir-2s with only 800 kiloters, and the Butchers with also less than 800 kiloters could barely fly to South Island on their own.
Upon arriving at South Island, these planes underwent so degree of maintenance before gradually joining the battle the next day.
As for those unmodified aircraft, they had to be transported via sea to South Island, which delayed their participation. This was unavoidable.
Tang Army couldn’t afford to modify every single plane; that would be extrely wasteful. After all, these planes were slated for retirent, and modifying them now was simply squandering resources.
In reality, the true trans-oceanic bombing force of Tang Nation’s air force consisted of hundreds of Flying Fortress strategic bombers.
These aircraft, when carrying out long-range bombing missions across the ocean, could only carry about two tons of explosives, as most of their load was consud by fuel weight.
Now, these planes could easily take off from South Island airfields, fully loaded with bombs, showing Mirage Country’s ground troops what true bomb delivery trucks were.
The sight of these planes opening their bomb bays and aerial bombs falling like raindrops was captured during their close-range bombing missions and broadcasted widely.
“Sir?” One of the subordinates called out again timidly upon noticing their commander lost in thought. This ti, the Mirage Country officer snapped out of his terror. “I’m fine! Just distracted… seeing that plane put off for a mont.”
He didn’t bother explaining to his n because there wasn’t ti nor the ability to fully articulate it. He simply sighed and muttered a single ominous sentence: “Soon, we’ll et our doom.”
Unexpectedly, his words proved prophetic. The very next morning, Tang Army’s Flying Fortress bombers made their grand entrance, fully loaded with bombs.
The number of bombs Tang Army dropped this ti was more than triple the previous amounts! Countless bombs descended into Great Southern Bay, leaving the city without a single intact building.
Shenwu Zhong was utterly numbed by it all. He had anticipated Tang Army would repair the bombed-out airfields but hadn’t expected them to do it so swiftly.
After all, Shenwu Zhong was a man of experience. When he saw the Butcher Fighters, he imdiately understood Tang Nation’s aerial strike capabilities had increased.
What he hadn’t foreseen was how quickly this increase would materialize. His troops were wholly unprepared when hundreds, even thousands of bombs were dropped on Mirage Country positions.
Mirage Country fell into chaos as Tang Army advanced aggressively under the support of ten-plus Stukas and Yir attack aircraft. By nightfall that sa day, half the city had been captured.
Shenwu Zhong was forced to relocate his central command from the city center to the eastern outskirts, where he continued organizing Mirage Country’s urban guerrilla warfare.
Yet even he could feel clearly: Mirage Country’s structure was collapsing, their combat power had severely diminished, and continuing resistance seed futile.
“I have no regrets left,” Shenwu Zhong said bitterly to his subordinate officers as he stared at the map.
Ten days ago, he had ordered the destruction of every dock and pier in Great Southern Bay, even warehouses on the shore weren’t spared.
Under his command, Mirage Country’s engineers demolished everything they could. Though Mirage Country’s troops had crumbled in their fights recently, they ensured everything they could destroy was annihilated before falling.
Honestly, Tang Army’s destruction of South Island paled compared to what Mirage Country had done to itself. Things Tang Army couldn’t bear to do were carried out decisively by Mirage Country.
Mirage Country troops burned civilian hos during retreats, detonated ammunition supplies, and even destroyed heavy weapons they couldn’t transport.
The battlefield was littered with disabled heavy cannons with ruined barrels, vehicles stripped of essential parts, and scrapped machine guns.
Additionally, Mirage Country burned any food supplies they couldn’t consu or transport, seemingly trying to stretch Tang Army’s logistics to the breaking point and force them to collapse first.
Unfortunately, despite their scorched-earth tactics and even killing their own, they couldn’t stop Tang Army’s relentless advance.
“Shenwu Erlang just contacted us; his troops have already been ordered to retreat northward on the island. Reinforcents won’t be coming.” Shenwu Zhong spoke the main point of the eting after his bitter laugh.
This was also the source of his current despair: the high command had completely abandoned South Island. The 3rd Corps wouldn’t… and in fact, couldn’t move southward anymore. Shenwu Zhong’s 2nd Corps had been left behind entirely.
“The high command’s order to us is… to hold our ground to the last soldier!” He stared at his subordinates, whose faces were a mixture of dejection and fear, and recited the Shen Emperor’s command, word by word: “Long live His Majesty the Shen Emperor! Long live Mirage Country! For our nation! We must fight to the death!”
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