Chapter 594: 553 Battle Situation Changes
No one is a fool, and King Jiang Xian of Qi Country, who had been diligently managing state affairs for over twenty years, was certainly not one either.
He had previously detected that the likely directions of the Tang Army’s attack were Luo Town and Nanye, so he began to consider how to deal with the current situation imdiately.
Right now, Qi Country could be said to be very passive, their hinterland was extrely empty, essentially devoid of defensive forces.
To reinforce Nanye, Jiang Xian had even dispatched the last troops guarding King City, leaving the capital of Qi Country empty and defenseless like an unfortified city.
Jiang Xian was far from naive enough to believe that his re force of over 20,000 imperial guards could achieve any miracle in Nanye, because if there were any miracles to be had, they would have happened already.
From start to finish, the one Jiang Xian placed his hopes on was the defense by the frontline troops, breaking through Tang Army’s defense from behind, and forcing them to abandon their plan to capture Nanye.
In other words, Jiang Xian was relying on the Third Prince and the First Prince to fall back; he believed his two sons could seize back the initiative on the battlefield with one brilliant counterattack.
However, as a king, he couldn’t naively pin all his hopes on a military operation with an uncertain outco.
Therefore, while giving the Third Prince and the First Prince strict orders to break through the railway between Luo Town and Nanye at any cost, Jiang Xian also issued an order to his second son.
This order was for the Second Prince on the eastern front to imdiately pull out his elite forces and move along another railway to reinforce King City.
Knowing the emptiness of Qi Country’s King City, Jiang Xian couldn’t allow this dangerous situation to continue. He would certainly choose the most secure and quickest thod to redeploy troops back to King City.
Currently, it seed that going through Luo Town might not be the fastest option. If the First Prince and the Third Prince failed to retake Luo Town, then everything would beco an illusory reflection, like a castle in the air.
So the shrewd Jiang Xian almost imdiately ordered the elite 2nd Army from the eastern defense zone to return to King City.
The Tang Army was on the move, and so was the Qi Army. Both sides were mobilizing troops and dispatching generals, hoping to strangle the enemy with their own arrangents.
“Report!” A shouted response jolted the King of Qi awake from his seat.
Inside a manor on the outskirts of Qi Country’s King City, Jiang Xian’s eyes were so tired that he could barely keep them open. He was nearing fifty this year, and his body no longer allowed him to overexert himself.
But the war prevented him from relaxing. He had been staying up all night for several days, and his whole body had grown thinner.
With dark circles under his eyes and a face marked by creases, the wrinkles seed to co alive with the movent of his lips, curling and wriggling as he asked, “What’s the matter?”
If Jiang Xian had gone to sleep, his attendants would never have let him be woken up like this. But in order to keep control of the latest intelligence, Jiang Xian adamantly refused to rest, which is why he fell asleep in his seat.
“Our forces deployed on the outskirts of Nanye for surveillance… have been completely wiped out.” The officer looked sowhat grim as he stood straight and answered.
In fact, these forces were not nurous; the Qi troops deployed near Nanye consisted of only a division, a re three regints at most.
These forces could not all be placed outside, so in reality, the Tang Army had severely damaged only about one to two regints of Qi forces.
But sotis, things were so mysterious: Qi Army really had only that many troops, so they truly couldn’t bear the fact of having one or even two regints completely annihilated.
Before the imperial guards could reach the front lines, almost half of the forces guarding Nanye had been wiped out by the advancing Tang Army.
“…” Since it was to be expected, Jiang Xian was not surprised. He just looked toward the general waiting for him to fully awaken and then inquired, “Where are the imperial guards?”
“It is estimated that it will take another day to reach Nanye.” The officer delivering the ssage answered with so trepidation.
“Let’s hope they make it in ti.” Jiang Xian sighed, feeling as if he were about to die there. He hadn’t had a proper rest for several days, and his face was worn with fatigue.
He also knew that his own forces’ movents were slow and there was no good solution in the short term, so after speaking, he sighed helplessly again, “Sigh…”
Then, as if he rembered sothing, he turned his head to look at a minister, “The things said by the Tang people on the radio… are they actually true?”
Just a few hours ago, the Tang Army’s broadcasting station announced a great victory: during the battle at Luo Town, they even claid to have killed at least two high-ranking officers of the Qi Army.
Whether this was true or false remained to be determined, but it was a fact that Jiang Xian could not contact the western front command.
“That’s nothing but Tang people’s propaganda, Your Majesty! It’s to shake you, to make you make a mistake in judgnt!” A minister quickly comforted him.
“Check! Send a telegram to the First Prince! Tell him to find his younger brother, and… find Tian Heng! No matter what, as soon as they are located, reply to at once!” Jiang Xian insisted stubbornly. He did not believe that his trusted sons and officers could simultaneously be in trouble.
“Yes!” The minister quickly bowed his head, saying no more.
…
“Have the identities been confird? A mix-up would greatly affect morale,” Luff discussed the sa matter with several of his staff officers at the Great Tang Army’s command post on the outskirts of Anpu.
The bodies of the Third Prince and Tian Heng, among others, had already been dealt with and loaded onto a train bound for Tang Country. The Tang Army would definitely make good use of this victory for their military propaganda.
Eyeing the photos, one staff officer confidently stated, “The uniform styles definitely match. I believe that at least these two generals… should be real.”
The Tang Army had previously acquired the uniform styles of Qi Country’s high-ranking officers through intelligence agencies, making it easy for them to discern that the military uniforms on these bodies indeed belonged to Qi Country’s high-ranking officers.
What another staff officer cared about was the body of the Third Prince: “Are we not going to publicize the royal military uniform?”
When it ca to verifying the battle results, the Tang Army was very ticulous and cautious—Tang Mo certainly didn’t want to see his troops make a blunder like claiming to have sunk the royal flagship in jest.
Therefore, when they saw the Third Prince’s body dressed in the royal uniform, the Tang Army’s propaganda departnt didn’t publicize it imdiately.
They even reported the killing of two high-ranking Qi officers and didn’t even ntion the killing of the Qi Third Prince.
“Are you kidding? How could we not publicize it? What a great victory this is! What glorious honor!” Luff snorted with a laugh as he spoke.
Of course, the propaganda had to be disseminated vigorously, and in an unprecedented manner, to proclaim the glory of the Great Tang Kingdom to the entire world.
Indeed, the Great Tang Kingdom’s propaganda departnt planned to directly publish photos of the Third Prince’s body, using a previously unparalleled color printing thod.
Though it was sowhat grueso, the visual impact was simply off the charts. Once the evidence was conclusive, they would announce the killing of the Third Prince.
At this mont, another staff officer asked his colleagues, his tone full of envy, “A second-class Cavalry dal?”
That was a second-class dal! With such a dal, one need not kneel to officials and would also receive a subsidy. So far, not a single one had been awarded throughout the entire army!
The staff officer sitting next to him felt as if his mouth was full of sourness: “General Redman suggested awarding the first-class Cavalry dal…”
“Liu Guozhu, that lucky guy!” Luff couldn’t help but sigh upon hearing the conversation. As Chief of Staff, he was not able to charge into battle at the front lines.
In fact, when Luff, one of the veterans of the Great Tang Group, used to lead troops, Tang Mo only had around a hundred guards under his command. Thus, Luff could never have a Blade dal or Cavalry dal, which was a regret for him.
The other staff officers all echoed in agreent: “Absolutely!”
“But I still have to criticize him! If only we had caught one alive, that would have been great,” a staff officer interjected, sowhat reluctantly.
Luff gave the officer a glance, feeling that he was ungratefully longing for more: “What are you thinking? What are you thinking? In that situation, it’s a bit much to expect the armored troops to capture soone alive, isn’t it?”
The officer was also a straightforward guy and, spreading his hands, still felt so regret: “Ah, I know, but I still feel a sense of pity… After all, if we had really caught soone alive, that would have been great.”
“Isn’t that the truth… So about that dal? Are we still awarding it as a first-class one?” The opinion of their Staff Departnt was very important for the awarding of dals.
Luff waved his hand and gave his view: “Wait, wait for the newspapers… or rather, wait for His Majesty’s decision.”
“Alright!” Seeing the boss speak, everyone imdiately agreed.
On the flank of Luo Town, within the 1st Battalion 1st Company of the 1st Armored Division, Liu Guozhu’s crew was still scrubbing their tank.
Even though they had already washed the intake grilles on the rear upper hull of their tank turret, they could still sll a stench of decay.
They didn’t know if it was misperception or sothing else, but despite having laid sothing beneath the bodies during transport, it didn’t seem to help. Everyone felt the sll lingered, so they could only wipe it down once more…
“Boss, do you think… we could get another dal for this?” an ammo loader curiously asked while vigorously scrubbing the grille seams with a cloth.
“How would I know…” Liu Guozhu too was continuously wiping down his beloved vehicle: “That’s not for to decide…”
As he talked, the oil from the wiping sared on his hands, and at that mont, he instinctively wiped his cheek.
Then he ended up with a big oily streak across his face, completely unaware of it.
The returning electrician imdiately burst into hilarious laughter, unreserved and carefree.
Amidst their laughter, another squadron of ten Stuka Dive Bombers roared overhead, flying toward the distant Qi Army positions.
——
Not feeling well today, just two updates. I’ll make up for it tomorrow.
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