The further south they went, the worse the weather conditions beca, with dense clouds in the sky severely affecting the operations of the Tang Country Air Force.
However, the rain had indeed stopped, and although many places were still overcast with dark clouds, it was just cloudy without rain.
The Tang Army's battle groups advanced swiftly toward the southwest, even nearing Wangchun City in the southwestern region of the Dahua Empire.
Wangchun City, known for its pleasant climate, hence the na, was not very large, but still boasted a population of three hundred thousand, with neither electric power plants nor railway stations in short supply.
The reason for such advancent was that these infrastructure projects were all contracted by builders from Tang Country, as this was a pivotal city for the Dahua Empire's railway construction.
To the south of Wangchun City lay the Dahua Empire's main rear area for the troops attacking Xicong; traveling past Tengyun City and then heading south leads to South Wind Pass, from where the Dahua Empire's forces attacked Xicong by rail, moving east.
Therefore, if the Dahua Empire wanted to stop the Tang Army's advance, the best option was to defend Wangchun City, and if not that, at least stabilize their position at Tengyun City.
In any case, if South Wind Pass were lost, everything would fall apart. That's why Han Zhiyuan had rushed to Wangchun City himself, hoping to halt the Tang Army's march here.
The Tang Army's target was also Wangchun City; with this city taken, the Tang Army's flank would be covered, allowing them to continue southward without fear of the Dahua forces launching a large-scale counterattack from the western flank.
This was a strategic point, inevitably a focal point of contention between both sides.
The Tang Army committed three temporarily assembled battle groups to the fight, with these groups only amounting to a few thousand soldiers.
The Dahua Empire had not mustered many troops in Wangchun City either, just over ten thousand soldiers cobbled together from nearby areas. In terms of tanks and artillery, the Tang Army had the upper hand, while the Dahua Empire had the advantage in numbers.
On the fifth day after the Tang Army broke through the Dahua border defenses, they arrived at Wangchun City, which was a complete surprise to the military of the Dahua Empire.
Han Zhiyuan thought the Tang Army would attack Wangchun City at the earliest two days later, but in reality, they reached the outskirts of Wangchun City that very day and imdiately launched an assault on the city.
An infantry battalion easily breached the Dahua military's outer defense line with the support of armored vehicles and assault gun tanks, as the combat capabilities of the two sides were not on the sa level.
The seasoned grenadiers of the Tang Army were exceptionally fierce in urban combat, wielding assault rifles, their combat effectiveness unmatched by the Dahua forces ard with committee-issued rifles.
Moreover, most of the Dahua forces hastily assembled at Wangchun City were recruits, with virtually no combat experience, incapable of holding their positions.
The Tang Army launched a single charge and broke into Wangchun City, blasting through the city's ancient walls and storming into the urban area for street-to-street fighting.
The leaderless Dahua forces quickly collapsed, with many even surrendering outright and handing over their weapons.
"What's the situation on the eastern side of the city?" In the Lord's Mansion, a harried Han Zhiyuan paced back and forth in his makeshift command center, fraught to the extre.
The sound of gunfire in the city grew more intense, and Han Zhiyuan's personal guard commander even urged him to leave imdiately.
But Han Zhiyuan did not go; he was one of the Dahua Empire's famous warriors, and in terms of bravery, he considered himself second to none.
Abandoning the city and running away at such a ti was sothing he simply could not do. In fact, all he could think about was how to hold this place, to block the advancing Tang Army.
As long as he held his position here, the lengthy and vulnerable battle line of the attacking Tang Army would be exposed, ultimately becoming a weakness, forcing them to retreat and abandon the territory they had seized.
This was the best possible outco for the Dahua Empire and for him personally, and the "hope" he was determined to strive for.
He now had a force of ten thousand n at his disposal, backed by a city of no small size. Including the panicked and collapsing civilians, there were hundreds of thousands of people here! The Tang Army would need ti to take control of the city, and he did not believe they had the audacity to actually rush in and engage in urban combat with him.
"There is no news from the eastern part of the city; the phone lines haven't been laid yet." Han Zhiyuan's command staff had barely managed to arrive at Wangchun City the day before, and various preparations were not yet complete. They were no more familiar with the city than the Tang Army. So an officer awkwardly responded to Han Zhiyuan's question, his voice gradually weakening.
"Hurry up and get that line connected! I want to know where the 3rd City Defense Regint is, whether they are still at their original defensive positions!" Han Zhiyuan's voice grew angrier as he spoke, eventually scolding coldly, "You go confirm it yourself! Get those phone lines connected! If you can't, don't bother coming back!"
"Yes, General! I will find them imdiately! If I cannot, I won't co back!" the officer replied, promptly saluting.
No sooner had the officer left the Lord's Mansion's hall than a nearby artillery shell exploded, shaking the ground.
It was a 150-milliter cannon from the Tang Army shelling the city, with impact points only about a hundred ters or so from the Lord's Mansion.
The terrifying sound of explosions made everyone involuntarily shrink their necks, and then the chandeliers in the Lord's Mansion's hall began to sway creakily due to the vibrations.
Bits of dust kept falling from the ceiling, landing on the maps spread out on the tables, creating a continuous rustling sound.
On the dust-covered map, the Tang Army's offensive was marked—according to the positions on the map, the Tang Army should have still been a hundred kiloters away.
But in reality, the Tang Army was already assaulting the city, not just with a vast number of armored vehicles and tanks, but even 150mm caliber heavy artillery!
Han Zhiyuan, of course, knew about a self-propelled artillery called "Wild Bee" that the Tang Army had. It was mounted on a tank chassis with off-road capabilities close to that of a Panzer IV, capable of advancing alongside the tanks.
Thus, he was extrely envious of the Tang commanders because so tactics he had never dared to dream of in the past were within the realm of possibility for them to try.
"Report! General!" A ssenger with a bandaged head ran into the hall, disregarding the fresh blood on his body; he knelt on the ground and began to wail, "General! The 2nd Battalion is finished! The 2nd Battalion is done for!"
The 2nd Battalion was defending the most dangerous northeastern side of Wangchun City, the main direction of the Tang Army's incursion from the south.
To help the battalion withstand the onslaught of the Tang Army's attack, Han Zhiyuan had reinforced it with the more than 1,000 elite soldiers he brought with him.
However, what he hadn't anticipated was that, in the end, it was the 2nd Battalion that first ran into trouble; the defense line held by more than two thousand n crumbled as if done for.
"Stop howling! Who are you mourning for!" Han Zhiyuan snapped coldly before imdiately asking, "Speak properly! What exactly happened to the 2nd Battalion?"
The soldier who had co with the ssage choked back sobs and hurriedly narrated the events: as expected, the Tang Army had deployed their elite main force on the eastern front, where the 2nd Battalion's outer defenses fell one after another under the protection of tanks.
The 2nd Battalion's commander hadn't realized the severity of the situation yet. He was considering holding out a little longer before ordering the troops to fall back near the city walls, where he planned to regroup and continue fighting.
But in reality, he didn't even manage to order a retreat before the entire battalion was overwheld by the dense artillery fire and the fearso tanks of the Tang Army.
Out of the battalion of more than 500 n holding the positions, it seed that less than 20 managed to run back, and the Tang Army, following closely behind the fleeing Dahua military, charged directly to the city wall. Then, the combat engineers promptly set up explosives and demolished the robust city walls that had stood for over three hundred years.
Afterward, the Tang Army sward in, forcing the 2nd Battalion to retreat in defeat. Knowing they were in trouble after losing their positions, the commander of the 2nd Battalion committed suicide with his gun, and then the remnants of his forces disbanded in disarray.
The one who ca to deliver the ssage was entreated by the dying battalion commander to return with the news. In the ti it took him to reach the Lord's Mansion, the 2nd Battalion... no longer existed.
The 3rd Battalion was contacted to take over, but the 2nd Battalion seed beyond salvation. Han Zhiyuan began to feel a sense of dire urgency.
The combat troops he had brought with him, including the guards, were at most 2,000 strong; the other eight thousand were city defense forces, along with second-line troops assembled from nearby posts.
If these troops could hold their ground, they would manage well enough in offensive battles, but if the tide turned, the collapse of these forces would almost match the speed of the enemy's advance.
"This is bad! Get everyone to pack up! Retreat to the west of the city!" Although he still had courage, Han Zhiyuan did not want to die here aninglessly, so he planned to lead his elite troops south to continue the retreat.
Worse cos to worst, they would hold out in Tengyun; as the saying goes, "Where there's life, there's hope," right? He comforted himself in his mind, then started organizing people to sort through the docunts, intending to burn them all as kindling in a while.
Hearing Han Zhiyuan's orders, the officers around him imdiately started bustling about. So sorted docunts, while others began stuffing telegrams and papers into trash cans.
Suddenly, soone lit a match and tossed it into a tal trash can. The papers didn't burn completely, and the acrid gray smoke that billowed out imdiately irritated everyone's noses.
While they were still burning things, Han Zhiyuan heard the sound of gunfire not far away. He was startled and quickly stepped out of the room, crossing the hallway, only to see his own guard captain.
"What's happening? Where's the shooting?" As soon as Han Zhiyuan saw the guard captain clutching a pistol, he imdiately asked.
The guard captain turned pale, replying, "General! There's big trouble—a Tang Army tank is right around the street corner! My n are trying to stop the Tang soldiers from getting close to this place!"
"What?" Hearing this, Han Zhiyuan's voice suddenly rose sharply with alarm. He instinctively gripped the pistol at his waist and commanded, "Hold your ground! Cover the headquarters' retreat!"
Before he could finish speaking, a Panzer IV tank knocked down the courtyard walls. The imposing tank, churning its not-so-wide tracks, twisting its massive fra, appeared before everyone's eyes.
"Ah!" A female secretary in the headquarters scread in alarm as the non-combatant officers in the courtyard began to panic, scrambling for cover with their heads in their hands.
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