Jasman sat in his chair, reviewing the latest casualty reports. He could only sigh. Yes, their forces had pushed deeper into the city, but they had paid an exorbitant price for every inch of ground.
In just the morning assault—less than four hours of fighting—they had suffered nearly 7,000 casualties. Several frontline units had been rendered completely combat-ineffective. Yet, the offensive had to continue into the afternoon. Lacking fresh reserves, they were forced to hastily amalgamate the shattered remnants of front-line units and hurl them back into the meat grinder.
"Chief of Staff, we cannot sustain this tempo. We only have roughly 30,000 combat-effective troops remaining. Several thousand of those are artillerymen, and we obviously can't send them into the urban combat zone.
"That leaves us with fewer than 30,000 infantrymen. If the afternoon assault consumes them at the same rate, what will we have left? What happens if the Eastern Spirit forces launch a massive counter-attack tonight to reclaim the territory we've bled so heavily to take?
"Our soldiers have been fighting non-stop, and casualties are catastrophic. We can only hold out and pray for our reinforcements to arrive. But even the fastest elements won't reach us until tomorrow evening. If the defenders launch a general counter-offensive tomorrow morning, what do we do?!" a senior staff officer pleaded with Jasman.
"We hold our ground! Even if it means the annihilation of the entire corps, we hold our ground! If we retreat, we hand Hu Hao the time and space he needs to expand his army unchecked. If he does that, the price the Allied forces will pay to defeat him later will be astronomical. Furthermore, we might lose Late City permanently!" Jasman declared, his voice hard.
"Order the troops to maintain the advance! Before nightfall, we must push at least three kilometers deep into the city and fully link up our occupied sectors to establish a continuous, secure perimeter.
"Once that is achieved, we will move the corps headquarters inside the city limits as well. We will dig in and hold the line. We just have to survive until tomorrow evening!" Jasman commanded the senior staff officer.
The staff officer could only nod and sigh heavily. Since the 1st Corps had landed in the Eastern Spirit Empire, they had never experienced such horrific losses.
"Let us pray Hu Hao doesn't launch a counter-attack tonight. Perhaps he doesn't dare to. If he doesn't counter-attack, it proves he is strong in appearance but weak in reality; it proves he genuinely doesn't have many troops left!
"Perhaps his tank division and air cavalry aren't even here. Perhaps they are stationed back in Late City," Jasman muttered, trying to find some sliver of hope.
Meanwhile, inside Yonghe City, the morale of Hu Hao's defending troops was soaring. The regiments that had just rotated off the front line were currently sitting in their subterranean bunkers, enjoying a hot meal.
"I killed three today! Three Allied bastards! I saw them drop with my own eyes!" a young soldier boasted excitedly to his squadmates.
"I definitely hit two, though I don't know if they died. Either way, our regiment didn't suffer much today! We had all the good cover. They had to cross open ground while we shot at them from the windows! It was easy!" another soldier laughed between mouthfuls of food.
"Alright, listen up, brothers! Everyone gets one bottle of ice-cold ale! Drink up, then get some rest. We might have to cycle back onto the line tonight, so just one bottle each! Don't get drunk! The Regimental Commander specifically requested this from Hao-ge as a special reward for your hard work!"
A squad of logistics personnel arrived, carrying crates of condensation-covered bottles.
"Holy shit! Ice-cold ale?! Hell yes! Bring it here!" the soldiers cheered uproariously.
Although the deep bunkers provided shelter from the artillery, they lacked air conditioning and were sweltering. It was cooler than the surface, but still uncomfortable. An ice-cold drink was a luxury beyond measure.
"Line up! One bottle per man! If anyone sneaks a second and gets drunk, the Commander will skin you alive!" the logistics officer shouted over the din.
"We know, we know! One is plenty to cool down!" the soldiers laughed.
"Also, we'll be bringing down blocks of ice soon. We started freezing them last night. We'll set them up around the bunker to help bring the temperature down. The Commander's orders: eat, drink, and then sleep! You need to be ready for tonight!" the officer added.
"We're ready whenever! Damn it, I don't care if I die as long as I take one of them with me! But I plan on killing ten! Then my family will be avenged!" a soldier shouted fiercely.
"Yeah! I'm going to kill five!" another echoed.
Most of these soldiers were former refugees. Almost all of them had lost family members to the Allied atrocities. They had enlisted for one reason—revenge. They would never object to being sent to the front line, as long as their deaths weren't meaningless.
The soldiers chugged their cold ale, found comfortable spots on the bunker floor, and immediately fell asleep, exhausted but satisfied.
While the men rested, their Regimental Commanders were busy conducting after-action reviews of the morning's combat. This was a mandatory requirement; the reports had to be submitted to Hu Hao for his personal review.
"I believe our performance this morning could have been significantly better. The primary issue was that our soldiers are green; they were terrified during the initial contact. They only settled down and started fighting effectively later on.
"Furthermore, our junior officers—the platoon and company commanders—failed to lead by example initially. When the Allied forces pushed, they panicked and ordered their men to unleash massive, suppressive fire from maximum range, wasting ammunition. We should have held our fire and let them get much closer! I reviewed the combat footage from Commander Li Nan's regiment yesterday; they fought much smarter!" one Regimental Commander critiqued his unit's performance.
"You can't compare us to them. They've been holding this city for days; their officers already know exactly how the Allied forces operate. Many of our officers were experiencing urban combat for the very first time today. I think they performed admirably under the circumstances!" another Commander defended his men.
"I'm not saying they did poorly; I'm saying they can do better. And they must do better next time. The Allied forces honestly don't pose that much of a threat to us in this terrain.
"We have artillery support, abundant heavy machine guns, and countless RPGs. If they try to charge us, they're just committing suicide. That's why Hao-ge ordered us not to defend rigidly. If we had held our ground to the death, they wouldn't have been able to advance a single inch!
"But we all understand Hao-ge's intent: this is a live-fire training exercise. We don't care about holding specific streets; we only care about maximizing enemy casualties!" the first Commander reiterated.
"I feel we could have utilized the multi-story buildings more effectively. For instance, we could have established concealed infantry ambushes on the second and third floors. Fire a few volleys, inflict massive casualties, and immediately fall back through prepared escape routes before they can retaliate. Do not get bogged down in prolonged firefights.
"I implemented that tactic toward the end of my sector's engagement, and the results were excellent. In the final hour alone, I estimate my regiment killed five or six hundred of them. Their assault completely stalled in my sector because they couldn't replace their losses fast enough!" a third Commander shared his success.
"How exactly did you set that up?" the others leaned in, eager to learn.
"I positioned heavy machine guns and RPG teams, supported by a few dozen riflemen, in buildings on both sides of a choke point. The crucial part is securing the escape routes—you need at least two per position.
"We held our fire until the Allied vanguard was within 100 meters. Then, we unleashed everything we had for just a few minutes—emptied a few magazines—and immediately bugged out.
"You absolutely cannot linger. They will swarm the position very quickly. But in those few minutes, we wiped out over a hundred men per ambush. By coordinating this with other tactics, we bled them dry. They took horrific losses in my sector during that last hour!" the Commander explained proudly.
The other commanders nodded thoughtfully, taking mental notes to implement the tactic during their next rotation.
"In my sector, they kept trying to use the structural pillars and the larger piles of rubble for cover. We couldn't get clean shots at them. So, I ordered my RPG teams to just blow the pillars! We collapsed the buildings right on top of them! Crushed them under the concrete!
"After that, they were terrified of using the buildings for cover and were forced to advance through the open rubble in the streets. Whenever they tried to hide behind a wall, we just blew the wall up and let the debris do the killing!" another Commander shared his brutal but effective method.
"Mm. That makes sense. They did the same thing in my sector, leapfrogging between heavily damaged buildings to infiltrate our lines!" a commander nodded in agreement.
The Regimental Commanders continued their lively discussion, analyzing their own tactics, dissecting the Allied responses, and brainstorming new ways to kill the enemy more efficiently.
After finalizing their reports, they finally retired to their quarters to rest.
Above ground, the battle raged on without pause. The Allied forces didn't even stop for a midday meal. The urban environment provided some respite from the scorching sun, allowing them to advance through the shadows of the buildings and the surviving street trees.
The brutal fighting continued relentlessly until past 7:00 PM. Only then, having finally secured a perimeter roughly three kilometers deep into the city, did the Allied offensive grind to a halt.
Following Jasman's orders, the majority of the 1st Corps' remaining strength, including the corps headquarters, relocated inside the newly secured perimeter, establishing their command post in a captured subterranean bunker. The exhausted troops immediately began fortifying their new lines.
They had fought continuously for an entire day, yet they couldn't rest. They were terrified that the Eastern Spirit forces would launch a massive night assault to reclaim the lost territory. If that happened, their exhausted forces would likely shatter.
"Hao-ge, the regimental commanders currently holding the front line are requesting to speak with you!" a staff officer reported to Hu Hao, who was still busy at his desk.
"Speak with me? About what?" Hu Hao asked, looking up.
"They want to launch a general counter-offensive, sir. But they won't proceed without your explicit approval. All seven frontline commanders are in agreement; they want to push the Allied forces back out of the city!" the staff officer explained.
"Oh? A counter-offensive? Excellent initiative, but no. Come, let's go to the main screen," Hu Hao smiled, standing up.
"Why not, Hao-ge?" the staff officer asked, following him out.
"If we launch a counter-offensive and wipe them out now, the Allied reinforcements currently marching toward us will turn around and run!" Hu Hao chuckled.
He stepped into the main command center and approached the large screens. Seeing him arrive, the seven regimental commanders immediately saluted and greeted him.
(End of Chapter)