Munitions Empire-Chapter 1157 - 1077 Grandpa is from Beiyuan
In the ruins filled with debris, a Tang Country paratrooper was slowly crawling, his arm wrapped in gauze, his face blackened by gunpowder smoke.
He crawled past a building that had collapsed, four-fifths of the way, and struggled to lift an RPG Rocket Launcher under the cover of the remaining wall.
Unlike the past, he didn’t have a covering assistant shooter by his side, nor anyone to help carry his ammunition, just himself, with just one rocket.
He even only carried a pistol, and just one magazine in that pistol during this mission; he never thought about returning.
The target in the distance was crushing a soil wall, that Mirage Country heavy tank was swaggering across the Tang Army’s position, as if entering a no-man’s land.
A few hours ago, if it dared to be so arrogant, it would have been instantly destroyed by the RPG Rocket Launcher. But now the Tang Army only had one last RPG Rocket Launcher, therefore, the enemy could be so reckless.
This tank, surrounded by a group of Mirage Country soldiers, had already breached the Tang Army’s defensive line at the edge of the village, and now occupied half of the village.
The Tang soldiers stationed in Leping village almost got split in two but managed to barely stabilize their footing with tough combat.
"Go to hell!" Without machine gun and shooter coverage, this Tang Army anti-tank soldier could only risk a solo sneak attack. He only had one shot, and if spotted, he would be shot: because the closest Mirage Country soldier was less than ten meters in front of him!
This was also the reason he insisted on doing it alone; if he brought an assistant shooter, then both of them wouldn’t make it back.
The moment he peeked out, he pulled the trigger, the rocket trailing a long plume of smoke towards the tank, and this trail of white smoke completely exposed his position.
The Mirage Country soldiers, now familiar with the Tang Army’s anti-tank rockets, immediately reacted and started firing towards the Tang soldier’s hiding spot, bullets kicking up white smoke as they hit around him.
His shoulder was cut by stones kicked up by a bullet, and the wildly bouncing ricochets forced him to curl up to take cover.
The tank was hit and started smoking. The once arrogant frontline had vanished, and the tank crew members jumped out and ran towards the edge of the village.
With the tank for cover gone, the remaining Mirage Country soldiers had to pause their assault, directing their anger at the now-exposed Tang Army soldier, a group of soldiers charging towards him.
From a distance, a Tang Army sniper hit one of the Mirage Country soldiers, but could only watch helplessly as the rest of the Mirage soldiers charged at his comrade.
Soon, continuous pistol shots rang out, the Tang Army anti-tank soldier emptied his magazine at the Mirage soldiers. Three Mirage soldiers fell, and the anti-tank soldier also collapsed on the ground with a bullet in his chest.
He took in heavy breaths, clutching a hand grenade waiting for those Mirage Country soldiers to rush over. He cracked a smile, his teeth stained with fresh blood.
"Grandpa was in Beiyuan! Grandpa is from Beiyuan!" he shouted loudly, consumed by the flames of the hand grenade along with the first Mirage Country soldier to rush at him.
His shout echoed in the sky, another soldier from Beiyuan wiped the tears from his face, telling his platoon leader nearby, "Another tank, I’ll go."
"You go my ass! No more RPG." The platoon leader lay on the rubble, cursively muttered.
"Explosive packs will do." The soldier from Beiyuan argued tearfully.
"No explosives either, nor any anti-tank grenades..." The platoon leader did not glance at him.
"If they come again, we can only fix bayonets." Nearby, Xiang Ziyu pulled out a bayonet, attaching it atop the rifle, speaking to the wounded deputy platoon leader.
"No worries, I can still take down a few Goblin dwarfs with a bayonet." The pain flared as he moved, but the deputy platoon leader still defiantly said through gritted teeth.
Seemingly aware that the Tang Country paratroopers were running out of ammunition, the Mirage side immediately organized the next assault, this time sending a battalion’s worth of troops, over 500 men in a grand display, advancing en masse.
"For His Majesty The Emperor! Fix bayonets!" Xiang Ziyu shouted loudly, all of the Tang Army paratroopers pulled out their bayonets, attaching them under the muzzles of their rifles.
Their ammunition running low, facing several tanks of the enemy, they could only commit their flesh and blood to a desperate last stand.
"Buzz..." Just as they were preparing to jump out of the trenches, to measure up against these Goblin dwarfs, a deep engine sound appeared in the sky.
The first Stuka Dive Bomber tilted its body and plummeted from the sky, the air filled with a heart-thudding noise: To increase range and speed, the Navy’s Stuka had no siren installed, so the Navy’s Stuka diving made no noise, only the regular noise of airplanes.
Despite that, the sound was already very oppressive. Under Xiang Ziyu’s excited gaze, the first Stuka Dive Bomber strafed at the Shen Army in a continuous burst.
Cannon shells plowed two deep trenches into the ground and carved out two twisted lines of blood among the crowd of Shen soldiers.
A light tank in the crowd caught fire immediately; its hood was hit by a shell, igniting the gasoline engine and fuel, which quickly erupted into flames.
Before the Mirage Country’s soldiers could react, a 500-kilogram aerial bomb exploded at the entrance of the village, the massive shock even startling the Tang Army Paratroopers on the other side.
It was only then that the new paratroopers realized that the fireworks display simulating aerial bomb explosions in drills was indeed taking their emotions into account, reducing much of the force...
After the shockwave brought dust smashing onto their faces, the tremendous sound of the explosion followed, and the Mirage Country’s soldiers screamed in horror as they broke ranks, but the Stuka Dive Bombers in the sky did not intend to spare them.
The third Stuka dove down, strafing those retreating Shen Army soldiers. Those Goblins who ran aimlessly fell amid the white smoke caused by the machine gun’s shells, some even shattered to pieces.
"Fucking hell, if reinforcements don’t come soon I’m gonna fucking die here," Xiang Ziyu cursed, sitting down on a stone amidst the rubble, wiping his nose with his hand, and swearing at the planes in the sky.
In reality, that scene from the movies where the enemy tanks are blown up before anyone sees the planes is a bit too dramatic, as the sound of the engines during a low-altitude approach made the arrival of the planes no surprise at all.
Three Stukas circled over Leping Village, repelling another carefully organized attack by the Shen Army. Meanwhile, another three Stukas circled further away with their targets being the Shen Army artillery units that had been relentlessly bombarding Tang Army positions.
Machine guns combined with three aerial bombs completely quenched the previously relentless artillery attack of the Shen Army. They had to consider what they would do if more Tang aircraft arrived soon.
"Long live! Hahaha!" a Tang Army soldier shouted, waving his arms at the Stukas in the sky, as if it wasn’t him who had just been cursing the naval aviators as if they had killed his entire family.
Sometimes people are just like that; they vent their negative emotions, then suddenly they’re as happy as fools.
"Well done!" Another Tang Army Soldier also began shouting, his voice hoarse, probably because he hadn’t had a drink of water in an hour.
What Bernard referred to as "bringing a big one" meant taking a risk by having all the carrier-based attack aircraft that could take off loaded with bombs for a ground strike mission.
He planned to cripple all the airfields built by the Mirage Country’s military on South Island in a single strike, ensuring he had absolute air superiority.
Of course, he also felt he should support the paratroopers as much as possible: as a general of the Great Tang Empire, he didn’t have the habit of abandoning his troops. Moreover, the paratrooper units of the Air Force were covering for his Navy Marine Corps, so he had to help them.
So when Xiang Ziyu saw six Stuka Dive Bombers, 40 Pirate fighters shielding 80 Stukas were already splitting into four groups heading toward the four airfields that the Mirage Army might still be using.
The mission of these aircraft was singular: destroy any visible airfield facilities, bomb the runways, and ensure Mirage Country’s aircraft could only sit on the ground waiting for death!
A few minutes later, Shengwu Zhong saw the Stuka Dive Bombers circling in the sky. Having visited Fengjiang, he knew exactly what this meant.
Once the Tang Nation Air Force secured air superiority, countless Stuka Dive Bombers and Yir Attack Aircraft would appear on the battlefield.
They would circle like vultures and attack any target they saw. These aircraft would dive down and continuously attack around their targets until they tore them apart.
Regrettably, his airfield’s runway was now a target: sure enough, one of his last two airfields was completely crippled at 1:45 PM that day, unable to launch any aircraft for combat.
The remaining airfield, only because it was in the northern part of South Island and wasn’t chosen by Bernard: this airfield was the last to be built and fortuitously escaped Tang Army satellite reconnaissance. Meaning, in the intelligence of the Tang Army, this airfield did not "exist."
Soon, the 1st Company of Tang Army Paratroopers stationed in Leping received reinforcements, with the remaining 100+ people of the 2nd Company arriving and significantly bolstering the 1st Company’s strength.
Regrettably, they had no RPGs left, only some anti-tank hand grenades and explosives.
But for the 1st Company, which had been fighting continuously for 6 hours, these reinforcements were truly timely: the 2nd Company also brought good news that the remaining troops of the 1st battalion would gradually arrive at Leping to join the battle.
Meanwhile, the Shen Army had not yet realized the seriousness of the situation: for the next 3 hours, Tang Army’s Stukas and Pirates continued to circle over the battlefield like specters, unable to be dispersed.
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Today there are matters at home, offering two chapters. If possible, Dragon Spirit will continue to provide updates.
