Munitions Empire-Chapter 1191: The outcome of 1111 has been decided

In the sky, a Yir attack aircraft began diving downward. Its dive angle wasn’t as dramatic as the Stuka’s, but its momentum was equally terrifying.

Aiming its nose directly at the target on the ground, the Yir attack aircraft ignored the tracer bullets streaking past it from the side, hurtling toward the earth at high speed.

Once it neared an artillery position on the ground, the rockets mounted under its wings began igniting one after another, trailing thick white smoke as they plunged toward their targets even faster.

After firing six rockets in succession, the Yir attack aircraft lifted its nose abruptly, evading the side attacks of anti-aircraft machine guns like a lightning bolt, and then soared back into the azure skies.

On the ground, the first rocket flipped over ammunition boxes and personnel at the artillery position. The second rocket directly destroyed a 150-mm heavy cannon. The third rocket struck an empty plot, sending up a plume of black smoke. The fourth rocket hit nearby building ruins. The fifth rocket also hit a building and blew off half its roof. The sixth rocket flew into the next block and landed in the middle of a street.

Although the accuracy of the attack was less than ideal, the initial rockets still managed to throw the entire artillery position of the Goblins into chaos.

Seeing the Yir attack aircraft depart into the distance, the Goblins who had taken cover began crawling back to their feet, dusting off the dirt on their clothes and checking whether their comrades were unharmed.

Calls for medics rang out in the distance, while others lay motionless on the ground. The air reeked of choking soil, and the dust from the explosions slowly settled.

A cannon lay flipped on the ground, one of its wheels nowhere to be found. Another cannon seemed immobile as well, with several artillery operators shouting frantically around it.

The Goblin artillery commander walked across his artillery position, surveying the empty ammunition boxes. He knew his troops were essentially finished.

Before the battle, they had never anticipated street fighting in the Great Southern Bay, nor had they considered the possibility of a prolonged conflict. In such circumstances, the stockpile of shells was laughable.

When their navy was annihilated, all of the Mirage Country troops’ operational plans fell apart. If they could still manage to win under such conditions, it would be solely a problem with the enemy.

If they had more shells, the rocket attack just now would have likely caused a sympathetic detonation, resulting in the total destruction of their artillery position.

Fortunately, they’d already run out of most of their shells, so the enemy’s attack unexpectedly didn’t result in a greater explosion, minimizing their losses.

"How many wounded?" The Goblin artillery officer asked casually as his deputy approached him.

"About a dozen wounded. Eight dead. The rest are alright. We now only have two usable cannons left, and just a dozen or so shells…" The deputy looked at the recently destroyed cannon with anguish and replied despondently.

The enemy’s air force was truly ferocious, no matter how carefully they concealed themselves, they were always found and attacked.

Just yesterday, they had set up this concealed position. After firing only a few shots, it was exposed, and then the Yir attack aircraft swooped down mercilessly. freёnovelkiss.com

Of course, this was still considered mild. A few days earlier, whenever the Tang Nation Navy could target them, the fearsome shells from the colossal 380-mm guns would rain down, blowing away half an artillery position in one strike!

Now that was truly havoc! The entire position would quake, mushroom clouds of explosions blotting out the sky. For the Mirage Country soldiers stationed at the artillery position being attacked, it felt as if it were the end of the world.

In truth, Tang Nation’s air force had not committed its main strength to the Great Southern Bay operation, as a Tang submarine had discovered… the 3rd Corps of Mirage Country seemed to be retreating from the South Island.

This was unacceptable, so most of the Tang Nation Air Force’s ground-attack units that had just arrived at the South Island were redirected northward to strike at Mirage Country’s transport ships.

Over there, the situation was truly chaotic, as dozens of Mirage Country transport ships were sunk, leaving bodies floating everywhere on the sea.

It’s said that Shenwu Erlang had already issued orders to consolidate the retreat into nighttime hours, though no one knew how effective this would be. However, by moving exclusively at night, their efficiency would likely be at best one-third of what it was during daytime crossings.

"News just came in—the port area is completely lost…" The deputy brought another grim report, confirming that Mirage Country troops had already been chased out of most of the Great Southern Bay’s urban area.

What worried the Mirage Country commanders even more was that they were now surrounded. Tang forces had cut off the connection between the island’s north and south, and now directly encircled the Great Southern Bay from the east.

The 2nd Corps’ doom was sealed; they had no escape routes left! Still, no one wanted to die here—they were all waiting for Shenwu Zhong to issue the order to surrender.

Yet, word had it that during yesterday’s meeting, Shenwu Zhong had no intention of surrendering. He declared that the Shen Emperor had ordered them to hold their ground to the last soldier, and no one had further discussions on the matter.

"There’s nothing worth defending in the port district anymore; all the warehouses have blown up, docks have been wrecked, and the harbor is filled with sunken ships… Tang forces wouldn’t even be able to use it for much," a Goblin artillery officer remarked indifferently about the port’s loss.

"Perhaps." The deputy looked up and saw that the Yir had no intention of turning back, easing his anxiety somewhat.

Distant gunfire grew more intense as Tang forces stormed a ruinous position being fiercely defended by the Mirage Country troops. If that position were to fall, several nearby blocks would be impossible to hold.

Thus, Mirage Country troops poured heavy reinforcements into this area, willing to fight to the death in a defiant stand. Both sides had been locked in combat there all day, unable to break the deadlock.

Judging by casualties alone, Tang forces had already claimed victory three times over, yet Mirage Country troops still clung to it, a testament to Shenwu Zhong’s resolve.

That position was less than a kilometer away from Shenwu Zhong’s secret command post, another reason why the Mirage Country forces fought so tenaciously.

On an eastern battlefield outside the city, a Tang 4th Assault Gun, protecting a squad of soldiers, had just captured a village on the eastern side of the Great Southern Bay.

From their resting spot, they could already see the smoke rising from the city. With this capture, Mirage Country’s 2nd Corps defensive zone had been compressed into just a few square kilometers.

The Mirage Country army was rapidly disintegrating, as their ammunition was nearly depleted and they had lost most of their weapons and equipment.

After losing nearly all of their tanks, remnants of the Mirage Country 3rd Armored Division had fled with the 3rd Corps, while the remaining 2nd Armored Division surrendered to Tang’s 9th Armored Division yesterday evening.

After seventeen days of intense combat, the battle for the South Island was no longer in doubt: only Shenwu Zhong’s troops were still making desperate last stands.

But Shenwu Zhong had no reserves left. His forces had been compressed into a territory just five kilometers wide, short on both ammunition and medical supplies, and lacking any peaceful place to rest.

By the next morning, the anticipated mass surrenders began: first came armed civilians without any training, who disarmed themselves—a platoon or a company’s worth in ragged groups of dozens or hundreds walking out of trenches or ruins with their hands up.

Soon after, regular troops began surrendering, though their numbers were far fewer, owing to the colossal losses sustained in prolonged combat.

These soldiers hadn’t eaten for an entire day; many of their guns were broken beyond repair. Some had only a few bullets left in their pockets, and half of them didn’t even have steel helmets.

Soon, the Tang forces encountered a Mirage Country Major General leading his troops under a white flag. He surrendered because his unit had no water, food, or ammunition.

Yet not everyone accepted defeat. Some Mirage Country officers led their units in desperate bayonet charges against Tang forces despite running out of ammo.

Though their fanaticism was evident, they didn’t even come close to reaching Tang positions—they were wiped out entirely by the overwhelming firepower of Tang forces.

Earlier, Tang forces had to waste time and effort rooting out the Goblins hiding among the ruins. Now that they gathered and charged into Tang gunfire, their annihilation was exponentially faster.

At 2 PM that day, a Tang infantry battalion advancing forward encountered a Mirage Country officer emerging under a white flag. He carried the banner of the 2nd Corps and a blood-stained "dagger."

He confirmed to the Tang forces that the 2nd Corps Commander, Shenwu Zhong, had committed suicide half an hour earlier inside his hidden underground command post. Alongside him, seven or eight senior officers of the 2nd Corps had also taken their own lives.

As the surviving highest-ranking officer, he formally surrendered to Tang Nation. An hour later, the Battle of the Great Southern Bay officially concluded, with Tang forces taking control of the port city and beginning cleanup and reconstruction efforts before dinner.

The South Island campaign would last two more days, during which Tang forces would focus on sweeping up the remaining Mirage Country troops in the island’s north.

The remnants of Mirage Country’s 3rd Corps and the 3rd Armored Division spent two days retreating in disarray back to New Island. Twenty days earlier, they had left New Island for the South Island, and now, twenty days later, they were fleeing back to where they started.

But this time, they noticed far fewer companions around them. When the 3rd Corps departed from New Island, it had a force of 100,000.

Now… they had around 60,000 left. And even this number included local forces from the northern South Island and the tankless remnants of the 3rd Armored Division.

Still, their retreat was not entirely in vain; at least on paper, these scattered troops bolstered the defensive strength of New Island.

After all, many Mirage Country citizens naively believed they could hold New Island and thwart Tang forces’ advance.