Munitions Empire-Chapter 1214 - 1134 won’t be easy to fight.

At this moment, Shenwu Sixteen was organizing the "orderly" retreat of the Shen Army in New Water City, though the defensive strategy he had once championed—holding the coastline at all costs—had completely failed. The so-called "orderly" retreat was, in essence, nothing more than a spectacular rout.

The main forces were almost entirely in chaos; once one point was breached, the other troops scattered across the islands could scarcely regroup.

The roads being destroyed was the lesser issue. The truly fatal blow came from the relentless barrage of airstrikes. Daytime movements were crushed mercilessly, leaving nighttime as the only window for barely functional maneuvers.

Yet, compared to the lightning-fast mobility of the Tang Army, the Shen Army’s sluggish attempts to regroup were nothing short of seeking death. Most units were annihilated during the process of assembling; it was as if the troops were preemptively picking their own burial sites.

Countless divisions, having abandoned their defensive fortifications, entered open terrain only to be routed by Tang forces the moment they collided.

Now, the islands were full of deserters, emergency distress signals, and scattered units left behind in the chaos. Shenwu Sixteen felt utterly defeated—such a level of disorder was something he had never encountered before.

Nobody could fix the current situation, least of all him. For the majority of the troops, such chaos was nothing less than catastrophic.

Small, isolated units were unable to secure supplies, lacked battlefield intelligence, and were deprived of accurate command chains.

This meant that Shen Country’s company commanders and platoon leaders had no idea what they were supposed to do. They had no means of replenishing ammunition and couldn’t even contact their superiors.

This was the primary reason most units became incapable of fighting and surrendered outright: if they didn’t even know what to do, what option did they have?

Shenwu Sixteen’s previous orders had only expedited the disintegration of the Shen Army. Removed from their bases and fortifications, the Shen soldiers were as fragile as scraps of wastepaper. A regiment barely began moving toward the location designated by Shenwu Sixteen when, a mere half-hour later, they were bombed into disarray by aircraft and subsequently shredded by a few Tang tanks. free𝑤ebnovel.com

Soon, none of the troops could find their respective units. They had lost access to their radios, no longer had commanders, and couldn’t discern their direction. All that remained was to sit and wait dumbly for their doom.

Perhaps there were some soldiers—or smaller units—who persevered toward their previously agreed-upon rendezvous points, but they quickly became primary targets for the Tang military’s offensives and were prioritized for destruction.

In other words, Shenwu Sixteen realized that ordering the troops to retreat toward his position in New Water City might have been far worse than leaving them in their original positions.

If they had stayed put, they would at least have had nearby ammunition depots, decent cover from concealed heavy artillery, and trenches and bunkers to rely on.

But now, they had lost everything. The heavy artillery was either abandoned along the marching routes or directly bombed into scrap metal by the Tang Air Force. The ammunition depots couldn’t be carried away either and were left behind. Meanwhile, the soldiers’ personal supplies of ammunition and provisions were so limited that they couldn’t sustain prolonged combat.

The fragile logistics—or rather, logistical units incapable of surviving under the concentrated military strikes of the Great Tang Empire—were utterly incapable of supporting Shen Country’s forces.

Equipment like trucks rapidly became immobilized on the roads: destroyed by airstrikes, left without spare parts, or rendered useless due to fuel shortages. These vehicles quickly became liabilities for the troops.

Once these trucks were abandoned, the Shen Army’s mobility slowed to the point that "crawling" would be an apt description. They couldn’t even assemble into large units; levels like battalions and companies couldn’t be maintained at all.

As they marched, battalions of 500 men would dwindle to just 400. Some soldiers fell behind, others deserted—after all, many of the Shen Army were recently conscripted peasants who were dragged in as cannon fodder only months before and had little to no true fighting spirit.

What frustrated Shenwu Sixteen the most was the lack of effective communication. The Shen Army generally only had radios at the regimental level; once battalion-level units were on their own, they had an 80% chance of losing contact entirely.

Under normal circumstances during a march, at least messenger soldiers could maintain communication. But once the Tang Army disrupted their formation, the Shen forces couldn’t even locate each other.

The 3rd Corps had managed to assemble ahead of time, maintaining a somewhat intact formation. However, Shenwu Erlang led his forces directly into the Tang Army’s main assault during the Battle of Antian Village.

The Shen Army’s renowned 9th Armored Division was not to be trifled with. Its fleet of 59 tanks tore through the 3rd Corps like a knife through butter. One charge was all it took to decimate Shen Country’s 3rd Corps.

The mass rout of tens of thousands of soldiers was nothing short of spectacular. Shenwu Erlang perished amidst the chaos; it was said that his death came from a strafing attack by a low-flying Yir Attack Aircraft, which struck his command vehicle.

With the corps commander dead, the Shen Army’s 3rd Corps was essentially obliterated. Shenwu Sixteen knew at that point that there was no hope of counting on them anymore.

The remnants of the 2nd and 3rd Armored Divisions, which had retreated from South Island, were treated as treasures and had already been transferred to Ben Island. All Shenwu Sixteen had left were the defensive units of New Water Port, the artillery battalions, and part of the 4th Corps stationed at New Island under his command.

The total force amounted to approximately 30,000 men… and just from this number, it was obvious that the Shen Army lacked even the most basic capability for urban combat.

Shengwu Zhong had previously gathered a force of over 100,000 to defend Great Southern Bay, and even they had only held out for a little over ten days. Now, with just 30,000 men under his command, it seemed unlikely Shenwu Sixteen could hold New Water Harbor for even a single day.

Knowing full well he was no match for the Tang Army, Shenwu Sixteen clenched his teeth and eventually resolved to live—or die—with New Island.

He summoned the artillery commander and the port defense commander, issuing them their final orders: "The artillery defense units must prepare for a fight to the death… We’re short on troops, and I have no reinforcements to offer. I leave you with only one directive: how long Shen Country can hold out is entirely up to you."

Afterward, he turned to the officers of the port defense: "You, personally, will lead a team to plant explosives throughout the docks! The port warehouses! The shipyards! Make sure nothing is left for the Tang Army! Within an hour, destroy it all—leave not a single scrap behind!"

"Understood! I will obey!" The two officers, gripping the dagger-like command knives at their waists, nodded in unison.

"After blowing up the port, arm every single person in the city! Women and children—each get a hand grenade… Men—if they’ve got firearms, give them firearms; if they don’t… hand them grenades! When the Tang Army enters the city, they must perish with the enemy!" The now-maddened Shenwu Sixteen issued yet another impossible command to the port defense officer.

Of course, very few civilians truly had the courage to clutch grenades and sacrifice themselves against the Tang forces. This order would likely only waste large amounts of their reserve ammunition.

But, realistically, everyone knew this small force couldn’t even hold out long enough to use all the munitions stockpiled at the port anyway.

Since there wasn’t enough time to expend it all, handing it out wasn’t a problem: whether or not the civilians used it was no longer within the officers’ control.

Due to the need to concentrate resources on defending Ben Island, numerous mines, whether naval or land-based, had not been deployed extensively on New Island.

Knowing no viable path remained for prolonged resistance, Shen Country had secretly begun withdrawing all the aircraft stationed on New Island as well.

Two nights earlier, Shen Country’s Navy had launched a suicidal attack, deploying only 35 fast assault boats. Due to the chaotic and dark conditions, the Tang Navy had miscalculated the numbers, with some sailors redundantly counting the same destroyed target multiple times, mistaking it for 50 suicide boats.

Before the war, Shen Country’s Navy had stationed 60 such suicide boats on New Island, with a later addition of 10 more, splitting the fleet evenly across the northern and southern flanks, with 35 boats each.

Two nights ago, only the 35 fast boats hidden on the northern flank were deployed. After confirming the effectiveness of this suicide strategy, Shen Country immediately withdrew the remaining 35 boats stationed at New Water Harbor. These, along with other suicide boats, were designated for use in the defense of Ben Island.

This decision was made by Shen Haiping: having finally found a weapon capable of troubling the Tang Navy, it was crucial to concentrate and deploy it in the defense of Ben Island.

No matter what happened with New Island, it was merely a delaying action. The defense of Ben Island was Shen Country’s top priority: as per Shen Emperor’s directives, at least 300 suicide boats would be amassed on Ben Island to deliver a "surprise" to the Tang Navy!

As the Tang forces advanced toward New Water Harbor, the Shen Army harbor defense units, following Shenwu Sixteen’s desperate orders, destroyed their own port.

However, due to a shortage of explosives, they only managed to demolish the docks and shipyards while leaving the warehouse areas intact.

Watching the Shen Army intentionally sabotaging their port, the Tang Navy’s blockade fleet made no attempt to intervene and instead reported on the situation.

By early the next morning, the Tang Navy’s main ships, having successfully avoided a potential second nighttime assault, arrived outside New Water Harbor.

The Dongwan No.1 and Dongwan No.2 battleships used the same tactic as before, firing their 380mm main guns to bombard New Water Harbor’s artillery batteries. After just five salvos, the battery was completely destroyed.

This relatively unimportant artillery battery had only been equipped with 200mm coastal defense guns at best, most of which were outdated 150mm pieces. They stood no chance in a duel with the Tang Navy’s fleet.

Nevertheless, as one of Shen Country’s few remaining reasonably trained units, the artillery defenders did carry out Shenwu Sixteen’s orders, fighting until the very last moment.

The commanding officer of the artillery unit was killed in action. After the ammunition storage exploded catastrophically, Tang warships entered the harbor unopposed and began indiscriminately bombarding New Water City.

The shelling persisted into the afternoon. Wary of potential suicide boat attacks, Tang warships left the relatively confined harbor area before nightfall, returning to open waters.

The next morning, the Tang Army’s 19th Infantry Division advanced toward New Water City along the railway. Shenwu Sixteen took his own life with a bullet, and the Shen Army surrendered.

Thus, the Battle of New Island was effectively over. However, the island was still awash with scattered deserters, forcing the Tang Army to spend another dozen days cleaning up remnants before the operation could be considered "complete."

Much to the Tang Army’s surprise, factoring in the time required to clear out the stragglers, the campaign for New Island ended up taking five or six days longer than the campaign for South Island!

General Feng Kezhi suddenly had a sinking feeling. The battle for Ben Island… might not be as easy as many had imagined.