chsdbacks Chapter 622: 581 Qi Country collapsed
Chapter 622: 581 Qi Country collapsed
Chapter 622: 581 Qi Country collapsed
Near Donghe Bridge, Xiang Ziyu lay in the trench, somewhat bored as he watched the Qi Army launch another attack.
They surged forward en masse, only to be pushed back by machine gun fire. The continuous ripping sound of the guns made it impossible for the Qi troops to get close.
The Maxim machine guns supplied to the Qi Army did not come with shields or wheels; they were a lighter version, improvised for easier transportation and carrying, but this had cost them the ability to assault head-on.
Without the protection of shields, carrying the heavy machine guns within range of the enemy’s to return fire was an extremely challenging task.
Without heavy artillery support, capturing bunkers, especially bridgeheads like solid and towering fortresses, was very difficult.
However, the Tang Army was also under pressure; their ammunition was scarce and resupply was difficult, which made conserving ammunition necessary.
...
The battle raged until the afternoon when this Qi defensive force, which had not seen much of the Tang Country Air Force, witnessed a true strategic bombing.
The Tang Country’s Flying Fortress Bombers, in dense formation, bombed the Qi Army spread along the railway, preventing Qi’s heavy weapons from deploying timely to Donghe Bridge.
The Second Prince had also learned that his path ahead had been blocked; he rushed to the front lines, only to realize his troops were stuck halfway to King City.
If it had been Qi rebels in front of them, it would have been simple, but the Tang Army at Donghe Bridge was a different matter.
He had to struggle to break through here, for this was his only chance to return to King City, ascend to the throne, and hold legal and orthodox authority.
So, he returned to the bombed railway section to personally supervise the Qi troops and somehow managed to transport the immobilized heavy cannon from the railway to participate in the battle at Donghe Bridge.
While the Second Prince was striving for his troops to retake Donghe Bridge and clear the way ahead, another tank unit from the 4th Armored Division penetrated into the Kingdom of Qi’s King City.
Encountering almost no resistance, they seized the outer defenses of King City. After minimal negotiations, the Qi troops stationed on the city walls surrendered their weapons.
Unaware of the situation, the ministers within the city found the Dragon Banner of Tang Country already hoisted outside the walls.
In the suburban industrial districts, the working Qi laborers were astonished to see Tang Army trucks entering their factories one after another.
The Tang soldiers, recognizable by their steel helmets, were unmistakable, especially since the engine hoods and roofs of the trucks were painted with the red Dragon Banner.
Everything continued as usual, and the Tang officers assured everyone that the Tang Army would not threaten the safety of any civilians.
Meanwhile, inside King City, Tang tanks boldly drove on the streets, terrifying the Qi civilians who were still in the dark.
They had vaguely heard that Tang forces had occupied Nanye, but they had never imagined the Tang Army would reach the heart of Qi Country so quickly.
It was evident that with the fall of Qi’s main decision-making body to paratroopers, the control of the remaining Qi officials over the country had collapsed.
He left in haste, with the remnants of the 1st and 3rd Armies, and some other units that retained a relatively complete combat effectiveness.
The remaining Qi forces were mostly made up of incomplete formations or units with low combat capability and insufficient training.
The day after the First Prince decided to retreat, the Tang Army’s 1st Armored Division launched an attack on the flank of the remaining Qi forces.
Liu Guozhu’s unit charged forward a full 60 kilometers, almost completely encircling the Qi defensive forces near Luo Town.
Meanwhile, the First Prince and Qin Xiong led their battered forces eastward, striking towards the original defensive zone of the Second Prince.
Before leaving, the Qi Army took all the food they could find in the entire defense zone, killed the civilians who refused to cooperate, and committed every possible misdeed.
They never intended to return, or rather they never imagined that they would one day be able to win back this land—the southern part of Qi Country, in the eyes of the First Prince, was essentially already Tang Country territory.
War is often like this: In the beginning, the sides are evenly matched with give and take, but as one side’s resources are depleted and the situation collapses, everything suddenly becomes surreal.
The day after the Second Prince retreated towards Beiyuan City, the First Prince’s troops in the southern region of Qi Country incorporated some of the Qi forces left behind in the Second Prince’s defense zone and then opened fire on the small units loyal to the Second Prince.
Internal conflicts within Qi Country began amidst the invasion by foreign enemies, and in just one day, the situation spiraled beyond control.
Both Qin Xiong and the First Prince knew that their problem was not a lack of troops on hand, but rather insufficient supplies.
If they took in too many troops, it would become a major drag on them. Thus, they had no intention of incorporating the forces abandoned by the Second Prince; they planned to pilfer these troops’ equipment instead.
Of course, the troops left behind could not just watch the First Prince take away their food and ammunition, so they too took up arms.
Unfortunately, there weren’t many Qi forces capable of defeating the elite 1st and 3rd Armies of Qi Country, and moreover, the commanders weren’t necessarily willing to fight earnestly.
The result was that the First Prince’s forces broke through and managed to seize all the food and ammunition from the Qi troops stationed in the southern defensive line.
The remaining forces, devoid of food, thus lost the courage to hold on. Some dispersed like birds and animals, while others simply headed further south to surrender to the Tang forces on the northern defensive lines.
They made simple demands in their surrender: “Big brother, we don’t ask for anything else, just don’t treat us as prisoners of war. Give us something to eat as civilians, and that’ll be enough!”
As a result of this surreal turn of events, the Tang Army’s northern reserve forces unexpectedly took in a large number of prisoners of war and even inadvertently took over part of Qi Country’s southern defensive line.
Without any exaggeration, the war situation in Qi Country had utterly collapsed in the last few days. Without powerful reinforcements, it was highly likely they would be completely occupied by Tang Country within a month.
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