Munitions Empire-Chapter 639 - : Chase the enemy till he’s poor.

Chapter 639: Chase the enemy till he’s poor.

After three days of preparation, the Tang Army began a new round of offensive on the front-line battlefield. It’s better to exhaust all efforts to chase down the defeated enemy than to rest on one’s laurels and emulate the overlord. Tang Mo had no desire to imitate the Führer at Beiyuan City, watching the defeated troops of Shireck leaving and creating an other-world version of Dunkirk.

However, the primary target of this military operation was the remnants of the First Prince’s troops that had occupied the eastern railway line.

The attacking units of the Tang Army primarily consisted of two infantry divisions that Tagg commanded, which had maintained a defensive posture on the northern front, as well as the 1st Armored Division and another motorized infantry division that had swept across.

Four divisions, a force nearing 100,000 troops, faced off against the First Prince’s forces, which actually had less than 100,000 soldiers left. For the first time in its history, the Tang Army had a numerical advantage over its opponent.

According to Tagg, he had never fought such a well-resourced battle! Since he started as a military commander at Northern Ridge, he had always believed it was only natural for elite units to engage the enemy, who had the absolute advantage in numbers.

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But today, Tagg realized that elite didn’t necessarily mean few in number, that a truly powerful force could crush the enemy in both numbers and quality!

In the southern sector of the battlefield, two infantry divisions that had the advantage of convenient transportation were ready and launched a fierce attack on the Qi Army.

The rearguard 3rd Army of Qi Country had no ability to resist and directly abandoned their defense positions. These troops from Qi Country crumbled along the way, even losing most of their weapons.

They had already clashed with the Tang Army several times and were psychologically shadowed by their defeats. If it weren’t for a lack of troops, the First Prince of Qi Country would not have wanted to use such a disheartened force.

Unfortunately, he truly had no other forces to deploy, so he had no choice but to place this unit in a relatively less critical direction.

As a result, in just one day, the once elite 3rd Army of Qi Country was beaten into a complete rout, fleeing in utter disarray.

The next day, the famous 3rd Army of Qi Country proved through their actions that their performance the day before was actually not their lowest point.

That morning, after running all night, they simply laid down their arms and surrendered. The surrender of these over ten thousand troops more or less exposed the entire flank of the First Prince.

This was truly bad news for the First Prince, or rather, a disaster: he no longer had enough troops to fill the exposed gap in his flank.

Of course, there was some good news: he didn’t have to fill that gap anymore!

At noon that day, the Tang Army’s 1st Armored Division broke through the defensive lines of the elite 1st Army under the command of the First Prince.

The Tang Armored Corps pierced through to the command post of the First Prince, and the Qi Country 1st Army collapsed. Eventually, after two days, they chose an honorable surrender.

By this point in the battle, the last stronghold of Qi Country, a group centered around the 1st and 3rd Armies under the First Prince’s control, had completely collapsed.

Except for a few stubborn elements who fled north to join the Second Prince in Beiyuan City, all remaining Qi Country troops surrendered to the Tang Army.

The eastern railway line fell intact into the hands of the Tang Army. With the support of the eastern railway line, the supply situation of the 1st Armored Division also greatly improved.

As of now, over eighty percent of Qi Country’s territory was under the control of the Tang Army, and the remaining accounts had to be settled with the people of Shireck.

“Either we don’t fight at all, not letting Shireck think we have the ability to consume them,” Tang Mo said, looking down at the map and addressing the generals beside him, “If we fight, it must be swift and fierce! We can’t give Shireck any time to react!”

“General Redman is concerned that a fierce attack will result in too many tank losses…” one officer said, pointing to the defensive works around Beiyuan City on the map as he spoke to Tang Mo, “He hopes the Air Force and artillery can first destroy the enemy’s defenses before committing the armored corps to the attack.”

“Using infantry directly would result in significant casualties, an estimated loss of 10,000 soldiers, before we can even approach Beiyuan City,” another general added.

“In fact, just relying on the Air Force and artillery alone will not completely paralyze Shireck’s defense system,” the Air Force liaison had to step forward and explain to Tang Mo.

He was no Göring, and Tang Mo could neither allow nor trust a Göring figure. If there were anyone in the Air Force who thumped their chest and boasted that their planes could handle everything, Tang Mo would certainly reconsider the choice of Air Force commander.

After all, he didn’t have a small mustache under his nose…

“War will inevitably have sacrifices; my generals need not be overly cautious, you just need to present the most appropriate plan of attack,” Tang Mo said, gesturing on the map, “We could let the 4th Armored Division give it a try first. Their section of the Shireck defense line has the most damage. If they can break through, all difficulties will be easily resolved.”

Previously, the Tang Army’s bombing had mainly targeted the western defensive works of Beiyuan City, which indeed were the most severely damaged areas.

The bombing and shelling had stopped for only seven or eight days, and even if the Shireck forces hurried to repair, it would be unlikely for them to restore the positions to a usable state.

Under such a premise, it was undoubtedly a reasonable decision to let the Tang forces in this direction initiate the attack first. This didn’t require any military command analysis; anyone with a brain could make a sensible judgement.

Subsequently, Tang Mo added, “The Tagg Troops in the southern combat zone need to hurry to replenish their ammunition. They will soon join the fight and we cannot allow the Shireck military to arbitrarily relocate troops from their positions to reinforce battered defensive lines.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” the officer in charge of logistics immediately responded. With the eastern railway soon coming into operation, his confidence was absolutely solid.

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Previously, relying on highway transport was truly stifling, but this time he had become more affluent, or one might even say, flush with resources.

There was no helping it; Qi Country had retreated too quickly. Aside from the dozen or so trains commandeered by the Second Prince, all remaining Qi Country locomotives, rail cars, and railway tracks had been captured and controlled by the Tang Army.

In other words, about eighty percent of Qi Country’s railway resources were flawlessly inherited by the Tang Army. Coupled with the already formidable railway transport capacity of the Tang Army, supporting logistical supplies could be described as more than sufficient.

“Do we need to call back the Navy?” the naval liaison officer timidly asked, posing a question that made everyone feel somewhat awkward.

Indeed, if we were solely discussing battle achievements, the performance of the Navy in this war could simply be described as having accomplished nothing.

As Qi Country was nearly conquered, the Tang Country Navy, which should have appeared along the Qi Country coast to defeat the Shireck and Qi navies and cut off the shipping route between Beiyuan City and Shireck, was still on standby near Dragon Island.

But Tang Mo knew that his Navy had completed the most important mission: Bernard had risked his life to transport Tang Country’s most important population safely to Dragon Island.

“Until Shireck’s fleet is spotted, order Bernard’s Fleet to stay on standby! No rush! Just hold firm,” Tang Mo halted the Navy’s desire to move northward.

Then he turned to the Air Force liaison officer, “How is the training going for the pilots who have executed the most missions, those who have begun training for maritime attacks?”

“Your Majesty! We have already selected our most elite pilots, who have started training for maritime attacks in coastal cities like Linshui, Dongwan, and Fengshun,” the Air Force pilot spoke up: “The urgently produced sea-target delay fuses have also been distributed to combat units! The test results are excellent, and they significantly enhance the destructive power of aerial bombs against ships.”

Tang Mo, a Huaxian before he crossed over, had known since he was young that the best way to protect his coastal areas promptly was to form forces based on the “fast submarine and patrol boat” model.

He didn’t have enough torpedoes to make use of submarines and fast boats, but he had plenty of planes! And the enemy’s navy had no proper anti-aircraft capabilities, so planes were his best choice for protecting ports right now.

Stukas equipped with 500 kilogram aerial bombs needed just one direct hit to solve the problem!

And as long as reconnaissance was sufficient, planes could intercept much faster than warships. They could easily cover a few hundred kilometers around the ports, attacking much faster than warships waiting on standby in the ports.

In fact, Tang Mo was also trying to set a big trap for the Shireck Navy: If his air force could indeed sink enemy ships, the rashly attacking Shireck Navy was sure to suffer a huge loss.

And by destroying this northern enemy fleet threatening his ports, the pressure of facing an enemy fleet directly at the northern ports could be completely eliminated.

By then, he could follow in the footsteps of a certain emperor, throwing off his sleeves and loudly declaring, “From now on, the tables have turned!”

As long as his Air Force succeeded once, the territorial waters of the Great Tang Kingdom would no longer be where the enemy warships could come and go as they please. He also wouldn’t have to send his own Fleet back and forth to search for the enemy fleet!

In the not too distant future, his Air Force could ensure the safety of the maritime areas near the coastline, and the Navy would only need to focus its forces on protecting the shipping routes.

He indeed possessed the disadvantages of both a continental and a maritime nation, but he had higher technology, which allowed him to overcome these disadvantages with more rational and powerful methods! This was the confidence underlying his insistence on having both land and sea.

“Have them accelerate their training! At the same time, they should handle patrol duties!” Tang Mo instructed the Air Force liaison officer, “There must be no slackening!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!” The liaison officer immediately stood at attention and saluted.

“Then, send a telegram to Redman! Tell him! Try launching an attack in the direction of Beiyuan City!” Finally, Tang Mo looked up and said to Luff, “Let’s see the effect!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!” Luff and the others also quickly stood at attention and saluted.

Having advanced his command post to the King City of Qi Country, Redman soon received Tang Mo’s orders to attack. He immediately ordered the 4th Armored Division to advance while a motorized infantry division on the flank followed suit.