Chapter 594: 553 Battle Situation Changes
No one is a fool, and King Jiang Xian of Qi Country, who had been diligently managing state affairs for over twenty years, was certainly not one either.
He had previously detected that the likely directions of the Tang Army’s attack were Luo Town and Nanye, so he began to consider how to deal with the current situation immediately.
Right now, Qi Country could be said to be very passive, their hinterland was extremely empty, essentially devoid of defensive forces.
To reinforce Nanye, Jiang Xian had even dispatched the last troops guarding King City, leaving the capital of Qi Country empty and defenseless like an unfortified city.
Jiang Xian was far from naive enough to believe that his mere force of over 20,000 imperial guards could achieve any miracle in Nanye, because if there were any miracles to be had, they would have happened already.
From start to finish, the one Jiang Xian placed his hopes on was the defense by the frontline troops, breaking through Tang Army’s defense from behind, and forcing them to abandon their plan to capture Nanye.
In other words, Jiang Xian was relying on the Third Prince and the First Prince to fall back; he believed his two sons could seize back the initiative on the battlefield with one brilliant counterattack.
However, as a king, he couldn’t naively pin all his hopes on a military operation with an uncertain outcome.
Therefore, while giving the Third Prince and the First Prince strict orders to break through the railway between Luo Town and Nanye at any cost, Jiang Xian also issued an order to his second son.
This order was for the Second Prince on the eastern front to immediately pull out his elite forces and move along another railway to reinforce King City.
Knowing the emptiness of Qi Country’s King City, Jiang Xian couldn’t allow this dangerous situation to continue. He would certainly choose the most secure and quickest method to redeploy troops back to King City.
Currently, it seemed that going through Luo Town might not be the fastest option. If the First Prince and the Third Prince failed to retake Luo Town, then everything would become an illusory reflection, like a castle in the air.
So the shrewd Jiang Xian almost immediately ordered the elite 2nd Army from the eastern defense zone to return to King City.
The Tang Army was on the move, and so was the Qi Army. Both sides were mobilizing troops and dispatching generals, hoping to strangle the enemy with their own arrangements.
“Report!” A shouted response jolted the King of Qi awake from his seat.
Inside a manor on the outskirts of Qi Country’s King City, Jiang Xian’s eyes were so tired that he could barely keep them open. He was nearing fifty this year, and his body no longer allowed him to overexert himself.
But the war prevented him from relaxing. He had been staying up all night for several days, and his whole body had grown thinner.
With dark circles under his eyes and a face marked by creases, the wrinkles seemed to come alive with the movement of his lips, curling and wriggling as he asked, “What’s the matter?”
If Jiang Xian had gone to sleep, his attendants would never have let him be woken up . But in order to keep control of the latest intelligence, Jiang Xian adamantly refused to rest, which is why he fell asleep in his seat.
“Our forces deployed on the outskirts of Nanye for surveillance… have been completely wiped out.” The officer looked somewhat grim as he stood straight and answered.
In fact, these forces were not numerous; the Qi troops deployed near Nanye consisted of only a division, a mere three regiments at most.
These forces could not all be placed outside, so in reality, the Tang Army had severely damaged only about one to two regiments of Qi forces.
But sometimes, things were so mysterious: Qi Army really had only that many troops, so they truly couldn’t bear the fact of having one or even two regiments completely annihilated.
Before the imperial guards could reach the front lines, almost half of the forces guarding Nanye had been wiped out by the advancing Tang Army.
“…” Since it was to be expected, Jiang Xian was not surprised. He just looked toward the general waiting for him to fully awaken and then inquired, “Where are the imperial guards?”
“It is estimated that it will take another day to reach Nanye.” The officer delivering the message answered with some trepidation.
“Let’s hope they make it in time.” Jiang Xian sighed, feeling as if he were about to die there. He hadn’t had a proper rest for several days, and his face was worn with fatigue.
He also knew that his own forces’ movements were slow and there was no good solution in the short term, so after speaking, he sighed helplessly again, “Sigh…”
Then, as if he remembered something, he turned his head to look at a minister, “The things said by the Tang people on the radio… are they actually true?”
Just a few hours ago, the Tang Army’s broadcasting station announced a great victory: during the battle at Luo Town, they even claimed to have killed at least two high-ranking officers of the Qi Army.
Whether this was true or false remained to be determined, but it was a fact that Jiang Xian could not contact the western front command.
“That’s nothing but Tang people’s propaganda, Your Majesty! It’s to shake you, to make you make a mistake in judgment!” A minister quickly comforted him.
“Check! Send a telegram to the First Prince! Tell him to find his younger brother, and… find Tian Heng! No matter what, as soon as they are located, reply to me at once!” Jiang Xian insisted stubbornly. He did not believe that his trusted sons and officers could simultaneously be in trouble.
“Yes!” The minister quickly bowed his head, saying no more.
“Have the identities been confirmed? A mix-up would greatly affect morale,” Luff discussed the same matter with several of his staff officers at the Great Tang Army’s command post on the outskirts of Anpu.
The bodies of the Third Prince and Tian Heng, among others, had already been dealt with and loaded onto a train bound for Tang Country. The Tang Army would definitely make good use of this victory for their military propaganda.
Eyeing the photos, one staff officer confidently stated, “The uniform styles definitely match. I believe that at least these two generals… should be real.”
The Tang Army had previously acquired the uniform styles of Qi Country’s high-ranking officers through intelligence agencies, making it easy for them to discern that the military uniforms on these bodies indeed belonged to Qi Country’s high-ranking officers.
What another staff officer cared about was the body of the Third Prince: “Are we not going to publicize the royal military uniform?”
When it came to verifying the battle results, the Tang Army was very meticulous and cautious—Tang Mo certainly didn’t want to see his troops make a blunder like claiming to have sunk the royal flagship in jest.
Therefore, when they saw the Third Prince’s body dressed in the royal uniform, the Tang Army’s propaganda department didn’t publicize it immediately.
They even reported the killing of two high-ranking Qi officers and didn’t even mention the killing of the Qi Third Prince.
“Are you kidding? How could we not publicize it? What a great victory this is! What glorious honor!” Luff snorted with a laugh as he spoke.
Of course, the propaganda had to be disseminated vigorously, and in an unprecedented manner, to proclaim the glory of the Great Tang Kingdom to the entire world.
Indeed, the Great Tang Kingdom’s propaganda department planned to directly publish photos of the Third Prince’s body, using a previously unparalleled color printing method.
Though it was somewhat gruesome, the visual impact was simply off the charts. Once the evidence was conclusive, they would announce the killing of the Third Prince.
At this moment, another staff officer asked his colleagues, his tone full of envy, “A second-class Cavalry Medal?”
That was a second-class medal! With such a medal, one need not kneel to officials and would also receive a subsidy. So far, not a single one had been awarded throughout the entire army!
The staff officer sitting next to him felt as if his mouth was full of sourness: “General Redman suggested awarding the first-class Cavalry Medal…”
“Liu Guozhu, that lucky guy!” Luff couldn’t help but sigh upon hearing the conversation. As Chief of Staff, he was not able to charge into battle at the front lines.
In fact, when Luff, one of the veterans of the Great Tang Group, used to lead troops, Tang Mo only had around a hundred guards under his command. Thus, Luff could never have a Blade Medal or Cavalry Medal, which was a regret for him.
The other staff officers all echoed in agreement: “Absolutely!”
“But I still have to criticize him! If only we had caught one alive, that would have been great,” a staff officer interjected, somewhat reluctantly.
Luff gave the officer a glance, feeling that he was ungratefully longing for more: “What are you thinking? What are you thinking? In that situation, it’s a bit much to expect the armored troops to capture someone alive, isn’t it?”
The officer was also a straightforward guy and, spreading his hands, still felt some regret: “Ah, I know, but I still feel a sense of pity… After all, if we had really caught someone alive, that would have been great.”
“Isn’t that the truth… So about that medal? Are we still awarding it as a first-class one?” The opinion of their Staff Department was very important for the awarding of medals.
Luff waved his hand and gave his view: “Wait, wait for the newspapers… or rather, wait for His Majesty’s decision.”
“Alright!” Seeing the boss speak, everyone immediately agreed.
On the flank of Luo Town, within the 1st Battalion 1st Company of the 1st Armored Division, Liu Guozhu’s crew was still scrubbing their tank.
Even though they had already washed the intake grilles on the rear upper hull of their tank turret, they could still smell a stench of decay.
They didn’t know if it was misperception or something else, but despite having laid something beneath the bodies during transport, it didn’t seem to help. Everyone felt the smell lingered, so they could only wipe it down once more…
“Boss, do you think… we could get another medal for this?” an ammo loader curiously asked while vigorously scrubbing the grille seams with a cloth.
“How would I know…” Liu Guozhu too was continuously wiping down his beloved vehicle: “That’s not for me to decide…”
As he talked, the oil from the wiping smeared on his hands, and at that moment, he instinctively wiped his cheek.
Then he ended up with a big oily streak across his face, completely unaware of it.
The returning electrician immediately burst into hilarious laughter, unreserved and carefree.
Amidst their laughter, another squadron of ten Stuka Dive Bombers roared overhead, flying toward the distant Qi Army positions.
Not feeling well today, just two updates. I’ll make up for it tomorrow.