2.6 million Huaxia troops had no time to rest and immediately shifted their defenses from the First Army's defensive positions.
According to Xuanyuan Zhen's arrangements, the armies led by Zhang Xuan and Wang Xusheng each selected 250,000 heavily wounded soldiers to move toward the central region of Huaxia territory, where they would be responsible for guarding the national flag.
The Tenth Army's 500,000 would replace them, forming the backbone of the two armies.
In addition, apart from the Second and Fourth defensive zones that had just gone through battle, the Tenth defensive zone filled entirely with the wounded, and the 100,000 still preparing in the First war zone, the other garrison points each split off 90,000 men to reinforce the Second and Fourth zones, to strengthen defenses there and prevent the island nation and Country H from coming back.
When the armies assembled at the First Zone, they numbered 2.7 million in total.
But nearly 2 million of them were still wounded.
By the time Huaxia finished its regrouping, the M Nation's army had already appeared in the mountains ahead.
At a glance, their numbers were at least 2.5 million.
After Zhang Xuan and Wang Xusheng met up, they noticed the enemy showed no signs of setting up camp, and judged they weren't going to wait until dawn to attack.
"This is really strange. It's like these countries agreed beforehand, taking turns fighting us! Could it be that there really is a traitor?" Zhang Xuan frowned.
These countries didn't even bother confirming positions, they just sent massive armies to attack directly—suspicious in itself.
Even if they'd stumbled upon Huaxia's territory by accident, what was strange was that the island nation and Country H hadn't fought to the bitter end. Instead, they chose to withdraw at the right time!
And then, right in that gap, M Nation came!
It felt as if the island nation and Country H already knew M Nation would arrive. They didn't want to be the ones to take the losses, so they pulled out. And M Nation, knowing Huaxia had just endured bitter battles, only sent 2.5 million. Otherwise, with that few troops, they'd never dare attack Huaxia.
It really did seem as if they had some kind of agreement, while each schemed for their own advantage.
"I have the same feeling," Wang Xusheng said. "But this isn't the time to dwell on that. If they're going to attack at night, we need to set up tactics."
Zhang Xuan nodded. "Yeah. If we go head-on, even though we have more men, most are wounded, we won't be able to hold them off."
The two immediately unfolded a map and worked out strategies.
The mountains where the First Army was stationed were different from those of the Second. The Second was made of small rolling hills, continuous ridges where it was hard to set up clever tactics.
But here, the mountains were tall, the paths relatively narrow, and couldn't hold a battle between millions.
After careful study, they finally decided to send 500,000 wounded as the vanguard.
M Nation, whether or not they knew Huaxia had just fought two wars, would surely underestimate them the moment they saw so many wounded.
At that time, the original Tenth Army's 500,000 elites, along with the First Army's 100,000 at full strength, and another 1.6 million, would burst from the flanking mountains and encircle M Nation's forces.
In the darkness, the enemy wouldn't be able to tell whether everyone was in top condition or not. Seeing 600,000 fresh warriors, they might assume all 2 million were combat-ready.
The key to this strategy lay in the Tenth Army's 500,000 elites—they had to strike with overwhelming momentum!
On the other hand, the vanguard 500,000 would likely suffer devastating losses.
At midnight, Huaxia quickly took advantage of their familiarity with the terrain, secretly deploying troops.
When distributing tasks, the officers couldn't even bear to look their soldiers in the eyes.
The 500,000 in the vanguard were like moths to a flame.
"Boss, I'll go!" Hao Ren was the first to step forward.
The captain's eyes fell on Hao Ren's maimed arm, his throat choked as if blocked by something. A grown man couldn't even speak a word.
Hao Ren smiled faintly. "It's fine. It's just death, right? In my state now, who knows how long it'll take before this arm recovers. If I can still contribute something to defend Huaxia, I'm satisfied."
"My wife told me once—I must defend Huaxia. As a man, how can I be less than her?"
"But you have to promise me, these bastards are too despicable, several countries ganging up on us. When the time comes, strike them dead!"
"Hao Ren…" the captain choked out. "Don't worry. We'll make sure they never come back!"
A young man was already transmitting messages through his wristwatch.
"Brothers, sorry to drag you into this with me this time."
Soon, replies flowed into his message list.
"Don't worry about us, kill them all!"
"These scum are shameless. Take as many down with us as we can!"
"Friend, I was randomly assigned to your list, but it's an honor to know you. Tell those bastards—Huaxia never surrenders!"
Just then, M Nation's army began advancing, morale surging, marching straight through the mountains into Huaxia territory.
"Brothers, those who offend Huaxia—kill!" Hao Ren charged at the front, horse-slaying blade in hand, leading 500,000 straight into them.
The enemy troops, seeing their badly wounded condition, lit up with excitement.
"Hahaha, what kind of trash is this? You dare to fight? Today, Huaxia dies!"
"A bunch of old, weak, and crippled! You must've suffered massive losses earlier. Everyone, charge! Every kill has rewards—what you see ahead is all money, grab what you can!"
The instant the two sides clashed, it was like two raging floods colliding.
Hao Ren swung his horse-slaying blade, cutting into the crowd.
"Cleaving through thousands!" He released a blast of true qi.
From M Nation's side, a master immediately stepped out, raising his heavy shield and shouting, "Defensive Bastion!"
A qi-force shield appeared around him.
Yet Hao Ren's qi strike did not break it directly.
This was the Fourth-Tier profession of M Nation's special forces: the "Abnormal"—they possessed abilities similar to Huaxia's national warriors' true qi, a condensed form of high-density energy!
"With only one arm left, and you dare to act arrogant before me!" The man blocked Hao Ren's strike and lunged forward.
Hao Ren engaged him in close combat.
Thanks to his brief recovery, he wasn't defeated instantly, but he knew he couldn't hold out long.
As they fought, Hao Ren kept glancing at the mountains on either side.
Not yet! They had to wait until M Nation's army fully entered the valley, then they could wipe them all out!
"Brothers, hold on!" Hao Ren shouted.
But only minutes later, the already-wounded soldiers were exhausted.
In such high-intensity combat, their consumption was too great. Add to that their damaged bodies, reduced stamina—they were already at their limit.
"This is your strength, Huaxia? Hand over your national flag!" M soldiers roared, blood-mad.
More and more M troops poured in. The 500,000 Huaxia vanguard was already being encircled.
Hao Ren's body was slashed in many places, but the enemy didn't deal the killing blow.
"Trash! Your persistence, before absolute power, is a joke!" The opponent sneered, darting forward and plunging a curved dagger into Hao Ren's chest.
Pain seared through him, his body collapsing.
As he fell, he saw the moon in the sky, and the dark outline of the peaks beneath it.
It's time… Captain, now you can keep your word.
Suddenly, Hao Ren roared toward the sky, "Defend Huaxia!"
Hu Yanyu, Zhao Tiecheng, Ouyang Yi—all watching their comrades fall—were already twisted with rage.
"Goddammit, why aren't we attacking yet!" Zhao Tiecheng roared.
"Shit, hurry! Or all our people will die!"
Just as Hao Ren was about to close his eyes, he suddenly saw atop the mountain, under the full moon, a warrior standing, trumpet in hand, blowing a tune every Huaxia soldier knew.
"The… charge horn…" In his last moment, Hao Ren closed his eyes, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
From the mountains all around, Huaxia's 2.1 million suddenly surged forth, roaring like tigers descending the mountain, charging at M Nation's 2.5 million.
"Take revenge for our brothers! Kill!" Zhao Tiecheng roared, rushing at the enemy!
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