Standing in the command center, Hu Hao watched his troops withdraw and joked about how "gracious" he was to invite the Allied forces into the city.
"Hao-ge, if they knew, they'd probably thank you!" a staff officer chimed in with a laugh.
"Mm, and they're probably thrilled right now, thinking we genuinely don't have many troops in the city!" Hu Hao chuckled, nodding.
"But Hao-ge, once we let them in, what if they don't retreat? Or what if they do realize we have a massive force waiting for them, and they just turn tail and run immediately? Then what?" Mo Qin asked, voicing a tactical concern.
"Is that likely? They finally found a place to shelter from the rain. Furthermore, we aren't going to launch a massive, overwhelming assault right away. We're going to use a dull knife to slowly slice off pieces of their flesh. It will hurt, but it will be a bearable pain—just enough to keep them fighting. By the time they finally realize how much blood they've lost, it will be too late to run!" Hu Hao explained his insidious strategy with a smile.
"So Hao-ge, you mean we won't execute a general offensive, but instead rely on continuous, small-scale unit attacks?" a staff officer asked, seeking clarification.
"Exactly. They've come all this way to serve as our whetstones. For every engagement, we'll only commit two regiments. When they attack, we defend. When they pause, we probe. Where else are we going to find such a perfect, live-fire training environment for urban combat?" Hu Hao nodded, his eyes fixed on the main tactical displays.
On the screens, the Eastern Spirit troops were smoothly falling back through the pre-cleared rat-runs and interior pathways. Meanwhile, the Allied armored spearhead, closely followed by infantry, had reached the city limits, only to find the first line of defensive trenches completely abandoned.
"Haha! They ran!" Several junior Allied officers laughed triumphantly when they saw the empty trenches.
They had witnessed this scene countless times during their initial invasion, but they hadn't expected to see it here. They had wasted so much time arguing about whether to attack or rest, only for the Eastern Spirit forces to break and run after a single, half-hearted charge. It made their previous anxieties seem foolish.
"Pursue them quickly! Exploit the breakthrough!" a Regimental Commander roared.
The Allied infantry gripped their weapons and surged forward along the streets, though they maintained a degree of caution. After all, this was an unfamiliar urban environment, and an ambush was still a distinct possibility.
"Report! Frontline units confirm successful penetration of the city perimeter! They are currently advancing cautiously along the main thoroughfares, clearing buildings as they go!" a staff officer sprinted over to Ketonli to deliver the news.
"They just... walked in?" Ketonli stared at the officer in disbelief.
"Yes, sir. The Eastern Spirit forces offered negligible resistance. They fired a few volleys, saw our armor advancing, and routed," the staff officer confirmed.
Ketonli and Janlis exchanged a bewildered look. Neither could quite believe it.
"Could Kelly's intelligence have been accurate? Is it possible there truly are barely any troops here?" Janlis asked, his skepticism wavering.
"How many enemy troops actually returned fire during the initial contact?" Ketonli asked his staff officer, ignoring Janlis's question for the moment.
"Not many, sir. Perhaps one or two regiments at most," the staff officer reported based on the frontline estimates.
"Strange. We clearly observed extensive defensive fortifications within the city sectors via drone reconnaissance earlier. If they only had a few regiments, constructing such elaborate, multi-layered defenses would be entirely pointless," Ketonli muttered, his brow furrowed in thought. He still couldn't accept that it was this easy.
"Our forces are continuing their advance deeper into the urban sectors, sir," the staff officer added.
"Order them to proceed with extreme caution! Do not overextend! We still don't know the true strength of the Eastern Spirit garrison. Tell them to advance methodically and guard against ambushes!" Ketonli commanded sharply.
"Yes, sir!" The staff officer nodded and relayed the orders.
Despite his lingering suspicions, Ketonli felt a surge of relief. As long as his troops secured a foothold inside the city, they would have shelter from the impending torrential rain. An immediate retreat was out of the question; they had to launch this assault to prepare for the eventual push on Late City.
"Commander, this is incredibly unexpected. Weren't Hu Hao's forces supposed to be terrifyingly effective? Could this be a trap?" Janlis asked, his paranoia flaring up again.
"Sigh. Trap or no trap, we had to attack! We must secure this urban sector! Honestly, I was planning that if this initial assault failed to secure a foothold, I would immediately petition High Command for a tactical withdrawal to a secure city further in the rear.
"I have no desire to bleed my corps dry just to hand Late City to Kelly on a silver platter! If we suffer catastrophic casualties here, the Mara Empire and Kelly will simply sweep in and claim all the glory and the spoils!
"Our Holy Ancient Empire is powerful, but we don't have the sheer mass of the Mara Empire. They've already claimed the lion's share of the conquered territories, and everyone else in the coalition is dissatisfied. But there's nothing we can do; their military might is undeniable, and they were the architects of this invasion.
"So, hmph! Watch and wait! Once we secure our foothold in the city, we halt all offensive operations! We won't push an inch further until Kelly's 1st Corps arrives to join the assault! Our men have been fighting non-stop; they deserve a long rest in dry quarters!" Ketonli revealed his true, deeply cynical strategy.
"Mm, that's a sound plan. But what if High Command demands we press the attack?" Janlis asked worriedly.
"Demand? Relax. As long as we establish a secure, fortified presence here, the Supreme Commander won't push us into a meat grinder. He doesn't want our corps destroyed either. He'll turn his pressure onto the Mara Empire.
"If the 1st Corps manages to break through and join us, then we fight together. If they can't make it... do you honestly think the Supreme Commander expects my single, understrength corps to conquer Late City alone? Impossible!" Ketonli scoffed.
Janlis nodded in understanding. They had only just engaged Hu Hao's forces and lacked a clear picture of the battlefield. Once they were securely dug in, they could reassess the situation and formulate a more concrete plan.
However, inside Jinhe City, the Allied forces' unopposed advance didn't last long. They had pushed roughly 700 meters past the first defensive line when they slammed into Hu Hao's true defenses.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
Deafening explosions and the relentless chatter of heavy machine guns and assault rifles suddenly erupted across multiple urban sectors.
"Target their armor! Infantry guns, prioritize the tanks! RPG teams on the upper floors, unleash hell! Do not let their tanks close the distance! If they push too far forward, their infantry will use them for cover, and it'll be a nightmare to root them out!
"And blow the remaining high-rises in their path! Do not leave them standing! If we don't level them, their infantry will occupy the upper floors and fire down on us!" a defending Regimental Commander roared from his command post, orchestrating the ambush.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Eastern Spirit soldiers, securely entrenched behind their second defensive line, unleashed a torrent of fire, abruptly halting the Allied advance.
Initially, the Allied infantry and armor had advanced with flawless coordination, providing mutual covering fire. But after the defenders quickly incinerated several vanguard tanks and APCs, the Allied infantry broke formation and scattered, desperately seeking cover in the surrounding ruins while returning fire.
The surviving Allied tanks and APCs also scrambled for cover, hiding behind collapsed buildings and massive piles of rubble, exposing only their turrets and weapon mounts to provide suppressive fire for their pinned-down infantry.
"Damn it! Keep pushing! We have to secure the buildings!" Several Allied soldiers huddled inside a partially ruined storefront. They had just sprinted across a street swept by a hail of bullets.
"Get upstairs! Secure the upper floors and find firing positions to suppress them! Move!" an Allied Second Lieutenant ordered, rushing into the storefront.
"Go! Move it!" The soldiers gripped their rifles and sprinted up the stairwell, reaching the third floor and searching for advantageous vantage points.
"Damn it, there's a solid wall blocking the line of sight! These buildings are packed too tightly together!" an Allied soldier cursed, cautiously peeking his head out a side window only to find his view obstructed.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The deafening roar of combat continued unabated on the streets below.
"Blow a hole in this wall! We'll have a clear shot from there!" another soldier suggested, pointing at a solid brick wall facing the enemy positions.
"Clear out!" A soldier primed a grenade, jammed it into a crevice in the brickwork, pulled the pin, and sprinted behind a concrete support pillar.
BOOM!
The grenade blew a jagged, smoking hole in the wall. The soldiers immediately rushed forward to secure the new firing position.
"GET DOWN!" one of the soldiers screamed suddenly.
Before the others could react, a massive explosion ripped through the room, violently throwing their broken bodies across the floor.
An RPG had punched straight through the newly created hole. Hu Hao had explicitly drilled this tactic into his commanders: in urban combat, securing the high ground was paramount. If a building couldn't be pre-emptively demolished, dedicated RPG teams must maintain constant overwatch. The moment enemy movement was detected on an upper floor, they were to obliterate the position immediately!
"Get into the buildings! Everyone into the buildings!" Pinned down and suffering heavy casualties in the streets, the Allied infantry had no choice but to desperately assault the surrounding structures for cover.
"Battalion Commander, look! They're flooding into the buildings!" a defending Company Commander reported over the radio.
"Blow them! Infantry guns, target the structural pillars of those buildings! I want every building they enter collapsed! Do not let them secure the high ground!" the Battalion Commander roared back.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Suddenly, the thunderous roar of heavy artillery echoed across the battlefield. The Allied 7th Corps' artillery had finally opened fire on Hu Hao's defensive lines.
"Hao-ge, their artillery is engaging!" a staff officer alerted Hu Hao.
"Contact our artillery regiments! Counter-battery fire! Wipe out their guns!" Hu Hao commanded, his eyes rapidly scanning the multiple live feeds from the battlefield.
"Hao-ge, we might be at a slight disadvantage here. The Allied soldiers are clearly trained in urban combat. Look, they're aggressively pushing for the upper floors to secure the high ground and establish crossfire!" another staff officer noted worriedly.
(End of Chapter)