Munitions Empire-Chapter 1006 - : 928 Hunting Sniper
Chapter 1006: 928 Hunting Sniper
“You’re dispatching planes to search for those heavy artillery positions?” As he stepped out of Zhao Yu’s room, Zhao Zheng looked towards the “royal kin” he never recognized before, Zhao Feng: “I’m guessing they’re 250mm guns, I’ve seen them before.”
Zhao Feng shook his head and explained: “The airfield is no longer safe, most of the planes have been relocated to an airfield further south. According to the plan, Fengjiang will soon become a battlefield.”
“Does the Great Tang Empire plan to build a bridge at Hidden Sword Gorge?” Zhao Zheng voiced his conjecture, asking tentatively.
“It’s no secret, indeed they do. Losing Fengjiang doesn’t matter, as in a few months, the roads on the other side of Hidden Sword Gorge will be through anyway.” Zhao Feng mentioned this with pride written all over his face. He didn’t need to pretend, he was truly working for the Great Tang Empire.
Zhao Zheng was visibly envious and continued asking: “But it’s impossible to build a bridge at Hidden Sword Gorge. Does the Great Tang Empire have some special way to do it?”
“I wouldn’t know about that, it’s a matter for the tech guys, how would I know. All I know is that there’s no need to invest any more effort in striking back here at Fengjiang.” Shaking his head, Zhao Feng added: “I suspect that in another ten days, the enemy’s 150mm guns will reach Fengjiang.”
He truly had no clue how the bridge at Hidden Sword Gorge was being built. The gorge was vast, and it was nearly impossible to build bridge piers, which is why the Dahua Empire hadn’t built a bridge to span Hidden Sword Gorge for so many years.
This was also why the Great Tang Empire had advanced to Hidden Sword Gorge and then stopped: the gorge was indeed a natural barrier, and it seemed quite fitting to be the border between the two countries at the time.
However, now with the passage of time, economic prosperity, this gorge no longer seemed an appropriate barrier. After witnessing the various grand bridges built by the construction maniac, just a casual tip from Tang Mo was enough to send the Great Tang Empire’s bridge-building ability soaring.
Hence the bridge-building project at Hidden Sword Gorge came to be, as well as the plan to use Fengjiang as bait, as a battlefield, to deplete the military forces of the Dahua Empire.
“What about us? Are we really going to Shanping?” Zhao Zheng asked with some concern, afraid he would eventually be abandoned.
“It’s fine, even if the bridge at Hidden Sword Gorge is not completed, we have ways to get to Great Tang.” Comforting him with these words, Zhao Feng closed the topic.
He was somewhat disdainful of Zhao Zheng; although Zhao Zheng’s status in the Dahua Empire was indeed much higher than his, Zhao Feng was now a person of the Great Tang Empire.
Therefore, Zhao Feng felt a sense of superiority towards Zhao Zheng, a sort of country bumpkin who had never even seen a helicopter. This feeling would immediately emerge once one affirmed oneself as Tang People…
Now reassured by Zhao Feng’s promise, Zhao Zheng felt much more at ease—being utterly sidelined, his greatest fear was becoming useless and then discarded.
Keep in mind that his entire family was still en route from Shu Country to Chu Country; in such a situation, he couldn’t help but feel anxious.
…
On the chaotic frontline positions of the Dahua Troops, a man carrying a rifle had a sharp gaze; he was the sniper who had just arrived at the front line, sent to hunt down Fengjiang’s snipers.
His rifle was unique, equipped with a short optical scope: compared to the eight-power scopes manufactured by the Great Tang Empire, it was definitely not as elaborate.
Since it was fixed on the weapon and had no adjustable parts, it also didn’t require any special protection.
“Have you guys ever been attacked by a sniper here?” Standing in a somewhat concealed temporary command post, the man with a slightly hoarse voice asked the company commander who was counting supplies.
The commander looked up, glanced at him, and replied: “Yes, one of our platoon leaders was killed, along with two Soldiers.”
“Do you have any suspected locations?” The sniper inquired.
“Yes! Around that small hill over there, and another suspect spot is that abandoned trench over there.” The commander pulled out a crudely drawn map from the table. Pointing at it, he briefly explained the situation.
“Haven’t you bombarded those areas?” The sniper curiously asked. These three people had been dead for several days now; even if artillery support had been requested, those spots would have been covered by shellfire, right?
The commander sneered and responded: “Requested, but the artillery support hasn’t reached there yet. A platoon leader and two Soldiers are probably not considered valuable enough?”
The artillery shells of the Dahua Empire were quite precious. Having pushed over 100 kilometers east from Hezhe, the quantity of artillery shells that could be transported to the front lines was always limited.
This also included the shells consumed to support offensives. After all, compared to capturing a few snipers, the assault on Fengjiang seemed like an option that warranted investing more artillery.
The sniper didn’t bother with useless chatter, carefully taking the sketchy map and examining the marked positions.
After a while, he spoke to the busy commander again: “The three casualties, can you mark their exact positions? I need an accurate assessment.”
“Yes! Approximately here, here, and here… three people.” The company commander sketched out the positions of the trench fortifications on the map, then marked three X’s on it: “At that time, the exposed sections of the trenches…”
“You are a good company commander.” Seeing the clearly marked positions and hearing the orderly explanation, the sniper praised.
“Thank you!” The company commander put aside his work: “Would you like me to take you to those two places to have a look? Perhaps, you might have some different insights?”
“That would be really great.” The sniper hurriedly expressed his gratitude, then followed the company commander to the locations where the three individuals had met their fate.
To be honest, after seeing the segment of the trench destroyed by artillery fire, the sniper felt that those three had not died undeservedly: the terrain here was not conducive to concealment, it was very open, and lingering here was practically an invitation for a sniper to take a shot and blow one’s head off.
“How does it look?” The company commander dared not show his head, standing at the end of the destroyed trench, he leaned against the trench wall and looked back to ask.
“I want to stay here, you can go back if you have things to do.” The sniper said, leaning on the other side of the cover.
The company commander nodded slightly, then walked away along the path he had come. Only the sniper was left, he took off his weapon and began carefully taking measurements.
He agreed with the judgment of the company commander; the enemy was likely hiding near that small mound in the distance. But from an angle perspective, it was difficult to determine whether the enemy was hiding on top or beneath it.
As for another hiding spot, he had looked over it when he first arrived; it was also an excellent hiding place. However, if it were him, he would prefer the mound with a broader view.
Snipers hunting each other was much like a hunting game. It required patient waiting and a bit of necessary luck.
After roughly determining the opposing sniper’s location, the sniper from the Dahua Empire set up a simple “position” on the spot.
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He used his raincoat to create a small hiding place, covered it with some mud for camouflage, and obtained a fairly good shooting angle.
Then, he lay patiently under his raincoat, waiting for the target to bite on the bait he had set up: he had arranged a Steel Helmet on a dummy, attempting to lure the enemy into exposing themselves by firing first.
Of course, if one examined the dummy for a while, they would realize it was not real. If the enemy insisted on not shooting, there wasn’t much this Dahua sniper could do.
Could he actually use a living person as bait? Who would be willing to serve as bait? This isn’t a movie; what kind of idiot would sacrifice themselves to help a sniper pinpoint an enemy’s location?
As expected, after a day of patient stalking, the Dahua sniper did not find the target he was seeking.
He returned to the military camp controlled by his own forces, ate something, and then fell asleep to the sound of evening artillery fire.
The next morning, he heard two pieces of news. The first was that after a day and night of effort, the troops of the Dahua Empire advanced another 500 meters! The other news was that this morning, another soldier from the company he visited yesterday was shot dead by an enemy sniper while washing up.
The enemy was very professional, firing only one shot. The soldier, who had just woken up and was preparing to tidy his beard, was shot through the head.
This meant that the enemy sniper had not left at all, and so several Dahua Empire snipers began another day of searching.
Since the bodies of the previous three had already been dealt with, this Dahua Empire sniper had not seen their corpses.
Now, with a new corpse available, the sniper rushed over to examine the fresh body.
From the angle of the incoming bullet, he roughly determined the enemy’s position. Then he took his rifle to a suitable spot and once again lay in wait.
In the afternoon, the hiding Dahua Empire sniper noticed a patch of weeds in the distance seemed to move, so he focused all his attention on that plant.
Soon, he saw through the scope an aiming point hiding behind the grass: the enemy was hidden very well, impossible to find without a careful search.
What was more interesting was that this adversary had deliberately chosen a point slightly below the top of the mound, which, although losing some visibility, increased concealment.
“Goodbye, idiot!” Through the scope, having aligned the target in his crosshairs, the Dahua Empire sniper pulled the trigger.
“Bang!” A crisp gunshot echoed in the sky, the hidden enemy sniper was hit, and through the scope, one could clearly see blood splattering out from the grass.
The enemy’s sniper rifle also fell off with the sound, tumbling out of the bush.
