Munitions Empire-Chapter 1154 - 1074, wait for me to think it over.
Xiang Ziyu emptied his assault rifle magazine at the distant Shen Army Soldiers, then turned and waved to the soldiers behind him: "Retreat!"
"Tat-tat-tat-tat!" After hearing the order, his light machine gun crew fired off the remaining half-belt of ammunition and immediately began to move from their position.
"Smoke grenades! Use smoke grenades!" He ripped a cylindrical hand grenade from his chest, pulled the pin, and threw it out. As he climbed out of the other side of the trench, Xiang Ziyu ordered loudly.
He made sure everyone could hear his order, no longer caring if any Shen Army Soldiers could hear him.
The paratroopers hurled smoke grenades, and white smoke spread across the battlefield, severely impairing the visibility for both sides. For the paratroopers, this was also a signal to retreat; they all scrambled out of their hideouts and fled towards the ruins of the village.
There, their allies were waiting to receive them, and theoretically, they could still hold out for a while using the ruins of the village. But at this point, that was their last line of defense.
"Bang!" When a Mirage Country Soldier emerged from the smoke and aimed his gun to fire at the retreating paratroopers, a Great Tang Empire Paratrooper sniper hidden in the village ruins blew his head off with a shot.
The second Mirage Country Soldier to burst out of the smoke was similarly taken down by a sniper, and then the remaining Mirage Country Soldiers no longer charged out from the smoke; they were busy occupying the positions the Tang Army had vacated, consolidating their gains.
With the occupation of this area, as long as they could stabilize their position, they were just one step away from capturing Leping. Therefore, from within the smoke, one could hear the frenzied cheers of the Mirage Country Soldiers.
Upon reaching a collapsed wall at the edge of the village, Xiang Ziyu met with his deputy battalion commander. He was out of breath - escaping was not easy: "Once the smoke clears, they’ll probably try to come over."
"Don’t worry, Commander, we’re all prepared." The deputy battalion commander had already set everything up in advance—they still had two RPG rockets and several anti-tank grenades, enough to hold out for a little while longer.
"Just now, the battalion commander sent someone, he said that there will be an airdrop supply coming at around three o’clock, we must hold on," the deputy battalion commander handed a water bottle to Xiang Ziyu, who drained the remaining water in one gulp.
He wiped his mouth and said to the deputy battalion commander: "If we continue to fight like this, we’ll probably die here before afternoon."
"Let’s hope we all don’t die." The deputy battalion commander took the now empty water bottle from Xiang Ziyu’s hand and screwed the cap back on: "I heard the fighting at the beach is going well."
"That’s good, at least our sacrifice would be meaningful." Xiang Ziyu finally heard some good news: "Spread out as much as possible, they’re really good at bombing the village."
If the attack on the beach had not gone well, then the paratroopers’ stand at Leping would have been meaningless. Now that they knew the beachfront battle was going well, it at least proved that their sacrifice was for the victory of the entire campaign.
In the ruins, a Tang Army sniper dressed in a ghillie suit lay motionless, waiting for targets to present themselves. Beside him was a spotter, helping to watch the area straight ahead.
Indeed, their position was on the flank of the main position, slightly elevated, and had a house ruin to serve as cover.
As the slowly dissipating smoke revealed the silhouette of a Goblin soldier more clearly, the Tang Army sniper didn’t hesitate and aimed his scope directly at the unfortunate target.
He steadied his breath, curled his finger around the trigger, and at a distance of about eighty to ninety meters, the shot accurately pierced the Mirage Country Soldier’s steel helmet.
The bullet went through the helmet, spraying blood and brain matter. The Goblin slumped beside the trench, right next to the body of a Great Tang Empire Paratrooper.
Indeed, this Goblin had just been searching the body of the Tang Army soldier for valuables, but before he could find anything, he had been taken out by the sniper.
Next, the Tang Army sniper set his sights on another Goblin scrambling out of the trench, gearing up to follow a moving tank.
With a crisp gunshot, the Goblin fell beside the tank, his helmet rolling on the ground like half of a ball.
"Thirty-five!" The paratrooper sniper muttered softly as he cycled the bolt, tallying his thirty-fifth target—a number that gave him a sense of achievement.
A metal shell casing fell beside him; he chambered a round, took aim, and pulled the trigger once more.
"Bang!" Another sharp shot rang out, and a Goblin soldier fell, shot. He seemed to struggle to get up, but the blood just wouldn’t stop. After a couple of attempts, he lay still on the ground, lifeless.
"Thirty-six!" The sniper cycled the bolt again and realized his magazine was empty. He had to pull out bullets and manually load them into the chamber, one by one.
The new sniper rifle is all good, high precision and trajectory, but the loading method really invites criticism: sometimes they do really prefer semi-automatic rifles like the G43; their accuracy might be less, but their rapid-fire capability is indeed excellent.
Because there were just so many soldiers attacking, the Shen Army Soldiers didn’t care much about a few unlucky ones killed by snipers. Urged on by their officers, they launched a new wave of assault, attempting to drive the Tang Army Paratroopers out of Leping village before they could stabilize their position.
However, it wasn’t long before they realized they had miscalculated: the sound of machine guns suddenly erupted, and the attack was thwarted once more, leaving behind more than forty bodies before the Mirage Country’s assault was repelled again.
But this time, the Shen Army did not retreat very far; they simply withdrew to the trenches left behind by the paratroopers and halted their advance.
Soon after, even more Shen Army Soldiers reinforced the frontline, along with seven or eight tanks.
"They’re betting on us being out of ammo," Xiang Ziyu lamented as he saw the tanks within range of the mortars.
If they had just seven or eight more mortar rounds, a salvo would likely have cost the Shen Army a few more tanks. But more than an hour earlier, they had indeed run out of mortar ammunition.
It wasn’t just mortar rounds they had run out of; in the recent fierce exchange, they had expended all their explosives during the retreat.
"Someone’s coming over with a white flag!" an observant soldier yelled to Xiang Ziyu: "Platoon leader! Look over there! A Goblin is waving a white flag coming this way!"
"Ha! They can’t beat us, so they’re surrendering?" The deputy platoon leader perked up, actually seeing a Mirage Country officer, shaking a white flag, stumbling over.
"Wishful thinking, if you were the enemy commander, would you surrender?" Xiang Ziyu snorted coldly.
Sure enough, after the Mirage Country officer was brought before Xiang Ziyu, he explained his purpose: "Your tenacity has left a deep impression on us, in fact, you’ve been very brave. We have great respect..."
"If you’re just here to praise us, you can go back now. We know very well how capable we are," Xiang Ziyu laughed, with the surrounding soldiers joining in the laughter.
"I’m here to persuade your surrender. If you’re willing to lay down your weapons, we will treat prisoners well, and if you wish to stay and serve the Mirage Country, then we will offer you a satisfactory price," the Mirage Country officer spoke again with determination, making his intention clear.
"I need to think about this. How about this, wait for my message, I’ll give you a definite answer in two hours, what do you say?" Xiang Ziyu continued with a smile as he deliberately turned his wrist and flashed his watch.
The surrounding soldiers stifled their laughter; it was clear that they all knew Xiang Ziyu was toying with the Mirage Country officer who had come to persuade them to surrender.
"I’m not joking with you, sir," the Mirage Country officer became somewhat angry, threateningly added: "If you refuse our generosity, then what awaits you is only destruction!"
"Well, I’ve changed my mind," Xiang Ziyu nodded. "No need to think about it, I can tell you the answer now... We refuse to surrender, because we are the Great Tang Paratroopers."
"Oh!" "Hahaha!" The soldiers around shouted and laughed with excitement; they weren’t afraid of death because they were Great Tang Paratroopers.
"Does your wife know how handsome you are, platoon leader?" A soldier holding a rifle asked with a big laugh, with a bandage on his shoulder, some fresh blood even seeping through.
"Hahahaha!" The other soldiers laughed along, and someone in the distance shouted, "I will kill you all, go to hell to repent, bastards! Repent for the souls of Beiyuan City!"
"Get out of here, animal!" Xiang Ziyu tilted his head: "Leave before I change my mind."
In sheer terror, the Mirage Country officer grabbed the white flag and ran out of the village. He had barely run about fifteen meters when Xiang Ziyu said to his deputy platoon commander beside him, "I’ve changed my mind."
Without any hesitation, the deputy platoon leader picked up his rifle, aimed at the back of the Mirage Country officer’s heart, and pulled the trigger.
"Bang!" A gunshot rang out, and the Mirage Country officer fell to the ground, struggling for a moment before going still. Xiang Ziyu shouted from behind the ruins, using all his strength, "This is our answer! Bastards!"
"Grandpa will be waiting right here! Come and meet your death if you dare!" The calls of the paratroopers rang out from the trenches, only stopping when the Shen Army’s shelling began to fall like raindrops.
After that, the Tang Army could no longer concern themselves with taunting the enemy, as they needed all their remaining strength to deal with the approaching tanks.
