"Boom!"
Early in the morning.
Shells fell one after another, and the middle and southern parts of Songlinyu were splashed with rolling dust.
Looking at the high ground with thick smoke two kilometers away, Xiong Ya, holding a telescope in his hand, laughed coldly and waved his big hand forward.
Seeing this, the centurion who was eager to try and waited on the side immediately loaded his rifle and called the brothers behind him to move forward.
"Brothers, follow me!"
A group of plunderers raised their rifles and howled excitedly.
"Cut off their heads!"
"Ahhh!"
Although he was shouting the loudest, the centurion did not rush to the front, but cleverly let several of his decurion leaders lead the people to push forward first.
The team of about 120 people was divided into three echelons on the left, middle and right, with four teams of ten people in each echelon, and quickly advanced forward under the cover of the pine forest.
According to previous intelligence, there is a Death Claw lurking in this pine forest, and the brothers stationed at the northern outpost heard its roar.
Everyone opened their eyes wide. Even though their artillery had blown the enemy's position up to the sky, they did not dare to relax their vigilance.
At the same time, on the position that had just been ploughed by artillery fire, two little players slowly poked their heads out of the trench. .
"Fuck... my ears are almost deafened." The little finger drilled into his ear, and the Silver Sword cursed and spat out a mouthful of saliva with dirt.
The Silver Father squatting next to him stretched his neck to look outside, and kept asking.
"How many did you shoot just now? Did you count?"
The Silver Sword thought for a while.
"Not sure... about twenty rounds?"
The Silver Father pouted.
"Tsk, poor guy!"
The fire stopped after only 20 rounds.
If you have the ability, shoot 200 rounds!
Wing!
Although the previous round of bombardment was fierce, it did not cause much impact on the players on duty on the battlefield.
Thanks to Brother Fang's foresight, he had already anticipated that the Ya clan would bombard their positions without martial ethics, so everyone dug anti-artillery holes in the trenches in advance.
When the first shell just fell into the forest in front of the position, the players squatting in the trenches immediately hid in the hole.
When the looters corrected the shells to their positions, there was no one in the trenches.
Those anti-artillery holes built in the trenches were five or six meters deep, and the walls and tops were reinforced with thigh-thick pine wood. Although the sound of the artillery outside was earth-shaking, it did not cause any substantial damage to the players in the holes.
In the final analysis, the power of 100mm artillery is still too small.
Doubling the caliber and charge may have a starting effect.
At the same time, the Burning Legion players who were sitting in the anti-cannon cave to rest opened their eyes one after another and woke up from sleep.
Startled by the suddenly opened eyes, the Silver Hand squatting at the entrance of the anti-cannon cave said in surprise.
"Damn, you guys are online so soon? I was going to find someone to go down and call you."
Fang Chang shook his groggy head, looked at the dust on his legs, immediately understood what happened, and said calmly.
"What's the situation outside now?"
The Silver Hand quickly answered.
"The enemy fired dozens of shells at us, and about seven or eight of them landed on our position, but we hid in time and there were no casualties!"
"It was possible to accurately bomb our position, so there should be a predator observer nearby..." After making a quick judgment, Lao Bai immediately looked at Ye Shi on the side, "Ye Shi, go to the mountain next to you and look for someone on the high ground to the north of us."
Ye Shi, who had turned off his helmet mask, had already consciously picked up the sniper rifle and backpack on the ground.
"Got it! Kuangfeng, let's go."
"Okay."
Kuangfeng was as quiet as ever, nodded, picked up the rifle and drone backpack next to him, and ducked into the cave entrance.
The two left the anti-artillery cave.
Fang Chang moved to the side of the observation hole and took a look outside.
"...The shelling has stopped. The enemy is probably planning to charge."
The pine forest below the slope was silent. The morning light passed through the gaps between the trees. If it weren't for the shell crater that was emitting a trace of heat, almost no one would associate this place with the battlefield.
However, through the observation hole that was almost covered by mud, even if Fang Chang was not a perception player, he could smell the murderous intent hidden under the silence.
Without hesitation, Lao Bai stretched out his index finger and quickly tapped the VM twice, switching the communication channel to the captain's voice, and shouted loudly.
"Everyone, go to the battle position immediately!"
"Prepare to engage the enemy!"
The players who had just logged into the game immediately got out of the anti-artillery hole, rushed into the trenches and took their positions, and loaded their rifles and light machine guns.
At the same time, the 100-man marauder team that crossed the forest finally touched the edge of the pine forest!
The two sides met.
The centurion at the foot of the hill had no time to think about why there were still so many people standing in the trench in front of him even though his artillery had fired several rounds of high-explosive grenades at the high ground.
Now he could only do one thing——
"Fire! Everyone fire!"
Roaring loudly, the centurion decisively lay down behind a pine tree as thick as a thigh, shooting at the high ground with his rifle, while urging the centurion beside him to lead the team to press forward.
The players stationed on the high ground would certainly not let them succeed. Lao Bai was the first to pull the trigger and fired the first shot of the Songlinyu Defense War.
"Free fire! Repeat, free fire!"
"Attention, all team members, hit hard!"
The battle was about to break out!
The predator had just rushed to the bottom of the slope when he was suppressed by the firepower pouring down from the high ground.
Seeing the fierce firepower on the high ground, the raiders were forced to stop their charge and lay down in the craters left by the previous shelling. They used the fallen pine trees and stones on the ground as cover and engaged in fierce exchanges of fire with the players on the high ground.
For a while, gunshots rang out on the slopes.
The battle was extremely tense!
Seeing that the high ground in front could not be captured for a long time, Xiong Ya, who was standing on the north slope two kilometers away, was anxious and couldn't help cursing.
"Did these idiots not eat!"
Standing next to Xiong Ya, Tumen, who served as a staff officer, held a telescope in his hand and frowned as he observed the position in the distance.
The firepower was too dense!
There were probably hundreds of people squatting in the trenches. The people on the slope couldn't raise their heads at all because of the pressure from more than a dozen light machine guns. This position didn't look like it had been washed by shells at all.
"...Those people probably dug anti-artillery holes in the trenches."
Tumen couldn't figure it out.
No matter how he calculated, the other side only had 18 hours to build fortifications.
Even if they dug non-stop, it was not easy to dig trenches in such a short time. However, they not only dug trenches, but also dug holes to resist artillery bombardment.
Even if they were real moles, this speed was a bit exaggerated.
Putting down the telescope, Tumen looked at the centurion standing beside him and said solemnly.
"The other side has rich experience in field combat. This battle may not be easy to fight!"
Hearing the evaluation of the staff officer, Xiong Ya's eyes flashed with a trace of irritation.
Especially thinking of the mocking eyes of the apostle of the Torch Church, he was even more furious.
Difficult to fight?
He still didn't believe it!
Looking at the mortar that had just been set up not far behind him, Xiong Ya opened his voice and ordered.
"Mortar team, listen up!"
"Smash the high ground in front of the target!"
With a few bangs of artillery fire, dozens of mortar shells rose into the sky one after another and landed heavily on the southern slope of Songlinyu.
Explosions rang out one after another, and the high ground on the south side of Songlinyu was covered with dust.
I didn't expect these predators to be so stupid. They didn't care about their teammates who were still charging, and even blew up their own people.
The players squatting in the trenches were caught off guard and lay behind the bunkers to avoid the raging shrapnel.
Feeling the shrapnel flying overhead, Fang Chang looked at Lao Bai and shouted.
"There are too many people in the trenches. It's enough to leave three teams of ten people! The others will hide in the anti-gun cave first. When the people outside fall, the people behind will continue to come up!"
"Okay!"
Lao Bai obviously realized the problem and immediately issued orders to each team through the command channel.
Twenty light machine guns were left on the position, with two people standing next to each machine gun, one firing, one delivering ammunition, and the rest squatting at the entrance of the gun hole as substitutes, and then rushing up to take over the position of their teammates.
With the deployment adjustment, the firepower on the position was slightly weakened, but the efficiency was greatly improved.
The looters below the hillside were much worse.
The mortar shells that came from behind them were completely inaccurate, and less than half of them fell on the high ground.
As for the remaining half...
Either they were thrown too far or fell on their own faces.
There were machine guns on the hillside in front, and mortars from teammates were bombarding behind. They were caught in the middle and complained bitterly, and they were in a dilemma.
In less than ten minutes, half of the entire 100-man team was destroyed!
"MMP! You can bomb, right..."
Mosquito, who was lying in the trench, cursed, and fiddled with his index finger on the VM screen, setting the artillery coordinates for the hillside north of Songlinyu.
Songlinyu is about ten kilometers away from Qingshi County, which is close to the maximum range of his 130mm rocket.
But it's not a big problem!
The rocket launchers of the Goblin Corps are all installed on electric mule trucks. After Qingshi County was captured, they were stationed in a camp near the department store.
At the beginning of the battle, he had already ordered the artillery team to drive the trucks with launch tubes to the open space in the northern suburbs of Qingshi County for deployment.
At this moment, his artillerymen have arrived at the position and can launch counterattacks on the enemy mortar positions at any time!
"Attention, Goblin Corps Artillery Team! The artillery coordinates have been updated, a round of rocket salvos--"
"Bomb it for me!"
After waiting for several minutes, a humming sound soon came from the top of everyone's head, like a playing organ.
Accompanied by the whistling of the buzzer, thick tail flames tore through the silent dawn and dusk, and fell like raindrops in the north of Songlinyu.
Fifty rockets suddenly poured down!
Although these rockets were not very accurate, their number made up for this shortcoming.
The deafening roar immediately shut up the mortar positions in the north, and a thick smoke billowed from the high ground in the north.
In less than half a minute, dozens of people died under the bombardment of rockets, and nearly a hundred people were injured.
There were wolves and ghosts howling on the hot and smoky positions, and countless looters had their arms and legs blown off. The scene was like hell.
Struggling to get up from a muddy land, Xiong Ya didn't care about the mud on his face, and his face was full of shock.
"Damn, what was that just now?!"
He had never seen such a terrifying weapon.
Countless missiles almost covered the sky, and one of them fell less than 20 meters away from him. The shock wave of the explosion directly knocked him to the ground.
He had never been so close to death.
For a moment, he even felt that he had lost his breath.
Perhaps, I shouldn't have said it too confidently...
"Rockets... Damn, they've brought out all these things!"
Tumen, who was not far from Xiongya, also looked embarrassed, but after all, he was a man who had seen the world, so his reaction was relatively calm.
Looking at the mess behind him, Tumen's mood sank to the bottom.
Lacking fortifications and bunkers, this round of sudden saturation firepower attack at least caused them to lose the combat effectiveness of a hundred-man team.
Fortunately, he kept a hand and didn't let all the troops behind catch up, otherwise the loss would be even more serious...
"The opponent's supporting firepower may be higher than ours. We need the support of vehicles... Otherwise, if we continue to fight like this, even another thousand people will not be enough."
"Let your people withdraw!"
Although he was reluctant to admit it, the facts were in front of him.
"Damn mole... If you have the guts, come down from the high ground and fight me like a man!"
Xiong Ya trembled and cursed, pulled out a signal gun from his waist, stuffed a green signal flare into it, and fired a shot into the sky.
As the green light rose into the sky, the centurion who was commanding the battle at the front saw the signal light in the sky, and finally breathed a sigh of relief, calling on the surrounding predators to retreat.
"Old White, they retreated! What do you mean, chase them?"
Seeing the predators below begin to retreat, the smoker who was holding the machine gun immediately shouted excitedly and looked at the old white beside him.
Staring at the old white at the bottom of the slope, his brows were furrowed and he shook his head.
"Hold the position!"
Compared to the 500 people they blocked yesterday, these people are obviously much more difficult to deal with. At least they know how to find shelter and advance in a dispersed manner, instead of rushing towards their guns.
It seems that the difficulty of the level is gradually increasing...
However, at this moment, Lao Bai suddenly noticed that Garbage Jun was squatting at the entrance of the anti-artillery cave, rubbing his hands, and his heart moved, and then he added a sentence after the previous order.
"Except Brother Garbage."
Upon hearing this, Garbage Picking Level 99, who had been unable to hold back, immediately got out of the anti-artillery cave.
"Hahaha! It's finally my turn! Brothers, cover me!"
After saying that, the heavily armored lizard raised his head and roared excitedly, jumped out of the trench without delay, and ran towards the pine forest under the hillside.
Seeing the big lizard jumping out of the trench, the centurion and the staff holding telescopes on the opposite position were dumbfounded.
"...What was that thing just now." Xiong Ya swallowed his saliva and said.
Staring at Tumen at the edge of the pine forest, he spoke with difficulty.
"It's a bit like the Death Claw... but it looks a little smaller."
If this monster rushed to the back, the 100-man team he sent out to seize the high ground might not be able to return.
Xiongya did not dare to hesitate, and hurriedly pushed the centurion standing next to him, urging him to give an order.
"Quick! Take your people up!"
"Cover our people and retreat!"
With the Iron Fist rocket launcher and the heavy rifle for hunting large aliens, a 100-man team headed down the hillside.
However, they were still a step slow.
The garbage king who rushed into the crowd was like a tank running rampant, and every swing of the steel claw would take away several lives.
When the reinforcements running down the mountain finally caught up with the fleeing friendly forces, there were only more than ten people left in the 100-man team sent to seize the high ground.
When he encountered the reinforcements of the plunderers, Garbage Jun did not linger on the battle, immediately gave up the pursuit, and turned to escape into the pine forest behind him.
The first round of confrontation between the Xiongya tribe and the Burning Corps came to an end.
The plunderer hundred-man team that took the lead in launching the attack left behind more than a hundred corpses, and only more than ten people fled back to the position on the north side.
The previous round of rocket coverage not only caused more than a hundred casualties, but also completely shocked the Xiongya tribe who arrogantly clamored to contribute Qingshi County within ten days.
Not to mention Qingshi County.
Just a high ground on the north side of Qingshi County caused them to suffer nearly 20% casualties...
After weighing the pros and cons, Xiongya followed the advice of his staff, abandoned the position on the north side of Songlinyu, and retreated five kilometers to the direction of Xizhou City, leaving only two hundred-man teams to build trenches and explosion-proof shelters on the original position.
As for the players, they also suffered 17 casualties, half of whom were carried away by the mortars of the opposite side.
After discovering that the predators on the northern position had withdrawn, the players in the trenches, led by the corps leader, immediately reinforced the positions under their feet without cheering for victory.
The other side obviously would not give up.
No one knew when the next round of shelling would come.
At the same time, Lao Bai, who was digging trenches with his comrades, soon received a new task through VM - to hold the high ground on the south side of Songlinyu for at least 48 hours.
Supplies will arrive within 2 hours, including 10 10mm heavy machine guns and a mortar team composed of 20 NPCs.
After 48 hours, the Death Corps will replace them.
...
Qingshi County.
Temporary command post.
Looking at the battle reports sent by the front line and the logistics department at the same time, Chu Guang felt mixed emotions.
Only 24 hours after the war began, his little players had already shot down 150 130mm rockets, 400 100mm howitzers, and dozens of 100-kilogram bombs and bomb-dropping planes for him.
In addition, there were nearly 31 tons of basic ammunition - including 670,000 7mm full-power rifle bullets and a number of machine gun bullets.
As for the task rewards given to the players?
That was actually a piece of cake.
Even if the campaign reward of 1,000 silver coins per person was calculated, the money issued was only a little over one million silver coins. With the "secondary market" of the silver coin consignment platform as a reservoir, some players will exchange silver coins for real money to improve their lives, and the huge number of pre-ordered players will help him digest this part of the inflation.
However, there is no place to buy the bullets on credit.
The biggest difference between the virtual economy and the real economy is probably here.
Although he had made sufficient preparations before the war, when the war really started, Chu Guang still deeply realized how expensive it was to fight.
Of course, with the advantage of firepower, the results achieved were quite amazing.
The thousand-man corps wiped out the entire thousand-man team of the Ya clan in less than half a day, and the Burning Corps stationed in Songlinyu relied on a company of troops to drive away a regiment that came to seize the high ground.
In addition, the equipment seized from Lion Fang and the copper mine that was resuming production also helped him recover some blood.
While Chu Guang was silently calculating the expenses in his heart, the officers in the command center were discussing the next battle plan.
The one who was speaking at this moment was Wrench.
After several battles, although his front-line combat experience was still lacking, his strategic vision had made great progress compared to when he was in the guard team.
Originally, it was Vanus who spoke at this time, but now he can also put forward his own opinions based on the intelligence feedback from the front-line troops.
"... Songlinyu is the only way from Qingshi County to Xizhou City. As long as the commander of the Ya clan is not a fool, he will definitely take this strategic location at all costs."
"At present, the Ya clan's thousand-man team was repelled by our corps, but I believe that it will not be long before a more fierce second round of offensive will come!"
"I think so too."
Standing aside, Vanus stared at the map and nodded slowly.
"...If the Ya clan occupies the high ground on the south side of Songlinyu, their 100mm artillery can reach the county seat of Qingshi County."
"Since there are conditions to defend it, my suggestion is to send more people and do everything possible to control this position!"
Although until this morning, Vanus still thought that the strategy of "pushing the front line ten kilometers further north" was too radical, but after seeing the battle report sent back by the Burning Corps from the front line, all his concerns disappeared.
The strength of this elite corps is far stronger than he imagined!
If each of these people has the ability to fight ten people with one, maybe they can really create miracles and turn the impossible into reality.
Chu Guang, who had been listening to the officers' discussion, suddenly spoke up while sitting at the command table.
"How many people do you think are needed?"
Vanus thought for a while and said.
"The terrain of Songlinyu can deploy a force of three thousand men at most. If you want to stop the attack of three thousand men... at least one thousand men are needed conservatively."
Chu Guang asked.
"What about a more radical approach?"
Vanus was silent for a while.
"Five hundred men."
At this time, Bernie, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up.
"Five hundred men may not be enough. I know your infantry is strong, but the Ya clan has tanks. They have suffered a loss at your hands once, and they will not make the same mistake again next time."
Everyone looked at him in unison.
This man was the captain of the 210,000-man team of the former Legion Expeditionary Force. After following his superiors to join the Bone Chewing Tribe, he joined the Lion Fang account as a staff officer.
Since he surrendered to the New Alliance under the persuasion of Vanus, he is currently serving as a prisoner of war and serving as a temporary "advisor for military operations against the Bone Chewing Tribe".
Although Bernie's identity is somewhat sensitive, Chu Guang did not ignore the information he provided, but looked at him and asked.
"How many tanks do they have."
Bernie shook his head: "I don't know the specifics... If it's just the equipment they took over from us, there are about twelve, but if you count the ones they bought from other places, it's hard to say."
"Buy?" Chu Guang frowned slightly, "Is there anyone selling tanks to them?"
Bernie smiled bitterly.
"Not just tanks, but also replacement parts, repair tools, fuel and shells... You don't think that group of barbarians can be self-sufficient."
Chu Guang: "Go on."
Bernie paused for a moment and continued.
"...As far as I know, there is a place called 'Bugla' in the north-central region of the River Valley Province. They call themselves the Free State of Bugla. Most of the residents there are bounty hunters, mercenaries or thieves...as well as merchants who sell stolen goods for them and factory owners who pay for the stolen goods. These people are never picky about buyers and sellers, and naturally they also do business as plunderers. Because they are close to the Great Rift Valley, they can even get a lot of rare good things in the wasteland."
Chu Guang was slightly surprised.
"I thought the Bone Chewing Tribe would rob everything they encountered."
Bernie made a helpless expression.
"They are indeed doing this, and they even want to establish a kingdom for the plunderers in the River Valley Province. However, nothing is absolute. They have to find someone to trade the treasures they robbed, so they don't rob just anyone. For example, Red River Town was once their second largest place to sell stolen goods, but the garbage mountain there was too eye-catching, and it just happened to block the way for the Snake Clan to move east... So the honeymoon period between the two sides came and went quickly."
"As for the Bugela Free State... it is too close to the Great Rift Valley, and the Bone Chewing Tribe dare not provoke those ruthless people, so they have been heading south."
No wonder.
Chu Guang nodded thoughtfully.
He was curious before, how did the plunderers drive the tanks from the north to here. Even if there is fuel, if some parts are broken on the way, they have to repair them, right?
Equipment without logistical support is a non-renewable resource.
And this is one of the reasons why Boulder City would rather spend money to hire a large group of cannon fodder to deal with the wave than to send power armor.
Chu Guang is not very worried about this trading partner of the Bone Chewing Tribe. Those people are doing business, not charity.
The Ya Clan has stopped moving southward. Without enough spoils of war and no industries to earn income, even if there are trade routes, they are just decorations.
As for those tanks?
Chu Guang is even less worried.
Are you afraid of 100 kg bombs?
Even if the coffins left by the Legion are hard, the people inside are made of flesh. A 100 kg bomb thrown down can blast the slime mold into slag, not to mention a few rookie tankers.
Chu Guang hopes that they can drive the tanks out as soon as possible. This thing is the same as the power armor of Boulder City. The less one is broken, the better.
"...The longer this battle lasts, the better it is for us. Although the Ya clan has more people, their logistics are not on the same level as ours!"
"As long as we do our best to contain them on our positions, and consume their manpower and supplies through a solid front and artillery fire, the final victory will definitely belong to us!"
Liu Ding, who had been staring at the map, suddenly sighed.
"It would be great if we could send a troop to infiltrate their rear... Even if we don't fight them head-on, we can unite with the local resistance organization to cause them some trouble."
Of course, he was just talking.
Infiltrating the enemy's rear is a matter of words, but it is not easy to implement.
Because it is equivalent to asking a group of soldiers to continue fighting without supplies and surrounded.
Without enough advantage, this risky plan is equivalent to sending people to die.
However, Chu Guang's eyes lit up after hearing this.
"That's a good idea!"
Bernie shook his head with a frown.
"It's difficult... According to my understanding of the terrain in this area, Songlinyu is the only way from Qingshi County to Xizhou City. Unless we go around from Tianshui, but that is the territory of the Snake Clan."
Vanus also cast a puzzled look at Chu Guang.
"How do you plan to send the troops there?"
Chu Guang stood up and looked at the map, smiling slightly.
"Of course, fly there!"