Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 291 The Road of Flames
In Chaozhou, where there is little anti-aircraft firepower, there is no need to worry about the plane being shot down or intercepted by enemy aircraft.

The skies over Taiwan are now dominated by the US Air Force. As long as they don't recklessly fly too close to the ground, there's virtually no chance of them being shot down, unless there's a malfunction.

The US Army fared much worse; William heard that Smith's Marines had suffered more than half casualties.

So if he goes too far and Michael Aser transfers him directly to the army, he'll be in real trouble.

Wang Gensheng was unaware of the conversation between Smith and William. At the moment, Wang Gensheng was with Li Xiufeng, conducting aerial reconnaissance of the defenses at Hagaru-ri Airport!

After all, it's already past midnight, and dawn will break in a few hours. Right now, the Ninth Army Corps' pursuers are right behind Marine Corps 1! They should be able to reach Hagaru-ri Airport by daybreak.

Therefore, it is still necessary to investigate the defenses around Hagaru-ri Airport.

After all, a large-scale offensive could not take advantage of the weakened troop strength at Hagaru-ri Airport as Wang Gensheng had done before.

The retreating US soldiers will defend Hagaru-ri Airport very well.

The defenses around Hagaru-ri Airport will not be as haphazard and vulnerable as those around Shinshin-ri. Multiple layers of barbed wire, trenches, mines, and heavily fortified bunkers will provide a tight defense for Hagaru-ri Airport.

While Wang Gensheng was conducting reconnaissance, Battalion Commander Yang's voice came through the walkie-talkie again.

"Wang Siling, the cannon barrel has cooled down. Shall we fire again?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Gensheng inquired with Li Xiu and discovered that Smith had not sent a large number of soldiers to repair the airport runway after the last shelling.

Clearly, Smith's soldiers had suffered heavy losses in the previous bombardments, so Smith could not send any more soldiers to repair the runway until he was certain that the artillery positions had been destroyed.

Smith was even planning to begin runway repairs after daybreak.

After all, artillery positions are much easier to spot once it gets light.

Wang Gensheng had naturally anticipated Smith's plan, so after a moment's thought, he spoke into the walkie-talkie to Battalion Commander Yang:
"Battalion Commander Yang, adjust the impact point of the shells back two or three hundred meters. I need to take advantage of the darkness to destroy the US military's airfield defenses. Otherwise, when our pursuers arrive at Hagaru-ri Airfield to attack, the casualties will be enormous. Moreover, the US military has not sent anyone to repair the airfield runway. If we don't take advantage of the cover of night to bombard it, it will be difficult to bombard it during the day."

Battalion Commander Yang naturally understood what Wang Gensheng meant. After all, with better visibility during the day, it would be easier for a large number of fighter jets to find artillery positions while circling and flying in space.

So Battalion Commander Yang immediately began adjusting the angle of the cannon, causing the impact point of the shells to move back two or three hundred meters.

As the point of impact moved backward, a large number of defensive fortifications around the airport runway began to be destroyed.

Smith was heartbroken by the shelling, knowing that these fortifications were no longer empty as before, but were now filled with a large number of retreating US soldiers.

Such shelling naturally resulted in numerous casualties.

So Smith picked up the phone again and connected with William, saying:
"What? You still haven't found the artillery positions? If you don't find them soon, my Garu-ri Airport will be reduced to ruins!"

However, William on the other end of the phone said:
"It's 10 kilometers from the airport to the M1 gun's maximum range of 15 kilometers. That 5-kilometer distance is so long, and it's so dark. Plus, the enemy might have camouflaged their equipment. How am I supposed to find them?!"

Smith, furious, retorted, "William, what's wrong with your brain? It's just a five-kilometer-long road! Where are our napalm bombs?! Can't you just set the whole road on fire?! Drop one napalm bomb every fifty meters, and a five-kilometer road would only require a thousand napalm bombs. Don't we even have a thousand napalm bombs?! Is the US Marine Corps' 1-Lion not worth a thousand napalm bombs?"

Upon hearing Smith's words, William immediately retorted:

"Smith, are you not going to care about the American soldiers retreating on this highway?"

“They’ve already escaped. The furthest soldiers are now less than eight kilometers from Hagaru-ri Airport, so William, you can bomb them without worry!”

Upon hearing Smith's words, William naturally didn't mince words and immediately ordered the reconnaissance planes to carry more beacon smoke bombs and drop them from ten kilometers away at Hagaru-ri Airport until they reached fifteen kilometers away.

William was very efficient. Just after Wang Gensheng directed Battalion Commander Yang to finish the second round of bombing the airport's defensive fortifications, red smoke beacon bombs had already covered the five-kilometer-long road.

Then, guided by the red smoke, the bomber formation began its bombing and dropping operations.

One by one, napalm bombs were dropped, and suddenly a fiery dragon began to appear on the ground.

The fire dragon was so conspicuous in the night that it was clearly visible even from the sky above Hagaru-ri Airport, which was more than ten kilometers away.

Wang Gensheng naturally understood that this was because the US military, after failing to find a specific target, began carpet bombing of the general area.

Meanwhile, on the artillery position, the artillery battalion's political instructor said to Battalion Commander Yang:
"Battalion Commander Yang, hurry up and leave! It'll be too late if you don't!"

However, Battalion Commander Yang said:
"Wait a little longer. We can fight one more round before retreating. We agreed beforehand that I would be in charge of the fighting. Besides, it would be a waste to leave with so many shells."

However, at that moment, Wang Gensheng spoke to Battalion Commander Yang through the walkie-talkie:
"Battalion Commander Yang, evacuate immediately! The US bombers have started carpet bombing. It will be too late if you don't evacuate now!"

Battalion Commander Yang expressed his regret:

“Wang Gensheng, but there are still so many shells left to fire! Just…”

Before Battalion Commander Yang could finish speaking, Wang Gensheng rudely interrupted him:
"Stop talking nonsense! This is an order. Take your soldiers and retreat immediately. Artillerymen are more important than cannons. What use are all the captured cannons without you artillerymen? They're just firewood! Get out of here! If anything happens to any of the artillerymen, I'll shoot you!"

Therefore, under Wang Gensheng's tough stance, Battalion Commander Yang, despite being reluctant to abandon the eight 155mm howitzers, still chose to abandon them and withdraw.

Less than a minute after Battalion Commander Yang led the artillery battalion to retreat, a large number of napalm bombs were dropped.

Even if the trucks carrying the napalm bombs were buried in snowdrifts, the temperatures of over a thousand degrees Celsius would still be of little use.

It melted the snowdrifts and then detonated a large number of shells on the truck.

The explosion of a large number of shells naturally attracted the attention of reconnaissance aircraft.

Of course, Battalion Commander Yang was extremely disappointed, while Wang Gensheng remained calm and composed, since capturing Hagaru-ri Airport would allow them to seize heavy artillery again.

(End of this chapter)