Wei School's Three Good Students

Chapter 296 Collapse? Counterattack!

This was the third major battle between the current Han Northwest Army and the Orks; with Xuan Chong deliberately standing by, the Han army at the Yuezhi fortress showed signs of collapse.

After several probing attempts to ascertain the full extent of the defensive legion's firepower, the Orcs launched a general offensive along a 15-kilometer-long front.

The Yuezhi campaign reached its most brutal phase, with multiple defensive positions being overrun and three to four thousand soldiers unable to retreat. Soldiers took up bayonets, entrenching tools, and shotguns to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the orcs, amidst the incessant explosions of grenades.

The general of the 24th Division, who had previously been in charge of the battle, watched with anguish as his brothers on the front lines were engulfed in the fighting. He responded to their last request and ordered artillery fire.

In the second-line command post, the general saw Xuan Chong rushing over, clenched his fists, and tried to step forward, but was blocked by Xuan Chong's men. Then, standing beside Xuan Chong, the general immediately knelt down before him. The general choked back tears, saying, "Please, use whatever means you have."

He even tried to pull out a gun to threaten Xuan Chong, but Lu Changfeng stopped him beforehand.

A man doesn't easily shed tears; he wouldn't have done so unless he was desperate and had no other choice.

Xuan Chong looked at him, his expression shifting slightly. But then, instead of reverting to his previous shrewd and capable demeanor, he said incompetently and foolishly, "Have the front hold the line."

…Preventing plagiarism in the exam room…

On the front lines, the roars of orcs and the screams of soldiers mingled.

Since wild beasts do not take prisoners, the Han army at the front could not surrender and had no choice but to fight them to the bitter end.

The Han soldiers gritted their teeth as they looked at the Orks and the weapons they were armed with for a life-or-death struggle. Suddenly, they realized that the commander's camp had known this moment would come. The front line had been equipped with large-caliber shotguns, dumdum bullets that did not take into account range, and defensive grenades as heavy as bricks several days ago.

Even if you get close enough to pull the trigger in the trenches that are winding every ten or five meters, you can still trade one for one with these overly strong beasts.

It was precisely because of this one-for-one tactic that the position did not collapse.

The soldiers, their eyes already bloodshot, were focused on the orc casualties, forgetting their own losses, their blood boiling as they charged forward one after another.

But the officers at the battalion level were terrified; as the Ork assault approached their positions, they made phone calls to the command battalion, and these frontline battalion commanders asked hopefully, "When will the artillery cover arrive?" and "When will reinforcements arrive?"
But all he heard was his direct superior's furious voice from behind: "Hold on! Hold on! Holding on is victory!"

The military commander, familiar with his superior's temperament, knew: "In this situation, our superior is out of options!"

So, with a grim face, he put down the phone, picked up his gun, and prepared to head to the front lines.

Jia Liren, also known as Commander Jia, started cursing "bastard" after hanging up the phone. This wasn't directed at their superior, but at Xuan Chong.

Xuan Chong's actions made these simple, honest men on the front lines feel betrayed.

Just a few days ago, they claimed they couldn't see through the "deep depths" of the "young people who were recently promoted so quickly," but now they've shown themselves to be "too young" in this crucial battle.

As the soldiers gradually lost their positions, under the barrage of artillery fire, both orcs and a handful of humans fell one after another.

...the clanging, dilapidated sound pushed forward...

On the beast side, the beast leader, Kaodi Ke, grinned as he looked at the Han army's position. He didn't understand command, but he could sense that the human side's command was collapsing, while his own "waaagh!" was growing stronger and stronger.

Its connection with the boys below is becoming increasingly close. It can see every figure fighting fiercely on the battlefield. And when it thinks it is necessary to change the course of the battle, it lets out a loud "waaagh!" roar, and the boys on the front line will immediately adjust their tactics according to its will.

Kao Di Ke, seeing humanity teetering on the brink of collapse, like shrimp pulled from the water with dwindling strength, and after the frontline warriors' triumphant rampage, finally couldn't resist any longer and prepared to join the battle.

For each Orc, it might be possible to temporarily maintain rationality for the sake of victory, just as a gourmet might temporarily suppress their appetite when faced with delicious food; but to make them completely give up entering the battlefield to fight would require completely eradicating their internal genes.

Kaudike, riding a massive motorcycle and brandishing its battle tomahawk, launched its final charge. Its fierce battle roar echoed through the air, causing tens of thousands of wild beasts to tremble, shaking the very life within a ten-kilometer radius. While other Ork leaders were still merely ringing their metal bells, Kaudike had installed an electrified megaphone on its vehicle.

When the vanguard of about three thousand Orc Tomahawk troops surged toward the Han forces like a flood, the human artillery also encountered a close-range surprise attack from green-skinned dwarves riding gliders. The rear artillery had to deal with the close-range threat or consider starting to move!
Should they stay and continue supporting the front lines? Artillery in unsafe conditions could potentially cause ammunition to explode, a tactical lesson learned by the modern army over the past century.

So, humanity's defeat is already inevitable?

Inside the Yuezhi fortress, in the division-level command post, shouts of battle were gradually approaching.

As a result, most of the officers' personal guards (the guard company) also rushed forward. A soldier covered in dust returned and said to Li Mang, the current commander of the Han army, "Sir, we can't hold on much longer!"

Just then, Xuan Chong emerged from the small room next door. Everyone in the command post looked at Liu Haoxing, wondering how the young general would react now that "defeat was inevitable."

However, to everyone's surprise, Xuan Chong did not "look blankly," nor did he "furious," nor did he appear dejected; instead, a strange light appeared in his eyes, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly, which was a "showdown."

Although Xuan Chong didn't say anything, a thought suddenly popped into everyone's mind in the quiet command post: "Is there a backup plan?"

Unseen by the crowd, Xuan Chong's torque had already been unleashed, striking a region behind him where "spacetime was slightly off."

The "spacetime simulation" ended immediately, and all the information from that spacetime was transmitted back to Xuan Chong's mind.

Xuan Chong looked at the "empty area" in front of him and slowly nodded.

Xuan Chong thought to himself, "This is the feeling of entrusting my back to someone I can trust."

He then addressed everyone in the command post: "I am now in command."

…We met in "The Fierce Soldier"...

Ma Feiyan: "Not bad, you've got guts!"

The white-haired girl spoke these words to an empty space ahead. No one considered her crazy.

The others present were not from the Tiger Group headquarters, but Liu Yi warned them not to look directly at Ma Feiyan.

When time-space ability users occasionally ramble on, it's because they're chatting idly with the "past" and the "future."

Ma Feiyan stood up and gave orders, commanding Tai Geng's troops to move out: "The main force will penetrate to the pass of Baishitou Mountain in the south of the rear..."

The combat teams she assigned were all deployed without prior notice to Xuan Chong's forward troops. Precisely because she had not communicated with Xuan Chong's military group, the Orks, who could "see through the communication between human military organizations," were completely unprepared for Ma Feiyan's military raid while they were focused on communicating with Xuan Chong's army.

From the perspective of the Ouke Group, the main part of Ma Feiyan's army was in the "Gaotianling" (Imperial Graveyard) area, rescuing another Han army, the 087th Division; the two Han army forces in the war zone where Xuan Chong was located were not under each other's command and had no possibility of cooperation.

Liu Yi was assigned to be in charge of battlefield communications connecting the entire army.

At this moment, through the drones deployed in the Yuezhi fortress area, he saw that the situation seemed hopeless; he suddenly stood up and muttered, "Too late." Then he glanced at Ma Feiyan, wanting to ascertain the attitude of the Tiger Tribe's leader after Xuan Chong's fall.

He was one of the few who knew that the front lines were about to suffer a major defeat, and he vaguely knew that Ma Feiyan and Xuan Chong were in cahoots.

Xuan Chong traveled westward, bringing down so many officials from the Guanzhong faction. They should have been the most hated, yet they weren't "arranged" by Ma Feiyan. This surprised even the Emperor.

Liu Yi now roughly guessed that the reason Xuan Chong was going to "defeat" was to lure the beastmen's leader to the front line; and for their side to destroy the beastmen's largest manufacturing plant, thus eliminating the beastmen's ability to amass military supplies.

In this way, Han could use the loss of a division on the front line as a price to hold back Ork's elite forces from defending important strategic strongholds, thereby causing Ork's overall combat power to collapse.

Thanks to its well-developed logistics, the Han army was able to quickly deploy subsequent divisions for a counterattack. However, under Xuan Chong's command, an entire division at the front line suffered a complete rout. Someone has to take the blame for this huge mistake.

Just as Liu Yi looked up to say something, Linghe (female), a telepathic ability user, connected and said, "Team Leader Liu, don't worry. 'Lord Guangyin' (Ma Feiyan) said that the fortress can be defended."

Liu Yi was stunned for several seconds. Suddenly, he turned his head to look at Ma Feiyan's location. She had been there just a moment ago, but now she was nowhere to be found.

The reason for leaving the message was that Ma Feiyan knew that "Liu Yi was going to call and ask her about it."

Looking at the map on the big screen, Liu Yi murmured, "Is everything under control?"

…Just like at the Battle of Red Cliffs, a sudden east wind…

In the command post, Xuan Chong paced back and forth with unusual calm. Then, with a rather excited tone, he said to everyone, "I like martial arts films. I've noticed that in the most dangerous battles between martial arts masters, those frantic, disorganized moves are just the prelude. The real killing blows are often hidden in the most inconspicuous places. What kills the opponent is often not a powerful sword strike, but a small knife, a packet of poison powder, or an inconspicuous hidden weapon."

Everyone looked bewildered, unsure of what to do. But Xuan Chong's interest was clearly growing.

Finally, under everyone's watchful eyes, Xuan Chong shouted with great spirit: "Everyone to your positions, return to your posts, notify all departments, prepare for the counterattack!"

This shout jolted the crowd, who had been filled with the atmosphere of defeat and suicidal thoughts, back to their seats in a daze. Some began to return to their communication positions, maintaining Morse code communication with those below, though they didn't know what was happening.

Xuan Chong suddenly dropped his pretense, revealing his previous confident demeanor, which gave everyone a glimmer of hope.

Soon, they learned what had happened next. Sixty unmanned airships had appeared on the rear lines at some unknown time! These were the largest unmanned airships of their era in terms of payload capacity. As for when they appeared in the sky?

Each airship carried forty-five 150mm shells in a metal basket beneath it. Normally, such airship bombardment would be sporadic. But since the current position was being breached, the airship's ability to launch attacks was called "kinetic energy guidance."

…revealing their hand…

In his previous life, Xuan Chong had watched some TV series about military exercises. To be honest, when he was a teenager, modern military TV series were very hardcore, so hardcore that they were not interesting at all and not "exciting".

Those TV dramas lacked the awe-inspiring sense of Hollywood's tanks charging in unison, a steel torrent, to the point that Xuan Chong yawned while watching them.

However, there was a scene in the TV series that the young Xuan Chong remembered vividly.

In this scene, during the battle between the Red and Blue armies, the Red Army lost almost half of its tanks and troops.

Inside the directorate, filled with computer screens and upright officers, a numerical verdict is being handed down on the destruction of "half a corps"; and just as young Xuan Chong wants to see the scene of "armored units being blown up," the next scene switches to the referee.

The exercise referees determined that the Red Army had ultimately moved its command data link. Later in the story, the Red Army used electronic warfare to lock onto the Blue Army's data center, achieving a counter-attack.

This plot left Xuan Chong completely bewildered as a teenager! But as he grew older, and witnessed the devastation caused by the Russian armored onslaught, Xuan Chong suddenly realized the decisive role of electronic warfare in war.

Back to the present, Xuan Chong finally grasped the command chain of the Orks during the attack.

From the biggest "President (warboss)" to the "boss" and "leader," all the waaagh! members have clear positions and are neatly marked on the Xuanchong map.

At this moment, the unmanned gunboats floating in the sky were all programmed with "attack parameters".

Three days ago, Xuan Chong had already located the position of the Ouke chief and his subordinate leaders using algorithms, but his firepower couldn't reach them, fearing it would alert the enemy. After all, the Han army didn't have the Guardian rocket launcher or the Wing Loong reconnaissance and strike vehicle.

Now that we've confirmed our firepower can perfectly cover everyone, we'll strike suddenly to eliminate any future trouble. Xuan Chong: This is Li Mu's philosophy.

…cunning and brutal…

The battlefield was like this: all the airships were arrayed rhythmically, their paper wings unfurled, and pulled by torque, the airships moved in perfect unison, like Indians dancing, flying in a figure-eight pattern towards their respective positions.

Why use the term "Indian style" to describe it? Because this thing looks so unconventional, a combination of flashy, extremely simple elements, yet remarkably orderly, like a motorcycle acrobatics act.

But it was precisely this unconventional situation that made the victorious orcs sense something was amiss.

Holding a large steel shield to deflect machine gun fire, Kao Di Ke also raised his head. At this moment, a flash appeared in the sky, and a black dot rushed directly towards him. Just as the black dot fell, hundreds of firing flashes appeared densely all around the sky.

"Boom!"—"Boom, boom, boom!" Dense explosions, like firecrackers, resounded across the battlefield.

The artillery fire was not intense, at least not compared to the artillery barrage launched by the Han army to stop the massive battle groups of the Orks.

But amidst this seemingly casual resonance, waaagh! The force field felt as if it had been struck by a heavy hammer, because these 120 "aerial cannonballs" were aimed at all the orc chieftains. Moreover, these cannonballs had extremely high penetrating power; after one volley, 95% of the "chieftain" orcs were wiped out.

Kaudike crawled out of the crater, his steel shield now tattered, and two-thirds of his bones exposed. Kaudike raised his massive head, looking at the thing with a puzzled expression.

For the Orcs, these giant floating balloon-shaped projectiles were extremely ominous.

Just like most ordinary players can't understand the various non-physical weaponry invented by the tech-savvy orcs, Oak also doesn't know, "Why are these weapons so accurate?" "It must be because their leader is incredibly awesome!"

However, just as it was wondering what these things were, why these balloons were laying eggs, and why these projectiles had spread their little wings and were flying straight at it with such precision as if they had eyes, another round of projectiles (finishing blows) came flying towards it.

As the shockwave shoved him, Kao Di Ke felt all the boys perish in the sea of ​​fire, and he also felt those shrimp-like, weak humans shout "waaagh!" once again at this moment.

After falling into the dust, it struggled to its feet and looked at the gray sky, sensing that the shrimp that had previously shouted "Waaagh!" had finally appeared.

Kao Di Ke immediately cursed, "You cunning shrimp!"

…The dividing line of the bloody battle…

From a human perspective, this war was brutal. The trenches were littered with broken corpses and charred fragments. Although 90% of the wild animals had been maimed, some individuals survived, and these individuals were exceptionally strong enough to survive the shockwaves and shrapnel.

Commander Xuan Chong couldn't help but curse the orc leader on the other side, calling him a monster who had survived two cannonballs. His health bar was thicker than two wild boar hides.

Because the largest orc leader has not yet been defeated, the remaining orcs on the battlefield, though without a leader, have not surrendered and are still attacking the humans on the battlefield.

The human positions were on the verge of collapse; although the artillery barrage had reversed the situation, many soldiers instinctively fled and hid, without contacting their commanders.

Therefore, when faced with these remaining attacking beasts, many soldiers who were not in full force were barely able to defend themselves with the weapons at hand.

Five minutes later, the Kaodi Ke broke into the eastern flank.

This beast faced a barrage of fire from three platoons, its entire body riddled with shrapnel.

Despite being riddled with bullet holes, he continued to roar as he swung the exploding hammer, which unleashed a storm of bullets that shattered a platoon leader.

Around it, seven beasts, each three meters tall, had gathered, forming a formidable fighting force. These beastmen could pick up any human weapon and wield it with unimaginable skill.

For example, the green-skinned beast with shattered lenses behind the shell held a bundle of guns in its hand as if it were chopsticks. When the bundle of guns was aimed at the position, it did not pull the trigger. Instead, it casually slammed the bundle of guns against its chest, and all the primers in the barrels were ignited, bursting out a storm of bullets.

Then, it pulled out the bullets and rubbed them against the breech of the barrel like mud. The bolt was pulled open after being rubbed haphazardly, and a bunch of bullets were squeezed into the chamber.

At its feet, four small monsters, each about half a person's height, like hunting dogs, always managed to pick up enough bullets from the ground.

Di Mingqiang, a soldier from the Han army, saw his sergeant's head smashed into a bloody pulp. He stepped out of the trench, raised his submachine gun, and said, "Fuck your mother."

However, the submachine gun, designed for human physiques, was unable to kill the monster after being sprayed with bullets. After the beast, its face covered in blood, stopped amidst the hail of bullets, it looked at Di Mingqiang, who was frantically searching for a magazine, and revealed a cruel smile. Instead of holding the gun with its left hand, it charged forward wielding a large machete.

Di Mingqiang watched in despair as the orc charged at him with a knife in hand, his hand reaching for a grenade at his waist. Suddenly, ten meters away, the orc's head was struck by a wire and exploded.

Immediately following, a barrage of gunfire, exceptionally piercing, erupted from the left. Then, Di Mingqiang heard the hoarse cheers of his comrades behind him: "Reinforcements have arrived! It's the Black Guards!"

Di Mingqiang looked at the direction in which the guards were firing and felt the buzzing sound rapidly approaching. The sound of firing was just tens of meters away, but a few seconds later it reached his ears.

The nano-warriors charge at extremely high speeds, maintaining precise firepower even while moving at 30 meters per second.

Those tiny monsters, who were originally half a person's height and at the feet of wild beasts, were driven into a corner by the powerful barrage of bullets, just like rats being swept away by a sweeper.

Kaodi Ke turned its head to look this way, because it also sensed that the human it had been fighting wasn't staying in the safe fortress, but had instead actively sought it out for a duel. This was very...waaagh!

After a moment of hesitation, Di Mingqiang quickly raised his gun and shouted, "Cover us!"

The Han soldiers raised their rifles and began firing. Suddenly, he saw the black-clad guards accelerate their charge, closing in on the orcs to within thirty meters in the blink of an eye, and then, with undiminished momentum, meet them head-on with a chilling glint in their eyes.

…The mechs, equipped with their own speakers, sounded the charge…

Xuan Chong dodged the storm of bullets, precisely controlled his body with a body-fixation technique, and instantly mobilized nearly two Jiazi's worth of power to strengthen and contract his bones and muscles, completing a 15G overload body twist. Almost like a ghost, when part of the nano-armor came to a stop, the iron feet and the ground brought out sparks like the braking of a train wheel.

Xuan Chong looked at the orc lying in front of him, then swung the three-meter titanium alloy battle sword he had drawn from his waist. The sword, reinforced with memory metal, was retractable. The sword's structure was similar to a baton; it could be extended and was absolutely sharp under torque. The absolute angle created by the torque was absolutely rigid, and when it cut into muscle and bone, the fracture surface was like a mirror.

On the other side, Kaudike raised his warhammer high, and then Xuanchong's warsword pierced through the Orc warhammer.

Xuan Chong swept past with a whoosh, and the blood of the beast dripped down the slant of the Han sword. It was milky white when it was first cut, but turned blue after it came into contact with the air.

Kao Di Ke's head fell off like a sweet potato, and his body was then sliced ​​into four large pieces by Xuan Chong's cross-shaped sword strike.

The heavy warhammer fell. Xuan Chong was certain the battle was over, because the strongest "waaagh!" signal he had "heard" had disappeared, along with the lingering echo of the smaller "waaagh!".

The other beasts that were still resisting on the position stopped resisting at this moment and fled frantically. The humans who were originally huddled on the position firing were stunned for a moment, then reacted and began to jump out of the trenches to give chase.

Di Mingqiang was one of them. He carried a gun and rushed out to surround and kill the orcs, while the black-clad guard carried the head of the Ork chieftain back.

As they passed each other, he saw the mech warrior sheath his sword; the helmet became transparent, revealing a very young face. He exclaimed, "General!"

Xuan Chong turned to look at the soldier and calmly said amidst the smoke and fire, "Soldier, for victory, advance!"

(End of this chapter)