Chapter 1492: Chapter 1409: Huai Mountain Street Battle

Zhou Ergou was just an ordinary laborer, working strenuously in his city to make a living, doing numerous jobs daily just to get something to eat.

Later, war erupted, and as the situation became increasingly tense, people like him were rounded up and sent to the front lines. As a man of Qin, he had the duty to defend his country.

But he underwent no military training; after a brief practice on marching, he was sent to the front lines, issued a rifle, and became a soldier.

Contrary to his expectations, he didn’t see a single enemy on the battlefield. Hidden in the trenches, he only heard the rumble of artillery, then his captain shouted for them to run quickly, and he ran with his gun into the ruins behind him.

He escaped from one ruin to another, from a rookie to a veteran. He never saw the Tang Army, and his troop was replaced one after another.

Now, he lay among the ruins, still not seeing the so-called enemies described by the officers. All he could see were collapsed buildings and comrades reinforcing the defensive line nearby.

Everyone frantically followed orders, piling up rubble to create sturdy shelters to withstand the Tang Army’s attacks.

But in reality, most of the time, the Great Tang Empire’s attacks were merely artillery bombardments on the Qin Army positions; after a few rounds of precise shelling, the Qin side would collapse by itself.

It was truly precise shelling: it’s unclear how the enemy detected it, but shells seemed to have eyes, falling down, hitting Qin Army’s fortifications, and blew both the structures and those inside into the air.

He once saw people hit by shells, their blood stained the uniforms red, severed arms hanging on distant rebars, the air reeking of the nauseating smell of exploding shells couldn’t be masked.

An old veteran once advised Zhou Ergou not to easily change the state of the ruins, just hiding among them is fine… he said that’s the secret of living till now.

Zhou Ergou learned that trick and was grateful to the veteran who taught him; sadly, the veteran died more than a month ago when a rocket hit his hiding place, his body was found in pieces.

Sometimes, the Great Tang Empire’s attacks were not so accurate, especially those from armed helicopters. Such machines would go berserk, firing madly whenever suspecting any Qin Army concealed anywhere.

“A bunch of fools, do they think those bricks can stop shells? It’s a waste of time, and they even exposed their position.” Zhou Ergou disdainfully thought of those rookies seriously stacking trench defenses, for half of them would die today.

New recruits conscripted by Qin Country mostly couldn’t survive more than 10 days on the battlefield, mainly depending on the Tang Army’s attack intensity.

Those who received no proper training often died on the first day of combat, a randomly fallen shell or machine gun bullet would take these fools’ lives.

While running, they would instinctively lift their heads, then their heads would be shattered by bullets from who knows where.

Some bullets came from Tang Army’s fire, some from Qin Army’s fire. On the battlefield, no one could distinguish targets or avoid their own side, and bullets couldn’t have eyes.

Thus, lifting one’s head on the battlefield was incredibly foolish; under any circumstances, keeping one’s upper body low was the wise choice.

The Great Tang Empire’s snipers’ tactics were silently changing. Previously, they loved taking down some unlucky enemy with one shot, then bragging about their precision and skill.

Now, these Tang Army snipers would seldom expose their positions, instead guiding rear artillery to precisely hit trenches filled with Qin Army, destroying those crowded ruin shelters.

It was rumored that those terrifying grim reapers could even directly communicate with aircraft in the sky, their efficiency was much higher than Qin Army’s side.

“Whoa…!” A sharp whistling sound cutting through the air made Zhou Ergou shrink his neck; it was the sound made when the Tang Army’s large-caliber shells fell.

After the short screeching, the earth’s vibration almost bounced Zhou Ergou off the ground. He only felt his innards churning, and everything around seemed to be drifting away.

He didn’t feel the dust falling on him, for after hearing that terrifying sound, his ears ceased functioning. He felt the world swaying incessantly, leaving only a buzzing sound in his ears.

“Damn…” he cursed, though even he couldn’t hear what he was saying. Dust rolling in the air rushed into his mouth, yet he could no longer pay attention to the feeling on his tongue.

Fortunately, the Tang Army only fired one shell; that particularly precise shell fell to Zhou Ergou’s left side, hitting Qin Army soldiers building a machine gun position.

In an instant, the previous position became a big pit, a moment ago bustling with people, now silent, no human activity in sight.

“Medics! Doctors!” someone shouted with all their might, but Zhou Ergou couldn’t hear his voice, as the explosion’s sound still echoed in his ears.

“My arm! My arm!” A wounded soldier shouted painfully from further away; he was considered lucky since many couldn’t even cry out.

The massive shockwave shook nearby buildings, rendering already dilapidated ruins and broken walls even more miserable.

From time to time, bricks fell down, a wall burdened beyond limits subsequently collapsed, and the rising dust made breathing extremely difficult for the Qin Army members within.

“Medics!” someone shouted again, a Qin Army captain crouched behind a cover next to the pit, seeing corpses strewn all around and struggling wounded, momentarily dumbfounded.

Fortunately, the Tang Army did not continue shelling; that unexpectedly fallen shell already caused heavy losses to a Qin infantry company.

A hard-fought-for outdated Maxim machine gun was utterly destroyed; the gunner died, along with over ten reinforcement soldiers.

There were even more wounded; many were even coughing blood, and Zhou Ergou was already dazed, lying flat on the ground, the vibrations seemingly injuring his lungs.

A platoon was pretty much written off; remaining troops staying here were highly dangerous, leaving the Qin captain unsure whether to order a retreat or continue holding such a position.

Sadly, he had already retreated into Huai Mountain, retreating further… would likely head to Shu Mountain.