CHAPTER 1494: CHAPTER 1411: TRAINING NEW RECRUITS

"Medical soldier! Medical soldier! Someone’s injured!" Behind the Tang Army’s armored vehicle, a soldier rushed over to check on the fallen comrade, urgently shouting for a medic to come over and help.

After confirming the presence of a sniper, the Tang Army’s armored vehicle started up, positioning itself in front of the hit soldier.

After a brief exchange of fire, the sound of a grenade explosion echoed from a distance, the dust gradually settling, and the entire battlefield returned to silence.

The medic, clutching a medical box, quickly ran to the site of the incident, practically sliding to a stop beside the fallen soldier: "Where’s the bullet wound?"

"Chest... I think I’m going to die..." the soldier on the ground replied weakly. He immediately saw his comrades gathering around, each one gazing down at him in panic.

"Move aside! You’re crowding him; he could suffocate easily." The medic lifted his head, barking an order that made everyone take two steps back.

There lay a half-eaten can and some ready-to-eat meals on the ground, abandoned by Tang Army Soldiers as they fled into cover upon hearing gunfire, rolling and crawling to safety.

This was almost a reflexive reaction. They had no habit of safeguarding their food, having learned the first rule of survival on the battlefield was to discard anything disposable during retreat.

"The bullet went through the tactical vest! I didn’t see any blood... it’s stuck in the bulletproof plate... almost pierced through... wait, there’s blood..." The medic checked the tactical vest of the soldier who was shot and saw a type of bulletproof plate made of a material called Kevlar inside.

This contraption was meant to protect the soldier’s torso, akin to ancient chest armor. But obviously, this thing functioned somewhat better than an iron plate.

Pulling the bulletproof vest open with force, the inside of the uniform was indeed stained with a patch of blood, about the size of a pair of glasses, indicating the bullet did indeed cause some harm to the unlucky soldier.

"The bullet broke the bulletproof plate, but you’re one lucky fellow; it only penetrated your body armor, inflicting a superficial wound." The medic exhaled, relieved, and then pressed a hand to the soldier’s wound.

"Sss... ah!" The soldier instantly regained alertness, wincing in pain: "It hurts! It hurts, hurts!"

"Your ribs are broken... Congratulations, you can retreat to the rear to recuperate." The medic told him while starting to treat his wound.

"It’s all right! Old Wang isn’t dead!" The platoon leader waved his hand towards the distance, shouting. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, then started discussing the Qin Country lunatic who had just fired.

"Why not just surrender and get it over with, instead of making sneak attacks?" one soldier cradling a rifle complained with a face full of disdain.

"Exactly, we treat POWs so well and even feed them..." commented another soldier as he placed a steel helmet back on his head.

He had taken it off while eating, but it appeared safer to wear it now. The hatch on the turret of the armored vehicle was opened again, and the commander poked his head out once more.

"Continue resting! Our orders are to station here! Set up guard posts! Old Fang! Old Fang! Send people to check all the surrounding areas, I don’t want a repeat of what just happened." The company commander shouted loudly beside the jeep, and the platoon leader surnamed Fang nodded, indicating he had received the instructions.

He then selected a few people, each with a few soldiers, to carefully inspect the surrounding ruins. They needed to ensure no enemies would appear around them again, so everyone could feel more at ease when stationed here at night.

The ground was littered with corpses, some broken furniture, and collapsed buildings. Checking every corner here was not an easy task, which was one of the reasons street fighting was tough.

They had inspected the area before, but unfortunately, still missed a Qin Army soldier like Zhou Ergou. This time, they could only be more thorough to avoid further mistakes.

...

Inside a dilapidated building, Liu Zhian looked at a roomful of wounded soldiers, feeling indescribable emotions. He had been holding out at Huai Mountain for half a month, and during this time, the Qin Army’s losses amounted to tens of thousands.

These soldiers were all young men from Qin Country, and each loss pained Liu Zhian. Yet he had to keep them fighting because only by doing so could Qin Country continue to exist in this world.

Every day thousands died, every day thousands were severely wounded, the Qin Army’s ammunition consumption was rapid, as most of the ammunition was discarded on the battlefield.

The new warfare tactics of the Tang Army made the Qin Army very uncomfortable, with many troops rushing about the city like headless chickens, rarely having a chance to counterattack.

It was as though... the Tang Army were the true masters of this city, the ones conducting guerrilla warfare, while the Qin Army were just unlucky outsiders fighting on foreign soil.

However, his objective was achieved because, at Huai Mountain, he managed to train some veteran soldiers who accumulated combat experience in urban combat. Liu Zhian decisively withdrew these battle-hardened soldiers from the frontline.

Indeed, he pulled these soldiers back to Shu Mountain City, where he was planning to have a decisive battle with the Tang Army, while Huai Mountain... was just his training ground.

Good news wasn’t absent either. After seeing the Tang Army’s rocket launchers, the Qin Army attempted crude imitations. Though these single soldier rocket launchers packed less punch than those used by the Tang Army, they indeed increased the Qin Army’s single soldier firepower.

In the urban combat at Huai Mountain, the Qin Army used these imitated rocket launchers for the first time, and their combat performance was impressive, with at least 30 Tang Army soldiers dying from these oversized fireworks...

"General!" A slightly injured soldier saw Liu Zhian, immediately standing up to salute. Liu Zhian motioned for him not to be so formal and then walked out of the bunker with his aide.

"How many more were pulled out?" Liu Zhian asked his aide, looking at the smoke-stained gray sky in the distance.

The aide promptly replied, "About 1,000 people were pulled out today, any more and the troops might collapse."

"Take it slow, there’s no rush. We have to hold out here for at least 10 more days, ten days means 10,000 men, plus the 15,000 previously withdrawn and the few thousand who will retreat when Huai Mountain collapses, Shu Mountain will have nearly 30,000 veteran soldiers ready for combat." Liu Zhian did a simple math calculation.

He was satisfied with this number because, despite losing a large number of new recruits, he managed to accumulate some useful "officers" for Qin Country.