Chapter 646: The Slave Army Attacks!
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
Outside Cloud Town, many ditches had been dug and killing traps prepared and planted. There were high vantage points on either side of the the town, which could be used to launch assaults from.
Hu-er Ran eyed the battlefield from afar and gave a solemn order, "Send the slaves to go fill up the ditches!"
The Mongolian general Agudo in charge of the slaves looked at the 3,000 of them, noting their deadpan expressions, and hollered, "You bunch of pigs, listen up!! Go fill up the ditches, as long as you do so, your families will receive benefits, ordinary slaves will become high-class slaves, while high-class slaves will be upgraded to ordinary citizens. This is the only chance for your families and yourselves to gain freedom and dignity! Charge for this senior!!"
Under his roar, a glint of hope flashed in the eyes of the slaves, as they hoisted bags of sand and rushed towards the ditches. Although Hu-er Ran was extremely cruel to them, it could be said that his words were worth their weight in gold. With Agudo’s promise, they were filled with hope for the first time.
"Don’t kill me!! I’m Han!!"
"Don’t shoot!! I’m Han!!!"
"Please don’t shoot, I’m Korean-Chinese!!"
"Don’t shoot, I’m a Miao!!"
"Don’t kill me, we are all fellow comrades!!"
"..."
Under the watchful gaze of 200 soldiers, the 3,000 slaves charged forth with desperation, crying as they made their way towards Cloud Town.
Making use of the commoners to attack cities, this was a vicious tactic used in the past. If the enemy went soft and allowed the commoners to fill up the holes, then the Mongolian troops could charge forth. If the enemy hardened their hearts to kill the commoners, they would expend their bullets, and lower their own morale. It was truly a cold-hearted strategy.
"Scram!! Get out of here!! Leave now!!"
"Don’t come over!! There’re traps here!! Don’t come any closer!!"
"..."
Seeing the 3,000 slaves approaching, the soldiers in Cloud Town began to shout frantically. They would rather engage in an all-out slaughter with the Mongolians than fire at their own people.
Hong!!
Following a loud explosion, a number of the slaves had stepped and triggered a landmine, which blasted them apart.
Another triggered a mechanism, which sent arrows shooting towards them. The dense rain of arrows fell upon dozens of slaves, causing them to fall and cry in agony.
All around Cloud Town, Yue Zhong’s forces had planted landmines and traps. These were in fact meant for the Mongolian troops, but unfortunately, the slave army had triggered them.
"Ah!! I don’t want to die!!" Seeing their fellow comrades falling to the explosions and traps, one of them wailed out while retreating. Under his lead, a few others began to back up as well.
"Defectors will be put to death!!" Behind, the Mongolian forces stepped forth to cut down any slave that retreated.
After the Mongolian forces killed over 30 slaves, the situation stabilized somewhat.
Li Guang ordered coldly, "Snipers! Kill their enforcement soldiers!"
Peng! Peng!
Following the sounds of gunshots, a number of the Mongolian soldiers fell down dead, with bullet holes in their heads.
Those enforcement soldiers were slowly picked off one by one by the elite snipers hiding in Cloud Town.
Under the threat of death, the soldiers that were initially maintaining their watch over the slaves began to fall apart, leaving behind the 30 corpses of their own comrades while fleeing.
The moment they were free of the threat of the enforcement troops, the 3,000 slaves began to retreat wildly.
Hu-er Ran watched the scene unfold with cold eyes and ordered, "They dare to retreat without orders, kill them all!"
Thus, bullets rained down from the allied forces, killing and injuring many slaves.
Agudo carried an assault rifle himself, firing wildly into the 3,000 slaves as he hollered, "You better fucking scram back! Go throw the sandbags into the trenches! Otherwise, we’ll execute you!! Your families will also be termed as dogs and will be punished accordingly!!"
As the 3,000 survivors were fired at by the allied forces, many of them were already in pools of their own blood. The rest had no choice but to turn back towards the road to hell and charge.
Hu-er Ran did not care about the lives of the slaves, his eyes flashing coldly, "So they’re going to employ their snipers so early on eh? Convey my orders! Snipers, attack!"
With his command, the elite snipers of the White Armor Army and Qie Xue Troops began to inch forward carefully and started to engage in a sniper crossfire with Yue Zhong’s troops.
Peng! Peng!
The clear gunshots rang out loudly, although they weren’t concentrated, but with each gunshot, there would be one or 2 snipers shot dead. It could be from Yue Zhong’s troops as well as the allied forces.
The intense crossfire continued for a long while, before the allied forces realise their losses were piling up faster. Over 20 of their snipers had been taken out by the snipers from the Victorious Troops, whereas they had only killed 10 of the enemy.
The ex-KoG forces that Yue Zhong had successfully subjugated were mostly Judges, and had undergone the job change. Amongst the 1,700 of them, over 1,000 were snipers. They had all trained in sniping, and in the Victorious Troops, the total number of snipers were over 200.
The allied forces might have many snipers as well, but it was too little compared to Yue Zhong’s troops. Furthermore, the snipers of the allied forces could not compare to those from the Victorious Troops. They were outclassed and outnumbered, and thus, they suffered greatly in the exchange.
As both sides were still firing intensely at one another, the remaining 800 slaves carried their sandbags and got closer to those dangerous trenches.
Li Guang watched the approaching slaves, and his expression turned ugly, "Open fire!!"
"Hurry escape! Don’t get too close!!"
"Quickly!! Run!! We’re going to fire!!"
"..."
The soldiers of the Victorious Troops inside Cloud Town began to shout helplessly as they opened fire, and their shots caused the slaves to stumble and fall.
The forces inside Cloud Town could not compare to the size of the allied forces, thus they could only rely on the fortifications, cover and traps.
If Li Guang’s heart turned soft and allowed the slaves to use their own lives to disable the traps and fill up the trenches, then the allied forces would have an easier time.
The death toll of the Victorious Troops would then mount, and to them, it was a loss they could not afford.
One by one, the slaves fell in their blood, but there a few who managed to dump their sandbags into the trenches.
One of the slaves was smart, he saw that it was death on either side, so he darted to a corner and hid himself.
When the rest of the slaves saw that, they also begun to seek cover. They weren’t willing to give their lives for the allied forces, but for the sake of living on, they could only become cannon fodder, filling up the trenches and disabling the traps.
"Let the snipers come down." Hu-er Ran’s face turned solemn as he spoke. The moment those slaves gave up, the snipers would lose their meaning. Furthermore, they were being suppressed heavily by the enemy, leaving casualties, which caused Hu-Er Ran and Xuan Zhen to feel the pinch.
Without the support of a novice village, every single sniper had to be cultivated and groomed, with painstaking efforts. Furthermore, they were useful against powerful experts.
As long as a top sniper could hide at a distance, he could easily distract a powerful Evolver, keeping him on guard. The power Evolver would only be able to exhibit 80% of their power then. Those high-level Evolvers might even be easily taken out by a sniper with a good hiding space.
"Zheli Mu, I want those hills conquered!" Hu-er Ran eyed the 2 vantage points on either side of CLoud Town and gave an order to Zheli Mu.
Hu-er Ran was extremely clear that it would be a huge bloodbath before they can take down Cloud Town. He wanted to find a way to crush Yue Zhong’s forces and firepower quickly and swiftly.
"Yes! My Liege!" Zheli Mu bowed and rushed out.
Hu-Er Ran looked at Xuan Zhen beside him and said, "Emperor Xuan Zhen, I’ll leave the other hill to you."
This time, in order to take down Yue Zhong, Hu-er Ran and Xuan Zhen had bet all their forces. They were clear that with every passing day, Yue Zhong was growing stronger. If they were to lose today’s battle, both Mongolia and Manchuria would become the losers, and many would become Yue Zhong’s slaves.
Xuan Zhen swept a gaze towards Ao Dou," Ao Dou! Go bring some men and take down that hill!"
"Your servant obeys!!" Ao Dou kneeled on one knee, before leaving.
Zheli Mu and Ao Dou left, and the allied forces began to launch heavy artillery fire on the 2 hills.
Hong! Hong!
Following loud explosions, a number of heavy artillery landed on the 2 hills, blasting the entire area.