Under the blood-red sunset, corpses lay scattered across the pass, mostly concentrated under bunkers and in the crevices of the mountain valley. The charred remains were still burning, and a nauseating stench permeated the black smoke. The surviving Golt soldiers watched in despair as the enemy gradually captured the position.
On the front, the pass had been breached by the enemy's offensive, while on the flanks, the enemy's assault teams had formed multiple firing points, causing our casualties to increase rapidly.
Now, let alone blocking the enemy from entering the pass, even a counterattack is difficult to achieve, because the enemy is using those light artillery pieces for precise single-point blasting. Although they can use the terrain to hide in various bunkers, these long-range firepower suppresses the soldiers so much that they cannot show their faces. Meanwhile, amidst the artillery fire, the enemy's ground forces are rapidly seizing high ground and using more precise point fire to kill their own troops.
Under such circumstances, Commander Zoe finally realized that the situation was hopeless, and the defensive deployment at the pass had completely collapsed. He could only give the order to retreat with heavy heart.
"Quickly! Evacuate!!"
As soon as the signal to withdraw was given, the Golt soldiers hiding in several bunkers quickly began to plan their evacuation routes, because they knew that in the current environment, it was impossible to get out of the bunkers smoothly and retreat along the main road to the pass.
The enemy forces attacking from the flanks have captured several strategic locations, and the entire main road is within firing range. Evacuating from there would only result in being killed by bullets or artillery shells. Therefore, even if they wanted to evacuate now, they could only brave the hail of bullets and pin their hopes for survival on luck.
Time ticked by, and more and more strongholds fell. The Golgar soldiers still dared not leave their bunkers, but instead launched counterattacks from their positions, because the time to evacuate had not yet come.
Half an hour later, the sun completely set in the west, and night fell over the hills. The Golte defenders, who had already lost most of their men, finally began a complete rout under the cover of darkness.
Like rats whose burrows have been dug out, the Golt soldiers fled in chaos and disorder after leaving their bunkers. Most of them retreated directly along the main road, as the darkness offered them some psychological comfort. A small number of them fled in panic to the nearby forests on either side, where the terrain was more complex, there were more bunkers, and the chances of escape seemed higher.
As the Götter soldiers fled in panic, the Yan army, as the attacking force, began to occupy the pass. Groups of troops began to advance rapidly towards the pass along the main road. The combat groups on both flanks did not rush onto the main road, but continued to advance in the mountain valley to further increase their strategic depth.
During this period, remnants of the Goertek army's mountain infantry division were still fleeing back in the mountain valleys, so the Yan soldiers needed to continue attacking the enemy during their advance.
After confirming that the front-line combat group had torn apart the enemy's defensive network deployed in the mountains and forests, Qin Ze led his troops to speed up their advance today. After sunset, Qin Ze ordered the artillery battalion to continue advancing along the main road, while he himself led the remaining troops to set up camp on the spot.
So, around 7 p.m., the communications soldier who had returned from the front lines brought the day's battle report.
"Your Majesty! The passes guarded by the enemy have been completely captured by our army. A small number of enemy soldiers have scattered and fled. Our army pursued them bravely along the main road. After chasing for two kilometers, we killed most of the enemy soldiers. Considering that we might fall into an ambush if we continued to advance, we did not pursue them any further."
"The troops on both sides of the main road are scouting ahead two kilometers before the pass. However, there are still small groups of enemy troops remaining along the way, and our army is making every effort to eliminate them."
"It is estimated that we will not be able to wipe them out in a short period of time. We are unsure whether the enemy will send reinforcements. If the enemy continues to send more troops, we may have to keep fighting them."
After listening to the report, Qin Ze nodded slightly, a satisfied expression on his face, and then said slowly:
"Whether they send reinforcements or not is their business, but how long this battle will last is up to us."
"Now that the pass has been captured, let them rest tonight and not advance any further. The combat groups on both flanks will rotate shifts. Those who fought today will rest in place and let the rear troops take their place, continuing to advance along the route scouted by the front-line troops."
"When you encounter enemy soldiers, engage them directly. Don't give the Goths a chance to breathe; force them to continue fighting us."
After he finished speaking, the communications soldier nodded repeatedly: "Yes, Your Majesty!"
"What is the current situation of our unit that has penetrated deep behind enemy lines?" Qin Ze then asked.
In today's battle against the pass, although a unit had already circled around to the hills behind the pass, Qin Ze did not let them participate in the battle. Instead, he ordered them to stay away from the main road and take a long detour deep into the mountains and forests to prepare for the most important battle to come.
"Your Majesty, it seems they haven't been exposed yet, but they've gone too far. If they continue to penetrate deeper, it will be difficult for us to maintain contact. If we keep sending troops back and forth to make contact, the enemy might discover our presence, which could put them in danger," the communications officer said in a deep voice.
Qin Ze remained expressionless and said, "It's alright, let them continue to go deeper."
Qin Ze had already made the worst-case scenario preparations for this surprise force. If they were discovered by the Goths after penetrating deep into enemy territory and were subsequently surrounded, they would have no choice but to leave their fate to fate. However, even if they were all killed, it would not affect the overall course of the battle. If they succeeded, this force would surely bring great rewards in the crucial battle.
However, to increase the probability of this force launching a surprise attack, more pressure must be applied to the Goths on the front, forcing them to focus their defense on the main road and the mountains on both sides of the main road, thus neglecting the surprise attack force that is more than ten kilometers away from the main road and is advancing in a large circle in concealment.
It was for this reason that Qin Ze decided to continuously send more troops to prolong the battle from today onwards, forcing the Goths to engage in combat.
After Qin Ze issued the next combat mission, the messenger immediately took his orders and left.
Meanwhile, the remaining Golgar soldiers who had managed to escape through the pass were still fleeing in panic along the main road. After the pass fell, although more than 2,000 people had left the battlefield, most of them were shot and killed on the way during the subsequent pursuit. By then, less than 400 people had survived.
At that moment, the one leading this group of surviving soldiers was none other than Commander Zoe.
The blood flowing from his left arm had already congealed, but the waves of pain made Zoe's face turn pale. Although his feet were not injured, Zoe could hardly feel his legs.
"hiss--"
The cold wind that had been blowing since the afternoon came from the southeast. Zoye Wuzi's lips trembled incessantly. When he inhaled, he felt the cold seep into his bones. He turned to look at his subordinates beside him, almost all of whom were injured.
“No…don’t stop…” Zoe said, trembling.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
