Chapter 189, Howling
Jason Morgan is a little panicked now.
He didn't think it was wrong to boost morale at the committee meeting and keep those wavering elements in check.
However, as the nominal headquarters of the Mutual Aid Society, Crocker Manor now gathers a large number of committee members. If it is really attacked, it will be a lot of fun.
The Mutual Aid Society would undoubtedly fall into a state of organizational chaos. Even if the Central Army Group subsequently moved south and solved the problem, the Mutual Aid Society would need time to rebuild if it wanted to play a good logistical role.
That would mess up the whole plan.
However, the tragic scene he had just seen through the telescope, and the sight of countless soldiers retreating from the collapsed third line of defense to the fourth line of defense, left Morgan speechless.
Can you say that the brave warriors of the militia did not fight hard?
Obviously not.
They themselves know that behind them is their homeland and the refugee camps where their families are. They have finally escaped here and survived. They were recruited into the militia to protect hope.
If they fight, their families can survive; if they act as good defenders, their families will have the opportunity to go to the Twin Cities and enjoy the official benefits of Alliance citizens; if they fight, those who want to stay in the Qinggu area can own their own land...
Their will to fight is unquestionable.
However, the enemy's large numbers and fierce firepower are objective facts that cannot be reversed by fighting will.
Morgan saw with his own eyes the new types of advanced mutant monsters that the military observer had introduced to him before. To be honest, his legs were still weak.
If it weren't for the fact that this was not his first day in the Qinggu area and he had already seen many different kinds of deformed monsters, and had also received education at Zhongsi College, if he had been just a clerk in Fuxing City back then, he would probably have been frightened to death when he saw those monsters for the first time.
However, the militia soldiers were able to withstand huge casualties and hold out from yesterday afternoon until now.
Just now, three hundred people died in front of him.
The military observer sighed, "It's actually not bad. This morning when the sun just rose, the enemy launched its first large-scale attack. For the first time, they sent many specialized high-level biochemical monsters into battle. We were caught off guard and lost thousands of people on the first line of defense. Then, five hundred people died on the second line of defense."
Jason Morgan was silent.
There are only 5,000 soldiers in Crocker Manor, and 1,800 of them have been killed so far.
The observer continued with a wry smile, "In this morning, we have lost three lines of defense. There is still one line behind us, and we will reach the wall of Crocker Manor after that. If this place is conquered, all the way to the two refugee camps behind will be undefended..."
There was another half sentence that he didn't say.
You can consider evacuating personnel.
Even if it is impossible to evacuate all of them, or even if only a small part can be evacuated, the remaining people must be allowed to find their own way to survive. This is better than staying here and waiting for defeat, with hundreds of thousands of people dying.
Jason Morgan also understood the hidden meaning of the military observer's words.
However, this is considered purely from a military perspective.
Jason has to consider political issues.
He had just suppressed the Mutual Aid Association's wavering signs due to the actions of the Alliance Headquarters, but immediately the Mutual Aid Association's headquarters and the largest plantation in the Beiqing Valley area were destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of people in the two refugee camps were evacuated in panic, and it was unknown how many people died in the process...
What is the political cost of this?
The subsequent collateral effects will have a very bad negative effect on the Governor's plan to retake the entire Qinggu area.
He covered his forehead and asked, "When will the remaining 5,000 people mobilized from the refugee camp arrive?"
The observer sighed, realizing that Jason Morgan still wanted to defend.
In fact, he wanted to too.
This is fine. Instead of wavering, it is better to have firm faith.
He gave the answer: "It will be there before noon."
Jason Morgan breathed a sigh of relief. "At least we have the first good news now... Next, we have the second good news. As far as I know, the vanguard of the Central Army Group heading south is Major Perbov's troops. Can we get in touch with them? I want to know if they can change their route and go to Crocker first. If so, how long do we have to hold out before we can wait for them."
"We have already contacted them. The Central Army Group has learned about our dangerous situation. The Central Army Group has given us orders that require us to hold on as long as possible. In addition, the relevant support orders have also been sent to the Xifeng Brigade. But..."
When he heard the first half of the sentence, Jason Morgan breathed a sigh of relief.
This is certainly good news.
If there is support, then it makes sense to hold on.
But the word "but" at the end makes people feel uneasy.
Sure enough, what follows this word is not good news:
"The Central Army Group only officially started its southward march yesterday. Even if the Xifeng Brigade is the vanguard, the distance from the southern border of the Central Bank Province to here is more than 400 kilometers. It will take them at least three days to get here. In fact, the order given to us by the Central Army Group requires us to hold on until dark tomorrow."
"It will be dark tomorrow..." Jason Morgan pondered, "After the 5,000 militiamen from the surrounding area arrive at noon, can we do it?"
"We... can only do our best to prevent the enemy from completely occupying Crocker Manor before I die."
"Okay, I understand."
Jason Morgan turned and walked away.
He did not return to the manor, but instead took a loudspeaker and announced some real situations to the nearly two thousand soldiers guarding the last line of defense outside the walls of Crocker Manor.
The most important point, of course, is that the soldiers must work hard to hold on until tomorrow night. He promised the soldiers that support from the alliance would arrive before tomorrow night.
This statement still makes sense.
The soldiers' morale was truly boosted.
It might be difficult to defeat and repel those mutated monsters independently, but if we can hold out until dark, then... it seems that there is still hope?
The shadow of the three previous defeats has receded somewhat.
Having a strong will to fight is one thing, but being afraid of death is still a fear of death. Having lost more than 35% of their troops, they have not yet dispersed, which is actually worthy of their status as militiamen; Jason Morgan's words can now rekindle some of their morale. On the one hand, some of the inspiring techniques and rhetoric that Morgan learned in the past have played a role, but more importantly, the militiamen are indeed reliable enough.
However, despite this, the restored morale did not last long.
When the enemy came again and the corrosive bombs thrown by the biological artillery from ten kilometers away fell on the position again, the militiamen were still uncontrollably shaken.
If, when facing biological and chemical gas shells, the soldiers can temporarily wrap their faces tightly with cloth, hide in fortifications and pray that the corrupted shells will not fall accurately near them, then when the biological and chemical bombardment temporarily stops and the enemy begins a frontal attack, their remaining strength will no longer be enough to resist.
The full version of the Abscess Sprayer was not the monster that Gu Hang had encountered in the forest on the edge of Weixing City, which had a range of only 50 meters and was pulled out in advance by the original Angry Owl Sect. At this moment, the Abscess Sprayer that appeared in front of him had the ability to shoot the thick slurry flatly at the target within a range of 200 meters.
It has no penetrating power, but is extremely corrosive. Once it hits, the only cloth uniforms on the militiamen are unable to block it.
Those who react quickly and whose skin is not infected can still save their lives by taking off their clothes quickly; those who react slowly will have their uniforms corroded quickly and stick to their skin, and then they will face a painful feeling that will not kill them immediately but is enough to make them lose their combat effectiveness.
More zombie dogs rushed into the formation, and the militiamen were completely unable to resist.
The fourth line of defense lasted three hours from the time the enemy began its artillery bombardment, and only thirty minutes from the time the enemy began its frontal attack.
The defeat happened for the fourth time.
And this time, it was even worse than before.
The enemy had obviously deployed a large number of troops to attack, and during the rout, the zombie dogs that rushed in became even more terrifying killers.
These beast-like monsters that crawl on all fours are much faster, more agile, and more flexible than human soldiers. They fall down after being shot twice, but zombie dogs that jump left and right and change direction are not so easy to be hit. Soldiers are often killed quickly after being quickly pounced on by these monsters weighing 30 to 40 kilograms.
Jason Morgan, standing in the watchtower inside the wall of Crocker Manor, observing the battle situation outside, had a completely livid face.
Just now, when the enemy launched a full-scale attack, he wanted to stay on the outer defense line to boost morale, but the military observer next to him desperately pulled him back.
If you do this when necessary, then there won't be any problem for others.
This is the fine tradition of the Red Hats, leading by example and boosting morale.
However, the collapse of the fourth line of defense was not a morale issue.
Not to mention whether Jason Morgan staying there can really make everyone overcome the fear of death and face the battle bravely, even if he can do it with a supernatural power, it is meaningless.
It will only kill all the soldiers on that line of defense.
Now, if we withdraw our troops, we can rely on the stronger defense line of Crocker Manor wall to hold out longer.
Then Jason Morgan couldn't die on the front line.
If he died, it would be a major blow to morale.
Mr. Morgan, who understood the situation, could only retreat with hatred. He stood on the lookout tower and watched the militiamen being killed outside the wall, feeling heartbroken.
Except for those who had already escaped into the wall, almost all those who were still outside had been sentenced to death. Morgan couldn't even open the door to let the surviving militiamen in, otherwise the wave of deformed monsters would most likely rush in directly with this wave.
The reinforcements that entered Crocker Manor from the rear were arranged on the walls to fire outside to help relieve the pressure on the militia under the city. The militia under the city were asked to defend on the spot, and they were promised that they could be allowed in after temporarily repelling the enemy's attack.
This is of course despairing.
What does it mean to repel the enemy's attack?
Now everyone can see that the deformed monster is very powerful, how can we defeat it?
Isn't it obvious that this is asking us to die?
Many anxious militiamen cursed loudly outside the city.
But in the end, the worst did not happen.
The militiamen under the city knew that they were actually abandoned, but at this juncture, they still did not choose to shoot at their comrades on the city wall.
There was no internal conflict. Instead, they turned around and fought desperately with the approaching enemy in grief and anger.
First, he tried his best to cooperate with the friendly forces on the city wall to shoot the zombie dogs. Later, he tried his best to shoot at the approaching abscess sprayers at a distance of 200 meters.
During this time, the enemy's biological and chemical artillery once again showed its power. The main firepower was still concentrated inside Crocker Manor, but occasionally biological and chemical shells would fall outside and hit the remaining external militia, causing casualties.
More and more people are dying.
At this time, Jason Morgan didn't even have the heart to feel guilty about his decision to send the soldiers who didn't enter the city to their deaths. He had been pulled down from the observation tower. A few minutes later, the observation tower he was previously in was hit by a biochemical shell and collapsed in rapid corrosion.
It's not just this place that was destroyed. Those walls are not the same as real city walls and fortresses. Although they look strong and people can even stand on them to shoot outward, they are essentially wooden structures. Under the bombardment of biochemical artillery, gaps have appeared, through which one can vaguely see the wave of deformed monsters getting closer and closer.
What did you say before?
Until tomorrow night?
I can't get through tonight!
Not to mention at night, if the fighting is not good enough and the militiamen’s morale is lowered, they may not be able to hold on until noon!
Jason Morgan's heart was already cold.
Boundless pain surged into my heart.
He is not afraid of death now, he even hopes to die.
If Crocker Manor was breached, he would rather die here than live in disgrace.
It wasn't that he was brainwashed by some training, but that his own heart simply couldn't get through the next level.
He watched with his own eyes as the refugee camp he had built with all his might over the past two months was destroyed. He watched with his own eyes as the 400,000 Qinggu refugees, who had finally found hope of survival thanks to his efforts, were slaughtered by these deformed monsters...
He can't do it.
Compared to seeing that scene, dying here is an easier option.
He took out his pistol and said to the military observer beside him: "I want to fight on the front line. I would rather die in battle."
This time, the man did not stop him, but pulled out his gun: "I'll go with you."
The two men, along with several guards, began to move forward.
Just when the two were ready to die, they simultaneously heard a whistling sound coming from the sky.
Looking up, I saw three white mists cutting through the clouds.
Squinting and looking more closely, they seemed to be three green aircraft.
The fire suddenly appeared, and six flames flashed by. Then, from a place that seemed far away, a muffled sound was heard.
The sound was not particularly clear. After all, they were on a battlefield and had never heard the sound of gunfire.
However, they clearly sensed one thing: the enemy's biological and chemical bombardment seemed to have stopped halfway.
(End of this chapter)
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