King Jiang Xian of Qi was dead. He could not die any more. When an officer of Qi found the carriage that had been overturned by the explosion of an aerial bomb, he could only see the king of Qi inside who had been sieved by bullets.
's corpse.
He held the body and cried bitterly. Many soldiers from Qi gathered around him and watched everything that happened in front of him in silence.
Tang Jun's planes were still circling overhead, and from time to time planes would swoop down and shoot at the crowd.
Those terrible aerial bombs left huge craters in the manor, destroying the place beyond recognition and causing the houses to collapse and shatter into pieces.
There are corpses everywhere, some were once extremely valuable, some were powerful, and some were just ordinary soldiers like them.
Less than half of a regiment of the Praetorian Guards is still alive, but those who are alive have lost the goal they want to defend.
The entire central organization of Qi State was destroyed by attacks from the sky in the past two hours, leaving almost nothing left.
If some people hadn't stayed in the royal city for the convenience of doing business, the entire government of Qi might have been paralyzed at this moment.
Anyway, the prime minister of Qi died, and his body was beside the carriage. The king of Qi died, and his body had just been carried out of the carriage.
Several important generals of Qi State died, some bodies can still be found, and some were so bombed that even the bodies could not be found.
A lot of important ministers of Qi State died, some died beside the carriage, some died in the corner of the yard, one of them was happier, and died on the body of His Majesty the King's concubine.
As time went by, more ministers were found, and they were all dead. They were beaten to death in another courtyard by Tang Army paratroopers who were anxious to leave.
Captain Ma is also dead. He committed suicide... Not to mention that he cannot escape the blame for the king's death. Even if so many important officials of the court died in one go, he basically has no hope of living.
Anyone who dies here or has any relatives left in his family, as long as the other party pursues this matter, he, the head of the Imperial Guard, will have his house confiscated and his family exterminated.
So he chose dignity, giving himself dignity and also giving respect to those who wanted to vent their hatred.
By the time his men heard the gunfire, it was already too late. Captain Ma shot himself in the head, and the bullet penetrated his temple. The scene was a tragic mess.
This time it became even more lively, everyone had no command and leadership, His Majesty the King, the spiritual totem, had just died, and the ministers were almost wiped out... The remaining soldiers and generals had no intention of fighting under the harassment of the planes.
They found a few stretchers, carried the bodies of the Prime Minister and His Majesty the King, and then left without caring about the remaining bodies.
No one realized that the Donghe Bridge, the gateway to the east of the royal city, had been occupied by the enemy, and no one thought of counterattack or searching for those Tang paratroopers. These Qi soldiers just retreated, abandoning the manor that was full of smoke and fire.
, took a few corpses and retreated towards Qi King's City in embarrassment.
What they didn't know was that a Tang Army armored unit had already moved towards the manor, and another Tang Army armored unit had already advanced towards the Qi King's City.
In short, they didn't know anything. They just wanted to bring the news of the death of the King of Qi back to the royal city, and then find someone who had the final say to take over everything.
…
On the southern battlefield, on the outskirts of Luo Town, which had been boiling like hell, the soldiers of the Qi army once again poured into the Tang army's position like a tide.
Qin Xiong held the telescope and quietly watched his troops attack the Tang Army's position. He saw with his own eyes those young lives being cut down one by one by the opponent's roaring machine guns like wheat.
Without artillery preparation, using human lives to attack the enemy's machine gun positions is no different from forcing people to die.
But with no other option, Qin Xiong had to adopt such an inefficient method, forcing the soldiers to attack the Tang army's defense line that was getting stronger and stronger again and again.
He really had no choice, because all the artillery shells he brought had been consumed. Now the Qi army had a strength advantage, but they no longer had the ability to continue fighting.
The bullets of the soldiers are not bad. Anyway, there are not many opportunities to shoot during the attack. No matter how many bullets the machine gun uses, it is still a small number.
But those shells that support artillery are not so easy to transport: a shell weighs dozens of kilograms, or even hundreds of kilograms, and a car cannot transport much.
The degree of mechanization of Qi's army was low, and there were not many oxen and horse-drawn carriages, so the number of artillery shells that accompanied the army was actually not many.
This is also an important reason why the generals of Qi are unwilling to move away from the railway: their logistical supplies are so dependent on the railway that they cannot move their troops without the railway.
A modern large corps is supported by logistical support. Without transportation supplies, fuel and ammunition, such a large corps will in turn become a general's nightmare and a black hole that swallows everything.
How much food do 100,000 people need to eat every day when they are crowded together? In order to sustain the consumption of these people, how many people must rush on the road to transport food and other supplies?
Even drinking water is a problem: being blocked outside Luo Town, these Qi troops need to transport even drinking water several kilometers, which is simply a nightmare for the logistics troops.
In order to maintain the food consumption of the 1st and 3rd armies, as well as the surrounding troops, Qin Xiong had no choice but to reduce the replenishment speed of artillery shells.
Because there were only a few roads behind them, they were blown up by Tang Jun's planes and blocked by their own troops, and they were already overwhelmed.
Relying on these inferior dirt roads to transport the grain stored in the southern defense line to the vicinity of Luo Town was also a big project for Qi's transportation team.
Do the Qi troops stationed at the border also need to eat? How would they feel as they watch others transport away the few grains left in their warehouses?
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Qin Xiong has almost exhausted all his strength just to adjust these contradictions, transport various reserves, and distribute supplies to the front line.
He can still find time to visit the front line now, which he has gained at the expense of sleep. But seeing his troops going up to die like this, Qin Xiong felt that he might as well go to sleep.
The eldest prince still has no plans to leave the station. It seems that the prince is ready to wait for Qin Xiong to get a result before deciding his choice.
Qin Xiong knew that the Second Prince had led the 2nd Army to retreat along the Eastern Railway towards Beiyuan City. As for how fast the retreat was, he did not know.
Anyway, it seems that the 2nd Army should be rescued in the royal city. Only God knows whether it will be late or not, so Qin Xiong is not anxious.
He decided that what he had to do now was to continue fighting here, maintain the situation, and buy more time for the rear.
Whether it is asking for help from the Mirage Kingdom or the Great China Empire, or seeking peace with the Tang Kingdom, it will take time. The more stable he can fight here, the more advantageous he will be to the Qi Kingdom.
As for the logistics behind him that were on the verge of collapse, Qin Xiong had selectively forgotten about it. It was as if if he didn't take the initiative to mention it, the problems that kept him awake at night would no longer exist.
You know, every artillery shell he uses now needs to be transported from the permanent defensive position in the south dozens of kilometers away.
The food his troops eat also comes from there, and the food stored there, as well as the cannonballs and bullets, are not unlimited.
Originally, the food stockpiled on the southern front was probably enough to stay in place for about a month and a half. What I thought at the time was that it could be replenished through the railway anyway, so there was no need to stockpile so much.
The figures on the books were enough to last for three months, but in fact, because Tang State went crazy buying grain in the past two years, many smart people misappropriated some strategic reserves to make their pockets richer.
The war has been going on for more than a month now, and several granaries and ammunition depots on the southern front have been blown up and captured. Overall, we are almost on the verge of running out of supplies.
If the hundreds of thousands of troops knew that they had no food or ammunition, then there would be no need to fight this war...
"General, the tanks of the Tang Army have advanced far enough to threaten our flanks." An officer hurriedly brought back news that shocked everyone in the command bunker.
After being replenished and rested, the Tang State's 1st Armored Division launched an attack on the flank of the Qi Army's main force near Luozhen.
Anyway, the Tang army inside Luo Town already has sufficient troops, so they don't have to worry about Luo Town's defense line being penetrated.
With no worries, the Tang State's 1st Armored Division soon played the role of an offensive force again, and began a roundabout attack to threaten the flanks of the Qi State troops attacking Luo Town from the north.
Now they have swept through several surrounding villages and are in a position that makes the 1st Army very uncomfortable.
"We have to think of a solution." Another officer glanced at Qin Xiong, who was silent, and made his thoughts clear.
Waiting here is definitely a dead end. They have almost no ability to continue attacking Luo Town. If they don't run away at this time, are they really digging their own graves here?
Qin Xiong also knew that he could no longer persist here. He closed his eyes in confusion, and finally gave the order: "Order the 1st Army to retreat 10 kilometers back, get out of the way, and hand over the defense area to the 19th Division."
When several people heard this, they knew that Qin Xiong was planning to remove the eldest prince's family assets first, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.
Just listen to Qin Xiong continue to order: "Stop the attack, withdraw the troops, and build fortifications in place..."
As a famous general of Qi State, Qin Xiong still has his own pride: even if he is about to run away, he still has to show that he is still here to persevere...
There was no way, no matter from which angle he looked at it, he couldn't give up the position near Luo Town: he had to put on a posture of killing Luo Town Nanye and fighting all the way to the royal city to rescue His Majesty the King. Otherwise, he would