CHAPTER 1479: CHAPTER 1396: THE UPRISING OF HUXUAN

The Tang Army had not yet approached Huxuan when dense gunfire erupted on the streets of Huxuan, a city in the Shu Territory. The local populace had raided the Qin Army’s arsenal, launching an unprecedented uprising.

This time, they captured many streets of Huxuan and relied on the barricades that the Qin Country had just reinforced, repelling counterattacks from the Qin Army several times.

The situation escalated, forcing Qin Country to muster more troops to besiege Huxuan City, but the Shu uprising troops inside Huxuan were not eradicated. Instead, the Great Tang Empire launched a rescue assault on Huxuan.

The vanguard of the 7th Corps launched a northward assault, breaking through the carefully prepared defensive line of Qin Country, and entered Huxuan City a day later.

More than an hour later, the Tang Army made contact with the uprising Shu Army inside Huxuan City, who then received supplies and happily handed over the positions they controlled to the Tang Army.

That night, knowing that holding the city was hopeless, the Qin Country troops voluntarily retreated, leading to a series of battles between both sides that lasted until the next morning.

After losing over a hundred thousand soldiers, the Qin Army finally escaped the Tang Army’s pursuit and stabilized their lines near Huai Mountain. The Tang Army subsequently occupied Huxuan City and began repairing the railway between Kangrao and Huxuan.

The fall of Huxuan meant that Qin Country lost another large area of control in the Shu Territory. The Qin Army’s defensive lines in places like Shu Mountain were severely compressed, and their strategic depth was almost entirely lost.

Currently, the Qin military can only confine themselves to the narrow region of the Huai Mountain-Shu Mountain-Shu Mountain defensive line, awaiting their end.

Liu Zhian was appointed urgently, secretly heading south to take over the command from the frontline Qin generals and began overseeing the defense around Huai Mountain. However, nominally, the commander of Qin Country was still Ying Xu, but Liu Zhian was the actual decision-maker.

Meanwhile, Zhang Xuan was recalled to handle the homeland defense of Qin Country, and Sun Guang, stationed far off in Dorne, was appointed as the Naval Commander of the Great Qin Empire, tasked with rebuilding the Great Qin Navy in Dorne.

As a wanted criminal, Liu Zhian was originally ordered to leave Qin Country and hide incognito in Dorne.

But who knew the situation changed so quickly; before he even had the chance to head south to Qingluan Port, the situation of the Great Qin Empire in the Shu Territory had already completely collapsed.

Having lost the port and with the navy completely wiped out, Liu Zhian was unable to leave even if he wanted to. Hence, the Qin Emperor simply promoted Liu Zhian, who had just arrived in Huai Mountain, to General responsible for defending Shu Territory.

This was a desperate measure, but it proved that Liu Zhian’s capabilities were indeed stronger than those of Ying Xu and Sun Guang. At least on the northern front, he relied on mines to hold out for a while, and overall, the northern situation appeared more stable than the south.

In Ying Duo’s view, this was all thanks to Liu Zhian’s contributions, so this time, Ying Duo secretly hinted to reinstate Liu Zhian once again. However, this time Liu Zhian could not use his real name; he took the alias Yu Zhennan, overseeing the Huai Mountain defense line.

No one anticipated that upon assuming his position, Liu Zhian would make a ruthless move: he ordered the execution of over 1000 Shu Territory officials and officers, aiming to prevent the potential catastrophe of Huxuan’s fall.

However, this bloodshed led to unrest among the hundred thousand Shu auxiliary troops on the Huai Mountain defense line, significantly reducing their combat effectiveness.

Once the massacre of Shu army officers in Huai Mountain had somewhat subsided, the Tang Army’s aggressive assault on Huai Mountain began.

In just one day, the Qin Army’s defense line retreated 10 kilometers. The Tang Army’s offensive was too fierce, and without mines as a barrier, the Qin Army had no choice but to retreat continuously, losing large parts of the outer defenses of Huai Mountain.

...

The situation was not easy for Dorne either. After the Tang Empire’s aircraft carrier fleet attacked Winterless Port, they remained near Dorne’s waters. With substantial support from logistical ships, the Tang Navy was well-supplied with ammunition and fuel, clearly intending for long-term combat here.

But with radio interference, telephone nodes destroyed, and communication virtually cut off, Dorne found itself struggling to deal with such a powerful naval fleet.

They could only futilely enhance the coastal defense facilities and try to figure out if the Tang Army would land in Dorne, and where exactly they would land.

This left the commanders of Dorne racking their brains: finally, they discovered that Mike Ravel, the original chief of staff of the joint fleet, seemed to be an authority in this regard.

He was familiar with the main fleet of the Great Tang Empire’s navy and had personally witnessed the Tang Empire’s amphibious operations, making him a "senior commander" with significant experience.

Sun Guang, an "outside minister" from Qin Country, was also a versatile talent. Thus, Dorne the First generously granted Mike Ravel the title of supreme commander of the coastal defense troops while giving Sun Guang a position as chief of staff.

Following their advice, Dorne began constructing an immensely long coastal defense line. This line required significant expenditure, but once completed, it seemed capable of alleviating the threat from the sea to the Dorne Empire.

The entire defense line required large amounts of reinforced concrete, with a huge heavy bunker over 2 meters thick to be built at intervals.

These bunkers stood on the cliffs behind the beach, with additional rotating steel armor turrets installed between them.

A network of closely dug trenches was used to strengthen the links between each bunker, and the excess soil dug out was piled up to form obstacles, preventing the landing of the Tang Army’s subsequent heavy armored vehicles.

Behind these obstacles were numerous firing holes, machine gun positions, bunkers, and artillery positions... all set to form crossfire to attack the landing Tang Army severely.

After spending so much, the Dorne Empire also provided the entire defense line’s troops with anti-aircraft gun defenses and aircraft for air defense.

To counter the Great Tang Empire’s air forces, Dorne amassed 500 aircraft of various models near the coastline, which was an impressive number.

Additionally, the entire coastal defense line was reinforced with 1000 anti-tank guns of various models. These cannons could strike landing craft and attack Tang Army tanks landing ashore, providing support for the entire line.

Beyond these, Sun Guang, who had left a deep impression on Mike Ravel during the defense of Qingluan Port, left numerous wooden stake obstacles on the beachhead.

As long as tanks or armored vehicles attempted to come ashore, they would likely be caught by wooden stakes and concrete blocks, becoming sitting targets in the shallow waters.

These tactics were devised by Sun Guang during the defense of Qingluan Port, but due to logistical constraints, they had been abandoned back then.

Now, Dorne clearly had better logistics and more resources, which made Sun Guang determined to test if his defensive strategies were indeed correct.