Chapter 1505: Chapter 1422: Fatal Signal

The Tang Empire officer did what he promised. He walked over to the vehicle, handed the hand grenades to the soldier distributing food, took two bags of food supplies, and walked back to the boy’s doorstep.

He handed the food bag to the boy, whose eyes were now filled with brightness. He had seen these items before; they contained flour and canned goods, which were packaged food used by the Tang Army.

With this, they wouldn’t have to go hungry for the next few days, and they could eat well, even better than when his father was working at home.

Back then, to plow the fields and grow grain, his father was the only one in the family who could eat good meals, while he and his mother could only eat porridge and gnaw on wild vegetables.

Due to long-term malnutrition, the people of Qin Country here were generally thin and weak, with the children being almost skin and bones. In contrast, the children from the landlord rich families ate well, so they were generally tall and robust, often bullying the skinny civilian children.

The boy always hoped that he could eat more, grow taller, and become stronger to avoid being bullied.

But it wasn’t until now that he truly recognized what eating meant: inside the Great Tang Empire’s food package were ham sausages and bread, flour, and rich soup seasoning packets.

Just adding some hot water could turn the soup packet into steaming hot soup. The soup of the Great Tang Empire was incomparably delicious; just a sip would leave one with an endless aftertaste.

Previously, Tang Army Soldiers camped near his home had given some soup to the children, and the boy could never forget that alluring taste.

It was precisely because of that bowl of rich soup that he hadn’t used the hand grenade he had hidden until just now…

Now, in front of him, were two food packages filled with a variety of foods. He could hardly believe that these belonged to him.

So, he timidly raised his head, looked at the man, and didn’t dare to reach out for the food. The Tang Empire officer stuffed the food into the boy’s hands, smiling as he said, “All yours! Don’t be afraid! You are now a Tang person, understand? Tang person! Tang people should not go hungry nor be bullied! We are one family! You will understand many truths in the future!”

As he spoke, he stuffed candy he had just gotten from the soldiers into the boy’s pocket, “You will understand in the future! You will go to school, study many truths, have a decent job to support your mother, find a wife… hahaha! A beautiful wife! Do you understand? Understand?”

The boy usually hated having his hair messed with, but strangely, this time he didn’t mind it as much.

Perhaps it was because his pockets were full of candy or because his hands were filled with food. Regardless, he didn’t dislike the officer ruffling his hair; instead, he felt an indescribable sense of happiness.

One rifle after another was handed over by the Qin Country’s civilians, and hand grenades were collected in ammunition boxes.

The Tang Empire Soldiers were inventorying ammunition and supplies on the clearing at the village entrance, then recorded the civilians who had surrendered their weapons one by one. This job was important yet complex, and the Tang Empire Soldiers used this method to distinguish the relatively non-hostile civilians as much as possible.

Besides distributing food, resolving conflicts, and evenly distributing land, the Tang Empire also attempted to have local garrisons help repair houses and roads, genuinely helping the local population improve their lives.

This effort did have some effect. Although it didn’t make the people of Qin Territory happily welcome the imperial army with hearty meals and drinks, it at least reduced the intensity of their resistance and their opposition.

…

Guangmian, Chen Li stood in front of the map with dark circles under his eyes, feeling as if all his strength had been drained. The several strategic lines of defense he had painstakingly set up were inexplicably ruined, pushing him to the brink of collapse.

Initially, at a well-fortified location like Daxi Pass, Chen Li believed he could hold out for at least three months, maybe even four. However, they failed to hold it for even a month before it was handed over to the Tang Army.

What drove him to collapse was that the Qin Army itself erupted in rebellion! Daxi Pass, highly advantageous in terrain, was thus lost, leaving Chen Li with even thoughts of death.

Later, the Qin Army retreated to Shahun, losing a third of their supplies and suffering huge losses. Just as they managed to stabilize, another unit rebelled and switched sides.

Eventually, the final line of defense beyond their home territory, the long-prepared Shahun Line, crumbled like a joke.

Now, the Tang Army had already advanced into Qin Country’s homeland, with Guangmian already becoming the frontline. As the frontline commander of Qin Country, Chen Li truly felt like he had become a disgrace to Qin Country!

“General, the troops lack ammunition and food, and I’m afraid Guangmian won’t hold for much longer,” the adjutant said in a suppressed tone, draping a coat over Chen Li.

“I left weapons for those civilians, hoping they could hinder the Tang Army’s advance. It seems… there has been some effect.” Chen Li rubbed his aching nose and said to his adjutant.

In the past two days, the Tang Army indeed halted and did not continue their rapid advance. The previous hundred-plus kilometers surge of advancement disappeared, replaced by a more cautious and steady strategy.

Strauss from the front and Bolton from the sides didn’t rush to attack, instead beginning to consolidate their gains.

This made Chen Li more nervous. If the Tang Army continued to advance recklessly, he might still have a slim chance to exploit the chaos… now that the Tang Army had stopped, the Qin Army didn’t have any chance at all.

In reality, Chen Li was unaware that the reason the Tang Army stopped was to provide relief to the famine-stricken Qin Territory’s people and deal with leftover landlords and gentry from Qin Country, not because of the weapons and ammunition left behind by the retreating Qin Army.

In fact, most of those weapons and ammunition had already been confiscated by the Tang Army, with only a few making a tangible impact.

However, these distributed ammunition and weapons did indeed cause some trouble for the Tang Army; while previously such items could be confiscated centrally, now the Qin Army had distributed them among civilians, making their recovery and confiscation a time-consuming task for the Tang Army.

“What I’m worried about is that once the Tang Army finishes dealing with issues behind them, they might immediately encircle Guangmian… If they attack, we don’t have enough troops to defend the flanks,” Chen Li said, pressing his hand on the map, worried.

The forces at his disposal were already insufficient and reinforcements were uncertain about their arrival. Therefore, the city of Guangmian was very likely to fall…

And if Guangmian fell, it would be the first major city lost to Qin Country in its homeland… This signal would be truly catastrophic for the already passive Qin Country.