CHAPTER 1682: CHAPTER 1599: THE TANG ARMY BEGINS TO COUNTERATTACK

Inside his own temporary command post, Hoge set down the binoculars in his hand and looked at the awaiting commanders beside him: "Alright, I hope we’ve given enough. It’s time to let our opponents taste the flavor of despair."

"Order all troops to counterattack! Since they’ve come out of their own nests, let’s show them what a charging armored corps looks like!" After saying this, he once again raised his binoculars, looking toward the enemy’s position.

Accompanied by the successive orders to commence the counterattack, there was a brief silence on the positions, followed immediately by bursts of dazzling lights.

Countless black smoke columns rose into the sky, and almost simultaneously, violent tremors were felt underfoot, followed by deafening sounds, as if the entire world was collapsing into destruction.

At this moment, the Tang Army’s long-prepared counterattack commenced, hundreds of artillery guns began their frenzied roars, and innumerable shells rained down on the Dwarf attack troops, who had no clue what was happening, instantly reminding them of the massacre by Tang Army helicopters earlier.

The Dwarf soldiers, who had originally thought they were on the verge of victory, were instantly awakened from their dream, finding themselves in a cruel reality, discovering they were in hell.

The soil was tossed up by the artillery fire, scattering in the sky, with the smell of choking gunpowder everywhere in the air, even breathing became a torture.

As the heavy artillery of the Tang Army blasted, hundreds of aircraft began their performance, and the Dwarfs’ radio communications were instantly suppressed, with all radio contact channels filled with irritable electrical interference noises, leaving no one aware of what exactly was happening.

Following closely, the still constantly receiving and sending signal radio equipment were targeted one by one by missiles descending from the sky.

From army corps headquarters down to battalion and company-level command posts, the Tang Army fired hundreds of anti-radiation missiles in one breath, completely paralyzing the command system of the Dwarf troops.

Among the smoke pillars reaching the sky, Thunderbolt attack aircraft with shark faces painted on them burst forth, using 30mm caliber cannons to plow lines of trenches, tearing the Dwarf armored vehicles jammed on the roads into pieces.

The hastily assembled anti-aircraft artillery didn’t even have time to open fire before they were dismantled by guided bombs dropped by Intruder attack aircraft.

The bombing precision of the Tang Army was beyond the Dwarfs’ imagination, and faced with the Tang Army’s heaven-destroying and earth-ending attack, these Dwarf troops were entirely unaware of what they were going through.

Because intelligence gathering was thoroughly paralyzed, neither commanders nor frontline soldiers had any clue about their surroundings, which in turn prevented their self-collapse—relatively speaking, this could still be a good thing for them.

The Dwarf soldiers who were attacking just moments ago were suddenly overwhelmed by the artillery barrage. Those who luckily survived the bombardment climbed out of the craters only to see enemy planes screaming overhead.

They had no idea what to do; their comrades had already vanished beyond trace, and no new orders from the command could reach them.

To survive, they could only retreat, hoping to find a company commander or battalion commander to ascertain the situation: only to discover the body of their battalion commander lying inside an armor vehicle riddled with bullet holes by the roadside, along with two burning trucks nearby.

Artillery that hadn’t been set up in time toppled over by the roadside, alongside fallen soldiers of the advancing heavy equipment, their bodies sprawled haphazardly. The fields were littered with smoke-emitting craters and scattered military supplies and ammunition.

Everyone was retreating, but where exactly to go, or how far, no one knew; after much difficulty finding a company command officer, it turned out he too had no clue what to do.

In the midst of this confusion, dense swarms of Hind helicopters appeared once more, dispersing the disoriented Ice Cold Empire crowd like headless flies.

Rockets fell like rain, followed by machine-gun sweeps, causing everyone to duck their heads and scurry, lacking even the courage to look up.

At this moment, the Tang Army pilots in the sky felt numb; they hadn’t imagined there would be so many targets to attack. Looking around, Dwarfs sprawled across the ground, and a casually launched rocket resulted in a splash of blood.

Flying at high altitudes, they seemed like giants trampling on ants with gigantic feet several meters long. Each sortie could claim the lives of several, or even a dozen.

This was no longer a fight; it had become a slaughter! The Dwarfs had even ceased their counterattacks, merely running desperately to escape this damnable place.

After the Air Force had paralyzed the Dwarfs’ anti-air and communication system, the ground counterattack commenced simultaneously. Liu Guozhu, having waited for this opportunity for days, closed his hatch and issued the order to begin the advance.

The Type 96 main battle tanks charged out from their concealed woods, followed by various armored vehicles. The Tang Army was not foolish enough to spread the infantry out; they stayed within the armored vehicles, awaiting their battlefield.

This pursuit had been long planned; the Tang Army intended to chase for over a hundred kilometers until the frontal enemy was annihilated.

The reason for letting the Dwarfs be arrogant for two days was entirely to lure these turtles out of their original fortifications, leaving them without their shells.

As long as they were in the field, devouring these Dwarf troops was a breeze. For this effect, Xiao Yun’s Air Force hadn’t even moved many aircraft to disrupt the Dwarfs’ logistics in recent days.

With the joining of the Tang Army’s ground troops, the defeated Dwarfs began surrendering en masse. That state of confusion sapped any courage for resistance.

Hundreds or thousands of Dwarf soldiers raised their hands; they weren’t even from the same unit, temporarily fleeing together, then being surrounded in the barren mountains and unruly lands.

Just a few Tang Country soldiers were enough to disarm them, their will to resist completely crushed by the overwhelming attack.

On another battlefield, the Great Tang Empire’s 9th Corps was even more unstoppable, not because they fought better, but because the Dwarfs’ 5th Corps they faced were on an even lower level.

The Dwarfs’ 5th Corps had already suffered losses here at the 9th Corps, making their fighting spirit lower and their performance poorer. They collapsed directly, with entire companies, entire battalions, even entire regiments and divisions surrendering, giving General Feng Kezhi a taste of absolute dominance.