Munitions Empire

Chapter 593: The Melancholy of the First Prince 552

The First Prince of Qi Country received a frontline report from Luo Town while he was still in his headquarters, unmoved.

He was not as anxious as the Third Prince, and had more experience too—he knew that rashly moving could cause communication chaos, so he simply decided to remain in place.

However, he didn’t just stay put idly; he sent his confidant Qin Xiong to lead troops ahead and provide support to the battlefield at Luo Town as swiftly as possible.

In order to ensure his troops could resolve the issue upon arrival, the First Prince spared no expense, tasking the 1st Army to lead the charge.

The First Prince’s thinking was straightforward, he believed that only by having Qi Country’s most elite troops pave the way, there was a possibility to breach Tang Army’s defenses and recapture Luo Town.

By the time Qin Xiong set out with the troops, the First Prince had already received news that Luo Town had fallen. Still, he believed that with the 3rd Army there and his own 1st Army reinforcing, Luo Town could still be retaken.

His rationale was that Tang Army had come from afar and was not yet firmly established, without a solid defensive line to rely on, and with Qi Army’s advantage in numbers, it should be possible to retake Luo Town and repel Tang Army.

However, after seeing Tang Army’s aircraft, the First Prince was not so blindly optimistic.

He felt that if Tang Army could break through Qi Country’s border defenses within a day, Luo Town was likely lost.

Thus, he had his trusted 1st Army at the forefront for a reason: after recapturing Luo Town, he planned to swiftly move his main forces north to Nanye to stabilize the front.

Frankly put, rather than considering the march of the First Prince’s main forces northward as a determination to retake Luo Town, it’s better described as a determination to break through and escape!

Originally, the First Prince thought that by the time his troops reached Luo Town, the Third Prince’s 3rd Army would have already reclaimed it, allowing his own trusted main forces to quickly pass through Luo Town and continue fleeing north.

But reality slapped his face hard: his 1st Army had only left its base for one day when the Third Prince’s 3rd Army collapsed!

Qi Country’s top three main forces, a massive army of tens of thousands, had been routed by the enemy after just one day of combat!

The 3rd Army was on the offensive! The enemy was on defense! Under these circumstances, the 3rd Army was actually shattered by the enemy’s defending forces!

What was even more unbelievable was that the commander of the 3rd Army, along with Qi Country’s high-ranking General Tian Heng, and his beloved brother, had all gone missing!

The First Prince did not believe that the simultaneous disappearance of these senior commanders was a coincidence; in his view, they were surely done for!

The best-case scenario was that they all died in battle, and the worst-case scenario was that they had been captured! For Qi Country, the capture of a prince was nothing short of a great humiliation!

But he could no longer afford to worry about how to handle the situation of his brother being captured. What he needed to consider was the fate of the 150,000 troops under his command.

Relying solely on fragile highways and severely insufficient horse-drawn carriages was not enough to support such a large military force.

Therefore, if the First Prince wanted to preserve his troops and bring them back to defend King City, he had to consider the feasibility of recapturing Luo Town.

Although the 3rd Army had collapsed, he still had the 1st Army in hand, and a hundred thousand soldiers willing to fight. Together with the remnants from the western front, he could almost muster an army of over 100,000 near Luo Town!

He could not believe that 100,000 troops couldn’t take back a small Luo Town, so he didn’t even consider the option of taking a detour.

"Your Highness! A telegraph from His Majesty.” An officer walked into the headquarters, stood before the First Prince, and handed him a telegraph, “Ordering you to retake Luo Town at all costs.”

King Jiang Xian had already heard the news that Luo Town was occupied by the Tang Army, but he was not yet aware that his third son had gone missing.

Those below did not dare to report rashly, and those who knew did not wish to speak carelessly—what if it was just a disappearance? Could you bear the consequences if you frightened His Majesty the King?

Communication lags and battlefield chaos made summarizing and reporting on the situation extremely troublesome. Tang Army was somewhat chaotic, but Qi Country’s situation could only be described as a joke.

If Qi Country were compared to a person, this person’s reflexes would be so slow they would only start yelling for help after they were already dead. If Qi Country were compared to an online game, then its lag was so severe you’d still be in the semi-finals when the champion was already receiving the prize…

The First Prince learned about his brother’s disappearance through the message delivered by a messenger. And by the time he received the message, it was already the next day.

And so, Qi Army wasted yet another entire night in the crucial battle for the control of Luo Town.

This evening, the people of Qi Country were gathering their scattered soldiers, clearing the bombed and destroyed roads, and taking the opportunity to let the bulk of their troops, who had been on the move all day, get a good night’s sleep.

Including the night wasted by the 3rd Army earlier, it meant that the Tang Army had essentially fought for only about 9 hours over the three days since occupying Luo Town.

On the fourth day, the Qi Army was still not ready for combat, continuously harassed by Tang planes and forced to be on guard against a potential Tang counterattack.

No one wanted to become the next commander of the 3rd Army, so the remaining commanders of the Qi Army on the western front were very cautious in setting up their headquarters.

On the fifth day, the Qi forces on the western front, including the remnants of the 3rd Army, numbering a full 40,000 men, crowded around Luo Town, nearly eating up all the dry food they had brought with them.

What was more tragic was that because follow-up troops were still crowding into this direction, the logistics teams bringing food could not get through, creating a new problem with the supply of rations.

It had taken the Qi Army a full half-year to mobilise troops to the border, and now they were attempting to complete such a large scale mobilisation and combat operation in just seven to eight days, which was a test for the entire army’s command and coordination.

In fact, everything the Qi Army displayed was a failure! They nearly collapsed themselves.

By the sixth day, without even launching an offensive, the hungry vanguard nearly mutinied, almost beating the Qi military officers who commanded them to death.

And even at this point, the First Prince’s heavily relied upon elite Main Force, Qi Country’s finest 1st Army, was still stuck on the road, more than 40 kilometers away from Luo Town.

On the Tang side, they hadn’t wasted any precious time. While the Qi troops were dawdling, the Tang Army was busy reinforcing their defenses in the direction of Luo Town methodically.

First, the Tang Army’s Armored Corps stationed in Luo Town reinforced the defensive lines, not only constructing two outer perimeters but also repairing Luo Town’s train station! The restored roads and railways ensured the transport capabilities of the Tang Army.

Secondly, the Infantry troops that arrived later fortified the defenses of Luo Town—by the fifth day of the battle of Luo Town, there were 3 Infantry regiments, over 6,000 men, with reinforced artillery providing fire support!

Last but not least, after repairs and replenishment, the 1st Armored Division’s Tank units had essentially regained combat effectiveness, with over 200 tanks ready for battle, a disparity of force that the Qi Army could not bridge with numbers alone.

To put it bluntly, the Tang Army had also amassed a formidable force at Luo Town, and had even surpassed the Qi forces in terms of artillery.

Of course, all this was unknown to the Qi side. That’s why the First Prince remained confident, believing his troops could retake Luo Town and clear the supply lines.

"Order the follow-up troops to continue advancing! Push along the railway and the road!” the First Prince commanded as he took the telegram.

Because the Tang Air Force had focused on bombing the Qi troops near Luo Town, the scale of the Tang Air Force faced by the First Prince was very small, posing little threat.

That was the main reason he still had the confidence to assemble his forces and continue to reinforce Luo Town: many units of the Qi Army on the western front collapsed at the mere sound of Stuka dive-bombers, without the need for Tang planes to even drop bombs.

"Additionally… Your Highness… There’s still no news from the western command,” reported the officer who had brought the telegram, not yet departing.

He was the officer in charge of telegrams, so the task of locating the western commander and restoring communication also fell to him. He had not managed to contact the Third Prince or Tian Heng up to now, so he had to brace himself to speak up.

"I… understand! Send a telegram to General Qin Xiong in my name, ordering him to ensure his own safety upon arrival at the front line worried that his confidant would meet the same fate as Tian Heng, the First Prince added, “Tell him to do his best to find my brother and General Tian Heng and the others

"Yes! I understand!” The officer saluted sharply and then turned to leave the headquarters. He didn’t believe that there could be any sort of miracle from the Third Prince’s side at this point. In his view, the Third Prince was likely captured or, worse, killed outright.

After watching his subordinate leave, the First Prince looked around the underground command bunker situated behind the central defense line.

Though not aesthetically pleasing, it boasted safety and solidity with reinforced concrete ceilings, electric lighting inside, and appeared quite modern. At least here, one could shower daily, enjoy electric lighting, and avoid sleeping in tents.

According to the plan, he would have to leave here before long. As soon as Qin Xiong set up camp, the First Prince was to begin his journey, relocating his headquarters to where Qin Xiong had established his.

A temporary command post was neither safe nor comfortable… Thinking again of his missing brother, the First Prince felt a pang of melancholy.

His own trip to Luo Town would be a blessing or a curse, depending entirely on whether his 1st Army could deliver the results he was expecting.

Meanwhile, the Second Prince, who had been stationed on the eastern front without sustaining major losses, received a telegram from King City.

The message was brief, ordering him to immediately withdraw troops and take the train to retreat at the fastest speed possible. Qi Country’s next move was happening earlier than anticipated.

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