Cannon Fire Arc

Wang Zhong confirmed that all three assault targets had been secured, then he ordered Pavlov, "Although we've opened the gates, the heavy artillery brigade must continue to bombard the walls after dawn. Naturally, the more breaches, the better."

Pavlov replied, "I just knew you would issue such an order. You just want to use the 203mm cannons to blast something to rubble!"

Wang Zhong laughed heartily.

————

Balas, Royal Palace.

King of Balas, Tutka, was pacing back and forth in the reception hall.
Experience tales with empire

Eventually, the Prosen plenipotentiary ambassador Schmidt, accompanied by a small squad of soldiers dressed in Prosen Army uniforms, entered the hall.

Tutka immediately rushed forward, shouting at Schmidt, "The enemy is storming the city! They're storming the city! None of the things you promised have been done!"

Schmidt smiled, "The speed at which the Anteans have arrived here isn't our fault, is it? It's because your troops offered no resistance at all. You've been indulging those traitorous Free Officers all these years; now you're reaping what you sowed, aren't you?"

Tutka shouted, "I indulged the Free Officers because I wanted to use them to counteract the influence of the United Kingdom that was seeping in from Bahara! Moreover, these Free Officers are among the higher quality in my army, leading troops that do not succumb to 'moon sugar', with a firm will to fight!

"I positioned these troops in the north to resist the Antean invasion because I knew that the United Kingdom's Army couldn't move that quickly! Bereft of the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, the United Kingdom's combat effectiveness plummets. It's not like the days when their red lobster soldiers ran rampant!"

Tutka paused and added, "Besides, we defeated those lobster soldiers back then!"

Schmidt shook his head, "What you defeated was a handful of lobster soldiers, along with a large number of Bahara troops. If it had been all lobster soldiers, you would have been annexed into the range of the United Kingdom's Bahara long ago."

"Don't talk about these useless things!" Tutka waved his hands dismissively, "Can you help me out of this predicament or not? I helped cut off the Anteans' supply lines; your speedy progress in Nan'ant is at least half my doing!"

Schmidt frowned, "I cannot agree with that assertion. I believe our generals, as well as the experts around His Majesty, would not agree either.

"Once you are eliminated by the United Kingdom together with the Anteans, supply lines will be restored, and you'll see that our forces will still advance rapidly. Soon our forces will cut off the supply line that stretches from the Bahara Ocean by ourselves. We will take Abawahan!"

Tutka's lips trembled, and after a long struggle, he yelled, "If the city falls, I can't run, but do you think you can escape? The Anteans have such hatred for you Prosens; you won't die a good death!"

Schmidt smiled as he took off his coat, revealing the military uniform beneath, "Do you know why both I and the Paratrooper Hunters behind me have changed into Prosen military uniforms? According to international law, we are considered prisoners of war.

"As far as we know, the Anteans treat prisoners quite well; they even use some basic methods to 'reeducate' prisoners and then send them to factories to produce weapons for them.

"So many of our captured officers have found ways to escape, and they have headed south into the Neutral Country."

Tutka cursed, "Despicable!"

"Don't be in such a hurry to curse," Schmidt said with a smile, "I've brought you a plan to escape. You can flee through a secret passage in the palace to the mountains in the east and wait for a special plane sent by Hansa Aviation. This plane will fly to the Neutral Country of Anatolia, refuel, and then return to Prosen. You can establish a Government in exile there in Prosen, not acknowledging the new Emperor supported by the enemy. Just like Melania and other countries have done."

"Government in exile?" Tutka squinted, as if hearing the term for the first time.

Schmidt replied, "If you don't like that title, you can call it Free Balas, just like General Dagaul's Free Carolingian. The name isn't important, what matters is that your hold on conquest is factually present!

"When we reach Abawahan and force the Anteans to surrender, we will move south to address the situation in Balas. Our Army will aim straight for Bahara, and once the United Kingdom loses Bahara, their power will sharply decline! They will soon surrender too.

"Just think, at that time, you will become the king of the entire subcontinent!"

Tutka seemed captivated by the bright future Schmidt was painting.

But he quickly brought up an issue, "A secret passage? What secret passage? How come I don't know about it?"

Schmidt laughed heartily, "Of course you wouldn't know. This Royal Palace, when it was being built, because your ancestors didn't trust the United Kingdom, they hired Prosen designers.

"Your ancestors asked the designers to create a secret passage that could be concealed from all the United Kingdom's spies in Balas at the time. The designers achieved this with the precision and rigor associated with the Prosens!"

Having said that, Schmidt snapped his fingers, and a design drawing was brought up and unfolded in front of Tutka.

Tutka's face beamed with joy, "Great, let's hurry and run!"

"Hold on," Schmidt said, "You should first order all the Balasian troops in this city to take 'moon sugar', and then make your escape."

Tutka's expression turned ferocious, "You're right; we can't let these invaders have it so easy!"

————

When the Whirlwind of the 225th anti-tank battalion drove into Balas City, they were suddenly confronted by a large number of Balasian soldiers.

These soldiers had gaunt faces and looked like a bunch of skin-and-bones skeletons under the sun.

They charged toward the lead Tank Destroyer, the 22501 Whirlwind, screaming at the top of their lungs.

The Whirlwind's rooftop machine gun immediately opened fire.

However, after all, the Whirlwind was a tank destroyer specialized for the single purpose of destroying tanks, and the only anti-infantry firepower it had was one machine gun mounted on the top.

In comparison, the standard T34 had two machine guns and the T34W even boasted three: one in the hull, a coaxial machine gun in the turret, and an antiaircraft machine gun on the top.

The single machine gun of the 22501 was simply not enough to stem the black "skeletal" tide.

The tank destroyer fired a shot, and a 100mm high-explosive shell exploded among the crowd, instantly felling a swath of the enemy. But more enemies charged toward the Whirlwind as if they knew neither fear nor pain.

The Whirlwind's gunner even saw a Balasian soldier whose gun-holding right arm had been severed. His weapon had dropped to the ground, and yet he bent down, picked up his own limb, raised it high with his left hand, and continued to charge.

The gunner exclaimed, "Are these really living people? Could this be the legendary Undead Legion?"

The tank commander cursed, "Damn it! Didn't you see these people bleeding? They're just humans high on drugs, and humans die when they're killed! And even if they were monsters, monsters die when they're killed too! Fire!"

As the tank commander ordered to fire, the loader finished loading the high-explosive shell and shouted, "Ready!"

The gunner fired again.

Through the gunsight, the shell exploded in the dense crowd, sending many unfortunate souls with missing arms and legs flying into the sky.

Body parts and a rain of blood showered down, but the Balasians fearlessly charged on as if they were an Undead Army.

Gunner: "Our firepower can't stop these people! Should we fall back?"

At that moment, the 22502 Whirlwind moved up next to the first vehicle and delivered a high-explosive shell into the oncoming "tide of corpses."

A shower of blood and flesh erupted along the entire street.

By now, the enemy had closed to within a hundred meters and unbelievably started firing at the Whirlwinds.

Unfortunately, their accuracy was sorely lacking.

Some even threw grenades at the Whirlwinds from a distance of 100 meters, only to see them land tens of meters in front of the vehicles, blasting up columns of mud and causing no damage.

The 22501's tank commander reassured the gunner, "Look! The enemy has no combat skills at all. Once the infantry begins shooting with their Papashas, they'll be clueless!"

Just as he finished speaking, heavy machine guns opened fire from a two-story building next to the two Whirlwinds — these were the widely used wheel-type Maxim Machine Guns, equipped with water jackets, which emitted a dependable thump when they shot.

As the machine guns fired, accompanying sergeants with Papashas also began spraying bullets.

A hail of gunfire swept over the dense Balasian formations, and the battle seemed to turn into a one-sided slaughter. It appeared to be a test of the Antean Expeditionary Force's firepower delivery. If not delivered effectively, they would be overrun by Balasian soldiers with ferociously grinning faces, ready to smash their skulls with rifle butts.

Suddenly, a T34 burst through the middle of the Balasian formation.

There must have been a cross street there, and the tank took that route.

Several Balasians, armed with long-handled broadswords, sat atop the tank, crazily chopping at the drugged Balasian soldiers around it.

The 22501's tank commander was stunned as he looked through the commander's observation scope, but then he considered that nobody had ever stipulated that tank cavalry couldn't brandish long-handle broadswords.

(In fact, the common term used in Ceres was the unadorned version of the Green Dragon Crescent Blade.)

The T34 rampaged unopposed, and soon its tracks were covered in blood and flesh, jamming the steel tracks and clogging the idler wheels with a thick layer.

The nearly triangular area between the road wheels was now full of minced meat.

The T34 continued to skid, with each motion flinging drugged-up Balasian soldiers against the walls.

The tank's three machine guns also opened fire, but amid so many people, the machine gun's power seemed insufficient.

The broadsword wielders on the back of the tank were covered in blood, their trousers entirely red, their clothes mostly saturated.

Suddenly, someone grabbed a broadsword, and in a moment, the swordsman was pulled off the tank. The next second, his severed hand flew into the air, still gripping the wooden handle of the blade, but the blade itself was gone.

The enemies seemed to be devouring him, and soon intestines were seen tossed into the air.

Seeing all this, the 22501's tank commander exclaimed loudly, "I understand now what the so-called Ghoul legend is about! Command headquarters! I understand what the Ghoul legend is about! My God! No wonder the ancients, witnessing this scene, would speak of an army of resurrected dead! So this is the grim truth!"

At that moment, the order came through the radio, "Forget all that, charge them, crush them under the tracks! The enemy's intelligence is no longer sufficient to use Molotov cocktails against us! Charge!"