Chapter 858 - Contest and outcome (1/2)

Translator: Legge

The sound of heavy machine guns firing in the night was deafening as red-orange tracers spat out of them in a cascade. Meanwhile, the barbarians’ advance guard kept pushing closer and closer towards the Pyro Company.

The soldiers felt their adrenaline pumping nonstop amid the sights and sounds.

“Do these barbarians really think they can break through the defensive line like this?” a Pyro Company soldier murmured. He turned his head towards those heavy machinery covered by celadon tarps as they silently stood guard on the walls.

P5092 watched quietly as the barbarians got closer and closer holding the leather shields in their hands. Next to him, his deputy commander said, “Sir, we can’t wait any longer. If we still can’t penetrate their shields by the time they get within 300 meters of us, our defensive line will be at risk.”

But even in this situation, P5092 said nothing, because the last group at the rear of these several thousand-strong barbarians who stretched across several kilometers had still not entered the zone he wanted them to be in.

He mentally calculated the distance in his mind. It wasn’t until a moment later that P5092 said, “Artillery, open fire.”

When the soldiers suddenly pulled the tarps off on the walls, the rapid-fire artillery cannons underneath were revealed. In P5092’s 3rd Division, the pride of the troops was definitely not their higher than normal physical fitness, but their artillery.

There were two special infantry brigades in the 3rd Division and each infantry brigade was made up of 18 artillery batteries. An individual fighting force consisting of six artillery batteries would then concentrate their artillery fire together to complete a rapid area of fire on a single target.

When necessary, this huge artillery formation could even form into a much larger “artillery company” to attack targets within the same area.

Back at Longtan Canyon, the artillery company had only displayed a small part of their capabilities. And now, it was time for the 3rd Division to shine. It was precisely because of this reason that P5092 dared to hang the barbarian corpses outside his defensive zone. He did not mind if the barbarians came to attack his defensive line at all.

On the contrary, he was hoping the barbarians would get even more enraged and charge in even closer.

Although the artillery were only equipped with 76.2 mm caliber rapid-fire howitzers, they could fire at an amazing speed of 20 rounds per minute. With this rate of fire, their accuracy would definitely be compromised. However, P5092 did not seem bothered at all.

As the barbarians were fast-moving targets, it would be meaningless to emphasize accuracy. Instead of aiming carefully, they might as well just bombard the area with artillery fire.

When the barbarians came within a kilometer of them, the rapid-fire light artillery on the walls roared to life. Compared to these, the heavy machine guns earlier sounded like the barking of a dog. These cannons were the true beasts!

The grand formation of artillery guns had only fired their first round, but it destroyed the charging barbarians’ formation instantly. The leather shields they relied on for cover were utterly worthless against the heavy shelling of the artillery.

The Pyro Company soldiers on the Great Wall almost wanted to start cheering. All of them were enraged when they heard about the massacre at Stronghold 176. Moreover, someone even mentioned the scouts had seen the barbarians piling up the corpses of the stronghold residents into small hills outside the city to announce the strength of their expeditionary army.

Someone once read about sporadic records of a war that happened before The Cataclysm in a book, and it was mentioned that a Central Plains civilization had also experienced a massacre before during a war. The death toll in that war numbered as many as hundreds of thousands, with most of the victims being innocent civilians.

That battle was termed “National Humiliation Day” and everyone had to commemorate it.

In the present day, the massacre of Stronghold 176 had sent ripples throughout the Central Plains. Everyone was now fully aware that this war was one of national survival, and that it would not end until either side had perished.

Ever since the massacre at Stronghold 176, there was no possibility of peace talks in this war.

When the artillery began bombarding the area with fire, the barbarians finally started retreating. When faced with the powerful firearms of the Central Plains, they had no choice but to retreat.

However, P5092 was way too composed. He had waited until the barbarians were within a kilometer of them before ordering his artillery to open fire. So even though the barbarians were retreating now, many of them would not survive the bombardment.

Of the advance guard that were made up of several thousand barbarians, it would be considered fortunate if a few hundred of them could walk out of this place alive.

The deputy commander asked, “Sir, should we pursue them?”