Chapter 214: Encirclement

Chapter 214 – Encirclement

What truly determines the might of a force—firepower, tactics, or information?

Throughout the long annals of war, that question has never found a definitive answer, for every answer is refuted by countless real battles.

No one dares to proclaim any single answer as the absolute truth; in genuine combat, no commander relies on a lone doctrine alone.

Yet today, Chen Jian proved a point to the massive army of Huadu.

When the three elements are woven together in order and balance, even if each is “not strong enough,” their union yields a terrifyingly formidable combat power.

Having realized he had stepped into Huadu’s trap, smothered by enemy artillery and unable to break free, Chen Jian immediately abandoned any reckless plan.

Through a pre‑deployed cellular network hub, he swiftly seized command of the reserve unit with the aid of the War‑Crown system.

Half a minute later, the enemy artillery positions were locked on.

This time, the people of Huadu were clever.

They did not concentrate all their guns in one spot; instead they scattered them around several districts surrounding the city.

Like satellites, those batteries girded Huadu, and even Chen Jian’s modest squad could not blanket them all with a single barrage.

Moreover, the furthest enemy battery sat on a reverse slope, beyond the reach of the 107 rockets.

Yet that was no obstacle.

Chen Jian’s task was simple.

Take them out one by one

With the relentless roar of explosions overhead, Chen Jian issued his calm command:

“Team One, Unit A, deploy the 107 rockets; three launchers fire in salvo at target: Enemy Battery No. 1.”

“Coordinates transmitted; receive them, lock the parameters, and report back!”

“Huang Meng, copy! Fire parameters set! Awaiting fire order!”

“That fast?”

Chen Jian asked, astonished:

“Who’s operating the tank?”

“Report, commander: Fuxi is handling it!”

“Estimated arrival at the rendezvous point in thirty‑five minutes!”

“Understood!”

Chen Jian studied the latest battlefield data projected onto his smart visor, while the War‑Crown continuously tagged the locations of high‑risk targets.

The moment was ripe; fire could be given.

“Open fire! Nine rapid shots!”

He ordered at once, and almost simultaneously the reserve’s three 107 launchers roared, hurling twenty‑seven rockets skyward in a blinding arc toward the enemy’s first battery.

“Boom!”

“Boom—boom—boom—”

The violent explosions erupted, and in an instant the Huadu Battery No. 1 was shattered.

All the guns fell silent; the surviving artillerymen fled in a frenzy as if driven mad.

Chen Jian never even glanced at the ruined battery, for he knew that even though Huadu’s forces outmatched the Mechanical Cult in many ways—and could sometimes execute crude indirect fire—they could not, after a battery’s destruction and the loss of preset data, quickly regroup for another barrage.

Destruction is annihilation; that is the iron law of modern artillery warfare.

His gaze already shifted to the next position, when a flash of insight struck his mind.

Air defense.

In the next heartbeat, the War‑Crown flashed a fresh alert.

“Enemy may possess anti‑air assets; we must move forward to counter immediately.”

“Vanguard, 30A, advance for counter‑measures; Huang Meng lead the withdrawal, move out!”

“Copy!”

Huang Meng responded swiftly, loading the rocket launchers onto the vehicle, while dozens of unmanned combat robots—Sharp, Xing Tian, Iron Wolf among them— surged forward from three kilometres out.

From that moment, the unmanned swarm would operate apart from the manned units.

Those cold machines, baited with currents and steel, would shield the far‑range support fire.

“Activate Shield‑Arm‑2 close‑defense system!”

“30A, engage high‑energy laser anti‑missile system, intercept enemy air fire!”

“UAVs, climb altitude; disperse positions to avoid saturation.”

“War‑Crown, monitor the battle, assume full control of close‑defense; any object that flies up, bring it down!”

“Understood, executing order.”

The War‑Crown’s icy voice rang again, and at that instant the UAV’s camera caught several abnormal flashes.

Rockets!

Chen Jian’s heart tightened, but before panic could seize him, the sharp crack of close‑range cannons rang out nearby, tearing the air like torn silk.

“Bzzzzzz—”

The barrels spun, flames flared, and hundreds of rounds poured out in three seconds, weaving a dense net of fire.

The net engulfed the aerial targets, instantly shredding the rockets that had not yet reached the UAVs.

Then the miniature laser anti‑missile system on 30A powered up.

In the gaps the fire net could not cover, several micro surface‑to‑air missiles and cruise‑missile guidance modules were incinerated, their warheads either exploding mid‑air or plummeting to the ground.

Watching this slightly “hair‑raising” scene, Chen Jian could not help utter a curse.

“Damn, those Huadu bastards actually have missiles!”

“Quench City does not disappoint…”

“Press onward.”

“Sweep the ground targets.”

“107 rocket squad, maneuver northward, suppress the enemy’s second artillery position!”

“Copy.”

Receiving the reply, Chen Jian waited silently in the tunnel; moments later, when the 107 rockets struck the enemy batteries with pinpoint accuracy, the barrage aimed at the palace thinned out.

It was time to break out.

Chen Jian seized his explosive rifle and shouted:

“Everyone, charge with me!”

“Scatter quickly, leave the enemy’s artillery zone, surge down the main corridor, breach Huadu City, and link up with 30A!”

Understood!

The crowd recovered in an instant, and Chen Jian leapt forward in a single, arrow‑like stride out of the tunnel, paying no heed to the sea of craters and the flames still licking the ground, racing straight toward the mountain road that connected the palace with the City of Flowers.

There, a vanguard of elite troops—hundreds of Flower City soldiers—had already formed their battle array.

A host of heavy weapons had been deployed; machine guns, rocket launchers, even recoil‑less cannons now pointed toward the palace.

On Chen Jian’s side, there were only six of them.

In ordinary circumstances, six light infantry could never hope to stand against such a formidable firepower bastion.

But that was only the ordinary case.

Before Chen Jian entered the enemy’s line of fire, the War‑Cranium’s assistance had already allowed Nezha’s intelligent fire‑control system to lock onto every high‑risk target.

Then the weapon mounts unfurled.

Two Nezha exoskeletons, twelve weapon mounts, twelve points of fire.

The moment they appeared, in less than a tenth of a second, the intelligent fire‑control system commanded all mounts to unleash their barrage.

Simultaneously, Chen Jian had already zeroed in on the most threatening heavy‑machine‑gun nest with his “burst‑gun.” “Bang!”

“Boom!”

“Boom, boom, boom!”

A volley of a thousand arrows erupted.

Even though there were only two of them, they exuded an unmatched momentum.

The enemy never had a chance to react; every heavy fire point was wiped out in an instant!

So what mattered more than a dry‑run?

It was pre‑aiming.

Chen Jian swung the barrel of his burst‑gun, darted behind a low cover, and began to single‑out each of the remaining near‑hundred foot soldiers.

At the same time, the Holy‑Blooded, long accustomed to fighting with hot weapons, fully displayed their advantage.

Leaping, sprinting, pausing, then firing.

Or selecting a suitable cover, crushing the enemy’s feeble fortifications with the terrifying force of a 301 heavy machine in his hands.

In an instant, the enemy’s formation crumbled as if swept away by a flood.

When their OODA loop was shattered and their command chain severed, the outcome of the battle no longer hinged on numbers.

“Encircle them!”

Chen Jian bellowed the order:

“Annihilate every living enemy force; don’t let them scatter!”

Understood!

The command was so exaggerated it bordered on the unbelievable.

Six men to encircle nearly a hundred?

If it had been the old days, Ji Xing would have scoffed, “A pipe dream,” for even against civilians she would never charge head‑first if they bore firearms.

But now, facing the well‑armed elite of Flower City, she hesitated not a moment.

Because she knew the enemy was truly surrounded.

They possessed no capacity for resistance; from the instant her squad stepped onto the battlefield, the enemy’s lives had already begun a countdown.

There would be no retreat, no time for regret!

Bullets rained down like a violent storm, and Ji Xing suddenly felt herself adapting to the rhythm.

She lobbed grenades, using the explosions as cover to shift positions, then raised her gun for a sweep, and tossed another grenade.

Each of her attacks inflicted tangible damage, while the enemy’s counter‑strikes were limp, feeble, even sluggish and delayed.

She grew faster; the enemy grew slower.

When she swapped in a fresh magazine and raised her weapon, bewildered, she realized no one remained standing around her.

At that moment, Chen Jian’s command rang in her ears.

“Continue advancing down the mountain, enter the City of Flowers.”

“The tank is en route; we must link up with the unmanned combat swarm and cover the tank as it clears key targets!”

Understood!

Ji Xing fell in step behind Chen Jian, consciously easing her pace.

Now she truly grasped the meaning of “tactical coordination.”

And when a rookie in the squad attained a battlefield epiphany, the unit’s combat power vaulted to a new tier.

Like autumn wind scattering leaves, the six‑person squad—more precisely, five—stormed into the City of Flowers.

No enemy could pose a real threat; only those hidden within buildings slowed their progress ever so slightly.

But the next second—

“Boom!”

A shell from afar pierced straight through the building before them, followed by a deafening explosion that sent the earthen structure crashing down.

The tank arrived!

“Turn!”

Chen Jian shouted the order:

“Release electromagnetic suppression, breach the enemy’s communications channel, and prepare to locate the enemy command post!”

“Copy that, releasing suppression. Enemy radio signal detected, calculating now.”

Receiving the War‑Cranium’s reply, Chen Jian ignored the time‑consuming task and led his squad in a rapid thrust, cutting straight through the city’s core toward the fourth artillery position out of rocket range.

The city’s residents, already terrified by the horrific battlefield tableau, even those naked revelers from the so‑called “Night of Revelry,” finally regained their senses.

They fled into houses, sank underground, and a few bold—or simply intoxicated—civilians waved their rifles to block the squad, only to be crushed instantly by the tank’s iron hull.

When they appeared before the artillery line as if celestial warriors descended from the heavens, the enemy there was utterly stunned.

They had forgotten how to resist.

What was once called combat had become a one‑sided slaughter.

And just as the slaughter ended, the so‑called “queen” of Flower City made her first mistake.

She perhaps truly did not realize what the sudden restoration of communications implied.

Or she had blamed the entire defeat of the Flower City campaign on the loss of contact, and once she confirmed she could reach her warriors again, she hastily issued a flurry of orders.

As the radio waves traveled through the air, her position was instantly exposed.

“Enemy command post location compromised, target marked.”

Chen Jian glanced at his smart visor; a tiny red dot ignited on the northern outskirts of the City of Flowers.

Fifteen kilometers away.

You sure know how to keep your distance!

So the one who fled the palace on a jetpack was nothing more than a decoy, then?

This time, I’ll make sure you never slip away again.

As Chen Jian stared at the two 152‑mm howitzers before him, a flicker of hesitation crossed his eyes.

Detonate or not?

If we fire, we might obliterate the queen and every scrap of data she carries.

But if we hold fire, she still has a chance to escape once more.

After all, I’ve already witnessed the depth of her cunning.

Do we want the intel, or do we want her life?

It’s no simple choice, yet Chen Jian hesitated for only a heartbeat.

“Li Shilei, adjust the gun positions!”

“Parameters computed, target the enemy command, fire!”

“Copy that!”

The two men rushed forward, while Chen Jian ordered the unmanned combat units to erect a defensive line around the batteries and commanded the trailing 107th fire‑support squad to swing around and withdraw from the battlefield.

Their mission was complete; there was no need to risk a rendezvous.

Two minutes later, as the battle in Huadu City raged on, the twin 152‑mm howitzers belched fire in unison.

The ground shuddered as shells burst from their barrels.

Then came the second shot, and the third.

Within a single minute, even with manpower scarce, the two guns poured a full six shells onto their targets.

Where the shells struck, the modest yet seemingly sturdy building crumbled into a field of ruin.

Chen Jian could not imagine anyone surviving such a barrage.

Now came the time to sweep the battlefield clean!

(End of chapter)