Chapter 1657: Chapter 1574: Moving the Headquarters Toward Beiping
Haralick looked at the pale-faced subordinate and snatched the phone receiver with one hand: “Hello? Hello!”
When he heard the busy tone inside, he angrily slammed the receiver back onto the phone: “Disconnected! The odds are against us on Hill No. 2…”
After speaking, he glared at the subordinate officer who was about to wet his pants and coldly questioned, “You! You guaranteed that your position could be held for ten days! You pledged with your head!”
“Sir… General! General! The Tang Army has gone mad! They’ve bombarded my position with all their artillery shells! General! Give me one more chance! Just one more chance! I’ll rally the troops for a counterattack! I’ll retake Hill No. 2 right away!” The Division Commander slid from his chair to kneel in front of Haralick, sobbing and reaching out to grab Haralick’s army boot.
“Too late!” Haralick kicked the subordinate away, drew his sidearm from his waist, loaded a bullet, and shot the man’s head apart.
Blood splattered everywhere instantly, and all the officers present instinctively shuddered. They had all signed military pledges, swearing to live or die with their positions.
But now, as their positions seemed to be under attack, whether they could hold them was uncertain. The command center fell into silence, with only the blood on the ground spreading before it cooled.
“Why are you all looking at me? Hold your positions! You must hold your positions!” Haralick shouted madly, restoring the noise in the command center.
“Hello! If you dare lose your position… I’ll execute you!” Another officer in a neighboring seat, trembling with fear, grasped the phone without daring to glance at the corpse below.
His position was also under attack by the Tang Army, and the regimental commander on the phone had just mentioned that holding the position was impossible while requesting retreat.
“Too late… Sir… The Tang Army’s tanks… have already, already pushed through!” The Dwarf regimental commander delivered a dismal report from the other end of the phone.
After he finished speaking, a noisy sound came over the phone, soon followed by a strange voice saying, “I am a soldier of the Great Tang Empire, and we have occupied this area!”
With that said, the call was abruptly disconnected.
Listening to the busy tone, the officer felt his pants grow wet. Haralick approached him, pressed the gun against his head, and said, “You are also a soldier of the Empire! Fulfill your promise.”
“I…” The officer wanted to explain, but a crisp gunshot rang out, and a red blossom emerged from the back of his head. He collapsed onto the table, still clutching the phone receiver.
“General… The Tang Army has occupied Hill No. 2 and has broken through the second line of defense. How should we report to General Moss now?” the Chief of Staff of the 1st Corps approached Haralick, lowering his voice.
“How should I know what to do? What can I do? What else can I do?” Haralick irritably replied, his voice booming.
He had already executed two Division Commanders and had been urging the troops to build robust defenses. Yet these efforts proved futile against the Tang Army’s assault, as their offensive speed remained unaffected.
The area under attack was the fortified region, the southeastern-most side of the sturdy defenses previously built by the 1st Corps. If this point fell, the incomplete defenses elsewhere offered no protection, and the Tang Army’s offensive speed would only increase.
His troops had been engaged in fierce battle for so long, with only some new recruits replenishing them, causing a significant drop in combat strength, and heavy weaponry losses. Under such circumstances, expecting them to block the Tang Army seemed scant.
“General! If the Tang Army continues its advance, our current position may also become unsafe.” The Chief of Staff was concerned that if the Tang Army continued its assault, the 1st Corps’ command center could soon become the frontline.
“Should we shift a few kilometers north to Beiping?” Fearful of Haralick acting rashly, the Chief of Staff offered this suggestion.
General Moss strictly ordered all troop commands never to retreat a single step, hence the Chief of Staff proposed relocating the command center—moving it north would not equate to retreating, thus not violating General Moss’s order.
Moving north would also mean avoiding the massive encirclement the Tang Army planned around Eternal Winter City, offering relative safety.
“What kind of talk is that?” Haralick angrily rejected the Chief of Staff’s proposal: “I just executed two Division Commanders! Only to lead by escaping?”
“Hold all positions! The 1st Corps shall not retreat a step! All troops shall be treated equally, all commanders equally!” His sharp gaze made the Chief of Staff feel a bit guilty, forcing him to lower his head and avoid the heated glare.
“As for you!” Haralick disdainfully continued commanding, “Go north yourself then! I approve! If the Tang Army breaks through here, you are responsible for rallying the remnants of the 1st Corps and continue fighting in the north!”
He had to consider the entire 1st Corps; if the positions were indeed breached, at least somebody had to command its remnants to prevent the Corps from “disappearing.”
“General!” The Chief of Staff was slightly embarrassed but also reluctant, trying to speak further.
But as soon as he shouted “General,” Haralick interrupted him: “Enough! Execute the order!”
Before the Chief of Staff left, Haralick shouted at the officers on the brink of collapse: “I haven’t left! I’m the same as you! Today, there’s only one way to die here! If you don’t want to die, have your subordinates hold the positions!”
“Boom!” Just as he finished speaking, a shell struck not far away! The massive explosion nearly knocked the people inside the command center off balance, followed by a second shell landing directly above the shelter.
The tremor almost toppled Haralick, who was steadied by nearby guards. The falling dust overhead left him quite disheveled.
The overhead lights flickered, the room filled with the scent of blood, and the Tang Army’s shelling had reached this location, indicating the Tang Country tanks were not far away.
“Hold! Have the guards supervise the battle! Whoever dares take a step back… will be executed immediately!” Haralick’s voice resonated in the room, but at this moment, nobody was grabbing the phone receiver to shout—this place had become the front line, proving that the Tang Army had broken through all the possible lines… thoroughly.