Munitions Empire

For a moment, it seemed that the Qin Country had forgotten about Wang Luo inside the encirclement, and no one cared about the besieged army of 700,000 anymore.

Everyone's attention was focused on Jutian, as Qin Country was extremely fearful of Tagg's troops attacking Pingfeng, threatening the former capital of the Dahua Empire.

If the "Imperial Capital" were occupied by the Tang Army, it wouldn't be 700,000 Qin soldiers being surrounded but 1.7 million soldiers facing utter annihilation! Losing so many elite field troops... how could Qin Country continue the war then?

Therefore, under any circumstances, the Qin Army must stop the Tang Army from conducting a second encirclement, so that Ying An's Central Army, having stabilized its stance, might have a chance to rescue the precarious forces of Wang Luo.

In utter helplessness, the plan to counterattack Xiajian was temporarily shelved. Ying An had no choice but to divert part of his troops southward to build a defensive line to prevent the Tang Army from Shanchong from suddenly advancing north to attack Dongqing.

At the same time, the general reserve unit deployed in the Imperial Capital and three infantry divisions transferred from Dongqing immediately rushed to reinforce Pingfeng to stop the northward advance of the Tang Army.

In fact, to deal with the electronic interference from the Tang Army, the Qin Country's communications troops had to lay several telephone lines to the front lines. This way, when the troops moved forward to Xiajian and launched an attack, they could maintain control over the military and effective command.

Ying An was also worried that if his troops rushed over hurriedly, communication might be interrupted, and he, like Wang Luo, would be left confused and defeated without knowing what happened.

On one hand, some elite troops were drawn to the south to fight; on the other hand, time was needed to lay telephone lines... This back and forth delayed so much time that Wang Luo, who had waited inside the encirclement for two days, had only regained control over part of his troops.

With telephone lines installed and several phones set up, Wang Luo finally found a few nearby troops and learned about the losses his troops had suffered.

The 1st Armored Army was nearly destroyed, the 3rd Armored Army had completely lost its combat capability, and several elite infantry armies were still in chaos, with most troops unable to organize for combat.

Wang Luo was a decisive person; his abilities were quite commendable. After regaining partial command over some troops, he did not waste time but immediately organized his troops to start a breakout attempt.

Even with insufficient troops, he sent forces toward Xiajian. However, this contingent was defeated by the Tang Nation Air Force, as over a hundred Thunderbolt Attack Aircraft showed astounding ground suppression power, causing the Qin troops to lose the ability to continue fighting halfway.

What indeed embarrassed Wang Luo was that Strauss led the Tang's 2nd Armored Army eastward along the transportation line, increasing the distance between Wang Luo and Xiajian by another 25 kilometers!

This move made the encirclement alarmingly thick: even if Ying An started the attack immediately, he would have to advance at least 50 kilometers in the wild to even have a chance of reaching the surrounded Qin troops.

But everyone knew that with the battle situation now so passive, advancing 50 kilometers in open fields against the oddly strong Tang's Air Force was almost an impossible mission.

If the Qin Army had that strength, the situation wouldn't have ended up like this! Qin's many Senior Commanders, including Ying An, were aware that Wang Luo's troops inside the encirclement were likely doomed.

Wang Luo himself was very aware of this, seeing that he only regained control of less than one-fifth of his troops, he knew he was finished.

If he could still effectively command and mobilize the 700,000 troops now, there might be hope for a breakout. Now he could only account for 100,000 troops, so what's the point of a breakout?

Even if a hole were punched through, would the remaining troops know where the breach was? Would they know which direction to flee?

No! By the time these troops learned the news, the Tang Army would likely have closed the breach and thwarted the Qin troops' breakout...

Considering this inefficient communication, organizing a breakout was nothing more than a joke. Wang Luo's current struggle was mainly to leave a bit of dignity for the entire Northern Army.

As long as several tens of thousands of troops broke through, the elite troops of Qin Army wouldn't have been completely annihilated, leaving something, at least marginally.

Therefore, after the first breakout attempt failed, Wang Luo immediately began preparing for a second one. This time, he personally took command, assembled nine infantry divisions, and attempted to disperse his forces, taking advantage of the Tang Army not completely controlling the wild paths, to let as many as possible escape.

Facts proved that the Qin Army still had some combat power, and Wang Luo's idea was indeed correct. Under the cover of night, some Qin troops still successfully broke through, and many fleeing soldiers actually made it back to Dongqing.

How many troops are there exactly? About 30,000! It must be said that this was already a miracle, being able to escape a few tens of thousands out of the encirclement of the Great Tang Empire made Wang Luo surpass many of his predecessors.

However, this comparison itself held no meaning. Shortly after, the Tang Army closed the breach, and the Qin troops initiating the assault were defeated with heavy casualties.

If these troops had simply surrendered, they would surely have guaranteed their lives. But Wang Luo's risky breakout sacrificed 30,000 fleeing troops while burying over 50,000 soldiers, depriving them of the chance to live on.

It was on the second day of this assault that the disciplined and aggressive Qin troops began to show signs of surrender in organized units.

Many defeated troops within the encirclement handed over their weapons to the encroaching Tang troops; they had lost the confidence and courage to continue fighting.

A battalion of Qin troops surrendered, an event unheard of in such an extended time passed. In a matter of a few years, the arrogance and pride accumulated through defeating Shu Country, sweeping through Chu Country, and the annihilation of Dahua were crushed by the Tang Army in less than half a month.

Without supplies, officers unable to find their troops raised their hands one by one to the Tang's tanks. They lowered their proud heads, accepting a brutal reality: that they had been defeated by the Tang troops.

At first, it was hundreds of men, then thousands, followed closely by a regiment, a division… When Wang Luo was preparing to organize a third breakout, he found numerous units had already headed east out of the encirclement.

These soldiers departed with more dignity and ease, with no planes attacking them from above and no worries about being shot by Tang Army snipers.

However, their destination was the POW Camp. In the future, they would no longer fight for Qin Country, unable to serve their Qin Country again until the war was entirely finished.