"Boom"

On the artillery position, more than 1,300 artillery pieces roared in unison, and the sound and waves of gunpowder smoke rolled away like a tsunami, and the terrifying recoil shook the earth slightly, like an earthquake.

Anyone standing on the artillery position will be deeply shocked by the scene in front of them, and on the other side of the artillery aiming will be even more terrifying destruction.

Unlike the guns of the previous generation, these guns are all extended-range cannons, which have a range of nearly ten kilometers and are capable of inflicting campaign-level strikes on the enemy at great distances.

With the front-line legions equipped with smaller-caliber mountain artillery, cannons and mortars, in terms of firepower, the Apocalypse Army is enough to crush all opponents in this world.

"Marshal, our army has all entered the forward position!"

In the temporary headquarters composed of a series of underground fortifications, Lin Shaodong pointed to the operational map and said to Xu Rui.

The map was surveyed and mapped by Lin Shaodong and the General Staff Department overnight, and the offensive routes of each army and the enemy's defensive range were clearly marked on it.

On November 13, the twelfth year of Hongwei, the Apocalypse Army suddenly turned west and began to outflank the Southern and Western Route Army, which had been chasing him for half a month.

Originally, Xu Rui planned to drag the enemy's main force with a frontal feint, and then let Cao Siyuan's first and second brigades, Zhang Zuofeng's third brigade, and the mixed infantry and artillery brigade encircle from both flanks to block the enemy in the Chishuihe Valley for encirclement and annihilation.

But the enemy's commander was very sharp, and as soon as the Apocalypse Army stopped, he immediately realized that something was wrong, and sent 50,000 flanks to attack northward, in a vain attempt to establish a ten-kilometer-wide passage to allow the main force to withdraw from the river valley.

On 14 November, Cao Siyuan's 1st and 2nd Brigades, which were carrying out the task of outflanking, met head-on with the men and horses of the Nanchao West Route Army, which was carrying out the task of breaking through the encirclement.

Both sides received orders to die, and a fierce battle broke out immediately.

Cao Siyuan firmly held the advantage in firepower, but he had less than 18,000 men, and he was at an absolute disadvantage in terms of troops.

The army of the Southern Dynasties had been on the battlefield for a long time and was extremely combative, and from the very beginning, under the cover of artillery and muskets, launched a fierce attack on Cao Siyuan's position.

However, after all, the army of the Southern Dynasties, which was equipped with most of the semi-hot weapons, could not compare with the Apocalypse Army, which had completely entered the era of thermal weapons, and the time to change equipment was too short, and the lack of tactics suitable for the weapons made their offensive seem powerless.

After the first three rounds of charging were crushed by Cao Siyuan's heavy firepower, the initiative on the battlefield gradually shifted to Cao Siyuan.

On the evening of the 14th, after Cao Siyuan's unit dumped nearly 20,000 rounds of various artillery shells on the enemy's position, the 1st Brigade took the lead in launching a counterattack.

The Apocalypse Chariot with steel plate protection advanced rapidly, and the infantry followed the Apocalypse Chariot, using the chariot as cover and slowly advancing, which was the classic infantry combat coordination method in World War II.

At the beginning of the battle, the enemy's forward positions lacked enough weapons to destroy the Apocalypse Chariot, and they were defeated one after another.

However, when the 1st Brigade advanced three kilometers forward, the enemy's response was finally delayed.

The Southern Korean army pushed the cannon on the artillery position to the front of the formation, lowered the muzzle, and used the cannon as an anti-tank gun.

Although the accuracy and power of the cannon of the Southern Dynasty are insufficient, the armor of the Apocalypse Chariot can only resist bows and arrows is far from that of the tank, as long as it is hit by a cannonball, there will be no second outcome except for the destruction of the vehicle and the death of people.

The frontal attack was blocked, and Cao Siyuan's troops immediately suppressed the enemy's forward artillery with heavy firepower, and ordered the second brigade to take advantage of the enemy's lack of artillery cover to launch an attack from the ribs.

The Southern Korean army was afraid that the 2nd Brigade would break through the weak flank defenses, so they had to respond to the 2nd Brigade's offensive with a cavalry charge.

Under the barrage of Death rifles, submachine guns and light machine guns, although the cavalry of the Southern Dynasty blocked the attack of the Second Brigade, they also paid great casualties, which was equivalent to using human lives to block Cao Siyuan's footsteps.

At this time, it was already completely dark, and the Tianqi Army, which lacked night vision equipment, did not continue to arrive in the field in order to reduce accidental injuries, but used artillery to continue to suppress the Southern Korean army.

The artillery of the Southern Korean army could not be compared with Cao Siyuan's main force in terms of number, power and range, and the-for-tat artillery battle lasted only one meal before it was completely defeated.

From then on, the whole night was a moment of apocalypse artillery.

In the early morning of the 15th, the artillery that had been sounding all night finally stopped, and the repaired Apocalypse Army began a new round of attack under the reflection of the morning light.

At this time, the Southern Korean army was overwhelmed by powerful artillery, suffered heavy casualties, and was no longer able to engage in a large-scale head-to-head confrontation with the Apocalypse Army.

What's worse is that they received news that the 30,000 reinforcements they had been waiting for were blocked by the newly formed 1st and 2nd Brigades of the Apocalypse Army 60 miles away and could not move, and there was no possibility of reaching the battle line within three days.

In addition, they themselves are running out of ammunition, and they will bottom out in two days at most.

Originally, the commander of the Southern Dynasty also thought that if Cao Siyuan's high-intensity firepower was suppressed, the ammunition should also bottom out quickly, as long as both sides were not supported by hot weapons, then the Southern Korean army would have an absolute advantage in hand-to-hand combat.

However, when the commander of the Southern Dynasty saw more than a dozen huge steel beasts quickly driving into the Apocalypse Army camp through the telescope, he was deeply shocked by this kind of vehicle that did not need to be pulled by war horses.

That's the trucks at the new plant in the Northwest that are running at full capacity.

With the breakthrough of petrochemical technology and material technology, the internal combustion engine drawings provided by Xu Rui have become real objects, and the trucks that have been approved in the research institute have finally left the production line after three years of development.

Although this kind of "Bison" truck is still very rudimentary, with a maximum range of only 200 kilometers and a capacity of only two tons, it can achieve rapid replenishment in such high-intensity operations and avoid the bottom of ammunition in a short period of time.

Through the binoculars, the commander of the Southern Dynasty watched in despair as boxes of ammunition were carried off the truck, and the last bit of hope for victory passed from his mind.

In desperation, the 50,000 Southern Korean troops responsible for breaking through to the north had to swallow the tragic figure of more than 12,000 casualties, and were forced back by Cao Siyuan's troops.

As soon as they retreated, the 30,000 reinforcements who were responsible for supporting them immediately faced the danger of being attacked on their backs, and after paying a great price and barely resisting for a day, less than half of the remaining men and horses had to surrender to Cao Siyuan's troops.

At this point, the war machine that Xu Rui brought to this world once again shined, greatly improving the efficiency and tragedy of the war, and in just two days, nearly 60,000 lives returned to the earth forever.

Because of this battle, the Western Route Army of the Southern Dynasty realized the severity of the situation, and on the one hand, it organized a large number of troops to break through in the direction of Zhang Zuofeng's defense, and on the other hand, it set up a pontoon bridge over the Chishui River, intending to cross the river and jump out of Xu Rui's encirclement.

However, after half a month of ultra-high-intensity pursuit, the Southern Korean army was already stuck, and the successive defeats greatly damaged their confidence and morale.

The army that broke through was close to 100,000, but because it was too concentrated, it was beaten by Zhang Zuofeng's infantry and artillery mixed brigade, and the planned breakthrough attack was completely crushed before it began.

Immediately afterwards, Zhang Zuofeng ordered the Third Brigade to intensify its attack, like a sheepdog, to force the 100,000 Southern Korean troops who broke through to the central area, forcing the 300,000 Southern Korean troops to huddle together like sardines.

At this moment, the Western Route Army of the Southern Dynasty has been surrounded by the Apocalypse Army on three sides, squeezed in a narrow area of more than ten kilometers wide in the Chishui River Valley.

But just when Xu Rui was about to give the order to launch a general attack, the scouts in the rear found traces of another Southern Korean army.

Xu Rui analyzed the map for a moment and found that there was only one possibility for this Southern Dynasty army, that is, the old enemy who rushed to the aid from the southeast, the Wuling pro-army!