The Northern Army’s tanks advanced, intermittently firing shells, while infantry followed in an orderly manner behind the tanks.
Bullets whistled through the air, striking the tanks with a clanging sound. As bullets zipped past, producing a whooshing noise, occasionally, a tank would be blown up by the enemy’s shells.
Su Xiao followed behind a tank. After a few steps, a shell landed nearby.
Su Xiao didn’t care about that shell, nor did the nearby Northern Army soldiers. They calmly watched the shell, and after determining the distance, everyone continued forward, letting the shell explode.
New soldiers fear shells, while veterans fear machine guns; it’s not without reason.
As long as it’s not too close, the danger of a shell isn’t very high; lying down can avoid most shrapnel unless you’re very unlucky to be hit by it.
Bullets flew across the battlefield, the rumbling was continuous, and the firelight from explosions appeared from ti to ti. The technological level in the Steel Refinent World was sowhat akin to that of World War II.
The Northern Army’s tanks pressed forward, while the Central Army imdiately retaliated with firepower.
Their weapons were similar, with the Central Army being slightly more advanced. Even so, the Central Army was beaten into hiding in the trenches, unable to raise their heads.
This wasn’t a disparity in weapons; the combat quality of both sides wasn’t on the sa level.
The Central Army was stationed in the center of Astris, far from the chaos of war. In contrast, the Northern Army was surrounded by formidable foes, engaging in small battles every three days and major battles every month. Everyone had undergone the baptism of war.
A whistling sound ca from the sky as the Central Army’s fighters arrived.
This was a disadvantage for the Northern Army—without air forces, they were guarding the frontier, not invading the surroundings, and Central City wouldn’t provide air support for the Northern Army. Fortunately, the Northern Army had anti-air forces.
With the technological level of the Steel Refinent World, fighters at most could drop bombs or use heavy machine guns to strafe. Although troubleso, it was not insurmountable.
Hundreds of anti-aircraft cannons were set up, but the effect wasn’t significant.
The war gradually intensified, with repeated explosions audible from afar, causing residents in nearby small towns to tremble in fear.
The Northern Army’s thousands of tanks each served as a small combat unit, with several soldiers inside each tank, performing their respective duties.
In one tank, the commander Black Face observed the surrounding situation through binoculars from the hatch.
Every soldier in the war had a nickna, making it easier to address them and reduce the risk of enemy retaliation.
Black Face searched for hidden enemies through the binoculars. The battlefield was a large plain, and not all of the Central Army was concentrated in the opposite trenches. There were many earthen pits on the plains, hiding soldiers.
These pits posed a significant threat, potentially containing anti-tank guns or heavy machine guns.
Clang, clang, clang.
Bullets struck the tank’s exterior, producing a sharp, crisp sound, prompting Black Face to hurriedly retreat into the tank.
"A heavy machine gun is in the pit at five o’clock, Wolf Dog, take it out!"
Black Face shouted, and the tank’s gunner, Wolf Dog, imdiately aid the cannon in that direction.
"Saint, switch to high-explosive rounds; that pit is quite deep."
Saint was the loader. After ten seconds, the tank fired.
With a boom, dirt was scattered, but unfortunately, it missed the target.
Ratatatat, the machine gunner on the tank went wild, turning a Central Army soldier who poked his head out of a pit into minceat.
Boom!
Another shot went off, this ti hitting the pit directly. Through the main cannon’s sight, Wolf Dog saw a dismbered body soaring into the air, and he laughed heartily.
"Got one..."
Ding, woo~.
A shell fired from a distance didn’t hit Black Face’s tank but grazed the Iron Bone tank nearby, causing a shower of sparks.
The Iron Bone’s tank commander shrank back in fright.
"Just a drizzle."
The Iron Bone’s commander laughed, undisturbed by the anti-tank gun.
"Bullshit, that’s an 88mm caliber gun; you can tell just by hearing it."
Black Face roared, knowing this anti-tank gun must be dealt with, or several nearby tanks would be stuck here.
...
The war grew fiercer, and an hour later, the Northern Army’s thousand tanks reached a hundred ters in front of the Central Army’s trenches.
"Maximum firepower!"
All the machine gunners inside the tanks ca alive. At this distance, the heavy machine guns mounted on the tanks beca life reapers.
Ratatatat...
Earth erupted before the trenches, making it even harder for the Central Army to lift their heads.
A thousand tanks concentrated fire on the trenches, the barrage lasting ten minutes before stopping.
"Infantry, ready!"
Olivier shouted, and the tanks all halted, while the infantry behind them began pouring firepower using the tanks as cover.
The most intense shootout of the war began, demonstrating the role of the infantry.
Although the infantry’s offensive power was not as great as the tanks, they were more flexible and nurous.
Behind a tank, Su Xiao held the Spider Queen, the optical infrared detector at 8x magnification (active) already on, having long forgotten how many machine gunners and artilleryn he’d taken down.
He withdrew the magazine, five bullets remaining.
Each bullet costs 50 Paradise coins, so Su Xiao wouldn’t fire unless absolutely necessary.
Fifty thousand Northern Army soldiers utterly crushed the over twenty thousand Central Army soldiers, and within an hour of the war’s start, the Central Army had already lost a fifth.
Through the scope, Su Xiao found an enemy officer, a colonel, high up in the town’s church. The colonel was observing the battle through a window. Given the firearm range in the Steel Refinent World, this distance was absolutely safe.
He pulled the trigger. The gunshot of the Spider Queen was low, but the bullet’s kinetic energy was exceptionally strong.
A blood mist burst at the church window as the colonel was headshot.
Bang, bang!
Two more consecutive shots took out the colonel’s deputy and a major.
Cartridges hit the ground. Su Xiao’s gunshots were inconspicuous amidst the war, yet he had sniped the enemy officers.
After a round of bombing by the aircraft overhead, the Northern Army suffered over a thousand casualties.
War plays out differently than in movies; even though the Central Army was sowhat inept, the Northern Army also lost n.
Both sides exchanged fire, differing only in casualty numbers and frequencies; such one-sided scenarios only occur when there’s an overwhelming weapon advantage.
...
Five hours later, gunfire gradually subsided, and the Central Army in the trenches was scattered, leaving over half their forces dead.
The war temporarily ended, the Northern Army pressed forward, faces sared with dirt.
"Ah!!"
"Help , don’t leave ."
"Where’s my arm? Did anyone see my arm?"
The wails of the wounded and the dying groans filled the battlefield, a scene rarely seen in modern tis.
No one remains unaffected by war, except for Bubu Wang.
Bubu Wang was performing an impressive feat — it was gnawing on a tank!
Several tank soldiers looked helplessly on; everyone knew the dog belonged to Su Xiao, so they pretended not to see it, especially since it was an enemy tank.
Bubu Wang’s demolition skills had upgraded, and now even tanks were not safe from its romantic pursuit of destruction.
Su Xiao walked toward Olivier, who was counting casualties.
"How many dead?"
"Over four thousand."
Olivier’s voice was somber; these were her subordinates.
For the enemy killed over ten thousand, losing four thousand of their own was already a great victory.
Four thousand was just a number; witnessing it firsthand revealed the term "corpses strewn everywhere" was not an exaggeration.
The flas lit by shells burned the corpses, mixing the blood, dirt, smoke, and scorched flesh scents — this was the sll of war.
Witnessing this scene, Su Xiao felt little turbulence; compared to hot weapon warfare, cold weapon warfare was more brutal. He had not only seen it but also experienced the battlefield.
Traveling in the Reincarnation Paradise had exposed Su Xiao, a modern man, to all kinds of scenes — modern war, cold weapon war, dieval war, and more.
The war hadn’t ended; the Northern Army, led by tanks, slowly advanced toward Kano Town,
A corpse hung at the town entrance, with a sign on it that read.
’This is what happens to rebels.’
The corpse belonged to the mayor of Kano Town, who disagreed with having the war in front of the town, leading to his execution by the Central Army.
"Don’t shoot, I’m not a soldier."
A priest held a wooden stick, a piece of white cloth tied at the top.
"Hands up."
A soldier shouted, aiming his rifle at the priest.
"Are there still Central Army soldiers in the town?"
Su Xiao stepped forward.
"Yes, they’re in the town’s..."
Bang, a gunshot rang out from within the town, and the priest was headshot.
"There’s a sniper, take cover!"
The infantry quickly hid behind the tanks as dozens of tanks led the way into the town.
Within the town were remnants of the Central Army, who saw the Northern Army as rebels, ignorant that Central City’s military high command was colluding with the Little Man in the Bottle for eternal life, indifferent to their lives; they were rely sacrifices.
Those military leaders didn’t know they wouldn’t achieve eternal life, at best becoming sacrifices themselves, as the Little Man in the Bottle wouldn’t cooperate with humans, only use them.
Seizing the town and controlling the train station was the Northern Army’s primary objective to resolve, for without a train, advancing to Central City would be too difficult.
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