Chapter 456: Testing the Firepower
While the Glory Alliance was engaged in a massive relocation and construction project, the Border City Alliance, relying on brutal tactics, had managed to complete most of their fortifications ahead of schedule and was preparing to fire the first shot.
“Drop your tools, assemble immediately!” The Border City Alliance soldiers blew their whistles, summoning the mobilized soldiers who were reinforcing the trenches. In reality, these so-called mobilized soldiers were nothing more than forced laborers. After enduring this period of forced labor, with only meager food to sustain them, they were all emaciated and staggered as they walked. However, under the threat of guns and bayonets, they still squeezed out the last vestiges of their life force to line up, because those who disobeyed orders were already dead, and those who were still alive were exceptionally obedient.
“Listen up, everyone. Prepare to charge in one hour. Those who reach the enemy lines will receive a day’s worth of food. Those who don’t will have no food. Also, as long as you kill an enemy soldier, you will be granted the status of a formal soldier and will no longer have to participate in labor.” The Border City Alliance soldiers coldly issued General Cross’s orders, not caring at all what these mobilized soldiers thought.
In fact, many of them didn’t even hear what the Border City Alliance soldier said next. There was only one thought in their minds: war had begun.
A large number of old firearms and hardtack were piled up in front of the bewildered mobilized soldiers. Under the prodding of the Border City Alliance soldiers’ rifle butts and boots, they lined up to receive their weapons and food according to the habits they had developed during this time.
The hardtack, still stained with dirt and dust, was by no means a delicacy. The coarse wheat flour and unknown debris, baked at high temperatures, were a challenge to their teeth. However, the mobilized soldiers, who survived on only two bowls of gruel a day, still desperately scraped at the fist-sized hardtack with their teeth, trying to stuff it into their stomachs as quickly as possible. This was because they had no hope of surviving, as evidenced by the weapons in their hands.
The weapons given to them were not the standard weapons of the Border City Alliance army, but flintlock muskets that had been piled up in warehouses after the Noble Alliance army’s rearmament, as well as firearms confiscated from nobles and commoners. Now, these old relics were the only weapons the mobilized soldiers had.
Next, they would charge towards the enemy lines with muskets that might not even fire, without fire support, without artillery support, only bullets from behind, because any coward who left the charging ranks would receive a fiery token of love from the supervisory squad.
The problem was that while muskets were adequate for defensive positions, at least there was time to reload them. Using them for charging was simply suicidal, especially when facing opponents armed with breech-loading rifles and entrenched in trenches. Any brave soul who dared to reload on the battlefield wouldn’t get a second chance to charge because he wouldn’t live to see it.
But when they picked up their weapons, they saw they only had one round of ammunition, so there was no need to consider reloading.
What was even more fatal was that there wasn’t even a large rock in the several hundred meters between the two armies, let alone trees. There was no cover, so what was the use of running fast?
Especially when the mobilized soldiers entered the one-hundred-meter range, the reserve army corps’ light machine guns opened fire.
If the Border City Alliance soldiers hadn’t been watching them closely, and if they hadn’t only had one chance to fire their weapons, these mobilized soldiers would probably have wanted to rebel on the spot.
The fastest runners, regardless of their motives, were potential threats. As for those who appeared strong, they had seen what kind of life the enemy’s cannon fodder led, being from the border themselves. How could they maintain a strong physique? So, eight or nine out of ten were spies who had infiltrated their ranks.
After barely filling their stomachs, the mobilized soldiers, still filled with bewilderment and fear, held their old muskets in the hands that had just put down tools and began to charge towards the enemy under the threat of guns pointed at their backs. They didn’t even know what they would face.
The reserve army corps was mainly equipped with light weapons. Their individual weapons were the bolt-action rifles that were widely equipped in the territory. These rifles were longer, and after installing long bayonets, they resembled short spears, increasing their weight and making them less convenient.
The commotion caused by the charge of thousands of people certainly couldn’t be hidden from the Glory Alliance. In fact, they had already ordered the laborers to withdraw and the reserve army corps to prepare for battle when the enemy began to mobilize. Therefore, after the warning was ignored, they immediately opened fire.
However, the reserve army corps wasn’t shooting randomly. They targeted the fastest runners and those who appeared strong.
But these rifles had low recoil and high accuracy, making them very suitable for long-range shooting. When used from trenches, it was as easy as target practice within three hundred meters. Even the relatively untrained reserve army corps had a high hit rate within two hundred meters.
Although the territory’s machine guns were imitations of the Czech light machine gun and could only use twenty-round magazines, they were still machine guns. Once the trigger was pulled, a fan-shaped spray swept across, and the mobilized soldiers, who didn’t understand dispersed charges, immediately fell seven or eight at a time.
Without a chance to reload, and with the pathetic hit rate of the old muskets, they had to shoot at point-blank range to kill with their only bullet. To achieve this, they needed to cross the several hundred meters between the two lines and successfully jump into the enemy’s trenches.
As for whether they would kill by mistake, this was war. On the battlefield, regardless of right or wrong, only those who survived had the right to feel guilty. Therefore, once they opened fire, they showed no mercy.
Even without having been on the battlefield, they knew how low the odds were of surviving all this under the enemy’s hail of bullets, so how could they not despair?
After a magazine was emptied, the mobilized soldiers could no longer bear the despair brought about by the heavy casualties. They either lay on the ground trembling or ran around like crazy, only to fall under the guns of both sides.
The mobilized soldiers, forced onto the battlefield, became more and more panicked as they ran, but they didn’t dare to stop. They could only vent their emotions by shouting loudly and praying that the enemy wouldn’t shoot, allowing them to survive. But this was obviously a pipe dream. There was a shortage of everything on the battlefield, and perhaps the most lacking thing was mercy.
In fact, the Glory Alliance had considered accepting the surrender of the enemy after they entered the trenches. But as long as the enemy wasn’t stupid, they would definitely be on guard, such as using their families as threats or sending people to infiltrate their ranks.
It wouldn’t take much, just detonating a few bombs could successfully create chaos in the trenches, and the enemy could take advantage of the opportunity to break through the lines, so mercy was not an option.
The entire process, the reserve army corps in a defensive state only consumed some bullets and didn’t even have a chance to use grenades. But this test was not over.
At the same time, in multiple locations along the entire defense line, tens of thousands of mobilized soldiers used their lives to test the firepower of the Glory Alliance’s defense line, and their actions were recorded by the observing Border City Alliance soldiers.
Unfortunately, the mobilized soldiers were too useless. Except for a few defense lines that used long-handled grenades, other places were solved with rifles and machine guns. This greatly reduced the value of the intelligence obtained by the Border City Alliance and prompted them to decide to use more extreme and cruel methods.
