Chapter 570: Half‑Time Champagne Is a Big Taboo

Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh!

Mortar shells rained down one after another, falling on the Blue Army's positions like a dense barrage.

When the bombardment ended, Huang Honghui immediately led his men forward, charging the forward positions still shrouded in artillery fire.

"Fire for me, fire hard!"

"We can't hold it, retreat, retreat!"

"Instructor, I'll cover you, withdraw quickly!"

"Fall back to the left!"

"Pan, you can't act on impulse; this is an order from Headquarters! The Red Force's attack is too fierce, this position can't be held and must be withdrawn to the rear to rebuild defenses!"

Seeing the enemy already spreading to encircle, Instructor Pan Yuan kept fighting fiercely on the position, his eyes clearly reddened with anger.

Ma Qing'an, who was in charge of commanding this sector, saw that nothing could persuade him, so he simply grabbed Pan and pulled him backward.

"Pan Yuan, I warn you, if you don't move now you'll be disobeying orders!"

"I'm moving, I'm moving—still not enough?"

"All troops, retreat all the way, retreat!"

"Company Commander, is there any ammunition left over there?"

"No need, ignore everything, just get the hell out!"

Dragged by Ma Qing'an, Pan Yuan ran toward the rear, but kept glancing back at the smoke‑choked position, his emotions raging.

"We fell back from the coastal encirclement all the way, being beaten by the Red Force like a dog!"

"In less than two days we've lost half the position; if this continues, we'll have to quit the exercise!"

Ma Qing'an felt uneasy; he didn't understand the Blue Army Headquarters' strategy of trading space for time.

Because the fewer who know about the plan, the more authentic the performance, the easier it is to lure the enemy.

Thus, at this moment both Pan Yuan and Ma Qing'an blamed themselves for failing to hold the position.

What they didn't realize was that this was itself part of the plan; only by doing so would the enemy gradually stretch the front line and creep deeper into the trap set by Lu Yang and his comrades.

"They just ran fast!"

Watching the Blue Army soldiers flee in panic, Huang Honghui sneered and halted.

He first announced that Sea Night Tiger had once again seized a Blue Army position, prompting instant cheers.

Then he ordered everyone to inventory the spoils, take a short rest, and stressed the need to watch for anti‑infantry Landmines near the position.

From this, he realized that many Blue Army soldiers, though not sappers, possessed excellent Mine Laying and trap‑setting skills, which had given them a hard time.

Had those trap mines not existed, they probably would have taken the position half a day earlier; but now it's not too late.

If the Red Force is likened to a ferocious tiger with sharp fangs and claws, the Blue Army's defense is merely the fence around a sheepfold.

It can hold off the enemy briefly, but cannot stop the Red Force's relentless assaults.

"If only we'd followed the main force from the start."

A Red Force Company Commander stepped forward and addressed Huang Honghui.

Huang Honghui watched his own troops tallying the battlefield while the dead Blue soldiers, faces covered in dust, were being carried out, a victorious smile on his face.

"We overestimated our opponents; a unit formed just over three months ago can't be that strong even if it has combat capability."

"Exactly, they rely on the old Army tactics—digging trenches, setting up a few machine‑gun nests—thinking they can stop us."

"They fundamentally don't understand amphibious warfare; their mindset hasn't shifted from the old Army methods. They think defending coastal positions is the same as defending inland plains, which is completely different."

"In the end, they just can't adapt to the new environment, so their thinking hasn't turned the corner."

"We can't say that either; if we gave them another six months, we might not win so smoothly."

Huang Honghui planted his hands on his hips, feeling an inexplicable sense that the exercise was ending and victory was within easy reach.

He believed the Blue Army's biggest trump card was the sappers who could lay mine traps and slow their advance.

But relying only on that can only delay them briefly; it can't fundamentally crush the Red Force's repeated assaults.

Huang Honghui felt some regret, having taken Lu Yang and his men too seriously, treating them as the greatest threat.

Because so far Lu Yang's impact on the battlefield has been negligible, far less than Sea Night Tiger's contribution.

Recalling the two recent defeats, he couldn't help but tap his forehead; had they not focused on those targets, Night Tiger would have had many more troops and stronger combat power.

"Deputy Battalion Commander, still dwelling on those past mistakes?"

"That obvious?"

"That's way too obvious!"

The Company Commander tapped his forehead and said, "That day at the mudflat command post, you slapped yourself twice out of guilt, then insisted on saving face, claiming you were just swatting mosquitoes."

Huang Honghui tilted his head, "Well, I was indeed swatting mosquitoes!"

"Got it, got it, but as brothers and subordinates we understand you."

"You understand nothing!"

"Hehe, men need to save face; otherwise the bed boards of the Gift‑Child Building would keep breaking. It's all to show ability, to look fierce in front of the youngsters."

"......"

Huang Honghui kicked him in the rear, "War's not a joke, be serious!"

The Company Commander chuckled, "Aren't we about to win? We've been exhausted for days, let's relax a bit."

Huang Honghui, ever principled, said, "As long as the exercise isn't over, we can't let our guard down for a moment; you know what happens to those who pop champagne halfway, right?"

The Company Commander replied, "But we have Director Xiao Tang's information technology; every enemy move is under our surveillance, how big a splash can we make?"

Huang Honghui didn't argue; the tech he once scorned for over‑reliance had now become genuinely useful.

On the front lines, Director Xiao Tang's information tech indeed helped them better pinpoint the Blue Army's layout and troop distribution, allowing them to infer firepower deployment.

Because of that, they could repeatedly and precisely target the Blue Army's weak defensive spots, crushing the enemy's defenses each time.

Of course, with the help of the "Global Vision" cheat, they also successfully saw through the Blue Army's two counterattacks.

They preemptively avoided retreat, prevented major losses, and kept the battlefield's initiative firmly in their own hands.

Huang Honghui asked, "How much of the Blue Army's positions have we taken now?"

The Company Commander replied, "We're almost at half. The directorate stipulates that taking more than two‑thirds of the enemy's positions counts as a win; at our current pace, by latest tomorrow night we'll secure a complete exercise victory."

Huang Honghui gave a feigned solemn hum, but the slight upward turn of his mouth and the lifted eyebrows still revealed his inner joy.

It was precisely because this Company Commander had read his mind that he made a few harmless jokes to ease the tension the battle brought.

At that moment, a Platoon Leader in charge of Logistics supplies ran up to report, "Deputy Battalion Commander, our ammunition and material are running low; we need to contact Logistics for urgent resupply."

"Alright, first use what the Blue Army left on the positions; I'll contact Logistics later."

"Can't wait, it must be now."

"What do you mean?"

"Logistics resupply is on the coast; we've been pushing forward these past two days and are now deep in the Blue Army's rear in the exercise area. The route isn't easy, so resupply will take longer than before, and the neighboring mortar Platoon is also arranging ammunition; we'll have to hurry."

"Okay, got it."

Huang Honghui, after replying, summoned the communications soldier.

He picked up the radio and reported the situation here to the Red Force Headquarters, so the Commander could promptly grasp the overall battle situation and further refine the combat deployment.

At the same time, he requested priority ammunition and supply resupply for Night Tiger; the purpose was also to prevent the Blue Army from launching a counterattack.

"Huang Honghui, you've done well and thought things through; as a frontline elite unit, ammunition and supplies will naturally be delivered to you immediately."

"I have a plan: after the frontline supply allocation is finished, we'll gather several of your squads and launch a simultaneous attack on the most critical areas of the Blue Army's rear—the final stretch of positions—giving them no time to react!"

"A normal person would expect us to strike after dark; in the past few battles I indeed arranged it that way, always at night."

"But this time, I'll do the opposite and catch the Blue Army off guard; we'll aim to finish the fight completely before tomorrow's sunset!"

"Yes, Chief!"