"Assemble!" The officer, with his hands behind his back, dressed in a gray-green military uniform and wearing an M35 helmet, held his chin high as he watched his soldiers form a neat square formation in front of him.
"Check your equipment!" Not far away, a company commander loudly ordered all the soldiers who had gathered in the barracks.
Then, the rustling sounds began as all the soldiers bent down to check their equipment and all the gear they were required to carry with them at all times.
As required by the Great Tang Group, each soldier had to carry 90 rounds of ammunition. These rounds were divided between the ammo pouches on their ribs, the spare ammo pouch on their back, and their backpack.
Under one side of the ribs were three ammo pouches, each containing 10 rounds of ammunition, so the total ammunition carried under one side of the ribs was 30 rounds, and likewise on the other side, making for a total of 60 rounds on the front.
On their back was a spare ammo pouch containing 10 emergency rounds, which they were generally not allowed to use casually.
Below the spare rounds hung an Engineer Corps shovel, while the remaining 25 spare rounds were usually kept in the backpack, though many soldiers preferred to scatter them in their pockets. There was no strict rule on this.
In addition, to increase their chances of survival on the battlefield, each soldier was also issued 6 spare bullets for the Left-Wheel Handgun, but there was no specific place for these rounds to be carried.
An infantry squad consisted of 12 soldiers, and the squad leader's weapon was completely different; he was equipped with a lever-action rifle with a short barrel, which could only hold 7 rounds at a time.
This squad leader generally was not responsible for long-range firing duties; he was more often in charge of command work, so the weapon issued to him was chosen for its firing efficiency.
In fact, Tang Mo was preparing to replace the commanders' weapons with submachine guns or assault rifles later, but unfortunately, he had not yet managed to produce these weapons, so he had to strengthen them as much as possible with the equipment he currently had.
Although the lever-action rifle had many flaws on the battlefield, Tang Mo valued its rapid-fire capability, so he temporarily decided to make do with it.
The squad leaders were required to carry even more ammunition: 150 rounds of Left-Wheel Handgun bullets each, to load both the lever-action rifle and the similarly modeled Left-Wheel Handgun.
Beyond that, every soldier from the Great Tang Group also had to carry three days' worth of dry food, including three loaves of bread, butter and dried meat, candies, seasoning cans, stir-fried noodles, dried radishes, and sun-dried, chopped vegetables in a cloth bag—these were for making soup.
Also, in the backpack behind each soldier, there was a change of undergarments, two pairs of dry socks, and a simple first aid kit.
This first aid kit contained clean gauze, robust tourniquets, some hemostatic powder, and small items like scissors and tweezers.
You should know that no military in this world was willing to issue such basic items that hardly improved combat capability to their soldiers.
Yet Tang Mo actually distributed these costly items, treating them as necessities, to every soldier.
Such actions were tantamount to telling all the soldiers, "I value you greatly," so everyone was very moved and willing to lay down their lives for such a master.
Not to mention, Tang Mo had imparted knowledge to these soldiers, training them into true warriors. Now they were ready to prove their loyalty with their actions, which made each of them very excited.
"Do you know what excites me the most right now?" A soldier who had just attached a grenade to his belt twisted his neck and asked the comrade next to him.
His comrade, who was methodically slipping a sharp dagger into the sheath hidden along the side of his boot, asked distractedly, "What?"
The soldier who asked the question grinned and said, "I finally have the honor of fighting for Mr. Tang!"
The soldier who had just concealed his dagger licked his lips and replied with a smile, "Bring it on! Let's show them how terrifying the things we've learned really are!"
Near the outskirts of Brunas, in an inconspicuous wild field full of weeds, a piece of covering board was carefully moved aside on a small weed-covered mound.
"Signalman! Go tell the company commander that we've entered our position!" A platoon-level officer with a cylindrical case hanging on his chest, carrying a single-tube telescope, blew an insect off the leaves in front of him and looked down the official road in the distance.
Their position offered an excellent vantage point overlooking the entire road, a clear and prime shooting field. Behind him, inside a well-camouflaged concrete pillbox, a marksman had just opened the bolt of the weapon in front of him.
The assistant gunner, silent, placed a canvas ammunition belt on the Maxim machine gun and the gunner skillfully pressed down on the ammo chain.
On the other side of the road, on the quiet battlefield, one soldier after another, donning steel helmets, bent at the waist and moved along the serpentine trenches like earthworms, depositing an ammo box they carried every few meters in the corners of the trenches that had already begun sprouting little patches of grass.
``The crossfire has been set up! If the enemy starts an attack... I don't know how to describe them... disaster? slaughter? In any case, they will die, killed by us before they have the chance to flee,'' an officer watched the alert Rangers enter the position and spoke to another officer standing beside him.
``We've only deployed three companies on the front line, just over 600 men,'' the officer standing there was Luff, the commander of the first line of defense. He spoke with a hint of regret, ``That's probably my biggest regret.''
``Once they enter the area covered by crossfire, all they can do is pray for themselves,'' the officer chuckled to Luff.
``If prayer were effective...'' Luff smirked from behind the concealed bushes, looking at the flags that had already appeared on the distant horizon.
``Hiss!'' At Factory 1's train station, a train that had been waiting there spewed out white smoke from both sides, and the swirling fog quickly engulfed the platform, turning the place into a fairyland of sorts.
Inside the station, workers responsible for moving supplies lingered with a sense of longing as they watched the military train leave the station, its wheels turning slowly, inching toward the distance.
And behind the locomotive of this train were uncovered flatcars, each securely fastened with two C80 breech-loading field guns by ropes!
These were the rare 120mm caliber heavy guns of the era, capable of using the most advanced shells. Thanks to the rifled barrels and breech-loading, they boasted incredible range and precision.
An entire train was equipped with ten such guns, and the remaining cars were stacked with their ammunition.
This train could maneuver behind Tang Mo's defensive positions along the rails, and once the ammunition was depleted, it could immediately return to Factory 1 for resupply.
With the support of these cannons, plus the artillery already equipped by the various Troops, Tang Mo's defensive line could instantly muster at least around 15 heavy guns in any direction. The firepower was truly fearsome.
With just one command, these guns could rain down shells on the battlefield with incredible speed, instantly covering a large area...
Al officer walked into the carefully arranged command post on the position, snapped to attention and saluted, handing over the documents to Wes, who was by Tang Mo's side, ``The scouting Troops have confirmed that the enemy's vanguard has approached our front line defenses. They have crossed the border, and a few hours ago, they even burnt down some of the villages under our control.''
Tang Mo glanced at the report handed to him by Wes, then nodded slightly to the messenger officer in acknowledgment, ``Order all Troops to counterattack autonomously according to the original plan! Let them come closer before firing, and make sure to cripple them thoroughly as we reveal our hand!''
``Telegram!'' Nearby, a Soldier pedaling non-stop next to a cyclist handed a piece of telegram paper torn from the telegraph machine to Redman who was sitting behind him.
After reading the content, Redman reported to Tang Mo, ``The artillery train has left the station, it is now patrolling from south to north. It should be behind us in about 15 minutes.''
``Sometimes I really want to have a good talk with Gis, let him see our weapons, and then have him cry and apologize to me, admit his mistakes, shivering while looping a rope over the beams, and hanging himself in front of me...'' Tang Mo watched the flags appearing one after another on the distant horizon, and spoke coldly to Wes by his side.
``If he had that kind of courage, I'd respect him as a real man,'' Wes said with a disdainful curl of his lip.
``I'm complaining about him making me waste so much damn money! And making me... damn it... stand here... wasting my damn time!'' Tang Mo cursed angrily, gritting his teeth in frustration.
``Enemy within artillery range!'' an artillery observer put down the monocular in front of him and turned his head back to report loudly to Tang Mo and the other commanders.
``Hold steady!'' Redman commanded loudly, ``Let the enemy enter the predetermined strike zone! Don't act rashly!''
``Enemy column now within range of our artillery fire!'' Not long after, another observer reported loudly.
``Do not open fire! Maintain silence!'' Redman glanced at Tang Mo and continued to order loudly.
``Enemy close to the Ranger line!'' Soon, a third observer shouted out.
``Signal flags! Get ready!'' Redman glanced at Tang Mo again and ordered tensely. The enemy was only about a dozen meters away from the advanced Ranger defense system.
``Alright, gentlemen! Let's give our guests a warm welcome!'' Tang Mo raised his arm, then brought it down sharply, ``Fire the machine guns on both flanks, and let Shireck's fools know who the real kings of the battlefield are!''