102: Chapter 102 Iron Hooves March East! A Decisive Victory Over Five Counties

Before the smoke of Mong La had even dissipated, Zhang Cheng's orders lashed down like a whip.

"Don't stop! Don't give the enemy a chance to catch their breath! Keep this momentum going and pierce through East Shan State in one go!"

The "Eastward Expeditionary Corps," a precision war machine, roared back into operation after a brief resupply.

This time, the corps split into two, like a pair of sharp pincers, clamping down hard on the heart of East Shan State.

North Route Army: Objectives Nanban and Kengtung. South Route Army: Objectives Mongtong and Monghsat.

For the Shan State Army, the nightmare had only just begun.

They were originally a ragtag bunch hastily cobbled together from various factions; they could manage a skirmish or two over territory or transit fees, but when they faced a regular army that disregarded all rules of engagement with integrated air-ground strikes, their pitiful morale collapsed instantly.

The North Route Army advanced rapidly along the highway.

The garrison commander of Nanban County was playing mahjong when a scout reported, wailing in panic, "The Black Army is here! There are iron birds in the sky and iron carriages on the ground!" He even overturned the mahjong table and jumped straight into a jeep: "Retreat! Retreat quickly! Head toward Kengtung!"

As a result, they hadn't fled far from the city before the pursuing "Falcon" helicopters caught up and turned the convoy into a long line of scrap metal, like target practice.

Kengtung County was even more remarkable.

When the first "Iron Fist" armored vehicle appeared in sight, the garrison commander of Kengtung directly ordered the city gates opened, hung a white flag, and even thoughtfully sent someone to lead the way, for fear that the Imperial Army... oh no, for fear that the National Army wouldn't know where the armory was.

In contrast, the South Route Army encountered a bit of "minor trouble."

In Mongtong County, there was a minor warlord named Khun Sa who had over five hundred men. Relying on his strong camp built against the mountain and a few mortars, he wanted to be a tough nut to crack.

"Come on! Come up if you have the guts! This hilltop of mine is made of stone; your armored vehicles can't climb up!" Khun Sa hid in a bunker, shouting through a megaphone.

The commander of the South Route Army, T-02, had a fiery temper. He looked at the bunker on the hilltop and sneered, "Climb? Why the hell would I climb?"

He picked up the communicator: "Calling 'Calamity,' there's a nail here, pull it for me."

Five minutes later.

"Vroom, vroom, vroom—"

Four ammunition-laden apache helicopters hovered above the hilltop.

Khun Sa looked up at those hideous steel dragonflies, the megaphone in his hand dropping to the ground, his mouth hanging wide open: "This... this is cheating..."

"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—"

"Boom, boom, boom, boom!!"

A series of rockets with trailing flames blanketed the hilltop, followed by precision strikes from 30mm chain guns.

That so-called solid camp was shaved off by a layer within minutes. Khun Sa, along with his beautiful dream, turned to ashes.

Seeing this, even the toughest of the remaining defenders wet themselves. They threw down their weapons and scrambled down the mountain to surrender.

After hearing about the tragic state of Mongtong, the garrison of Monghsat County panicked and fled that very night.

Four days!

In just four days!

The "Eastward Expeditionary Corps" swept through five counties of East Shan State like rolling up a mat! Wherever their blades pointed, they were invincible!

This terrifying speed of advancement not only drove the remaining Shan State Army to complete despair but also sent shivers down the spines of the military government and the Kachin Independence Army watching from the south and northwest.

They looked at the green area on the map expanding rapidly like a virus, feeling as if a knife had been placed against their throats.

Meanwhile, thousands of kilometers away, in the intelligence center of the USA Pacific Command.

A group of intelligence analysts were tearing their hair out over satellite photos.

"This is unscientific! This completely violates military common sense!"

A colonel pointed at the rapidly advancing army on the screen, his eyes bloodshot: "They've been fighting for four consecutive days and advanced three hundred kilometers! How did their logistics supply line keep up? Where did their fuel come from? Are their soldiers robots? Don't they need sleep? Don't they need to eat?"

According to US military experience, the logistical pressure of such high-intensity mechanized advancement is enormous. But Zhang Cheng's troops were like they had activated cheats for infinite ammo and stamina, never stopping!

How could they know that the soldiers of this unit were truly "tireless" Death Soldiers, and half of their logistical supplies were "exchanged" directly at supply points by the system, while the other half was continuously delivered via the strategic highway built overnight by Dragon Country.

"Sir, we... we may have seriously underestimated the war potential of this army," the intelligence officer said tremblingly. "They are not a warlord militia; they are a... modernized army that we cannot understand."

Meanwhile, Zhang Cheng sat in the Commander-in-Chief's headquarters in Pangkham, holding a cup of iced coffee and watching the North and South armies about to converge on the system map.

His gaze fell on the last and largest nail in East Shan State—Tachileik.

"Tell T-01 and T-02, Rest in place for a day. Have a good meal and a good night's sleep," Zhang Cheng said calmly. "Before sunset tomorrow, I want to go fishing by the Mekong River in Tachileik."