59: Chapter 59 The Military's First Battle
The next morning.
Zhou Yang got up, entered his virtual pod, and opened the game's backend.
He located the backend data for the new mode customized for the military.
At this moment, over thirty thousand people had already logged into the game.
It seemed they had begun their gameplay.
Zhou Yang glanced at the campaign they were challenging: the Battle of Hongkou.
Zhou Yang quickly opened the real-time game feed.
The benefit of the backend was that he could monitor the game's progress at any time.
Furthermore, he could watch from an omniscient God's perspective.
Currently, General Huang Wei, acting as the commander-in-chief for this exercise, had already made thorough preparations.
Inside the Eastern Military Region's exclusive virtual network conference room, a holographic projection stood before them.
The projected image was precisely this exercise led by General Huang Wei and his men.
Various high-ranking generals of all levels from the Eastern Military Region sat in the conference room.
The Supreme Commander sat at the very front, watching the projection on the screen.
Over the past few days, he had also watched many videos regarding this game.
The themes of national hatred and the struggle against aggression had deeply moved him.
This is how Huaxia's soldiers should be; protecting the home and defending the country is a soldier's sacred duty.
Peace had lasted for too long now, and the same was true for the military.
It was unknown how much combat effectiveness the army could exert if they encountered a real war.
Therefore, he needed to plan for a rainy day.
Although no massive wars had occurred in these last few centuries, that didn't mean they hadn't happened a thousand or several thousand years ago.
It just so happened that there was now such a game.
Usually, those young people were arrogant and looked down on everyone.
Some young people even felt that their training was completely useless; after all, Huaxia was so powerful now, who would dare attack them?
Having not experienced war for too long, many of the army's Chinese Soldiers had forgotten the horrors of war.
Now he would throw them in to let them practice.
It would save them from complaining all day long.
At this moment, inside the game.
Most of the Huaxia soldiers were encountering this game for the first time.
After all, they usually had no forms of entertainment and needed to train all day.
At this time, their characters were all scanned versions of themselves.
Physical attributes and the like were also scanned based on real-world data.
“The sensation of pain in this game is so realistic!”
A soldier pinched his own arm, and the clear sensation of pain traveled from his nerves to his brain, feeling incredibly real.
Others began to notice this as well.
At that moment, a panel appeared before all of them.
“Mission: Annihilate the Japanese Marine Corps in Hongkou and prevent the Japanese Army from landing.”
Since this was a customized mode for the military, Zhou Yang did not include individual missions or similar features.
He only gave them a clear game objective; failure to complete this mission would result in a loss, and they would then be scored based on the outcome of the battle.
In reality, Zhou Yang didn't have high hopes for them.
The equipment gap was too large, coupled with the defensive fortifications the Japanese Army had repaired in advance.
Aside from charging with human lives, they didn't have many good options.
Perhaps they could succeed after several tries, but they would definitely be unable to win on the first attempt.
And even if they successfully captured the area, there was a high probability they couldn't stop the Japanese Army from landing, because the Japanese warships off the coast were not to be trifled with.
As long as there was naval gunfire suppression, there was simply no way to stop the large-scale landing of Japanese infantry.
At this moment, in the Command Post.
General Huang Wei and a group of staff officers were studying a combat map to figure out how to eliminate the Japanese troops entrenched in Hongkou.
“General, our army currently has a total of over thirty thousand men. Excluding the Artillerymen and logistics, there are over twenty-five thousand men available for combat.”
“As for the enemy, they have about four thousand men entrenched in the fortifications of Hongkou.”
“In addition, they have naval gunfire support and air support.”
“Our side only has an Artillery Regiment of two thousand men with limited firepower. We have no air force, which can be ignored, and no warships, which can also be ignored,” the Chief of Staff beside him read out the disparity between the two sides.
Although the enemy only had four thousand men, they possessed advantages in the sea, land, and air.
“Furthermore, our army's equipment is extremely poor and lacks heavy firepower. Whereas the enemy, according to our previous research and judgment, has equipment configurations much better than ours.”
“Also, our army's food rations are very limited, consisting only of rice and carbohydrates, with very little meat provided.”
As these points were read one by one, General Huang Wei began to feel that this battle might be a bit difficult to fight.
Originally, he thought their numerical superiority was an advantage; after all, they were thirty thousand soldiers who had received modern military training and possessed extremely high professional quality.
But the equipment gap was simply too vast.
Even with so many well-trained soldiers, without weapons, wasn't this like trying to cook a meal without rice?
But there was no choice; he had already boasted before the Supreme Commander.
No matter how difficult it was, they had to fight.
They couldn't be cowed before the battle even began.
Previously, he had wondered how the armies in this game could lose so many people; looking at this situation, it wouldn't work without piling up human lives.
Soon, General Huang Wei began discussing strategic deployment with the staff officers.
Currently, they were the attackers, and the Japanese were the defenders.
As the attacking side, they held sufficient initiative.
When to start the war was up to them.
A moment later, the first order was issued.
All units were to begin moving to the front lines to prepare for the offensive.
The soldiers immediately rushed to the frontline positions in an orderly fashion.
There was no trace of emotion on their faces, as if this war was nothing much.
They had absolute confidence in themselves.
They believed they could achieve final victory.
At a certain forward position, ahead lay the Hongkou Airport occupied by the Japanese.
A soldier wiped the bolt-action rifle in his hands and started chatting with the soldier next to him.
“This gun is too retro; it's an old antique from over a hundred years ago. I'm a bit unaccustomed to it.”
“Indeed, I know how to use it, but using it feels too uncomfortable,” the soldier beside him agreed, nodding.
Their usual training involved semi-automatic and fully automatic rifles.
These bolt-action antiques had only been used a few times during introductions to the history of firearm development.
Now they were using them in the game, and for actual combat no less.
As time passed, the troops under General Huang Wei's command engaged with the Japanese for the first time.
At Bazi Bridge, the Chinese Soldiers stationed there were attacked by the Japanese.
The same incident, the same counterattack began.
Upon hearing this news, General Huang Wei suppressed the urge to order reinforcements.
It seemed he was not allowed to delay the start of the war.
Once this point in time was reached, the Japanese would take the initiative to provoke them.
Ignoring it was definitely not an option.
He could only have them hold their ground.
Now, they already had some ideas regarding the offensive to annihilate the Japanese Marine Corps.
First, they would enter from the Hongkou Airport side and strike the Japanese Naval Headquarters within forty-eight hours.
Furthermore, they had to settle the battle quickly; once time dragged on,
The Japanese warships and planes would react and subject them to artillery strikes.
The Japanese naval guns were not to be trifled with.
In addition, they needed to cut off the Japanese communication network.
Otherwise, once the Japanese called for naval gunfire support, casualties would rise sharply, which would be very detrimental to the battle situation.