Qiumuluo had previously joined the troops in their assault because Gis promised him many slaves should Shireck be victorious.
However, when Qiumuluo, the corpulent human trafficker with his fat ears, saw the flames from the grenade explosions in the dim corner, illuminated by the flare's light, he was thoroughly frightened.
He quietly retreated, taking a few of his trusted associates with him and slipped away from the battlefield under cover of darkness, ready to rush off after grabbing the luggage he had prepared.
As he was fleeing, a stray bullet hit his arm. It was purely luck that got him hit.
Even so, due to the darkness, it was unclear whether the bullet had been fired by Tang Mo's troops or Gis's.
Indeed, the mentally shattered troops of Shireck couldn't hold on any longer. They fired wildly, even turning their guns on the commanders who were preventing their retreat.
In the chaos, bullets flew everywhere, and the utterly irrational people, like wild beasts, slaughtered each other in a frenzy.
Not the enemy, but their own! The darkness and chaos sent the undisciplined troops of Shireck into utter disarray.
Night combat in this era was something that all the great commanders tried desperately to avoid, as most militaries in fact lacked the ability to fight at night.
And the Shireck troops, foolishly relying on their numbers hoping to gain an advantage in the melee, plunged into the abyss of collapse due to their very numbers.
The densely packed crowd trampled each other, mixing screams and gunfire; some soldiers, in their haste to retreat, stabbed with their bayonets the unsuspecting comrades behind them.
The reserve troops who hadn't yet joined the fight were unaware of what was happening until they were scattered by the retreating troops.
The officers responsible for maintaining discipline were shot dead by their own men, and those officers who took advantage of the chaos to run were then shot dead by the troops enforcing the retreat from behind.
In this immense chaos, the deep rumble of cannon fire rolled in from the darkness. The 75mm field guns of the Great Tang Group security troops fired, their shells falling like rain in the darkness, then sparking blindingly in the night.
The Shireck soldiers huddled together in retreat were immediately sent reeling by these terrifying explosions, making their rout even more complete.
No one harbored illusions of counterattacking or continuing the fight anymore; all were chilled to the bone, with a single thought lingering in their minds, "Flee! Flee at all costs!"
The machine guns of the Great Tang Group roared relentlessly, their bullets as dense and lethal as ever. These huddled Shireck soldiers became the perfect shooting targets.
Only when the enemy had totally collapsed, retreated more than a hundred meters, and left hundreds of bodies behind, did the Maxim machine guns of the Great Tang Group cease fire.
They had to stop—the continuous firing had boiled the cooling water in the water jackets around the barrels.
The cooling water, nearly boiling, lost its ability to cool the barrels, so the gunners and assistant gunners, concerned about potential machine gun malfunctions, had to stop shooting to replace the water.
However, changing cooling water under such lighting conditions was no easy task, so the Maxim guns ceased their fire, leaving only the sound of the Kar98K rifles on the field.
Clearly, he had never heard these artillery sounds before. In the not-so-quiet night, the sound of this new type of cannon, obviously of a larger caliber and with heavier shells, mixed with the familiar sound of the 75mm field artillery he was accustomed to, pounding his heart over and over again.
An artillery shell fell not far behind a tent, then exploded, lifting a blaze so immense that even Gis felt a chill.
The horrifying explosion devoured the tent, even flinging the people inside into the air. In an instant, sand and stones flew everywhere, striking people's faces and inflicting intense, palpable pain.
Even in Gis's mind, a term called "earth-shattering" emerged — before him, the world was indeed turned upside down.
The loud explosion from the blast made his ears ring; the blast wave blew so strong he couldn't open his eyes; his hair was messed up beyond recognition.
For him, the mood this night was like a roller coaster ride: the first half of the night he plotted an attack that seemed certain to win with great anticipation, the later half was filled with expectation, now it was despair and collapse.
Dawn had arrived, and according to his plan, Shireck's troops should have already breached the enemy's lines by now.
But now, his troops were being attacked by a type of large-caliber cannon he had never seen before, and even his own camp could no longer be held.
Explosions everywhere, bodies tumbling chaos, screams of agony, and the smell of gunpowder that drives one to despair.
"Sir! It is no longer safe here! We should retreat," advised a Shireck officer, who had finally found Gis.
"You go, take your men and retreat quickly... Leave the wounded and scattered forces, just go! Hurry up and leave!" Gis looked at him, commanding with a tone of despair.
The officer was stunned for a moment, then nodded slightly, and immediately returned to the muddled crowd, disappearing from view.
The number of guards around Gis seemed to have diminished, many were scattered, and some took advantage of the confusion to leave, never to return.
After a brief silence, the second round of artillery began. 10 massive shells fell within the camp, lifting many tents and blowing many people away once more.
This time no shell dropped near Gis, but those explosions farther off, which blasted away many limbs and body parts, seemed even more despair-inducing.
With a wooden expression, Gis walked to the edge of his now chaotic tent, looking at the collapsed tent and the scattered maps and other items on the ground, his mouth filled with bitterness.
He grabbed a stool from the ground, dragged it to an open space, and sat down with a slump. He just sat there, waiting until the shelling from the Great Tang Group ceased, until the entire camp was no longer in chaos.
The air was filled with the smell of blood; soldiers' corpses were scattered everywhere. Behind Gis, several naked women lay on the ground, long silent.
The wounded groaned in agony, while some soldiers gathered to clean up the scattered supplies.
The losses had not yet been tallied, but everyone knew that in this battle... Shireck had utterly failed.
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These two updates were for yesterday, and today's updates will be posted later.