The army finally reached the outskirts of the county. It was the place where Zhang Xiaoqiang rescued the survivors last time. Through the binoculars, they could still see the piles of bones on the long street. Today was different from the last time Zhang Xiaoqiang came. There were significantly fewer zombies. At least as far as they could see, there were not many zombies. Most of them were skinny zombies that could not even walk.
Yang Ke-er was the first to get out of the car. She carried her bone shield and mutated pangolin's claws. She looked at the county in the distance with great interest. Then she pointed at the land on the side of the county and said, "Let's go …"
Huang Quan obeyed and was about to order all the vehicles to go together. Who knew that Yang Ke-er shouted again, "Wait …"
Huang Quan looked at Yang Ke-er and thought that she had found something wrong. Yang Ke-er looked at the orange grove in the distance and said, "Look, there are oranges over there. Send a few people to pick some …"
Before Huang Quan could agree, Yuan Yi walked over and grabbed Yang Ke-er's ear. Huang Quan could still hear Yang Ke-er shouting, "I don't want it, I don't want it, I don't want to eat oranges …"
After the small interlude, the army occupied a large area of farmland outside the county. The huge ruts of the vehicles crushed the farmland. Cannons were set up in the dry and cracked paddy fields. Yang Ke-er stood beside Yuan Yi and looked listlessly at the cannons. Behind her stood 21 slender, fully armed female soldiers. The leader was Yan Qing, who looked indifferent. She was like Yang Ke-er's shadow, standing behind Yang Ke-er and watching out for all the men around her, including Huang Quan.
Yan Qing's female soldiers had always stayed at the missile base. This was an escape route that Zhang Xiaoqiang had left for Yang Ke-er. If things turned out badly, these female soldiers would escort Yang Ke-er back to the mountains. With sufficient equipment and a guide who was familiar with the mountainous terrain, Yang Ke-er would be able to live the rest of her life in peace. This was also the promise the female soldiers made to Zhang Xiaoqiang.
Now that the base's power had grown, these women were no longer prepared to make their final preparations. They were justifiably Yang Ke-er's bodyguards. Of course, these women had always viewed men as their mortal enemies. They were rather ignorant, so there was no need to worry about them rebelling.
Beside Yan Qing was Cat Eyes. Compared to the nervous attitude of the bodyguards who were on full alert, Cat Eyes was very relaxed. She had an indifferent look on her face, which made her deputy Yan Qing very uncomfortable. If it weren't for Cat Eyes' frightening eyes, Yan Qing might have already taught her a lesson.
Huang Quan was awkwardly separated by the female bodyguards. Truthfully speaking, Huang Quan wasn't very confident in his heart. Although Meow Meow was very good at finding things, fighting a war was different. What was tested was one's nimble command skills. Yang Ke-er didn't even have the experience of commanding a small team.
The artillery base was ready. Yang Ke-er held her head high as she walked to and fro in front of the formation. Twenty-one female soldiers separated Yang Ke-er from the other men. Two regiments, a force of three thousand people, were positioned three hundred meters in front of the artillery base. The distant county town was two kilometers away. All sorts of buildings, small forests, ditches, and vegetable fields blocked the front of the troops.
"Fire a cannon. Fire at that place. If I don't say stop, then keep firing …"
Yang Ke-er pointed at a red six-story building in the distance. The building was four kilometers away from the artillery base. Looking at it faintly, it looked like a small toy house.
Ding Jianwei looked at Huang Quan. Seeing Huang Quan nod, he walked in front of an 85 mm cannon and personally set the firing parameters. Not long after, the cannon rumbled and a white smoke spread out from the artillery base. A black dot instantly smashed into the red building and exploded into a cloud of smoke. After the smoke subsided, the densely packed dots peeled off the building. On the upper floors, a wall collapsed, revealing two floors without walls.
Following that, the white smoke did not dissipate in front of the 85 Cannons, as balls of fire exploded around the red side. The sounds of explosions came from afar, like thunder. Without the guidance of the artillery, the cannons continued to fire, and Yang Ke 'er nodded in satisfaction, before directing the 12 cannons to fire in another direction.
No one knew the effect of the bombardment. They could only vaguely see buildings collapsing and streets turning into ruins. It seemed like Yang Ke-er was just playing a child's prank.
Yang Ke-er commanded the cannons to bombard everywhere. Huang Quan and Ding Jianwei were distressed. In the blink of an eye, they had fired close to two hundred cannons. Although they could reload bullets, they couldn't reload cannons. Although they could make RDX, they couldn't make fuses. Every cannonball was precious. If it directly hit the zombies, it would be fine. But firing aimlessly like this really made them feel distressed.
Fortunately, Yang Ke-er only directed the low-intensity bombardment for one and a half hours. At most, she concentrated twelve cannons. Sometimes, she only used one cannon to fire a few rounds. She didn't use as many cannons as she had imagined.
Huang Quan saw that Yang Ke-er finally stopped commanding and felt slightly relieved. If it wasn't for the fact that this county was more than ten times the size of a small town, and the area of the city was at least ten to twenty square kilometers, they would have followed their usual practice and made all sorts of noises outside the city to lure the zombies out.
Killing zombies in the city was very dangerous. It was hard to say when they would be surrounded by zombies. Also, fighting in close combat would increase the chances of dying. In the past, when they were searching for supplies around Wuhan City, the biggest casualty was being bitten and scratched by zombies.
Seeing that Yang Ke-er had stopped, Huang Qian was about to give orders to the two commanders, but Yang Ke-er sent a new order. Yang Ke-er obviously didn't have enough commanding, but the firing range here didn't meet her requirements. Although the firing range didn't meet the requirements, the soldiers operating the cannons didn't have the ability to fire from a long distance. They had to move to another location.
Hearing Yang Ke-er's request, Huang Quan was a little hesitant. Under the premise that the logistics hadn't met the requirements, wasting a large number of cannons was a crime. It was a blasphemy to the thousands of soldiers who had died on the other side of the river. However, thinking of the bloody battle and casualties after entering the city, Huang Quan decided to endure it and finish this battle first. If Yang Ke-er really just did it on a whim and didn't get the desired effect, Huang Quan definitely wouldn't let Yang Ke-er command any of the troops again.
The two regiments of three thousand soldiers ended their entertainment of watching the cannons. One by one, the companies spread out and went to the villages outside the city that Yang Ke-er had designated. One by one, the small villages that were close to the border of the county fell into their hands. When the cannons reached the center of these small villages, Yang Ke-er didn't personally give orders anymore. Instead, she gave orders to the artillery liaison beside her. This was because she had already distributed 70 cannons to more than 10 small villages, almost surrounding half of the county.
The orders weren't as vague as before. Instead, they became more precise. Two cannons from a certain location would fire three rounds at the left side of a certain building. Three cannons from a certain village would fire ten rounds at a certain street.
Just like playing chess, the cannons were all Yang Ke-er's chess pieces. For a moment, the entire radio channel was filled with the calls of the liaison officers. The cannons from various places also fired continuously. Although it was a little messy, the entire county was like a boiling pot of water. From time to time, zombies heard the sound of the cannons being fired and rushed out. Before they could get close, they would be killed by the companies that were protecting the cannons.
This time, it only took a total of forty minutes. Including the preparation time, it was almost completely silent after two hours. Then, Yang Ke-er ordered the artillery to retreat.
"Well, the cannons are finished. Let the soldiers go in. It's best to use knives and shields to save bullets …"
Yang Ke-er mischievously winked at Huang Quan. It was a kind reminder. Huang Quan didn't listen to Yang Ke-er's reminder. For him, compared to recovering a county, the loss of tens of thousands of bullets was nothing.
The companies entered the county one by one. Then, the companies spread out and started clearing the zombies that they could see from the edge. These squads were divided into two combat groups, including the squad leader. There were five people in each group. Three people were holding knives and shields, one person was holding a rifle, and the last person was holding a sniper crossbow. When searching and advancing, they usually used the sniper crossbow to shoot. If they encountered a group of three to five zombies, the knife and shield user would rush forward to block the zombies' attack. At the same time, they would chop off the zombies' head. If they encountered more than ten zombies, the infantry gunner would open fire to attract the surrounding squads.