Hu Hao drove directly from Santong County to Late City. Passing through Boba City along the way, he noticed significantly more civilian activity than in Santong County; there were even farmers openly tending to the fields.
Seeing this brought him a small measure of comfort.
When his convoy finally arrived in Late City, the population density was even higher. The military officers stationed there had systematically housed the refugees in the abandoned residential buildings as temporary shelters. They had meticulously inventoried the large furniture and appliances in each home, making it clear to the refugees that if the original owners ever returned, they would have to vacate the premises and nothing was to be stolen or damaged.
Hu Hao's vehicle soon pulled up to the light weapons manufacturing plant. The moment he arrived, a Lieutenant Colonel who was currently managing the armory hurried over to greet him.
"Hao-ge, you're here! We just notified the light weapons experts. A few of the senior engineers didn't flee during the evacuation, so we brought them back. They are currently guiding our young engineers and the newly recruited workers on the production lines!" the Lieutenant Colonel reported, falling into step beside Hu Hao.
"Excellent. Please invite them to a conference room. I need to speak with them," Hu Hao requested.
"I've already asked them to wait for you in the main conference room!" the Lieutenant Colonel smiled.
"Good!" Hu Hao nodded and strode into the main armory building.
Entering the conference room, Hu Hao saw four white-haired, elderly engineers sitting around the table.
"Greetings, esteemed teachers!" Hu Hao smiled warmly as he walked in.
"Oh! The Commander has arrived!" One of the senior experts immediately stood up upon seeing him.
"Please, don't call me Commander. Just call me Little Hao. I apologize for making you gentlemen wait. I am deeply sorry!" Hu Hao quickly adopted a humble and respectful tone.
He held a profound respect for true experts and master craftsmen.
"It is we who should thank you. The only reason Late City still stands is because of you and your brave soldiers. We know that brutal battles are raging in Jinhe City and Yonghe City to hold back the Allied forces. We understand perfectly well how critical Late City is; with all the industrial resources here, the Allied forces must be desperate to take it!" one of the experts said earnestly.
"Mm. The fighting is indeed brutal, but we will hold the line. Gentlemen, I have come today to ask for your expertise," Hu Hao said, diving straight to the point. He explained his urgent need for dedicated sniper rifles and outlined the specific performance metrics he required.
The four senior experts listened intently, exchanging thoughtful glances before nodding. As master light weapons engineers, designing a rifle based on performance specifications was entirely within their wheelhouse. The primary challenges would be combining those specs with available technology and manufacturing capabilities.
"It can be done?" Hu Hao asked, his face lighting up with joy.
"It's not overly difficult. We possess the foundational technology and the necessary metallurgical materials. The main hurdles will be creating the molds, defining the precise parameters, and calculating the stress tolerances for the various components," explained one of the experts, whom Hu Hao had learned was named Elder Liu.
"Ah! Elder Liu, actually, I have a blueprint... well, I saw a blueprint once. I can't remember exactly when or where, but the design is burned into my memory. Let me draw it out for you all to review.
"If the design is viable, we can skip the initial conceptual phase and begin calculating the tolerances immediately! I am in desperate need of these sniper rifles. If we can finalize the design and begin mass production quickly, I can equip my elite units immediately! I humbly ask for your assistance!" Hu Hao proposed eagerly.
"Oh? You have a blueprint in your head?!" The four experts stared at him in astonishment.
"I do. But I need to draft it out right now. Do you have professional drafting paper?" Hu Hao asked.
"We do! We have a full drafting studio right here. Wait a moment!" another expert, Elder Zhang, replied quickly.
Within minutes, they had procured high-quality drafting paper, mechanical pencils, drawing pens, rulers, French curves, and an array of other professional drafting tools.
Hu Hao took the tools and immediately began drafting a classic, heavy-caliber sniper rifle from his past life on Earth. In his previous life, he had not only managed an armory but had also been an avid enthusiast of precision rifles. He knew the blueprints for this specific weapon down to the millimeter.
The rifle he was drafting was an iconic anti-materiel sniper rifle: 1450mm in overall length, featuring a 740mm barrel, chambered in the massive 12.7x99mm heavy machine gun cartridge, and utilizing a 10-round detachable box magazine.
Hu Hao drafted continuously from the morning until past 11:00 PM. He drew every single component, labeling the exact dimensions and tolerances from memory. The four senior experts watched in absolute awe. To possess the eidetic memory required to recall the precise dimensional data of an entire firearm was nothing short of miraculous.
They repeatedly asked him where he had seen such an advanced, devastating design, but Hu Hao simply deflected, claiming he had seen it in an obscure technical journal he couldn't recall.
When he finally finished the blueprints, Hu Hao was about to ask if the design was manufacturable, but the four experts snatched the schematics and practically sprinted out of the room. Hu Hao was left blinking in confusion.
The Lieutenant Colonel soon returned and informed him that the senior experts had rushed straight to the subterranean R&D labs to begin fabricating the initial molds and calculating the metallurgical requirements for the high-stress components.
Hearing this, Hu Hao finally relaxed. He knew this sniper rifle design was flawless. In his previous life, it had been the standard-issue heavy sniper rifle for his nation's elite forces, renowned for its incredible stability, rugged reliability, and devastating power. It was widely hailed as the "King of Snipers."
Hu Hao chatted with the Lieutenant Colonel for a while longer, asked for a quick meal, and then simply fell asleep in the conference room.
Early the next morning, Hu Hao woke up and headed down to the R&D labs. He found the four senior experts asleep on folding cots next to the machining equipment. The lab guards informed him that the experts had worked frantically until past 3:00 AM before finally collapsing. Hu Hao ordered the guards not to disturb them and quietly returned upstairs.
He instructed the Lieutenant Colonel to call him immediately if the experts needed anything.
His next stop was the heavy vehicle manufacturing plant. Unfortunately, they had not yet managed to recruit enough skilled workers to resume full-scale production.
Hu Hao desperately wanted to initiate production of self-propelled artillery and truck-mounted multiple rocket launch systems (MRLS). From a technological standpoint, the Empire had the capability, but these specific weapons systems hadn't been developed in this world.
Self-propelled artillery would drastically increase the survivability of his artillery crews by allowing them to "shoot and scoot." Meanwhile, truck-mounted MRLS units were the ultimate ambush weapon; a concentrated barrage could obliterate an advancing Allied formation before they even realized they were under attack.
However, the vehicle plant currently lacked the specialized engineers required to design and integrate these systems. Still, Hu Hao toured the facility, inspecting the existing tank production lines. A significant number of workers had remained in Late City, and they were familiar with the existing assembly processes. They were currently fabricating spare parts and assembling the standard Eastern Spirit main battle tanks.
The bottleneck was that several massive, critical components were typically manufactured at other specialized foundries in neighboring cities. Hu Hao had already dispatched recruitment teams to those areas to find the necessary workers, aiming to restart the entire tank supply chain.
After observing the assembly lines and chatting with the workers, Hu Hao left. Without the right engineers, he couldn't initiate the artillery projects. He would just have to wait.
That afternoon, Hu Hao returned to the light weapons plant and joined the four senior experts in analyzing the newly fabricated prototype components.
For the next three days, Hu Hao practically lived in the armory. Finally, they managed to assemble three complete prototype rifles. Hu Hao immediately summoned his best marksmen to the armory's dedicated testing range.
Producing functional prototypes in just three days was only possible because Hu Hao had provided the complete blueprints, and the armory possessed a state-of-the-art rapid prototyping facility and mature metallurgical labs.
They machined the high-stress components from various steel alloys, tested them rigorously, and finally identified the most stable and durable material, locking in the final manufacturing parameters.
However, Hu Hao couldn't afford to stay and oversee the final field testing. He had to rush back to his headquarters in Daman City.
A massive crisis had erupted in Yonghe City.
The Allied forces besieging Yonghe City had suddenly and inexplicably withdrawn, retreating all the way to Liangchuan City! And Bai Ye hadn't even noticed until it was too late!
The Allied commanders had executed a brilliant tactical withdrawal, using the cover of a torrential midnight downpour to slip away, abandoning all their heavy weapons and equipment in their entrenched positions to mask their departure.
They had force-marched over thirty kilometers on foot through the mud until they met a convoy of transport trucks dispatched from Liangchuan City, which ferried them the rest of the way.
When Hu Hao received Bai Ye's panicked call, he had been furious. The perfectly roasted duck had literally flown out of his hands!
Hu Hao arrived back at the Daman City command center around noon. The moment he strode in, the atmosphere chilled. The officers immediately stood at attention, noting his dark expression. Hu Hao ignored them and walked straight to the main tactical displays, demanding they replay the drone footage and frontline reports from Yonghe City over the past few days. He needed to understand how an entire army had simply vanished.
"Hao-ge, Corps Commander Bai Ye is requesting a secure video link!" a communications officer reported nervously, less than half an hour after Hu Hao had begun reviewing the footage.
"Tell him I'm in the command center. Put him on the main screen," Hu Hao ordered tersely.
"Yes, sir!"
Two minutes later, Bai Ye's grim face appeared on the massive display.
"Hao-ge... this failure rests entirely on my shoulders. It's a colossal command failure. I truly never imagined they would attempt a full withdrawal like that. Even on the day they retreated, they launched a localized offensive against our lines around noon! It was a low-intensity push, but it kept us focused on defense!" Bai Ye immediately accepted full responsibility, offering a desperate explanation.
"Mm. I've been reviewing the footage on fast-forward. Over the past few days, their daily 'assaults' never consisted of more than two regiments. They were purely probing attacks, designed to keep you pinned down and maintain the illusion of an ongoing siege.
"Furthermore, I can guarantee you they didn't just start retreating last night. They likely began the withdrawal days ago! They had tens of thousands of wounded in their rear echelon. If they only started moving them last night, they never would have made it thirty kilometers by dawn!
"If I'm not mistaken, those empty supply trucks that delivered their daily rations were quietly ferrying the wounded out of the combat zone every single day!" Hu Hao pointed out the blindingly obvious signs of a phased withdrawal, his voice cold.
"Ah?! They've been secretly withdrawing for days?!" Bai Ye was stunned by his own blindness.
"They haven't received a single reinforcement in weeks. If they didn't retreat, they were just waiting to be annihilated! It's been raining for nearly twenty days straight; dragging out a siege in this mud is a death sentence.
"However... what I truly don't understand is why they didn't receive reinforcements," Hu Hao muttered, his anger cooling slightly as the strategic puzzle engaged his mind.
He was genuinely baffled. The force besieging Yonghe City was the Mara Empire's elite 1st Corps. Letting them slink away in defeat, abandoning all their heavy equipment, was a massive humiliation for the Mara Empire. There had to be a profound strategic reason why the Allied High Command had authorized a withdrawal rather than reinforcing them.
(End of Chapter)