Chương 29: Chapter 29
With the colonel being forced to sit back and rest after his astounding encounter with King Bumi, Sergeant Araka Han followed the direct orders of Lieutenant Colonel Mozi for the first time. The straight-laced officer carried none of the spirit-guided humor of his superior, but was just as effective in assigning the Han unit.
The 11th and the hangers on that outnumbered it several times over began forcing their way through the hefty Earth Kingdom forces between them and the entrenched Second Assault Army. From what the sergeant understood, the other elements were sent out to finally prove their worth and earn their keep. The overworked troops of the 11th would lay back in reserve, with the Han flammenwerfers being put amongst the last resorts to be activated.
It was a decision mostly based on the fact that their allies would be utterly shit at coordinating with the flammenwerfers, and also a reasonable amount of distrust of the more resentful and ungrateful officers that might try to dig into the flame carts' secret.
Those same reasons was why up until now, the Hans and their flammenwerfers were only deployed a total of two times in the campaign south, with both cases having practically no allied presence nearby. Han had seen to the igniting of brushlands to hamper Earth Kingdom armies, and served as the killing blow to a brutal ambush.
He'd gotten used to the horrid smell of burning shit and flesh, and the screams of the dying no longer discomforted him too much. The same went for the other Hans, and the whole unit could stomach eating roasted meat once more. Colonel Xing had been most proud about their fortitude, and it took a while for the Hans to realize that working the flame carts directly under the colonel brought with it a small level of admiration from their comrades.
But even up until now, nobody bothered to question why the young colonel only wanted Hans to serve as cart operators. The veterans had indicated that it'd be a futile thing.
"He's probably entertaining the fickle demands of the spirits he's listening to," one had said. "And the spirits have guided him true so far, and through him, the regiment's been surviving well enough. So I'll gladly take a bit of weirdness."
It was a good point, even if there was annoyance in being referred to by his village name rather than his actual name. And for all that, the boy wasn't a bad commander to serve under either.
He'd just faced down the Mad King for the sake of keeping his bodyguards safe, after all. Lieutenant Koshi's unit looked utterly ashamed, but they freely admitted the fact that their survival was solely due to their ward. Han sympathized somewhat with them, it must really suck to know that your job is not even ornamental, but potentially useless. At least for now.
With the way the bodyguards trained in their free time, Han felt a bit of pity for the next threat that dares show up in front of them. A shame that they were currently guarding the colonel's wagon instead of partaking in the breakthrough.
"The 104th Spears are getting fucked," Lieutenant Colonel Mozi stated bluntly as he read a scroll passed by a panting runner. He was talking about the two remaining platoons from that battered company. Those folks were one of the better ones, the platoon lieutenants quickly took to following the 11th's lead as if they were serving under the regiment, and Han found their enlisted men to be decent comrades.
Captain Kai sounded angry. "If they're fucked, where's the 19th Brigade?"
The lieutenant colonel gave a heavy sigh as he passed the scroll over to the captain. "Routing, apparently. Colonel Zhu got himself killed."
"The fuck are his officers doing?"
"Wish I knew."
That didn't bode well at all. The 19th Brigade was one of the more intact groups, though campfire gossip said that they were also rather inexperienced. Still, losing almost two thousand men just like that…
Lieutenant Colonel Mozi waited for the captains to stop grumbling before handing out his orders. "Ping, Weikong, you're up. Just try to stabilize that front, we've got other fronts to push through."
"Assuming the rest of them don't fuck up," Captain Weikong muttered before he left.
"Should we get Xing?" Captain Kai asked, earning a quick shake of the head from the lieutenant colonel.
"Give him his rest. We're still within margins, the failure of the 19th Brigade was accounted for…though maybe not so quickly."
"Knowing that group, their whiny officers are going to blame Xing breaking their colonel's arm for their loss," Captain Rufen commented with a frown of distaste. "Stupid bunch of pricks, that whole lot."
The captains Kai and Rufen shared a strange look with Lieutenant Colonel Mozi, and while Han didn't know what exactly the trio were thinking about, he felt a cold shudder run up his spine, and Captain Toshi seemed similarly unnerved.
"We'll deal with it when the time comes," the lieutenant colonel finally declared. "They're spineless cowards anyway, shouldn't take much to scare them into submission."
"If you say so," Captain Kai acceded.
Another messenger ran up, looking far less dejected than the previous one. As before, Lieutenant Colonel Mozi took the message, and this time his eyebrows went wide with pleasant surprise. "The Second Assault Army is pushing towards us."
"Wait, what?" Captain Rufen sounded as stunned as he looked.
"Colonel Dao probably caught wind of our return. He's leading the charge."
Captain Kai slumped with relief and chuckled. "Oh, thank fuck for that magnificent bas- colonel."
The sentiment was shared within the command tent, and the lieutenant colonel gave a thoughtful hum before nodding at the other captains. "We don't have to ration our forces so much then. You two, go help the front being led by the 23rd. The Second Army is closest to that area." He then turned to Han, who straightened to attention at the anticipation of an order.
"Sergeant, join them. Try to keep the operation of the carts as discreet as possible."
"Yes, sir." Sergeant Han paused just for a second. "How do you want us to apply the flames?"
The officer didn't hesitate. "Ifrit's Breath. Let Kai or Rufen dictate where to apply it. Empty the tanks if you have to and don't stop if any of our…allies are stupid enough to get in your way. Don't worry, it'll be on me."
Han's jaws tightened as he confirmed the orders, and then hurried out to his unit feeling a little giddy apprehension. It was a good thing the Han unit had gotten used to the horrid smell of burning flesh and the screams of the dying, there'd be a lot of that coming soon.
They took to the field at a good pace, following after the two battalions. The section of the front lines was a disordered mess, with Fire Nation soldiers from various groups fighting side by side with little coordination. The larger group of the 23rd Company were fighting as if their captain was not around to give orders, and the front surged and receded like a stormy tide.
Banners from both sides fluttered near each other. Firebenders dueled with earthbenders, or the benders picked on the non-bending infantry, while those same infantry tried their best to swarm the benders or get locked into pitched fights with their opposite infantrymen.
Coherency had devolved so badly that even the sergeant could tell that the officers in charge were incompetent idiots. Why were the firebenders exposing themselves in the front lines? Why were spearmen and swordsmen throwing themselves as a mob at earthbenders?
The officers of the 11th agreed with the sentiment, though they were more verbal with their disgust.
"Flaming spirits, this is a shitshow…" one lieutenant said.
"Fucking glad it's us leading them and not the other way around," another muttered.
The captains simply shook their heads with some resignation and led their battalions to the front. Han kept his unit closer to Captain Rufen's 5th Battalion, as they were ones moving downwind. Nobody contested that decision, and a company from the 5th slipped into a protective formation around the carts.
Some of the officers began shouting as they approached the chaotic front line, trying to reorganize their allies. "Form up, you bastards! Form up!" It seemed to do something, as order slowly spread throughout the soldiers of the 23rd and the other remnant elements attached to them.
Han was close enough to see Captain Rufen yank an allied lieutenant towards him. "Where's Captain Fang?"
The dirt-smeared man stammered a response, and pointed out into the melee. "H-He led the charge, b-but after that it was all-"
The captain shoved the lieutenant aside and turned to Han with a look of exasperation. "We'll have to try finding the stupid bastard. My 3rd Company will stay with you. If you see the signal, feel free to burn everything."
"Understood, sir."
The soldiers of 5th Battalion quickly formed up, and with Captain Rufen's bellowing order, they surged into the ongoing fighting. Allies were roughly yanked or shoved aside, duels were brutally cut short, and the Earth Kingdom forces were quickly overwhelmed by the drastic difference of behavior in the new force.
To give them some credit, the allies rallied from their confusion in good order, and soon mimicked the 11th's more ruthless method of fighting to varying degrees of success. The firebenders in particular hesitated to dive right into very close quarters, but many spear and sword infantry seemed more than eager to plunge into a messy brawl.
Earthen walls were raised, but the 11th swiftly climbed over them. Boulders and spikes were hurled, but the 11th's firebenders expertly shot those out of the air as they charged in. Several non-bending infantrymen grabbed the enemy dead (or mostly dead) for use as a shield as they advanced.
Just like that, the amorphous battle line seemed to regain some cohesion and was pushed back. Of course, the Earth Kingdom forces eventually recovered, stalling 5th Battalion's momentum and stabilizing the line, but at least there was a proper line in this section of the melee. Allied and 11th Regiment spears and swords stood shoulder to shoulder to fend off enemy pressure, while firebenders began to work in groups to aid their non-bending comrades by shooting down projectiles and incinerating vulnerable enemy groups.
They were fighting like a machine now, not a well-oiled one, but still a marked improvement over the messy blob of duels and mobs. It took a few moments once the line stabilized for a bloodied banner of the 23rd Company to finally rise, right at the edge of the new border.
Off in the distance, loud explosions and fading screams told Han that Captain Kai had taken a more violent approach in bringing order to his line. It must have done the job, seeing that the Fire Nation banners were now moving forward.
A small bolt of fire streaked straight up into the sky from the front line, and Han quickly got into his sergeant role.
It took a second to consider the wind, and the sergeant found the right spot to begin operations. Han turned to regard his unit members who were loitering semi-alert by their carts. The colonel was not here, so he figured he had to do the honors to keep the new tradition going.
"Hans! Let's give them the flammenwerfers!"
A savage, heartening roar followed, and the Han unit began pushing out towards the near-center of the line, where the fighting seemed the thickest. A few words were exchanged with 3rd Company's Lieutenant Yuka, and she quickly relayed the message for the Fire Nation line to prepare itself.
The firebenders of each cart kept alert for incoming projectiles while their comrades pushed the warmachines into position. Having 3rd Company join in overwatch helped ensure nothing could even bounce close enough to be a sudden obstacle.
The nineteen flammenwerfers stopped right behind the lines in two tight, staggered rows, and the hose wielders stood on their carts for a higher vantage point.
"Inhaling!" Sergeant Han yelled, and the soldiers of the 11th began to step back, yanking their allies along with them to backtrack behind the carts. Huge bursts of fire from the firebenders kept the Earth Kingdom soldiers from following right after, creating an acceptable amount of distance.
With the field before him now only populated by enemies, the sergeant gave the order to begin. "Exhale!"
The first row of flammenwerfers spat their streams of fire, spewing it back and forth in a wide area. As the jets of fire ended, the second row opened up, keeping up the tide of fire. The screaming was immediate, and the Earth Kingdom advance died. With the comrades in the 5th Battalion guarding them, the firebending Hans helped to work the pistons, keeping up the stream of fire that the hose wielders sent washing across the grasslands.
With such a concentrated torrent of liquid fire focused onto one place, the enemy line didn't so much break as much as it was burnt away. The wind carried the droplets of fire down the Earth Kingdom line, spreading the carnage further.
The Hans kept pumping and sending out more stream of flame; Ifrit's Breath was meant as a total area denial attack, to render a location into a terrain hazard. In a few seconds, the whole field before Han was covered in an angry, all-consuming firestorm. Firebenders kept the flames from washing into friendly lines. Further downwind, at the edges of the Earth Kingdom formation, the whole enemy flank broke to escape the fast approaching fires rolling at them with help from the wind.
Seeing the result, Han gave the order to stop. The roar of the firestorm was so loud, he had to resort to waving to his unit to stand down.
With the flank secured, 5th Battalion's firebenders quickly stepped in to tame the fires and create a safe path for the allied forces to push in. They punched through the stunned and panicking enemy behind the firestorm, and then folded in to flank the remaining line.
Still with about half a tank of fuel, Han had his unit to follow after the assault, offering their flames to douse stubborn knots of Earth Kingdom resistance. After several groups of earthbenders were turned into screaming and flailing human torches, the remaining holdouts quickly surrendered, greatly speeding up the collapse of the enemy battleline.
The Earth Kingdom army was sent running in short order, and Han soon found the banners of more friendly Fire Nation forces on the far end. They'd punched through to the rescue force of the Second Assault Army.
They'd broken through the encirclement, and with reinforcements the 11th Regiment and its allies managed to withdraw with no further major losses. Somehow, Han found it very satisfying that Colonel Xing was only allowed out of his wagon once they were finally in friendly territory. The young colonel looked a bit groggy from his forced nap and didn't look too happy about missing out on all the action, but he definitely looked much better than the time he came back from his duel with King Bumi.
A massive, heavily armored colonel stomped over to Colonel Xing, roaring with laughter. The younger commander barely dodged a massive hand swooping down on his back. "Xing! Good to see you! What's this about beating the piss out of the Mad King of Omashu?"
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