Chapter 147: The Art of War of the Qinhuangdao Qinglong County Zombies (5)

Li Qiang gave the order once more, "Aim at the ground 100 meters out, open fire across the entire line!"

Unlike common misconceptions, firing a heavy machine gun does not simply mean aiming straight at the target and pulling the trigger. That approach is terribly inefficient. With even basic tactical training and a serpentine advance, enemies rushing from the opposite direction can easily slip out of the muzzle's alignment since every bullet travels in a straight line, giving them a high probability of breaking through—let alone zombies, which possess endless stamina and accelerated speed.

In actual combat, heavy machine guns are generally aimed diagonally across the target zone to ensure that multiple rounds saturate the area.

Every muzzle in the heavy machine gun position was bounded by a central axis; the ones on the left swung 30 degrees to the right, and the ones on the right swung 30 degrees to the left, weaving an interlocking grid of gunfire resembling a fisherman's net.

The bullet trajectories intersected so densely that individual diamond-shaped meshes were clearly visible. Many bullets collided in mid-air, emitting strange, cracking noises as they ricocheted off into unpredictable directions.

Bullets striking the earth kicked up bursts of dust and gouged small holes, while those hitting rock shattered into countless stone fragments. If they hit a human, nine times out of ten the person would be incapacitated, but unfortunately, zombies are immune to such shock; they only press forward relentlessly until their heads are destroyed or they devour a human being.

The entire web of fire precisely resembled an oblique plane of a three-dimensional right-angled triangle drawn by a geometrician using heavy machine gun tracer fire in the night. The ground-level leg spanned 100 meters, the vertical leg formed by the heavy machine guns stood 1.8 meters high, and the hypotenuse constructed by the tongues of heavy machine gun fire stretched 180 meters. With every fourth round being a tracer, the display was a dazzling array of flowing light and color.

When the horde of zombies charged, their feet entered the fire net first. One could see their legs instantly severed, their heights dropping slightly as their momentum slowed. Shoved forward by the zombies behind them, they plunged directly into the kill zone, where they were liquefied into a churning mass of pulp and flesh. As their piling corpses temporarily blocked the bullets, the trailing zombies managed to shuffle forward one step before they too were dissolved into mush. The zombie horde constantly replenished the fire net in this one-step-at-a-time exchange.

Li Qiang remembered the time he had been surrounded by zombies inside a tank, feasted upon all night without suffering a single scratch.

He ordered the 20,000 surviving civilians and 80,000 soldiers within Qinglong County to board various armored vehicles, ensuring every vehicle was stocked with easily accessible rifles, machetes, and other close-quarters weapons. Troops stationed on various surrounding peaks were also commanded to immediately return to the county and board the armored vehicles parked at the foot of the mountains.

Over half an hour passed, and the rear personnel had largely boarded the vehicles. Sporadic rifle fire began to echo from the outer perimeter sectors as the vanguard of the zombies entered the defense zone.

Li Qiang ordered the 4th Company to disperse and enter the armored vehicles waiting behind them, providing cover through the firing ports. As the gunfire from the 4th Company erupted, the heavy machine gunners executed their final orders.

They engaged the safeties, cleared the chambers, discarded their weapons and ammunition, and ran empty-handed into the respective combat vehicles. Amidst the dull slamming of closing doors, the zombie horde fully flooded into Qinglong County.

Li Qiang was going to wage urban warfare against the zombie horde!

As the horde surged into the county, the crisp cracks of Type 81 rifles grew increasingly frequent, gradually merging into a continuous roar.

Li Qiang communicated orders to every vehicle via tactical radio, "Do not fire at will! Aim before you shoot! If you lack confidence, wait until the muzzle is pressed against a zombie's forehead before pulling the trigger!"

Every vehicle was severely overcrowded and carried limited supplies of ammunition and other provisions, making the conservation of bullets paramount.

The gunfire quickly subsided.

Many unarmed individuals peered eye-to-eye with zombies through the gaps in steel reinforcement bars.

The night passed amidst gunfire.

In the early hours, as dawn broke a faint gray, observation ports across the vehicles revealed that the surrounding terrain was littered with a tangled jumble of zombie corpses, yet no moving zombies remained in sight.

No one disembarked; everyone awaited further orders.

"This makes no sense. Three and a half million zombies should be enough to bury us completely," Li Qiang muttered to himself in deep perplexity. "What kind of nonsense is this? There are barely any bodies."

Having waded through mountains of corpses and seas of blood countless times, he could tell at a glance that there were fewer than 300,000 corpses. Where were the rest of the zombies?

He toggled his communication switch and ordered, "All vehicles, report your intelligence summaries!"

Reports came in swiftly: there were no longer any zombies inside the city. The vehicles positioned on the outermost perimeter could observe the zombie horde ringing the outer limits of the firing range, blanketing the mountain ridges and highways. They loomed vaguely in the morning light, neither retreating nor advancing.

Upon closer inspection, many of them occupied absolute blind spots impervious to artillery bombardment.

"These bastards are evolving way too fast," Li Qiang cursed. "They've learned how to set up encirclements this quickly?"

Li Qiang ordered the outer perimeter vehicles to redeploy their defensive positions, then boarded the Type 89 armored command module to head toward the Qinglong County Government building, which served as the military headquarters.

Squad 9 of the 4th Sharp Shooter Company, tasked with close-protection security, moved ahead to clear the area for Li Qiang to ensure no lingering zombies remained. Li Qiang shoved them aside, declaring, "What's with all the excessive caution! I haven't put a couple of stray zombies in my eyes yet."

Clad in plate armor, he leaped down from the command module and strode into the military headquarters. The staff officers had already arrived, marking the current tactical situation on an electronic map. A striking zombie encirclement clearly ringed them on the inside, while further out along four major highways lay the artillery positions of the human forces.

Li Qiang stared silently at the three-dimensional electronic map without speaking; no one disturbed him. He meticulously studied the undulating mountain ranges of varying heights, watching the highways wind through the terrain. The boundary between the mountainous region and the plains housing Qinhuangdao was marked by a town called Shimenzhai. That area possessed a well-developed transportation network, boasting both highways and railways, and sat at a sufficient buffer distance from Qinhuangdao City.

When campaigning in war, a staff officer was always by his side, awaiting commands at a moment's notice. He instructed this staff officer, "Take dictation! Order the staff department to formulate a contingency plan: the Qinhuangdao reserve forces will establish an encirclement zone in Shimenzhai Town! Order the logistics base stationed in Caoying Town to fall back to Qinhuangdao City. Order all troops to deploy to designated points within the encirclement zone and hold position until we lure the zombie horde inside to close the trap."

The staff department would work out the specific operational details; all he needed to do was sign off on the issued commands.

Mobilizing large troop formations required time. They needed to hold out in Qinglong County for at least three more days before breaking out to lure the zombies into the trap. Li Qiang intended to wipe out the entire zombie horde in one fell swoop, leaving none behind to prevent the creatures from passing on combat experience through successive engagements.

The staff department modified the encirclement zone in their revised plan, starting right at the edge of the Qinglong mountains. Given the count of 3.5 million zombies, the territory needed to be sufficiently vast to contain them. The troops responsible for sealing the rear were ordered to stand by in Longwangmiao Township along Provincial Highway S265. Once the zombie horde entered the encirclement, these units would advance along S265 toward Zushan Town at the intersection with Provincial Highway S251, and then push forward in an attack along S251 to secure the rear.

Artillery positions were extensively deployed outside the perimeter of the encirclement to ensure that artillery pieces concentrated in a single location would not be rendered unusable by the sheer momentum of the zombie horde's assault.