At sunset, by the river, Weiss pushes his wheelchair and Nikolai sits in it, in the opposite of the last time they had escaped from the Normans. When pushing the wheelchair, Weiss lowered his head to see Nikolai's head, she hadn't cut her hair for a while, the tips of her hair had gone past her ears, and she had a somewhat feminine appearance. Of course, once some secrets are known, it is difficult to pretend not to know, and even if Nikolai is still exactly the same as before, Weiss can no longer treat her as a pure brother.

In the current situation, it is impossible to avoid the topic of peace with the Normans, and the news transmission in this high-class sanatorium in the army is not slower than that of the outside world. Nikolai expressed his melancholy and concern about this situation: "If the war really ends like this, I don't think it will be the peace we are looking forward to, but a temporary truce. It won't be long before the Normans make a comeback. ”

What Nikolai said was not what Weiss feared. The Normans' eagerness to stop the war had a lot to do with the death of their crown prince, and when their internal power struggles were divided, the greedy ambition to rule the world would surely manifest itself in the next ruler. Unless the Normans can see the tide of history, and this huge world cannot be ruled by a single regime, otherwise, the expansion of the Norman Empire will only endure and will not die.

"This time, we were supposed to go to the heart of the enemy, and if the operation was successful, we could win over a number of important allies from the enemy camp, which would be of great significance for the dismantling of the Norman imperial system, but alas......" Weiss said.

"Yes, it is a pity that as soon as the Normans expressed their willingness to armistice, most of our people still desperately wanted to return to peace when the land had been fully recovered, and our government and army could not ignore the wishes of the people, so as long as the terms of the armistice were basically agreed, the armistice was just around the corner." Speaking of this, Nikolai changed his words: "If there is an armistice, and the potential danger of another war is not considered for the time being, what are your plans?" ”

Weiss replied, "I haven't thought it through yet, what about you?" ”

"Professionally, I want to continue my flying career, both as a military and as a civilian." Nikolai said in an indifferent tone, "In life, I will try to spend as much time as possible with my father, he has already done too much for this country, and with his current age and state, it won't be long before he retires!" ”

Career and life are all said, but there is no mention of feelings. Weiss set his sights on the horizon, the war had lasted for three years, and there were experiences that ordinary people would never have in a few lifetimes, and he himself did not want to think about emotional matters until his senses returned to a normal state.

After a long pause, Nikolai said in a slightly faster voice: "One thing I think is certain, no matter what we do or where we are after the war, our friendship will not fade. ”

This was very much in line with Weiss's meaning, and he crouched down beside Nikolai, his eyes met him, and the smile on his face showed the smile that he used to have in the past: "Wherever we are, what we do, what we are...... Friendship lasts forever! ”

In the following week, although all kinds of news about the armistice and peace talks were flying all over the sky, Weiss still silently enjoyed the life in the barracks, the kind of tense, busy, full and simple life, which allowed him to forget his worries for a while and devote himself to it, but this was not necessarily the life he wanted.

A week later, Octavir brought the unsurprising news that the peace talks were not going well, and General Mulloon ordered them to continue refining the plan and be ready to go into action. The general also said that the high-level judgment and various sources indirectly confirmed that the Normans did have a desire for peace talks, but that there were great differences among them on the terms of the armistice, or that it had a great deal to do with the prestige and influence that their new rulers wanted to gain. To put it simply, they want more, but these conditions are far beyond the bottom line on the federal side. In order to make the enemy accept the reality and accept a relatively equal peace, the federal army top brass decided to fight them again, and once this short-term campaign was started, it was the best time for the special forces to start the operation.

Octavier told Weiss that the target group had been adjusted due to the situation, and that they might be taking more than 300 people, so the entire plan of the operation needed to be significantly adjusted.

Weiss calmly told Octavier that he had not been idle for a week, but had quantitatively calculated and analyzed the previous plan. Although this is only a technical analysis, it has made the paper battle plan more three-dimensional and vivid. According to his calculations, even if the size of the target group increases, the number of troops invested does not need to increase significantly, and the real difference is in the vehicles - originally they needed one light transport ship, this time, they may need two, or one medium transport ship. Of course, the issue of air route security is not something they can consider at this level, and it can only be assumed that after the operation is successful, they will be able to board the transport ship and get out safely.

"Do you think it's really reliable to leave the horizontal line of retreat entirely to the aviation units to plan?" Octavir asked suddenly.

Weiss shrugged his shoulders and gave an ambiguous answer: "If the authority gives us a task in this regard, I think we can better plan with the aviation unit, if it is purely planned by them, maybe it will achieve results, maybe not, it's hard to say, after all, every field has experts in each field." ”

Octavier was obviously not satisfied with this answer: "The general said that not only should we send a fixed liaison to the aviation units, but we should also be more involved in planning the route. Liaison, I'm going to shoot Major Cardos, and as for the task of finalizing the route with the aviation forces, I think you're probably more than the rest of us. Of course, I'll send you a helper, who is our oldest and most knowledgeable man of the Norman Empire, and an expert in topography and geography. ”

Weiss thought to himself that the general and Octavier must have felt that they had done a very successful job in commanding the guerrilla advance force during the operation in Lorraine, and so they assigned themselves to negotiate the route with the aviation force. Of course, if you can firmly grasp your fate in your own hands, it is not a bad thing, so you should inherit it. Later that day, the liaison officer, Major Cardos, and the topographical expert that Octavier had spoken of, went to the aviation unit. Interestingly, this aviation unit they docked was the fleet of Nikolai's eldest brother, Caesar Leboyd, during his lifetime. When it comes to these origins, the two sides naturally feel much more harmonious and harmonious. In fact, this air fleet was withdrawn from the front not so long ago. Judging from their words and deeds and the details, they have experienced quite hard battles and lost a lot of strength, and they also introduced that there are three types of transport ships suitable for carrying out tasks, one is a light and fast ship that can carry up to 400 people, but the full load has an impact on speed and maneuverability, and 200-300 people will be more suitable; The second is a medium-sized transport ship that can carry 600 to 800 people, which is the latest type of transport ship, which not only has superior performance, excellent protection and survivability, but also has the only drawback that it is relatively expensive; The third is the old transport ship, which has six cargo holds that can carry a large number of combat materials, and can also be temporarily used to carry personnel, this kind of transport ship is very leather, and the disadvantage is that the maximum speed is only more than 200 miles per hour, which is the slowest speed among the active flying ships.

"Is it possible to disguise our ships as enemy transports, so that it will be smoother to operate on the enemy's homeland?" Weiss asked.

The leading officer of the other side glanced at him and said: "We do have this consideration, there are currently two ways, one is to use our old transport ship to refit it, the main problem is that it is too slow, we are worried that once we encounter danger, it will be difficult to escape the pursuit of the enemy, and the other way is to use the enemy's transport ships that have fallen in our territory to repair them, in this type of transport ship, the best performance can fly at a speed of up to 400 miles per hour, the problem is that it takes time and a large investment, in addition, We're not sure if it'll be able to evade enemy alerts. If there are no flying ships of this type in operation in the territory of the Normans, we will spend a huge amount of money to modify and fly over, and we will also give the enemy the results in vain! ”

Later, at the temporary base of this fleet, Weiss, led by the officers, observed and studied the three types of transport ships at close range, and after some discussion, finally felt that it was more reliable to use medium transport ships - if only half a load was used, they could even use their speed advantage to get rid of the pursuit of some cruisers. So in the federal army, it was also called a cruiser without cannons. The officers who contacted them said that the final outcome would require the approval of the aviation staff. At the same time, Major Doss and the geotopographer, together with the staff officers of the Air Corps, carried out a laborious sand table using the existing topographic maps of the Norman Empire. The Norman Empire was mountainous, riverine and forested, and the terrain in many areas was very steep, in this era when there were no satellites, their mastery of the terrain came from these old and even ancient drawings, and these terrain and landforms generally did not change much in just a few tens or even hundreds of years, but the key was that the Normans may have added new military facilities. For example, if a federal transport ship on a mission flies over a mountainous area far from a city, and there is an airfield or station built by the enemy in a certain valley, equipped with ground-based anti-aircraft weapons and even combat aircraft, it is a tragic word.

Although this sand table seems a little rough and has shortcomings of one kind or another, it is still very helpful for the planning of the operation. At first, Weiss and his team hoped that they would have a week or two to carefully plan the operation, but the situation often changed unexpectedly, and on the fourth day after they arrived at the air base, an order came from the special service team, informing them that they would start the operation in two days, that is, the combat operation planned to promote the peace talks was ready to fly.

Now that the countdown has begun, the next step is to reverse the schedule to ensure that all preparations are done as soon as possible before the time limit. Weiss and a group of colleagues fought at night to perfect the combat route and retreat route, and according to the plan of action finally determined by the military leadership, the flying unit will dispatch a large number of combat planes to carry out cover bombing to break a short-term relatively safe passage, and the aviation unit will also carry out fire support on the front line with the few remaining combat ships in the police station to cover the safe passage of its own transport ships through the enemy battle line.

Adventure is the stage for the brave, and after the plan is basically decided, Weiss travels all night and returns to Liberty City, where he and Octavier make a final report to General Mulloun, who, after reporting to President Leeboyd, gives orders for battle in the name of the Minister of Security. Considering the special nature of the operation, the number of officers and men participating in the special service force reached 330, which was quite rare for a special service force that has always been mysterious and low-key. Despite the unknown dangers ahead, these determined and experienced warriors boarded the transport ship with a resolute expression.

Before leaving, Octavier asked Weiss if everything was in order, and Weiss hesitated, "There should be nothing wrong with the route, but I have some other concerns...... If the enemy guards in that town had changed, or if they had relocated them, our adventure would have been in vain. ”

"There's nothing to worry about, the battlefield is always full of uncertainties of one kind or another, and we can't give up because of these worries. Now that the top management has made such a decision, let's implement it firmly! Octavir replied decisively.

Weiss was not the kind of person who hesitated, and if that were the case, he would not have led a 3,000-strong guerrilla advance force deep behind enemy lines to carry out such a dangerous combat operation. The reason for this is to anticipate the worst, then nothing else is true.

It took only 10 minutes for the well-trained special forces to board the ship, and all kinds of equipment and materials were loaded onto the transport ship in a relatively short time. After that, the transport ship, which was on an important mission, began to fly towards the intended direct area. As the first and second commanders of the operation, Octavier and Weiss stayed in the command room of the transport ship with the officers of the aviation unit. It was a clear night, the stars were bright, and the night sky took on a deep and mesmerizing hue. The clouds floating in the sky give the heavenly dome the beauty of the fairy palace. On this thriving spring night, if there is no war, if there is no adventure, how beautiful it should be!

On the eastern side of the Monamolin Mountains, on the western border of the Federation, the high-speed transport joined a formation of more than 20 flying ships. Weiss observed, and this time the formation had two ships that were close to the capital ships in terms of performance. In the middle and late stages of the war, such large ships were already rare on the battlefield. It can be seen that the aviation unit has invested in supporting this operation. Of course, for the sake of secrecy, the officers and men of the fleet will not know what kind of mystery their actions tonight hide, and an attack on the enemy can advance the course of the war, and in any case, this will not be a night empty-handed.

After a series of raids by the Federal Army's flying units, day and night, the kingdom of Fries, located at the northern foot of the Monamolin Mountains, was full of smoke and smoke, and many places had been turned into scorched earth. As the night wore on, what awaited the enemy was not a brief silence, but the fury of the firmament. Heavy artillery fire hit the Normans, and the Federation Flying Fleet launched a heroic and fierce assault on the enemy's front like a behind-the-time heavy cavalry.

Looking at the orange flames burning like boiling on the ground, Weiss was in a particularly calm mood. The war is coming to an end, but no one will be obsessed with the splendor of the war, because the warring parties have left enough blood. If the war suddenly stops at this moment, it seems that in addition to the slaughter caused by the war, the loss of countless lives, and the terrible consumption of resources, no one has gained anything, no one has kept anything, everything seems to be the same as before, and a little change will not make this world become another world. However, the war has come, like a coulter cutting the earth, leaving a deep imprint, many beautiful homes have become scorched earth, and many historical civilizations have become ruins......

When the Federation fleet launched a surprise attack, Weiss and his transports began to lower their altitude, break away from the fleet, and sneak into the night, while on the other side, Norman ships and warplanes were hurrying away, although they were inferior, but the fierce battle between the two sides here was quite spectacular.

Flying over the mountains, a relatively open plain appeared in front of them, and the commander of the transport, Major Harlegos, said to Octavier and Weiss: "We have entered the territory of the Norman Empire, and now we need to maintain radio silence and light control." If all goes well, before dawn we should be able to reach that valley and then land in seclusion and wait for dark. On such a dayday, you have plenty of time to scout the enemy. Wishing all of us all the best! ”

The major said "everything is going well" twice, and Octavier looked at Weiss: "The valley where we are scheduled to land should be free of enemy troops, but if the enemy sends troops and even establishes anti-aircraft positions, it will be a terrible nightmare for us." ”

Weiss asked: "The reason why I chose that valley should be that there is information from the enemy's inside!" ”

Octavier was noncommittal, but said, "You see, I'm an officer in the secret service, not an intelligence officer in the intelligence service. Whether the information is reliable or not, I can't say for sure, and I don't count if I do. However, we can be sure that someone will meet us when we get there. ”