On October 31, 78 years of the imperial calendar, the war that swept the world had been burning for 4 years, 3 months and 3 days.

Midsummer has passed, and the autumn breeze is gradually rising.

…………

To the east of the Imperial Sea of Asahi, the Watchman Strait.

This hourglass-shaped strait is the throat of the Imperial Navy, and the North and South Sadou Islands in the north and south of the strait are like two big hands choking the throat.

Since more than 400 years ago, the pioneer of oriental navigation led the expedition fleet into the Guia Ocean, in order to facilitate the passage of ships in the middle of the strait on the unnamed reef to build a navigation lighthouse, the empire then sent troops to the north and south of the strait to guard the island and the island of Wang, the Watchman Strait and the north and south of the Sadou Islands into the imperial territory, the sea became the imperial navy's inner lake, the other side of the strait Guia became the imperial navy's training ground.

Only now, this strait has become a ghost gate for the Imperial Navy.

The storm that had been raging for days had passed, the sky was cloudless, and the sea was calm.

To the west of the strait, six majestic ships were cleaving the waves, galloping eastward at a speed of twenty-five knots. The leader is the battlecruiser "Nord River", which was completed and put into service only three months ago, and is the most powerful in the world, with a full load displacement of more than 50,000 tons.

The latter five, also battlecruisers.

This is the 21st Squadron of the Imperial Navy's Home Fleet, the strongest battle patrol squadron in the Guia!

Inside the bridge of the commander of the "Beihe," dozens of officers and men had already taken their places.

Next to the hatch on the left stood an ensign officer, whose name was Bai Zhizhan, who had graduated from the Imperial Naval Academy three months earlier and was assigned to serve in the 21st Squadron.

However, after the end of the six-month probationary period, you can get a full-time position.

In wartime, midshipman officers are mainly responsible for damage management and first aid, and act as a guard for commanders and other dignitaries at critical moments.

The task of the White Stop War now is to guard the bridge of the Commander.

To put it bluntly, it is the guards standing guard.

This cabin, which was wrapped in steel plates hundreds of millimeters thick, was the brain of the detachment, from which the battle orders were issued, to be precise, by the commander of the detachment, who was standing behind the forward porthole, with a telescope hanging on his chest, and wearing a large-brimmed hat in the room.

He had been standing there motionless for four hours.

At two o'clock in the morning, after receiving a telegram from the fleet command, the 21st Squadron entered combat mode and rushed at full speed towards the Watchman Strait.

According to the plan, the 21st Squadron took advantage of the chaos caused by the storm to break through the Watchman Strait before the enemy redeployed the main fleet, eliminate the patrol fleet east of the strait, cover the subsequent advance of the main detachment into the Guia, and find a favorable opportunity to engage in a decisive battle with the Combined Fleet of the Alliance Group.

The key to success or failure depends on the 21st Fleet.

"Report, six battleships were found ahead, suspected to be the enemy's first battle patrol detachment."

Suddenly, the air inside the bridge seemed to freeze, and the atmosphere became very tense.

Bai Zhizhan swallowed his saliva, gritted his teeth and resisted the urge to wipe the sweat of his palms on the trouser tube.

In the midst of the tension, a few minutes passed quickly.

"Report, preliminarily judged to be six battle cruisers, at a distance of 36; The enemy fleet is heading 255 at a speed of no less than 20 and is accelerating. ”

After a few moments, the Major General Commander turned around and nodded to several senior staff officers who were waiting for his order.

The battle order was passed down in an orderly manner.

"The report confirmed that the first ship was the 'Prestige', the secondary ship was the 'Counterattack', and the other four ships were still being identified, and they were basically identified as the first battle patrol detachment of the Combined Fleet."

At the time of the operational staff officer's report, several columns of smoke appeared on the antenna of the left front sea that were not very obvious and could barely be seen clearly.

It can be seen from a distance of several tens of kilometers, and the speed of the enemy ship is certainly not slow.

At this time, the combat staff called several of his subordinates over and asked them to draw up the order of engagement.

Although the 1st Battle Patrol Detachment of the Combined Fleet was not expected to appear here, it did not prevent the 21st Squadron from acting as originally planned.

The elimination of the Combined Fleet Battle Patrol Detachment was originally the number one task of the 21st Fleet.

"Report, enemy fleet spotted in front right."

How is the front right?

Everyone thought that they had misheard, and some officers and men even looked at the operational staff officer who reported the situation, perhaps thinking that it was a mistake by the operational staff officer.

The Rear Admiral Commander had already raised his binoculars and looked towards the front right of the battleship.

"Report, a total of five large warships, the lookout compared and predicted that the lead ship is the 'Queen Isa' class, suspected to be a fast-fighting detachment of the Combined Fleet."

The atmosphere was suddenly tense to the extreme, and Bai Zhizhan clearly saw that the major general's hands holding the telescope trembled slightly.

In the face of six battle cruisers, there is nothing to fear, but with the addition of five "Queen Isa"-class battleships, there is no chance of victory at all.

That's a fast battleship designed to restrain battlecruisers!

The Alliance Group used five fast battleships to form a fast combat detachment in order to restrain and deal with the 21st Squadron of the Imperial Native Fleet.

In almost any case, five fast battleships of the "Queen Isa" class were able to crush six battlecruisers.

If you are flanked, you will have no chance of winning.

"How much longer?" The major general finally spoke.

"At a distance of 25 from the enemy fleet in front of the left, at the current speed, it will enter the range of exchange of fire in fifteen minutes. Even if the course is ...... now"

When the major general looked over, the navigation staff officer immediately closed his mouth.

"Enter the labyrinthine passage in five minutes," said the combat staff officer a few steps forward on behalf of the navigation staff, "and if you want to withdraw, you must turn before then." ”

There are tens of thousands of mines in the Watchman Strait, and there are three safe lanes in total, but only the "Labyrinth Passage" is deep enough for capital ships to pass through. Dozens of spies were killed or disappeared after two years of hard work by the Navy's intelligence agencies to obtain information on the route.

Because it was so narrow, after entering the channel, the capital ship could only turn in place with the help of barges.

This means that there is no way to retreat after entering the labyrinthine passage.

But where to retreat?

After retreating, how long will it take to wait for the next decisive opportunity?

Can the empire survive two years of brutal warfare with an average of tens of thousands of casualties per day?

Retreat now to save your life, so that you can surrender in shame in the future, suffer the humiliation of the enemy, and survive in the spitting of thousands of people!?

In the Imperial Navy, there are only soldiers killed in battle, and there are no cowards who flinch.

"Command all ships, combat status, and hoist the bloody battle flag!"

"Combat state, sound the alarm, hang the bloody battle flag!" With only a slight hesitation, the operational staff conveyed the order of the major general.

The battle alarm sounded, and a crimson battle flag was raised to the top of the mainmast.

That's the signal flag that represents a battle to the death!

Seventy-five years ago, the fledgling Imperial Navy was stationed at the mouth of the South River to meet the fleets of the invading powers. The fierce battle lasted all day, and at sunset, the commander of the fleet ordered the raising of the battle flag, which had been stained red with the blood of the soldiers, and the flagship rushed to the center of the river with artillery fire, and then scuttled through the bottom of the ship and sank itself at the mouth of the river, blocking the waterway. The officers and men of the inspired fleet fought bravely to kill the enemy and completely annihilated the enemy ships in the river that night.

This is the "Nanjiangkou Victory" that rewrote the imperial state.

Since then, the Red Blood Battle Flag has become a battle signal flag that symbolizes the "Battle to the Death".

Amid the shrill siren, Bai Zhizhan locked the watertight door.

Through the porthole, Bai Zhizhan saw that the five battle cruisers behind all hung out the bloody battle flags, and also played the flag of "swear to follow".

"The Imperial Fleet, there is advance and no retreat; Fight bravely to kill the enemy and move forward; Sacrifice one's life for righteousness, and kill oneself to become benevolent; It is incumbent upon me not to neglect ......"

In the midst of the military songs, the six battleships sounded their whistles at the same time.

From a distance, the six warships looked like six heavily armored knights armed with spears and steel armor, rushing all the way to the enemy line full of swords.

…………

The western frontier of the empire, in the valley of the Emerald River.

Thousands of years ago, the ancestors of the empire came here to transform this wild land overgrown with weeds and wild beasts into fertile fields, and along the rivers that originate from the snow-capped mountains in the east and wind westward, they have reclaimed one lush oasis after another.

Hence the name "Emerald" from the river.

Only now, this place has become the burial place of thousands of imperial soldiers.

In four years of fierce war, there are more than a million soldiers who have died here. In last year's offensive campaign alone, at least 600,000 officers and soldiers remained here permanently.

Towns have been reduced to ruins, oases have been scorched, and the indignant soldiers of the past have been turned into walking dead.

Victory, like the stars in the sky, can be seen, but it can never be reached. It's more like the grass hanging in front of the donkey's eyes, it seems that it can bite as long as it takes one step further, and every time it struggles forward, the distance does not shorten, and the only change is that the desire to win has become less intense.

Last night, it snowed for the first time of the year.

Overnight, the valley was completely transformed, just like a thick oil painting suddenly turned into a beautiful Chinese painting, with only black and white left between heaven and earth.

To the east of the valley, the Valley of the Tibetan Soldiers.

This valley is named after the great war that changed the history of the world more than 1,000 years ago. In the first duel that broke out between the strongest empires of the East and the West in history, the former dynasty Zhenxi Jiedu used 20,000 soldiers and horses hidden here to defeat a fierce opponent with 200,000 troops, and established the hegemony of the Eastern Empire in the hinterland of the continent in one fell swoop, and this dark and hidden canyon was also named after it.

Now, this is the starting position of the 1st Cavalry Division of the Imperial Praetorian Guard.

In the canyon, 10,000 war horses and 10,000 cavalry were already ready.

The 10,000 soldiers and horses were divided into 10 1,000-man brigades, and each 1,000-man brigade was divided into 10 100-man squadrons, and each 100-man squadron had 10 ten-man squads.

As is customary, the officers are at the front of the line.

Except for the unexpected blizzard, everything else went according to plan.

Blow the wake-up horn at four o'clock in the morning, eat at half past four, feed the war horses at five o'clock, sort out weapons and equipment at half past five, and assemble in a whole line at six o'clock.

Artillery preparation would begin in half an hour, with the 1st Janissary Cavalry Division coming out at the same time to storm the enemy's lines at the end of the artillery preparations.

This was the first battle of the 1st Guards Cavalry Division on the Western Front and the last charge of the cavalry units of the Western Front.

The 10,000 horses in the Valley of the Tibetan Soldiers are the last formed cavalry units on the Western Front!

Perhaps, the battle that is about to start will become the swan song of the cavalry.

The trumpet sounded, and the brigadier commander rushed out of the army formation, riding his horse and running in front of the formation.

Mountains of sound followed.

"The cavalry attacked, invincible!"

When the sound came like a violent wind, Captain Lian Xusheng, who was standing at the front of the column, also opened his voice and shouted heartbreakingly.

Not to mention that Lian Xusheng is only the squadron leader, even the captain who is standing in front of him has been infected and affected.

Riding his horse and running in front of the battle formation, the brigadier commander did not leave, and ran back brandishing his snowy saber.

"For the country—"

"Go to the difficulty!"

"For the country—"

"Go to the difficulty!"

……

When the brigadier general and division commander rushed in, the officers in the front row of the battle formation drew their sabers one after another.

"Cavalry attack, invincible" is the battle cry of the Imperial cavalry units, and "Fight for the country" is the motto of the Imperial Guard.

For hundreds of years, the Praetorian Guard would step up to the occasion at every time it was time for life and death.

"For the country—"

"Go to the difficulty!"

Plucked up all his strength and roared loudly at the same time, Lian Xusheng pulled out his saber and raised it high above his head.

In the east, there is a ray of light.

In a few moments, artillery fire would illuminate the night sky before dawn, which was also the charge of the cavalry. Next, 10,000 cavalry will rush to the enemy line of barbed wire and trenches, with a Maxim heavy machine gun every fifty meters, in the light of the morning sun.

Ten thousand horses neighed, swords and swords.

Lian Xusheng's head was blank, and all that was left was his unswerving motto.

Go to the trouble for the country!

…………

The southwestern border of the empire, the Yunwu River Gorge, a field airfield.

“…… I remembered it all, the first task was to find the artillery positions behind these lines of defense and prepare for the upcoming general offensive......"

In the operational conference room, an aviation colonel is presenting the mission.

In fact, it is a large tent that can hold dozens of chairs and an area of more than 100 square meters.

The Yunwu River originates from the Wuji Plateau and meanders for thousands of kilometers, where it cuts a big hole in the Cangqiong Mountain Range, which stretches for more than 2,000 kilometers from west to east, and then rushes down like a wild horse from the east, and finally flows into the Fanyan Ocean from the eastern part of the Ganghala Plain.

"Gangara" means "vast and fertile" in Sanskrit.

To the southeast of the canyon is the Toe Peninsula, which is covered by tropical rainforest and separates the Guia Ocean from the Fanyan Ocean, and to the southwest is the Gangaro Plain.

The lower reaches of the Yunwu River are actually the geographical dividing line between the Toe Peninsula and the Gangaro Plain.

The canyon is on the southern slope of the Sky Mountains, overlooking the entire Toe Peninsula and the Gangaro Plains.

In order to control this strategic location, the Imperial Army engineering troops spent twenty years and thousands of lives to build a railroad across the Toe Peninsula.

Although the Empire had no ambitions for the Gangara Plain, it needed military deterrence to contain the Great Powers.

With 100,000 troops deployed here, the enemy needed to defend the towns and communication arteries on the plains with an army of 2 million troops.

If the canyon is abandoned, it will take at least half a million troops to hold the Toe Peninsula.

For more than four years, the Imperial Army, relying on its natural geographical advantages, repelled enemy attacks again and again, and never allowed the foreign powers to enter the Toe Peninsula.

Only now, things have turned.

Prior to this, the colonel had made it clear that the Navy's home fleet was about to enter the Guia Ocean, and the army would launch a counterattack on both the western front and the northeast. In just these few days, the army was able to achieve a decisive victory in the northeast and gain strategic superiority on the western front, thereby committing a million troops to the southwest. If we can make the most of the upcoming dry season, we can hope to achieve a decisive victory before the next rainy season arrives.

Capture the Gangaro Plain, which served as the granary of the Allied group.

The premise is that it is necessary to break through the enemy's defenses in one fell swoop.

If the breakthrough fails and turns into a protracted war of attrition, the counterattack will inevitably end in a fiasco.

To this end, the Imperial Army spent several months, secretly deploying ten artillery divisions in the gorge, and also preparing five base shells.

Although there were thousands of artillery pieces and tens of thousands of tons of shells, they were not at all compared to the campaign targets.

For this reason, the artillery strikes in the preparatory stage must not only be accurate enough, but also sudden enough.

As a result, reconnaissance operations were scheduled for a few hours before the start of the war, and after the target was discovered, the reconnaissance aircraft had to return to report as soon as possible.

Time is tight, not only two-seat reconnaissance aircraft, but even single-seat fighters have to be used.

"Soldiers, victory or defeat is here." After the colonel finished the mission briefing, he began to carry out the pre-war mobilization. Fifteen minutes later, the first planes took to the air. As is customary, I will fly at the front. The rest, I don't want to say more, I hope everyone comes back alive to celebrate the great victory! ”

"Eagle strikes the sky!" One of the pilots, who was sitting in the first row, stood up and shouted the slogans of the aviation.

"Defy the world!"

Behind him, the other pilots stood up at the same time and shouted the second half of the slogan.

Afterwards, the pilots left the conference room in turn and rushed to their respective warhawks.

Only, there is one exception.

Major Li Yunxiang sat in the last row.

After the other pilots had left, he got up and walked over to the colonel, who was burying his head in paperwork.

Although he has long been an ace pilot, he does not have the appearance of an ace.

The flight cap that was buttoned diagonally over the head, the open jacket, the shirt that looked like it had never been washed, and the belt that looked like it might collapse at any moment.

If he didn't have a major's cockade, he would definitely be considered a ruffian.

In the eyes of his superiors, he is a thorn.

"Colonel ......"

"Don't talk about it, do you think it's right to come to me now?" The Colonel had clearly expected this. "As long as you can complete the assigned tasks, you can do whatever you want. The bombing tactic of 'concentrated bombing' that you proposed, when the battle is over, we will talk about it better. ”

"Guaranteed to complete the mission!"

Without waiting for the colonel to answer, Li Yunxiang had already turned around and ran out.

Looking at his back, the colonel couldn't help but sigh, and then smiled bitterly.

Here, counting the reconnaissance planes with machine guns, they also have less than a hundred fighters, and at least a thousand on the opposite side of the battle line.

That's right, Li Yunxiang is the trump card with thirty-seven individual victories and terrifying the enemy.

However, with hundreds of kilograms of bombs, can he still laugh in the sky?

…………

The Northeast Frontier of the Empire, the Ice Storm Peninsula, a field hospital on the Northeast Front.

Some believe that this peninsula, famous for its cold and strong winds in winter, is the beak of an imperial eagle that can deter enemies from the east.

It is also said that it is the appendix of the empire, and whenever the empire is weak and weak, it will get sick.

It's just that now, it has become an ulcer on the empire that can't be cured and is still bleeding out.

Among the three ground fronts, the Northeast Front was formed last, but it was also the most cruel and tragic.

Over the past two years or so, the two sides have engaged hundreds of battles around this front, which is less than 300 kilometers wide, and as many as 13 large-scale battles involving more than 100,000 troops alone, almost once every two months. Within 15 kilometers north and south of the battle line, at least three million officers and soldiers were buried. To pay such a tragic price and endure such a painful ordeal, it is only to hold the current position.

For more than two years, not a single soldier has been able to crawl 500 meters forward after climbing out of the trench.

In front of a line of trenches, barbed wire, machine guns, and artillery, no flesh or blood could advance an inch, and the charge was a waste of life.

Interestingly, after the formation of the battle line, the busiest soldiers were no longer holding rifles, squatting in the mud at the bottom of the trenches, panicking all day long, but the military doctors in the field hospitals. Whenever artillery on both sides prepares to dispose of damp shells, or when a new commander wants to behave, hundreds or thousands of soldiers will be sacrificed, and the lucky ones will be freed, and the unfortunate will be accompanied by maimed and nightmares for the rest of their lives.

Early in the morning, the field general hospital, which was built next to the railway station, was lively.

It was not the fighting that broke out at the front, but the military trains arrived at the railway station on time, unloaded the supplies smoothly, and will transport the wounded on the way back.

"No, no, no, no, these are all left, they are not saved, and they will die if they are sent to the train."

Beckoned by the medical officer, the men who carried the wounded put down the stretchers in their hands, and even though the wounded were alive, several of them were still conscious.

"From here, only the wounded with a mark on their forehead can be sent to the train."

On the side of the road, hundreds of stretchers are neatly arranged, and several medical personnel with red watercolor pens are marking the wounded.

The circle indicates that the injury has been treated and no treatment is needed for the time being.

The hook indicates that the injury is under control and that follow-up treatment is needed.

The fork said that the injury has not been identified, but the injury is not serious and should be treated as appropriate.

These are just ordinary traumas.

At first, all of them inhaled poisonous gas, and even if they were still alive, they could only last a few days, and even if they were sent to the train, they would die in the end.

If the enemy dropped shells containing mouse carcasses, the wounded must also be isolated for observation and must not be sent to the rear.

When he was lifted up by Minfu, a wounded man with half of his head wrapped in bandages, exposing only the area below his right eye, raised his right hand.

A sergeant, whose name is written on the medical card: Wang Kaiyuan.

On his forehead, is a red circle.

Only, who cares?

The man pressed his raised hand down, and the attention of the medic and nurse was on the other wounded, and no one paid attention to the actions of a disabled sergeant.

A few minutes later, the man carried him into the train car.

A full carriage is divided into three floors, all of which are seriously injured lying on a single rack!

The air was filled with the stench of wounds festering, feces and urine, and moans like the groans of unjust spirits.

…………

Today, October 31, 78 years after the fifth year of the Imperial New Era, the first global war finally ushered in the day of the armistice.

Then, as radio waves sent the armistice edict to all levels of command, the fate of the four Imperial soldiers on the four battlefields would be turned.

Who would have thought that the fates of these four imperial soldiers who did not know each other and did not intersect would be intertwined. In the next few decades, they will play a magnificent and gorgeous symphony of destiny, and thus create and write a magnificent era!