The same Eastern Crusade War had diametrically opposite meanings for two equally young and promising generals.

Palatina was a hard-nosed crusade, and if she had a choice, she would rather resign from the military than meet Roland. Influenced by her father, and also because she had personally gone deep into the hinterland of the Far East to investigate the people's conditions, compared with other imperial generals, Palatina knew more about the situation in the Far East, and more deeply realized the infinite potential of this land, and realized the deep hatred of the Far Easterners living in this land for the rule of the empire, and the sincere love for the government of Kolas. This same strong hatred of love, combined with the tenacity and self-improvement of the national personality of the Far Easterners, will surely inspire an incomparably strong will to fight, even at the cost of bloodshed and sacrifice, against the Imperial Expeditionary Force trying to retake the land. In this land covered with ice and snow, the Imperial Expeditionary Force will not only not receive the assistance of the local population as Engel and others envisioned, but will always encounter resistance everywhere, and every inch of advance will be very difficult, and it will always have to guard against guerrilla attacks and sabotage by the Far Eastern militia from the occupied areas, and have to allocate a part of its forces to maintain law and order, and in such extremely unfavorable conditions, Palatina has to worry about the prospects of the Eastern Crusade.

Baron Bazel saw this expedition as an excellent opportunity to make a difference, and General Engel entrusted him with a great task, which made him both grateful and excited, and on more than one occasion publicly declared that he would repay the affection of His Excellency the Chief of the General Staff with victories on the battlefield. As for the enemy standing in his way, the self-proclaimed noble Baron Bazel did not take those traitors and country mobs into his eyes at all, and like most of the young generals of the military, he optimistically expected that once the imperial army arrived in the Far East, it would bring an invisible deterrent before the war began, so that the rebel troops were afraid before the battle, and the ensuing battle was nothing more than a one-sided massacre, which was precisely the entertainment he was best at and most passionate about.

At least as far as the situation was before the battle, Palatina's fears were unfounded, and Baron Baazel's optimism was justified. A special unit that followed the Eastern Expeditionary Army to the Olevi Fortress can especially show the strength of the emperor's power and the horror of deterrence from a more intuitive level.

On the evening of 26 February, at the same time that General Engel had established his front-line command at Fort Olevy, two brigades of Imperial engineers braved the heavy snow and were busy reinforcing the railroad and ramming the embankment, and within 500 yards of the vertical distance between the two sides of the railway, all the trees that might obstruct the view were cut down, the barbed wire fence was opened, a cordon was erected, and a patrol post was erected every 200 yards along the railway line.

After just one week, dense and strong fortifications were erected along the railway line from the Olevi fortress to the east bank of the Zhuolang River. In addition to ensuring the safe delivery of military supplies from the interior of the empire to the front line, this line of defense also served a special purpose.

On the last day of February, before dawn, a loud whistle was heard from the Oleviv Castle military platform, and the heavy wheels crushed the rails, making a rumbling roar that shook the ice under the eaves of the waiting hall.

The railway policeman, who was on night duty, hurried to the platform, and saw four magic trains advancing in unison from a distance, and as the distance closed, people were surprised to find that the trains running on the tracks were all double-headed in tandem, and they were usually only so extravagant when hauling extremely heavy goods.

The sound of the whistle came from far and near, and the two-headed series, a total of eight magic locomotives, slowly slowed down, and the wheels rubbed against the rails and sparks burst out, making a piercing brake sound.

Contrary to people's expectations, there were not many carriages mounted behind the front of the locomotive, and each car had only three carriages for carrying people, and the big guy that really needed two locomotives to drag together was four black behemoths covered with heavy armor of steel cannons, like four battleships mounted on wheels, marching proudly along the railroad tracks to the platform.

These cannon barrels are ten yards long giant magic crystal smoothbore howitzers, which are the famous Imperial train guns "Old Charlie" in Varres, with a body weight of more than 60 tons and a barrel caliber of 16.5 inches, capable of firing giant grenades weighing up to 2,000 pounds at a maximum elevation angle of 60 degrees, with a maximum range of 24 miles, a muzzle velocity of 600 yards per second, and an average of 10 shells per hour.

Such a huge heavy artillery, of course, is indispensable for professionals. The doors of the car were open, and the Imperial artillerymen, dressed in military coats and grim-faced, lined up in a column and calmly walked to the platform. The rated crew of "Old Charlie", including gunners, surveyors, mechanics and other logisticians, totaled 302 people. The four train guns on the Far Eastern front required a team of nearly 1,000 people to maintain them, and the pomp and circumstance were spectacular.

General Engel spent enormous manpower and material resources to transport these four extremely heavy train guns all the way to the Far East, of course, not as decorations. In fact, these four train guns will play a crucial role in his combat plan.

According to the information provided by General Karl, the Imperial Command had long been informed that the Far Eastern Wehrmacht had been heavily fortified along the east bank of the Zhuolang River, and had built nearly 1,000 large and small pillboxes, especially near the bridge across the river, where the fortifications were particularly dense. If the Imperial Expeditionary Force had adopted conventional offensive tactics such as forcibly seizing bridges or wading across rivers, it would have to face the heavy bombardment from the batteries on the opposite bank, and would inevitably pay a heavy price in casualties. The Far Eastern side only needs to rely on the fortifications along the river to stabilize the defense, and even if the total number of troops and the quality of individual soldiers are far inferior to the attacker, it is not difficult to hold the position.

General Engel transferred the train artillery to the front line with the aim of using the ultra-long range and huge destructive power of the heavy artillery to bombard the positions in the Far East across the Turbid River. According to his calculations, the large and small bunkers on the opposite bank were nothing more than sandstone buildings bonded together with a material called "cement" unique to the Far East, and none of the bunkers could withstand the bombardment of "Old Charlie". There was no need to even hit directly, just the shock wave generated by the explosion of a 2,000-pound shell could shatter the fortifications within 30 yards of the perimeter, and the officers and soldiers of the Far East hiding in the pillboxes could not withstand such a terrifying impact at all, and they would be shocked and bled on the spot, and they would be seriously injured if they did not die, and they lost their combat capability.

The four train guns fired together, firing an average of forty heavy shells per hour, destroying the same number of pillboxes even according to the most conservative estimates, so that the shelling lasted only one day to destroy half of the fortifications on the opposite side. Of course, such continuous firing will cause great damage to the barrel, but fortunately, the smoothbore gun is more durable than the rifled gun after all, and it is not a problem to hold on for a day or two.