Once the natural line of defense of the "Turbidity River" was removed from the battlefield, the confrontation between the Empire and the Far Eastern forces that lasted all winter came to an end. Now there is only a flat wasteland between the two sides, and the atmosphere is unprecedentedly tense. The officers and men of the Far East had to be prepared for a general offensive launched by the Imperial Legions, and the initiative for the offensive was in the hands of General Franz Engel, the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Crusade.

General Engel enjoys the position he is in. On the evening of the day when the good news came from the river-crossing operation, he personally wrote a long letter to Prime Minister Claude and the "National Defense Committee" under his chairmanship to report on the situation at the front. At the end of the letter, General Engel triumphantly and reservedly declared: "I have heard that the Imperial Naval Fleet under the command of Admiral Charles Lucien has taken control of the harbor of Parnia, and that fortunately our army has achieved a similar dominance on the east bank of the Turbidity River, and although this breakthrough has come a little later than expected, it is better to be late than never." Now all the factors on the battlefield are in our favor, and by the end of May at the latest, the army of the Eastern Crusade will plant the banner of victory at the head of Fort Atonement. ”

While General Engel was writing this good news, two pieces of good news came from the front: after organizing several unsuccessful attacks by the commanders of the Far Eastern and Western Fronts, they finally gave up their attempt to seize positions on the east bank and withdrew their troops to the town of Lengxi, thirty miles away; At the same time, the four heaviest train guns of the Imperial Expeditionary Corps, "Old Charlie", have also been suspended by large transport airships to fly across the Turbid Waves River and smoothly reach the position on the east bank.

General Engel was not surprised that the Far Eastern forces had abandoned the offensive, and that the commanders of the rebel parties in the Far East had merely made a decision to understand the affairs of the time. As for the successful crossing of the river by four train guns, he was relieved. With these four train guns, he has an extra trump card in his hand that threatens the Far Eastern front fortress Lengxi Town.

It's easy to see. The Imperial Train Gun is not only a large-caliber heavy artillery, but also a strategic weapon with great deterrent power. The Far East side has magic crystal cannons of all calibers, and the range is much worse than that of "Old Charlie". Advancing along the railroad tracks laid by the engineer regiment, the four "Old Charles" could bombard the positions of the Far Easterners beyond the range of the artillery of the Far Easterners, leaving them in a miserable situation where they could only be beaten passively. In the long run, the officers and men of the Far East will inevitably lose their fighting spirit and give up resistance, and the defensive line they have painstakingly built will collapse and collapse under the huge guns of "Old Charlie."

Since the Far Easterners could not compete with the "Old Charlie" in artillery range, the only way to counter the "Old Charlie" was to send aviation and drop bombs from the air in the hope of destroying the Imperial train guns. But the premise of launching an air attack was to break through the dual air and ground anti-aircraft fire network on the side of the Reich, which was an almost impossible task for the Far Eastern Air Force, which had lost air supremacy.

General Engel was a cautious man. In his eyes, "almost impossible" and "impossible" are completely different things, and they must not be hastily equated. The most impressive examples of warfare throughout the ages often share a similar characteristic: small probability events that were considered almost impossible on the battlefield actually happened in reality and played a key role.

General Engel knew that he now had a great advantage, but the more he was in this situation, the more he had to be vigilant, treading on thin ice, and not to lose a good situation because of momentary negligence.

Thinking so, General Engel first sounded the alarm bell in his heart, and then immediately picked up the "high communication stone" and issued an order to General Baker, the commander of the Air Force, urging him to strengthen air vigilance, especially to guard against stubbornly defending the train artillery positions, and to guard against the Far East sending aviation units to break in and drop bombs on the train guns.

The victory in the battle to cross the river greatly enhanced the authority of General Engel in the headquarters, and his orders were carried out without discount: the warehouse where the train guns were placed was blessed with a "dimensional lock" by the chaplain of the army to shield all attempts to transmit from the outside world; The warehouse is surrounded by watchtowers, all of which are equipped with large magic searchlights, which cast bright pillars of light that can dispel invisible magic into the night sky, sweeping back and forth, illuminating the night sky as bright as day. At the same time, three Imperial magic airships hovered a thousand feet above the warehouse where the train guns were stored, sometimes opening their hatches to release or store vultures and sentry horses, and were on duty in the air in shifts; On the ground, there are groups of sentinels leading hounds to patrol day and night, and they dare not slack off, making this heavily guarded position like an iron barrel, not to mention the airships and aviation of the Far Easterners, even a sparrow does not want to fly in.

……

May 2, 10:05 p.m.

The night and smoke shrouded in the wasteland were littered with large and small craters, and four hazy figures were speeding through the devastated battlefield.

"Wait!"

Lena whispered to the little catwoman who rushed to the front, and quickly made a spell casting gesture to make up for an "invisible magic orb", enveloping Bavra, Peter, Nikolai, and herself, so as not to be detected by the Imperial Vulture Sentry Rider hovering in the air.

"Lena, I don't know how you managed to convince Major Aurora to agree to hand over those expensive bombs to you, but I have to suspect that you are leading us to our own deaths."

The one-armed Nikolai followed closely behind "Lena the Fox" and asked the same question for the third time tonight, and his tone was more serious than ever.

"The closer we get to the position on the east bank, the more heavily guarded the Imperial garrison becomes, with hordes of vultures and horse sentries in the air, watchtowers and patrols with hounds on the ground, searchlights from watchtowers and hounds' sensitive noses can crack the 'stealth technique'...... I don't need to say the consequences, you know it! ”

As a veteran who had followed Rudolf I to the Far East and the North, and had participated in countless life-and-death guerrilla warfare on the west bank of the Turbid River this winter, Captain Nikolai dared to say that he was not afraid of death, but it would be too unwise to hit him hard knowing that there was a dead end ahead, such a sacrifice was worthless, and it would also affect the young Peter and Bavra.

Lena pursed her lips and smiled, still looking mysterious, and just buried her head in the road, without answering Nikolai's question. At this time, the sound of artillery sounded again on the opposite bank, and the Imperial artillery launched a new round of routine fire coverage. The first to be fired was tracer bullets, and the dense cannonballs whistled and flew up, drawing arc ribbons in the night sky, and suddenly crossed the river, like countless shining meteors smashing down on the wasteland where Lena and the others were.

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