To the west of the Naksan crossing, about two kilometers from the battlefield, was the newly established rear headquarters of the Neglo Republic's Eastern Expeditionary Force. Stefan Schwart, the former chief of staff of the Eastern Front Command and modern commander, moved his command to the relative safety of the rear after Daisy killed Taijia Bush and 22nd Army commander James Lester with a sniper rifle. Not only that, but they also built a simple shield with the iron shield of the iron shield breastwall in the direction of Elena at the headquarters, hoping to hide the enemy's gaze and the mysterious weapon.

"Manuel García, commander of the 3rd Division of the 21st Army, was killed."

William Branagh, the former chief of staff of the 22nd Army and the current acting commander of the 22nd Army, reported the incident with a slight schadenfreude in his tone, "They have already killed two division commanders, and that idiot of Loren Maggio is still on the front line, and it is really fatal." ”

"A general who is not afraid of death can bring out soldiers who are not afraid of death", Stefan Schgerva's view of Loren Maggio is still relatively objective, "His subordinates are desperately working on the front line, and it is always bad for him to hide here alone and let people know." After the exchange of offensive positions in the afternoon, Branah you will also go to the front. ”

"Huh? No, ......."

William Branagh was a staff officer and was used to planning in a safe place before acting, and he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. However, he also knew that fear was a taboo for being a general at this time, so he stopped saying a word after complaining twice. A group of men hid in the well-guarded headquarters in the rear and began to study Loren Maggio's offensive.

"Maggio has fought well this morning," Stefan Schwa pointed at the sandbox, "and his troops have already rushed to the enemy's trenches nine times in a row. Although the enemy was determined to resist, we were able to inflict a lot of casualties on them every time we rushed forward. After losing the protection of steam machine guns, the enemy was nothing more than some armed peasants, and their combat effectiveness was inferior to ours. ”

"But their will to fight is very tenacious," said Levi Slattery, who had led the 19th Army in an attack all day, and pointed out the gray sign on the sand table that represented the enemy. Our soldiers will often be suppressed by their imposing, and even without steam machine guns, the casualty rate will be much higher than that of the opposing side. ”

"I feel this too", the commander of the 20th Army, Bainer Frank, nodded in agreement, "They don't have a war team, and it is said that they don't even pay for the war, and I don't know what these people think, they work for Gastens for nothing, and they sell so actively." ”

"No matter how much you are not afraid of death, you will still die, in the face of our absolute superiority in strength, no matter how you are not afraid of death, what can we do?"

Stefan Schgwa still has a clear understanding of the situation. As he said, the Neglo Republic's military superiority is absolute. No matter how powerful the enemy is, he can kill five people. But their current strength is nearly ten times that of the enemy, and how can one person shoot the enemy wipe out the enemy.

Hearing the words of Commander Schwavadai, several generals nodded frequently. William Branagh, the acting commander of the 22nd Army, was even more eager to try. According to Schgvar's judgment, the enemy's soldiers, weapons, and energy have been almost exhausted, and let the 21st Army fight another wave this morning, and in the afternoon there is a good hope that it will be able to break through the enemy's defenses. And if he can break through the enemy's defense line and take the first difficult bone of this crusade, then he will definitely be appreciated by the leadership, and then promoted to become a general.

Report !!

Just as the generals were thinking about the battle and the benefits they could get from it, the heralds rushed in from outside the headquarters.

"Report! The 21st Army has broken through the enemy's trench defense line and is fighting at the enemy's iron shield chest wall defense! Commander Maggio asks for instructions, please allow him to go straight to Elena in one go!! ”

"So fast!?"

Schwa was really shocked now. He knew that the enemy would definitely not last long, but he didn't realize that the enemy was so unbearable, the previous three days of resistance were so resolute, how could it be replaced by Loren Magio's 21st Army today, and the army was defeated? Where do they put the faces of their other armies?

"Tell him, take advantage of the victory and pursue! Keep up the results! Don't let the enemy fight back! ”

Although he doesn't like Loren Maggio very much, Stefan Schgerwa still has a big picture, and he knows that in the face of national war, his personal interests and joys and angers are not so important. And, rather than making Loren Maggio unhappy, he wanted Elena's skills more. According to the information he learned, on the east side of Elena, there were also nearly 70,000 people in the Third Guards Army of Ankenrein Third Prince Elliot Gibson and the First Army of the Western Theater, if these people knew that Elena was lost, they would definitely not let him Stefan Schgwa get Elena's technology so easily. Therefore, even if Loren Maggio is to take the lead, he must ensure that he can control Elena's technology in his own hands as soon as possible.

"Order!"

The herald took his badge and turned to leave. Stefan Schgvar turned around, looked at the group of generals beside him, and picked up the snow-capped mountain flag of the Negru Republic on the sand table.

"Come, let's celebrate a little bit, finally eat this hard bone!"

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"Daisy, we must retreat!"

On Elena's conning tower, Garence Warren reached for Daisy's arm, but she shook her off. The girl, who hadn't rested much for four days, Elena was the de facto leader, stretched out her hand and pointed to the battlefield below.

"You see, our comrades are still fighting! They are still guarding the Luoshan defense line with their lives! If they don't go, I can't go! ”

"But we really can't hold it!" Garence felt as if some cruel and hideous beast was rolling in his chest, and he couldn't breathe in pain, "We must abandon the Luoshan crossing and organize a second line of defense at Elena Bay!" Now the enemy's soldiers are mixed with our soldiers, the steam machine gun cannot be used, and in hand-to-hand combat, we are too numerically inferior! ”

"I don't!"

There was a strange sadness in Daisy's voice, and her rejection and insistence were more out of a sensual stubbornness than a rational judgment. From their location, they could faintly hear shouts of killing coming from the ground. As Daisy had seen, even after losing the trench line, the soldiers responsible for defending the Luoshan crossing were still holding on. Even if they lost their steam machine guns, even if they faced enemies several times their size, even if the weapons they could use were only cold weapons such as long knives and scimitars, they still did not retreat. They roared, they striking, and they died. The blue-clad Negru army is like a tidal wave, gradually drowning the reef formed by Elena in gray uniform.

The tide is over.

She hates to admit it, but Daisy knows that's what it is. In many cases, the victory or defeat of war does not depend on the will of the individual, and the victory of the enemy with steam cannons and more than 30,000 lives is no other way for Daisy Richardson to admit it. Although she still stubbornly stood on the conning tower, although she firmly shook off Garence's hand, Daisy's heart has gradually begun to be filled with despair.

Elena, is it over?

——————————————

"Daisy-sama!! Master Garance!! There's news from the chairman!!!! ”

Accidents always come unexpectedly. While Garence was still struggling with how to persuade Daisy to get her down from the conning tower, and while Daisy was still struggling with how to win the seemingly lost battle, the voice of the herald brought new life to them. Gastens' name was like a spell that ignited the fighting spirit of these two generals who stood on the brink of defeat.

"Where did the news come from, where is the chairman, is he alive?"

Without Gallance's persuasion or drag, Daisy was the first to rush to the ladder behind the tower and look at the herald who was climbing the ladder below. The herald apparently knew that the news was crucial, and shouted it out as he crawled.

"The chairman and the production brigade and the guerrilla brigade were bitten by the enemy and retreated relatively slowly. But they already know the situation here, and they are rushing back as fast as they can! ”

"Where's the news?"

Garence had a second look and asked. Before meeting Gastens himself, he must maintain composure and basic discernment of any information about Gastens.

"It was the comrades of the production brigade who told me. He was ordered by Gastens to leave the ranks early, get out of the encirclement and send a message to us, and brought a letter from Gastens! ”

"Pick it up!"

Hearing the letter, Gallance couldn't wait to see it. He saw that the ladder, which could only be passed by one person, could not be lowered, so he decisively asked the herald to bring the letter. The herald climbed up in two of three times, and before he could reach the control tower, the letter in his hand was snatched away by Daisy.

It was a crumpled piece of notepad, probably torn from Gastens' notebook, and it wasn't much written, but it was enough to comfort Daisy. Daisy gave it a quick glance and handed it to Gallens, who returned to the west side of the tower to observe the battle. Curious by Daisy's reaction, Gallance took the letter, opened it, and saw the message sent back by Gastens.

"I know what happened to you, and I'm on my way back. If Elena can be kept, she will hold on. If they can't defend it, they will take people up the mountains to fight guerrillas. Remember, remember, the most precious asset of our revolution is people, not land, or technology. Only by preserving the vital force can we preserve the revolutionary legacy! ”

"Lord Richardson!"

After reading Gastens's letter, Garence looked up at Daisy, "What should we do, the adults let us keep the rules, and if we can't keep them, we will go up the mountain to fight guerrillas!" ”

"He's right," Daisy was looking at the battlefield below, "the most important thing in the revolution is people, not anything else, so when we really have to, we have to give up Elena, that's what he means." ”

"Yes", Garence frowned, "but the factory—"

"These people below, they can't get out."

Daisy interrupted Garence, and beneath her fingers, the gray troops representing Elena had turned from a series of beaches to islands, and the enemy had broken through the Iron Shield Breastwall and began to charge in the direction of the conning tower. Elena's Guards are sniping at the enemy with the Glory Rifles in their hands, and their Valorant Rifles are supporting the front line early in the morning, and the only weapons that can be used are part of the Glory Rifles that Elena produced early. Relying on this weapon, which was already somewhat outdated, but still more advanced than the Welsh II rifle used on the opposite side, the guards temporarily kept the enemy out of the control tower.

"This ...... It's hard to ......."

The most difficult thing in this world is not one's own death, but the sacrifice of comrades who saw it with one's own eyes.

Gastens's words flashed through Daisy's mind as she took one last look at the reef and climbed down the tower.

"The whole army retreats, retreat to the Hewan defense line!"

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The topography of the Elena Plain is high in the east and low in the west, and on the east side is the Johor Bahru mountain range, which runs eastward from the province of Ensten and gradually flattens out until it ends in the province of Carangiote, which is now under the control of Ronninger. On the west side of the Elena Plains is Mt. Naksha, with its three low peaks. In the middle of these two mountain ranges, one large and one small, the flow of the Liuyin River becomes gentle, and it hits this valley plain. The first town of Elena was east of the bay of the Liuyin River, and later when Gastens and his Communist Party built Elena, they also preferred to develop east of the bend. This layout not only makes better use of the old Elena town facilities, but also relies on the river bend to improve the safety of Elena if necessary.

The day after the Neglo army launched an offensive using steam cannons, the Communist Movement Council decided to make second-hand preparations in the riverbend area. However, due to the underestimation of the strategic situation at that time, the limited manpower investment, and later the emergency mobilization began, the second line of defense on the west side of the river bend was not completed when Daisy ordered the retreat. A large amount of earth, rock, and iron plates originally planned to be used for the construction of the Iron Shield Chest Defense Line were piled up on the west side of the river bay, and the east and west sections of the trenches that were not yet fully connected were scattered on this land. The first soldiers to reach the position in the river bay even had to pick up shovels and pickaxes on the ground, dig the trenches deeper, and even had to go into battle with their own hands to build a simple iron shield chest wall defense line. And even such a simple protective measure takes up a lot of time for the soldiers. By the time Daisy had retreated here with her headquarters, the line was still a half-finished product, and it was still a long way from being complete and functional.

"This line of defense simply doesn't work!"

With a simple glance, Daisy knew that the Riverbend defense line was now simply not enough to resist the enemy's attack. And just as she was making this judgment, there were soldiers bulldozing earth and stones, rushing to build a defensive line.

"It's true that we didn't realize we could be beaten to this point......"

Garence's voice was full of self-reproach, "If only I could have thought more thoroughly......

"It's useless," Caleb Warren walked from the side, "the trenches are basically okay, but the iron shield breastwork will take at least half a day." Although the enemy has broken through the Naksan Pass, their steam cannons are moving slowly, and it will take some time to pass through that area, and I think that with this time, we should be able to build the simplest and most basic defense line. ”

"Let's hope so......"

Daisy sighed softly and clenched the Gastens letter in her hand. If it were him, what would he do at such a time?