By the time Gastens opened the door to the conference room, all the members of the Elena CPP were already in place. Ivan and Zinke were standing in front of a huge sand table, holding a bunch of small red and blue flags in their hands, and were setting up the sand table. Eddie Warren has a notebook in his hand, and he is reporting the information that Elena already has. Bimbo Bobruv sat at the far end of the table, staring at the sand table in a daze. Thomas Gurakos stood by the window, looking out at the square. Charlie Harry Warren leaned next to Eddie Warren and seemed interested in the information in the notebook.

"You know all about it, right?"

Gastens observed everyone's expressions, although nervous, but not panicked, and knew that everyone had confidence. He casually hung his coat on a hanger, walked to the other side of the conference room, and stood in front of the sand table.

"Paul Gibson's battle is probably going to be fought, and we have wanted to liberate Ankenrein for a long time, and since he wants to fight this time, we will take advantage of the situation and completely liberate Ankenrein. This direction is not going to change, and we have no choice. Tell me what questions you have about this all-out war in your respective fields. ”

Several councillors looked at each other and gave Ivan the task of being the first to speak. Ivan pointed to the sand table and began to explain without hesitation.

"My thoughts are the same as those of the leader, and I guess they are the simplest and most direct among all of you here. The last time Elena defended the battle, and finally relied on the magic to save the field, I have been holding this breath in my heart. Elena won that war, but our Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army lost completely, and I have been waiting for a chance to turn the book. ”

When Ivan said these words, he had a smile on his face, and he stuck out his tongue and licked his lips, looking fierce. Gastens frowned, correcting his movements.

"Where did you learn the habit? Get down to business. ”

"Oh, okay, head", Ivan touched his head and stretched out his hand to point to the sand table, "Although I really want to fight, but the current situation is not very ideal, let me briefly talk about the general situation." The Elena Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army now has two full-fledged regiments, each with 60,000 men, seventy percent of which are equipped with Thundering-1 steam rifles and Luoshan-1 steam submachine guns, and 30 percent are equipped with improved Thundering-2 steam rifles. The follow-up ammunition needs the support of the Gurakos side, and in the first three weeks, we have no problems with ammunition, troops, morale, and weapons. In my opinion, the biggest problem is that Elena's strategic environment is not very ideal, we have Ankenrein to the east and the Negru Republic to the west, both of which have been taught by the forbidden magic of the leader, hold grudges, and have strong borders. According to the information we have learned, the garrison of the Neglo Republic in the Duchy of Rylin is about 400,000, all of which are equipped with "Piercing" rear-loading steam rifles, and their combat effectiveness is probably several percent higher than that of Anken Rein's heavy sword, but they are still inferior to us in terms of ammunition reserves, range and power. However, they were armed with more than 300 hammer steam cannons, which were an improved version of the previous steam cannons, and were said to be very powerful. In order to deal with the garrison of the Neglo Republic in the Principality of Rairim, we placed 40,000 troops on the western border, namely the 4th and 6th Divisions of the 1st Army Corps, and the 4th and 6th Divisions of the 2nd Army Corps, and the military strength of the two sides was about 1 to 10. If we take into account the generation difference in our weapons and the presence of fortifications and Falcon special forces, we can basically achieve border defense. After all, in positional warfare, where there are plenty of ammunition and fortifications are used, our troops should be able to stop the enemy's attack. ”

"40,000 to 400,000, okay?" , Bimpo Bobruv raised his hand, his face a little puzzled.

"The front of the battlefield is limited, and on a limited battlefield, it is impossible for the enemy to commit ten times our forces. Their superiority in strength is more reflected in the logistical replenishment, as long as we are not surrounded, our positions generally need to face about three to five times the enemy. This amount of enemy pressure was withstood under the constant fire of our Luoshan-1 steam machine guns. ”

Bimbo Bobruv nodded, indicating that he had no more problems. Ivan picked up a long pole and pointed to the sand table to continue the explanation.

"If the Neglo Republic does not move, the maximum we can draw from the western border is only about 10,000 people, and no matter how few, there may be risks. This is the situation on the western border, and I will talk about the eastern border, and the situation on the eastern border is even more severe, because Paul Gibson has always been very hostile to us, and we are facing more than 800,000 enemy troops in official size, numbered in the order of the 1st to 14th Legions of the National Salvation Army, each of which is about 60,000 men, and this does not include the serf death squads that Ankenrein is accustomed to using. Although the serf movement has been fierce recently, and the number of serf death squads has decreased, they have at least 100,000 people, so on the Eastern Front, we have to face an enemy of 900,000, while we only have two corps and eight divisions of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, about 80,000 troops. Although most of the latest Thundering II is on the Eastern Front, this ratio of forces is also more than ten to one. ”

Ivan's voice was low and stressful as he presented this information. In fact, all the committee members present had known about these situations before, but when they heard about it again before the start of the war, their hearts still sank. With a ratio of more than ten to one, even if Elena has advanced weapons, more vigorous combat effectiveness and stronger cohesion, this battle is not so easy to fight.

"That's probably the situation of the troops, the situation on the militia's side, Eddie will introduce it later, and I'll introduce our tactical ideas next."

Ivan didn't seem to notice the heavy atmosphere in the room, he picked up the long pole and pointed at the sand table.

"According to the Boss's previous thinking, our defensive strategy for Ankenrein is different from Negro, considering that Paul Gibson is more hostile and stronger, we use a ladder defense strategy on the eastern front, from the border to the Elena Plains, we have built seven lines of defense, each line of defense is of the highest standard, and now the first four lines of defense have been completed, the fifth line of defense is still under construction, and the sixth and seventh lines of defense are still on the drawings, so, honestly and objectively, we can use the first four lines of defense. According to the tactics we discussed with the leader, we cannot blindly defend in the face of the enemy's active attack, because the enemy will inevitably suppress our economy through blockade. Moreover, with the land of two provinces against the whole of Ankenrein, even if they were backward and barbaric serfdom countries, we would be much weaker in terms of the sustainable power of the war. Therefore, on the principle of fighting the enemy, we have chosen the tactic of concentrating our forces to fight seven inches, which is simply to reserve a small number of troops to snipe the enemy on several lines of defense and delay the enemy's advance. At the same time, it is necessary to concentrate most of the forces to strike at the direction of the enemy's main attack, and it is necessary to hold down the enemy's main offensive line. After holding down the main attack and defeating the main attack, our troops will move and constantly look for the enemy's weak points to launch attacks, striving to form a local superiority in troops, so that we can win the battle as soon as we fight, and run away when we win, so that the enemy will be confused. This is what the head proposed, the movement war. ”

"How long will those four lines of defense last? Do we have enough space to exercise? What if the enemy hits Elena? ”

Gurakos raised his hand and asked, "Almost all of our important factories are in the Elena Plains, and the land outside can be abandoned, but Elena can't. If the enemy breaks through the first four lines of defense, can the war of movement still be fought? ”

Ivan looked at Gastens and gave an answer.

"Then it won't work. At that time, it will be the time when the battle situation is really difficult, and if Elena is surrounded, the large army that is roaming outside will be deprived of supplies. At that time, the situation on the battlefield will become the situation that our production brigade and guerrilla brigade encountered before the defense of Elena. At that point, we'll have to shrink quickly, rely on Elena for high-density defense, and see if there's another way. ”

"Is it the magic of the chief?"

Zink raised his hand to speak, making no secret of his thoughts. Gastens nodded at him, "I shouldn't get to that point, if I do, I don't have any magic." When the time comes, let's go up to the mountains to fight guerrillas and preserve the flame of revolution. ”

"Yes, it shouldn't have come to that point", Ivan nodded, with some over-affirmation in his tone, "This is our initial tactic, in the case of no problems on the Western Front, invest 80,000 troops, clench into fists, hit the enemy's main attack part, and fight the enemy hard, frustrating their spirit." For the other points of attack, we gave up after a little blocking, and traded space for time. As long as we can fight two or three battles and frighten the enemy, we will live this game of chess. ”

"And what if something goes wrong on the Western Front?" , Charlie Harry Warren chimed in, "We have no reason to think that the Neglo Republic will sit idly by. ”

"They won't move until they're sure the boss can't cast magic, and until Ankenrein has the upper hand on the battlefield."

Zinke replied to Charlie Harry's question, "The new government of the Negro Republic has only been in place for two years, and the domestic workers' party occupies the second seat in parliament, and it is difficult to go to war against us through parliamentary consent. They won't attack unless we suffer a major defeat on the battlefield and they confirm that the leader can't unleash their magic. ”

"So the key is that the battle with Ancan Rein, especially the first three battles, can only be won, not lost, as long as we don't show fatigue, as long as we keep our strength, we can scare off other potential enemies!"

Ivan made a small summary and asked, "Do you have any questions?" ”

Several committee members looked at each other and remained silent, they did have questions, but a lot of information has not yet been summarized, and there is no hurry to ask questions.

"Let's not mention it yet", Gastens saw that everyone hesitated, but also knew why, "everyone talk about the work in their respective fields, and then we will focus on the discussion, Eddie, you continue." ”

"Okay, chief," Eddie Warren, the head of the militia unit, nodded, "Ivan has 120,000 regular troops there, and I also have second-line troops here." There are still 120,000 people in the army reclamation corps in the two provinces, and when these army reclamation corps were established, they were set up to cope with the current situation. Of these 120,000 people, we can mobilize 60,000 people in a week, all of which are equipped with the Leiming 1 and Luoshan 1, but the Luoshan 1 is less densely equipped. In the second and third weeks, we can mobilize the remaining 60,000 men if necessary, but the supply of weapons will be insufficient, and we can only partially use old rifles, which may be less effective. ”

"I'm sorry, chief, the factory is already producing at full capacity, but—" Gurakos got up to explain, and he had done his best to produce 180,000 steam rifles in two years. Even if the production capacity of military factories is already very strong, it is still impossible to produce weapons equipped with 60,000 people in a month.

"180,000 is enough", Gastens motioned for Gurakos to sit down, "We now have fifteen military factories that produce rifles, all of which are assembly line production, each factory has a daily output of more than eighty wartime loads, and the remaining 60,000, if needed, can be produced within two months, there is no big problem." The remaining 60,000 people, do a good job of replenishing the soldiers, pay attention to the recovery of weapons on the battlefield, save some use, and the problem should not be big. Add, you continue. ”

"Okay," Eddie nodded, "according to our preparation plan, once the war begins, the Reclamation Corps will put aside their existing infrastructure and agricultural work and go all out for the war. When the time comes, we need to recruit militias to replenish the strength of the Reclamation Corps, which are mainly used to maintain the Reclamation Corps' plans for agriculture and infrastructure construction, and do not need to go directly to the battlefield. Considering that the time is now tight, I have started the militia recruitment plan, which is estimated to reach about 40,000 people in a week, and about 60,000 people from the second to the fourth week. ”

"This is right, there are also border cities' combat readiness, and they have also been notified, and there will be a war in two days, every second counts, and if there is any shaped decision, it can be directly promoted."

Gastens affirmed Add's suggestion and motioned for him to continue.

"If everything goes well, the militia replenishes the strength of the army reclamation corps, and the army reclamation corps is put into the battlefield, we will have about 100,000 second-line troops, plus Ivan's 100,000 people, and we can use more than 200,000 people to fight."

"The 100,000 men of the army are mainly used for positional defense, and the movement war is fought by Ivan's men," Gastens added, "This is confirmed beforehand, and if there is no opinion, it will be carried out." ”

No one had a problem with that, so Eddie continued.

"Basically, that's all, the assets of the Army Reclamation Corps before the first and second lines of defense on the east side are mainly land, and it is estimated that there will be some impacts, and this year's grain production may decline. I also ask Charlie Harry to introduce this part, and that's the basic situation on my side. ”