It took the Coalition engineer units a full four days to carve out a road from this hilly terrain that could barely supply the Coalition army's marching requirements.

They dug drainage ditches, sourced local materials, and built roads with all available resources.

The road made of a large number of iron and wooden planks made the boots step on it with a loud sound.

After a violent explosion was generated from the ground, the group of explosives that were destroyed and planted after special measurements made the area potholes, and the road surface became very muddy due to light rain.

Four days ago, even the passage of the multi-legged machinery seemed a little difficult.

Only a handful of infantry units and steam armored knight units made it through the hilly terrain to the second line of defense formed by the Cang Dynasty army, a standard riverbank combat position based on fortress buildings to reconnoiter and defend against enemy counterattacks.

Behind this line of defense is the Lorient River, and the east bank is also home to a large group of fortresses, which are much more impregnable than the west bank. This place is currently under the control of the Cang Dynasty. Three bridges over the river have been blown up. It seems that the Cang Dynasty intends to completely stop the offensive of the Middle-earth coalition forces on the west bank, and regardless of losses, even the troops on the west bank can be abandoned at any time. With the loss of bridges, West Bank troops had to rely on small boats to transport supplies.

The coalition forces then mobilized a group of Hanoi gunboats to attack the Cang army, severely damaging their supply lines, but were unable to seize control of the entire river.

The improvised forward positions were soon set up by the sappers, and the troops finally had a place to stay. The troops immediately entered the position, hiding from enemy shelling. After a brief trimming, the troops of the Steam Armored Knights and Infantry began to tentatively attack the Cang Dynasty's defensive line during these four days, but our attack did not get effective information, and the enemy's strong firepower made it impossible for us to find out the weak points or firepower points of their defensive line through a tentative attack, as if the entire position was a point of fire.

This also made the commander of the Middle-earth coalition army, after learning that the enemy had deployed powerful firepower, and was reluctant to use his flesh and blood to forge a path. As a result, the newly formed bombing squadron of the Holy Kingdom began to dispatch, and airships carrying a large number of aerial bombs rose from the Holy Kingdom, stopping to replenish fuel through many countries and coming to the Henin Kingdom. In order to guide the air force to the target, the troops advanced the front line 500 meters under the artillery fire of the Cangchao army, almost right under the nose of the enemy, in order to solve the problem of guiding the troops, they would launch a counteroffensive against this group of troops every day, and the vanguard of the coalition army was tired of facing the enemy's attack and held the line to the death.

The large forces of the Middle-earth coalition began to march four days later, the resources finally began to be moved to the forward positions, larger and stronger positions began to be established, and the commanders had entered the field command room to begin to organize the movement of the army. The enemy, apparently aware that our large forces were on their way, formed several sneak attack units in an attempt to bypass the positions constructed by the Middle-earth forces and attack our rear.

They were soon discovered, and immediately engaged in a battle with the Einsatzgruppen formed by the coalition forces. Their main force was entangled, and in order to preserve their vital forces and not be surrounded by the support forces of the Middle-earth coalition, they chose to retreat.

However, a few troops managed to bypass it, and they continued to sabotage the mission, but their numbers were obviously not enough to shake the main force of the coalition army, but it was certainly possible to delay the coalition forces.

The newly formed bombing formation of the Holy Kingdom began to operate. Countless airships rose from the field airfield that had been built in four days, carrying bombs and dropping them on the Cangchao defense line. According to the graphical instructions of the ground forces, they began to focus on attacking the fortress group of the Cang Dynasty.

After the observers and surveyors made calculations based on the instruments on board the airship, and then reported to the combat commander, who, on the orders of the latter, the fighters began to drop bombs, entering the machine-gun tower for firing.

The Cang Dynasty army was a little caught off guard by this attack from the sky, but quickly hid in the fortress building under the orders of the field commander. But even so, the ground positions were badly wounded. Countless fortresses were destroyed, many trenches were blocked and blown up to varying degrees, and the sappers of the Cang Dynasty troops had to start clearing the ruins of the defense line immediately after the bombardment was over.

The allied artillery soon advanced to the front line with the help of specialized engineering punishers, quickly set up artillery positions and began shelling, smashing the scorching steel into the fortress of the Cangchao army. The artillery responded with a response, but their response was somewhat tragic due to the double attack from the ground and from the air.

A few artillery shots were not enough to threaten our artillery positions.

The allied artillerymen spotted the enemy's weak firepower. There was no longer the threat of bombardment with the enemy's artillery, so the reload and firing speed were increased, and a series of explosions were produced on the enemy's position.

The multi-legged machinery and the Heavenly Punisher rushed out of their positions as soon as the shelling was over, launching a large-scale attack on the defense line of the Cang Dynasty's army. The Heavenly Punisher is in its all-out warfare form, carrying two main guns and a door cannon and four machine gun turrets.

Such a war apparatus is not something that can be operated by one person, but a crew of five people. Its lethal firepower was thrown into the trenches of the Cang army under the control of the crew. Multi-legged machines are also made for war, and the two main guns and four machine gun turrets are also terrifying. They formed a mixed formation and began to advance against enemy fire.

The Cang Dynasty army understood that such a war machine must be stopped before they could reach the defensive line. Countless armor-piercing guns were concentrated in several directions and began to roar, and the fortress guns that had been lucky enough to escape the bombardment also began to attack. However, this attack is still a little more vulnerable in the face of the steel torrent.

Soon, a torrent of Middle-earth armor rushed into the enemy's defenses, piercing the enemy's exterior like a dagger, bleeding the enemy, widening the wounds, and throwing a steady stream of infantry and steam armored knights into the enemy's trenches.

The soldiers, supported by the fire of the war machines overhead, quickly took down the bridgehead position and rapidly expanded.

Most of the ground positions were quickly captured by the Middle-earth coalition, but the enemy's stubborn will still shocked the coalition command. The artillery on the east bank, despite the fact that their troops were still in the trenches, began to bombard the positions on the west bank, and this shelling had to make the Sino-Turkish troops stop and continue to advance, using cover on the spot and began to evade the shells.

In the trenches, the enemy used all his might to entangle the assault troops. A brutal white-knuckle battle is on the verge of breaking out. The tall Steam Knights wielded broadswords, while the soldiers of the Cang Dynasty strapped bombs to the Iron Knights, and the two sides competed in the trenches for will and reflexes.

In the underground complex, the enemy uses all weapons to stop the assault teams of steam knights and infantry who rush underground. The coalition forces used powerful firepower and explosives to force their way through enemy lines.

So on the fifth day, when the last passage, the last underground warehouse, and the last field command post on the Cangchao position were breached by the coalition forces, the soldiers of the West Bank position completed their mission. They did everything they could to delay the advance of the coalition forces.

In order to avoid a tragedy like in the hilly terrain, the Middle-earth coalition army was obviously much more cautious in attacking the positions on the west bank, and many troops withdrew from the battlefield in an orderly manner.

As a result, the Middle-Turkish offensive took more time and effort than expected.

When the coalition forces were ready to cross the river, a sudden cold snap brought an early winter. The coalition forces had to halt their offensive and fortify their positions on the west bank of the river, waiting for a sunny winter day or a sudden and decisive attack from the enemy.

Sappers and artillerymen on both sides began a competition. Almost every day when there were no close clashes, the artillerymen were throwing shells at the opposing lines and attacking the opposing artillery positions. Sappers, on the other hand, had to clear buried trenches and repair bombed-out positions in the intervening period.

Against this backdrop, the sappers and artillery on both sides are being rapidly depleted, and more new recruits are constantly needed from the rear to support them, and these recruits are constantly becoming veterans or deceased.

Attempts by the Middle-earth coalition to use the Hanoi fleet to attack the Cang Dynasty's defenses failed due to the freezing of the river and the stubborn counterattack of the enemy.

In order to be able to launch an offensive in winter, the coalition forces are changing the equipment of the front-line troops. The train talks about the pull of batches of winter equipment to the front line.

Some of the coalition forces came from the south of Middle-earth, where they rarely encountered snowy, snowy climates.

As a result, the armies from the kingdoms of Rothier and the Rhine were used as instructor units to train soldiers who had not yet experienced fighting in the ice and snow.

As a report to the Holy Kingdom to support Rothier, the Snow Wolf Knights all came to Frankfork City. The craftsmen and technicians of the accompanying army made certain modifications to the steam armored knight units there, allowing them to continue to operate in cold conditions.

The White Wolf Princess carries with her a secret weapon that she ordered to be developed by the Royal Academy of Rothiel.

After she told her father about her conversation with Kimchi, his father agreed with Kimchi. Therefore, in order to demonstrate the scientific and technological strength of the kingdom of Rothier, a secret weapon has been developed, which will be put into the battlefield in the near future.

The Heavenly Punisher army was reloaded onto the steam airship after repairs on the spot, and they were to be used as a force-raiding airborne force to attack the defense line of the Cang Dynasty army.

With the arrival of follow-up reinforcements and supplies, the front command began to carefully plan. Because, no one knows what arrangements the Cang Dynasty will have in their positions in order to be able to resist the attack of the coalition forces.

So, after a gap of two weeks, when the first sun was seen in the snow, the temporary stalemate would be broken, and the Middle-earth coalition army would prepare for a massive attack.