At 11:00 AM, three kilometers outside the Macedonian military factory, within the Yan Army's position.
"Your Majesty, our army's operations are progressing smoothly. Since the enemy fell into the encirclement, they are now being annihilated by us rapidly. We expect to finish the battle within three hours." The communications soldier, who had rushed back, immediately came to Qin Ze to report the current battle situation as soon as he dismounted.
Qin Ze remained calm and asked, "Didn't you say there was an enemy force on the outskirts attempting to attack us? What's the situation now?"
The communications soldier shook his head and said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty, that enemy force suddenly began to retreat when it was less than three kilometers away from us. Our army immediately sent cavalry to pursue them, but the enemy left behind a rearguard to entangle us. Their main force is retreating very quickly, and continuing to pursue may cause our army to penetrate too deep. Meanwhile, the Goths inside the blockade line are still launching attacks on our Red Army. Weighing the pros and cons, we have given up the pursuit."
"However, the number of enemy troops that withdrew was not large, roughly estimated to be only ten or twenty thousand."
Upon hearing this, Qin Ze stroked his chin and said, "It's really not appropriate to extend the battle lines any further. Let them run away; at least their main force has been left behind."
The communications soldier continued, "We have set up multiple battle lines on the enemy's way back. Under the heavy artillery fire, the enemy has given up the idea of returning the way they came. Now they are desperate and are trying to break through in all directions without any strategy."
"Hmm...that's even better, that way they'll have even less chance of escaping." Qin Ze nodded slightly, and after saying this, he turned to look at the Macedonian military factory.
His brows furrowed slowly, and Qin Ze shook his head, saying:
"The people inside are quite tolerant. Even after such a fierce fight, they still choose to cower and not come out."
"Does this mean we have no choice but to launch a direct attack...?"
Qin Ze sighed softly. He had hoped to lure the Golts out of the military factory during this siege, but he really didn't expect that the people inside would be so calm.
He even began to admire the enemy commander inside the military factory.
However, if the enemy soldiers inside the military factory still don't come out after all the enemy soldiers inside the encirclement have been annihilated, then the only option is to force their way in. This is certainly a brutal method, but otherwise, he really has no other way to deal with this military factory.
——
It was past noon.
"Don't stop, keep going! Don't leave anyone behind!"
Shouts rang out continuously in the army. After hearing artillery fire close to nine o'clock, the Misby Infantry Division finally abandoned the attack and chose to withdraw.
However, they were already very close to the Yan army, so they were soon pursued by the Yan army. They had no choice but to leave several thousand troops behind to cover their retreat. As time passed, the sounds of artillery and gunfire gradually faded away. They were lucky to escape danger and avoid total annihilation. Even so, they did not dare to slow down in their retreat because the place they were going to was still very far away.
Of course, they could not return to their original base camp, and returning to Port Brulló was no longer realistic, since they now had less than 20,000 troops, which was simply not enough to defend Port Brulló as a position.
“Sir, I think we need to detour through Meslanka to Heinrich military base,” Major General Misby said to Dingle beside him during the evacuation.
Dingle, riding on horseback, lowered his head, seemingly not hearing what Misby said. He simply tilted his head in silence, staring blankly at the road.
Seeing his expression, Missy rubbed her forehead in frustration.
He knew that the young chief of staff, who had been appointed commander-in-chief in a time of crisis, was still immersed in the huge blow and could not get out of it. Like General Bernhardt, he must be full of self-blame and regret. However, in Misby’s view, the reason for the failure of this battle was not due to his poor command.
Who could have imagined that the Yan army attacking the Macedonian arsenal would have such a large force? Foster Harbor had only recently been captured, and normally they would have stayed there for a while to consolidate their gains. Yet, they immediately dispatched a large force to plan such a massive campaign around the Macedonian arsenal so quickly. This was simply illogical.
Therefore, no matter who commands this battle, the final outcome will probably be the same.
Now that the enemy has sent out a large force, the number of enemy troops stationed in Foster Harbor may not be too many, but Misby no longer dares to lead his 20,000 troops there to try to seize it. Once the enemy returns to defend, they will wipe out all of his remaining troops.
Those who are already deeply surrounded by enemy troops...
As her thoughts drifted to this point, Missy's face twitched slightly, unwilling to dwell on those nightmarish scenes any longer.
"Sir, sir!"
He shouted a few more times, rode his warhorse closer to Dingle, reached out and grabbed Dingle's arm and shook it.
Dingle, whose arm had been grabbed, finally slowly raised his head.
"Sir, we need to take a detour to Meslanka, and then go to the Heinrich military base."
“Our army group is there. We need to take all the intelligence about the Yan Army to them to plan for the next operation,” Misby said, looking at Dingle’s thin profile.
Dingle looked up at the sky, and after a few seconds of silence, he slowly moved his pale lips, uttering a faint sound that was almost a groan:
"Don't call me 'sir' anymore, Major General."
"It's over."
"No! It's not over yet. We need to analyze the reasons for our failure and make more thorough preparations. We haven't been completely defeated yet. The Yan Army will continue to advance. We need to have the army group plan an ambush," Misby said with a determined look.
"Hmm." Dingle stared blankly at the slowly moving clouds in the sky and answered casually.
“You need to get involved!” Misby pulled on the reins, slowing his horse to keep pace with Dingle.
“I can no longer participate.” Dingle’s unfocused eyes had lost all their luster as he shook his head and said this.
"call--"
The wind swirling in the air grew stronger, and the sand-laden wind lashed at Dingle's face. Just as Dingle looked up to rub his eyes, which were stung by the sand, his military cap was blown off by the wind. However, he seemed not to notice, and just rubbed his red eyes.
The pain in his heart had tormented him to the point that he had lost all fighting spirit. This was not only a failed battle, but more importantly, he had watched his soldiers perish one by one in the flames of war, while he could only slink away. Lieutenant General Harbor and his men, who were trapped in the hands of the enemy, were probably still fighting hard to break through the encirclement, but there was no one to come to their aid.
An already formidable enemy, who even employs various traps in their battles, how could one possibly win? At the very least, I have no way of commanding the battle anymore.
Just as he was thinking about this, a hand was placed on the top of Dingle's head.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
