449 Zherenberg's Second War of Expansion
Fenneport, Snason region, Arakorburg
The fortress sentry, Bed, climbed the stairs of the watchtower step by step to relieve another sentry.
Upon reaching the top of the brick watchtower, Bed and the sentry exchanged military salutes, and Bed stood at the post with his rifle slung over his shoulder.
This watchtower is the tallest building in Arakko, and the castle itself is situated on a relatively high point, offering a clear view of the mountains to the north of the Snason region.
There is another fortress in the mountains, facing this place from afar; that fortress belongs to Remburg.
Recently, Bed has really enjoyed standing guard. It's early summer now, not too hot or too cold, and the breeze is very pleasant at the sentry post.
Especially after Fenneport's army reinforced Arakor Castle several times recently, the already narrow fortress became somewhat crowded.
Even at the base of this watchtower lived a platoon of soldiers.
This made Bed even more eager to stand guard, at least it wasn't so crowded up there.
Bedard had been in this fortress for seven or eight years, and in his memory, this was something that had never happened before.
Previously, this fortress had at least one company of soldiers and at most one battalion of soldiers, but now it has at least two regiments.
Bed also noted that a high proportion of the new reinforcements were officers.
All of this started to change at the end of last year.
Last winter, Bed and his men were surprised to find the Remnburg flag flying over the fortress opposite them. Only then did they learn that Remnburg had annexed Masic.
For the past few centuries, this place has been at the forefront of the struggle against Mascherano.
The sudden shift of the target to Lenburg gave Bed a bad feeling.
A week later, they received some more news, the veracity of which could not be confirmed: Lenburg had defeated Feneport's army of over 100,000!
At first, the soldiers of Arakorburg did not believe it, after all, Feneport was much stronger than Lundburg, which was the consensus of everyone.
But soon some defeated soldiers from the battlefield fled over the mountains and came here, confirming the news of Feneport's defeat.
The soldiers, their eyes bloodshot and faces blank, described how Lenburg had created a new weapon that wiped out Feneport's most elite cavalry in a single volley, and destroyed a city in another.
Because the roads to the west were blocked by Remnburg, they fled from the mountains and fields to this place, hoping to return home from here.
However, the fortress commander received orders to execute these deserters.
The higher-ups said that these people fled to Arakorburg because they were afraid of fighting, and that their words were all lies.
But when Bed saw that the deserters remained expressionless even when facing the gun barrels, Bed basically believed their story.
Because deserters who are afraid of fighting will definitely be afraid of death, their reaction shows that they have been utterly desperate on the battlefield, or have seen things more terrible than death.
After that, Army Group East began to reinforce Fort Araco, and by then the facts were clear.
Bedell applied for a transfer multiple times, but was unsuccessful.
Four or five months passed in this state of anxiety. Everyone said that after Rembrandt annexed Maxis, it would take several years to digest the situation before war would break out.
By then, they had already retired.
Just as he was thinking this, Bed saw what looked like several figures moving quickly on the distant mountain.
He paused for a moment, picked up the binoculars and looked inside, then slowly opened his mouth wide.
Bed saw soldiers dressed in Lenburg uniforms running forward in an exaggerated manner, as if they were jumping five or six meters!
The key point is that they still persevered despite the heavy burden!
On the road in the valley, a dozen or so Remburg's new weapon, the "tank," were advancing in this direction.
At this moment, Bed finally realized what was happening and rang the bronze bell on the watchtower: "The Remnburgers are charging! The Remnburgers are charging!"
The next instant, a man in his thirties suddenly appeared next to Bed. Bed immediately recognized him as the new fortress commander, Colonel Connelly!
At that moment, Colonel Connery was observing the enemy situation through his binoculars. After only two or three seconds, the enemy lowered his glasses and said, "Retreat!"
Bed thought he'd misheard: "Retreat—retreat?"
At this moment, Connery shouted, "Retreat! Forget the ordinary soldiers, Extraordinary soldiers, retreat as fast as you can!"
The next second, Connery was already outside the fortress gates, shouting orders for the Extraordinary Ones to retreat.
Surprised, Bed scrambled out of the room.
Because the attack on Remburg was so sudden, and the order to retreat was also so sudden, when the Remburg soldiers entered the fortress, one-third of the soldiers still did not know what was going on.
Caught completely off guard, they immediately chose to surrender.
Dozens of kilometers away, in the forward command post in Remnburg, the evil "Red Angel" with a red flag between his brows sneered after receiving the news from Aracoburg: "Not too stupid."
The Ministry of Defence in Fenneport has been studying the two previous wars with Remberg for the past few months.
Ultimately, they also discovered that Lenburg's biggest weakness was its lack of extraordinary power.
Therefore, the strategy against Fennippon is to concentrate the extraordinary forces as much as possible, wait for an opportunity to fight Remburg's army, or use the extraordinary forces to launch a surprise attack on Remburg's army.
This effectively avoids fighting the extraordinary troops of the Remnburg Army, which Feneport also finds very troublesome. Ordinary soldiers would certainly be no match for them if they encountered them in the wild.
In this battle, the only role of the army, composed of hundreds of thousands of ordinary people, was probably to hold the city.
By relying on the city walls and fortifications, they could also hold off the offensive of the extraordinary army of Remnburg.
However, if they suffer heavy casualties in the battle, they will likely collapse quickly, which will also cause a lot of trouble.
Just as Fenneport's Ministry of Defense was debating whether to withdraw ordinary soldiers, Fort Arakor was attacked by Lenburg.
It would be too late for the ordinary troops to retreat now, so they were immediately assigned defensive duties.
The core of Feneport's military operation was "concentration" and "defense." All the troops and extraordinary individuals abandoned some strongholds and concentrated in Nyroc, their largest city in the east.
This city was originally Fennepot's forward base for attacking Loen, and after thousands of years of development and construction, it has become a large city.
In addition to the large number of troops stationed here, there are also many merchants, military families, and other residents living here.
War is about to begin, and the residents here are fleeing west and south.
At the same time, this is also the headquarters of the Eastern Army Group. At this time, Dimitri, as the supreme commander of the front line, kept sending people to drive away the ordinary people. Only when the ordinary people left could the city become a military city, and there would be no need to divert forces to protect these ordinary people.
The entire city of Nilek is divided into the East City and the West City. The East City is a huge fortress with solid walls and a wide and deep moat. Every house in the city is a fortress, and if the outer city falls, street fighting can continue.
Before the war with Remburg last year, the strongest fortifications in Nyroc were in the east, but after Remburg annexed Masy, Feneport quickly mobilized a large amount of resources to strengthen the walls and fortifications in the north.
The western part of the city was previously inhabited by ordinary people. Now, a large number of troops are stationed here, and they have begun to build a lot of temporary fortifications, turning it into part of the military city.
This time, the Feneports were determined to take a defensive stance. As long as Nilec was in Feneport's hands, the Remnburg army would be unable to advance eastward or southward.
While Fenerbah had consolidated its forces and was building extensive fortifications in the western part of the city, the fully mechanized Remburg army arrived.
Tanks and troop carriers came to a stop on the plain north of Nilec. Their orderly formations and fully mechanized equipment prompted Feneport soldiers to climb the city walls to take a look.
Most of the soldiers had never seen a tank before, and when they saw the strange equipment of the Remnantburg Army, they didn't even know what to say.
The "Extraordinary Puppet" soldiers began to set up camp in an orderly manner. They did not actually need a large camp. The "Extraordinary Puppet" did not need to live in tents. The tents were mainly for the use of the accompanying Extraordinary Ones and for storing ammunition and supplies.
The command center of the "Red Angel" evil spirit was the first tent to be erected.
He sat in the tent, quietly watching the impregnable city several kilometers away.
Suddenly, the "Red Angel" evil spirit looked at the advisors: "Since the president sent you idiots to my place for further training, let me see your level. From left to right, tell me how this war should be fought?"
The male officer in his thirties on the far left said, "We can try bombarding them continuously with the 'Lingbo Cannon' first, and then use tanks to break through the enemy's defenses."
"Are your ears on your ass?" the evil spirit "Red Angel" said rudely. "I asked you to talk about strategy, who are you talking about tactics for?"
The male officer opened his mouth as if to say something, but ultimately held back, because before they came, the president had repeatedly warned them that the commander-in-chief had a bad temper, and that they should not argue with him, ignore the sarcastic remarks, and just listen carefully.
At this moment, another officer in his twenties quickly said, "I think we can besiege the city."
"After all, they have over 100,000 men, plus some logistical support troops, so there are now over 200,000 people in this city. If we besiege them for a few months, they will definitely surrender."
The evil spirit "Red Angel" suddenly laughed: "You're a spy sent by Feneport, aren't you? If we use your strategy, Remburg will fall in two months at most."
The officer who had spoken earlier paused for a moment: "Why? Lenburg is clearly the one attacking now."
"Go back and read the newspapers more," said the evil spirit "Red Angel." "If we don't take this city within a week…"
The northern part of Remnburg will certainly be attacked by the Republic of Intis.
"Because they already have an absolute advantage in the western battlefield of Rune, enough to send several divisions back to reinforce them."
"In their view, this is a good opportunity to attack Rembrandt from both the north and the south."
1
The officers were taken aback, not expecting Remenberg to be facing such a dire situation.
At this moment, another officer said, "In that case, we should take advantage of our superior mobility and quickly attack Fenneport's capital."
"At this time, Fenerbahce's capital was weak, which was precisely—"
The evil spirit, "Red Angel," waved its hand irritably: "Why should I listen to your pig-like speech?"
The officers looked rather grim as they stared at the commander, eager to know what kind of strategy and tactics wouldn't be foolish.
Seeing their defiant looks, the evil spirit "Red Angel" suddenly laughed: "The reason I agreed to teach you what war is, President Gar said, is because although he is terrible at tactics, he understands war."
"Listen carefully, the meaning of war is to deplete the enemy's manpower to the greatest extent possible!"
"Once the enemy's strength is defeated and their confidence is lost, then this country is doomed!"
The officers' expressions gradually shifted from anger to surprise, and then to attentive listening.
These few words gave them a new perspective on war.
Medici looked at Nilok in the distance and said, "The president understands this very well, so he gave me six and a half of the seven legions, as well as 90% of the nation's extraordinary forces. You want me to use these forces to launch a surprise attack on the weak points of Feneport's forces?"
The officer who had just suggested attacking the capital, Fenneport, gave an awkward laugh.
They then realized that Medici addressed others by their first names or with phrases like "hey" or "that guy," but only when addressing the president would he use "President" or "President Gar."
It is evident that the commander-in-chief also has considerable respect for the president.
Their intuition was correct; Medici did indeed admire Odis, and the reason he respected Odis was not only because Odis possessed a high level of strategic vision, but also because his courage was admirable.
In this war, not only was most of Remburg's armed forces under Medici's command, but all of Remburg's extraordinary forces also had to obey Medici, including Remburg's four angels and the fourteen demigods that Odis had painstakingly assembled.
Lenburg's elite forces have been mobilized in full force, leaving only one Sequence 7 and a few low-sequence extraordinary individuals in the entire Azshara.
The last time Medici commanded so many extraordinary forces was during the battle against the Byron Empire in the Fourth Epoch.
Whether or not there is trust is a secondary issue; Odis's actions demonstrate his determination for this battle.
The "Red Angel" evil spirit admired Odis's vision and ability to act. Ordinary rulers would seek stability and, even if they made up their minds, would lack such initiative, thus losing strategic opportunities.
Odis understood a fundamental truth: some strategic opportunities, once lost, will never return.
It was precisely because of his basic respect for Odis that Medici was willing to waste words with these officers. He continued, "Many people think that war is about intrigue and trickery."
"But in the face of absolute power, there is not much room for conspiracy and trickery."
"Our current extraordinary puppet army has an absolute advantage, but the power of the extraordinary is somewhat insufficient."
The "Red Angel" demon looked at the staff officers and said, "Now that's what you call strategic analysis."
The staff officers nodded repeatedly, regretting that they hadn't had time to grab a pen and notebook, otherwise they would have definitely written down what they had just said.
At this point, one of the staff officers asked, "So what tactics should we adopt now?"
The "Red Angel" evil spirit chuckled: "Am I your father? Do I have to think for you too?"
"Think about it yourself?"
For the next week, the Remnantburg army took no action.
The two armies, one inside the city and the other outside, engaged in a strange standoff.
The key point is that the Remnantburg army didn't even besiege the city, which is very strange.
Although the city of Nilek has stockpiled a large amount of supplies, enough to hold out for half a year, there is no need to transport supplies from the rear to this city now.
But the Lenburg army didn't even make a token attempt to surround the area, which is very suspicious.
Feneport's army had over 100,000 elite troops, as well as a numerically superior number of extraordinary individuals, but Marshal Dimitri, the commander-in-chief at the front, dared not leave the city to launch any attacks.
He always felt that the camp in Remnburg was beckoning him: Come on, come and ambush me!
In general, a sneak attack under these circumstances will most likely result in a successful ambush.
Marshal Dimitri pondered for a long time before ordering his adjutant to send a telegram to the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Intis: We have held back the Remnburg army for a week, and it is expected that the war will not end in the short term. We can quickly attack the northern part of Remnburg.
Since testing the waters with Fenneport's power is too risky, it would be better to test them with the power of our allies.
Upon receiving Nilok's telegram and confirming the intelligence recently provided by his agents, the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Intis immediately ordered the ten divisions assembled north of Remburg to cautiously advance towards Remburg.
At the same time, the Republic of Intis declared war on Remburg.
In fact, the militaries of Fenneport and Intis had already expressed their intention to cooperate several months ago.
Intis, Remberg's northern neighbor, also realized that Remberg had become quite powerful and planned to try to strangle it before it could fully rise to power.
Furthermore, Intis has now gained a significant advantage on the battlefield of Rune, and can mobilize an army of around 100,000 men, along with a large number of extraordinary individuals, to wage war against Runeburg.
That's why they didn't hesitate to declare war while Remnantburg's main force was fighting in the south.
Or perhaps they've wanted to declare war for a long time, but haven't had the right opportunity.
But the people in the Intis Ministry of Defense weren't stupid either; their intelligence personnel sent back real-time information about the Remnburg and Fennebot armies every day.
They also knew that the armies of these two countries had not fired a single bullet so far, which was why they had to proceed cautiously.
If the Remnburg army were to withdraw, they would immediately establish positions and prepare to hold them.
At that point, Nyroc's commander, Feneport, would have an overwhelming advantage, and they would attack Remenberg's troops left in the south.
At that time, Rembrandt's advantage will gradually diminish.
However, as soon as the army of the Republic of Intis entered Reymburg, they discovered something was wrong; there was not a single person in either the border city or the countryside.
Moreover, all the valuables that could be taken away were taken, leaving only items that could not be moved.
The Intis army immediately halted its advance, a situation that caught them somewhat off guard, and they instinctively suspected that it was a conspiracy by Remenberg.
Intis's invasion of the northern border of Remnantburg was indeed the situation Odis had hoped for.
This not only means that a potential enemy has surfaced, but also that Lenburg is now legally entitled to participate in the war between Intis and Rune, and not in a war that Intis initiated.
Just as the Intis army crossed the border between the two countries, the "Red Angel" evil spirit outside Nerok City, upon receiving news from the north, immediately jumped up from its chair.
Xiu had been idle for several days, just waiting for Intis to send troops.
In reality, the game of war often boils down to the commander's control over the war; whoever has stronger control wins.
If Intis continues not to send troops, then Intis's side becomes an unknown factor, a variable on the battlefield.
However, as soon as the other party makes a move, the unknown becomes known, and the final variable is within a controllable range.
Even if Intis reacts immediately and rushes towards Azshara at full speed, and is unable to send reinforcements to the north, the entire war is still under Medici's control.
Since all the conditions are now "known," all that's left is to deal with them step by step.
Medici then issued a series of orders: "Air Corps, take off immediately with full loads of bombs and reach the airspace over Nyloc within one hour."
"The Rocket Force Corps is preparing to launch the 'Frost Bomb' and will arrive at the designated location within one hour to stand by."
"Notify the entire army to prepare for battle within one hour."
"In particular, the president was notified to come to the battlefield with those dukes."
After giving the order, Medici looked at the distant city of Nyroc and smiled, saying, "Intis has lost its last chance to strike at Lenburg."
If Intis chooses to conquer Azshara as quickly as possible now, Lenburg may have to pay a huge price to win this war.
Because in that case, the military forces remaining in Remenberg would be unable to stop the Intis army, and Intis would seize some of the equipment from Remenberg's "Extraordinary Factory," which would be a great loss for Remenberg.
But now Intis's army is advancing cautiously, which will give Medici enough time.
Gothic, south of Remnburg, was once the capital of the Masjid Kingdom.
However, it is now a political and military stronghold in the south of Rembrandt.
In a hill south of Gothic, there was a secret project being built entirely by soldiers, and no one knew what was going to be built there.
Just today, a series of buzzing sounds suddenly came from there, and then Gotley and the others saw that "sky birds" were flying up!
For a moment, people around Gotley stopped and watched as the "big birds" flew higher and higher.
The new weapon, the airplane, was secretly transported to Götterdell.
The current air force corps has only about sixty aircraft. The aircraft that took off this time were mainly large aircraft with strong endurance. They will pass through the clouds, reach the airspace above Nilek within the specified time, and circle and wait.
In a wide valley on the southern border of Remnburg.
Flynn, the shepherd, was leisurely herding his flock of sheep grazing on the pasture when he saw dozens of enormous vehicles drive in.
Flynn was stunned, for he had never seen anything so large, and what's more, they were moving in a suspended state, like monsters from church texts.
These "monsters" have metal shells and don't even avoid small trees; they simply crash into them.
Flynn finally came to his senses and, without even thinking about his flock, dropped the whip and ran away.
This area used to be the border of Mascherano, but now it has become the border of Remenberg.
News from these sleeping villages was severely delayed; they were notified only half a month after Rembrandt annexed Maxis.
When the soldiers suddenly appeared, Flynn thought they were there to steal his things.
But soon, two "extraordinary puppet" soldiers caught up in a military vehicle.
When Flynn heard someone shout "Stop!", he immediately stopped and raised his hands: "Don't shoot, I'll give you all the sheep."
The hovercar stopped behind Flynn, and a soldier wearing a Rembrandt uniform, who was at least 1.9 meters tall and carrying a gun at an angle, got off.
The "extraordinary puppet" soldier said, "From now on, this is a military control zone, and you cannot leave until our military operation is over."
"Please fence off your sheep immediately to avoid economic losses."
Flynn stared blankly at the gun in his hand, not quite understanding what the other party meant: "Are you going to conscript me to dig trenches?"
"No," said the "Extraordinary Puppet" soldier. "You just need to stay in this valley and not interfere with our military operations."
"However, judging from the direction and speed your flock is currently running, they will scatter if you don't stop them soon."
Flynn understood that his flock was about to scatter.
He hurried after the flock of sheep, and only after he had herded them all together did Flynn notice that the Lenburg soldier was still following behind him at a leisurely pace.
Recalling the conversation, Flynn finally realized that as long as he didn't leave the valley, he would be safe.
Only then did Flynn dare to look at the enormous creatures in the valley. By then, the "military monsters" had landed on the ground, and the area behind them slowly rose up, revealing rows of metal pipes.
At that moment, the soldiers were stuffing rockets into those tubes. Flynn, who had never seen rockets before, forced a smile and asked, "Sir, what are those long tubes that the soldiers are holding?"
The "Extraordinary Puppet" soldier cautiously observed his surroundings and said, "Your authority is insufficient; I cannot explain this to you."
Flynn scratched his head, feeling that the Lenburg soldier was quite polite, but his words were a bit strange.
At this point, all the rocket launchers had completed their loading.
Flynn clearly didn't hear any officer give a loud order, but all the soldiers responsible for loading seemed to have received a unified command and retreated to the side.
Finally, the angle of the rocket launcher was slightly adjusted, and after another half minute, the rocket was ignited.
With a sharp whistling sound, rockets were launched at extremely high speeds, flying into the sky to Flynn's astonishment, and then flying south at high altitude.
Flynn had never heard such a howling sound before; it was somewhat like the roar of a dragon in a puppet show, giving Flynn a thrilling feeling.
When the intense howling stopped, a cloud of smoke and dust spread across the valley. The sheep, startled, began to run wildly again, but Flynn found that he had been sitting on the ground in his surprise and was unable to chase after the sheep for a moment.
He couldn't understand at all what kind of weapon it was.
Outside the city of Nilek.
The attack by Remnantburg began suddenly.
The Lenburg army's two artillery positions began bombarding Nyrok with more than 300 "Lingpo Cannons." If these shells landed, they might cause a local earthquake!
However, all of these cannonballs were blocked by Feneport's five demigods.
A single saint could withstand the bombardment of twenty or thirty spirit wave cannons.
However, more than three hundred "spirit wave cannons" have long exceeded the limit of a saint.
Moreover, the blocking process can only be completed before the shells land. Once a large number of shells explode, even the saint has to run.
On the watchtower of Nilek, Marshal Dimitri smiled slightly and said to his staff, "As long as we have the Spirit Wave Cannon, one or ten cannons are about the same in effect."
They would all be stopped by the enemy's demigods.
At this moment, a subordinate came to report: "Marshal, the 'Lingbo Cannon' has completed aiming."
Dimitri said, "Launch immediately!"
Although Feneport's "Spirit Wave Cannon" was a copy and its accuracy and power could not compare with the original, it was still much more powerful than a cannon, enough for Remenberg to send out a demigod to stop it.
Artillery positions in Remnburg.
At this time, all the artillerymen were replaced by "extraordinary puppet" soldiers. The commander of the artillery position was an extraordinary puppet with twelve "wisdom cubes" that could even perform strategic-level calculations!
It saw more than twenty white dots of light flying out from the city and shouted, "Neutron cannon, prepare! Fire!"
The "neutron cannon" was a new weapon used by the Remnburg army, named by Odis.
It is called this because this weapon plays a similar role to the neutron in the process of nuclear fission.
The "neutron cannon" is different from traditional cannons. It consists of three parts: an operating console, a smart radar, and a cannon platform.
None of these three structures are large; they can all fit on a large table.
A square radar the size of a chair and a turret the size of a medium-sized safe were placed in front, while the control panel was placed in the back.
They were connected by crystal tubes that allowed spiritual energy to spread rapidly, and an "extraordinary puppet" swiftly completed the target search and shell launch process.
After the target was identified, the spiritual energy around the circular, metal mesh turret suddenly intensified, and a thin beam of light shot out from the center.
The light was very thin, thinner than a hair, but the human eye could still detect it.
The light was so fast that it vanished in an instant, but the human eye could still catch it.
The thin, fast beam of light arrived first and struck a "spirit wave cannon" projectile that resembled a point of light.
The light spots from the "Spirit Wave Cannon" instantly dissipated, and a rich spiritual energy spread through the air.
This process is similar to the role of the neutron in a nuclear fission reaction: a neutron breaks the nucleus of a uranium atom into two or more smaller atoms.
Therefore, Odis named this weapon the "neutron cannon".
However, after the destruction process was over, there was no further reaction. The highly concentrated spiritual energy of the "spirit wave cannon" projectile completely dispersed, failing to reach the critical point of explosion, thus becoming a dud.