578 Strategic Retrea

"General, I have been serving your house loyally for years. Please consider all the work I have done for you and spare my life!" Fearing for his life, Lunduoer pleaded with tears in his eyes.

A deadly silence hung in the air of the office. 

"Take him out." Lie Jintian waved in dismissal. "I will give you a proper burial for your years of servitude."

A few hulking soldiers came in and dragged Lunduoer out of the office. Regardless of the reason for his mistake, let it be incompetency or carelessness, the damage was done, and it was unforgivable.

Lie Jintian's face was hard as he scanned the generals and captains serving under him with a stern glance. Fearing his ire, no one dared look at him in the eyes. This disaster was certainly avoidable if the human defense were well prepared. 

"Let's talk about our situation here. Does anyone have any suggestions? The retreat is a temporary measure; we need to push back." Lie Jintian softened his look and asked. Although he had given up the defensive line in order to preserve strength, he desperately needed a good ploy to slow down the Zergs' push. 

"The dark ones are not the immortals…They would either kill or turn the captives into slaves. I think we shouldn't retreat any further. I suggest starting a counterattack at the third line of defense." The Captain of the third regiment, Qin Yin announced urgently. Everyone knew that they would have to fight the Zergs at some point; and since the Zergs were looking for them, they had the advantage of choosing a battleground that suited their strategy.

"Captain Qin, what if we lose again?" The captain of the fifth regiment asked. Fighting the Zergs in an open field meant that the main force of Martian resistance would have to take the brunt of the Zerg attack. If the main force were not able to prevail, the rest of the war would be lost. Without a core army, the Zergs would be able to storm right into the heartland of human-settled areas. None of the minor factions had the might to counter the sea of monsters. 

The meeting suddenly reached a block, and all discussions were stalled. There were too many variables in all of the proposed plans, and they were all too risky to execute. After all, the situation they mired in right now was exactly what Lie Jintian had tried so desperately to avoid.

At the crux of the divergent opinions, the differences lied in whether or not to rally a counterattack at the third defensive line. Although delaying the final showdown until the Zergs had crossed the third line of defense was more appealing to most captains, it meant the doom of all the innocent souls behind the line.

"We will stand our ground at the third line of defense!" Lie Jian announced abruptly but firmly. It took more than just courage to make this decision, since if the counterattack went astray, it might be the end of the entire human race. 

"Relax! If we are well prepared, we should be able to hold the line long enough to hurt the Zerg." Lie Jian said with a cocksure smirk. Lie Jintian didn't question his son; he knew that without enough evidence, Lie Jian would never make such a bold claim.

"I would like to announce good news. We are able to mass produce the energy crystal guns. The first batch is already under production. We are hoping to start to see these guns in the hands of our soldiers within half a month! This will change things significantly." 

The news stirs a swell of surprised murmur. The mass production of the energy crystal gun meant the number of soldiers would be quadrupled. The strength of soul energy would no longer become a restriction in joining the battlefield. Even a helpless granny could turn into a battlefield commando once given an energy crystal gun and a direction to shoot.

"Captain Lie Jian, is this technology reliable?" Someone asked after a few cautious moments.

"Definitely! We had tested the gun many times. This is a research project of Wang Tong."

"Wang Tong?"

Despite the familiarity of the name, no one could remember where or when they had heard of it. Most of the captains were much older than Lie Jian, and had spent most of their life on a battlefield even during peacetime. Therefore, they were less likely to have known Wang Tong than former academy students.

"Was he the one who defeated Patroclus five years ago? The heir of the Blade Warrior?" Qin Yin asked after some time. 

"Yes, that's him. He was the one who solved the technical difficulties."

Although Lie Jian didn't want to use Wang Tong and his title to instill confidence into the minds of the generals, he knew he had no other choice. The assembly of the energy crystal gun would take time, and therefore, he would need these captain's unswerving trust in him. As long as these guns hit the battlefield, Zergs' advantage in numbers would be gone. 

At this most critical moment, everyone needed to have absolute faith in the operation to pull it through.

As a soldier, he or she could be inspired to fight for various ideologies, such as freedom. But, what could inspire these pragmatic generals? The answer was evidence. Even the most cautious decision maker would be willing to take a risky move if he saw enough hard evidence backing the decision. If the Zergs were to breach the final line of defense, they would be able to affect the production of the energy crystal guns, further hampering the humans' comeback. 

It didn't take long before all the captains in the room reached a consensus: they would fight back at the last line of defense unequivocally!

An approving smile flashed across Lie Jintian face. Although he was the absolute leader among these captains, it didn't mean that everyone would follow his order to the letter. At this crucial moment, solidarity was of the essence. Thanks to the last piece of information that his son had hidden so perfectly well, Lie Jintian knew he had gained everyone's wholehearted support.

…

Meanwhile, the Northern warden of Zerg army, Xie Su was riled up by the report coming from his home base. Two cities had been attacked and annihilated. What was worse, no one knew who had done it so far. The loss of these two cities meant a broken link in the supply chain of the primitive Zergs, which made up the bulk of his army.

Xie Su figured that it was not the work of one man; instead, it was that of an entire army. A human army was hiding somewhere behind the front line, within the vast Zerg territory. This was unthinkable!

Despite his anger, Xie Su conceded that he couldn't be distracted by it while he was campaigning against the human resistance forces. This clandestine unit would be caught sooner or later as long as they remained within the Zerg territory. His focus right now should be the imminent final showdown with the Martian resistance. Leveraging his advantage in numbers, he had already pushed the human force to their last leg. After the Zergs had crippled the humans' second line of defense, they had been slowing down the advance as they gathered forces to meet the human forces at the third line of defense.

Meanwhile, the production of Zergs had been working round the clock at maximum capacity to fuel the campaign. The defensive stance along the third line of defense played into Zergs' strength. Zergs had an almost infinite amount of soldiers they could throw onto the battlefield. However, the number of human soldiers was finite. The human soldiers stationed at the last line of defense was the last remaining force in the human world that could ward off a Zerg invasion. Once these soldiers were gone, the end to the human world would be near. 

Meanwhile, in the Zerg controlled territory, Wang Tong had ordered his men to make camp in the thicket of a forest. 

This was a precious respite. Ever since the special unit had razed Danube to the ground, they quickly reached another city, Kazakh, and razed it to the ground too. The attack had caught the dark ones by surprise, since in the five years, never once had they seen a human set foot in their city, much less a full-on invasion. 

Most of the soldiers had hit the hay as soon as they lay down their camp, but Wang Tong had gathered the leaders of the unit to discuss their next move.

The outcome of their raids on the Zerg settlement had proven Wang Tong right in believing that the Zergs was not prepared for an attack from within their territory. Long-term comfort and safety bred contentment in the minds of dark ones as easily as it would in the humans.