Chapter 1006： Bone grinder

Palin Winterhold came to the high platform of the castle. From here, he could see the direction of the inner city barracks at a glance-the imperial flag with red stripes on the black background was flying high there, and fierce and combative soldiers were between the camps. Activities, and farther away, you can see the mage towers towering in the inner city, and the mage's eyes on the towers are constantly monitoring the entire area.

He raised his head again and looked to the far west-but today's gloomy sky and mist in the air blocked his vision. He couldn't see the Winter Wolf Castle, which is now in the hands of the Cecils, and of course he couldn't. To the more distant Changfeng Fortress.

Is Andesha still safe in Cecil's territory?

The Earl of Winterhold sighed slightly and put his meaningless worries aside for the time being. Then he used magic to communicate with the several mage towers set up in the inner city, confirming that every mage's eye had not found any abnormalities.

The main task of the eyes of these mages is not actually to guard the direction outside the fortress-what they are really guarding is the camp of the Knights in the fortress and several additional barracks outside the city.

Those barracks are full of knights and soldiers who are full of fighting spirit, as well as devout and fanatical priests and combat priests. They are the main force of this war-and the biggest consumable. Since the start of the war, the strength of the Winterhold area has increased to more than six times its normal strength, and new soldiers and priests will continue to rush to the front from the rear every day, making this narrow battlefield more crowded and more dangerous.

According to Palin Winterhold, it is not the army that the magic train brings from the rear every day, but fresh corpses.

The difference from ordinary "corpses" is that these "corpses" gathered in Winterhold are very easy to lose control. They are soaked in fanatical impulses of thought, and their nervous system and external perception have mutated into something that looks human and inhuman. They seem to be ordinary humans on the outside, but their inside... has long since become something distorted that even dark spells cannot discern.

However, in this place at the forefront, these dangerous and distorted polluters still have a way to control them-they only need to strictly follow the rules of war to restrain them, so that they can release the fanatic pressure in the world of God in time, or use large doses Mental tranquilizers can suppress their impulse to destroy or slow down their rate of mutation, at least temporarily.

This is a dangerous state of balance. Every day is like walking on the blade. Palin Winterhold’s task here is to maintain this fragile balance on the blade, and within the threshold of the situation out of control... with the highest Efficiency and the best way to consume these fresh "corpses".

He feels like a technician who controls the burning kettle in a petrochemical acid chemical plant. Every day he accurately calculates the fuel and alchemy accelerator put into the fire. The human life is calculated in his hands, ready for the next time. When the furnace door was opened, he was thrown into the raging flames of war. He maintained the heat of these flames to gradually clear the empire’s pollution, detect and weaken the power of the Cecil, collect data on the battlefield, and adjust the balance. Balance...

He knew that everything he did had a great meaning, but he still found it disgusting.

The war shouldn't be like this-he shouldn't have done this kind of thing either.

"It's colder here than I thought," a voice came from the side, awakening the distracted Count of Winterhold from his thoughts, "but it's hard to say which Aldernan or here is more unbearable— —The cold here is like a blade, hard and sharp, and Aldernan’s cooling is like mud, wet and suffocating."

The earl of Winterhold turned his head and nodded to the earl of Cremont Dart standing next to him-the Aldernan noble came to Winterhold with today’s troop carrier, nominally , He is the commander of the support army, and in essence... he is also one of the "consumables" shipped by the magic train.

"This winter is colder than usual," said the Earl of Winterhold. "It is difficult for soldiers from the central and southern regions to adapt here. But compared to the Cecilians from the north, the environment here is already mild. "

"Soldier..." Cremont Dart repeated the word softly, his gaze looking into the distance, sweeping the barracks flying the imperial flag, "Earl Winterhold, these are very outstanding young people, really Very outstanding... Originally they should all have a bright future, they shouldn't have died in this cold winter."

Palin Winterhold was silent for two seconds, and slowly said: "In the face of the evil spirits of the gods, mortals are so vulnerable. Our motherland needs to be reborn from the ashes, and what you see... is the price of the flames. "

"I only saw meaningless consumption and long saws, but I couldn't see any effective counterattack—whether it was counterattack against the Cecilians or counterattack against the gods," Cremont said in a deep voice. Tell me, does it really make sense to keep burying spiritually contaminated soldiers and priests on this narrow battlefield? Is this cutting blood and poisoning, or is it a waste of life?"

The Earl of Winterhold looked into Cremont's eyes, and then slowly nodded his head after a long time: "I choose to trust your majesty's judgment."

"...What a good reason," Earl Cremont smiled, took a deep breath of the cold air from the north, then turned around and walked slowly towards the exit of the high platform. "In any case, I am already standing here. Now... leave me a good place."

Palin Winterhold watched Cremont walk away slowly. He narrowed his eyes slightly. In his mind, he had begun to calculate the value that this "conservative opposition nobleman" could produce here, and what he brought Where should the support army be spent?

...

Winter Wolf Fort-Shadow Swamp Defense Line, the cold wind is rolling over the undulating hills and low woods distributed along the frozen ground. Some loose snow is lifted by the wind, and it is whirled on the relay piles on both sides of the railway. , And within the shimmering track shield, the heavily armored and majestic armored train Iron Throne-Earthly Python is moving forward along the railway line at cruising speed.

The repulsion generators on both sides of the train were shining with the brilliance of the runes. The mechanical device at the junction of the repulsion point and the carriage slightly adjusted the angle, which slightly accelerated the speed of the train, and the wind-wound snow from the distance passed harmlessly. The shield was drawn into the whistling underneath of the car, and on another parallel railroad track at a distance from the train, there was also an iron scepter light armored train that served as an **** alongside the "Earth Python".

At the rear of the iron scepter’s **** gun carriage, inside the engineering carriage responsible for maintaining the rails, a war technician just adjusted the valves and screws of certain equipment. He raised his head from work and looked through the narrow inlaid on one side of the carriage. Looking out the window of the snow-covered plain, he whispered softly: "This **** snow has finally stopped...I haven't seen a few sunny days since the middle of the misty moon."

"It's not necessarily a good thing to be clear...Those Typhons might be more active than before," another war technician shook his head next to him, "They have come to destroy the railway more than once, although most of the time it has no effect. ...But it is said that they almost succeeded in blowing up Line 7 last time."

The war technician who had spoken before curled his lips and did not continue the topic. He came to the side of the carriage and looked at the snowy world outside more seriously-covered with armor, narrow windows, and all windows covered with a layer of steel. Of course, the military trains of the net will not have any good sightseeing vision. All he can see is a vertical, narrow landscape. In this landscape, the listless groves and snow-stained hills are all He quickly retreated, and in the sky farther away, you could vaguely see iron-gray shadows floating in the sky.

That should be a sign of another snowfall—this **** winter.

"What's wrong?" the partner beside him asked casually, "what did you see?"

"There are clouds on the horizon. Seeing that the scale is not small, I am afraid it will snow again," the war technician muttered. "Judging from my experience, I am afraid it is a blizzard."

"Are you a machine repairer, do you still have experience in judging astronomical phenomena?" The partner curled his lips in disdain, turned his head and looked at the window on the other side of the carriage-outside the narrow, thick glass window, the Iron Throne-Earthly Giant The python's huge body full of momentum is crawling on the track not far away, rumbling forward.

...

In the tactical section of the Earthly Python, the front-line commander Maryland is standing in front of the command seat, watching the many markers on the map attentively. On his desktop, communication devices, drawing tools, and organized data files are in order. .

After a while, Maryland suddenly raised his head and looked at the adjutant aside: "How long will it take to arrive at the combat site?"

The adjutant replied immediately: "Arrive at the shooting area in thirty minutes-leave the shooting area in forty minutes."

Maryland nodded: "Well, the time is just right... Notify the Arsenal section and start pre-filling the rainbow light generator with cooling water. The power ridges at both ends are warmed up in advance-we will soon enter the alert range of the Typhon, they The reaction speed has been much faster recently than before."

"Yes, sir."

Maryland's attention returned to the map in front of him, and between those winding or straight lines on the map, Typhon and Cecil's respective areas of control were tangled together like a canine tooth.

Thirty minutes later, the Iron Throne · Earthly Python will enter a specific shooting area. During the course of about ten minutes, this train will use the on-board Rainbow Cannon to target a certain edge on the Tifeng side. Launch a powerful bombardment-but in fact this distance is a little far away, the rainbow beam should only be able to burn down some of the enemy's outer walls and outbuildings in a limited way, and there may even be few casualties, but this is not important.

The sudden rainbow strike is enough to make the Typhons on the entire defense line highly nervous. They will make large-scale mobilizations to deal with the upcoming formal attack, and will send a large number of reconnaissance troops to try to determine the next march of the Iron Throne. Whether there are more armored trains and **** convoys around the route and when they are all busy... The Iron Throne-Earthly Python will return to the station in the Shadow Swamp, where Maryland will reward itself with a cup of fragrant coffee, if Take a hot bath if possible-while thinking about when the next armored train will leave and where the next real frontal strike will begin.

As for the data collection and research on Typhon's military operations in this process... he will work with the staff.

This is what he has often done in recent times, and it is also one of the tactics he and General Philip have jointly developed-its core idea is to give full play to the mobility of the Cecil Mechanical Corps and to deliver a large amount of firepower in a short period of time. Ability, relying on the several railway lines in the Winter Wolf Fort-Shadow Swamp area and the temporarily constructed forward railway, with the three armored trains of the Zero, the Earthly Python and the recently installed War Citizen as the core of the operation, the continuous operation Harassment-advance-harassment-advance.

The new Hongguang main gun of the armored train is powerful and has an ultra-long range. When the shooting angle is right, it can cause a huge blow to the enemy at a distance. Based on this, the armored train and its **** group continue to patrol the railway. , Randomly harassing Typhon’s fixed strongholds near the extreme range, the enemy will have to frequently mobilize, tired of fighting or avoiding attacks, and if they directly abandon those strongholds and keep a distance from the Iron Throne in plain areas for mobile operations, then the iron The tank squadron carried on the throne will immediately enter the battlefield for mobile harvesting, or simply withdraw, consuming the energy of the enemy.

If the Typhons retreat as a whole in the process, then the engineering vehicle group accompanying the armored train will immediately start to act-laying the "forward railway", further broadening the scope of the Iron Throne, and setting up temporary stations and energy sources The transit station provides mana supplies for tanks and infantry-if the Typhons sit back and watch, then the Cecil legion can build a large number of crisscrossed defensive nets and fortifications in the new occupied area within a week.

And if the Typhonians don't want to watch this happen, then they can only recoil in the occupied area of ​​Cecil at a huge price.

Initially, Maryland would also choose to fight head-on with the Typhons, who were not afraid of death, but realized that those with constant morale, fearless of life and death, and large-scale Transcendent Legion could cause huge damage to the Mechanical Legion once they worked hard. After that, he chose another plan: if the Typhons recoil, then fight them for a while, and immediately retreat once they get the result. The movement speed of the mechanized corps on the railway line is unmatched by conventional infantry. The Iron Throne and its affiliated corps that perform "harassment-propulsion" will soon be able to retreat to the artillery position and the protection zone of the permanent fortifications, and the only thing the enemy can do Yes, that is, to destroy the unfinished fortifications and the temporary "forward railway".

This loss is almost negligible for Cecil's engineering troops.

This kind of advancement can be endless. If it weren’t for the imperial capital’s order, Maryland felt that before the end of the foggy moon, it could rely on this improved version of the “steel advancement” tactic to level the entire Winter Fortress step by step, even just So all the way to Aldernan...

But the imperial capital finally gave the order...at least at this stage, the imperial has no plans to attack Aldernan.

Maryland exhaled softly.

That's good, after all, there are polluted areas over there...The shadow of the out-of-control **** is over the land of Typhon. It's not a good idea to go too deep.