Perhaps Binghan the First thought he might never see this city again in his lifeti. He stood there with deep longing, watching the smoke on the horizon, standing for more than ten minutes before reluctantly returning to the basent.
A group of Ministers and Generals were waiting for him. The content of the new war council was actually very simple: how to hold the city before reinforcents and supplies arrived.
Ten years ago, no one thought Furnace Fortress would beco a front-line city, but now it was indeed experiencing a bloody war.
The Tang Army was surrounding the city on three sides, and the civilians inside had truly felt the cruelty of war. The once reasonably well-developed city infrastructure had in an instant regressed by a century or even two.
The power system had been completely cut off, with eighty percent of the city’s electricity supply already halted, coal gas and water supply were similar to electricity. The whole city was lifeless, not a trace of prosperity remaining.
The streets were filled with rubble, and every now and then a military vehicle filled with soldiers would drive by. Barricades had been set up in many places, with so abandoned buses turned into the best obstacles to block traffic.
Centuries-old building facades were piled with sandbags, and young Dwarf Soldiers with short chin beards stood numbly beside the fortifications, waiting for the enemy to arrive.
Everything was already in chaos. Soldiers needed to find food for themselves, civilians couldn’t access biological resources, even drinking water was a problem, and every day hundreds or even thousands of people were mysteriously dying for various reasons.
Because Tang Army’s bombings usually avoided hospitals, the areas around hospitals were packed with refugees, rooftops covered with all kinds of white bed sheets, no one knew what actual use they served.
In any case, so said that seeing white square marks ant the Tang Army wouldn’t dive and strafe, whether or not it was a rumor nobody knew. People were using it anyway, and facts proved it was sowhat effective to so extent.
"As long as General Xie Ke’s troops launch a counterattack, the situation will improve." A military adviser in a general’s uniform stood beside Binghan the First, pointing to the eastern side of the map, explaining his latest combat plan.
More than half of the tanks that just arrived at the front were reinforced to Xie Ke’s 9th Corps. In theory, having gained new combat strength, Xie Ke should indeed do sothing.
But half the people present knew that Xie Ke’s 9th Corps had already suffered heavy losses and had no real ability to launch any so-called counterattacks.
It was even doubtful whether he could hold the current defensive line: they said more than half of the newly shipped tanks were supplented, but in fact, the tanks that arrived at the front totaled just over 100 units.
The confident "more than half" amounted to only 50 or 60 tanks: these tanks were all outdated models, hoping these tanks could have significant impact was unrealistic.
In normal situations, hiding these tanks to take potshots from behind buildings couldn’t pose enough of a threat to the Tang Army. Gathering them to launch a counterattack...they’d be exhausted in basically a single morning.
"General Larb... did your plan seek Marshal Xie Ke’s opinion?" The Empire’s Finance Minister cautiously asked.
Anyway, he had nothing left to do, the Empire’s finances had collapsed over a month ago, he as the Finance Minister now was basically just an advisor, providing advice to Binghan the First.
The whole Empire was already in chaos, normal operations were completely impossible, many local finances were self-resolved, while the Empire’s central functions were close to zero—here it was already the front line, the ability to command and deploy nationwide indeed required a question mark.
"Consult his opinion? All they do is complain, demand weapons and supplies... they should imdiately counterattack and break the enemy’s pincer offensive!" the gravelly-voiced General nad Larb replied.
He just wanted to solve the issue of the Imperial Capital being surrounded, as for how many difficulties the two Marshals fighting outside had, that was their own problem, it had nothing to do with him as the Empire’s Chief of Staff.
"Indeed, we cannot just sit and wait for death!" another Minister chid in in support: His logic was simple, not wanting to die here ant they must counterattack and drive the Tang people out of Furnace Fortress. If they didn’t counterattack, the enemy would advance closer and closer, making death inevitable.
"If Xie Ke can push back the Tang Army fighting at the close outskirts, then indeed the situation would improve a bit..." The Pri Minister at this ti had no solution either, trying any seemingly viable plan out of desperation.
Anyway, losing so soldiers wasn’t a big deal, defense would also lose soldiers, losing a bit more was no huge matter, just supplent more later on.
According to a report he got earlier, two new Corps had already been assembled in the South, they could soon head north as they had little heavy weaponry; their advance wouldn’t be impacted by bombings... In sum, the future could be optimistic.
Although how useful these light Infantry would actually be nobody knew, at least they could solve the problem of insufficient front line Soldiers. As for how those Soldiers’ experience or combat effectiveness might be, that was no longer sothing of concern now.
"Order Xie Ke to counterattack imdiately, quickly repulse the Tang Army harassing the city’s east side... how’s the situation over at the western station?" Binghan the First agreed to the order for a counterattack, then asked about the situation in the west.
The Finance Minister knew the matter of Xie Ke had been decided, so he no longer expressed his opinions. However, he was aware that starting from a few days ago, Xie Ke’s troops’ supplies were already lagging. Anyway, solutions always existed, Xie Ke should think of one himself.
"Marshal Balov is organizing troops for defense, yesterday we lost 1,000 n there, but we still held the position." An officer answered His Majesty The Emperor’s question.
To lose 1,000 n in a single day, that pace was indeed a bit frightening. In the past, fighting a battle might not even result in so many casualties.
The brutality of modern warfare was directly reflected in the casualty numbers, hamring hard onto everyone’s faces. The conference room fell silent for a few seconds, the atmosphere very oppressive.
However, thankfully, the position was at least held, and that was at least good news. The troops in Marshal Balov’s hands were relatively elite, it seed persisting at the western station for a few more days shouldn’t be too difficult.
For now, the west seed defensible, and plans for the east included a counterattack... the only line truly worrying appeared to be the northern one.
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