Counterfeit Hero

Rapid march, attack, breakthrough, then rapid march again.

The Longxing Association advanced with unstoppable momentum.

The Northern Alliance was clearly making a final struggle.

All the troops that could be gathered to block them, were gathered.

From the electronic sand table, centered on the Longxing Association’s vanguard, the entire enemy and allied icons looked like a star system in a radial pattern. The farther out, the fewer the icons; the closer in, the more concentrated they became.

One Northern Alliance unit after another appeared on the Longxing Association’s advance route.

Whether infantry or armored units, they engaged almost upon contact, desperately trying to slow Longxing Association’s advance. Those hastily constructed and rudimentary blockade positions couldn’t really be called fortifications. They merely occupied some favorable terrain to buy time.

Such blockades weren’t even considered by Cheng Zhixuan and Cage.

Guided by Chuckna’s armored troop training standards, the Longxing Association’s Armored Group, trained over many years, could overcome them with a few combat training-like charges.

They advanced triumphantly, with the soldiers’ morale soaring. Some even shouted slogans about sweeping through all of Mars and completely annihilating the Northern Alliance. The pace of the march quickened, and the mecha’s searchlights swayed, making this mighty iron force seem unstoppable, and putting Cheng Zhixuan and Iron Armor Division’s division commander Cage at ease.

The two even sipped tea while playing chess, all the while pondering the situation of the Fatty who dared to infiltrate deep into enemy territory with nine others.

Until they crashed into the Northern Alliance 3rd Infantry Division’s defensive line deployed along the Inner River.

This time, the remaining two infantry regiments of the Northern Alliance 3rd Mechanized Infantry Division, with no retreat available, directly blew up the only bridge on the route capable of communication. Using the city on the west bank of the Inner River as support, they built a strong defense line among the ruins and buildings. The surrounding defense line’s soldiers, mechas, and self-propelled artillery, whatever could be gathered, were gathered to resolutely block the Longxing Association east of the Inner River!

Taking a detour was impossible. Almost immediately upon reaching the Inner River, the first regiment of the Longxing Association’s Iron Armor Division launched an artillery barrage across the river.

Until they were certain that their opponents had lost the courage to resist under the intense shelling, they deployed the armored engineering battalion to start constructing bridges that mechas could cross!

Only when the bridge was halfway built did the previously passive Northern Alliance 3rd Mechanized Infantry Division finally counterattack.

The two sides were only a few kilometers apart, with high-rises offering a distant view. Even without SkyNet guiding the firing data, they could point and shoot. Artillery fire was lively and intense, often destroying an enemy’s artillery position only to be covered by the opponent’s fire before it could be relocated.

Though the Northern Alliance’s Infantry Division was at a disadvantage in this regard, they still managed to destroy the bridge and many engineering mech units. The Longxing Association’s full fire suppression wasn’t enough to stop them.

This setback delayed the Longxing Association’s advance considerably, frustrating Cage. After rejecting the Bandit Army Mecha Team’s request to participate in the attack, he personally went to the front line to command operations.

The second attempt at construction failed even faster than the first.

To suppress the enemy’s firepower, Cage deployed two armored groups to conduct unlimited fire suppression. He vowed to wreck every mecha and self-propelled artillery across the river into scrap metal. Meanwhile, the engineering battalions of the two groups began bridge construction five kilometers apart, upstream and downstream, under this nearly luxurious fire suppression.

However, the 3rd Mechanized Infantry Division’s Commander gave Cage, who had long been away from battle formations, a painful lesson. Two precise and fierce artillery strikes directly interrupted the engineering battalion’s work as they built approach bridges. This made Cage realize that determining where the enemy’s hidden long-range artillery was within the vast cityscape on the west bank of the Inner River, with a radius of nearly thirty kilometers, was an impossible task.

And the Longxing Association was restricted to this river. The bridge was to be built precisely because of the river. As long as the opponent understood this and monitored the west bank of the river, it was enough.

Standing in the temporary observation post, staring at the twisted broken bridge on the river and the enemy’s fortifications on the opposite bank, Cage was furious. If he were in Chuckna, with fighter jets, the SkyNet System, and a three-dimensional strike system, he would have a thousand ways to break through this damned Inner River, but now, all he could do was stand there and pull out his beard one by one!

”Lieutenant Cage!” A staff member removed his headset: ”The Bandit Mecha Squad requests to launch an attack, saying that if you don’t agree, they will act on their own.”

”I admit they’re quite good at combat.” Cage’s loud voice shook the temporary observation post, as he, already feeling enraged, almost roared: ”But there’s a damn river in front of us! What can they do with their broken-down mechas?!”

”Wait, Cage!” Cheng Zhixuan, who had been silent, gestured with a hand, frowning: ”Perhaps we should let them try. Remember, they have escaped from being trapped at the Inner River line by the Northern Alliance several times before.”

”Alright!” Cage hesitated for a moment, then turned to the communication staff: ”Let them prepare to attack and submit their battle plan...”

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