Counterfeit Hero

Chapter 1522: Chapter 32: Blitz (15)_4

”What?!” Owens was ecstatic.

For modern armored units, even rugged mountain terrain, ten kilometers is just a blink away. Even if they can’t arrive immediately, they can reach before the bandit army’s next attack.

He didn’t care that the bandit army had already started preparing for an attack; he turned back and climbed onto the observation position again. However, when he looked out from the observation hole, everything before his eyes made him freeze.

At the bandit army’s assault position, there was already no one left. Only an abandoned transport mecha and a few maintenance vehicles remained at the original spot.

At the foot of the distant mountain, the fleeting shadows of a few bandit army mechas at the tail end of the formation could be vaguely seen before they vanished.

”The bandit army just retreated like that?”

Owens dared not order a pursuit and could only stand there in a daze. It wasn’t until ten minutes later, when two Jiepeng armoured battalions slowly appeared in front of him, that he snapped out of it.

”Colonel, Second Regiment can’t hold on. They’ve sent people over requesting support!”

Recalling Admiral Beize’s operational plan, Owens didn’t dare delay and quickly ordered the 3rd Battalion to lead a company from the Second Battalion to support the Second Regiment.

After all, with the two battalions that had just reached the foot of the mountain, he wasn’t afraid of the enemy executing a surprise return attack.

However, the sudden disappearance of the bandit army still faintly troubled him with a sense of abnormality.

While hesitating, suddenly, the signal light for emergency communication at the command headquarters flashed brightly. A document was being transmitted laboriously amidst intense electronic interference.

Moments later, when Owens opened the document personally sent by Beize Xian, his face suddenly turned pale.

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”The old man always loved weaving webs, didn’t he?” Fatty’s hands flew across the simulation computer as if in a frenzy, ”Let Master Fatty see you weave to your heart’s content!”

Following Fatty’s commands, on the SkyNet screen, bandit army units roamed around everywhere. One seemingly impregnable Jiepeng fortification after another was conquered, with one blue Jiepeng arrow after another disappearing like ink dissolving in water under the siege of numerous red arrows.

”General,” a stunned Feiyang Colonel staff officer couldn’t help but ask Pereira, ”How can this be?”

Other staff officers nearby also turned their heads at the sound, looking at each other in bewilderment. No one could understand how the Jiepeng Forces, despite having numerical and terrain advantages against the bandit army deploying less than an armored division for extended attacks, suddenly collapsed completely.

Pereira stared at the SkyNet screen, silent for a long time, finally letting out a long sigh. This sigh contained undisguised admiration, shock, envy, and even jealousy.

”Have you heard of The One That Escaped?” Pereira slowly said.

”The One That Escaped?” A staff officer exclaimed, ”General, are you talking about thirty years ago......”

”Yes,” Pereira replied, ”The so-called ’The One That Escaped’ is like a jar filled with marbles. If there are no gaps, then all the marbles will quietly stay in their positions, unable to move. But once one marble is removed, theoretically, every marble can be moved and swapped, as long as there are enough steps.”

He quietly watched the SkyNet screen, taking a deep breath: ”To tear through Beize’s web and break the balance of these few positions, General Tian merely pulled out a thread.”

The staff officers were silent. Pereira continued, ”Beize occupied strategic points of the corridors to threaten our main advance route, aiming to stall us. Due to rushed deployments, Beize couldn’t concentrate too much force here, so he had to use positions and the cover of limited forces to stall us.”

Speaking as he walked to an electronic sand table and pointed at several Jiepeng positions with an electronic pointer: ”These positions are defended by a total of six armored groups, interlinked, capable of covering each other. To take them down would require three to four times the force.

However, we need to rapidly pass through Feisha Valley, so naturally, we can’t station a large force here. Even with the bandit army’s strong combat capabilities, plucking these nails with only one armored division’s force would require substantial time. Hence, General Tian employed a tactic that the enemy couldn’t even dream of.”

”This tactic is straightforward when explained and basically involves three words: time difference.” Pereira explained, ”General Tian launched a full-scale attack, creating an illusion for the enemy that we were going to remove the nails before leaving. Then with a small troop, he sealed the paths where enemy reinforcements could appear around the positions, concentrating force to fiercely attack one position.”

”Thus, when one position suffered heavy losses and couldn’t wait for reinforcements, calling for help from surrounding areas, The One That Escaped emerged.”

Pereira looked around, continuing.

”The position sending troops to assist neighboring positions didn’t realize that they themselves were the most dangerous. Though bandit troops at the positions were fewer, their combat strength was formidable. They could see the numbers but couldn’t see the bandit army’s combat strength under concealment.”

”More importantly, the bandit army remained in a position to attack or retreat, while the enemy, until orders were received, dared not leave the position easily. When the Jiepeng Force at the A position calling for help realized the opposite bandit army retreated, they didn’t know their reinforcements were on the way, while the bandit army moved in the opposite direction, joining allied forces to attack B position sending out troops for reinforcement.”

One staff officer suddenly understood, ”General, does this mean, when B position faces bandit army attacks, their interlinked strategy would bring the same misfortune to C position?!”

”Of course!” Before Pereira could reply, another staff officer interjected. He glanced at the one who spoke first and said, ”Didn’t Lord Hastings employ the same tactic thirty years ago?”

”Anyone can use this tactic,” Pereira solemnly said, ”However, over these years, besides Lord Hastings, only General Tian could employ it so masterfully.”

He looked at the busy silhouette on the command platform, akin to a frenzied pianist, with a hint of a cold smile at the corner of his mouth: ”Beize Xian shouldn’t have underestimated the bandit army’s combat power. Although the bandit troops in front of the positions were fewer than the defenders, their combat strength was sufficient to support General Tian’s time difference tactic.”

”More importantly,” he glanced around at the eager-eyed staff officers with a smile: ”Beize Xian shouldn’t have engaged General Tian in such small-unit, multi-line confrontations. Although it’s said his simulation speed is unrivaled in all of Jiepeng, compared to General Tian, he’s too slow.”

Too slow.

The staff officers chewed on those three words, watching Jiepeng troops on the screen in a lamentable predicament, unsure where to go, even frantically charging toward positions already conquered by bandit forces, feeling their hearts pound.

It wasn’t Beize Xian who was too slow.

Instead, it was Fatty General and his bandit army that were simply too fast!

Twenty kilometers ahead lies Feisha Valley!

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.(To be continued, for the rest of the story, please visit www.qidian.com, more Chapters, support the author, support legitimate reading!)