371 Fish Bai (1/2)
UN Northern Front Command HQ
Colonel Frank moved the wooden markers of two Marine Battalions back from the west flank of Falledge all the way to the edge of the Uncharted Forest. He wanted to bait and draw in the Imperial Army on the left of the North Front and once the Imperials were lured in, they will find themselves with the Sawtooth Mountains on their right, two Battalions of Marines in their front and the city of Falledge on their left!
Frank will then throw everything he has on destroying the First Imperial Army which Intel has identified. His strategy now is to defeat the Imperial spearheads one by one, rather than focusing on everywhere. In this end, he has diverted all the bomber wings to Orwell's Point to hunt down the Imperial Fleet lurking around the inland sea.
He looked at the map of the Northern Front and anchored on his left was the Sawtooth Mountains, followed by Falledge, than came a stretch of forested land of almost three hundred kilometers came the river city of Orwell's Point.
The rear of his North Front was the Uncharted Forest and the only city in the front, Orwell's Point was connected to the Capital by a highway through the dangerous Uncharted Forest while the road to Falledge was barely even completed, just a cleared path large enough for the heavy duty trucks and military vehicles to pass by.
The stretch of land between the two cities was the problem as the entire UN does not even have enough troops to hold the ground against the Imperials. Frank carefully placed a square block on the map where a hill was depicted.
He planned for the troops to build a series of large forts along that stretch of land that it will be viewed threatening by the Imperials and forcing their hand to attack those forts. And while the Imperial Armies are busy trying to destroy the forts, he will wipe out the Imperial First Army!
Now, his troops were solely dependant on two slim threads of supply, which can be easily cut off by any marauding goblins or monsters in the Uncharted Forest. Other military combat units only controlled the stretch of road within their designated checkpoints and could only serve as a reaction force when the convoy was attacked.
To protect his vulnerable supply lines, he has taken the liberty of 'requisitioning' certain materials from the production factories, namely several tons of armor plating that appeared to be for the Navy.
Frank broke into a mischievous grin as he recalled 'pinching' the materials that were for the Navy. The Military Logistic department were confused at first when several tons of armor plating arrived at their motor pool until Frank gave them the hint of armoring up their trucks.
Once the hint was understood, everything else was history. The mechanics of the Military Logistic department welded the 'borrowed' armor onto the sides of their trucks and mounted machine guns on all sides of the vehicles.
Thus the Military Logistics' gun trucks were born and the supply convoys required lesser escorts as the supply convoys could defend themselves. The hardened convoy could protect themselves without the need of pulling valuable combat units out from their stations.
Frank nodded to himself once he rearranged the tokens on the map and called his staff to gather in the meeting room to discuss the battle plan. But by now, Commander Ford should had found out that his materials were missing for his ships! So first, he have to pen an apology mail to Commander Ford for borrowing his materials without notifying him!
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First Imperial Army
General Kotor was an old veteran of several campaigns. He was the one who had led the First Army to victory over the beastmen, pillaging and razing the city down and many prime slaves were captured in that campaign. The pacification of the beastmen was also done by him and the First Army, ending them the nickname as the 'Army of the Beast Masters' for the slaves following the First were mostly beastmen.
He frowned as he looked upon the cloudy skies, for the past two days, there was no sighting for the demonic flying crosses coming to drop those demon eggs. ”Has those thrice cursed flying demons ran out of energy?”
His close commanders and aides joined him at watching the skies from under the cover of the forest. The bulk of his Army has scattered into small units and taken shelter under any trees and away from any prying eyes in the skies. His mages had spent much of their power casting glimmer and anti scrying spells all over the Army.
A blonde hair Knight giggled as he sat next to another Knight wearing a full faced featureless helm. ”Say, these rebels are so interesting! Do you think they will be more of a challenge compared to those beastmen?”
The Helmeted Knight gave a wordless shrug while the Laughing Knight sighed, ”It's been so long, my blades are rusty! These rebels better last longer than those kitties!”
”Right?” The Laughing Knight seated on the back of a slave beastman, jerked hard at the metal chain in his hand which was connected to the slave. The collared beast girl with grey blue ears and tail choked as the Laughing Knight asked again, ”How long do you think I can make rebel break?”
The beast girl on all fours choked back her tears and she cast her eyes downwards, fear gripping her heart as her master used her back as a chair. The Laughing Knight grinned, ”Still these rebels have some interesting magic. Think it is comparable to the beast city's magic defenses?”
”Not sure,” The helmeted Knight replied. ”Need to witness before judging...”
”Aww...” The Laughing Knight sighed dramatically. ”When are we going to attack?”
”Soon,” The Helmeted Knight said.
Just as the Helmeted Knight finished his word, a mounted soldier with a messenger flag on his back rode past and yelled at the troops. ”Break camp! The First will begin marching by the end of the glass!”
”See?” The Helmeted Knight said again before he stood up and dusted his armor. ”Let's get ready.”
”Urghh!” The Laughing Knight stood up and stretched. Unlike his armored friend, he was dressed in a set of simple robes with a weapon belt on. He kicked the rear of his slave and said, ”Let's go! Go and pack up everything!”
The beast girl slave bowed and quickly scampered off to do his bid, only to jerk back and fall flat on her rear as the Laughing Knight suddenly pulled the chain in his hand while laughing. ”Hahahaha, alright, you can go now!”