Counterfeit Hero

Chapter 1512: Chapter 9 Volume 9: Blitz (12)_2

At the thought of reconnaissance forces roaming the mountains and forests, unexpectedly composed entirely of Level 10 and above Mechanical Warriors, Pereira deeply understood what luxury meant.

Though he could clearly track these national treasure-level Mech Knights through the command system, easily pinpointing them on the electronic sandbox seemed easy. They appeared to be right beside him, within reach. However, all this while following the bandit army and directing the main forces, Pereira had not actually seen these units with his own eyes.

He only knew that whenever a battle zone was broken through, these ghostly bandit army mecha pilots would disappear silently, like falcons in the dark. Only the sound of prey fleeing in panic, the rustling of leaves, and the splattering of fresh blood along with the bloody scent carried by the wind was proof of their existence.

For any commander, fighting against the bandit army is a nightmare.

Unless one has witnessed how these ferocious entities forcefully penetrated enemy positions, slaughtered foes standing in their way, and pierced through boundless enemy armored clusters, leaving behind endless wreckage and black smoke rolling over the wilderness, one cannot understand their terror.

However......

Pereira stared at the electronic sandbox. He knew that even for the powerful bandit army, the upcoming battle would be extremely tough.

In front of them lay the Jiepeng 25th Army Group with eight complete armored divisions, and further ahead were six armored divisions of the Suss 21st Army Group. In terms of scale, this would be a medium-sized battle usually lasting over half a month. However, the bandit army had to complete the battle within the few remaining hours.

”The combat strength of the Jiepeng 25th Army Group is very strong.”

When Pereira frowned, it felt like someone gripped his brow harshly, completely piling it together. As he opened his mouth to say this summary sentence, his voice sounded dry.

”From the perspective of our military strength, defeating them is not a problem,” he lifted his head, his eyes shining with a faint light as he gazed at Fatty and Margaret, carefully saying, ”However, I don’t recommend a full-frontal assault. There’s only one reason... we don’t have enough time.”

Fatty and Bonnie exchanged a glance, nodded, signaling Pereira to continue.

”This is the Tulun River, the eleventh largest river on Leifeng Star,” Pereira pointed at the winding light blue line on the electronic sandbox, introducing, ”Jiepeng 25th Army Group primarily uses the southern bank of the Tulun River as no man’s land, deploying layers of defenses. The right wing with three divisions is responsible for attacking our Charloks line in the Jingfeng Valley sector. The left wing, with five divisions, attacks our Bilin Mountain sector.”

”The 33rd Army once took charge of defending Jingfeng Valley and Bilin Mountain during the troop rotation. Jingfeng Valley’s terrain is perilous, easy to defend, hard to attack; Bilin Mountain is majestic and towering, resembling a five-faced screen, overlooking from above, its terrain more perilous than Jingfeng Valley. These two sectors are key defense segments on our Phoenix City western line, well fortified and indestructible with years of fortification.”

Pereira pointed at the locations of Jingfeng Valley and Bilin Mountain on the map, briefly introducing the terrain and defense lines, setup levels, etc., then asked, ”General Tian, do you know the damage ratio of our 33rd Army against the enemy during the days they held these two sectors?”

Fatty knew Pereira wouldn’t ask without reason, thought seriously, and said, ”Not less than one to three.”

This ratio was based on the construction of the two sectors’ positions, firepower setup, and the enemy’s ability to deploy and commit offensive forces. Fatty was very familiar with Feiyang forces’ combat capabilities. Whether it was the advanced level of mecha weaponry, logistics support, electronics technology advancement, or soldier training, Feiyang Army far exceeded Jiepeng Army.

In flat, frontal combat situations, devoid of terrain advantage, random factors, and command factors, one Feiyang Armored Division can defeat thrice to four times its size of Jiepeng Army.

Therefore, Fatty’s guess was extremely conservative. He didn’t even factor in the defender’s geographical advantage.

Yet unexpectedly, Pereira shook his head with a bitter smile, saying, ”It’s embarrassing to say, but our 323rd and 324th Armored Divisions stationed at these two sectors during those five days had a loss ratio of one to one point five against the enemy!”

Fatty and Bonnie’s expressions suddenly turned serious, while the bandit army staff beside them exchanged glances, astounded.

A one to one point five ratio, not to mention that the 33rd Army is Feiyang’s Level 1 Forces, even as a Second-level troop, relying on the perilous terrain, solid structures, should result in much more.

”There’s a reason within ourselves,” Pereira said, ”At that time, our main position on Charloks Mountain was continuously under fierce attack by the Suss 21st Army Group, and during the troop rotation, the command post couldn’t find units to temporarily fill in. Seeing the frontline troops exhausted and unable to withdraw, we redeployed two divisions to these sectors. In fact, the basic troop configuration of these sectors has always been three divisions, one division at the frontline, two divisions in reserve.”

Pereira lit a cigarette, took a hard puff, his eyes like a lone wolf in the night staring at the sandbox, then continued, ”In terms of combat capability, one of our divisions can take out two to three of theirs no problem, but our miscalculation lay in underestimating the enemy’s ferocity.”