Counterfeit Hero

Chapter 1543: Chapter 9 Volume 39: God or Devil_3

After all, that was the manpower of two entire Army Groups, fourteen divisions in total. Not some soft persimmon they could knead at will!

Aside from this assessment, there was another point that kept Bellif calm and composed.

Ten hours earlier, he had already ordered the ten reserve Armored Divisions under his command to assemble at combat readiness. Just another ten hours, and he would be able to place several more attack arrows on the western side of the Sunset Mountain Basin on the map, adding another layer of insurance to his battle plan.

He didn’t want to mobilize the whole army over some little trick of the enemy.

Meeting all changes with no change—that was the bearing of the strong. Having seized the advantage in timing, terrain, and morale, all he needed to do was wait for word that the Sunset Mountain Defense Line had been breached.

Once the line broke, any trick would be nothing more than a joke not worth a sneer.

While waiting for news from the Sunset Mountain front, Bellif never glanced at the operations map again. Though he was known for his caution, he was no turtle that would shrink back into its shell at the first scare.

Everything that needed doing had already been done. As he savored his wine, he preferred to let his thoughts linger on the exhilaration of having everything under control and the pleasure of seeing through the opponent’s petty cleverness, rather than worrying about enemy forces they could not possibly possess, moving through terrain they could not possibly traverse in a time frame that was impossible.

He had always had confidence in his judgments, grounded in basic common sense and years of war experience. Until, the urgent reports from Xiushui River Town and Seven-star Town came in.

”Marshal!” A Suss Vice Admiral braced himself and broke the silence inside the cabin. ”I think we should notify the frontline units to pull back as soon as possible. If the Fei Alliance garrison at Seven-star Town and Xiushui River Town link up with the enemy coming from 49 Peak, I’m afraid...”

This Army Vice Admiral bit off his speculation as if biting his own tongue.

Bellif’s livid face and vicious eyes made his heart pound in instinctive panic.

For nearly ten years, to break out of the increasingly barren Star Domain of the Suss Empire, the Royal Family had sharpened spears and polished blades, almost draining the last copper coin in the treasury, squeezing the last bit of wealth out of the populace. The whole of Suss had been preparing without pause to meet this war.

Suss could not afford to lose, and Bellif could not afford to lose. In fact, if this carefully orchestrated campaign ended in a fruitless retreat, for Bellif it would scarcely differ from outright defeat.

The Resk Battle was, from the outset, the last all-or-nothing gamble between the two nations of Su Jie.

If they could not seize Leifeng Star in a short span, once the Fei Alliance leveraged its economic advantage to exert force in the later stage—once their reinforcements, their newly built warships, their newly built Mecha were continuously transported to Leifeng Star—the fragile superiority the Su Jie Alliance Army had barely scraped together by pawning even their underpants would vanish into thin air.

Yet apart from ordering a retreat, what else could Bellif do?

Regardless of what the real situation was in the several Major Battlezones from Frenso Town to Sherlock, at the very least, the reports from the forward units stated as indisputable fact that more than ten Armored Divisions of Fei Alliance forces had crossed 49 Peak and swung around to the western basin.

If this force had truly punched through the Six Major Battlezones and arrived here within twenty-some hours, then their combat power...

The Vice Admiral couldn’t help but shudder.

He couldn’t let his imagination run any further. Even though everything was telling him this might be true, both emotionally and rationally he would rather believe Bellif’s smiling assessment delivered over a wine glass... that this was merely the Fei Alliance’s last bout of madness.

The arrival of that unit called the bandit army had given them just enough strength to play a little trick.

Though that trick sent a chill down one’s spine, in the end it was still only a trick!

The Vice Admiral kept comforting himself. Just as he was about to fully talk himself into it, a thought surged up uncontrollably.

Was it really just a trick?!

The oppressive silence felt like the heavy, stifling air before a summer storm.

Bellif walked over to the electronic sand table, forcing himself to rouse his spirit and push his mind into full gear.

His finger traced from Frenso Town northward all the way to the two major strongholds in the Sunset Mountain Basin.

It was a straight-line distance of over three hundred kilometers; even with the cross-country capability of Mecha, the actual marching distance along that route exceeded five hundred kilometers.

Let alone fighting all the way—just to cover the full distance at a speed of sixty kilometers per hour would still take eight hours.

To complete such a lightning-fast strategic flanking maneuver, aside from gods, only Devils could do it.

He didn’t know what exactly had happened with Beize Xian and Peterlov, how they had let this force slip through. He only knew that he could not let himself be intimidated, and he absolutely could not order a retreat.

As long as Sunset Mountain was breached, every Phantom would dissipate.

Seven-star Town and Xiushui River Town were still in his hands. Most of the key strategic positions, transport arteries, and towns in the western Sunset Mountain Basin were also still under his control.

At Sunset Mountain he had twenty of his most elite Armored Divisions and two hundred Judgers. Ten hours... no, perhaps in just six to eight hours the reserve units in the rear could come up.

Even if the enemy completed this flanking maneuver, they could not possibly chew through the Northern Cluster main force in those few short hours.

Thirty divisions were enough to shatter a mouthful of their iron teeth and steel jaws!

”Record the orders...” Bellif loosened his collar and rotated his somewhat stiff neck.

The staff officer responsible for recording snapped to attention, quickly opened his electronic notepad, and focused completely.

”Order: the assault forces at Seven-star Town and Xiushui River Town are to switch to defense in place. They must hold their positions at all costs and prevent the enemy from capturing the two towns.”

”Order: reserve units are to increase speed and must arrive here by ten o’clock in the morning. Any unit failing to arrive on time will be sent to a military tribunal under wartime charges of dereliction of duty.”

”Order: units stationed along the No.5 Resource Highway are to halt their advance toward Sunset Mountain and instead divert to reinforce Seven-star Town and Xiushui River Town. The Staff Department is to quickly produce a manpower allocation plan.”

Hands clasped behind his back, Bellif issued a series of orders in succession, then added, ”Also, inform Langman and General Reinhardt that I expect to hear good news from them in the shortest possible time.”

”Yes!” The staff officer accepted the order and turned to leave.

Bellif glanced at the shattered wine glass on the floor, stepped down hard, and ground it viciously underfoot. The sound of glass shards scraping against the metal deck made everyone’s teeth ache.

He had made his decision.

In this round, he would push all his chips in and ride it to the end. No matter what, he would force the other side to reveal their hole cards!

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(To be continued. To find out what happens next, please visit www.qidian.com. More Chapters available—support the author, support legitimate reading!)