Chapter 1692: 1693The hidden truth
Chapter 16921693 The hidden truth
Street fighting is like this. Sometimes the two sides are less than ten meters apart and cannot see each other through a few walls.
You go east, I go west, we just miss each other, as if there is no desire to fight between us.
The Tang Army was cleaning up the dwarf soldiers one building after another. They couldn't blow every building into ruins. After all, they wanted to occupy a city, not wipe it off the map.
It is very difficult to clean up the ruins and rebuild the city. If the Tang army did not want to increase the difficulty and cause trouble for themselves, they could not use artillery shells to turn the entire city into ruins.
There are millions of dwarf civilians in this city. If the city is blown up, it will be equivalent to massacre of these civilians. Such accumulated hatred will only make it more difficult for the Tang army to occupy the Ice Empire.
In fact, the dwarves were already dying in large numbers without the massacre by the Tang army: they lost their water supply, power supply, and food sources, and could only live among the ruins and rubble without any protection.
But after all, this city has a population of millions. Thousands of people die in one day and it doesn’t actually mean anything. Especially in a state of war, no one cares whether people they don't know a block away live or die.
Just a few buildings away, on the other side of a seemingly wide road, dwarf soldiers were reinforcing a new line of defense.
They reinforced sandbags behind the barricades they had built before, placed the prepared rocket launchers in a convenient place, and looked through the gaps in the direction where the enemy might appear at the end of the street.
The Tang Army is close at hand and may launch a new attack at any time. They must prepare as soon as possible and deploy firepower points in the buildings on one side to form a solid defense line that supports each other with the barricades.
Dwarf infantry can shoot from a high position in buildings at Tang troops trying to attack the barricades until they are driven out of these buildings.
If the enemy uses heavy firepower, it will play into their intentions: as long as the building collapses, this road can be blocked, and then the tanks and armored vehicles of the Tang Army will have no way to pass here.
This tactic must have caused huge losses, but they had no good solution: they had almost no heavy artillery support, and they had very few anti-tank weapons.
There is no way to deal with the tanks of the Tang Army. They can only rely on obstacles to stop the Tang Army's progress. What else should we do? Throw rocks at tanks?
…
In the basement, Binghan I finished the beef and potatoes on the plate, and wiped his beard covered in sauce with a napkin. His food is still very exquisite, prepared by dedicated chefs, and tastes delicious and delicious.
Ironforge has not yet been completely surrounded, and no matter how short of supplies it is, it is impossible to lose the supply from His Majesty the Emperor. When millions of dwarf civilians were unable to eat, Binghan I could still choose the food he wanted to see that day from his menu.
Although his appetite has not been very good recently, he can still eat something. What he chose today was the meat from the back of the beef, a local specialty of the Ice Empire. It had a chewy texture.
“Has Marshal Xieko launched a counterattack on the Eastern Front?” Putting down his napkin, the dwarf Emperor looked at Chief of Staff Larbu who came to report the battle situation. Larbu was stunned for a moment. He remembered what the Prime Minister reminded him before coming here, and then reported: "Your Majesty, Marshal Xieke's counterattack was very successful and he recaptured part of the defensive positions on the outskirts of the city, but the Tang army is very powerful. , Marshal Xie Ke failed to completely drive the Tang army out of the suburbs."
The Prime Minister reminded Larbu not to cause trouble for Xie Ke, because if His Majesty the Emperor loses trust in Xie Ke, then it is very likely that he, the Chief of Staff, will do the work that Xie Ke is doing.
Lalb was naturally unwilling to be the commander of the Eastern Front. Even if he was given a marshal, he would not be willing to take over Xie Ke's mess.
Things have reached this point, and everyone knows what the ending will be like. It is better to leave yourself a little dignity than to remain stubborn...
So, Larbu helped Xieko conceal the fact that the Eastern Front Army did not fight back, and even lied to fabricate a limited victory.
Sure enough, after hearing that Xie Ke's counterattack had achieved certain results, Binghan I felt much better. His expression visibly relaxed a little, and he rubbed his hand back and forth on the napkin a few times: "Send a piece of beef to Marshal Xieke... By the way, send a piece to Marshal Balov too! Thank them for serving the empire... Everything.”
As an emperor, he still has basic skills. Even at this time, Binghan I did not forget to win people's hearts.
It's just that his beef can't solve any problems. What Xieko lacks is effective air support, tanks and anti-tank weapons, medicines and a huge amount of ammunition supplies.
In the current dwarf army, even the helmets have to be used by several people in turns. New recruits can only equip themselves by picking up supplies from corpses...
In such a situation, a plate of delicious beef would not have any effect. While Xie Ke was eating the beef sent by Binghan I, he had to order the defense of a street to be abandoned.
His troops were retreating, leaving behind a large number of corpses: not only of soldiers, but of civilians as well. The scorched earth policy of the dwarves not only caused trouble for the Tang army, but also brought untold suffering to their civilians.
"Marshal... we didn't launch a counterattack. Your Majesty... why did we send you this food?" the adjutant asked, somewhat worried about his commander.
Xie Ke smiled nonchalantly while eating: "No one is willing to take over my mess at this time. This is obvious... As for His Majesty, maybe he doesn't even know how bad the war situation has deteriorated in the past two days. Bar."
His guess was correct at all. No one dared to tell Binghan I the true battle situation. In the last few days, everyone chose to hide the truth in order to gain a moment of peace.
The truth is no longer that important. After all, everyone already knows the outcome: since the dwarf army cannot stop the Tang army from the outside of Ironforge, then they cannot defend the city of Ironforge.
Even a fool knows that after a while, the Tang army will occupy this place, and only God knows how much will the Ice Empire still has to resist after losing Ironforge.
In recent days, Binghan I has rejected several proposals from ministers and refused to retreat to the south... It is already obvious what he meant.