Alien Arms Empire.

Chapter 1732 An unexpected victory

Xie Ke felt that God was on his side: the sudden snowfall relieved him of his worries. The Tang army's terrible air support would be difficult to deploy under such climatic conditions.

Therefore, even though he was not well prepared, he still launched a counterattack impatiently according to Binghan Yishi's order.

The Tang army actually did not have many troops retained on the front line, and there was no order to hold the line, so after encountering the dwarf troops, the Tang defenders who were on the defensive immediately began to retreat.

For them, such a climate was indeed not suitable for fighting: they got on trucks or armored vehicles, quickly broke away from contact with the dwarf counterattack forces along the road, and retreated to the second-line position.

On the first day of the counterattack, Xie Ke received all good news: his troops crossed a river called Port River within an hour, and the Tang army had indeed advanced to the west bank of the river.

After crossing the Port River, the vanguard of the Dwarf Eastern Army continued to advance westward, and in only about three hours, it captured the first village near the west bank of the Port River.

This was the second time that the coalition forces had achieved real results in a counterattack since the two sides went to war: the previous one was the counterattack against Everwinter City.

It was later proved that the counterattack was actually a trap set by the Tang army for the Ice Empire, so strictly speaking, the counterattack could not be considered a success.

It is hard to say whether this time it counts, because no one can be sure whether the results they have achieved now were deliberately given to them by the Tang army.

However, Binghan Yi was very optimistic about this. He believed that the Tang army's line was too long, so this time he keenly captured the weakness of the Tang army, and it was definitely not a flaw left intentionally by the Tang army.

The situation seemed to be developing as Binghan I had imagined: in the evening of that day, Xie Ke's troops advanced more than 15 kilometers, tenaciously captured three villages, and were less than 18 kilometers away from Dalkas, an important town in the southern plains occupied by the Tang army.

Although there was no real fighting between the front-line troops and the Tang army that day and the two sides only maintained limited contact, Xie Ke was still confident of taking down Dalkas.

Even though the dwarf commanders on the front line had been reporting to their front headquarters, emphasizing that they had not encountered the main force of the Tang army, and that the Tang army had not even built proper defensive fortifications, Xie Ke still insisted on launching an attack early the next morning.

He must achieve results in the southern plains before the Tang army encircles and annihilates the 11th and 12th armies. Only then will this counterattack be meaningful and he will be able to give an explanation to Binghan Yishi.

Therefore, regardless of the difficulty in supplying the troops and the fact that the follow-up troops' plan was delayed by snowfall, Sheko ordered his vanguard troops to continue advancing westward.

Early the next morning, the dwarf army opened the frozen tent curtains, had a simple breakfast, and launched another attack.

Their march was extremely slow because their army was large, the road conditions were not very good, and the snowfall had not stopped. These factors severely restricted the dwarves' advancement.

However, that afternoon, Xie Ke's most trusted vanguard, his absolute main force, which he had been reluctant to use since the war, and therefore barely retained until now, the 9th Armored Division of the 9th Army of the Ice Empire, finally arrived in Dalcas. This town is not very large, but it is indeed a very important transportation hub on the southern plains. There is also a large-scale machinery factory in its suburbs. Seizing this place can at least allow Xie Ke's troops to gain some front-line maintenance and repair capabilities for heavy armored vehicles.

The 9th Armored Division, which had already made preparations to engage in a battle with the Tang army in the town of Dalcas, only encountered a small-scale resistance from the Tang army.

Several armored reconnaissance vehicles of the Tang army launched anti-tank missiles, and after losing several dwarf tanks on the periphery, they broke contact, passed through the city and left.

After losing several tanks and cautiously entering the city, the dwarves discovered that the Tang army had not set up any defenses here. Perhaps it was because the Tang army had advanced too quickly before and had not had time to build fortifications here, or perhaps it was because the Tang army had no intention of wasting troops here to stop the dwarf army from advancing.

In short, the 9th Army recaptured Dalkas, and this result was the most dazzling and brilliant achievement of the coalition forces since the war began.

You know, from beginning to end, the coalition forces have not been able to recapture any large or medium-sized cities from the Tang army, and even the villages are pitifully few.

Now, Xie Ke has recaptured Dalcas! The coalition's counterattack has finally achieved decent results! After hearing the news, Xie Ke hurriedly sent someone to inform Binghan Yishi, who had just fallen asleep.

Afterwards, the telegram about the Eastern Front's recapture of Dalcas was sent to Ironforge and the Poplar Empire. No one could believe it, but it seemed that Sheko's counterattack had indeed worked.

If the dwarves can retake the southern plains and stabilize the front line in the central mountains, then Ironforge seems to be able to be saved again...

No matter how you look at it, this is an option worth trying. So the Yangmu Empire began to discuss on the same day whether it could increase material assistance to the Dwarf Empire.

The dwarves did not disappoint their elven allies: after capturing Dalkas on the second day, they did not stop their counterattack. On the third day, they continued to advance triumphantly, capturing all the villages around Dalkas and pushing the front line another 9 kilometers westward.

Because the logistics transport could not keep up with the advance of the front-line troops, the dwarves' offensive speed had to slow down. However, they advanced nearly 40 kilometers in three days, which was a remarkable achievement.

In order to win the battle as soon as possible, Sheko ordered the dwarf infantry to march lightly and occupy as many areas as possible. This decision made the dwarves achieve even more brilliant results on the fourth day: they advanced 4 kilometers, which was faster than the third day.

However, because the dwarf infantry advanced alone, the Tang army wiped out more than 1500 dwarf soldiers in the delaying battle. These losses also made Xie Ke feel the pressure.

He knew that the Tang army should not have more troops on the front line, but just a small number of troops had already caused heavy losses to the dwarf attack.

If the snow stopped, the advance would probably be unsustainable... Now all he could do was pray. Pray that the weather would still be on their side, and pray that the 11th and 12th Armies could hold out a little longer.