Alien Arms Empire.

Chapter 1864 1865 Dorne is going to run
"Dorn is trying to run away!" In the Tang army's front-line combat headquarters that has moved forward to Wolf City, a huge battlefield situation map is hung on the wall. Flags and signs of various colors are used to clearly mark the troop deployment and latest movements of both sides.

Marshal Tiger stood in front of the map, his eyes sharply scanning the blue flags representing the Dorne Legion. They were moving impatiently towards the southwest, obviously having sensed that something bad was going to happen and were trying to find a way out. He stretched out his hand and pinched his chin, his tone was a little playful, like an experienced hunter who saw his prey fleeing in panic and had a comprehensive hunting plan in mind.

"Yes, the information reported by the front-line troops is that the defense lines guarded by Dorne in the past few days have been taken over by the troops of the Lions Empire." A combat staff officer stood beside Marshal Tiger, holding a newly delivered battle report in his hand. After quickly browsing it, he looked up and reported the latest military intelligence to Marshal Tiger: "They want to run away, leaving the mess to the Lions Empire, so that they can slip away."

Not only on the front battlefield, the reconnaissance plane also confirmed a piece of news, that is, the Dorne troops who were reinforcing Yucheng had stopped halfway, and many troops were even turning back to the south. It seemed that the enemy had confirmed that there was no need for rescue on Lions' side, and they wanted to save their troops to defend their own country.

"Where can they run to? Do they think they can outrun our wheels with their two legs? The air force has cut off the railway near the front line. By the time they find a train, it will be 50 kilometers away." Although Eric is not tall, he is very strong and stands out among the generals. After hearing the report from the staff officer, he couldn't help but snort coldly, his tone full of disdain and contempt. In his opinion, it was too late for the Dorne Legion to escape now. The iron torrent of the Tang army had already laid a net of heaven and earth, waiting to swallow them up completely.

"Once they leave the ruins of Jade City, they will be nothing more than a group of lambs to be slaughtered. After Jade City, there is not even a proper line of defense in the heartland of the Lions Empire!" An army general sitting next to Eric, who was a little thin but had a pair of bright eyes, took over Eric's words and commented in a cold tone.

The complex terrain and ruins of Yucheng provided some cover for the Dorne Legion, allowing them to rely on the ruins to resist tenaciously. But if they chose to abandon Yucheng, it would mean that they would be completely exposed to the Tang army's front, and the only fate waiting for them was to be ruthlessly crushed.

For the Tang army, those enemy troops deployed in the wilderness posed no threat. All they had to do was catch up and surround the enemy, and the rest would be capturing prisoners and brushing off their achievements.

"But it's normal for them to have such a reaction. After all, if they retreat, they might be able to take away some personnel and equipment. If they stay, they can only wait to be annihilated by us." Another general's voice was relatively low. He pushed the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose and analyzed the situation of the Dorne Legion in a calm tone, trying to understand their choice from a strategic perspective.

From Dorn's perspective, it was indeed as he said: staying where he was was like waiting to die, and waiting to die was obviously the most passive way. Letting the troops of the Lions Empire cover the rear and running away as soon as possible was obviously a smarter choice.

"Indeed, even if we surrounded these Dorne troops in the wild, we can only destroy 90 percent of them at best." A bearded general said in a rough voice, with a hint of regret in his tone, as if he felt sorry for not being able to completely wipe out the enemy.

Although from the paper figures, 90% of the troops being wiped out is no different from being completely wiped out, there will still be some stragglers who slip through the net. From a macro perspective, if the base number is large enough, there will still be a lot of slippers: for example, the number of slippers who retreated to Susas from the Yangmu Empire is at least hundreds of thousands.

This time, Dorne's troops fled more resolutely and faster, so the number might be even higher: Tiger made a casual calculation in his mind and estimated that nearly one million Dorne troops could return to Dorne's northern border.

But this is just a number. It is not certain how much heavy weapons and equipment these troops can take away, how much combat effectiveness they can retain...or in other words, even how much combat effectiveness these troops can have now is actually not certain.

After such a long period of consumption, it is actually a big question mark how many main forces that can fight hard battles are left in Dorne's ground forces. According to the most conservative estimate, at least 50% of the one million troops returning to Dorne are new recruits who collapsed at the first blow!
It is a huge project to transport troops and weapons and equipment to the vicinity of the battlefield. It is also equally troublesome to transport the weapons, ammunition, personnel and equipment away. It has always been the dream of military commanders to be able to come and go as they please. As for whether it can be done, it depends on luck, strength and the technical conditions at the time.

Obviously, the coalition forces, or now we can say the Dorne Empire, do not have the technical conditions to do so: their transportation relies heavily on railways, and they cannot find a sufficient number of trains in a short period of time, so naturally there is no way to withdraw the troops heading north back to the country.

And those heavy equipment such as artillery and tanks, which were already limited in number, would naturally suffer losses during the mobilization process. Without perfect logistical supplies and ample time for repair and maintenance, 80% of them would be abandoned along the way, wasted in the process of going back and forth.

The precious and limited remaining combat power was consumed in meaningless running back and forth, and I think the generals on the Dorne side must feel painful. But they have no choice, because the Lions Empire is indeed unreliable.

If they don't retreat, when the Lions Empire unilaterally makes peace with the Tang Empire and chooses to surrender... their situation will only become more difficult. By that time, it will not be as easy for them to get the Lions Empire's railway system to cooperate as it is now. They may not even be able to find a proper train.

"With Yucheng behind us, we can't go too deep into the heart of Lions... But, we can probably chase for a hundred kilometers?" A general pointed to the red mark on the map that represented the area controlled by the Tang army and put forward his own ideas with a hint of inquiry in his tone.

"It depends on the situation. If the Air Force can provide support, I think 200 kilometers is still achievable." General Eric's eyes moved back and forth between the Tang army-controlled area and the Dorne Legion's retreat route on the map. He kept gesturing with his fingers, as if estimating the distance of the pursuit.

He was a serious frontline commander with a lot of experience. If he followed his idea, he could actually do 300 kilometers or even 500 kilometers. However, in a meeting to discuss combat plans, he had to be more conservative and involve other military branches to share the responsibility.

"There are no problems with the air force. Both the Bunas Airport and the Ice Crystal City Airport are ready for use." Admiral Xiao Yun said confidently, his tone full of absolute confidence in his own strength. The air force of the Tang Army has long firmly controlled the air superiority of the battlefield and can provide strong support to the ground forces at any time. In fact, he is now the person in charge of the air force, because Tang Mo recently promoted the rank of Air Force Commander-in-Chief Brahim to Air Force Marshal. However, after being promoted to Air Force Marshal, Brahim is more like a symbol of the air force, rather than a front-line commander, so the command of the air force on the East Continent has been determined to be assigned to Admiral Xiao Yun.

"We have mature experience in airdropping supplies... Moreover, the coalition forces in Yucheng are already overwhelmed. Do you think they are really capable of threatening your army's transportation lines?" Another air force general sitting next to Xiao Yun asked with a smile, with a hint of ridicule in his tone. In his opinion, whether it is the army of the Dorne Empire or the army of the Lions Empire, they are now dogs that have lost their homes and are completely unable to pose any threat to any transportation lines of the Tang army.

In fact, the biggest hidden danger of this dangerous method of attacking by bypassing a city is that the enemy defenders in the bypassed city may rush out at any time to harass the attacking party's transportation and supply routes.

In ancient times, nomadic cavalry could bypass the cities of agricultural civilizations and penetrate into the strategic depths of agricultural civilizations to burn, kill and loot. The most important thing was that they could ignore their own logistical supplies. The essence of this was "looting."

In modern warfare, if you want to bypass a heavily guarded enemy city, you will not be able to use the railways and roads passing through the city, and you will not be able to provide sufficient logistical supplies for the troops that continue to attack, so generally few generals will make such a bold arrangement.

But the Tang army didn't really care about these things. On the one hand, the powerful Tang army had already compressed the Lions Empire defenders inside Yucheng and they could not move. Paul had no way to withdraw troops to launch a counterattack and harass the Tang army's logistics supply routes that passed around the city.

On the other hand, the Tang Army's powerful logistical supply capabilities are enough to support the Tang Army's reliance on pure field supplies to advance the front line by hundreds of kilometers... The reason why the Army wants to bring the Air Force along is just that it hopes to be able to advance further when necessary, or to have a backup plan in case of an accident.

"It's better to be prepared... hehe." The general who proposed the 100-kilometer pursuit responded with a smile, his tone relaxed. He knew that the air force generals would definitely give the army absolute support, and the army's so-called concerns about the supply line were actually only a tiny bit insignificant. But for the sake of caution, he and other staff officers still insisted on making full preparations to deal with various emergencies.

"It doesn't matter for our Air Force. As long as Marshal Tiger doesn't mind the efficiency of the Air Force in cutting off the enemy's escape route to the south, there will be no difficulty in allocating some aircraft to support the Army's advance." Xiao Yun made a guarantee. His Air Force no longer has to worry about supply and maintenance issues. As the saying goes, with a rich financial background, he can naturally be rich and powerful.

"That's good. I will immediately let Strauss's troops bypass Yucheng and start moving forward, and let Ying'an's troops take over his current position. After walking for so long, it's time to let Ying'an's 11th Army stretch its muscles." After listening to the discussion of the generals, Marshal Tiger decisively issued new combat orders with a firm and powerful tone that left no room for doubt.

From the perspective of location, Strauss's 3rd Army is the southernmost organized ground force, so it is naturally the best choice to let them bypass the city and go south. As for Yucheng...it has already entered the final stage, so it doesn't matter who is sent to the field.

"Leave the rest of the matters to Strauss himself. Well, now we can consider the troops to be deployed in the second phase." After saying that, Marshal Tiger turned his gaze to the combat staff and spoke calmly, as if discussing a trivial matter.

"There is nothing to consider. Feng Kezhi's 9th Army and Hogg's 1st Army are almost enough." A staff officer replied immediately, obviously knowing the next battle plan clearly.

"The other troops will follow the plan and rest while marching south... In short, your majesty's great cause of unification has reached the final stage. The more it comes to this point, the more we must not be careless!" Marshal Tiger glanced around at the generals present and warned in a serious tone that although victory was in sight, he was well aware that an arrogant army will eventually be defeated, and only by staying vigilant at all times can we ultimately win a complete victory in the war.

"For His Majesty the Emperor!" Everyone raised their chins and sang loudly, "Long live the Emperor!"

Judging from the current situation, the Lions Empire will definitely surrender in a short time, otherwise Dorne would not be so determined to stop the troops from moving north. Now, the Tang Empire only has Dorne as its only nominal enemy.

The more it is at this moment, the more we cannot be too anxious. Tiger decided to let the troops rest in Lions for at least ten days and then enter the Dorne Empire in the best condition.

As for the other Nanla Empire... they have been enjoying themselves the whole time. From the beginning to the end, this empire has never participated in the anti-Tang alliance and has always maintained absolute neutrality.

But the current situation is that the war for the unification of the two continents by the Tang Empire has reached this point. How can the Nanla Empire continue to exist freely and neutrally? So it is time to send personnel to the Nanla Empire to ask whether His Majesty the Emperor of the Nanla Empire is a "hero" who knows the current situation.

"That's not our job. Let Nangong Hong and Jiang Run worry about it." A general chuckled and threw the blame directly to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Anyway, if the negotiations fail, they can just leave it to the soldiers.