Emperor's Bane

Chapter 984 Pressing forward step by step

What do you think of the current situation?

"To be honest: it's not good, Lord Lemanrus."

As the offspring of Rogdorath, the Imperial Fists seem to be born immune to lies.

Whether it's well-intentioned deception or a compromise that slightly modifies or conceals the facts, none of it works with the Seventh Legion: they don't care about the subjective impact of words on the audience; the only thing they care about is the objective value behind the words.

This is especially true from a military perspective.

For a long time, the Sons of Dorne have had an unwritten but unwavering rule: once they discover that an ally has dared to omit or deceive them regarding military intelligence, then regardless of their status or past relationship, the Fist of the Empire will never trust that ally again.

This unwritten rule has always been quite well-known within the Primarch and Astartes circles.

Lemanrus had at least heard of it.

Therefore, even though he was nominally and in fact the supreme commander of the Betangamon fortress complex, the Fenris would still try his best to show his composure and courtesy when facing the true creator of this impregnable fortress. Fortunately, so far, perhaps because of the enemy's overwhelming force, both the Space Wolves and the Imperial Fist had gotten along fairly well in the same trench.

Of course, this subjective unity cannot mask the objective disadvantages they are gradually falling into.

"Judging from the current situation, the enemy has recovered from the initial setbacks and chaos. They are systematically tearing apart our defenses, while we are forced into a passive and defensive position."

“Now, we are gradually losing the initiative we already have in the war: this is not a good thing.”

The highest military commander of the Imperial Fist Legion in the Betangamon Fortress Complex was named Akanmus, an Invet veteran with a square face, broad nose, thick lips, and three service nails. He was exactly two hundred years old at the time and was one of the first Invets to join the Legion. His current position was the leader of the Honor Guard of Primarch Dorne.

In other words: equivalent to Morgan's Lanner.

The fact that Primarch Dorne was able to send this person to oversee Betangamon demonstrates the importance they place on this location.

Similarly, even though the resource allocation for the Network Project forced the Imperial Fist Legion to abandon most of its defensive fortifications within the Solar System, the Betangamon Fortress Complex was not among them. On the contrary, both the Terra Guard and the High Lord Council were gritting their teeth and sending resources to this gateway to the Solar System.

By the time Horus raised his army, the so-called Betangamon fortress complex had undergone fifty years of continuous construction and reinforcement, growing into a behemoth that actually covered dozens of star systems in the surrounding area. This was the main reason why the Sons of the Emperor and the White Scars legions were obediently gnawing on bricks here.

Because at this point, Betangamon was no longer a separate fortress world: even if they diverted their main fleet to the adjacent sector, they would only be facing another part of Betangamon's massive body.

Not to mention, this behemoth also has tens of millions of well-rested and prepared troops inside its body. Neither the vengeful Space Wolves nor the stubborn Imperial Fist are opponents that can be left behind with peace of mind. Even the arrogant Vorgrim and the Third Legion have never thought of exposing their backs to these two evil stars.

No one would believe that if the rebel fleet crossed Betangamon directly, the tens of thousands of Imperial Fists stationed there would simply watch them pass by.

Similarly, if anyone dared to blatantly expose their supply lines to the fangs of Lemanrus and his pack, they would undoubtedly be the biggest idiot in the entire galaxy: even if Magnus on Nicaia were dug up again, the Primarch of the Thousand Sons would have the right to laugh at their stupidity.

Regarding this, the Wolf God from afar has already given a bloody lesson.

The werewolf war, which ended in a complete victory for the Sixteenth Legion, was not only the first shot of this rebellion, but also enabled Horus to swallow up the vast territory of the entire Fenris Governorate in a very short time. However, as the main force of the Shadowmoon Wolves gradually advanced into the Sun Starfield and confronted the Imperial Fist, this seemingly easily conquered, bitter land quickly grew thorns that resisted the authority of the Warmaster.

No sooner had the main force of the Shadowmoon Wolves departed than thousands of Sons of Horus returned like a ghostly army amidst the post-war gloom. They came and went like the wind in small teams of dozens or hundreds of men and three or five ships, unleashing all their fury on Horus's supply lines, making the situation increasingly dire in the blink of an eye.

The logistical supply route around Fenris is the only way for the Wolf Kingdom to supply blood to the front line. The fangs left by Lemanrus are almost constantly tearing at the flesh and blood of the Shadowmoon Wolf Legion, giving the Wolf God a headache: despite his efforts to mobilize heavy troops, he has killed thousands of space wolves in several successful military operations, and sunk more than 100 warships and destroyed more than 100 strongholds.

But amidst the ashes and smoke, the howls of Fenris will forever echo, keeping every transport fleet loyal to the Wolf God restless day and night. They will continue to trouble the Warmaster for a long time until the Shadowmoon Wolves have wiped out these Viking pirates.

Moreover, such an annihilation was destined to be futile: not to mention how much preparation Lemanrus had made for this and how many elite troops he had deliberately left behind, even many of the Fenris warriors who retreated with him to the rear after the defeat felt that the situation in Fenris was more suitable for them than to be stuck in the trenches under the command of Rogdorn.

As a result, every now and then, hundreds of Space Wolves would sneak back to their homeland and gladly join the siege of the Shadowmoon Wolves' supply lines. This caused the losses of supplies and fleets to continue to increase day after day, even though the Warlord's security forces were operating at maximum efficiency.

Of course, doing this comes at a price.

While Viking-style small-scale raids are extremely effective when attacking transport fleets, they prove utterly ineffective against a Warlord's army, especially once a hidden pirate hideout is discovered, allowing Shadowmoon Wolves' forces to slaughter everyone within hours.

Even more tragically, even though the battlefield was technically the Sixth Legion's home territory, the Wolf God's forces received far more support on this land than the Space Wolves.

Since the start of the war, Horus has been implementing his relatively lenient and moderate occupation policy, especially tax reductions and material support, which has made many worlds willing to stand on the side of the Wolf God. This has resulted in the Space Wolves not only having to avoid the encirclement and suppression of the Shadowmoon Wolves, but also having to avoid the eyes of mortals and governors.

Even so, their actions were still effective.

This deterioration of the situation in the rear even had a huge impact on the front lines: after Horus swiftly defeated the Sixth Legion, the reason why he suddenly hesitated and lingered in the Sun Starfield before launching a new offensive was largely due to the harassment from these Viking pirates.

Whether it's sending elite troops from the front lines to the rear for pacification operations, or the loss of supplies and ships after each successful raid, it's enough to effectively delay the entire Shadowmoon Wolf Legion's progress: no matter how meticulous the War General's plan is, he can't rely on a legion lacking weapons and supplies to help him complete it.

Such a simple principle was naturally understood by the battle-hardened Genetic Prototype.

After witnessing how a mere few thousand defeated soldiers could, through a calculated and unexpected maneuver, cause such a humiliating defeat for the formidable Shadowmoon Wolf Legion, no one dared to underestimate the massive army behind the Betangamon Fortress.

For a time, it seemed that the four legions could only fight each other in this seemingly vast but actually not that vast space, until one side bled and fell, or had to surrender under the threat of death.

"But such developments on paper often do not materialize in reality."

Akamus took a chess piece symbolizing Terra from the strategy table, which made his expression serious.

"Just as Lord Dorn said."

"A commander can spend countless hours and energy to formulate and refine the most ingenious war plan."

"But at the same time, he must also understand."

"Once the first bullet is fired, even the most ingenious war plan is nothing more than a piece of waste paper."

"Fate is not fixed, and the enemy is not a fool: no one can actually control the course of a war."

"Especially when our opponents are equally powerful, intelligent, or even cunning."

"I think this is a very suitable description of Chagatai."

A smile spread across the wolf king's face.

"He's very smart."

Or rather: too smart.

"For him, this is actually not a good thing."

"..."

Akamus raised his head.

The son of Dorne was stubborn, not stupid: he instinctively understood the hidden meaning in Lemanrus's words.

"Sir, you mean..."

“Look here, Akamus.”

The wolf king pointed to a spot on the star map.

"This is where you just took the chess piece."

"This means that we have completely lost control of a tactical area: the local garrison has been defeated and annihilated."

"Then, look here, and here."

In the next few seconds, the Wolf King pointed out one familiar place name after another, and following his words and finger, a clear advance curve appeared on the star map in front of the two of them.

“Every location I point out is where you moved the flag during this period.”

"Did you find anything?"

"It was not a coincidence."

Akrams pondered for a moment.

"Although the fall of these tactical areas seems to be completely random, with extremely long intervals between them and a chaotic sequence between them: sometimes we still have several worlds in our hands at the front, but one world in the rear is attacked and harassed."

"At first glance, it looks as if the enemy's scattered troops are just harassing the area aimlessly."

"But in fact……"

The Fist of the Empire bent down, focusing all his weight and energy on the star map in front of him.

"Here, here, and here."

Then, he stretched out his finger and, as if suddenly realizing something, drew several blurry outlines on the star map.

"Although they appear jagged, the enemy's attacks do follow a certain logic: they find our heavily defended areas through constant harassment, and then disperse those weakly defended areas, thus gradually squeezing out a safe zone within the defensive line."

"Although it may seem that the enemy has only occupied a few large, disjointed, and irregular positions along the edge of our defensive line, if we connect them..."

The Fist of the Empire's fingers slowly swept across.

He drew a line, following the trajectory left by Lemanrus, along the worlds and fortresses he had circled that had been captured by the rebels, and it went straight down: eventually, a road actually extended out.

At this moment, Akamus was muttering to himself.

"Although it looks like a mess, a stable route can be constructed in these haphazardly conquered worlds: there are reliable Mandeville points between the various star systems along the route, and their outer perimeters have been captured in the previous attacks. The entire passage is not within our direct attack range."

"He's thinking..." "That's right."

Leman Russ nodded.

"He wants to divide us up."

"First, find the loopholes in the defense."

"Then they gradually gnawed away, penetrating deeper and deeper, establishing solid fortresses and supply lines, thus achieving de facto occupation."

"Finally, by connecting points into lines and lines into surfaces, the effective connection between the main body of the Betangamon fortress complex and a portion of the secondary fortress complex that were separated from it was severed."

"Then eat it little by little."

"Like a pack of wolves on the grassland."

"When faced with a running herd of prey, they do not choose to rush in recklessly. Instead, they harass them first, forcing them to run around like flies on the grassland. Through vigorous exercise, they select the old, weak, sick, and disabled prey. When these selected prey are destined to fall behind and be abandoned because they cannot keep up with the group, they then methodically bite off their already panting tracheas."

"A typical Chagatai-style tactic."

"If they can't kill us directly, they'll have to peel away our flesh bit by bit."

"When we are emaciated, with only Betangamon and a little land around us left."

"Whether you kill us outright or divide your forces to surround us and then go around us, it's up to you to pick us."

The Fist of the Empire nodded silently.

"No wonder we've received very few reports of White Scar activity on the main battlefield lately."

"Even if they do appear, the attack is not launched by the Fifth Army's most capable mobile forces."

"So their plan was to have the Emperor's son draw fire on the main battlefield, while White Scars would maneuver around the enemy lines?"

"Do not."

Lemanrus shook his head firmly.

"I am quite certain that Chagatai Khan most likely did not tell Fureim about his strategic plans."

"Moreover, given their relationship, Phoenix would never allow his legion to do the work for White Scar."

"This is probably why the two of them dragged each other down in the initial joint offensive, causing them to suffer a setback in front of our defenses. As a result, they effectively broke off relations, forcing Chagatai Khan to make this decision: after all, this division of forces meant that he had to face all of our forces by himself."

"Because Forgrim won't help him?"

"..."

Faced with this seemingly simple question, King Fenris fell silent.

After a long pause, he shook his head.

"Not because of that."

The wolf king's voice sounded somewhat...sad.

"And because: the current Sons of the Emperor's Legion is... not what it used to be."

"Even if they wanted to provide support, Chagatai Khan probably wouldn't believe in their fighting capabilities."

"That's absolutely right."

Akamus nodded in agreement.

He was not submitting to the Primarch, but rather genuinely agreeing with Lemanrus's statement.

There is a little-known truth that is not widely known to most Imperials and even many Primarchs: the relationship between the Imperial Fist and the Emperor's Sons during the Great Crusade was actually not bad. Whether among Primarchs or among Astartes, the Third and Seventh Legions were long-term partners.

For a long time, the sons of the Emperor were able to fit perfectly into the Imperial Fist's fighting system: even the Iron Hand didn't always get this treatment.

Akamus had experienced that period, so even after the Battle of Betangamon had been going on for so long, he also truly felt the problems of the Third Army.

"But even so, we cannot be careless."

The Son of Dorne's lament ends here.

"There are still quite a few companies in the Third Army Corps that can demonstrate extremely impressive combat capabilities."

"For example, Acudona's second company."

"They were able to take down a fortress defended by Imperial Fists, which outnumbered them by two."

"That's quite amazing."

"I know."

Lemanrus nodded as well.

This also surprised him: although the sons of emperors have always been known for their elite troops, no one could have imagined that they would be this elite.

Especially the specific battle process: it sounds like a myth.

Under the cover of friendly forces, Acudona led his fifty best court swordsmen in a transport plane and crashed directly into one of the few open spaces in the fortress. Then, these sons of the phoenix, wielding twin swords, engaged in a bloody battle with the arriving Imperial Fists for several hours until they fought their way to the fortress gates, successfully opening them and allowing the Third Legion's army to file in.

At that time, Acudona was surrounded by twelve Phoenix Warriors who were still capable of fighting.

It was this miraculous offensive that breached the most important defensive line on the Betangamon front: Acudona's victory was like the first drop of water penetrating a dam, effectively destroying the entire iron wall.

“Strictly speaking, after this battle, there are no longer any large, independently functioning core fortresses between us and the Sons of the Emperor: this means that the next defensive center can only be the main planet of Betangamon.”

"In other words, at most a few months, we will be fighting the Phoenix Sons on the land of Betangamon."

"It is precisely under these circumstances that the movements of Chagatai and the White Scars are particularly worrying."

"I understand what you mean."

Akrams nodded.

"If the White Scars completely cut off our connection with the northern garrison while our main force is fighting the Sons of the Emperor in Betangamon, and take this opportunity to wipe them out one by one, then even if we manage to hold Betangamon in the first wave of the offensive, the significance of the entire fortress complex will be greatly diminished."

"No, that's not what I'm worried about."

Lemanrus shook his head.

"Chagatai wasn't that lacking in a sense of the big picture."

"No matter how much he hates Fugrim, he won't let the Third Legion bear the brunt of the battle alone."

“Once Betangamon is engulfed in war, the Khan will surely come with a large army.”

"I'm worried about something else."

"What is that, sir?"

"It is... a letter."

"letter?"

"Yes, an anonymous letter: he told me that Chagatai Khan is not actually at the front lines now."

"In fact, he went in the opposite direction."

"where?"