Magic Industrial Age.

Chapter 590-588: The Empire's Defeat (Please Subscribe)
Some say that the trend is irreversible.

Going against the tide is like a mantis trying to stop a chariot; it will inevitably lead to being crushed to pieces.

However, society is ultimately made up of individuals, and so-called trends are pieced together by the choices and actions of individuals.

Thus, some people are as light as a feather, while others are as heavy as Mount Tai.

The death of Hohenzollern III was a devastating blow to the Habsburg Empire, with far-reaching and complex consequences.

The coalition forces, on the other hand, initiated emergency consultations almost immediately after receiving the news.

Led by the Glorious Empire, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the Bonaparte Empire, a secret meeting was held, uniting twenty or thirty small countries of varying sizes, to formulate a counter-offensive plan.

It should be said that their reaction speed was quite fast, aiming to catch the empire off guard at a time when Hohenzollern III had died and Hohenzollern IV's authority had not yet been truly established.

However, the disadvantages of the coalition forces became apparent at this moment.

The secret meeting was held quickly, but in order to seize the right to speak and establish a new hegemony, the Glorious Empire, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the Bonaparte Empire engaged in a series of open and covert struggles.

In a sense, the people of the Glorious Empire are immigrants from the Old World. They share the same race and culture, but are naturally looked down upon.

The Glorious Empire, on the other hand, entered the war as a savior, turning the tide of the battle and even providing substantial aid.

While they were feeling triumphant, they also wanted to build a new order centered on the Glorious Empire.

The two sides had significant differences, so before the counter-offensive even began, various internal conflicts arose.

In fact, colluding with each other in private and carrying out secret diplomacy has become the norm.

Twenty or thirty countries have managed to form seventy or eighty 'group chats,' which is quite impressive.

However, the Church of the Sun God reacted even faster!
Rumors circulated that His Majesty even personally appeared at the meeting and 'dragged' the three emperors out for a secret meeting.

Then, the new three leaders of the coalition collectively announced that the war was not over and that a counter-offensive must be launched immediately.

Undoubtedly, the conflict has been suppressed, but it is clear that it has only been suppressed temporarily.

The counterattack from the allied forces was swift, and the Battle of Amiens officially began on August 8, 318 of the New Divine Calendar.

In this battle, the Allied forces launched the main attack and displayed their highest level of skill.

First, they unveiled a new type of magical flying vehicle that combined the Red Heat Magic Eye with a fighter jet, calling it a reconnaissance aircraft.

Its function is to accurately identify the position of artillery and perform precise positioning when flying at low altitudes.

At the same time, they also used the simple method of 'laying straw' to reduce noise from the tanks, thus causing the Empire to misjudge the main direction of the Allied attack.

The allied forces launched their attack under the cover of thick fog at dawn when the war truly began.

First, there was the precision strike and widespread bombardment from 2800 magic-powered field guns.

The empire's trenches and fortifications were bombarded and destroyed, many by concentrated artillery fire, resulting in heavy casualties among the soldiers.

This moment also exposed the Empire's weakness: due to its long-term frontal suppression, its trenches and fortifications were actually inferior in quality to those of the Allied forces.

Under artillery fire, it failed to provide much of a defensive effect.

Furthermore, over 1000 fighter jets flew overhead, though they were all first-generation aircraft and could not match the quality and firepower of the Empire.

However, with overwhelming numbers, they directly seized air superiority.

Then came the attack on the main battlefield, with over five hundred tanks pushing through the Empire's defenses at a density of 21 tanks per kilometer.

On the first day alone, they destroyed over 400 of the Empire's magic-powered field guns.

After the tanks ran over the trenches, a machine gun brigade followed, with strong and sturdy soldiers carrying heavy machine guns, firing into the trenches to finish off the remaining enemies.

They advanced at a speed of 1.5 kilometers per hour, far exceeding the efficiency of previous trench warfare.

Does this tactic look familiar?

That's right, that's how the Empire dealt with the Allied Forces before!

Artillery barrage, air suppression, a steel torrent, massed assaults, combined infantry and tank operations...

These are all tactics that the Empire had used before. When the Allied Forces faced them, they used their iron will and far superior numbers of strongmen to stop them.

But now?

When the situation reversed, Imperial soldiers felt fear when faced with the same tactics they had used before, leading to large-scale desertions and surrenders.

The Battle of Amiens ended in just four days. In this battle, the allied forces thoroughly investigated the Empire's strengths and weaknesses, and it also marked the beginning of a full-scale counter-offensive.

For the next month, the allied forces continued their offensive in the Somme, Albert and other places, opening up new fronts and forcing the Imperial army to retreat hundreds of kilometers.

All the lands occupied by the 'Emperor's Offensive' were lost, and the Empire was even forced to retreat to the 'Hindenburg Line' it had built.

On September 12th, 318 of the New Divine Calendar, the Glorious Empire launched the Battle of Saint Miele upon its independence.

Saint-Miele, located west of Luttia, was a prominent position in the imperial offensive, constantly threatening the railways and highways leading out of Luttia.

The Glorious Empire withstood internal pressure from the Allied Forces, withdrawing a large number of troops and gathering nearly 55 men, equipped with 3000 field guns, more than 700 magic tanks and 1500 aircraft, forming a pincer movement against Saint Miele from the north and south.

This represents a troop strength gap of nearly 5 to 1, and an absolute crushing of strength.

The reason why the Glorious Empire insisted on independent command and independent combat was to demonstrate its unparalleled strength to the nations of the Old World.

This is also a struggle for the right to speak!
Although the war resulted in victory, the outcome was not entirely satisfactory.

The empire itself was already preparing to withdraw due to insufficient troops, so it chose to fight and retreat simultaneously before the pincer movement could be formed.

At the same time, it systematically destroyed defensive fortifications, greatly reducing the military value of the main occupied areas, and requiring more time and manpower to repair them.

In this battle, the Glorious Empire also exposed weaknesses such as rigid command, intelligence failures, slow pursuit, and slow logistical supply.

Ultimately, they had not experienced the baptism of large-scale war, were immature in many aspects, and had serious internal conflicts between different ethnic groups.

However, the war potential that can be seen with the naked eye is enough to make all countries tremble with fear.

After this battle, the Glorious Empire immediately learned its lesson, began to closely engage with the Allied Forces, unite with them, and learn from their experience.

Meanwhile, the new Allied Three leaders devised a new operational plan, namely the Battle of the San Quentin Canal.

Without a doubt, by now the war has shifted the Empire from offense to defense, and the Hindenburg Line is a deep defensive system that the Empire has been developing for four years.

During this period, countless trenches and various defensive works were laid, along with multiple layers of barbed wire, anti-tank ditches, and concrete bunker complexes.

The section of the Saint-Quentin Canal was its core hub, controlling the railways leading to the Habsburg Empire.

This battle is undoubtedly crucial, and the allied forces are prepared for a fierce and protracted struggle.
On the Empire's side, there was also a clear mobilization of military forces and resources.

However, to everyone's surprise, this battle was a resounding success.

The Imperial Air Force was left with only 300 aircraft and completely collapsed under the encirclement of forces several times its size.

The Empire lacked the high-end combat capabilities of the Allied Forces, and after losing air superiority, it was truly helpless against the magical flying machines.

These first-generation fighter jets even dared to fly at low altitudes and straf the enemy with machine guns.

Then came the tank charge, which was divided into three waves.

The first wave involved crushing the barbed wire and filling in the anti-tank trenches.

The second wave involved coordinated infantry and tank operations, as well as clearing out soldiers from the trenches.

The third wave of tanks penetrated deep into the Imperial artillery positions, destroying them one by one. Of course, the most difficult part of this battle was building bridges across the Saint-Quentin Canal to ensure the army's passage.

Originally, the coalition forces thought this would be a fierce battle, a protracted and drawn-out conflict.

However, once the Empire lost air superiority, it posed virtually no threat to the canal.

The allied forces used magic, dimensional bags, a large number of engineers, and ships to help them build the bridge in a very short time.

When the tanks crossed the bridge and pushed all the way to the east bank of the river, it meant that the defense line had been breached.

In this battle, the allied forces advanced a full 150 kilometers, and the Imperial Army was forced to abandon all of Bonaparte's occupied territories.

Thus, after four years of war, the Napoleonic family finally regained all the lost territories.

Then, the three leaders of the coalition became more and more courageous in battle, saw the dawn of victory, and in the shortest possible time, planned the decisive battle - the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.

Its strategic objective was to cut off the core railway hubs from which the Empire was to evacuate, forcing the Imperial army to collapse within the encirclement and subsequently surrender.

The battlefield had now advanced to the area where the former Kingdom of Caroline was located, with the focus on the Meuse River and Argonne.

The east bank of the Meuse River is typically high and steep, covered in dense Argonne forests, and with the fortifications built by the Empire, it is really difficult to attack.

In this battle, the three giants went all out, each assigning regions and mobilizing elite divisions. On September 26th of the New Divine Calendar 318, they fired the first shot of the war.

The tactics remain the same; both the Empire and the Allied Forces have proven their reliability through war and casualties.

However, the initial stages of this war did not go smoothly.

The Bonaparte Empire and the Sardinian Kingdom made relatively smooth progress, but the Radiant Empire's legions faltered again.

Due to poor communication and inaccurate intelligence, the Glorious Empire's prolonged bombardment of the evacuated empty positions had no effect.

Furthermore, due to an excessive number of new recruits and insufficient training, the infantry-tank coordination operation completely fell apart.

The tanks drove past, but the soldiers hadn't caught up yet, giving the Empire an opportunity to counterattack.

In addition, the Argonne Forest has complex terrain, and the Empire has built dense machine gun positions and a crossfire network, which directly blocked the attack.

By October of the year 318 of the New Divine Calendar, the Glorious Empire had suffered heavy losses and ceased its attacks, reorganizing and training on the spot.

It wasn't until the end of the month that they finally broke through the barrier at a heavy cost and advanced to the north of the Argonne Forest.

By this time, the expeditionary force had suffered as many as 7 casualties, the greatest loss the Glorious Empire had inflicted since entering the war.

However, once the defenses are breached, the Imperial Army's fate will be sealed.

With the main railway transport cut off, the Empire's supplies on the western front were completely cut off, and the remaining legions collapsed across the board.

Until November 4, 318 of the New Divine Calendar, the Allied Forces presented the Empire with 35 ceasefire terms.

On the same day, a mutiny broke out among the sailors of the Imperial Kiel naval fleet.

At the end of October, the Empire issued the 'Final Battle' plan, requiring the fleet to carry out suicide attacks to preserve the honor of its soldiers when encountering the navy of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

The sailors considered this an act of mass suicide, so they resisted orders by sabotaging the engine and extinguishing the magic pool.

The imperial high command opted for a forceful crackdown, with the imperial military police intervening and arresting many of the leading sailors.

This resulted in a march of 6000 sailors demanding the release of their arrested comrades, which was subsequently met with gunfire from military police, causing numerous casualties.

This finally touched the sailors' most sensitive nerve, leading them to seize the armory, take control of the warship, and disarm the officers.

This was the empire's first uprising, but not its last. When the news spread, it was like an explosion, with people everywhere raising the banner of resistance.

Even in the capital city, workers and soldiers organized armed strikes.

At this point, the empire was completely beset by internal and external troubles, and Hohenzollern IV was forced to announce his acceptance of the armistice agreement.

Therefore, on November 10th of the New Divine Calendar 318, the two sides held negotiations in a train carriage in the Compiègne Forest of the Bonaparte Empire and signed a ceasefire agreement at 5:00 AM.

Later scholars referred to this agreement as the "Armour of Compiègne," which also foreshadowed the end of this protracted war that swept across the entire Herka plane.

Ironically, the agreement was signed at 5 a.m. and stipulated that it would officially take effect at 11 a.m., leaving six hours for informing the front lines.

Even so, thousands of soldiers still lost their lives due to delayed information.

On the day the agreement took effect, the artillery fire on the western front, from Luttia to the Argonne Forest, fell completely silent.

Time seemed to have passed for a long time, yet it also seemed to have passed in the blink of an eye, as countless soldiers emerged from their trenches in silence.

They were covered in dust, their eyes were vacant, they dropped their weapons and wept bitterly.

The entire Old World, from the west coast to the central part of the continent, was like a ruin.

This battle began on August 8th of the New Divine Calendar 318 and ended on November 11th, lasting a full ninety-nine days.
Therefore, some scholars refer to this period of war as the Allied Forces' 'Hundred Days' counter-offensive.
This also foreshadowed that the war would end in the empire's defeat!
……

Abyss 138th floor
The message reached Luo Yi's ears through a special means. He was momentarily distracted and was then blasted away by the Abyss Gnoll Lord.

Like a meteor falling to earth, it created a huge crater.

Just then, the red dragon Virgil swooped down, using his powerful body to smash through the ensuing attacks.
He roared, "Luo Yi, what are you doing? Concentrate! This is a battle with a demigod! Do you want to die?"

Luo Yi looked up blankly and said, "The Empire has been defeated!"

"what?"

"I say, the Empire has been defeated!"

The next instant, the red dragon Virgil also paused, and then he was struck squarely by the vampire prince's blood-red claws.

Like Luo Yi, he drew an arc, like a meteor crashing into the earth, creating an even deeper crater.

Strangely, the two pits are connected.

Luo Yi turned her head and said, "See? You're not calm anymore after hearing this news."

Ignoring his injuries, Virgil the Red Dragon pressed on, asking, "Are you telling the truth?"

Do I look like I'm lying to you?

"The empire's defeat is not the end, but the beginning!"

"Yes, so we can't linger here any longer."

The next instant, the earth trembled, and shockwaves visible to the naked eye spread outwards, sending Luo Yi flying into the sky like a cannonball.

He once again manifested his holy spirit form, transforming into light, and pointed his divine weapon at the distance, saying, "I have things to attend to, so all of you get out of here!"

Even as the words echoed through the heavens and earth, a powerful battle qi strike, reaching to the heavens and earth, was unleashed, like a celestial river pouring down, covering the sky and the earth.

Furthermore, a blazing fire was burning, its light and heat capable of igniting all elements and matter in the void.

As Luo Yi charged forward through the flames, the three demon lords who were besieging her looked as ugly as if they had eaten shit.

That mad dog-like man is here again!
Therefore, they retreated decisively, fearing that if they hesitated even a step, they would be entangled.

When they retreated, Loy did not hesitate at all. He spread his wings and flapped them. When he reappeared, he was already at the war fortress. With one step, he entered the spatial passage.

As I said before, the empire's defeat had an impact like a tsunami, so he had a lot of things to arrange.

(End of this chapter)