Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 776 The Front Lines of War
As the sun set, a massive airship formation slowly landed on the border of Langya Ridge, at the command base of the Northern Army's eastern front.

The army's deputy commander-in-chief, Vaughn, personally went to the airship landing site to welcome everyone.

The commanders of the Independent Air Mage Regiment, Phil Holden, the commander of the Second Independent Army Regiment, Wayne, the commander of the Fourth Independent Army Regiment, Callum, the commander of the Mage Regiment, Andre Weiss, and dozens of high-ranking spellcasters all arrived. Even the General Staff sent a large number of staff officers, led by His Majesty the Emperor's chief political advisor, Asdaren. Everyone gathered at the combat command post of the border base.

"Gentlemen, the situation on the eastern front is not optimistic."

Inside the central command post, Vaughn stood in the center in front of the sand table, pointing to the grid-like regional combat map in front of him. "We urgently need to take action to break the current stalemate!"

In fact, long before setting off, Vaughn had already conducted several simulations of the situation at the front with His Majesty the Emperor and General Pierce.

The conclusion has always been that the Lizardmen, who have now occupied most of Eisengard's territory, now possess a vast strategic depth. The underground rivers that run through the entire plains allow their floating fortresses to rise and land in any area, enabling them to quickly deploy their forces to key locations.

The Northern Army, as before, could no longer stretch out a horizontal defensive line and advance northward step by step... It was becoming increasingly difficult to achieve its intended objectives. The main combat forces from the west to the east were all blocked, and the battles in the three locations of Shensang Valley, Rhinoceros Horn City, and Steel Rock City were deadlocked. The two sides were almost evenly matched, and the longer the situation dragged on, the more unfavorable it would be for humanity.

“According to intelligence, the enemy is still continuously reinforcing these three locations using floating islands.” Vaughn pointed to the area marked with a small red flag on the sand table. “They don’t seem to be in a hurry to commit all their forces to a decisive battle with us in one place. Instead, they hope to maintain the stalemate and thus deplete humanity’s fighting strength.”

After a moment of contemplation, Andrei Weiss, the commander of the mage chapter, spoke up: "Could we use a strategic stronghold as the center to concentrate our forces and break the stalemate? This would inevitably attract the attention of the enemy's main force... thus forcing them to gather and engage us in a decisive battle."

Wayne, who had just returned from Rhinoceros Horn City, frowned and shook his head, saying, "The enemy's floating island fortresses are not easily exposed. In places like Rhinoceros Horn City, they may even hover in the underground river below the city, continuously sending troops to surface and land. The enemy in the entire city is as difficult to completely eliminate as cockroaches."

Unless they use a massive barrage of heavy artillery fire to saturate the city and block all the entrances to the underground waterways, as they did when they attacked the holy city of Goreth, the Northern Army will have no choice but to continue fighting them in the ruins of the streets.

Vaughn pointed to Steelrock City, located in the center of the map. "This city is one we must take. If the intelligence is reliable and the Lizardmen's main fortress, the floating island, is indeed located beneath Ironhill City, then Steelrock City will be the closest strategic location to them, offering both offense and defense!"

"The town of Sandgold cannot be lost either," the battle group leader Callum added. "Currently, our other transport routes are blocked, and we are relying on this town to open up a brand new transport artery. At least 40% of the strategic materials supplied to the front line are transshipped through Sandgold Town. If this town is attacked and occupied by the enemy, the front line will probably immediately fall into a critical situation of material shortage."

As soon as he said this, the others immediately frowned.

Indeed, the Northern Army's battle lines on the grasslands were far too long. Every transport route they opened had to simultaneously handle the transport of supplies and refugees, making it difficult to avoid attracting the enemy's attention and prompting repeated harassment by winged beings. Asdaren, who had remained silent until now, spoke up quietly: "Gentlemen, there's no need to worry prematurely... Speaking of having such long battle lines, the Lizardmen are probably in the same situation as us."

After saying that, he pointed to the black lines representing the underground river on the sand table, "Starting from the middle of the grassland, the further south you go, the narrower the passage of the underground river system becomes, which also means that there are fewer routes for large floating islands to shuttle and navigate... Why don't we choose to break through from a position that is difficult for floating islands to reach, and force them to make a long journey and exhaust themselves?"

The floating island is in a location that's hard to reach... Where else on the entire eastern defense line could you find such a location?

Everyone's eyes were fixed on the sand table, on the defensive line built by the Northern Army that stretched from west to east across the central part of the grassland.

"Wind Erosion Ridge... If we strictly follow the map of the Abyss Sea, the only area on the defensive line without any underground river tributaries is Wind Erosion Ridge. The underground of this area is full of metal deposits, and the Eisengard people have built many mines in this area."

Although located in the southeast corner of the entire defensive line, Wind Erosion Ridge is only about 300 miles away from Ironhill, the capital of Eisengard. The Northern Army's mobile forces could make a lightning raid in about half a day.

In the end, it was Vaughn, who was most familiar with the war in the east, who first discovered the key to breaking the deadlock: "This place is located in the southeast of Eisengard. It has not been disturbed by the Lizardmen too much before. Instead, the local nobles are in constant internal strife and seem to be completely unconcerned about the impending disaster of the alien invasion."

The Son of Flame nodded. "This is the chaos on the southeastern border of Eisengard that His Majesty wants us to resolve as soon as possible. I suggest that we immediately send troops to invade Wind Ridge, and then use our remaining resources to deal with Burning Wind Keep and Thorn City, so as to prevent them from causing trouble in our rear while we are fighting on the front lines."

Vaughn nodded and said, "One of my reserve regiments has already arrived in southeast Eisengard a few days ago. They will be assigned four battalions, totaling two thousand men, to occupy Wind Erosion Ridge and build permanent fortifications on the spot. The remaining two battalions will turn around and head to the rear border region to deal with the chaos caused by the local nobles and neighboring lords."

He paused, looked at Andrei Weiss and the Son of Flame, and continued in a deep voice: "Your Excellencies need to divide the mage chapters into multiple routes. On one hand, continue to reinforce the remaining three cities on the pushback line, and on the other hand, dispatch at least two integrated air squadrons to Wind Erosion Ridge to coordinate with the ground forces' corresponding action plan."

After everyone had finished their discussion, Asdaren clapped his hands again and concluded, "The key to the success of the entire plan lies in confirming whether the enemy's main fortress, the floating island, truly exists in Ironhill City... and that's why I personally went to the front lines. The General Staff and the intelligence department will do their utmost to verify the information. Once the target is confirmed, we can launch a surprise attack on Ironhill City in an instant!"

Once the main fortress of the Lizardmen is threatened, it can immediately force them to concentrate their forces and engage in a decisive battle with them at a location actively set up by humans!

(End of this chapter)