Trench Bolts and Magic

Chapter 232 Are you deaf? I told you to come in! (Bonus Chapter 33)

"The sky?" Wolf subconsciously looked up at the gray sky over the southern city, his face filled with disbelief.

"Could it be?" Wolf's company sergeant muttered in surprise beside him.

The messenger was immediately dumbfounded: "The battalion commander is in the armored airship in the sky! He's directing us from there!"

Wolff suddenly realized what was happening and gasped.

Commanding me from an airship, my God, what's wrong with the battalion commander's brain?

He dared not hesitate any longer and immediately ordered a halt to the advance, then led a platoon of soldiers to reinforce the left flank.

Just as the machine guns were set up, a large number of Brittany soldiers poured out from the street corner.

"Fire!" Wolf roared.

A dense hail of bullets instantly swept over, knocking down swathes of enemies charging at the front.

Wolf wiped away a cold sweat, feeling a wave of fear wash over him.

If it had been a few minutes later, and the enemy had attacked from the flank, his company would certainly have been able to take down the enemy, but they would have been caught off guard.

The Britannians, clearly unprepared for the ambush, were caught off guard and retreated in disarray, leaving behind dozens of corpses.

"What the hell! How did they know we were here?! Is there a traitor among us?"

The Britannian company commander, hiding behind a corner, saw the heavy machine gun firing wildly at the alley entrance and cursed angrily.

He couldn't understand why, despite his extremely well-hidden detour, the enemy seemed to have known in advance and had set up a heavy machine gun at that exact spot to wait for them.

And clearly, this won't be the last time the Brittany soldiers encounter such a strange thing today.

In the following period, the company commander led his troops to try to outflank the enemy from another direction, and encountered the same situation.

They finally managed to get behind enemy lines, but before they could even open fire, they were bombarded back by a barrage of grenades, suffering heavy casualties.

It was as if... as if there were a pair of eyes watching them intently from the sky.

Their every move was exposed to the other's view.

This thought sent a chill down the spine of the Brittany company commander.

Meanwhile, aboard the L29 armored airship high in the sky, Morin was leisurely watching the red soldier tag on the system map, representing an enemy company, being blocked in the alley by a soldier tag representing a heavy machine gun squad from his own side.

"Trying to outmaneuver me? You're still too green for that."

Morin pursed his lips, feeling incredibly pleased with himself.

This feeling of being in control and strategizing is just so exhilarating.

However, he soon discovered a new problem.

Although he could see everything on the battlefield, the transmission of orders was still too slow.

From the moment he issues the order to the battalion headquarters receiving it, and then to the messenger delivering the order to the front-line company, there is a delay of at least several minutes.

In the ever-changing world of urban warfare, that amount of time is enough for anything to happen.

Just now, if he hadn't anticipated the enemy's movements in advance and had Wolf set up heavy machine guns beforehand, it would have been too late to notify them after the enemy had actually bypassed them.

“No, it’s still too slow.” Morin frowned. “We have to find a way to minimize the delay.”

He walked up to Captain Schneider, rubbed his hands together, and put on that somewhat 'fawning' smile again.

"Um, Captain, can we discuss something else?"

When Schneider saw his expression, his eyelids twitched, and an ominous premonition welled up in his heart.

"Captain Morin, what are you up to now?"

"Captain, does your airship have those big loudspeakers that can be used to broadcast messages to the ground?"

"A loudspeaker? You mean a megaphone?"

Schneider paused for a moment, then nodded:

"Yes, there are, but those things are usually used on the battlefield to play morale-boosting music or to make surrender appeals. Why are you asking about this?"

"Let me borrow it!" Morin said excitedly.

"etc."

Schneider instantly understood what Morin meant, and he felt that his worldview had been refreshed once again.

"Don't tell me you're going to use a loudspeaker meant for persuading surrender to direct the battle?"

"Yup!"

Morin said matter-of-factly, "Think about it, if I just shout through a megaphone, all the friendly troops below will hear me, right? Isn't that much faster than sending messengers who'll run themselves ragged? Besides, how many of the Britannians on the other side can understand Saxon?"

Schneider opened his mouth, but for a moment he didn't know how to refute it.

Using a loudspeaker to direct a battalion's battle in real time on the battlefield.
What the hell kind of madman could come up with this tactic?
He looked at Morin's excited face and realized that this was the madman.

"Alright. You win, Captain Morin. I give up."

He waved to the crew member next to him: "Go, connect the loudspeaker cable to the bridge."

A few minutes later, a new microphone was handed to Maureen.

Morin cleared his throat, brought the microphone to his mouth, and began to speak in Saxon.

The next second, a clear, loud voice, with a huge echo, resounded throughout the entire southern city of Amiens.

"Klaus! Get the men in Company 1 alert!" At that moment, at least a dozen 'Klaus's' in the entire southern city of Amiens looked up at the sky at the same time.

"There's a house about 50 meters to your right front that's half-collapsed! There are about two squads of enemy soldiers hiding behind it! Have Kahn take a platoon, sneak through the ruins on the flank, and wipe them out!"

At this point, Klaus and the other soldiers in charge of training the assault battalion finally realized what was happening.

An excited veteran from the 1st Company pointed to the huge airship in the sky:
"Battalion Commander! It's the battalion commander's voice! He really is watching us from heaven!"

Without saying a word, Klaus immediately found Kahn, the 1st Platoon Leader, who was standing next to him.

"Kahn! Did you hear that? The battalion commander's order! Take your men and sneak up from that side, yes, from behind that pile of rubble! Take care of those enemies hiding behind there!"

"Yes, sir!" Kahn was also flushed with excitement. He led his platoon of soldiers and rushed out, crouching low.

A few minutes later, a burst of gunfire and an explosion came from the direction of the building ruins that Morin had indicated, and then things quickly returned to calm.

Morin's voice quickly became the dominant sound in the area where the Training Assault Battalion was located, throughout the battlefield in southern Amiens.

"Wolf! I told you you're going the wrong way! Did you hear me?! The enemy in front of you is just stalling you! The enemy forces are weak on that street to your left! Go through there and attack them from the rear!"

"Jonas! Triple! See that plaza in front of you? Don't charge straight at us! There are people on the rooftops on both sides! Go around to the side, clear a path with grenades, hey~ right!"

Under Morin's 'Chairman'-style command, the training assault battalion transformed into a formidable force.

They always seem to know in advance how to avoid the enemy's traps, and they always manage to appear unexpectedly where the enemy is most vulnerable.

The Brittany soldiers were completely devastated.

They felt they were not fighting against people, but against God.

The sound that echoed in the sky was like the will of the gods, controlling the life and death of everyone on the battlefield.
The battle continued until sunset, when the last glimmer of light disappeared below the horizon, and both sides, exhausted, ceased their attacks simultaneously.

As night fell, the southern part of Amiens finally returned to tranquility, a temporary respite from the daytime hustle and bustle.

But this tranquility is fragile and unsettling.

Amidst the ruins, flickering flames still burned, and the occasional sniper shots seemed to remind everyone that the war was far from over.

The L29 armored airship, like a giant beast lurking in the darkness, hovered silently above the city.

Its enormous searchlight beams swept back and forth across the Brittany-controlled streets, keeping the soldiers hiding behind their bunkers from even raising their heads.

The atmosphere on the bridge was much more relaxed than during the day.

Morin was sitting around a small table with Captain Schneider and several airship officers, enjoying a dinner specially provided by the Air Force.

The charred Bavarian sausages paired with Saxon sauerkraut, though simple, were a delicacy for Morin, who had just endured a day of fierce fighting.

What happened this afternoon was a huge shock to these air force personnel who spend most of their time in the air.

For the first time, they discovered that their war behemoth could do so many things besides throwing shells.

While eating sausages, Morin chatted with them about all sorts of things.

From the Army's 'infantry-cavalry coordination' to the Air Force's air-ground integration.
Many advanced tactical ideas kept emerging from his and Captain Schneider's mouths.

The others listened with rapt attention, feeling that this young army captain had opened a window to the future for them.

The next day, it was dawn.

Despite the repeated pleas of Captain Schneider and the medical officer, Morin insisted on returning to the surface.

"Captain, your wound has just been stitched up. If you move around now, what if it reopens?"

The medic who was taking care of Morin advised him with a worried expression.

"Don't worry, I know what's going on."

Morin patted his chest.

"I'm the battalion commander of the training assault battalion, I can't just hide in the sky forever, can I?"

Schneider, seeing his resolute expression, knew he couldn't persuade this madman.

“Alright.” He sighed. “I’ll have the helmsman lower the altitude a bit more. Be careful when you go down.”

“Thank you, Captain.” Morin smiled at him. “This time, we owe a lot to you and the entire crew of L29. After this battle, when we come to Dresden, I’ll treat you to the best Saxon dark beer!”

"Then it's settled!"

The long rope ladder was once again thrown down from the belly of the airship.

Morin carefully descended to the ground using the rope ladder.

At this point, the bridgehead of the railway bridge had become a busy temporary base.

Kleist was directing his soldiers to reinforce the fortifications and move ammunition.

As soon as Morin descended from the sky, many people gathered around him.

"Battalion Commander! You're back!"

"Battalion Commander, are you alright?"

Looking at those familiar and concerned faces, a warm feeling welled up in Mo Lin's heart.

“I’m fine.” He waved his hand. “Crest, take a platoon and come with me.”

"Yes, Commander!" Kleist didn't ask any further questions. "Where are you going?"

"Let's go dig something up."

(End of this chapter)