Will the kemonomimi encounter Alien Ranch Story?

Just like the officers of the Sarkaz next door, they had a headache: how to stop those militiamen, especially the mountain militiamen, from going up to their deaths.

“These rapid-fire crossbows are in good condition, and Kazdel has made some simple modifications. To be honest, for an arms dealer, they are quite honest.” Maria fiddled with a captured rapid-fire crossbow. Unlike the original Letanian rapid-fire crossbow, the Kazdel people added a small Originium coil to the head of the crossbow and sealed off the upper part of the crossbow to prevent sand and dust from entering the arrow slot.

The enclosed section was fitted with a fishbone support, allowing for the mounting of optical sights. Although these modifications are minor, they significantly improved the bolt speed, range, and accuracy of this rapid-fire crossbow.

"Where are the crossbow bolts?"

"I've already completed the modifications over there. I've also recruited a few good technicians. In another two days, all these crossbows will be fully modified."

The Kazdel people are used to kinetic attacks, which may be a bad habit brought by Lao Xia—why bother with all that fancy stuff, a powerful kinetic strike is so simple.

However, the Qazimirs are different. The Qazimirs have long fought alongside knights and other similar creatures, and their crossbowmen are very inclined to use magic crossbow bolts and armor-piercing bolts. They have even developed magic shield equipment for their crossbowmen.

These crossbows from Kazdel all needed modification, a purely repetitive and tedious task. I don't know where Maria got a few manual machine tools to prevent this process from becoming a logistical nightmare.

Insert a steel crossbow bolt, cut off the integrated sharp arrowhead, drill a hole, fix the treated spell crystal, and then seal the arrowhead with a layer of tin alloy. A standard Kazimierz crossbow bolt is thus formed.

Upon impact, it explodes into a ball of Originium particles, penetrating enemies in a small area. It is an excellent armor-piercing weapon against heavily armored units, or it can turn into a small-scale magical explosion that overloads the nervous system of Terrans inside their armor, causing the target to be stunned or killed.

Its physical damage is almost negligible, since neither the spell crystal nor the outer tin arrowhead designed to minimize fluid resistance has much hardness. The damage output mainly relies on the crossbowman's Originium Arts igniting the spell crystal.

"I've also taken care of the firearms. It's just that you'd better find a target and use up all those etched bullets before the end of this month. I can't guarantee they'll still be powerful enough next month. Those Sarkaz really took shoddy workmanship to the extreme."

Maria pointed to the etched bullets on the test stand, "The instruction manual says it has a six-month shelf life. I think it takes six months for the ammunition to decay into ineffectiveness, but in reality, the energy that was sealed in it started to dissipate the day we got it."

It's like a leaky battery, except this thing leaks electricity much more slowly, taking about six months to completely drain or develop serious quality problems.

“Starting next month, the performance of these munitions will decline by about 5% to 7% each month. After six months, this rate will increase to more than 30% per week, rendering them almost worthless for storage and use…”

"I'll figure something out. So, how's the training of the musketeer cavalry going?"

"It went fairly smoothly. It would have been even better if we had the training syllabus for the Papal Knights." The equipment and training methods of those Lateran religious knights have always been a secret, just like the Ursus Shield Guards.

However, the Shield Guard is no longer unique, as Kazdel also has them, and after upgrading their equipment, they have even added new training subjects, making them another elite unit in Terra that has surpassed their predecessors.

Guns are essentially a type of gun-shaped staff, so using them requires not only professional training but also considerable talent. Not everyone has the talent of a Sarkaz, who can quickly decipher and use guns, nor does everyone possess the Sarkaz's proficiency in Originium Arts and sorcery, allowing them to forcibly use guns.

Lin Guang searched the camp for a long time but could only barely gather enough trainees for a small squad. The only saving grace was that there was plenty of ammunition, so they could force the gunners to train with bullets.

Of course, this approach is very expensive. For example, Exusiai cannot afford live ammunition and instead uses low-power training ammunition (this is explained in the Exusiai story). So, there is a reason why Exusiai is being treated with gua sha (scraping therapy), because she cannot afford live ammunition.

Jessica, who could afford live ammunition, lacked the talent to use it and could only alternate between loading ammunition.

Otherwise, continuously firing etching bullets at high speed would put too much strain on her body, so she could only take the route of charged firing, firing a full-power bullet every two shots.

"So, I still don't understand how Kazdel's rifle achieves continuous high-powered firing."

Maria refers to a captured smuggled supporter rifle. Many of these rifles were lost by Kazdel during the Civil War and the Lyca War, so a significant portion ended up in the hands of mercenaries, bandits, and armies of various countries.

However, everyone is having difficulty with reverse engineering, even though they have learned the principles.

However, they were completely clueless about the actual production technology. Given that the technology of this equipment system was completely different from that of the current Kazdel equipment system, most military experts tended to believe that it was a legacy from the arsenal of some ancient people.

Victoria and Columbia, who were the first to use electromagnetic crossbows, began experimenting with creating their own Originium electromagnetic weapons. Gas propulsion, as Kazdel had already demonstrated, was a dead end, or at least appeared to be one. Conversely, electromagnetic propulsion seemed to be a viable option.

"However, their logistical requirements are a bit high. I only found three replacement batteries here. As for ammunition, it is quite plentiful. Copying is completely out of the question."

Maria briefly summarized the results of the past few days, "I suggest we give up equipping everyone with this weapon, even though it's really useful." Moreover, light weapons cannot dominate the battlefield, and modern Terra is increasingly moving towards the standard that artillery is the god of war.

Let alone so-called experts and elites, the role of infantry, cavalry and even armored forces has begun to diminish. The Lyca War is a case in point. Whoever has more warships and bigger cannons will have the upper hand. Even the Kazdel people, who could beat Lycaenia in terms of conventional forces, had more than a third of their territory destroyed by Lycaenia at one point.

It's just that conventional troops seem a bit weak and powerless in the face of giant ships and cannons. However, Kazdel soon used a "slap from the sky" to make Letania see stars, and now the Colombians have also begun to study aircraft.

Or to be more precise, they finally picked up the research on manned aircraft that they had abandoned for several years. The experts who had confidently claimed that the Hummingbird drone was the largest aircraft in Terra were almost proven wrong by the doctor and his team.

The Sky Throne, weighing 4,000 tons, has left all Terran aerospace experts scratching their heads trying to figure out how it even got up there—even modern aerospace experts would probably go bald from exhaustion.

But the military doesn't care how you get him promoted; they only demand that we have what others have, or at least have countermeasures.

Otherwise, if this thing hits you right in the head, bang! An armored regiment could just smash your capital's inner ring. What would you be fighting then?

However, these things are not important to Kazimierz right now. After all, aircraft are not something that can be developed and mass-produced in a short time. Kazdel only has no more than 15 War Knights in total.

“We lack heavy weapons. If we choose to attack Ursus’ forward military outposts next, we may have to pay a considerable price.” Nearl was silent for a moment. This was the problem at hand. The morale of her men depended on victory. However, a sufficiently crushing defeat would immediately shatter them.

"Moreover, the Ursus reinforcements are constantly advancing into the central plains of Kazimir, and two large Ursus troop groups have already formed around the capital. If we don't make a decision and find a relatively stable strategic foothold, we will soon have no choice but to continue retreating south..."

In that case, an army driven solely by hatred and glory would have crumbled. But if they charged in recklessly, the only outcome would be being crushed by Ursus.

"In any case, we need heavy weapons, armored vehicles (tanks), anti-aircraft guns, artillery, and people to operate them..."

"It's a pity that the Sarkaz of Kazdel are no longer mercenaries, otherwise they would be the only ones who could meet your requirements."

"Even if they were willing, we couldn't afford to hire them. But what about Black Steel?"

“Blacksteel International? Okay, I’ll try to get in touch with them for you…” Maria didn’t have much hope for this, because Blacksteel’s main forces were still deployed in the Dosoles area.

Ursus would not slow its pace for the sake of a few small units blocking its way. Whether it was the elusive bandits and mercenaries or the resistance organized by the Lightbringer family's pony, they were nothing more than insignificant interference to Ursus's two army groups.

Their large force has completed its assembly and brief rest, and is ready to launch an attack on the capital region of Qazimir. Ursus has slowly opened up the battlefield in a standard C-shaped encirclement, and the northeastern region of Qazimir has been completely out of control.

The first area to be eliminated is Lublin, an important industrial and military town located east of Kavaleriaki, the capital of Qazimir. Most of Qazimir's last major military forces are concentrated here, and Qazimir's largest military factory and supply base are located here.

It can support the resupply and docking of an entire land fleet. Once this place is captured, Ursus's supplies can be continuously delivered to the battlefield via land fleets and land trains.

At the same time, it can also obtain a large enough battlefield production base to produce and supply ammunition and various military supplies to the front line nearby.

More importantly, the area about 40 kilometers west of Lublin is the Kasimir National Grain Reserve Cluster, a storage area for the Kavaleriaki urban cluster, which is home to 630 million people.

The amount of supplies needed for urban life is not small. In order to avoid shortages of raw materials, goods and necessities in the city, there are usually large storage areas and logistics centers in the suburbs of the city. Taking Beijing as an example, the basic supplies needed every week are equivalent to mountains dozens or hundreds of meters high.

This only includes supplies for daily life. If it included industrial materials and other luxury goods, the warehouse complex would be much larger and more extensive, especially during times of war, when it would also be responsible for supplying the Lublin front.

Once this place is captured, the Ursus Legion's logistical problems will be greatly alleviated. There are mountains of wheat, flour, and various finished military rations, as well as various clothing, ammunition, and fuel.

In particular, the city of Lublin was responsible for providing fuel for the mobile city during the disintegration and relocation of the capital metropolitan area.

The presence of a well-developed Originium refining industrial zone and abundant fuel reserves certainly gave the garrison peace of mind, but it also made Ursus realize that once Lublin was captured, Kavaleria, who had lost fuel, food, and supplies, would not even be able to relocate.

Two Ursus divisions, from the north and south, attempted to sever the connection between the Lublin salient and Kavaleriai behind it, like pincers, but blocking their way was the urban rail transit trunk line that had been built with the assistance of the Kazdel and Kazimir cooperation project.

The Qasimirians were not stupid. They not only increased their defenses along the route, but also deployed a considerable number of armored trains along the railway line. This made the Ursus realize that if they could not cut off this route, taking Lublin would come at a great cost.

The problems of insufficient logistics and manpower will be fully exposed on this meat grinder-like battlefield. As long as Lublin holds out for three months, General Winter, who has protected Ursus for hundreds of years, will cut off all the supply lines of the Ursus people.

With heavy snow blocking the roads, Ursus will face dozens of times greater difficulty in receiving supplies, logistics, and even reinforcements from within the country to support the front lines.

Therefore, one of the tactics to deal with Ursus is the winter defense tactic—as long as winter approaches, the Ursus people will retreat on their own if they can't hold their ground.

Their offensive, also known as the March Offensive, lasted from June to September, a three-month campaign after which they needed to rest and redeploy troops back to harvest and prepare winter supplies. Otherwise, blizzards would soon cut off most of the roads from the country to the front lines.

Even with the introduction of Kazdel's railway technology, it was still a pipe dream for Ursus to lay enough supply lines given its industrial and infrastructure capabilities.

The entire core battlefield of Kazimir is shaped like a triangle, with Lublin at the apex, the two suburban satellite cities of Kavaleria at the base, and a newly built railway grid on the three sides. Kazimir forces can quickly use the railway lines to maneuver and reinforce the two frontal defenses of the Ursus Armored Division. This situation is very advantageous for the defense of Kazimir.

In terms of timing and location, they had the advantage of both, but in terms of human resources... the Knights' Council demanded resistance to the end, while the Business Federation demanded a relocation to the south.

Their assets were all in Kavaleriaki, and the weak nature of the merchant class meant they had no hope of resisting there. Even if they won, their assets would be destroyed several times over by Ursus and their own forces. Instead, escape, though shameful, was effective.

For the Knights' Council, every inch of land was their fiefdom. Losing even one piece of land meant that a portion of their rule, built on the foundation of knightly nobility, was being destroyed.

Therefore, in this war, they, like most Qasimirians, insisted on fighting to the bitter end rather than surrendering their homeland.

Of course, another reason is that these northern knights and southern manor nobles are completely at odds. In the past, they could only be punching bags, being robbed and exploited. It would be better for them to die in battle here.

Chapter 83 The Battle for the Station

Chapter 83

The siege of Lublin began with the railway line at the rear of the triangle and the towns outside the city. To directly attack the heavily fortified city with a force that was not significantly superior to Lublin's would have been a foolish and suicidal idea.

However, Kazimierz has one major weakness: the connecting passages on both sides, which should have been heavily defended, were being used by the guards who were fighting independently. Not only were there conflicts in the decisions of the Supervisory Council and the Commercial Federation, but there were also various factions within the knightly nobility.

When everyone is confined to Kavaleria and Lublin, this conflict can be temporarily concealed.

However, when they had to split into several groups to deal with the Ursus attack, they were practically unmoved by the plight of their allies.

Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration. They weren't exactly as immovable as a mountain, but they were certainly as swift as a forest. Deciding who would leave the fortified stronghold to rescue friendly forces was a very difficult decision.

However, everyone knows that Ursus will at least make a couple of moves, which means Ursus must plan the rhythm of the attack carefully.

Otherwise, Xu Rulin is also moving, and if the time drags on, the Ursus attacking force will be caught in a three-pronged attack and die on the spot.

In order to slow down the defenders' reaction time as much as possible, Ursus divided the forces in the C-shaped encirclement into two parts: two rapid armored divisions that bypassed Lublin and launched a surprise attack on the "Lulai Railway Station" and the surrounding Lulai town. These two divisions were mainly equipped with light weapons and emphasized mobility in order to bypass the enemy's heavily fortified positions.

Otherwise, if the Qazimirs discover them, the two armored artillery trains will become the Ursus's biggest nightmare.

However, even so, the Lulai Railway Station, which is cross-shaped and made of reinforced concrete with three floors above ground and two floors underground, is not so easy to breach.

In particular, the garrison had gathered all the troops and civilian vehicles in the town and, before the Ursus people arrived, used imported Columbia rapid shelter technology to build a metal wall.

The walls, constructed with thin steel plates of 4-7 millimeters and a carbon fiber frame, appear robust.

In reality, its defensive capabilities are very poor; its main function is to provide cover rather than actually block enemy weapons and etching bullets.

On the walls, scaffold-like firing positions allow snipers to suppress enemies from a distance. In addition, there are scaffolded watchtowers with twin-barreled rapid-fire cannons atop them.

This wasn't a difficult target for Ursus's heavy divisions. However, it was a tougher challenge for the Ursus 501st and 502nd Divisions, which lacked heavy weapons and vehicles.

In particular, the enemy's camp contained six Hummingbird gunship drones and four Columbia Thunderhammer IV tanks that had been imported from Kazdel. These tanks, equipped with the latest Originium electromagnetic cannons, had just been delivered to the train station and were originally intended to be transferred to the Lublin front.

However, transportation operations came to a standstill after Ursus launched its attack. This made the train station very difficult to manage.

Moreover, their underground garage also contains more than a dozen Kazimir-made armored vehicles and tanks.

In particular, those two Kazimierz "Paladin" tanks were their first attempt to build this new-era heavy cavalry unit.

Therefore, despite employing many unknown advanced technologies, Ursus's intelligence agencies have yet to obtain accurate performance parameters and configurations.

All that can be confirmed is that their main gun is a vehicle-mounted version of the Victorian supercharged gun, which the Victorians call the "Explosive Cannon." It uses the explosive magic reaction generated by the Originium ammunition pack to launch a ball of extremely unstable Originium particles that explodes upon contact with the target.

However, just like during the Victoria test, this weapon has a major drawback: the warhead is too sensitive and often explodes the moment it comes into contact with the target's armor, lacking penetration power and only able to cause minor damage through the shock wave of the explosion.

In order to avoid the cannon barrel exploding faster than the enemy, the power of such an explosion is not enough to burn or shock the people inside through the armor, nor can it damage the structure or cause the armor to collapse—the threat to heavy vehicles is almost zero.

However, for light units, such high-explosive shells can still blow them up. Even if they don't explode, they will be overturned by the shockwave. You can't just get out of the vehicle and push it over in the midst of a hail of bullets on the battlefield, can you? And for light infantry, one shot will kill everyone in an area with a radius of seven or eight meters.

However, the Ursus people are currently completely in the dark about its engine, armor, and mobility.

Therefore, Ursus's main offensive focus was on the areas where these advanced tanks were stored. Otherwise, the urban warfare in Lublin would have been a real mess.

"There are about a thousand defenders, and hundreds of male civilians who could take up arms at any time are stranded in the underground station."

"Is this all the intelligence we have?" The Ursus commander, who had spent two days bypassing the main battlefield to get there, was a bit of a headache. He had the advantage in troop strength, but the enemy had the advantage in terrain, and time was not on his side.

How long will it take for their armored trains to arrive?