Chapter 1001 — Stalemate
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 4
Luo Yan rose from behind his desk and walked to the map a short distance away, his gaze drifting slowly across the series of markings along the border region, while Matilda's voice came from behind him: "In the past week, the Cecilians have reinforced the Winterwolf Fortress line four times, and their controlled zone now stretches from the fortress all the way to Shadowmarsh. Not long ago they seized the mechanical bridge in the Shadowmarsh region, allowing an armored train into the theater of war. That war machine now sits like a fortress along the line from Shadowmarsh to Winterwolf Fortress, putting enormous pressure on our border offensive..."
"It seems they have made up their minds to nail themselves down at Winterwolf Fortress... It is a strategic anchor point," Luo Yan nodded. "So we cannot rule out the possibility of a sudden attack on Aldernan."
"It does appear so..." Matilda replied. "We have now cut the railway line from Shadowmarsh back to the interior, and established a new front with Winterfort as its anchor; troops drawn from the interior are gathering there in an endless stream. The Cecilians' steel chariots and mobile infantry tactics inflicted terrible casualties on us at first, but after Count Palin Winterfort withdrew from the Winterwolf line to the rear, he guided the frontline troops in devising many effective tactics. Our extraordinary units can now fight those machines effectively... but against those two mobile fortresses of the Cecilians, we are still helpless."
"Palin Winterfort, is it..." Luo Yan said in a low voice. "After the fall of Winterwolf Fortress, he came under heavy criticism at home... Now those voices of doubt have finally fallen silent."
"In the battle of Winterwolf Fortress, of the two principal commanders, one surrendered and one withdrew to the rear ahead of time. When word of this reached home, no matter how the public narrative was steered, it ultimately struck at the pride and confidence the upper classes had carried for so many years. To say nothing of Anluo, who surrendered after being gravely wounded—Count Palin Winterfort is said to have withdrawn unscathed and in advance... Many nobles concluded from this that he was even more dishonorable than Anluo."
"The absurd thing is that only those who never set foot on a battlefield, who understand nothing of armies, mock them—while the true generals know it was precisely those two questioned commanders who bought us the time to breathe and regroup," Luo Yan said, a chill in his tone. But he did not linger on the subject long, and soon shook his head. "It seems that war machine they call an 'armored train' is even more troublesome than our initial intelligence suggested."
"It is technological progress—the material our intelligence gathered earlier is clearly outdated. The armored train of that time was a half-finished thing, and now the Cecilians have perfected its weapons and power systems," Matilda said gravely. "That thing possesses firepower on the level of a strategic mage corps and protection like a city wall, and it can race back and forth along the rails at will—while the entire track is protected by a powerful shield, countless depots and watchtowers set along its length, and small trains patrolling the protected rails. According to the description Count Winterfort sent back, this is a 'dynamic system, strong in both offense and defense,' and none of our service branches can deal with it..."
"The Cecilians clearly put enormous effort into designing this thing. From the moment of its birth, its purpose was never to deal with those feeble small nations, but to deal with a colossus like Typhon..."