Life… it wasn’t that dire. He hadn’t committed the gravest of offenses, such as treason, desertion, or disobedience to a superior’s orders.
Neglect of duty, dereliction of duty, that was the most serious of his charges.
And in fact, what happened afterward was not far off from his own judgement.
He was stripped of his military post, demoted to the rank of captain, and relegated to a civilian department. Then, six months later, he was reassigned to a new unit, serving as a battalion commander in a garrison division in the Green Valley Region, dealing daily with the Aberrant Beasts that still lingered in the southern Green Valley.
His competence was certainly there, otherwise, he couldn’t have been promoted; after making a serious mistake and taking a major hit, one often grows. Besides, merely serving as a battalion commander in a garrison, his abilities were definitely up to the mark.
Surely those Aberrant Beasts couldn’t suddenly grow brains, engage in maneuvers like flanking, reconnaissance, deception in warfare, and bypass his defensive lines, right?
…
Half a month later.
Gu Hang in Revival City received a comprehensive report on ‘Operation Flash Tail’ from Yan Fangxu.
The entire operation had already concluded.
And before this battle report had arrived, he had already seen the settlement interface from the system panel.
[West Desert Campaign Settlement:]
[Epic Victory, Earned 12,284 points of Grace]
[17,325 losses, 246,645 enemies annihilated]
These figures were quite impressive.
Actually, before Operation Flash Tail, the Alliance had already incurred over thirteen thousand casualties in the full-scale combat, in those fierce battles of infiltration and counter-infiltration.
These were substantial losses, especially considering the fighting lasted less than a month.
Although the Alliance had also destroyed over fifty thousand various mechanical units during this process, this kind of bloodletting warfare was definitely not what the Alliance desired.
Exchanging human lives for the wreckage of mechanical units was, in Gu Hang’s view, a decidedly losing business.
Operation Flash Tail, after Yan Fangxu had prepared the plan and reported back, was approved by Gu Hang. He too was looking forward to achieving impressive results.
Yan Fangxu, along with a series of commanders on the front lines, did not disappoint his expectations.
Despite a few unexpected developments in the middle, the overall strategy proceeded smoothly.
After annihilating the enemy’s last mobile force that could be deployed, they destroyed the logistical distribution center at ‘Scorpion Tail Oasis’.
The subsequent developments unfolded just as anticipated; deprived of batteries, fuel, and other vital resources, the enemy’s frontline forces began to collapse. Units with scant reserves perhaps had only two to three days of combat capability left, while those with more could hold out for no more than eight to nine days before being finished.
Realizing victory was utterly impossible, they began to retreat—indeed, as soon as that last mobile force was annihilated, the puppet masters behind these mechanical monsters had come to this realization and made the worst-case preparations.
However, retreating was easier said than done.
Merely withdrawing to areas supported by their logistical supplies in the desert required a lengthy journey. Much like human troops venturing deep into the desert, it was the same for the Mechanical Legion, which had a journey of over a thousand kilometers.
Moreover, how could human troops possibly stand by and watch them retreat?
In the entire Western War Zone, the Alliance Army commenced a full-scale offensive.
Their goal was not to annihilate the enemy but to delay, harass, and encircle…
And the four brigades that had created a significant bulge, under the command of Colonel Li Kexi, also began to flank the enemy from both sides, cutting off their retreat.
On the entire map, it was clearly visible that after these four brigades created a large bulge in the front lines, they started side movements like petals blooming to the sides, aiming to sever the enemy’s escape routes.
Of course, perfection was unattainable. Mechanical units retreating to the rear fought desperately. Their numbers were still not sufficient; if they encountered such units, they would let them pass without resistance.
However, if they encountered units with insufficient energy reserves, or those with inadequate troop concentrations, they would decisively intercept them.
This form of combat persisted for over ten days.
In the central Western Desert, on the thousands of kilometers wide north-south frontline where the Mechanical Legion fully confronted the Alliance Army, the enemy forces collapsed.
On their western retreat, some units were destroyed, others escaped, and the remaining half, running out of energy during the escape or combat, turned into scrap littering the ground, collected effortlessly by the Alliance and, except for some samples, were all destroyed en masse.
Even now, the destruction is still ongoing.
Blackbird Heavy Industries was even driven out of the West Desert Region at one point.
Nonetheless, Yan Fangxu maintained a clear awareness of the situation.
He regrouped all his forces and strictly ordered them not to pursue beyond the West Desert Region. Indeed, starting from today, the entire Western War Zone had been retracting backward, planning to shrink back to the original front lines.
Gu Hang felt regretful about this, but he knew that Yan Fangxu’s decision was correct.
Of course, if possible, he also wanted to take advantage of the momentum, march hundreds of thousands of troops westward, and flatten Blackbird.
But that was not feasible.
Tadeusz issued a warning: our own logistics have also reached their limits.
The logistics of the Alliance, which had never been very robust to begin with, relied solely on the life line of the Western Desert Avenue. The previous offensives had consumed a large amount of ammunition, food, and medical supplies. At the same time, there were numerous wounded soldiers needing evacuation.
Meanwhile, more than a hundred thousand enemy troops had escaped to the continental west before losing power, where they received reinforcements.
Even in various parts of the continental west, there were likely many mechanical units still present.
Blackbird Heavy Industries had not collapsed.
If the pursuit continued, it was quite possible that they might push back normally.
In the face of such risk, it was more sensible to choose stability over making mistakes.
Gu Hang could totally understand that point.
But to let go of the enemy in this wave was truly regrettable.
Gu Hang always believed that one should face the most pessimistic plans with the most optimistic attitude.
He estimated that given Blackbird Heavy Industries’ degree of rebellion, their recovery would be incredibly rapid. Read the latest on My Virtual Library Empire
Their production lines were probably already running at full capacity. A large number of mechanical units would come off the assembly line, not needing nine months of gestation nor military training, and quickly replenish the front lines.
In this process, the fastest production speed was likely to be for making mechanical humans using humans as material.
This meant a substantial loss of human life.
Gu Hang felt very pained about this.
But what could the Alliance do?
He had already instructed Yan Fangxu to establish a “rescue lifeline” along Western Desert Avenue, all the way west, and commanded the intelligence line under Lambert’s charge to activate the two or three hundred intelligence officers who had infiltrated the west.
They would proclaim the Alliance’s victory, denounce the atrocities of Blackbird Heavy Industries in using humans to manufacture mechanical humans, and announce the existence of a lifeline. Those who were willing could head eastward, and the Alliance Army would coordinate their rescue and help them escape Blackbird Heavy Industries’ control.
But… this strategy might save some people, but for the entire west of the continent, with over fifteen million people, it could not act as a savior.
Firstly, the actions of intelligence personnel were limited; they couldn’t organize large-scale evacuation efforts; secondly, the chances of refugees successfully fleeing eastward on their own were low, as mechanical units would continuously patrol; and thirdly, the lifeline established by the Alliance was fragile, only viable during the brief window when Blackbird was heavily damaged. Once Blackbird recovered and the Mechanical Legion resumed positions on the front line, this “rescue lifeline” would likely break.