My soldiers are all Fourth Calamities!

38. Construct a defensive line on the Sluch River.

Rochester tapped his finger on the map, drawing a line westward. "Advance to the Slugge River. We don't know the status of that landship; relying on the river for defense is the safest option at the moment."

He tapped the edge of the map.

"This river is not one of those shallow fords you can wade across on the plains. It cuts into the Warren-Podol Highlands, carving out canyons forty to sixty meters deep."

"There aren't many crossing points. Land ships need to find crossings with gentle slopes to disembark—there are only a handful of such places along the entire river, such as Sarny or Vollenski New Town. The latter is more likely."

One of the officers raised a question: "Company Commander Rochester, how can you guarantee they won't come around from the north or south flank?"

Rochester picked up a pencil and circled two areas on the map.

"The north and south can be ruled out. North of the Sluch River is the Polynesian swamp, where the ground is as soft as mushy porridge. Even heavy trucks from World War I couldn't get out of there, let alone land-based warships. Going south would mean traversing even more fragmented forests and highlands, making the supply lines too long."

The pencil tip tapped on the paper, making a soft, crisp sound.

"I suspect that the land-based ships consume a lot of ammunition and supplies. Strategically, the most efficient route for the enemy to attack Zhytomyr is along the existing paved roads or railway tracks—and the Sluch River happens to cut across these major transportation arteries."

He added a few more strokes: a few transportation lines, a few high-ground markers, and the outlines of a few forests.

"First, paralyze all railways west of the Sluch River. Our goal is to stall, to stall for as long as possible."

The pen tip moved towards the east side of the ferry crossing.

"Second, set up artillery positions here. Utilize the high ground's depression angle to maximize the field of fire. Ignore everything else and just fire at the land-based ships."

"Third," Rochester paused, "the reconnaissance team has advanced to within twenty kilometers of the west bank of the Sluch River. I not only need to know if they've come, I need to know what that thing looks like."

The meeting room was silent for a few seconds.

"That's a huge gamble..." A bearded general rubbed his temples. "What if our defenses are breached instantly? Are the land-based ships just sitting ducks for Volensky New City?"

"And blow up the railway?" another person frowned and echoed, "Completely paralyzing the westward advance just to hinder the enemy? What if we need a counter-offensive? This scorched-earth policy will seriously undermine morale..."

Rochester picked up his pencil again and drew a heavy circle around the black circle. "The command's order is that as long as we hold off the enemy's land ships, being sitting ducks means they need to attack us from a distance. The attack will stop, and stopping means we've held them off. As for a counter-offensive, that's something to consider later."

He raised his head, his gaze sweeping across every face in the room. "This is my plan. When everything is inferior to the enemy, when everything is at a disadvantage, we can only use men to stall. At any cost."

"Comrades, we have less steel than them, and our artillery has a longer range. The only thing we have more of than them is the land beneath our feet and our indomitable will."

"The priority is to preserve our own strength, eliminate the enemy's manpower, and buy time for other units."

No one spoke.

There is no better way.

"One more point. Highland artillery uses a shallow downward angle to directly hit the top or sides. It uses the M1902 field gun."

"At the same time, we also moved several M1902 guns to the front of the defensive line. If the enemy has canned goods, we fire them directly at the canned goods; if they don't have canned goods, we fire at the knights; if they don't have knights either, we bombard the infantry."

As is well known, artillery is used for direct fire.

A staff officer hesitated before speaking, "Shouldn't the artillery... be positioned at the rear, Company Commander Rochester?"

"No need, just fire straight at them, aim for the enemy cannons and knights. I don't believe they can survive a cannonball at close range. Just don't let them into the city."

"What should ordinary people do?"

Rochester was silent for a moment.

Yes... what about the ordinary people...?

But the hesitation in his eyes lasted for less than half a second.

He lowered his head again and erased a few unimportant marks on the map with an eraser. "Forced evacuation. Move as many as you can."

"Those who can't leave... let them hide in the basement or the church cellar. Otherwise, we..."

"...War is something we can hardly consider, comrades."

The room was deathly silent, with only the sound of the wind howling outside the window.

The advisor who asked the question opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing.

"I'll take responsibility for everything," Timoshenko stood up, buttoned his cap, and said, "Just do as Company Commander Rochester says." Three hours later, the entire force set off westward. Other units would intercept the remnants of Denikin's forces to the south.

[Provide operational plans]

[Gained Reputation [500]]

Current Reputation [2100]

Main Quest: Capture and Hold "Volunski New City"

[Rewards: Reputation, Personal Ability Points, a Magical Item]

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As soon as the players awoke, Rochester quickly assigned tasks, and the entire army set out in a grand procession.

The situation was dire for the Vistula army stationed outside Korosjan at the time. They had just finished breakfast when a large army was seen pressing in on them.

Most of the soldiers hadn't recovered from the last battle. They gave one of the enemy units a nickname: "Devils in the Smoke."

Besides, the image of friendly forces being turned into a bloody mist by Timoshenko right before my eyes is still vivid in my mind.

So when they saw Timoshenko's troops charging towards them, they were instantly thrown into extreme passivity and panic. But when the supervising officer shot a panicked recruit, they had to calm themselves down.

They endured severe shortages of ammunition and supplies, and were forced to operate under all sorts of unexpected combat conditions.

An intense and protracted battle ensued, though the soldiers of the Redvet Alliance acknowledged the bravery and determination of the Vistula Federation soldiers.

However, for the Vistulas, the battle ended in a swift defeat. Their original plan to deliver a crushing blow to the Korossian forces had completely failed, and the soldiers of the Cossack Provisional Government had all deserted long ago.

At this moment, among the retreating enemy troops, a "Vistula" officer was cursing.

"Damn it, where the hell are those Ukrainians? Where the hell are they?!" the officer cursed as he ran. "Damn it, 60,000 men! We had 60,000 men! Are half of them even left?"

With their troops scattered by the cavalry division, the officer was left with only his own small and exhausted force.

Attacking "Krostián" is no longer an option; retreating to "Volunski New Town" seems to be the only viable solution at present.

He had received a battle plan based on intelligence before the battle, but he couldn't care less about that now. His only objective—almost impossible to achieve—was to avoid total annihilation like his colleagues. He hoped to fight and retreat, eventually rejoining the main force that was gathering in the rear.