artillery arc

Chapter 666 The Culprits

As soon as General Shiplin entered the Eagle's Nest, he asked Lieutenant General Grich, who was receiving him, "How is His Majesty's mood?"

"He is in a good mood." The lieutenant general looked inside and lowered his voice. "Thanks to Gilais, His Majesty has been able to accept the reality and has become the man who led us to victory in the beginning."

General Shiplin breathed a sigh of relief.

Grich: "Go ahead, put forward your idea boldly. His Majesty praised you yesterday for only allowing Rokossov to kill 100,000 people."

General Shiplin: "Isn't this a sarcastic remark?"

Grich: "Of course not. Your Majesty also said that if someone else came, most of the troops of Army Group South would have to retreat to the defense zone of Army Group Center, and then there would be no one in Western Kosalia who could stop Rokossov. You left us the possibility of a ceasefire across the Tiber River."

"Cease fire?" General Shiplin's eyes widened. "Your Majesty, are you really considering this? How is it possible! Rokossov will only cease fire under one circumstance, that is, when he needs time to resupply and rest. When he is ready, he will continue the attack!"

Lieutenant General Grich: "Then how do you think this war will end? It is impossible for us to defeat Ant! We can only bleed the enemy dry and make them accept a ceasefire!"

Shiplin stared into Grich's eyes: "That's impossible. As long as there is an Ant in this world, he will attack us."

"So how will this war end?" Griss asked, "Will the Proson Empire be destroyed?"

Shiplin did not answer, but pushed Lieutenant General Grich aside and walked along the luxuriously decorated corridor.

Lieutenant General Grich put his hands in his pockets and looked at his back. Finally, he sighed, turned around, opened the cabinet under his workbench, took out a bottle of whiskey, took out a glass from the drawer, poured himself a glass, and drank it all.

----

General Shiplin entered the room and saw the Emperor gesturing at something in front of a map.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, His Majesty turned around to meet Shipulin's eyes and said, "You've come just in time, General Shipulin. I urgently need to know one thing, can Agsukov be held?"

"No." General Shiplin answered decisively, "Our 11th Army in the Primorsky Fortress did withdraw relatively intact, but one army alone cannot stop Rokossov's troops. In addition, I would like to remind you that the 5th Armored Army, which is affiliated with the 11th Army, has also suffered heavy tank losses. About 100 tanks that are being repaired are left in the repair shop. The entire army currently has only 100 tanks that can fight."

"I already know that the armored forces suffered heavy losses. But what if we rely on the fortifications left by the Antes around Agsukov for defense? Is it possible to defend the city with only infantry troops?" the emperor asked again.

General Shiplin: "Your Majesty, Rokosov has a very terrible siege weapon in his hands, and we have not found a good way to deal with it."

"In fact, we found it." Marshal Celtic said, "According to reports from all sides, this siege weapon named Urban has its rocket launcher exposed on its back. Therefore, we can cover it with indirect fire, which can directly destroy its launch capability and even detonate unfired rockets."

General Shiplin nodded. "Well, I guess the Academy of Military Sciences has developed another indirect fire weapon that can accurately hit Urban while he's moving?"

"In fact, our land-based Stuka rocket launcher can do the job. We have already conducted tests," Marshal Celtic replied.

General Shiplin: "We didn't capture Urban, did we? How can we test it?"

Marshal Celtic: "We copied an Urban based on the intelligence we collected from the front, and we made the launch rail on the back many times stronger and heavier than normal, but it was still destroyed by the land Stuka."

Air Marshal Grand Duke Meyer interrupted and said, "In fact, the new attack aircraft of the Air Force can also destroy the Urban Cannon."

"It must be able to!" the emperor said loudly, "So, General Shiplin, tell me, can Agsukov hold it?"

"No." General Shiplin gave the same answer as before, but with a little more determination. "Withdrawing the 11th Army across the Tiber River can effectively strengthen the defense of the Tiber River. Although the other troops of the Southern Army Group have not been eliminated as a whole, they have been completely defeated. It will take time to regroup."

Marshal Rundstedt: "What if we don't defend Agsukov and Rokossov crosses the river directly?"

"He can't make it. His troops have already swept through half of Khazaria, and they need to stop to rest and replenish their troops. We may only have 100 operational tanks left, but Rokossov won't have that many!"

General Shiprin came to the map and drew two lines between the Tiber River and the starting point of Rokossov's summer offensive.

“Look at the distance!”

His Majesty the Emperor was silent for a few seconds, then asked: "Then let's give up Agsukov as you said. How much time do we have? Will we have enough time to turn this city into a ruin?"

The Wehrmacht generals present looked at each other in bewilderment.

General Shiplin: "Since we are going to cease fire, shouldn't we continue to irritate the Ants?"

Emperor: "Do you think we can stop the war?"

"No." General Shiplin answered decisively.

The emperor nodded. "You possess qualities that our senior generals lack today! Combined with your contribution to the successful retreat, I have decided to promote you to the rank of Imperial Marshal!"

Shiplin stood at attention, his head held high: "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"But I ask you to hold the Tiber River defense line and save Bogdanovka!" His Majesty stopped and stared into General Shiplin's eyes. "Can you do it?"

General Shiplin opened his mouth, but finally swallowed the "can't" and said, "I will do my best!" His Majesty suddenly raised his voice: "Do your best! Every time my generals told me this, they couldn't do it in the end! You good-for-nothings only learned to eat with a knife and fork at the military academy!"

Marshal Shiplin: "Your Majesty, if you give me all the newly formed armored divisions, I can at least maintain the Tiber River defense line until next year!"

Emperor: "You will get two new armored divisions!"

Marshal Shiplin: "Two? As far as I know, the new headquarters has been formed..."

"The High Command has indeed newly organized six armored divisions, as well as a brand new heavy tank battalion composed of the newly launched Panzer VI tanks. However, these troops will be transferred to Sardinia."

Marshal Shiplin frowned: "The Allies landed on that boot?"

"Not yet, but we all know they are coming." Marshal Celtic answered on behalf of the emperor, "The troops just withdrawn from Sicily suffered heavy losses and will definitely block the subsequent offensive of the Allies. We are transferring the armored division to southern Sardinia."

The Emperor took over again: “Because of Rokossov’s rapid progress, we can expect the Allies to achieve great things on the Western Front, and they don’t want to give too much credit for defeating us to Ant.

"Perhaps this is our chance. We can defend the Allies against Ant. I have sent a secret emissary, and it may be possible to meet with His Excellency the President of the United States in a few weeks."

The emperor grinned and said, "This is the way I found for the Empire to end the war! As long as the United States no longer supports Ant, we may reach a stalemate with Ant, and the Alliance will collapse and each will go its own way!"

General Shiplin looked at Field Marshal Celtic and Field Marshal Rundstedt.

The two men pretended not to notice his gaze.

The emperor continued, "So, we have to destroy Agsukov! For this purpose, I have mobilized 100,000 national police troops and about 5,000 combat engineers. Before Rokossov can repaint Agsukov, the city will be reduced to scorched earth!"

----

At the same time, the First Mobile Army Headquarters.

The entire headquarters column was on the move, and Yegorov was sitting in the jeep, looking at the surrounding scenery.

"Wait a minute, are we almost in Orachi?" he suddenly said, patting the back of the driver's seat. "Stop the car! Let me check the surrounding terrain!"

The driver braked so hard that Yegorov almost hit his head on the back of the chair.

He stood up, picked up the telescope and looked around.

"Yes, it's right here! The regiment I led ambushed the enemy here! In this forest! Our position is in the forest! Old friend Eugene's regiment is on the high ground in the southwest! As long as we climb over the hill in front, we can see the city!"

Yegorov put down his binoculars and said to his new guard: "I tell you, half of the people in Orachi work on the ranches. The milk and sausages they produce are very popular in Agsukov! Pass the order! Everyone speed up and go into the city to eat sausages!"

The command immediately went down like an echo.

Yegorov stood on his seat and urged the driver: "Drive faster! Don't worry about me, I'm standing very steadily!"

The jeep started up, and perhaps because Yegorov, the bear, stood up, the center of gravity of the car became higher, so it swayed violently, as if it was drunk.

The car rushed up the dirt slope.

Then the driver subconsciously released the accelerator.

The car, which had just climbed the slope, stopped immediately.

Yegorov held onto the back of the driver's seat and looked ahead blankly.

There was nothing there except ruins.

Yegorov's fingers were so tightly gripping the backrest that his knuckles turned white.

"Aorachi..." He murmured in a low voice, "Is this...Aorachi? Did we go the wrong way? The terrain around here - two years have passed, there should be some changes, right? It doesn't make sense for the terrain to remain unchanged like this!"

At this time, the vanguard of the 1st Guards "Red Flag" Mechanized Infantry Division also crossed the mountain. Seeing this scene, the leader of the team shouted directly: "Everyone, stand still!"

The entire queue stopped immediately.

The regiment commander trotted to Yegorov's car and said, "General, something is fishy. Let's send out a reconnaissance team to check out the situation!"

Yegorov: "No, look at the red flag. The troops ahead of us have passed through and left behind liaisons. Orachi... was destroyed by the Prosens."

As he said this, he bent the telescope.

"Sukabulie! The Prosen people must pay with blood!"

(End of this chapter)