Cannon Fire Arc

Balas City, the royal capital of Balas, is a mountain city that guards the canyon leading to Bahara.

Thus, Ante and the United Kingdom's combat plan was to advance from north and south.

However, the United Kingdom's Army was still a hundred kilometers away from Balas City.

Wang Zhong stood on the high ground outside the city, looking at the ancient walls of Balas City.

"Geez," he put down his binoculars, turned and asked Pavlov, "How thick are these walls?"

Lady Emilia said, "Didn't you see the information we provided? The thickest part is five meters."

Wang Zhong sighed in relief, "Good, not thick, enough explosives should destroy it."

Pavlov shook his head, "If the enemy has set up intense firepower, it might not even be possible to get close enough to place the explosives."

Wang Zhong suggested, "Just use tanks for cover, let the engineers rush to the wall under their protection, blow up the wall, and then the army can storm in... But if the defending troops are disguised Prosens, then that would be bad."

If the defending troops turned out to be disguised Prosens, then the siege plan would have to be approached with extra caution.

At that moment, Mustafa from the First Brigade of Balas and Mayar Abdullah came over, and upon seeing Wang Zhong, they immediately paid him a grand tribute.

Wang Zhong said, "You don't need to salute me like that every time we meet, we are all ordinary humans, we are equals."

Mayar Abdullah immediately nodded, "Alright. It was thoughtless of us. I noticed you mingle well with the soldiers, and using such grand gestures might indeed be seen as a smear."

No, it wasn't quite to that extent…

Wang Zhong could only smile awkwardly.

Mayar then said seriously, "We came today because we have something to discuss. In our resistance against the King, we've gained control of the underground tunnels of the Royal Capital. It seems they were dug during the ancient dynasty and are now being used as sewers."

Wang Zhong was immediately intrigued, thinking how classic a setting of ancient sewers was for a CRPG—maybe harboring a Lich or some Thieves' Guild within.

Considering the world had Supernatural Powers, he asked Mayar, "Are there any skeletons, ghouls, or goblins in these sewers?"

"What kind of skeleton? I've never even heard of the other two," Mayar looked puzzled.

At that moment, Colonel Benjamin, the liaison from the United Kingdom, said in Balasian, "They are two types of legendary creatures known to appear in legends, and while the United Kingdom has similar beings, your Balasian legends do not, so there aren't corresponding translations. In short, they are creatures that lurk in dark places like sewers to attack humans."

Mayar shook his head, "No. The biggest beasts in the sewers are just rats."

Wang Zhong asked, "Are those rats as tall as an eight-year-old child, wielding weapons that emit green light?"

Mayar continued to shake his head, "No, the biggest rats are only about one and a half kilograms, about this big."

He gestured with his hands; they did seem to be large rats, but not to a frightening extent.

Wang Zhong was relieved; since being attacked by Falconers, he had become slightly sensitive to mysterious forces, and he suddenly recalled the documents provided by the United Kingdom before the offensive, which mentioned that Balas had spells to summon armies from Otherworlds and to control the dead. Yet, it seemed none had been seen on their advance.

So, he asked Mayar, "What about the other famous spells of Balas? Why haven't we seen any as we advanced?"

Mayar gave a hearty smile, "Because I persuaded them to go south to confront the United Kingdom's Army. Maybe their intervention is why the United Kingdom's military advances so slowly."

"No," Colonel Benjamin shook his head, "No, our Army is just that slow. Rather, considering how smoothly the operations on Ante's side have gone, the United Kingdom's Army has only lagged slightly... Well, I think your witchcraft hasn't really worked."

Wang Zhong looked at Colonel Benjamin, thinking, are people from the United Kingdom so self-deprecating?

But then he suddenly realized that the most biting satirical dramas about Ying had been made by Ying themselves, and it seemed quite fitting.

Alright then, it turns out that the near-fatal attack on me, Wang Zhong, was the strongest resistance these mystical forces could muster; no wonder Prosens don't regard these mystical powers too seriously.

In the era of cold weapons, these mystical powers probably had immense influence, but now, in the face of modern science and industry, the mystical seems rather insignificant.

Or rather, once the power of technology and industry exceeds a certain threshold, the supernatural starts to look unimpressive.

Wang Zhong felt he was gradually understanding this world.

"General," Mayar interrupted Wang Zhong's thoughts, "if we take the sewer route, bypassing the city defenses, it could greatly reduce our casualties. The commando team could directly raid the city gate defenders' barracks and rapidly capture the north gate of the city."

Wang Zhong asked, "The troops stationed in the city, are they Balasians or Prosens?"

"They are Balasians, after all the city has lots of traffic and with United Kingdom diplomats stationed, it's highly unlikely to switch to Prosens without drawing attention."

As Mayer had just spoken, Mustafa picked up the conversation, "But these Balasians are different from us. To save our nation, we strictly forbid our soldiers from consuming moon sugar, a candy made from local specialty plants that has a strong stimulant effect. Those who eat it dance around, become extremely agitated, and cannot feel pain."

Wang Zhong squinted his eyes and looked towards Colonel Benjamin.

The Colonel said, "Exactly, this is also one of the origins of the so-called necromancy of animating corpses in Balas. We believe that the wizards use a more potent version of moon sugar, or add other rare herbal ingredients to enhance its stimulant abilities."

Wang Zhong sighed, "When the mystery is stripped away, what lies beneath is outrageously mundane."

Pavlov said, "Let's see if these drugged loyal dogs of the Emperor can outfight a Thread Cutter."

Wang Zhong asked, "Do we have a Thread Cutter?"

"Just got a shipment from home, and the Naval Infantry Regiment 393 is taking a rest, so it's been issued to them," said Pavlov. "The elite Naval Infantry have rested for a few days; it's time for them to enter the fray."

Wang Zhong turned to ask Colonel Benjamin, "Can the First Paratrooper Division special task force be deployed? And the Commando. I want to deploy the elite infantry of the United Kingdom alongside our own elite to execute this mission, hitting different targets, and then see who fails to complete their mission.

"This would also address the issue of the United Kingdom not being able to participate in time for the siege."

Colonel Benjamin stared at Wang Zhong for a few seconds and said, "Considering your friendship with Lady Amelia, I won't presume you're being sarcastic."

Wang Zhong said, "Of course not. Even you know that the United Kingdom's Army is too inadequate to catch up for the north-south pincer attack, so I want to dispatch the excellent First Paratrooper Division special task force and Commando assault team ahead as a contingency for the current situation."

Lady Amelia said, "You can be annoying at times, but yes, this is a contingency plan prepared due to distrust of the Army's capability. The First Paratrooper Division special task force and the Commando assault team are both ready.

"By the way, I've been informed by our homeland that the First Paratrooper Division will receive a royal title after this battle, so I hope you assign them more important targets."

Wang Zhong turned to ask Mayer, "What's the state of defense at the Royal Palace?"
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Mayer replied, "The Royal Palace's city defense map was supposed to be sent out last night, but the Palace's secret police suddenly carried out a city-wide search last night, and we couldn't get the map out."

Mustafa added, "I heard a blond, blue-eyed foreigner was commanding the Palace's secret search."

Wang Zhong said, "Don't you have tunnels?"

"The tunnels leading to the Palace were destroyed. We suspect there's been a betrayal by someone high up," Mayer Abdullah said resentfully.

Lady Amelia said, "So now we know the distribution of the Palace's exterior guards..."

Wang Zhong interrupted her, "No, they might reshuffle."

"Our contact came out before they reshuffled," Mayer said.

Wang Zhong replied, "Prosens are methodical in their approach; they will reshuffle. But key points of the city's defenses won't change, just the defenders from Balasians to Prosens. Honestly, I feel more at ease facing Prosens than drugged-up madmen."

Sergeant Grigori, who rarely interjected, said, "Yes, I'm tired of killing Prosens. They all even scream for their mothers in the same tone when they die; every inflection is the same."

Everyone laughed.

Wang Zhong said, "Then our plan is set. We'll send the elite troops through the tunnels to strike at the enemy's key points first, and after securing those, the main force will move out.

"Given the higher combat morale and initiative of the elite troops, I suggest implementing a night raid."

Night combat enhances the fighting strength of troops with higher morale and initiative.

Pavlov said, "That's fine. If it's the Naval Infantry, a night raid is no problem."

Colonel Benjamin also agreed, "Paratroopers are best suited for airborne operations at night, so they're also proficient in nighttime raids. As for Commando, well, they are like ghosts at night, silently annihilating the enemy."

Wang Zhong concluded, "Good, then a night raid it is. Tomorrow morning we'll concentrate heavy artillery fire on the city walls. How many 203 heavy artillery do we have?"

Pavlov responded, "We have a heavy breakthrough artillery regiment, a total of 24 203s."

Wang Zhong directed, "All should be concentrated together. Select the positions during the day today. Have Balasians familiar with the city's layout go with the artillery commanders to choose the positions."

"Good."

Wang Zhong picked up his binoculars again, gazing at the ancient city.

This was the final destination of this expedition. After capturing the ancient city, it would be time to consider how to block the Prosens along the Valdai Hills River. The First Mobile Group Army had only rested for a month; it was uncertain how well they had recovered.

Unfortunately, the additional troops assigned to the First Mobile Group during the battle of Yeisk probably hadn't recovered well.

The 401st Division, for instance, had suffered heavy losses.

At this moment, Wang Zhong was unaware that he would later have to make a trip to the Federation.