It's better to conquer them than to command the steel torrent

Chapter 162 | Royal Army! When will you arrive?
"The situation is too dire. I think the Perth city garrison can't hold out any longer. Could we move 'Operation Lenard' forward?"

In the morning, inside the large air-raid shelter on the hill behind Buda Palace, Sigrid was deeply worried about the current war situation.

For the past week, the General Staff has repeatedly promised an opportunity to launch a large-scale counterattack and relieve the siege of Budapest.

The so-called 'Lynard Plan' is actually a counterattack plan, which consists of two parts.

Plan A is more conservative, deploying only five infantry divisions, approximately 8 men, from the west bank of the Danube to pressure the Ivanos army on the east bank and force them to retreat.

Plan B is more aggressive, deploying seven infantry divisions, totaling approximately 11 men, to counterattack and contain the enemy, while Marianne's expeditionary force of approximately 5 men would maneuver to the southern suburbs of the city to encircle the enemy within the city.

Sigrid received daily battle reports from the city's defense command. It was clear that the desperate defenders had exhausted all their strength and were now on the verge of total annihilation.

In Sigrid's view, fighting to the last man is meaningless in the current situation.

Although the defending forces, consisting of three divisions and one regiment (excluding the supplementary regiment), suffered heavy losses and were constantly replenished and wounded, with several changes in personnel, their organization remained basically intact. The remaining 10,000 or so men were all veterans who had fought many battles.

This group of people, soldiers can be promoted to non-commissioned officers, and non-commissioned officers can also be promoted to officers after a few months of intensive training as long as their education level is up to standard. And most importantly, they are all eager for revenge.

Therefore, they should either launch an immediate counterattack to quickly relieve the siege from within and without, or issue a retreat order to help the defending troops cross the river and break out in an organized manner.

As for political issues, Sigrid had also figured them out.

Although Ivanos's army only sent a second-rate detachment, it still invaded together with hundreds of thousands of Romanian troops. Hurricane, a small country with a small population, has resisted for so long despite being weaker than the enemy, demonstrating admirable fighting power and will. They are not to be underestimated.

In other words, it demonstrates sufficient value for united front work.

My lord, my lord, I have been waiting for you for so long! For the sake of my suffering country and people, please come quickly!
In fact, Sigrid also knew that the Great Unified Federation could not directly intervene in the short term, as it would have far-reaching consequences. If the Great Unified Federation officially joined the war, it would be a momentous and all-out attack.

First, they would conquer British India to the west, then advance into the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, before confidently venturing into the Mediterranean. Meanwhile, they would also advance south to conquer Australia and New Zealand.

Unfortunately, Hurricane was far from heaven. She sighed inwardly.

A lieutenant colonel liaison officer reported: "Your Majesty, the 'Hunyatti' military police and royal guards in the north are in dire straits. Last night they attempted a breakout, and most successfully crossed the blockade to rendezvous with neighboring troops, but..."

"What happened?" Sigrid sensed something was wrong as soon as she saw the liaison officer's eyes.

"During the breakout, the troops were intercepted by the enemy, and some regimental headquarters personnel and rear guard units were separated in the fierce fighting, including the commanders."

what?
Is the person you're talking about the same person I'm thinking of?
"Missing?" Sigrid asked hastily, greatly surprised. "The commander of that unit was Colonel Shang from the Zhong Guo Advisory Group. Are you sure?"

The liaison officer shook his head helplessly and replied, "The battle report did not provide more detailed information, but the breakout operation took place at midnight. The main force of the troops began to rendezvous with the garrison in the Capitol area around 2 a.m., and by sunrise, the scattered soldiers had also arrived one after another."

"Where are the commander and the others?"

"Sorry, they hadn't arrived by the time the battle report was sent."

Upon hearing this, Sigrid hesitated, as if she wanted to say something but then stopped herself.

She closed her eyes and murmured, "God bless..."

Shang, you've caused the Ivanross a huge problem. They hate you to the core and hope you don't get captured...

The number of Hungarian soldiers who had broken up their organization was unknown; there were about a hundred in the Lenk district alone, and even more throughout the city.

For Ivanos's army, completely eliminating the scattered Hunnic soldiers before thoroughly crushing the organized resistance of the defenders was no easy task.

The key now is to storm the Capitol area; everything else can wait.

No one paid much attention to the scattered stragglers; their disorganized and chaotic harassment posed little threat. Two figures, one tall and one short, moved slowly across the narrow platform of the sewer.

"boom----"

"Da-da-da"

The gunshots came from a great distance, deep and melodious.

The extensive sewer system acts like a megaphone in its macroscopic structure, allowing gunshots to travel far and be muffled by the Doppler effect, increasing their wavelength.

According to the city defense command's arrangements, the garrison has always had a considerable number of troops (about eight or nine companies) responsible for flexible operations in the sewers.

Clearly, while fierce fighting continued above ground, the battle underground also raged on.

Looking at the fork in the road ahead and the unfathomable darkness, Emilia turned her head and said, "We seem to be lost."

Shang Ke noticed that the flashlight's beam had dimmed considerably and pondered, "The battery is almost gone. Let's get to the ground, pinpoint our location, and then figure out how to find some food."

"Yes."

"let's go."

The two of them continued on their way.

However, just as they were searching for the stairwell, a faint sound reached their ears.

The clicking and clacking sounds were very fast-paced, like some kind of animal running at top speed.

Shank and Emilia stopped and listened carefully.

A few seconds later, a small dark figure darted out from the deep darkness ahead and pounced straight at Shang.

dog?!

Without hesitation, Shank fired his gun, but Emilia was two beats faster and immediately shot and killed the military dog.

As soon as they fired, a series of tracer bullets came flying from the front!
This was a sewer tactic used by Ivan Russ's army, known as "bones and hounds," which involved using military dogs as bait to force the enemy to fire, thus revealing their position through muzzle flash and immediately subjecting them to concentrated fire.

"Enemy patrol!"

Shank and Emilia turned and ran, hiding behind a forked wall to use as cover to fight back against the enemy patrol.

The Browning Auto-5 semi-automatic shotgun was perfectly suited for this situation. It fired 12-gauge shotgun shells one after another without making a sound. After five consecutive shots, the opponent was stunned.

If Shang's fighting style was incredibly wild, then Emilia's was as precise as surgery; she prioritized killing the enemy carrying a submachine gun with two short bursts.

Realizing that the two men were not to be trifled with, the Imperial Russian soldiers wisely backed down.

The patrol hurriedly threw two grenades over to scare them, then retreated several dozen meters to wait for reinforcements.

Shank and Emilia quickly disappeared into the darkness. After running for a few minutes, they found a steel ladder and prepared to leave the sewers from there.

At this moment, the latter, clutching the necklace around his neck with his left hand, said nervously, "Colonel, we've completely run out of supplies."

(End of this chapter)