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

Chapter 184 | Going to freeload!
As Mr. Shang and his party struggled northward through the wind and snow, bad news kept coming in, as if they received bad news in every town they passed through.

Some say that Bolin has fallen, and the defending army was wiped out after a heroic and valiant battle.

Some say that the defenders of Bolin successfully broke through, but the remaining stragglers are still resisting in the sewers and subway tunnels.

Some say Hamburg has fallen, and Wittenberg is also in dire straits.

Some say that Ivan Rus's army has crossed the Elbe River completely and is heading towards Bremen and Hanover.

What's most annoying is that it's not easy for the SdKfz9 half-track to tow a T-34 weighing more than 20 tons.

Short trips were fine, but the journey from Linz to Nuremberg was over 300 kilometers, and the weather was terrible, so we kept running into problems and having to stop and go.

It was three days later when the convoy finally arrived in Nuremberg.

The local train station was in a state of chaos and couldn't care less about Mr. Shang and his group. They simply said that there were no trains scheduled to go to Stuart at the moment, and the earliest they could go was two more days. At present, almost all the railway capacity in southern Walland was occupied by the army, and a large number of defeated soldiers were taking the train south to rest and regroup.

"Colonel Shang, the situation looks very bad. The Vallanders may not be able to hold out any longer."

As the remnants of a heavily damaged infantry division disembarked one after another, Morrow was filled with worry.

“We have too little strategic depth. There’s nothing we can do. The fall of industrial strongholds like Hamburg, Hanover, and Bremen is fatal.” Shank stood with his hands on his hips, staring at the demoralized DED soldiers.

"The Varlanders were a formidable opponent in the European competitions, but I never imagined they would fall to this state."

"That's how it is in your Western European countries. They have relatively small land areas, and one or two military mistakes can cause the situation to spiral out of control."

Moro is usually quite stubborn, but she rarely backed down on this topic.

She pouted and muttered, "Who wouldn't want a territory as vast as Ivanros's?"

Shank laughed and then teased her, "If Walland is defeated, are you afraid?"

When the topic came up, Morel refused to back down and blurted out, "Of course not, we'll hold off the Ivanros behind the Maginot Line and then launch a counter-attack. That's called 'waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out,' right?"

“That’s right, it’s that idiom. Good luck to you.” Shang Ke shrugged and said meaningfully, “But you should be prepared to fight three against one.”

In fact, there was nothing wrong with this strategic concept. The Mariannas certainly knew that there was no fortress that could not be breached in the world, but the Maginot Line could wait for the enemy to come to them, allowing their own troops to be well-rested and ready to launch a powerful defensive counterattack at the right time, defeating the enemy in a large-scale counterattack.

The only question is, in field conditions, can we win?

While waiting for his train, Shang Ke didn't sit idle; he gathered information and intelligence from all sides, showing even more dedication than the military attaché at the embassy.

The Varland government did not develop a systematic industrial relocation plan, which is understandable, since a concentrated heavy industrial system cannot be moved at will, and where can it be moved to in a total area of ​​several hundred kilometers?

If the enemy has already invaded the country's industrial areas, it means that the country has already lost the war, and when to declare defeat is just a matter of face.

Oh? So that means Varland could surrender at any time?

This gave Shang a bad idea.

He convened a secret meeting with members of his advisory group.

"From a military perspective, Varland is unable to withstand the onslaught and will likely have to concede defeat and seek peace, but the possibility of a portion of its people continuing to resist cannot be ruled out."

"There are still one or two million troops in Saxony and Thuringia in the central region. If they retreat to the southern mountains of Bavaria and Württemberg, there is still hope for a protracted resistance."

"I think Valland is going to be in chaos in the next week or two. Since I'm passing through, I thought I might as well take some good stuff back with me and freeload." Everyone looked at each other, wondering what he was up to.

His gaze swept over the crowd, finally settling on one of them.

"Old Liu, you're the one. I'm choosing you this time."

"I?"

The technical expert who was called in was named Liu Ting, a short man with a scholarly air about him.

Liu Ting is an engineer at Guangda Heavy Industry Group. He participated in the design of armored reconnaissance vehicles and was responsible for guiding the construction of the ZJ automobile manufacturing plant after arriving in Hungary.

Without saying a word, Shang dragged Liu Ting away.

That wasn't the end of it; Shang then tricked Moro into coming as well.

"Moro, I have something very important to do, which will probably take up a few days of your time. I hope you can help me."

Moro hesitated, looking troubled, "But I should go back to Lyon now..."

"Oh, it's just a training mission. One more or one less won't make a difference. What I have to do is much more meaningful than your little job. We've fought side by side before, so you have to believe me."

No? What exactly do you want?
Faced with Mr. Shang's sincere gaze, Mo Luo instinctively felt that she didn't need to question him, but something still felt off.

Anyway, Moro was eventually dragged onto his pirate ship in a daze.

The Walland government had long since evacuated Polin and moved to Nuremberg. Now Nuremberg has become the de facto wartime capital, with a large influx of government departments and embassies from various countries arriving in the last two weeks, leaving the city in disarray.

These days, it's really troublesome not having internet and portable communication devices. Shank went to great lengths to find a temporary place for the Controlling Government's embassy in Walland.

Here, he found the ambassador and the chief military attaché.

After he finished explaining his ideas, the two of them were stunned for a moment.

The ambassador frowned and said in a deep voice, "Is it really necessary to do this? If the Vallanders had any powerful weapons, they wouldn't have been beaten so badly."

Shang Ke quickly explained, "Don't disbelieve me, there might really be something good. Besides, no one has time to deal with this situation right now, so let's just go and try our luck."

The chief military officer asked with great interest, "Everyone says you do things in a wildly imaginative way, and I've seen it for myself. If it's promising, then go for it. I'll have someone take care of the informants and contact methods."

The ambassador did not object, but reminded them: "Keep a low profile and don't go too far. We can't lose face for the country."

With their permission, Shang Ke was full of energy. He stood at attention, saluted, and solemnly promised, "Don't worry, seniors, I know what I'm doing. I'll definitely get it done quickly and well."

The next step is a simple handover; everything should be done quickly.

The chief military attaché temporarily signed several large checks to cover expenses in case of unforeseen circumstances.

In addition, according to intelligence support provided by the embassy, ​​there should still be three informants developed in the country in Erfurt, the capital of Thuringia, halfway there. Whether they can be found depends on luck.

Not wanting to waste even a minute, Shang Ke got a car and immediately took Liu Ting and Mo Luo on the road.

(End of this chapter)