I, who was eager to retire, became an Imperial General.

Chapter 206 The Legend of the Food Pact is heating up!
Meanwhile, in the Cocobia rainforest, within Blue Lake City.

John, unaware that Galil had become Carrie, led the 1st Magic Battalion in a siege attack on this sparsely populated city, which lacked anti-magic devices. As expected, the defending force, whose average combat strength was only at the level of a low-ranking mage and whose total number was less than 1,200, was quickly defeated.

Blue Lake City thus fell to John's forces after his fierce attack. As the rest of the troops, whose march was slow, gradually arrived, John's troops, along with Samuel's and ground reinforcements, rejoined Blue Lake City and began to garrison there.

Because traps and targeted troops were set up in the dark corridors in advance, and because the war only lasted for three days.

Therefore, the Imperial Army suffered only over 1,200 casualties in this battle. Apart from the dozens of casualties suffered by the Raiders' land and sea forces in the battle with the Burners, the rest of the casualties were all members of the original Independent 3rd Division.

Currently, excluding the 1,500 troops led by Samuel who are carrying out a port sabotage mission, the total number of Imperial troops stationed in Blue Lake City is 7,100.

Logically, after capturing Blue Lake, John should have immediately led his troops in a blitzkrieg to prevent other cities from becoming more vigilant upon receiving news of Blue Lake's fall, which would have made subsequent sieges more difficult.

However, due to the fact that the average daily rest time for three consecutive days was less than four hours, although everyone in the Magic Battalion 1 was briefly in full-force condition due to excitement, after careful consideration, John still issued the order to rest on the spot.

After all, compared to magic soldiers who are injured or even killed in battle due to poor mental state, this is a different story.

The most logical order for him was to adjust the status of his troops, then capture the city at a lower cost, and finally take control of the entire Crescent Strait.

After all, although his psychological warfare tactics would cause Roxie to lose command of the troops in the short term, and the orcs would also have a rift with the Fifth Legion because they were almost killed, or even directly break into conflict.

But John estimated that this state of disunity, coupled with the fact that the enemy also needed to rest, would only last for about three days at most.

At that time, it is highly likely that after Roxie's battle report is sent back to the kingdom, the two houses of parliament will discuss it and Roxie will be dismissed from his post as commander of the Allied forces due to his erroneous battlefield command. The command of the Fifth Army will then be taken over by a lower-ranking commander.

After extensive discussions, the Allied forces and the Orcish Legion reached a corresponding compensation agreement, and the newly appointed commander of the Fifth Legion once again led his troops to advance into the Cocobia Rainforest in an attempt to annihilate them.

Meanwhile, the remaining Darkmoon Clan guards will likely be temporarily conscripted and join the Allied forces.

In addition, there is the Allied Seventh Naval Fleet, whose arrival status is currently unknown.

By then, John will likely face an unusually large number of enemy troops.

Therefore, we should minimize troop losses and contact the Crescent Fleet, which has now almost been annihilated by infiltration tactics. In order to guard against the enemy's warships, we should continuously send decoy speedboats in the island area to try to lure the enemy's main force to show itself, so as to prevent the Third Navy from being surrounded and abandoning its original defense plan and arriving at the Crescent Strait ahead of schedule to carry out joint naval and land operations.

Only by relying on the comeback plan he has already conceived in his mind can he possibly seize the final victory on the ground with the integration of the Empire's army, navy, and air force.

"Of course, if Roxie can withdraw from the battlefield, it will be the biggest benefit for our side. After all, without such a difficult commander, the enemy's ground forces can be taken for granted."

It's unclear whether the Allies will choose to support and protect this flawed Commander of the Morning Star, allowing him to remain on the battlefield as a staff officer.

As for the worst-case scenario, barring any unforeseen circumstances, he will use these three days to capture Crescent Strait and implement his tactical arrangements in advance.

Furthermore, the ground support forces in the north have most likely already forced back Dolan and harvested the minerals, and have integrated at least a thousand army troops. In addition, they have just made contact with the support of the 5000 2nd Division troops stationed in Horseshoe City to block their retreat.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, he should be able to complete his plan to annihilate the Seventh Legion in the Cocobia rainforest.

"But the most critical problem is that there are just too many cities in the Cocobia rainforest. Even though I have tried my best to avoid cities that might provide support, there are still a full fifteen cities that can be reached at the designated battleground!"

If he cannot eliminate the threat posed by these fifteen cities after the decisive battle begins, he cannot guarantee that his plan will be successfully implemented!
"Tsk!"

Looking at the layout of the Darkmoon Clan town in front of him, John's brows furrowed deeply, and his face turned extremely grim.

In order to ensure the successful execution of the annihilation plan, and to minimize our own casualties as much as possible.

Having just used the powerful computing power provided by the analytical formula, he has concluded that he will need at least two days to prepare defenses for the decisive battle.

Therefore, he only had one day to launch a blitzkrieg to capture the city.

Even if he relentlessly dispatched magic soldiers to launch a siege without regard for losses, and even if he rushed to the new town immediately after completing the siege and annihilating the defending army.

At most, he can only win 3 games in a row.

After all, when Blue Lake City fell, the enemy's other towns had most likely already received the news and would have immediately deployed anti-magic devices for defense.

In this situation, it would be wishful thinking to rely on magic soldiers to capture multiple cities and annihilate the defending forces in succession.

However, the army's marching speed was extremely slow in the dense rainforest. Even with Cambert's special forces and Roderick's assault troops carrying out the split attack on the city and the operation to destroy the anti-magic device regardless of losses, the army was still unable to advance.

At their pace, they could only conquer a maximum of five cities in one day.

If the city cannot be captured and the garrison killed or captured, then once the decisive battle begins and the Darkmoon Clan intends to send troops to support them, then the ambush that should have been perfectly executed could very well turn into a situation where they are attacked from both sides.

In the worst-case scenario, he himself might die here.

Upon realizing this, John began to feel a headache coming on, and at the same time, he couldn't help but mutter in frustration:
"We definitely didn't ask for enough assassination squad members. If I had known things would turn out this way, I should have just asked Brother Jet for two hundred more assassination squad members!"

"If we had two hundred more Black Hawk Down members who could fly and carry out decapitation and city-seizing missions, things wouldn't have gotten to this point!"

After a few helpless complaints, John quickly pulled himself out of his worries about insufficient troops and began racking his brains to think of a more advantageous command plan.

Never regret what has already happened; instead, focus on the present.

This is a belief that John has always upheld, both in his past and present lives.

After all, regret is pointless. Your troubles won't change the future; they will only waste precious time and cause what could have been a success to fail completely.

As for pinning one's hopes on a sliver of luck.

Please, this shitty battlefield is already this rotten, you can't possibly send me a ground reinforcement force that's currently in Mad Fang City, and then, because of my own initiative, suddenly appear out of nowhere and help me take down seven cities in one night, right?
Putting aside the fact that Leia's extraordinary wisdom would make it impossible for her to have thought of and executed such a tactic before him, it is impossible for her to have thought of it before he did.

The very task of figuring out how to infiltrate the enemy city without alerting the guards, and then kidnap or assassinate the enemy commander and high-ranking officers, would be enough to completely stump those idiots who only know how to fight and have no strategy whatsoever.

The Black Hawk Special Forces, consisting of 63 members, descended from the sky and captured seven cities in one night.
If they actually manage to do that, I, John Maslow, will eat this conference table right here and now!

"Heh, even if it's just fantasy, it's still a bit too far-fetched..."

John chuckled and shook his head. Just as he was about to light a cigarette and squeeze his already exhausted brain cells again to think of a more effective solution,

The next second, accompanied by a series of hurried footsteps, Wendy, looking delighted, rushed in amidst his puzzled gaze.

"Great news, Captain! Fantastic news!"

Wendy, the pig-headed squad leader, burst in with a wide grin that almost reached the back of her head. She seemed quite excited, and her already adorable round face was now bright red, looking like a ripe apple about to burst with juice.

It's hard to resist the urge to reach out and pinch it.

However, John, who was currently struggling with the difficulty of implementing tactics, did not have the usual intention of teasing this pig-headed squad leader.

His current decisions are related to the future direction of the entire army and the lives of everyone involved.

He cannot afford to waste a single second.

John thought the good news that Captain Wendy mentioned was probably just that Samuel had led the 1st Division to capture one or even two ports.

This kind of victory, which had little effect on the overall war situation, was not what he needed at all.

After secretly admiring his deputy's naiveté, which he found truly enviable, he calmly waved to Wendy, who was beaming with excitement and practically jumping for joy:

"Alright, I already know what happened. Wendy, don't tell me about such trivial matters. I need to work on new tactics now. If you have nothing else to say, go outside and give me some time to think."

After a slight pause, as if remembering something, John added to Wendy, who was still standing there in a daze:

"Oh, and remember to close the door behind you when you leave." "Huh?!"

Seeing John ignore her after speaking, then return to his deep thought, frowning as he stared at the map, smoking and lost in thought, Wendy tilted her head in bewilderment, her small head filled with great confusion:

This...this isn't right, is it?

Just moments ago, Leia and the ground support forces, on Mia's advice, split into seven groups, pretending to be Allied forces, and launched a series of night raids on seven cities in the Cocobia rainforest. They also tricked the enemy generals out under the pretext of handing over supplies, and successfully captured all the garrison troops in these seven cities.

The captain clearly doesn't have any communications personnel on his side, so how did he know all this?
Could it be that the exceptionally intelligent captain had foreseen all of this?
shock!
How can he be so intelligent? Is the captain even human?
Wendy stared in awe at her captain, who was gazing at the map in deep thought, seemingly radiating boundless wisdom. Her admiration and respect for him were like a never-ending torrent.

Seeing the other person deep in thought, and realizing that the great captain might be making a brand new plan, she originally intended to cover her mouth and tiptoe out of the meeting room to prevent the captain's new plan from being disturbed.

But then he realized that as a deputy, failing to hand over intelligence to the commander would be considered dereliction of duty, which would later affect his crucial path to promotion.

Despite being a power-hungry squad leader, Wendy mustered her courage and quickly reported to John:

"Reporting to the commander, our ground support forces, under the overall command of Sergeant Hawke and the temporary command of Sergeant Mia, have captured seven enemy cities and taken all the enemy garrison prisoners. Report complete!"

"Oh dear, didn't I already say I needed to think about it? It's such a trivial matter..."

Ok?
Wait, something seems off?
As if finally realizing what he had just heard, John, who was smoking a cigarette, suddenly widened his eyes and looked at Wendy, who was looking ashamed, with disbelief. His voice even became a little shrill because he was so shocked:
"Wendy, what did you just say? Say it again, quick!"

"Uh, report complete?"

"The previous sentence, the previous sentence, you bastard!"

"Uh, our ground support troops captured seven enemy cities and took all the enemy garrison prisoners?"

"..."

Upon hearing these words, John froze on the spot, his lips, which had been pursed with a cigarette, involuntarily widening in a state of intense elation and disbelief.

The cigarette slowly fell, and then, to Wendy's puzzled look, landed on the ground with a barely perceptible sound.

"Clap!"

However, Major John, who was usually so stingy that he would smoke until the cigarette butt burned his mouth before throwing it away, didn't have time to feel sorry for the cigarette that he had only taken two puffs of and wasted.

The words he had just heard from Wendy began to echo in his ears unconsciously.

Ground support troops captured seven cities in succession?

Seven cities captured in succession?

Aid forces?

"!!!"

John's face began to flush rapidly, and his breathing became hotter than ever before.

The sudden surge of elation made him tremble with excitement.

At this moment, he had never felt such a wonderful start.

Before the decisive battle even began, his own subordinate, Zhuge Liang, had already solved his biggest problem?

This excitement, this burning sensation, made him feel like his whole body was about to burst into flames!

"You're on fire, Captain! You're on fire!"

Wendy stared in shock at the belt around John's waist that had caught fire from a spark, her eyes filled with anxiety.

"That's right, I'm really fired up! I'm fired up so well, so wonderfully fired up! Wendy, you really are my biggest lucky star! I'll definitely reward you handsomely later, hahaha!"

"...Hmm? Wait, why does it smell burnt?"

John's maniacal laughter abruptly stopped when he felt a strange burning sensation all over his body, with even the skin on his lower abdomen starting to ache slightly from the heat.

He lowered his head in confusion, only to find his leather belt, which he had just finished applying oil to maintain while he was thinking, now engulfed in flames from the sparks that had just been thrown out.

John was silent, John looked into her eyes, John trembled.

"My grass!"

As if finally realizing what had happened, John's face turned as green as a gourd, and he instinctively jumped up from the ground.

He frantically looked around, trying to find something to cover his waist, while constantly patting his belt, trying to extinguish the damned flames.

At the same time, he quickly shouted a reminder to Wendy, who was standing there stunned:

"Water, hurry up and get some water, Wendy, what are you standing there for, you jerk!"

"Ooh!"

Seeing the captain's crotch burning, Wendy panicked. She quickly looked around and saw a water glass on a cabinet not far away. Her eyes lit up, and without saying a word, she ran over, picked it up, and then, while shouting loyally, splashed it on John's waist.

"Don't be afraid, Captain, I'm here! Look this way!"

Upon hearing the sound, John immediately turned around with a look of great joy. However, when he saw the glass Wendy was holding, he realized it was the same glass of fruit wine he had casually poured to soothe his throbbing brain.

After taking a sip, I discovered the alcohol content was extremely high, so I put the glass aside and left it unused.

His gaze instantly turned terrified.

"Wait……"

However, before John could even finish speaking, Wendy on the other side had already started splashing water.

Meanwhile, Wendy had a smug smile on her face.

And then there's the colorless, transparent fruit wine made from the ultimate snake fruit, boasting an alcohol content of 96%.

John, who had already foreseen how tragic the subsequent scene would be, couldn't help but reveal a bitter and desperate smile on his face.

At that moment, he knew clearly that his lifelong reputation would likely be completely ruined with the help of his brilliant deputy.

"Wendy, you damn idiot, I hate you!"

"Wow!"

"boom!"

"team leader!!!"

……

　I'm not feeling well, too sleepy. I'll only post 4,700 words for now, totaling 12000 words. I'll finish after I wake up. That's my limit! OTZ

　　
　
(End of this chapter)