The Fourth Calamity never believed in the steel torrent!

Chapter 138 General Vorontsov's Difficult Choice

"Hahaha, great, that's wonderful! I never expected this kid to actually amount to something!"

"Another complete annihilation, and the enemy's armored airborne battalion was wiped out—an elite unit from the Western Front!"

"Fantastic! Absolutely fantastic!"

Upon seeing the battle report he had just received, General Vorontsov, the commander-in-chief of the Petrograd Front and also Andrei's adoptive father, couldn't help but burst into laughter.

If the previous battle could be attributed to miracles or luck, attributing it to unique and unrepeatable factors, then this battle has truly cemented Andrei's reputation.

Damn it! After this battle, if anyone ever calls my son a good-for-nothing again, I'll teach them a lesson with my iron fist!
He said his son was just wasting his time at the military academy, but he wanted to ask how those so-called top students were doing in combat.

You don't need an ace to annihilate the enemy; just give him the chance to wipe out an entire enemy battalion, and that'll prove he's got guts!

General Vorontsov, feeling triumphant, was in an exceptionally good mood, completely forgetting all the bad news coming in from other battle reports.

But then, the adjutant handed him a new battle report, which immediately chilled his heart!
"Bullshit! What was the officer in charge of guarding that bridge doing? He should be shot! He must be shot!"

General Vorontsov slammed the telegram in his hand to the ground and stomped on it twice. His angry roar echoed throughout the headquarters, causing the other officers to shrink back in shock.

From the beginning of the war until now, they had never seen General Vorontsov so angry before, and thinking about this, they couldn't help but become curious.

What battle report came from the front that could make the general so angry?

Could it be that yet another unfortunate living saint has died?
What they didn't know was that, given the chance to switch places, General Vorontsov would rather a living saint be dead than see this battle report before him.

Because this battle report clearly states that the bridge over the Luga River has been captured by the enemy, and the Black Hawk Empire currently has an armored army group crossing the river!

What a joke!
How could such a perfectly good bridge be so easily captured by the enemy? What were those soldiers guarding the bridge doing?
He doesn't expect those men to be able to stop an enemy armored corps; that's just nonsense.

But honestly, it wouldn't be a problem for them to detonate explosives and blow up the bridge before the enemy's armored forces arrived, would it?
They had already planted a large number of bombs on the bridge, intending to destroy it as quickly as possible at a critical moment. How could the bridge still be captured by the enemy intact even with all that?
Just as General Vorontsov was busy raging, another telegram arrived.

After reading the telegram, he was so angry that he laughed.

The telegram appeared to be sent by the remaining defenders who had withdrawn from the bridge, and it was essentially an explanation of how they had lost the bridge.

At dawn, they suddenly saw a convoy flying Cambrian military flags approaching, carrying only wounded soldiers, and even a baron from the Cambrian Empire. Because the convoy was traveling in a hurry, and because they recognized the baron, they didn't think much of it and let them pass.

Unbeknownst to them, all the wounded soldiers in the convoy were actually elite soldiers of the Black Hawk Empire in disguise, and the baron who acted as their guide had been captured and coerced by the enemy.

With the enemy caught off guard, the elite soldiers in the convoy quickly eliminated the guards around the bridge and forcibly took control of the bridgehead.

Although the soldiers stationed in nearby military camps tried their best to counterattack, they were unable to break through the enemy's defenses until a large number of enemy armored forces arrived, at which point the bridge was completely lost.

He didn't have time to think about the farce these guys had caused; that damned baron would naturally be dealt with by someone else later. He quickly checked the map.

The more Vorontsov looked, the more alarmed he became, because he realized that with the bridge now captured, his previous defensive lines were completely useless!
According to his previous plan, he intended to rely on the Luga River for defense, organize a sufficiently strong defensive line, and delay the enemy there as much as possible.

However, if the enemy were to capture the bridge, they could easily bypass his defenses and continuously cross the Luga River to reach the rear of Luga City.

In this way, not only will the defensive line he set up here be useless, but the troops he left here may even be surrounded by the enemy!
So right now, all they can do is try their best to repel this army group, prevent more enemy troops from crossing the river, and then try to destroy the bridge here.

The bridge was destroyed, meaning their troops positioned on the other side of the river were now completely unable to cross, but there was no time to think about that now.

Only by destroying the bridge can their remaining troops continue to organize a defense based on the line.

Otherwise, if the enemy were to advance unimpeded and capture Luga, not only would all of their more than 100,000 garrison troops be wiped out, but the enemy could also directly advance on Petrograd and completely breach the southern gateway to Petrograd!

After roughly calculating the enemy's attack route, General Vorontsov realized that at this time, the only forces capable of resisting the enemy's attack in Luga, besides the two infantry divisions and one artillery division, were Andrei's troops stationed at the factory.

That factory was actually an abandoned old defensive line, and the buildings inside were themselves numerous fortresses. If used properly, they might actually be able to temporarily delay the enemy's advance here.

But to send Andrei's unit to face an armored army group right after they had just dealt with an elite enemy airborne battalion... wasn't that just sending them to their deaths?
Even with the assistance of other units, and even though current intelligence suggests that the enemy's armored army group is rapidly expanding, only one armored corps should be responsible for attacking Luga.

Even so, Andrei's unit would inevitably face immense pressure. Under such conditions, coordinating with several surrounding units to hold off an armored corps' attack was an almost impossible task!
However, General Vorontsov hesitated for only a few seconds before making up his mind.

Now is not the time to worry about Andrei's safety; they must hold off the enemy!
Compared to the safety of over 100,000 people, Andrei had to hold on even if he couldn't stop them; he had to make the right choice!

(End of this chapter)