Warhammer, I really didn't intend to form a second empire!

The route of this passage is not consistent with the structure of the outer fortress. It does not resemble an energy transmission pipeline or a logistics channel, but rather a reserved evacuation route.

Han Xin marked this discovery on the tactics panel and then drew a circle at the exit of the retreat route.

The dwarves were already preparing for their retreat. Although they had built fortifications to prepare for a defensive battle, the existence of these escape routes indicated that they did not intend to pin themselves down in the fortress.

They knew they might not be able to hold this point, so while defending, they also reserved space for retreat.

It seems they aren't as stubborn as rumored; they'll run away even if they know they can't win. But that's fine too. Since they've already shown their weakness, let's just wipe them out in one fell swoop.

"Fal, confirm the location of the exit of that evacuation route. Don't block it. Wait until they start evacuating before advancing towards the exit."

He then switched to the command channels for the Fourth and Thirteenth Corps.

"Fricks, Huo Qubing, continue the frontal suppression as usual, maintain the main offensive pressure, but don't push too fast, give them enough time to assess the battlefield situation."

“Glen, once their subsequent retreat route has a gap, you will flank them and cut off their connection with the surface supply nodes. Don’t block this retreat route; wait until they start moving before following behind them.”

"Radolon, adjust the drop coordinates to the rear exit. We'll intercept them after they've withdrawn."

Five hours after the order was given, the frontal assault on the second fortified planet began as scheduled.

The armored formations of the Fourth Legion and the heavy infantry of the Imperial Dragon Legion advanced in formation in the area near the planet's equator where the gray armor plates were thinnest.

Heavy bombs and molten metal weapons were fired alternately at high frequency, and plasma and volcanic cannons bombarded the dwarves' lines almost non-stop. The frontal charge of Odin and Thor's mechs was too much for even the Colossus and Leviathan heavy vehicles to withstand.

The dwarves had anticipated defeat, but they hadn't expected it to happen so quickly; this was simply not an enemy they should be facing.

They would never have encountered such a formidable opponent in the middle of the river in the past.

The intense artillery fire carved cracks of varying depths into the gray armor, but did not rush to widen those cracks.

While maintaining suppressive fire on the front, the 13th Army Corps used multiple small flanking formations to cut into the ground below the surface through the welded seams on the sides of the armor plates, advancing inward along several pre-marked structural passages.

The 19th Army Corps' infiltration forces remained silent, continuously monitoring the exit of the retreat route from the high ground debris and the edge of the crater on the outskirts of the battlefield.

The ground offensive lasted for nearly twelve hours. Han Xin maintained the pace of the battlefield in a state of "continuous pressure but no breakthrough." The intensity of the artillery fire was enough to make the dwarf defenders realize that they were under full-scale attack, but not enough to make them abandon their positions prematurely.

Han Xin's intention was clear: to let the dwarves make their own choice—whether to retreat before the position fell or to fight to the death there.

He believed in the dwarves' rationality and that they would choose to abandon those positions they were destined to lose at the right time.

Han Xin couldn't believe that a race that had lived in the river's heartland for so long was so rigid and inflexible.

When the Nineteenth Army Corps confirmed that the dwarf troops had begun to move backward along the retreat route, Han Xin finally issued the order for a full-scale assault.

Upon receiving orders, the heavy armored forces on the ground immediately switched their firepower from suppression mode to assault mode, lowering the elevation of their guns to fire more densely at the existing gaps in the gray armor plates, quickly widening those gaps into passable entrances.

The 13th Army Corps' flanking formations simultaneously tightened the encirclement, rapidly advancing from the flanks towards the middle of the retreat route.

At the same time, the Ninth Legion's airborne troops landed on the outer perimeter of the retreat route exit, using precise firepower to block the space where the dwarf troops were preparing to evacuate.

The dwarven evacuation group did not put up a strong resistance when it was stopped at the exit, as if they had anticipated this possibility.

However, after a period of time, their firepower gradually weakened until it finally stopped.

The cleanup of the second fortress planet was successfully completed in the next four hours.

Han Xin's tactics remained clean and efficient, without causing any unexpected damage to the dwarves. His goal was not to kill all the dwarves, but to capture the fortress and the surrounding mining facilities as quickly as possible, completing this phase's objective with the lowest cost and the least resource consumption.

After all, the river center area still needs to be guarded. The Qin Dynasty is short of manpower, and the people on the other side of the empire are not particularly trustworthy, especially those officials. There is no other way but to pick some tall people from among these short people.

Of course, if they refuse to surrender by then, they will have to go extinct; population growth is still too slow.

Han Xin couldn't help but feel a little emotional. Even though so many childcare subsidies and policy support have been provided, only about ten families are having children. How can that be enough?

With so many planets, the people of the Dragon Kingdom must ensure that someone is on those planets, and that they hold a high position; otherwise, Zhao Zheng wouldn't feel at ease knowing if something might happen to those planets.

But Han Xin doesn't need to worry about these situations right now. Let's take over the river area first, and then we'll deal with the rest.

Soon, the outer perimeter of the river region gradually crumbled under the command of the Qin expeditionary fleet.

The other Astartes were quite surprised by this speed; they had actually prepared to fight here for at least several decades.

Unexpectedly, in just four months, the outer perimeter of the river area had been captured, and this time, the supplies were quite plentiful.

On the Lishan, Zhao Zheng gazed at the green markers on the star map that were constantly expanding outwards, spreading steadily from the edge of the ring towards the depths of the river.

The expansion of Hexin is progressing steadily step by step.

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Breaking Through the Defenses

The outer ring of the river core area was peeled away layer by layer over the next three months.

Each of the major fleets was responsible for a direction of advance, eliminating the fortress planets covered in gray armor one by one at a steady pace.

The patterns of each battle are highly similar.

The 19th Army Corps infiltrated ahead of time to confirm the enemy's retreat route and defensive weaknesses; the frontal forces applied continuous pressure to force the enemy to make a decision; when the withdrawal signal appeared, the encirclement forces tightened their grip from the flanks and rear simultaneously, completing the capture of the fortress with the lowest possible casualties.

On the Lishan, Zhao Zheng received battle reports from various fronts every day. The data was transformed into green markers on the star map, slowly but steadily extending forward along the edge of the river center area.

By the end of the fourth month, the major star systems in the outer ring had been basically brought under the control of the Qin Dynasty, and the Qin Dynasty's first true "enclave" was established in the river center region.

The remaining star systems are either too remote or assessed as having limited strategic value, and are temporarily shelved in the subsequent sweep sequence until the main fleet completes its breakthrough of the core area of ​​the river.

The entrance to the core area of ​​the river appears on the star map as having a structure that is completely different from the surrounding area.

The outer ring of those star systems is surrounded by a dense asteroid belt. The asteroid belt has an extremely uneven distribution of orbits, with two relatively wide channels in the middle, like naturally formed entrances to shipping lanes. However, when Zhao Zheng's spiritual energy scanned the structure of those asteroids, he noticed that some of their outer shells showed extremely regular layered traces.

Beneath the rocky layers on the surfaces of those asteroids lie alloy structures, which are defensive platforms disguised as natural celestial bodies. There are hundreds of these platforms, distributed at various key nodes throughout the asteroid belt, forming a three-dimensional, intersecting network of firepower.

These are the core defensive layers that the dwarves have been building in the river's heart region for thousands of years, and they are on a completely different level from the temporary fortresses built on the periphery.

Zhao Zheng summoned Han Xin, Li Jing, and others back to the bridge of the Lishan, and had them stand in front of the holographic star map, their eyes fixed on the three-dimensional scan image of the asteroid belt.

These are the next batch of opponents that the Great Qin will face, including not only the Pocket Empire composed of aliens, but also the Space Dwarfs who inherited the data storage device of the Golden Age.

These are all tough battles, because the space dwarves never considered themselves to be part of humanity, especially when the Qin Dynasty attacked without warning. They already considered the Qin Dynasty to be their mortal enemy, and the dwarves have always held grudges.

Those clans and the Wotan Alliance have decided that even if they fight to the last man, they will fight the Qin Dynasty to the death and never surrender!

The light from the star chart cast alternating patterns of light and shadow on the faces of the marshals, and the conference room fell silent for a moment.

Han Xin was the first to speak and offer his own insights.

"The defensive platforms in these asteroid belts are very well-organized, with overlapping fire coverage areas and no obvious blind spots. If a single fleet were to launch a frontal assault, it would suffer continuous firepower during its entry into the asteroid belt, and the losses could be very high."

His fingertip traced an arc on the star map, starting from an occupied planet in the outer ring, circling nearly halfway along the outer edge of the asteroid belt, and finally stopping near the entrance of one of the relatively wide channels.

"But if we advance in three directions simultaneously, and at the same time disperse the attention of the dwarves' defensive platforms in three directions, then the firepower density on one of the routes will temporarily decrease as the platforms rotate their cannons and adjust their firing angles."

"This descent window is very short, probably no more than a few minutes, but if we have a fast enough intrusion formation that can get through the channel within the window, we can establish a foothold inside the asteroid belt before the dwarves can redistribute their firepower."

Zhao Zheng tapped his fingertips lightly twice on the armrest, then shifted his gaze from the arc drawn by Han Xin to Li Jing's direction.

Li Jing continued.

"To break into the formation, two conditions must be met. First, there must be enough speed to complete the crossing within the window period. Second, there must be enough impact to quickly suppress the dwarven defense nodes inside the asteroid belt after passing through the channel, making room for the main fleet to enter later."

"The Nineteenth Legion cannot stay on orbit for too long. The dwarves have many heavy weapons and are very powerful in scanning and detection. If they stay there too long, it will be easy to expose the presence of the Imperial Dragon Legion. Moreover, they may not retreat easily this time."

“This is already their territory. The core of the ancestors is in the hands of the Wotan Alliance. They are unlikely to give way any further.”

After listening to Han Xin and Li Jing's analysis, Zhao Zheng did not immediately express his opinion.

His gaze fell on the three-dimensional scan of the asteroid belt on the star map, and his fingertips tapped slowly on the armrest several times, as if waiting for some information that had not yet surfaced to seep out from the gaps in the data.

Bai Qi stood to the side of the star map, remaining silent, but his gaze lingered on the densest area of ​​the asteroid belt.

After a moment, he raised his hand and tapped the southeast corner of the star map.

“Here, there is a relatively sparse region in the asteroid belt, and the distribution of defense platforms is about two thousand kilometers apart, which is more than three times wider than in other regions.”

"If I lead a fleet to force my way in from there and tear open a gap at the cost of some losses, the follow-up forces can enter the core area through the gap, thereby launching a pincer attack on the various defensive zones."

Bai Qi's tone was calm, but everyone could tell from his words that he was becoming increasingly terrifying.

How much will the loss be?

"One-third to one-half depends on the dwarves' reaction speed, but if the 19th Legion's infiltration forces are deployed in advance to the asteroid surface on both sides of the gap, and some of the defensive platforms are cleared before the breakthrough, the losses can be reduced to less than 20%."

Zhao Zheng's gaze shifted between Bai Qi and Han Xin before he made a decision.

"Han Xin, you are in charge of drawing fire from the front and directing the main firepower of the dwarf defense platform toward the entrances of the two main channels."

"Li Jing, you are in charge of breaking through the gap in the southeast direction. Bring enough heavy assault ships and landing craft to establish a landing site as soon as you enter the inner side of the asteroid belt."

"Wang Jian, lead your fleet as the second echelon to follow up. After Li Jing has established a foothold, you will be responsible for suppressing the dwarves' ground defenses."

"Bai Qi, you and your fleet will remain on the perimeter and wait for a sufficiently large breach to be made before cutting in. Do not linger in the asteroid belt; advance directly to the core area of ​​the river..."

"Kill them directly. I don't need prisoners this time."

Bai Qi's eyes remained calm, but the killing intent emanating from him caused several marshals to frown.

This guy is too bloodthirsty.

"Remember, once this breach is opened, work together with the outer forces to annihilate all the fleets that couldn't escape back to the core area. Show no mercy."

"Yes."

Given how far the war has progressed, and considering the dwarves' vengeful nature, they're unlikely to surrender. It would be better to just wipe them out completely.

Although population growth is relatively slow now, the population explosion is unreasonable. In less than fifty years, the population under Zhao Zheng's command could increase many times over.

At that time, the governance of these places will no longer be a problem.

The operation plan was officially launched the day after Zhao Zheng made the final decision.

Han Xin's main fleet appeared in a standard battle formation in front of the entrances to the two main shipping lanes of the asteroid belt, maintaining a moderate speed and slowly advancing to gradually draw the attention of the dwarven defense platforms to the front.

The defensive platforms, disguised as natural celestial bodies, began to reveal their true forms as the fleet approached to a certain distance. The rocky outer shells peeled away piece by piece under the action of some internal mechanism, revealing the dark gray alloy gun mounts and sensor arrays underneath. Hundreds of gun muzzles protruded from the gun mounts, pointing towards Han Xin's fleet.

The first round of artillery fire poured out from the frontal defense platform after the fleet entered the preset distance. The barrage of beams and live ammunition formed a dense fire network at the edge of the asteroid belt. However, Han Xin's fleet had already dispersed before entering the firing range, using smaller groups of ships to weave through the gaps in the barrage and avoid most of the direct hits.

The Void Shield also transferred most of the concentrated ship's firepower to the warp.

Meanwhile, the infiltration formation of the 19th Army Corps took advantage of the window of opportunity when the attention of the dwarven defense platforms was drawn to Han Xin's fleet, and landed on the surface of the asteroid on both sides of the southeast gap by individual airborne landings.

The surfaces of those asteroids are covered with hundreds of meters of rock and dust, and the alloy structures beneath them show only extremely weak reflected signals on passive sensors.

Glenn Wosoto's infiltration team quickly dispersed into several groups after landing and rapidly approached the bases of the camouflaged defense platforms along pre-planned routes.

They moved at high speed, using power armor thrusters to assist their jumps in zero gravity, and each landing point precisely at the edge of the blind spot of the dwarf platform's sensor array.

As Li Jing's assault formation began to accelerate in the southeast direction of the asteroid belt, the 19th Army Corps had already completed the location and marking of most of the defensive platform bases on both sides of the gap.

After confirming that all platform bases had been marked, Glenn sent a short confirmation signal to Li Jing via an encrypted channel.

Li Jing's flagship issued the attack order a few seconds after receiving the signal.

The assault formation, consisting of hundreds of heavy assault ships and battleships, started at full speed from its designated starting position. The exhaust flames of its engines drew flashes of light in the darkness at the edge of the asteroid belt. The formation, in a dense formation, plunged straight into the two-thousand-kilometer-wide gap.

The dwarven defense platforms only began to rotate their cannons the moment the first wave of formations entered the breach, but their reaction time was a fraction slower than expected.

During the infiltration phase, the 19th Army Corps pre-positioned small explosive devices near the platform base, which detonated part of the structure above the platform in a salvo. The turrets, whose supporting structures were blown up, got stuck halfway during the turning process and were unable to complete the predetermined firing angle.

Li Jing's assault squadron successfully established a landing zone inside the breach, and then quickly deployed suppressive fire around the landing zone, eliminating the dwarven defense platforms that were still operational one by one.

Wang Jian's second echelon followed closely behind, cutting into the gap and completing their formation behind the landing site before advancing towards the dwarven ground defense facilities inside the asteroid belt.

Bai Qi's fleet remained silently waiting outside the breach, his flagship's bridge remaining completely still.

At the 43rd minute of the battle, a cruiser in Han Xin's main fleet suffered a Void Shield overload and was hit on the side by a heavy beam from a dwarven defense platform. The armor layer collapsed and peeled off under the high temperature, but the core structure of the ship was not damaged and it continued to move forward at its speed.

After completing the task of clearing the platforms on both sides of the gap, the infiltration forces of the 19th Army Corps began to move outwards, making room for the main fleet to enter the inner asteroid belt.

Bai Qi issued the order to engage at that moment.

His fleet cut in from the outside in an arc close to the edge of the breach, without lingering near the landing site established by Li Jing, and proceeded at full speed towards the entrance of the core area of ​​the river at maximum cruising speed.

The remaining defensive platforms on either side of the breach attempted to readjust their cannons to intercept, but Bai Qi's fleet had already successfully broken through the dwarves' defensive positions.

The defenses here have been breached.

Anyone who has fought in a war knows that it is very normal for a defensive line to change hands repeatedly, but every breach of a defensive line is an absolute blow to one's own morale.

Not to mention that this defensive line was one of the dwarves' absolute insurmountable lines of defense, but now, the Qin Empire's fleet has stormed in, and this beast has completely bared its fangs in front of them.

The moment Bai Qi's fleet cut into the entrance to the core area of ​​the river, the dwarven defense system inside the asteroid belt experienced a brief period of chaos.

The original tactical plan for those mobile defense formations distributed along the inner edge of the asteroid belt was to intercept the invading fleet at the gap and use the dense asteroid terrain to conduct layer-by-layer blocking.