578 Strategic Retrea (2/2)

Despite the familiarity of the name, no one could remember where or when they had heard of it. Most of the captains were much older than Lie Jian, and had spent most of their life on a battlefield even during peacetime. Therefore, they were less likely to have known Wang Tong than former academy students.

”Was he the one who defeated Patroclus five years ago? The heir of the Blade Warrior?” Qin Yin asked after some time.

”Yes, that's him. He was the one who solved the technical difficulties.”

Although Lie Jian didn't want to use Wang Tong and his title to instill confidence into the minds of the generals, he knew he had no other choice. The assembly of the energy crystal gun would take time, and therefore, he would need these captain's unswerving trust in him. As long as these guns hit the battlefield, Zergs' advantage in numbers would be gone.

At this most critical moment, everyone needed to have absolute faith in the operation to pull it through.

As a soldier, he or she could be inspired to fight for various ideologies, such as freedom. But, what could inspire these pragmatic generals? The answer was evidence. Even the most cautious decision maker would be willing to take a risky move if he saw enough hard evidence backing the decision. If the Zergs were to breach the final line of defense, they would be able to affect the production of the energy crystal guns, further hampering the humans' comeback.

It didn't take long before all the captains in the room reached a consensus: they would fight back at the last line of defense unequivocally!

An approving smile flashed across Lie Jintian face. Although he was the absolute leader among these captains, it didn't mean that everyone would follow his order to the letter. At this crucial moment, solidarity was of the essence. Thanks to the last piece of information that his son had hidden so perfectly well, Lie Jintian knew he had gained everyone's wholehearted support.

…

Meanwhile, the Northern warden of Zerg army, Xie Su was riled up by the report coming from his home base. Two cities had been attacked and annihilated. What was worse, no one knew who had done it so far. The loss of these two cities meant a broken link in the supply chain of the primitive Zergs, which made up the bulk of his army.

Xie Su figured that it was not the work of one man; instead, it was that of an entire army. A human army was hiding somewhere behind the front line, within the vast Zerg territory. This was unthinkable!

Despite his anger, Xie Su conceded that he couldn't be distracted by it while he was campaigning against the human resistance forces. This clandestine unit would be caught sooner or later as long as they remained within the Zerg territory. His focus right now should be the imminent final showdown with the Martian resistance. Leveraging his advantage in numbers, he had already pushed the human force to their last leg. After the Zergs had crippled the humans' second line of defense, they had been slowing down the advance as they gathered forces to meet the human forces at the third line of defense.

Meanwhile, the production of Zergs had been working round the clock at maximum capacity to fuel the campaign. The defensive stance along the third line of defense played into Zergs' strength. Zergs had an almost infinite amount of soldiers they could throw onto the battlefield. However, the number of human soldiers was finite. The human soldiers stationed at the last line of defense was the last remaining force in the human world that could ward off a Zerg invasion. Once these soldiers were gone, the end to the human world would be near.

Meanwhile, in the Zerg controlled territory, Wang Tong had ordered his men to make camp in the thicket of a forest.

This was a precious respite. Ever since the special unit had razed Danube to the ground, they quickly reached another city, Kazakh, and razed it to the ground too. The attack had caught the dark ones by surprise, since in the five years, never once had they seen a human set foot in their city, much less a full-on invasion.

Most of the soldiers had hit the hay as soon as they lay down their camp, but Wang Tong had gathered the leaders of the unit to discuss their next move.

The outcome of their raids on the Zerg settlement had proven Wang Tong right in believing that the Zergs was not prepared for an attack from within their territory. Long-term comfort and safety bred contentment in the minds of dark ones as easily as it would in the humans.