Frax River Bridge.
Li Feng received intelligence from Winters in the rear: a Chaos Traitor Army unit was rapidly approaching the Frax River Bridge and Li Feng's various attack points along the route from the south.
At the same time, Li Feng received communications from many units. As the battle behind enemy lines devolved into chaos, a large number of airborne survivors and prisoners from Chaos strongholds joined the ranks.
Regarding the prisoners, the officers gave two solutions over the radio.
First, these people were prisoners, and the Imperium did not need prisoners; they should be executed on the spot.
Second, these prisoners should be immediately reorganized. Although they were captured, as long as they remained loyal, they could continue to take up arms and fight for the Imperium.
Li Feng was currently worried about not having enough manpower for the final major operation; for him, the more Soldiers, the better. So he immediately ordered the prisoners to pray to the Emperor on the spot. Those who stammered, or merely moved their mouths without sound, were to be executed. Prisoners who completed their prayers were immediately issued weapons and equipment and joined the ranks.
As the southern Chaos Host drew closer, Li Feng decided to withdraw! All engagements were to cease immediately, and everyone was to collectively retreat to the Frax River Bridge, crossing the Frax River for the third time.
Li Feng's order was relayed to every combat squad. The Soldiers moved swiftly, abandoning ongoing battles and beginning their retreat to the Frax River Bridge. Retreat orders and urgent footsteps echoed in the communicators, blending into a cacophony, and the air was thick with tension.
As the army crossed the bridge, Li Feng ordered the demolition unit and engineers to install explosives under the Frax River Bridge, making sure to conceal them as much as possible.
Li Feng stood at the end of the bridge, counting each crossing unit. Based on the reports from each battle group, Li Feng compiled the results. Currently, his unit, including the original Soldiers, plus newly joined and rescued prisoners, totaled approximately 150,000 people. They suffered 5,000 casualties but gained nearly 120,000 reinforcements.
Li Feng looked at the other end of the bridge. To this day, he still did not know how many allied forces on the other side had not been recovered. The unit's next destination was High Ground 30.
Indeed, the Dark Angels had engaged the Chaos Host defending High Ground 30. Now, the Dark Angels occupied High Ground 30, using its advantageous position to wage a war of attrition against the Chaos Host. Li Feng's current task was to lead his men to bypass them... Li Feng's unit approached High Ground 30, beginning to make it appear as if they were preparing to encircle this large army with the Dark Angels on the high ground. Upon learning this news, Bishop Savan immediately notified his personal Guard to initiate a forced march to relieve the allied forces near High Ground 30 as quickly as possible.
Because once the forces on High Ground 30 were annihilated by this cannon fodder regiment and the Dark Angels, then the next step for the two factions would be to merge and directly attack the forces on the front line, which were confronting the Death Korps of Krieg, from the rear.
The final outcome could be a rout, the Imperium would completely open up the Frax landing zone, and the defeat of Frax would only be a matter of time. Bishop Savan would then only be able to increase investment in the Warp device, thereby forcibly turning Frax into the next Great Vortex.
The reason Bishop Savan was so hesitant was that he wanted to use Frax, which he stood upon, to negotiate with Chaos. The more Imperial Army he consumed on the battlefield, and the longer the war dragged on, the more advantageous it would be for him. He was playing the trick of 'keeping the enemy to strengthen oneself.' The Imperial expeditionary force was his, Savan's, rice, money, and grain; they were his, Savan's, providers.
As long as the Imperium's gaze remained on Frax for a day, Chaos had to invest in it. Although the Chaos Gods / The Four Gods had no opinion on this, not caring whether this place existed or not, their various Greater Daemons and Daemon Princes regarded Frax as their 'achievement.'
However, Li Feng didn't care about any of this. He inexplicably arrived in this world, inexplicably became part of the Astra Militarum, and inexplicably acquired an army... He only knew how to fight now! Tatakae! Itsumo Tatakae! His mind was clear, completely devoid of self, only 'Overthrow the Qing, Restore the Ming, and Rebuild Rome!'... Bah! 'Anti-Chaos, Restore the Imperium.'
Li Feng stood on a vantage point near the Frax River Bridge, looking through an artillery observation scope towards the distant bridge... Watching the Chaos Host crossing the bridge in sequence, he waited. He waited until most of them had crossed... When Li Feng saw that there were not many Chaos Forces left on the other side of the bridge, he pulled out a flare gun and fired a shot into the sky.
At this moment, the Chaos Host on this side of the bridge collectively saw the flare floating in the sky. They did not know who fired the flare, nor what it represented... But they knew it absolutely meant no good.
"Boom! Boom!..."
A series of explosions erupted on the Frax River Bridge. The only bridge spanning hundreds of thousands of square kilometers was blown apart.
Li Feng watched the collapsing bridge through his binoculars and couldn't help but exclaim, "What a pity, it was truly a good bridge." (From the classic Yugoslav film "The Bridge." Director Krvavac died during the Siege of Sarajevo, and his most famous work was "Walter Defends Sarajevo"... What an irony.)
The collapse of the bridge meant that all three Chaos Host units—the "Frontline Forces," the "High Ground 30 Front," and "Savan's Personal Guard"—were isolated on the side closer to the landing zone.
Immediately after the explosions, "Savan's Personal Guard" at the bridgehead heard the faint sound of artillery fire in the distance... Li Feng had long ago arranged for the artillery survey of the bridge area to be completed, and now it was time for his artillerymen to perform.
Because a large number of artillerymen came from the Valhalla Regiment, Li Feng's unit's artillery tactics leaned more towards the Soviet artillery tactics of World War II, which emphasized overall firepower superiority, relying on a vast number of artillery pieces and dense barrages to suppress the enemy.
At the same time, Li Feng and the Adeptus Mechanicus disassembled the Imperial quad-barreled rocket launchers from their towed carriages, mounting two on each truck... Thus, Li Feng and the Adeptus Mechanicus cobbled together 'Katyushas,' and these Imperial rocket launchers were even 300mm caliber.
Large numbers of shells and large-caliber rockets rained down on the bridgehead, causing massive casualties among Savan's Personal Guard. They could not escape now; the bridge behind them had been blown up. They could only break through in the direction of the artillery fire, where the Dark Angels of High Ground 30 awaited them.
The Dark Angels were utterly bewildered. They had come to find a 'secret,' yet the Chaos Host from two fronts simultaneously attacked them! What did this mean!
"They must know something? Like... a secret..."
The Dark Angels became the 'weightlifting champions' of this battle, a single Space Marine Chapter bearing the brunt of two fronts. It must be said that the sons of Lion were indeed fierce; if it were the Ultramarines, they would have been in the ICU long ago.
After this Battle of Phalanx, the truck-mounted multiple rocket launcher was included in the Adeptus Mechanicus's production list and entered the Imperial Astra Militarum's service roster. The name Li Feng gave it, 'Katyusha,' was also catchy, but the Soldiers preferred to call it by another name:
"Li Feng's Harmonica."
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