They had been in the rear, and the very process of rearming with new weapons had put them behind the beat. Moreover, due to the Kingdom's small size and weak strength, the pace of rearmament was also pathetically slow. In such a situation, they could only watch helplessly as these airships did as they pleased, not even capable of interfering with the enemy's assaults.
The commander aboard the airship in the sky also realized this—after half a day without encountering any machine gun or anti-aircraft gun fire, his courage swelled immediately.
He had been nervous before, fearing that such an industrial city might deploy anti-air weapons to counter their attacks.
But now it seemed that the other side clearly had not deployed enough anti-aircraft machine guns or anti-aircraft guns, or perhaps had not deployed such weapons at all!
At that moment, he became utterly unrestrained, constantly issuing attack orders, throwing the city below into complete chaos.
They were now high above! Completely unthreatened! Since joining the military, he had never fought such a refreshingly clear-cut battle!
Having advanced weapons turned out to be such an exhilarating thing! Possessing a technological advantage, they were simply conducting a one-sided massacre of the enemy!
It turned out that the myth of the Great Tang Group's invincibility was created so effortlessly! It turned out that the enemies who had once defied Great Tang Group were in such despair!
"Hahaha! The Ice Cold Empire is invincible in battle! Continue the bombing! Long live Your Majesty!" The airship captain thought of this, a grin plastered on his face; they had won today, a victory without any doubt!
The feeling of easily grasping victory in his hands made him forget the annoyance from last night's near crash caused by the sudden blizzard, sweeping away his previous worries.
On the ground, the troops, still unaware that their important military storage bases near the border and the locations of their armories had been bombed, were facing the frenzied assault of the Ice Cold Empire's forces.
Hundreds of guns were firing madly at their positions, and a series of large and small explosions made it impossible for the soldiers in the trenches to raise their heads.
Soon, the echo of the Ura battle cry resounded wave after wave, as countless Dwarf soldiers carrying bayonets densely charged towards the still-smoking border defenses.
The defending troops in the trenches refused to be outdone, and as the Ice Cold Empire's infantry approached their positions, they began a fierce counterattack.
A Maxim machine gun suddenly opened fire, its dense bullets sweeping into the crowd of the Ice Cold Empire's attacking troops, instantly felling more than a dozen soldiers.
The remaining attackers immediately hit the ground, some rolling into shell craters to return fire. Bullets flew back and forth between both sides, with blood splattering everywhere.
"Ura!" Another battle cry rang out as the brave Dwarfs leaped out of the craters, recklessly charging toward the enemy's bullet-riddled positions.
Another group was struck down; another group courageously advanced, only to be riddled with bullets once again.
From a high ground in the distance, an Ice Cold Empire general put down his binoculars, glanced at the officers beside him with some embarrassment, and sighed shaking his head, "The enemy's defense line is still very solid, having been built up over a year... It won't be easy to break through immediately."
"Send in two more divisions! At all costs! His Majesty's orders are to break through the line before the enemy can react!" Another officer, somewhat anxious, interjected.
"This is using the lives of soldiers to fill trenches!" The general in charge of commanding the siege was reluctant to remind them, "We've already lost over a thousand men..."
"By noon today! We must break through!" The suggesting officer emphasized, "Even if it costs lives, we must flatten the enemy's positions! Trample over them!"
"Alas..." With a sigh, the commanding general began to miss those human strategists whose planning was meticulous and whose battles were always victorious.
Regrettably, it seemed like the Ice Cold Empire's expansionist war had not been communicated to the Great Tang Group this time, nor was there any intention to borrow their advisors' services.
You should know that behind the dwarves' divine military exploits the last time, when they directly assaulted Furnace Fortress and achieved world-shaking battle accomplishments, it was essentially the Great Tang Group's staff team in command.
But this time, taking command themselves and even deploying heavy weaponry such as airships, their progress still wasn't going smoothly.
After sighing, the commanding officer let go of the nostalgia for the human strategists and gritted his teeth, issuing the order to reinforce the troops, "Send up another two divisions! Take down the enemy's position! Not a step back!"
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"Yes!" An officer immediately went to convey the order.
A new round of artillery warfare began. On the dwarves' side, at the artillery positions, the dwarves' own produced heavy-duty 203 mm caliber siege howitzers roared to life, one after another, these short-barreled mortars hurled heavy shells onto the enemy's position.
Although the range of such massive shells was quite ordinary, their power was indeed astonishing. Each shell exploded over the enemy's position with earth-shattering force.
The dirt thrown up by the shells soared high into the sky. To command these gunners, the dwarves had also deployed dozens of hot air balloons as skyward observation posts to correct the artillery's trajectory.
"There are too many craters, and the ground has turned to mud... Armored vehicles are no use now, what a pity," a military officer lamented as he looked at the enemy's front line, already riddled with holes.
"If that won't work, let's try sending in the Ironclad Infantry..." suggested another officer standing beside him.
Hearing their murmurs, the commander immediately decided to dispatch the seemingly useless Ironclad Infantry, a special "soldier type" prepared for breaking formations.
The dwarves in thick armor, the heavy infantry specifically prepared for brutal trench warfare from a bygone era, donned their heavy helmets and armor.
They were equipped with heavy shields, long swords, and axes, seemingly set on starting a retro wave in modern warfare.
As a result, this troop suffered severe casualties as soon as they were deployed, while the Ice Cold Empire's battlefield casualties surged from 1,500 to a terrifying 5,500 people...
4,000 soldiers were wiped out in a single charge, but their madness still gave the enemy defenders quite the scare.
The opposition was utterly confused as to why a unit that resembled a ceremonial guard would appear on the battlefield and even started to doubt themselves and fall into disarray.
In the end, the infuriated senior commanders of the Ice Cold Empire could no longer bear it and committed armored vehicles to the charge, followed by the deployment of two more divisions of infantry closely behind.
Once more, the farce began; of the 100 armored vehicles that the Ice Cold Empire had stockpiled on the border, a third failed due to engine overload as soon as they were deployed into battle, while the remainder started to get stuck in the mud on the battlefield one after another.
Some vehicles, due to limited visibility, drove straight into craters and rolled over, while others became mired in the mud and could hardly move an inch.
The few that managed to get close to the enemy's position were then destroyed by the brave opposing soldiers with hand grenades, becoming fiery metal coffins.
However, despite the heavy losses of these armored vehicles, they ultimately served to distract the enemy and covered their own infantry as they approached the enemy trenches.
Following a fierce bombardment all morning and as the time neared noon, the defenders' position had been severely damaged by artillery. The attacking infantry finally broke into the trenches, and close-quarters combat ensued immediately.
With an overwhelming advantage in numbers, the Ice Cold Empire quickly saw their chance and committed their reserves, frenziedly bolstering their forces in a bid to rapidly expand their gains.
Then came the news that the enemy airships had attacked their rear, destroyed the ammunition depot, and paralyzed the armaments factory, which became the last straw that broke the defenders.
By noon that day, the entire border defense line of the Dwarf Kingdom, adjacent to the Ice Cold Empire, had collapsed. The Ice Cold Empire's forces crossed the border, following the fleeing soldiers into the heartland of the kingdom.