Chapter 199: Infantry-Tank Cooperation and Flaying Tactics

Yu Sheng’an’s fleet was indeed heading towards the Falai Dynasty, but not to its capital.

He likes heart-striking tactics, directly targeting the enemy’s hinterland, serving both as a diversion and a psychological attack.

However, this was not the same as before.

In the past, his so-called heart-striking tactics focused more on psychological effects.

It was a variant of besieging Wei to rescue Zhao! The main purpose was to relieve a siege.

Now his attack on the Falai Dynasty was not to relieve a siege but to annex it.

Using heart-striking tactics to take down the capital could indeed severely damage the Falai army’s morale in the short term, but don’t forget, this world is truly the domain of divine right monarchies.

Although the Four Primordial Gods Church rarely intervened in local affairs, it doesn’t mean they can’t.

If the capital were taken, the Four Primordial Gods could use it to show miracles, win people’s hearts, and then take control of military and political power in the name of the gods.

If that happened, his airborne tank division dropped into the capital would likely be surrounded, becoming a rootless flow.

The day ammo runs out would be the day of downfall.

Although this is the Fourth Catastrophe, and the loss is merely of steel creations, the cost of war is still very high.

Therefore, Yu Sheng’an leans towards launching blitzkrieg, using flaying tactics, infantry-tank cooperation, peeling layer by layer from outside in, using heart-striking tactics regionally to destroy command centers, and capturing the entirety of the Falai Dynasty step by step.

The downside of flaying tactics is:

It easily gives the enemy time to react, construct layers of defense, turning the war into a war of attrition, a tug-of-war!

However, he now commands the mechanized troops that crushed Velia, whose greatest advantage is their fast marching speed.

Before the Falai Dynasty constructs a defense, they will have already reached Falai’s hinterland, ignoring the downsides of flaying tactics.

This is also why he set the first strategic target on the Austin defense line.

Here gathers the elite former Infir Empire border army.

Once absorbed and reorganized, it could form a structured combat force.

Facts prove that soldiers of the former Infir Empire, with the ‘same motherland·Infir’ label, joined almost without exception.

Heaven knows what psychological blow and change the soldiers have experienced in these days.

Two armies clashed, and blood feuds were already formed.

As it turns out, not a shot fired, yet because of the steam Divine Runes failure, they were captured overnight, a true humiliation.

Although the Falai main force was eager to attack, they had not yet dealt with the prisoners.

But the remaining new recruits, the weak, sick, and old, and even the ostracized colleagues had no outlet for their anger! Now, tasked with guarding prisoners, naturally, they vented their anger on Infir’s captives.

These experiences made the former Infir Empire soldiers undergo a complete psychological transformation.

From despair and pain of weapon failure capture, to being burdened with unprovable charges of blasphemy, to anger and impotence under abuse, and finally, their faith rebuilt by the miraculous appearance of tank units.

Under such circumstances, how can they not join their motherland? In no time, countless former Infir Empire soldiers picked up floating airship airdrop weapons, boarded tanks, and blitzed the Falai Dynasty.

At the same time, when this news was instantly relayed back to the country via the Internet, Infir was in an uproar, the entire nation in an uproar!

A chain reaction occurred, one that neither Infir’s senior levels nor Yu Sheng’an anticipated.

……

……

Infir·Puen City.

In the morning, before the knocker could tap on the window, Joyce had already woken up early (the knocker: a human alarm clock). He had gotten used to waking up at five o’clock.

According to the former Infir Empire’s ‘Working Hours Act,’ in order to protect workers’ rights, work must start at six in the morning and end at six in the evening, with a one-hour break at noon, totaling an 11-hour workday.

In reality though, cunning factory owners would often start work a quarter earlier, or even earlier.

Evening off-duty time would also be delayed by a quarter, or even more.

Not to mention the noon break time.

Therefore, the 11-hour work regimen won by countless workers through strikes and bloody struggles thirty years ago was almost useless.

To prevent being late and deducted from the salary due to early factory starts, Joyce had long been used to waking up at five o’clock.

Even though the new work schedule mandates no start before seven.

Joyce opened his eyes but did not immediately get up to dress; he habitually chanted the Prayer of the Internet God, opened the Internet to check the time.

5:03.

Joyce exhaled, feeling a small sense of pride in waking up on time.

Then he clicked on the Infir Dispatch to check the latest news. Unsurprisingly, many cities of the former Infir Empire had surrendered to Gongheguo.

Besides, there was also breaking news about Gongheguo attacking the remnants of the royal family.

For example:

Last night at 11 o’clock, Marquis Malediz was captured at his secret hideout.

And playing a vital role in this capture were none other than Gongheguo’s Red Armband warriors.

As it turned out, an Auntie living nearby had accidentally discovered that although the house where Marquis Malediz was hiding wasn’t large, they were purchasing a lot of food every day.

Guided by the spirit of ‘better to wrongfully take down than let escape’ and lured by a minimum reward of 1 shilling, she decisively reported this anomaly.

Born from a worker’s family, Joyce’s literacy was limited, but this didn’t hinder him from reading the news.

Because almost every news piece included video reports.

Joyce watched the scene where reporters reported the capture of Marquis Malediz with some envy of the Auntie’s reward. Wow, a marquis! That report should be at least 1 pound, right?

That’s almost his months of salary! Why are there no royal remnants here?

Unaware of his own fortune, Joyce smacked his lips, feeling he had not read the news for long when suddenly the window was knocked.

“Knock, knock, knock!” The knocker had arrived.

Joyce was startled, checked the Internet time, and realized it was already six o’clock.

He hurriedly got up, ate breakfast with last night’s leftovers, and left home.

By now, the streets had already come alive, filled with workers rushing to work. Everything seemed normal, except for the absence of newsboys selling.

Joyce dared not linger and hurried to the factory. Although the new work schedule prohibits starts before seven, what if the factory owner plays word games and starts a quarter early?

By the time he arrived at the factory, a lot of workers had already gathered at the gate.

Clearly, there were quite a few workers with similar concerns.

While waiting for the factory to open, they were talking and discussing.

“Hey, did you see the news? Marquis Malediz got caught?”

“Who’s Marquis Malediz?”

“Really envious! The informant must have received at least a 1 shilling reward, right?”

“1 shilling? You underestimate Marquis Malediz. I remember when Count Elliot was caught, the reward was 5 shillings!”

As the conversation continued, the voices gradually became subdued.

“Hey, I heard the Austin defense line fell, is it true?”

“Not sure, the Internet has no news about the Austin defense line.”

“Could it be fake news from the royal remnants?”

“How can it be fake? A friend of mine specializes in body modifications, and his business is completely ruined because all steam Divine Runes failed! You tell me, if even the weapons failed, how can the Austin defense line hold?”

A few workers whispered among themselves.

The failure of steam Divine Runes is an open secret.

Because it can’t be covered up.

No one’s a fool, not to mention the royal remnants’ propaganda about ‘blasphemers’; even without it, people still have basic logical abilities.

Joyce, who had been feeling pretty good, suddenly felt heavy-hearted hearing the discussion about the Austin defense line.

Shorter work hours and higher salaries are precious, but if the country is destroyed, what do they matter? Those damn Falai people would enslave us, drive us into mines for endless labor! Our women would be taken, our children enslaved, we’d have no future! Thinking of the recent imperial propaganda, Joyce felt increasingly confused and heavy-hearted!

Suddenly, there was a commotion in front of the factory.