Chapter 448 - 223: Situation in the Northern Lands, a Feint to Pin Them Down, I’ll Be the Main Force

Chapter 448: Chapter 223: Situation in the Northern Lands, a Feint to Pin Them Down, I’ll Be the Main Force

For hundreds of miles, there was only a thin layer of grass, suitable for grazing horses and herding sheep. Farther out, there was only a vast desert.

Therefore, the Zerg Race to the west and north were more concentrated, but their control over the territory and the scale of their Swarms were both weaker than those on the southeast side.

Thus, the Northwest became the best direction for the Capital City’s defenders to stage a breakout.

But this was a breakout and migration involving hundreds of thousands, even millions, of people. Even with sufficient vehicles and fuel, it would take at least a full day for everyone to escape and evacuate completely.

And with the close connection between the Zerg Race Mother Empresses, they would surely learn of the situation the moment the main breakout assault began and rush to provide support.

Once a Mother Empress emerged from the ground, it could directly command its entire Swarm. They would pour out in full force, moving at ten kilometers per hour to quickly form a new line of interception.

The relief forces outside the encirclement were only strong enough to barely delay three Early-stage Mother Empresses. If you added the formidable strength of the defenders inside, the chance of success for a concentrated breakout in one direction was not low...

But the condition was that an elite unit had to pin down the several Mother Empresses rushing from the Southwest to provide support.

Judging by the time frame of this breakout mission, at least three or more Mother Empresses would be able to arrive. Even the Tier Three Mid-stage Mother Empress near the Capital might burst from the ground just to sink its teeth into the retreating defenders.

Therefore, the mission assigned to the Salvation Army was incredibly difficult.

After the staff officer finished his briefing, General Chen spoke, his expression grave.

"Actually, you just need to delay them. Judging by City Lord Lin’s overwhelming victory in the Wu City West District, that shouldn’t be a problem, right?"

"If it’s too much trouble, you can request nuclear support. Or even just delaying them for half a day would be enough. The priority is to get the soldiers inside the Capital out first. Then we can figure out how to face the Zerg Race."

During the staff officer’s briefing, Lin Feng was also discussing the mission’s feasibility with his team.

Ling Yi nodded silently, while Shen Jie was all for it. Liu Yi and several other Battle Group Leaders, however, thought the Salvation Army should seize the initiative and attack first, turning the diversionary feint into the main battlefield.

They had to kill one of the High-tier Mother Empresses inside the encirclement before the breakout operation even began, thereby drawing the attention of the others.

That was the only way to truly drag the battle toward the Southwest.

Lin Feng thought it made a lot of sense. ’After all, our real purpose in coming here is to continue hunting High-tier Mother Empresses.’

’The so-called support and pinning action are just secondary benefits.’

Hearing General Chen’s question, Lin Feng agreed without much hesitation.

"According to your breakout plan, the operation begins tomorrow afternoon. I can guarantee that the several Tier Three Early-stage Mother Empresses in the Southwest will not reach the Northwest sector. But aside from that, I have one other request..."

General Chen inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. ’After all, to intercept three Mother Empresses, we would need to dispatch at least three reinforced divisions—a force of seventy to eighty thousand troops from an entire army group. And at least 10% of them would have to be Awakeners.’

’Furthermore, the number of Tier Two Awakeners couldn’t be less than fifty. Otherwise, a single massed charge from the Tier Two Swarm under a Mother Empress’s command could instantly shred our defensive line.’

’The remaining forces the Federation can currently mobilize are insufficient to support a two-front war.’

’Just deploying forces to the Northwest to support the breakout of the Capital’s defenders has already stretched our troops to the breaking point. That’s why we need the Salvation Army to intercept the Zerg Race Mother Empresses coming from the Southwest to reinforce them.’

Now hearing that Lin Feng had other conditions, General Chen nodded and pressed,

"City Lord Lin, are you asking us to dispatch regular troops for fire support? To suppress the Swarm’s offensive?"

After all, the Salvation Army that Lin Feng had brought numbered only a little over two hundred and eighty people. Even if their overall strength could crush an army of thousands, or even tens of thousands...

But their numerical disadvantage was undeniable. Being short-handed also meant they could only execute direct, surgical decapitation strikes.

They couldn’t possibly deal with Swarms attacking from multiple directions at once.

The territory of a single Tier Three Early-stage Mother Empress spanned over a hundred square kilometers. To intercept a Swarm along a ten-kilometer front at the edge of that territory, you would need to deploy at least ten thousand soldiers just to detect the Zerg Race’s movements in time.

That was why General Chen subconsciously assumed Lin Feng wanted the Federation Military to dispatch a large number of regular soldiers to secure the battlefield, provide reconnaissance, and offer fire support.

However, upon hearing General Chen’s question, Lin Feng showed a flicker of disdain and said with a smile,

"Reinforcements won’t be necessary. Just stick to our previous agreement: everything the Salvation Army kills and all Biological Material collected on the battlefield belongs to us."

"And as for the feint you need to pin them down—why don’t we just draw the attention of *all* the Mother Empresses to the Southwest?"

As he spoke, Lin Feng slowly raised a hand, pointing to the map projected on the screen.

"First thing tomorrow morning, we’re taking action. We’ll head to the outermost edge of the Southwest encirclement and kill that Tier Three Early-stage Mother Empress. We should be finished before noon!"

"At that point, I expect even the Tier Three Mid-stage Mother Empress stationed directly to the South will be provoked and will send a Swarm to test our Salvation Army..."

"Then, this so-called diversionary feint will become the true main battlefield of the entire breakout operation. The defenders trapped in the Capital City will be able to break out from the Northwest without a hitch."

"To make the deception more convincing, I hope you gentlemen of the Federation can dispatch multiple thousand-man units to conduct round-the-clock harassment missions all around the encirclement. Once the fighting starts, it will keep the Mother Empresses second-guessing themselves and buy us more time."