Chapter 866: Impressive Gains

Operation Dried Fish is finished before the Midsummer Festival arrives.

Between the siege at Five Forts, ambushes of enemy reinforcements, and interceptions elsewhere, two hundred and fifty thousand elite subterranean-bandit troops have been eliminated.

Meanwhile, using the long-range teleportation passage has taken a heavy toll on the spellcaster contingent in the bandits' underground stronghold.

It is a major victory for the entire front against the subterranean bandits.

With so many enemy troops eliminated, the pressure on the defensive line eases.

Marshal Clifford has already planned a major counteroffensive.

It will begin within two months at the latest. If the plan succeeds, it will again inflict heavy casualties on the enemy.

Many of the forts lost earlier can also be retaken.

The fortress clusters would then be better able to defend the territory and intercept enemy forces.

Those territories were lost during the first encounters with the Subterranean River Bandits.

Despite extensive preparations, unfamiliarity with the bandit army led to several defeats and retreats early in the war.

Things are different now. The war in Lumir has been going on for more than a year.

Both sides now know a great deal about each other. Suitable tactics, weapons, and equipment are being developed.

Once the lost forts are retaken, the Subterranean River Bandits will find them much harder to capture. At the very least, the price will be several times higher than before.

Operation Dried Fish has brought three main benefits.

First, it has greatly strengthened Lumir's morale and will to resist.

Second, it has demonstrated that cooperation within the alliance works.

Third, it has bought Lumir enough time to strengthen its defenses.

Since the war began, Lumir's main forces have had almost no time to rest.

That is dangerous. A successful counteroffensive would give them the respite they need.

The Subterranean River Bandits would be unable to organize a large-scale offensive for several months.

That respite would give Lumir time to reinforce the frontline forts while large shipments of weapons and equipment arrive.

Recruit training could catch up too. Reinforcing the legions and rotating them out for rest would become much easier.

Over time, Lumir's resistance to the calamity invasion will only grow stronger.

The operation has cost the human forces more than thirty thousand casualties, but the enemy has lost two hundred and fifty thousand elite troops.

At nearly ten to one, that casualty ratio can seriously check the enemy's offensive.

For the time being, the enemy can no longer muster a large force to harass the Tranquil Sea defensive line.

Once the major counteroffensive begins, it will have even fewer troops to infiltrate this region.

Production could then expand across the nearly one hundred thousand square kilometers between the underground stronghold and Tranquil Sea.

At the Mobile Strike Group's camp, Senar needs rest to recover from the injuries he suffered in the fierce fighting.

Morris, the deputy commander, temporarily takes over.

Every warband feels the strain of his strict training regulations.

The First and Seventh Warbands are even beginning to match the training intensity of Peace Haven's two warbands.

That leaves the other warbands embarrassed.

An army respects strength, and those three warbands paid for their achievements in blood.

Their gleaming coalition medals show what they contributed in battle.

In the more than two months that follow, garrison forts are completed one after another, and the warbands begin moving in.

Each warband has four forts: one large fort and three small ones.

The small forts form a triangle around the large fort at the center.

Each small fort stands about two kilometers from the main fort.

The large fort can house more than five thousand troops, and each small fort more than one thousand.

Each fortress cluster is designed for a legion ten thousand strong.

A squad of twelve soldiers shares a single room.

The familiar bunk beds make the rooms a little cramped, but at least the soldiers have a roof over their heads. It beats camping outside by far.

By the end of the year, the warbands' fortress clusters are expected to be largely complete.

There is less hurry over the finishing work.

The three small forts house the main combat battalions. The central fort also serves to train new recruits.

The replacements sent by the various sides are selected veterans, not raw recruits.

Even so, integrating them into a warband takes time and training.

Pabos's Ninth Warband, for example, lost nearly half its strength, and Peace Haven has sent over four thousand replacement troops.

Pabos has been organizing training to get the replacements integrated and the warband fighting as a whole again as soon as possible.

He can be seen leading the soldiers through training every day.

As the Ninth Warband pushes itself, the others grit their teeth and train harder too.

They no longer think Peace Haven's soldiers are training harder than necessary.

Even the group's three strongest warbands suffered heavy losses in the earlier fighting.

They all know how strong those three warbands are. The enemy must be terrifying to have inflicted such losses.

The other warbands might not withstand losses like that.

People become much more cooperative when their own interests, especially their lives, are at stake.

Now they begin to understand Peace Haven's saying: more sweat in training means less blood in battle.

More importantly, they now have to stay on good terms with Peace Haven's two warbands.

The reason is simple: the warbands' main forts are being completed one after another.

Peace Haven is also sending support personnel to the Mobile Strike Group.

First, the doctors arrive in large numbers.

Apart from the physicians in charge, the rest have only just graduated from medical school.

They are trained doctors, after all. Inexperience doesn't mean they lack the skills.

Even at their worst, they are considerably better than the military doctors who accompany the troops into battle.

The armored battlefield physicians with warhammers on their backs are particularly rough when stitching wounds.

Along with the medical teams come engineers from Peace Haven's forge factories.

The warbands are delighted to have them.

These master artisans can make gear to suit each soldier's needs.

Steam engines allow the lathes to work much faster.

If the soldiers bring good materials and catch an artisan in the right mood, they can even get special weapons made.

The Thunder Hand Cannon, which the warbands' officers have long coveted, is one example.

Its speed and ease of use make it a favorite with the officers.

Once the weapon is made, though, its owner has to buy his own ammunition.

At present, only Peace Haven produces hand cannon ammunition. Making it by hand costs far too much.

An officer in a force like this is not the sort to worry about money.

Before long, hand cannons of all shapes and styles appear throughout the warbands.

The wealthier ones often invite friends to the range to fire a few shots for fun.