Chapter 865: Chapter 11: Eck’s Opportunity Arrives

July 20, 917, Empire of Prosen, Eagle’s Nest.

“Last year we focused on homeland defense and designed an armored train.” The experts from the Imperial Ordnance Bureau introduced to the Emperor, “The characteristic of this train is that it has armor on only one side, allowing the armor to be very thick. To balance the weight, we have set up all the weapons and mechanical devices on the other side of the train.”

Emperor: “The cross-section of this thing looks so ugly!”

Expert: “But it’s indestructible! The connected carriages form a ready-made defensive line when parked on the railway. We have already assembled three armored trains, stationed on the inevitable path of Rocossov! They are bound to play a huge role!”

Emperor: “What if Ante’s infantry approaches at night and plants explosives under the train?”

“We have the latest night vision spotlights!”

“What about complex terrain? According to your design, we need ultra-long trains, right? There must be trains parked on complex terrain, how can we prevent enemy infantry from approaching through complex terrain and then planting explosives?”

“Just a bit of explosives won’t overturn the entire train, especially such heavy carriages.” The expert gestured vigorously, “Even if a section of the carriage is blown over, it doesn’t affect the entire defensive line. Even if the whole train is destroyed, it will still be an obstacle to stop Ante’s tanks!”

Armored Corps Director General Moochi: “He has a point, Your Majesty. If we initially consider that this train will be destroyed by the Anteans, this obstacle can still inflict damage on the Anteans before being destroyed!”

The Emperor stroked his cheek with his finger, went back and forth a few times, then said, “Alright, deploy the existing three trains into battle, specifically allocate some factories to produce these train cars, how many can be produced before August?”

“There are only ten days until August.” Celtic Marshal reminded.

“Alright, how many can be produced before September?”

Expert: “I’ve calculated, if we allocate Holk’s first, second, and third factories fully to us for production, we can have 600 carriages in battle by September! After all, I’ve considered producibility during the design!”

Emperor: “Do it, produce as many train cars as possible, block the Anteans!”

The expert left enthusiastically with his design.

Celtic Marshal mumbled: “The remaining issue is, exactly how many railways do we have that are positioned just right on the enemy’s attack path. What if the enemy advances along the railway? Logistically, advancing along the railway is the optimal solution, isn’t it?”

Emperor: “Do you have a better way to stop the Antean attack?”

“We can evacuate by sea like the United Kingdom, we still control the Baltic Sea’s naval control.” Celtic Marshal went to the map, picked up the pointer and gestured, “It’s also a shorter distance compared to when the United Kingdom evacuated, and the Baltic Sea is even calmer.”

Emperor: “You said the same thing when evacuating Army Group A the year before last!”

“We didn’t have air superiority the year before last and were taken advantage of by the Federation’s experienced naval aviation. This year the battle zone is within the operational range of the homeland air force, the air force’s ME262 jet fighters have absolute superiority.”

After Celtic Marshal finished speaking, Duke Mayer proudly chimed in: “Indeed, since our ME262 jets have been in combat, they’ve achieved rich results, shooting down multiple Allied ace pilots’ planes, greatly improving the interception efficiency against Allied bombers.”

Since the Allied Forces changed their air raid operation mode last year, Duke Mayer had been in a losing position, looking defeated in meetings, but now he could finally stand tall.

The Emperor glanced at the Grand Duke: “I’ve checked the 262 data carefully, all performances are clearly superior to the Allied Forces’ Mustang fighter data provided by the air force. So, why isn’t the air battle one-sided? Why are there still many jets shot down by the enemy’s Mustangs?”

Duke Mayer took out a handkerchief to wipe sweat: “Half of the lost 262s were lost on the ground. This aircraft requires a very long takeoff run, there’s basically no way to scramble it to meet the enemy immediately after detecting incoming enemy planes.

“However, we’ve already responded by constructing solid hangars for the 262, the bombs carried by enemy fighters can’t damage these hangars, and before the 262 is rolled out to take off, first take off the Tower 152 fighters to gain air superiority…”

Emperor: “Is that so? Then we’ve solved the half lost on the ground, what about the other half? The half lost in the air?”

Duke Mayer wiped sweat again: “It’s because… because our pilots lack experience and made wrong maneuvers.”

“Why the lack of experience? Didn’t you say the combat experience of the Prosen Air Force trumps the Allied novice pilots?”

“That was last year.” The Grand Duke answered succinctly.

The Emperor was at a loss for words, momentarily speechless.

Celtic Marshal: “The overall quality of our troops in various branches is generally declining, it’s not just the air force alone.”

The Emperor lowered his gaze, looking at the documents and reports in front of him.

A heavy atmosphere enveloped the entire conference room.

At this moment, the Great Commander of the Asgard Knights entered the room.

Originally, this position was concurrently held by Giles, and after his death, it was handed over to the current Great Commander. This Great Commander had a poor reputation in the National Defense Army because he came from a farming background, so the senior generals of the National Defense Army contemptuously called him “the chicken farm manager.”