Capítulo 1816: Chapter 1733: An Unexpected Decisive Victory

Xie Ke felt that even the gods were on his side: the sudden snowfall alleviated his worries, as the fearsome air support of the Tang Army was difficult to deploy under such weather conditions.

Therefore, even though he wasn’t fully prepared, he hastily launched a counterattack following the orders of Binghan the First.

The Tang Army did not have much strength on the frontlines, and since there were no orders to hold the position to the death, the Tang Country’s defense forces, upon encountering the Dwarf Troops, immediately began to retreat from their defensive stance.

For them, such weather was indeed unsuitable for combat: they boarded trucks or armored vehicles and quickly disengaged from contact with the Dwarf counterattack forces, retreating to the second line of defense.

On the first day of the counterattack, all the news Xie Ke received was positive: his troops crossed a river called the Port River within an hour, where the Tang Army had indeed advanced to the west bank of the river.

After crossing the Port River, the forward units of the Dwarf Eastern Front Army continued to advance westward, capturing the first village near the west bank of the Port River in just about three hours.

Since the start of the war, this was the second time the Allied Forces had achieved tangible results in a counterattack; the previous time was during the counterattack on Eternal Winter City.

In hindsight, that counterattack was actually a trap set by the Tang Army for the Ice Cold Empire, so strictly speaking, it cannot be considered successful.

As for whether this one counts, it’s still uncertain, because no one could be sure if the current achievements were intentionally left by the Tang Army.

However, Binghan the First was very optimistic about it, believing that the Tang Army’s line was overextended and that this time it was his keen perception of the Tang Army’s weaknesses, rather than a deliberate opening left by them.

The situation indeed seemed to be developing as Binghan the First had imagined: by dusk on the same day, Xie Ke’s troops had advanced over 15 kilometers, stubbornly capturing three villages, and were now less than 18 kilometers away from the key town of Dalkas on the Southern Plains occupied by the Tang Army.

Although on that day, the frontline troops did not engage in any substantial combat with the Tang Army, merely maintaining limited contact, Xie Ke was still confident in capturing Dalkas.

Even though the Dwarf Commanders at the front repeatedly reported to their front army command, emphasizing that they hadn’t encountered the main forces of the Tang Army and that the Tang Army hadn’t even built proper defensive fortifications, Xie Ke insisted on continuing the attack the next morning.

He had to achieve results on the Southern Plains before the Tang Army could encircle and annihilate the 11th and 12th Corps, so this counterattack would be meaningful, and he could account for it to Binghan the First.

Therefore, disregarding the supply difficulties of the troops and the delayed follow-up plan due to snowfall, Xie Ke ordered his forward units to continue pushing westward.

Early the next morning, the Dwarf Troops lifted the frozen tent flaps, ate a simple breakfast, and launched another attack.

Their marching speed was very slow because their unit was large, the road conditions were poor, and the snowfall hadn’t stopped; all these factors severely restricted the Dwarves’ advance.

However, by afternoon that day, Xie Ke’s most relied-upon forward unit, the absolute main force that he had been reluctant to use since the beginning of the conflict, the 9th Armored Division subordinate to the Ice Cold Empire’s 9th Corps, finally reached Dalkas.

This town was not large, but it was indeed an important transportation hub on the Southern Plains. Its outskirts also housed a sizable machinery factory, capturing which would at least enable Xie Ke’s troops to gain some frontline capabilities to maintain and repair heavy armored vehicles.

The 9th Armored Division, already prepared for battle with the Tang Army in the town of Dalkas, faced only a small-scale resistance from the Tang Army.

A few Tang Army armored reconnaissance vehicles fired anti-tank missiles, disengaged after destroying some Dwarf tanks on the outskirts, and then passed through the town and left.

After losing a few tanks and cautiously entering the city, the Dwarves discovered that the Tang Army hadn’t set up any defensive lines here. Perhaps because the Tang People advanced too quickly before and didn’t have time to build fortifications here, or perhaps because the Tang Army simply didn’t intend to waste forces to stop the advance of the Dwarf Troops.

In any case, the 9th Corps recaptured Dalkas, and this achievement was already the most dazzling and glorious achievement the Allied Forces had attained since the war began.

One must know that throughout, the Allied Forces had not been able to recapture any medium or large cities from the Tang Army, with even the villages being few and far between.

Now, Xie Ke had recaptured Dalkas! The Allied Forces’ counterattack finally achieved a respectable outcome! Upon hearing the news, Xie Ke hastily sent someone to inform the newly asleep Binghan the First.

Subsequently, the telegram about the Eastern Front Army retaking Dalkas was sent to Furnace Fortress and the Poplar Empire. Everyone found it hard to believe it was real, but it seemed Xie Ke’s counterattack indeed had an effect.

If the Dwarves could reclaim the Southern Plains and stabilize the front line in the Central Mountain Region, then Furnace Fortress might still be salvageable…

No matter how you look at it, this was a choice worth trying. Therefore, on the same day, the Poplar Empire began discussions about whether they could increase material aid to the Dwarf Empire.

The Dwarves didn’t disappoint their Elf Ally: after capturing Dalkas on the second day, they didn’t stop their counterattack, and on the third day, they continued to make great strides, capturing all the villages surrounding Dalkas and pushing the front line another 9 kilometers westward.

Due to logistics unable to keep up with the advance of the front-line troops, the Dwarves had to slow down their attack speed. However, in three days, they had advanced nearly 40 kilometers, which was already a remarkable achievement.

To quickly secure a victory, Xie Ke ordered the Dwarf Infantry to advance lightly, aiming to occupy more areas as quickly as possible. This decision allowed the Dwarves to achieve even more brilliant results on the fourth day: they advanced 13 kilometers, even faster than the third day.

However, because the Dwarf Infantry advanced alone, the Tang Army eliminated over 1,500 Dwarf soldiers in delay operations, and these losses also put pressure on Xie Ke.

He knew that the Tang Army likely didn’t have more forces on the front, but just a small number of troops had caused significant losses to the Dwarves’ attack.

If the snowfall ends, the advance might not be able to continue… Now all he could do was pray. Pray that the weather would continue to be on their side, and pray that the 11th and 12th Corps could hold on for a bit longer.