Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 997: Adding Fuel Tactics
"Got it." Valentina said in a muffled voice, turned around and used a machine gun to smash two men in black who rushed forward and tried to attack Ke Lan and the others with tentacles, and took the lead to move towards the west.
Ke Lan and Ze Luo followed closely behind Valentina's mecha and performed a small-scale "infantry-tank coordination", killing the nearby men in black while moving towards the target location.
…
"The three of them have finally reunited." Chi Hanfeng, who was always watching the battlefield, breathed a sigh of relief. "The most dangerous part of this phase of the battle plan is the airborne process. Seeing them land successfully, I can finally put my heart at ease."
"You are relaxing too early. Hell is coming..." Hound shook his head, indicating that he did not agree with Chi Hanfeng's statement. "These men in black are just cannon fodder of the Undead Crew. They are not even elite monsters. Trouble is still to come. What's more, Xiaona, whom you treat as your precious daughter, is not driving a Blasphemer mecha this time. It is just a big toy made by Layton himself... To be honest, I suggest you be mentally prepared..."
"Okay, I know you need to stop talking... You are a person who never forgives others with your mouth. In the army, you offended so many people that you could have formed a reinforced company." Chi Hanfeng glanced at the hound and said angrily, "It's just that I have a good temper and don't bother with you."
"A reinforced company? You underestimate me. A reinforced battalion is more like that." The Hound waved his hand. "Don't think I'm being harsh. The truth is that few words sound nice. Those that sound nice are just flowery words... Those people say nice words on the surface, but who knows what they are doing to you behind your back."
"Alas, you... Never mind. Your EQ is too low. I can't have a conversation with you." Chi Hanfeng once again turned his attention back to the screen. "Layton, is the reliability of your machine guaranteed?"
"Yes, I've played with it a few times in private. It can compete with the mass-produced Augustus. If it can be equipped with a new frame, it should be able to defeat the Augustus. But with the new frame, it can't fit into the Tiger Hunter's shell." Layton said confidently, "As for the current military mechas in service, even those customized mechas of ace pilots, the performance and reliability can't compare to mine."
"Of course, this thing was made by your fucking money… If money hadn't become waste paper now, I would have called you a spendthrift." The Hound complained.
"But to be honest, there are too many of these men in black... They just keep pouring out, and those who are killed will be resurrected if their bodies are not burned in time. The monsters they turn into after resurrection are even more troublesome than their previous human forms. If we keep fighting like this, the situation will only become more and more unfavorable." Leighton said with a frown.
"Several places are already unable to withstand the pressure." Ivan took over the conversation and said, "The casualties of the airborne troops have exceeded 30%. Now we must either concentrate all our forces together to assist Ke Lan and his team in breaking through, or we must deploy a second batch of airborne troops."
"We can't concentrate (this won't work!)... If we concentrate all our forces around Ke Lan and the others, then our goal and intention will be too obvious." Hound and Chi Hanfeng rejected the first proposal in unison. The two looked at each other, and the latter continued: "Now we can only use the refueling tactic, sending airborne troops in batches, fighting a war of attrition with those men in black, stabilizing the position as much as possible, and then breaking through from multiple directions, trying to find a way to attack the interior of the Ark. This way, we can cover Ke Lan and the others' actions, and secondly, we can collect more information to pave the way for the subsequent general offensive."
"Add fuel to the fire tactics..." Ivan bit his lip and didn't continue speaking.
In many non-professional "civilian tactical forums", the refueling tactic has always been considered "one of the stupidest tactics". The so-called refueling tactic is to divide the troops into multiple small-scale troops and send them to the battlefield in multiple batches. After the previous batch is almost consumed, the next batch will be sent in, just like constantly refueling an oil lamp, hence the name.
The "adding oil" tactic has another nickname, "the gourd boy saving his grandfather", which means lining up one by one to give away one's head. From a literal sense, the "adding oil" tactic is indeed a taboo in the use of troops.
In modern war theory, there is a group of differential equations called the "Lancaster equations" that are specifically used to calculate the changes in the strength and combat effectiveness of the warring parties, as well as the impact on the direction of the war. This group of equations takes a lot of time to explain, but if you want to summarize a conclusion in simple language, it is "in a limited space and time, concentrate superior forces to strike the enemy with a decisive advantage, and continue to accumulate these advantages, thus leading the entire war to victory."
Even if there is a huge gap in the total strength of the two warring parties, for example, one million versus half a million, if these half a million people can find a way to use their own troop advantage on the local battlefield through sneak attacks, ambushes, etc. to first eat up some of the scattered forces of the other side, then it will have a significant impact on the entire battle - whether it is from the difference in troop strength, logistics supplies, position division or military morale, the balance of victory will slowly tilt towards the side that achieves small-scale tactical goals.
When this influence accumulates to a certain extent, quantitative change will lead to qualitative change, thus giving birth to the miracle of "the weak defeating the strong".
For example, the very famous "Battle of Guandu" during the Three Kingdoms period in the Old Era is a very typical example.
But not in all cases, the refueling tactic is a stupid choice - sometimes, the refueling tactic will become the optimal solution for the combat plan.
For example, now.
The gap in the energy shield was not very large, and although the ruins platform below was open, many places were blocked by the firepower of the men in black, and it was necessary to make detours to break through those defenses and knock out the firepower points. Not only would it be impossible to use superior forces to defeat the men in black, but it would also be impossible to deploy troops due to limited space, and be wiped out by the opponent's heavy firepower weapons.
As the battle situation became tense, the Undead Crew also began to deploy "heavy weapons" on the battlefield - in addition to those cannon fodder men in black, there were also many giants wearing heavy armor and more than ten meters tall joining the battlefield.
These giants are not like the giants in online games who can only wield sticks and battle axes. Each of them is equipped with a 25mm caliber aircraft cannon, and seven or eight ammunition boxes weighing hundreds of kilograms are hung directly on their belts. They also carry a large bundle of rocket launchers behind them... They are like human tanks!
After these giants joined the battlefield, the casualties of the airborne troops increased sharply. Several landing positions that had been stabilized were taken back by the enemy. The remaining soldiers could only fight and retreat, slowly moving closer to each other.
"The situation is a bit bad." Ke Lan whispered, "This is completely contrary to our initial tactical goal..."
Ke Lan and his team planned to disperse all the airborne troops and attack in all directions, with the landing point as the center. The vacant positions behind them could be left for the second batch of airborne troops to deploy. But now the first batch of airborne troops, which were supposed to be deployed radially, were compressed into one piece, and the space for movement was getting smaller and smaller, and they were about to be surrounded by the enemy.
Ke Lan and the other two did have the strength to break through the siege, but if everyone else was suppressed and only the three of them fought their way out, it would be too conspicuous. Even if the members of the Undead Crew were fools, they could see that there was something wrong with the three of them.
"What should we do? Should we go back to support our friendly forces?" asked Valentina.
"Go back for help." Ke Lan nodded, "Get rid of those giants first!"
The two men and the mecha immediately slowed down their advance, and soon pretended to be obstructed, and began to slowly retreat.
The last "bulge" of the first batch of airborne troops also retracted, and the entire landing position was gradually squeezed into a circle.
A giant threw away the empty aircraft cannon in his hand and strode towards the position of the airborne troops. While running, he took off the rocket launcher on his back and pulled the trigger in a general direction without aiming. He fired one rocket after another and used up all the rocket launchers behind him in less than half a minute.
Of course, there would be no accuracy in such a fight, but the fire suppression effect still existed. Under the suppression of rockets, the airborne troops' blocking strength was greatly weakened. The giant rushed forward in the rain of bullets, raised his arms high, and then, his fists wrapped in heavy armor fell heavily, smashing a four-meter-class tactical mecha and the person in it into a pile of scrap metal mixed with meat!
This mecha was destroyed, and the defense line in this area collapsed instantly. The airborne soldiers could only drag their injured comrades while fighting and retreating. However, before they could retreat to the next bunker, the men in black who followed quickly covered them with a barrage of bullets. These soldiers without the protection of mechas immediately fell down one after another like grass being mowed.
The black-clad men and the giants also achieved the same effect as the infantry-tank coordination, but this was not because of their high tactical literacy - these black-clad men were all clones, many of whom had even been soaking in a culture tank filled with water of life a few hours ago. Quick-made products had no self-awareness or thinking ability, and they followed the instructions of the chip completely. Under the unified dispatch of the Undead Crew, these black-clad men could basically "shoot wherever they were pointed."
Even in some of the more advanced RTS games, units still have factors like morale and stamina to consider, but these men in black will immediately rush forward one after another at a command from the controller, completely disregarding life or death... Even though the airborne troops are also very brave, they are still inevitably defeated under the impact of this puppet force.
People with flesh and blood will feel fear and fatigue. No matter how powerful the drugs are, it is impossible for soldiers to participate in such high-intensity combat for a long time... Many airborne troops suffered from the side effects of drug overdose in advance, and a few even died suddenly...
Thirty minutes had passed since the airborne operation began, and less than half of the first batch of airborne troops were left alive. Of this half, nearly one-third were seriously injured and had lost their ability to fight.
Due to the compression of the position, the second batch of airborne troops could not be deployed to the position of the first batch of airborne troops, and could only try to land behind the enemy and attempt to launch a pincer attack... But because of the addition of those giants, the second batch of airborne troops immediately fell into a tough battle as soon as they landed. Only a few troops that had successfully merged were still holding on, and the other soldiers who were in more scattered positions were quickly killed by the enemy.
"We can't fight this anymore!" Layton gritted his teeth and said, "Why not just let the Skadi push forward? If we add more fuel now, we'll just be sending ourselves to death, and it'll be meaningless! Ke Lan and the others can't act too strong, and if they want to hide their strength, they'll just be suppressed by the opponent... They probably can't turn the situation around on their own. If they want to break the impasse, they can only let the Skadi intervene in the battle!"
The gap in the energy shield is vertical, and the current position of the Skadi cannot provide support to the airborne troops. If it wants to fire on the men in black and the giants, the Skadi must move to directly above the gap in the energy shield and output power close to the trunk of the giant tree.
However, whether this giant tree has the ability to attack remains a mystery. No one can guarantee whether the giant tree will suddenly launch an attack after the Skadi approaches.
At that distance, the Skadi had no room to react.
"Is there any news from Ke Lan?" asked the Hound.
"No, the Ark's shielding field is still operating. Their communication equipment can only conduct short-distance internal communications at most, and they can't contact us." Chi Hanfeng shook his head.
"Damn it... We can't be unable to come up with any solution without Ke Lan here!" The Hound was anxious, circling around Yagunakotor's control console like an ant on a hot pot. "But I can't get in touch with him, and I don't know if he has changed his original plan... Since he is still hiding his strength, it means he has no intention of changing his plan for the time being..."
The Hound muttered to himself, stomping on the floor with increasing force, and the "clacking" sound continued to echo in the control room.
At this moment , Zofia Soma, who had been a quiet bystander, suddenly stepped forward, looked up at the battle on the screen, and asked, "These men in black and giants are puppets of the Undead Crew, right? The Undead Crew controls them by relying on chips implanted in their brains, right?"
"Yeah...wait? Control? Chip?" The Hound stopped, "Right ! Since it's controlled by a chip, we can use EMP to attack it!"
