Chapter 1495: Chapter 1412: Holding Out Longer

On the northern front, after resisting for around twenty days, the Qin Army took the initiative to abandon Wangdu. They truly could not hold on any longer; the attacks by the Tang Army were too fierce.

Almost every day, thousands of soldiers died or were wounded, and the massive losses gradually made it difficult for the Qin Army to sustain. The defensive fortifications previously deployed near Wangdu were completely exhausted, and Chen Li was struggling to hold on.

So he petitioned Ying Duo and finally received the order he wanted: the main force of the Qin Army would retreat to near the West Great Pass to continue defense, leaving the now almost ruined Wangdu to the Tang Army.

With the loss of Wangdu, the garrisons at Xiqing and Caili, which were nearly surrounded, all surrendered, and Bingshuo City north of Wangdu also lost its contact with the Qin-controlled area.

Unlike Xiqing and Caili, the Qin Army commander at Bingshuo City showed a certain degree of resolve. He refused to surrender, leading fifty thousand garrison troops to fight to the last soldier.

In the end, this Qin Country troop was completely annihilated, but they held out for a month: this time was considerably better than large cities like Dongqing, so the Qin Country even posthumously titled the fallen Qin Country general as “General”.

Unfortunately, the General was already dead; he would never know he could have such a glorious day.

On the day Wangdu was controlled by the Tang Army, their engineers began repairing the Wangdu Airport that had been damaged by the Qin Army, taking only seven or eight days to fix this facility riddled with bomb craters, restoring most of its functions.

Theoretically, planes flying from this airport could easily bomb nearly all cities in the northeastern region of Qin Country.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, the Navy fleet of the Great Tang Empire once again attacked Dorne’s coastal cities, damaging more port docks and destroying what remained of Dorne’s shipbuilding capabilities.

Most of those hastily built destroyers lay disabled on the ship docks, and even those protected cruisers suffered significant damage.

A bomb destroyed the crane on the dock, forcing the halt of construction on one of the cruisers.

Dorne had no choice but to repair the dock while strengthening the air defenses of these harbor cities. But relying on the anti-aircraft guns to form a defense network certainly could not stop the air raids from the Great Tang Empire.

The Army suggested reallocating the steel used for building warships to construct tanks, but the Navy disagreed, leading to intense arguments between the two.

It was as if they were discussing whether Japan would be better off using all its steel to build aircraft carriers during World War II, an answer that had long been predetermined.

Even if the Japan United Fleet had two or three more aircraft carriers, it would be of no avail; even if they won the Battle of Midway, they would still face defeat the following year.

Dorne’s situation was equally so, the Army’s proposal did sound more practical, but everyone knew those were just useless words.

Are the Army’s tanks useful? Or can they play any significant role? Completely impossible. Just look at the outcome of the Qin Army’s Armored Corps, with a large number of tanks being destroyed by the Tang Army during their assembly, unable to play the role of decisive counterattack.

However… comparatively, the Navy’s plans to build cruisers and destroyers seems even less feasible: Dorne Navy’s remaining vessels are hiding here and there, nowhere reflecting an image of counterattack against the Tang Army.

It’s more reliable to hope that these remnants of the fleet will counterattack the Great Tang Empire’s Navy rather than relying on the Air Force…

As for Dorne’s Air Force… well, it theoretically exists as an important armed force.

Indeed, it only theoretically exists: Dorne’s Air Force has about 2,000 fighter jets of various models, but over ninety percent of them are piston propellor fighter jets.

Every day, more than a dozen “Shi” shaped propeller fighter jets patrol above Winterless Port, but they can’t bring even a little sense of security to Dorne’s civilians.

Because of its poor relations with Tang Country, Dorne has no way to obtain technology for jet fighters; they can only “steal” from Poplar Empire or “develop” themselves.

Sure, they bought 86 fighter jets from Shireck, but compared to the current mainstream fighters, these jets aren’t considered advanced.

But having some is better than none, so Dorne started mass-producing new fighter jets. They have an industrial base, so it wasn’t particularly difficult to understand the technology of the F-86 fighter jet.

However… they started too late. Not only do they lack jet fighters, but they severely lack pilots for these jets.

Producing planes might not be challenging, but training pilots is another matter. Dorne had to secretly import 100 units of 262 fighter bombers from Poplar Empire to serve as imperfect trainers.

Though even so, Dorne’s Air Force still can’t be deployed against the Tang Country’s Navy; several sorties ended in total annihilation, with the bombers they dispatched not even sending back a shred of information.

Since the Mirage Country naval battle, the Tang Country Navy seemed to no longer fear traditional propeller bombers. Dorne’s use of old bombers for coastal patrol attack missions was naturally futile.

Aside from losing over a hundred aircraft, Dorne Air Force’s coastal defense warfare yielded absolutely nothing. However, they didn’t go without victories; at least before losing ninety percent of their pilots, the Tang Army’s fleet wasn’t likely to strike Dorne face to face…

Of course, the Great Tang Empire isn’t in a hurry; they have no need to return to the Eastern Continent before defeating the Qin Country. So Dorne still has time; they can continue preparing to take more blows.

The more thorough the preparation, the longer the suffering can last when being hit, and the bloodier the struggle can be when being swatted…

After taking Bingshuo and the four cities of Wangdu, Xiqing, and Caili, the Tang Army’s offensive slowed again because in February and March, the northern area begins entering mud season, making massive armored corps attacks inconvenient, so they simply slowed down.

Using this valuable time, the Tang Army hopes to repair roads in the rear, rebuild airports and railways, and restore production in occupied areas.

After all, spring plowing has started; if they can restore farming production in the Dahua area and Shu Country area, they could greatly alleviate Tang Country’s food pressure by autumn.

Since victory is assured, there’s no need to rush things. Tang Mo even took some time to visit Yongping to tour the old capital of Dahua and ordered the construction of a museum on the site of the Dahua Imperial Palace, meant to house artworks from Dahua and other countries.