Counterfeit Hero

The only one who truly understands Hastings is Margaret, who has been with him for twenty years, learning from his words and deeds. Even though she is considered a rare military genius, Margaret never thought she could surpass her grandfather. The more she learned and the longer she spent with him, the more she realized the unfathomable depth of her grandfather.

Under Hastings’ command, the Blue Army’s two armored divisions attack with near-perfection.

The two armored divisions form two attack arrows advancing steadily westward. Highways, bridges, strategic heights, towns... The blue army advances methodically. At what time to take which location, the advance distances of each unit, logistical support, aerial support during attacks, fire preparation, tactical execution, etc... Every element meshes together like the gears of a precision instrument.

When military orders become accomplished military intentions, on the display screen, the Blue Army’s offensive seemed like a tsunami engulfing everything.

This is the simplest command technique, and also the most direct offensive strategy. There are no inscrutable tactics or surprise-winning strategies, it is purely textbook advancement and attack. But when Hastings puts it into practice, it creates an effect as overwhelming and unstoppable as the Yangtze River.

Returning to the basics, this is the supreme realm of modern military command.

Seeing the Blue Army’s offensive, Margaret’s heart sank. She even somewhat blamed Hastings for being too impatient and placing too much pressure on Fatty. He is the Military God, while Fatty is only a mechanic soldier without formal military training. Let alone Fatty, even great generals like Leefer, how many can score against an offensive personally commanded by the Military God?!

Margaret’s gaze searched back and forth across the map, trying to find a weakness in the Blue Army. However, no matter how she looked or thought, there was no way to break the stalemate. The Blue Army made no mistakes, and frankly, Margaret also didn’t believe that Hastings would make any mistakes in the battle, apart from the lack of forces.

If mistakes were made, they were errors mandated by the system. Because, in this battle scenario, the intelligence was unequal for both sides. From Hastings’ perspective, he didn’t know that the Red Army had four divisions. Therefore, he had to command based on the system’s intelligence. And this error, which led to the Blue Army intensifying its offensive, was precisely the headache for the Red Army.

Facing such a Blue Army, it was nearly impossible for the Red Army to achieve victory with a ten percent casualty rate.

Fatty moved even faster. Orders were issued almost without thinking. The overwhelming Red Army intercepted the Blue Army’s advance from all directions. If it were a real war, the Blue Army absolutely couldn’t continue its advance, but in such a simulation, the ten percent casualty rate reversed the situation for both sides.

The Blue Army attacked without concern, while the numerically superior Red Army had to constantly avoid battles that could cause significant casualties.

Clearly, Fatty was already fighting fiercely. His eyes were red, and his fingers furiously tapped the keyboard. One order after another flashed on the screen. The Red Army units roared into action under dozens of orders each minute, launching endless assaults against the Blue Army’s attack. Fatty seemed determined to nibble away at the Blue Army with this hit-and-run tactic.

Margaret shook her head. Fatty was too stubborn. This tactic could be very successful if he opened up the front and spread out the Blue Army units, dispersing their forces. But now.......

Margaret’s gaze fell on the Red Army’s defensive line.

To the east of the city, the Red Army’s defensive line was built along a river and a hilly area. Several high-altitude strongholds dominated the Blue Army’s attack routes from on high.

In previous simulations, Fatty had repeatedly fought back and forth with the Blue Army on this battlefield. After several hard confrontations, he ultimately couldn’t secure victory with the ten percent casualty rate. This time, he simply left a regiment to hold the fort here, while the other units pushed out at the start of the battle to seize towns and traffic routes in front of the Blue Army’s line.

By now, the Blue Army had pushed to less than thirty kilometers from the defensive line. Moving forward, if the Red Army couldn’t muster a significant force, the Blue Army would break through the defensive line and charge directly into the city. Given the Red Army’s forces in the rear, once that situation developed, this round would be over.

Fatty’s orders came ever faster.

Just as the Blue Army’s left-wing forces were about to break through the Red Army’s encirclement and reach the Red Army’s final defensive line, Margaret suddenly discovered, to her surprise, that Hastings’ advance halted.

What’s going on?!

Margaret turned to look at Hastings’ computer screen and found, to her surprise, that at this moment, an intelligence report indicating the Red Army had four armored divisions appeared in Hastings’ computer system.

As a commander, Hastings couldn’t deliberately ignore this intelligence. Even if he knew the victory conditions, he had to simulate a commander’s normal response in real battle.

Using one’s intelligence advantage to influence the opponent, deliberately exposing one’s forces to sway the opponent’s judgment, is a common method in command. It didn’t surprise Hastings that Fatty used it here, but what amazed him was how precisely Fatty seized this opportunity.

Just as the Blue Army’s left and right-wing forces were about to merge, this suddenly appearing intelligence was sure to affect the judgment of the commanders leading the two attack arrows.

This judgment wasn’t something one could control themselves. The system would automatically make one of the commanders make decisions based on real intelligence.

Now, the two forces, forty kilometers apart, both stopped.

Because they didn’t know the situation of their ally on the other side.

They had to obtain sufficient intelligence before they could take the next action. And before acquiring the intelligence, even if Hastings gave a forceful order, the system wouldn’t comply.

By now, the Red Army’s electronic suppression was in full swing. Not to mention that the Blue Team was already at a disadvantage in information from the outset. Even if they were intact in electronic warfare, by now, they had lost their capability to gather intelligence and communicate.

In this information dark zone, forty kilometers was like an insurmountable chasm!

Forty kilometers of hilly mountainous terrain, for armored units, would take less than an hour at full speed. Even in combat, exchanging intelligence would only take a few hours.

But Hastings just couldn’t let the two wing units understand each other’s situations. Countless Red Army squads completely cloaked the battlefield. They ambushed any Blue Army unit attempting to explore the other side and strengthened the encirclement against the Blue Army units.

As time ticked by, when the system deemed the Blue Army unsuccessful with seventy-five percent of its forces remaining and still a full four days left on the attack deadline, Hastings and Margaret were left a bit dumbfounded.

By then already in the swing of things and battling fiercely, Fatty’s wild laughter echoed throughout the room.

"Come on, old bastard, come on!"

Bam!

Margaret couldn’t help but acknowledge that Fatty had performed a miraculous campaign in this room even as she kicked him over.

That was a complex calculation process.

Fatty managed to pull it off in an almost impossible situation. A series of Red Army actions all aimed at this final intention.

Although the Blue Army’s current losses were far from touching the bottom line of failure, due to the prolonged informational isolation of the two wing units and their long encirclement, Fatty completely used up the ten percent casualty rate indicators at this final moment. Faced with the powerful Red Army attack and the disappearing liaison units, the system could only conclude that the other side unit was completely wiped out.

This determination was so contradictory and unbelievable, yet indisputable.

Fatty won!

Hastings sipped his now cold tea and nodded with a smile.

With Fatty’s crazily small-scale troops’ command tactics, and his penchant for sneak attacks, with suppressing and jamming the opponent’s information or even perishing together with the SkyNet system, this guy is nearly invincible!

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.(To be continued. For details on what happens next, please visit www.qidian.com, more Chapters, support the author, support legitimate reading!)