Chapter 19: The Art of War

“知己知彼，百战不殆；不知

彼而知己，一胜一负；不知彼不知己，

每战必败。”

——孙子，《孙子兵法》 （Sabaton乐队演唱）

古斯将军深谙敌人之道。他了解“玫瑰女王”的绝望，她倚仗的是人数而非实力，她的战略受政治驱动，以及她征召的军队缺乏训练的致命弱点。他也了解自己的部队：他们身经百战的技能、先进的技术、卓越的后勤保障，以及他自身的战术天赋。对他而言，这并非一场令人畏惧的战役，而是一首需要指挥的毁灭交响曲。

玫瑰军团的指挥官们既不了解自己，也不了解敌人。他们眼中只有地图上的数字，自以为势不可挡，认为他们那血肉与钢铁的洪流势不可挡。他们不了解自己手下那些惊恐万分的女兵们脆弱的士气，也不了解他们正奋力对抗的杀戮机器的毁灭性效率。他们的无知注定了一场史无前例的屠杀。

随着罗兰空军取得绝对制空权，第二阶段的屠杀开始了。罗斯装甲师本就因最初的损失而元气大伤，如今又遭到空中系统的彻底歼灭。罗兰的战斗轰炸机和对地攻击机肆无忌惮地在空中盘旋。对飞行员来说，这与其说是空战，不如说是射击场。罗斯坦克纵队被困在“古斯之锅”拥挤的道路上，遭到无情的扫射和轰炸。

高爆反坦克导弹从天而降，轻而易举地穿透了坦克薄弱的顶部装甲。直接命中后，坦克会短暂地陷入沉寂，随后舱门猛然打开，喷涌出橙色的火焰和滚滚黑烟。随之而来的弹药爆炸会将坦克从内部撕裂，扭曲的金属碎片和烧焦的残骸散落在泥泞的田野上。集束弹药覆盖了整个装甲团，子弹药四处寻找发动机舱盖和油箱，将大地变成了一片燃烧殆尽、动弹不得的残骸堆。原本应该作为入侵先锋的骄傲的“玫瑰”装甲部队，在短短几天内就化作了大地上一堆冒着烟的焦黑伤痕。

失去盔甲保护后，玫瑰步兵真正的恐怖才刚刚开始——数百万年轻女孩被困住，暴露在外，完全不堪一击。

在失去控制的指挥官们疯狂的命令驱使下，以及本方狂热的宪兵队从后方的骚扰下，罗斯新兵被迫对罗兰的防御阵地发起一波又一波的正面进攻。这不是战争，而是集体自杀。

Loran machine guns, pre-sighted on every conceivable approach, created a scything, interlocking wall of lead. The sound was not of individual shots, but a continuous, ripping roar, like some monstrous fabric being torn endlessly. As the lines of girls advanced, they were simply… erased. Rows of them would collapse simultaneously, their bodies tossed and mangled by the high-velocity rounds. The air grew thick with a fine, pink mist—the vaporized blood of thousands.

Artillery shells, called down with merciless precision by Loran forward observers, walked across the packed formations. Each explosion was a localized apocalypse. Bodies were flung into the air, dismembered by the concussive force and jagged shrapnel. A single 155mm shell could vaporize a dozen girls in a microsecond, leaving behind only a crater filled with red slurry and scraps of uniform. The ground, already churned to mud, became a ghastly amalgamation of earth, blood, and human viscera. The cries that rose from the chaos were a chorus of the damned:

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Mama! Save me! I want to go home!” a girl no older than sixteen screamed, clutching the intestines spilling from her abdomen before collapsing face-first into the muck.

Another, pinned down behind the corpse of a comrade, sobbed into a small, locket photograph. “My Hans… my love… I’m so sorry… I don’t want to leave you…” A moment later, a mortar round landed nearby, and she and her locket were gone.

But the most primal, visceral terror was yet to come. As the Loran armored divisions tightened the noose, their own ammunition began to run low. Shells were expensive; diesel fuel was finite. The relentless pace of killing had drained their logistical reserves.

And so, the order was passed down the Loran lines, an order that spoke of a war reverting to its most barbaric core: Conserve ammunition. Use the tanks themselves.

The landscape became a hunting ground. Loran main battle tanks, their main gun ammunition exhausted, now became mobile bludgeons. Their powerful diesel engines roared as they surged forward, no longer firing, but advancing relentlessly into the dense packs of stranded, helpless Rose infantry.

The girls, armed with little more than rifles that pinged harmlessly off the advancing behemoths, could only watch in paralyzed horror. The tanks did not slow down. They plowed into the human mass.

The sound was a sickening, wet crunching, a nauseating cacophony of snapping bones and tearing flesh. Girls were caught under the grinding steel tracks, their bodies bursting like overripe fruit under the immense pressure. They were pulverized into an unrecognizable paste, their remains smeared for meters along the tank’s path. A pinkish-red slime, mixed with fragments of bone and tattered cloth, coated the lower hulls and the relentless treads of the Loran tanks. Crews, safe inside their steel cocoons, reported the vehicle lurching and bouncing over the uneven, yielding terrain—a terrain made of human bodies.

那些没有立即被碾碎的人也被碾压过去，他们的脊椎和肋骨发出清晰可闻的碎裂声。罗兰装甲的推进所留下的不是一片尸横遍野的景象，而是一条由翻滚的血肉和浸透鲜血的泥浆组成的巨大而怪诞的道路，这便是机器最终战胜血肉的明证。

最终，罗兰导航仪的轰鸣声开始断断续续地消失。机枪也停止了射击，枪管烧得通红，弹链全部耗尽。坦克将整营的士兵烧成血肉模糊的残骸后，也颤抖着停了下来，油表显示油量已空。一种令人毛骨悚然、震耳欲聋的寂静笼罩着这片炼狱，只有伤员的呻吟和远处噼啪作响的火光打破了这片沉寂。

杀戮并未因仁慈降临而停止，而是因为双方此刻都已耗尽了杀戮的手段。在古斯之釜的中心，这场大规模攻势终于落幕。玫瑰王国的军队并非战败，而是被彻底、完全、无可挽回地吞噬殆尽。既不知晓自身，亦不知晓敌人的代价已然付出，七百万破碎的梦想和一条足以毒害这片土地长达一代人的血河，便是这代价的全部代价。