Chapter 36: The Terrifying Might of Baron Titan Train

Red Tower City.

The focal point of the entire "border conflict" between the two nations.

The strategic importance of this city needs no further emphasis. As a major mining and industrial hub in the south of the Grand Duchy, the city housed nearly 400,000 residents before the war—ranking it third in population within the vast, sparsely populated Far East.

The Boria Grand Railway, which traverses the Rasian Empire from east to west, approaches the city from the southwest in a shape resembling the character "厂" on the map, reaches the train station in the northwest of the city, and then continues from west to east, passing along the northern outskirts.

If he had the choice, General Honda, Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Frontier Army, would certainly have found a way to completely encircle Red Tower City and annihilate the garrison within.

The Yamato people could not do it.

Half of Red Tower Province consists of complex, hilly terrain. Red Tower City, the provincial capital, sits on the dividing line between the northwestern hills and the southeastern plains. The city was built at the foot of a small hill, over a hundred meters above sea level. For convenience, the Boria Grand Railway had been constructed along the foot of these hills, reaching the edge of the city.

In a conventional engagement, occupying the high ground to the northwest of the city would allow one to rain fire down upon the defenders, making the capture of Red Tower City a simple matter.

Unfortunately, the southwest of the city is a vast swamp. Heavy equipment is useless there, and due to a lack of familiarity with the terrain, a single probing attack resulted in two platoons of Yamato soldiers drowning in the marshes before they even caught sight of the enemy garrison.

If they were to bypass the swamps to attack the mountains west of the city, the Yamato supply lines would have to detour far to the southwest, adding fifty kilometers to the route. This would place an unbearable burden on the already fragile supply lines of the Northern Frontier Army, threatening a total collapse at any moment.

Bypassing to the northeast is also not an option: firstly, the railway runs northeast, closer to the capital of the Barovsk Border Territory, facilitating support and supplies for the Rasians; secondly, it would similarly overstretch the Yamato supply lines; thirdly, the terrain there is uneven, which would be a severe test for the delicate suspension systems of the Yamato "Little Bean" tanks and armored vehicles.

Attacking the 215-meter-high hill to the northeast became the optimal solution.

This, however, brought about another problem.

Attacking that hill requires crossing the Boria Grand Railway to the northeast of the city.

As it happens, the Rasian garrison, for the sake of defense, had stationed a "Titan Train Jazz" at the junction where multiple railways converge to the northeast of the city.

In peacetime, this gargantuan metal object looks no different from an armored train.

Once war breaks out, under the operation of a group of "Techno-Priests," it takes half a day to complete its transformation, turning into a war behemoth with the upper body of a humanoid and the lower body of train carriages.

Due to its staggering weight, it must either occupy two closely parallel tracks to distribute the pressure after transforming or extend a multitude of diagonal struts for support; otherwise, the immense pressure of such a towering structure would crush the railway ties.

No one knows the exact level of technology involved, but its sheer size—equivalent to an eight-story building—is more than enough to give the Yamato forces a headache.

***

At this very moment, Lieutenant General Yoshikawa, commander of the Yamato 9th Division, peered through a high-powered military telescope from an observation bunker at this pyramid-shaped metal monster. He then looked at the complex defensive line ahead of the railway, consisting of multi-layered trenches, anti-tank caltrops, and barbed wire dug by the Rasians, and spat aggressively.

"Pah!" He stomped on the spit and barked a vicious order: "Attack!"

Five kilometers behind him, in the positions of the divisional field artillery regiment, twelve 105mm cannons were lined up. Upon receiving the order, their two-meter-long barrels (20 calibers) fired 10.91-kilogram armor-piercing shells in one breath.

Following them were 36 additional 75mm field guns.

The shells tore through the sky, falling like a meteor shower, slamming hard into the pyramid monster.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Massive explosions erupted against the "Titan Train Jazz."

As a super-upgraded version of an armored train, this mobile fortress-like mechanical beast featured 100mm homogeneous steel armor on the side facing the enemy, and it was sloped armor at that. This caused all the Yamato shells to ricochet.

The lackluster armor-piercing capability of the Yamato 105mm howitzers left nothing but deep, abrasive scars on the armor in vain.

However, while it escaped capital punishment, it did not escape the agony.

The terrifying shockwaves from the incoming shells conducted through the metal walls to the soldiers inside, hitting those near the armored sections as if they had been struck in the chest by a heavy hammer. The intense shockwaves caused many of the Rasian soldiers inside to vomit blood on the spot, or left them dizzy with blood seeping from their ears and noses.

The only good news was...

Not a single person died.

"It didn't penetrate?!" Lieutenant General Yoshikawa was so angry his nose nearly skewed. "How many times have I said that we need 150mm heavy artillery to deal with this mobile fortress!"

His staff officer, Colonel Nakagawa, replied aggrievedly: "The Rasian air raids are fierce. We once sent two over, but they were both bombed by aircraft on the way."

The Yamato 150mm heavy artillery is simply too heavy—with a total weight of 10.36 tons, it must be dismantled into a barrel carriage (7.5 tons) and a gun carriage (7.8 tons) for transport by Type 92 8-ton tractors. How could Prokofiev let such a large target pass by?

Even though they hid in supply depots during the day, Prokofiev still gifted them a full six RS-82 rockets, sending them to the sky.

Heavy artillery of this caliber was scarce throughout the entire Yamato Army, and after losing two, they dared not send any more to the front lines.

Lieutenant General Yoshikawa was speechless. After a long while, he spoke: "Continue the bombardment, cover the tank charge!"

What the Yamato called "chariots" were, in fact, tanks.

***

Soon, smoke and dust rose across the battlefield.

Steel tracks crushed the burning scorched earth, and the roar of mechanical parts shook the entire plain.

Following behind more than twenty medium and light tanks was a group of what the Yamato called "Giant God Soldiers."

When the tanks providing cover in the front continuously fired smoke grenades in an attempt to obscure the battlefield, these three-story-tall humanoid metal giants charged wildly toward the "Great Demon King" at the railway junction like demons in the smoke.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!" The heavy footsteps sounded like the tolling of a funeral bell.

Unfortunately, the noise they made was nothing more than the clamor of losers in the face of a true war giant.

In the engine room near the belly of the Titan Train Jazz, a group of hooded, neurotic "Techno-Priests" began to pray.

Before becoming Techno-Priests, they were all scientific talents of various fields. For some reason, they had replaced one of their limbs with a mechanical arm, tying tiny rods to their own tendons to drive the mechanical hands or feet.

This must have been agonizing.

They did not care!

At this moment, their prayers resounded throughout the train.

"In the name of Watt, God of Steam, we declare the birth of Titan's power!"

"In the name of Perun, God of Lightning, we announce the existence of the power of control!"

"In the name of Svarog, God of Fire, we grant death to the enemy—"

The next second, all the gun ports on the southern side of the Titan Train Jazz opened wide.

This scene was strikingly similar to the broadside battery of a sailing ship from the Age of Discovery.

The fire of death and destruction poured out, back toward the charging Yamato army.

Even more miraculously, from the reverse slope of the hill behind the Titan Train Jazz, the thunder of cannons erupted, and a deluge of shells poured down almost in perfect synchronization.