Chapter 170: Plateau Iron Cavalry (Part 2) — Electromagnetic Hegemony

Plateau position, 7:40 AM.

The cold wind whipped across the battlefield with the smell of gunpowder smoke, and more than two thousand White Elephant soldiers lined up in several rows, marching toward the temporary reception point under the surveillance of Dragon Country mechs.

The three hundred-plus corpses of the Foot-Basin Chicken assault team lay scattered on Height 3, along with the seventy lucky survivors.

They were all wounded, concentrated in the center of the open space, specifically guarded by three 'Iron Wolf-Assault Type' mechs.

Li Yang jumped out of the 'Bi'an-2' cockpit, stepping on the mech's palm to descend to the ground.

Several young pilots of the 'Dragon Rider' guard gathered around, still carrying the excitement of the first victory.

"Institute Li, battlefield cleanup complete," Team Leader Zhang Kai reported.

"Battle results: White Elephant 7th Mountain Brigade basically wiped out, captured over two thousand; 8th and 9th Mountain Brigades have also been split and surrounded by us."

"Foot-Basin Chicken 'Ghost Warrior' assault team completely annihilated, 330 killed, 70 captured, seized 120 complete exoskeletons."

"What about our casualties?"

"Zero," Zhang Kai paused.

"However, the leg armor of three 'Iron Wolves' was slightly damaged, but it doesn't affect combat."

"Mainly hit by those anti-mech missiles from the Foot-Basin Chicken, their individual weapons are indeed more advanced than the White Elephant's, after all, they are Eagle Country's dog son."

Li Yang nodded, just about to speak, when the mech's built-in communicator suddenly emitted a piercing alarm.

Command center, Chen Guang's voice cut into all mech channels simultaneously:

"Detected large-scale electromagnetic interference signal! Source bearing 270, distance twenty-five kilometers, intensity... military grade! They've deployed electronic warfare units!"

Almost simultaneously, the sensor screens of all mechs began to jump with static, external camera images distorted, and harsh electrical noise sounded in the communication channels.

"Interference type?" Li Yang jumped back into the cockpit, quickly switching to the backup communication link.

"Full-band suppression, focused on radar and laser communication bands." Chen Guang's voice was intermittent.

"Should be... Eagle Country's 'Thunder' electronic warfare system... the White Elephant doesn't have this technology..."

Twenty-five kilometers west of the plateau position, in a hidden valley.

Twelve electronic warfare vehicles painted in desert camouflage were deployed in a ring, the antenna arrays on the roofs rotating at high speed, radiating powerful electromagnetic interference to the surroundings.

Inside the command vehicle, three Eagle Country advisors and a group of White Elephant technicians stared at the screen.

"Interference intensity has reached the peak," an Eagle Country major stared at the instrument.

"Their sensors should be half-blind now. Colonel, you can launch a counterattack."

Beside him, White Elephant electronic warfare unit commander Colonel Sharma took a deep breath and picked up the communicator:

"All rocket artillery battalions, targets marked, prepare for volley!"

Fifteen kilometers away from the electronic warfare position, the White Elephant's last trump card, four long-range rocket artillery battalions.

Forty-eight launch vehicles raised their launch tubes, loaded with 'precision-guided rockets' urgently transferred from Eagle Country.

These rockets were equipped with electromagnetic interference-resistant seekers, theoretically capable of maintaining guidance accuracy in strong electromagnetic environments.

"Fire!"

Forty-eight rockets rose with exhaust flames, adjusting direction in the air, diving toward the marked position of the Dragon Country mech cluster.

Dragon Chant Command Center.

On the large screen, the red light spots representing the rockets were approaching the mech cluster position at high speed.

"Ballistic calculation complete," Chen Guang's fingers tapped rapidly on the virtual keyboard.

"'Torch Dragon' predicts a 92% hit probability if the mechs remain in their current position."

Feng Yan stared at the screen: "What about the mechs' active defense system?"

"Under strong electromagnetic interference, the laser close-in defense system's target locking is 0.3 seconds slower, and the interception success rate will drop below 70%," Chen Guang pulled up the data model.

"And there are too many rockets, forty-eight in one volley, there's a probability of leakage."

Wang Hao rubbed his hands in the side: "My turn to appear? EMP missiles! One shot over, electronic warfare vehicles all go mute!"

"No," Feng Yan shook his head. "EMP will affect our own mechs' electronic systems. Use the 'Wall of Silence'."

Chen Guang's eyes lit up: "Right... they use electronic interference, we use stronger interference to counter."

He quickly entered the command.

Plateau battlefield.

Li Yang was just about to order evasive maneuvers when he suddenly received a new instruction from the command center:

"All mechs, activate 'Wall of Silence' protocol. After three seconds, shut down all active sensors and switch to quantum encrypted communication mode."

"Quantum communication?" Zhang Kai asked in the channel, confused. "We're still in the testing phase..."

"Execute the order," Li Yang interrupted. "Three, two, one, activate!"

Thirty mechs simultaneously stopped all active signal emission; radar, laser ranging, and data link transmission were all shut down.

Instead, a small device on the head of each mech lit up with a faint blue light.

Quantum encrypted communication, not relying on electromagnetic waves, completely unaffected by traditional interference.

But the key was the next step.

On the back of the mechs, a honeycomb device unfolded, releasing hundreds of black cubes the size of palms.

These cubes automatically dispersed in the air, forming a three-dimensional network covering a radius of five kilometers.

"What is that?" A technician in the White Elephant electronic warfare vehicle stared at the abnormal signal on the screen.

"Don't know... looks like some kind of relay, but the signal characteristics are very strange..."

Before the words were finished.

The black cubes activated simultaneously.

All the instruments in the White Elephant electronic warfare vehicles jumped wildly in the same instant, then—black screen.

"What's going on?!"

"System overload! Interference source... interference source is the signal we emitted ourselves!"

"Impossible! Our system has adaptive anti-interference..."

The technician couldn't even finish speaking, because he saw with his own eyes that the signal strength of their own electronic warfare units on the screen was skyrocketing exponentially.

Not external interference, but the electromagnetic waves they emitted themselves were received, amplified, and modulated into some kind of resonant frequency by those black cubes, then reflected back!

Like shouting at a valley, and the echo being a hundred times louder than the original sound, deafening themselves.

"Turn it off! Turn off the transmitter!" The Eagle Country major roared.

But it was too late.

The main control computers of the twelve electronic warfare vehicles blue-screened simultaneously, hard drives smoked, and antenna arrays burned out due to overload, emitting rolling black smoke.

Even worse was the rocket artillery unit.

The guidance systems of the forty-eight rockets, in the instant they lost electronic warfare support, simultaneously received chaotic instructions from the ground.

That was the GPS signal and inertial navigation correction data forged by the 'Wall of Silence' system.

And so, a spectacular scene occurred.

The rockets that should have smashed into the mech cluster collectively turned in the air, drawing eerie arcs, and flew toward... the White Elephant's own position.

"No!!!" Colonel Sharma roared in despair in the communication channel.

But the rockets couldn't hear.

The first one hit the command post of the White Elephant 8th Mountain Brigade, and that well-camouflaged field tent turned into a fireball in the explosion.

The second, the third... the rockets fell like they had eyes onto the White Elephant's ammunition piles, fuel depots, and command nodes.

"Boom boom boom boom—!"

Continuous explosions shook the valley.

White Elephant soldiers watched in terror as their own rockets fell and smashed into them; many stood frozen in place until they were blown away by the shockwave.

Twenty-five kilometers away, at the electronic warfare position, the Eagle Country major sat slumped in his chair, muttering to himself:

"Quantum communication... signal reflection... how could they have this technology..."

He remembered a top-secret report from the CIA three months ago:

"Dragon Country may have made breakthrough progress in quantum information and electromagnetic confrontation." He had scoffed at it then, but now...

"Colonel, we..." a White Elephant officer asked, trembling.

"Surrender," the Eagle Country major said bitterly.

"This war can't be fought. All our electronic advantages, in front of them... are like toys."

Plateau battlefield, 8:10 AM.

The smoke of the explosion gradually dissipated.

The positions of the White Elephant 8th and 9th Mountain Brigades were a mess, all from being misfired by their own rockets.

Casualty statistics weren't out yet, but at least three thousand were killed and over five thousand injured.

More importantly, morale—had completely collapsed.

When Li Yang led the mech cluster to appear on the mountain ridge again, White Elephant soldiers laid down their weapons in formation and walked out of the position with their hands raised.

Even the officers no longer resisted, because resistance was meaningless.

What do you use to resist?

Guns? Can't penetrate mech armor. Artillery? Shells will be bounced off by shields. Missiles? Missiles will be controlled to turn around and hit themselves.

Electronic warfare? That's sending ammunition to others.

Complete despair.

"Battlefield control complete," Li Yang reported in the quantum encrypted channel.

"White Elephant's three mountain brigades, total annihilated about 16,000+, captured over 23,000. Seized 847 tanks, 630 artillery pieces, 12 electronic warfare vehicles, 48 rocket launch vehicles, and various other weapons."

"Most are intact, except for the part destroyed by their own rockets."

In the command center, Wang Hao whistled: "Good guy, this wave of delivery to the door, even saved the shipping fee! Brother Hao likes it!"

Chen Guang organized the data: "'Wall of Silence' system field performance exceeded expectations."

"Quantum communication link zero latency, signal reflection algorithm successfully induced enemy fire to self-destruct. Suggest promotion to all mech platforms."

Feng Yan looked at satellite images, magnifying the area west of the plateau:

"The White Elephant suffered such a big loss, their high-level officials might use strategic weapons, tactical ballistic missiles."

"Li Yang, you must complete battlefield cleanup and equipment seizure within three hours, then retreat to the second-line defensive position."

"Understood." Li Yang paused. "What about those prisoners? That's over 20,000 people, the logistics pressure is very high."

"Transfer to the rear prisoner-of-war camp. Note the screening, officers and Eagle Country advisors detained separately, soldiers managed centrally." Feng Yan thought for a moment.

"As for the Foot-Basin Chicken prisoners... detain separately, interrogate strictly. Their appearance here itself is major intelligence."

"Yes."

The communication ended.

Li Yang jumped out of the cockpit, looking at the prisoner line stretching for several kilometers below.

The plateau sun rose completely, sunlight shining on the mech shells, reflecting cold light.

Zhang Kai walked to his side and handed him a bottle of water: "Institute Li, did we... fight too easily this time?"

"Easy?" Li Yang took the water and looked at the corpses of the Foot-Basin Chicken soldiers on Height 3.

"You look at it as easy because our technology is two generations ahead of them."

"If we didn't have mechs, didn't have 'Wall of Silence', didn't have quantum communication, the ones lying there today would be us."

Zhang Kai was silent.

"Remember this ease," Li Yang took a sip of water.

"Then use this ease to protect more things."

In the distance, in the White Elephant prisoner line, a young soldier suddenly knelt down, facing the east, the direction of the Dragon Country.

He kowtowed, then continued walking forward.

The 'Dragon Rider' guard soldier escorting him was stunned for a moment, but didn't stop him.

Li Yang saw it, but didn't speak.

He knew that after this battle, some things would be different forever.

"Withdraw," he turned and walked toward the mech. "Next battle, in the South Sea." ===== CHAPTER 171 =====

"Withdraw." He turned and walked toward the mech, "The next round is in the SouthSea."