Homo Sapiens

On the morning of the third day after the Assam incident erupted.

A reorganized Tianzhu Army force finally arrived sluggishly near the western entrance of the Siliguri Corridor.

Thanks to satellite images provided by Lucia, combined with Tianzhu’s own satellites and scout reconnaissance,

The reorganized 36th Field Division and 21st Defense Division, after evacuating some of their wounded, regrouped and immediately advanced, closing to within 62 kilometers of the southern side of Siliguri City.

However, they did not act rashly. Instead, they began constructing defensive positions on the spot.

Ville Walmart, commander of the 36th Field Division, and Singer Takar, commander of the 21st Defense Division, were in a meeting inside a concealed, temporary underground bunker.

Singer Takar, a fair-skinned man with a large beard, stared at the scout report, his face livid. "Damn it! Those traitors! They actually set up a massive minefield over here."

Gazing at the terrain map on the sand table, Ville Walmart’s expression was equally grim.

The geography of the Siliguri Corridor was a real pain in the ass.

This was especially true for the western pass they now faced. Its northwestern side bordered Nepal, while its southwestern edge formed a jagged, interlocking border with Dongba.

Just last night,

Dongba, Nepal, and Hongsawaddy had issued international notices declaring their strict neutrality, earning praise from both America and a certain major eastern power.

This completely shut down any possibility of Tianzhu forces passing through their territories.

Furthermore, with Xiba making restless moves on the western border, Tianzhu didn’t dare risk provoking its other neighbors. All they wanted now was to quickly crush the rebellion in the Seven States of Assam and then have a period of recovery.

Ville Walmart made a decision. "We can use rocket artillery to blast a path through."

"But we don’t have enough ammunition," his aide reminded him. "A large portion of our munitions was destroyed earlier. We only have three basic loads of rockets left."

Singer Takar was getting cold feet. After all, their only forward airbases were two civilian airports that had been hastily converted for military use.

Their air power was a hodgepodge of 23 jets transferred from naval aviation—a mix of Mirage fighters, MiG-29s, and Su-30s. This was basically the best the Tianzhu Air Force could muster at the moment.

And according to Tianzhu’s own intelligence,

The entire Xilong Air Force had "defected," meaning the Assam side now possessed 150 fighter jets, overwhelming Tianzhu’s forces in sheer numbers.

As for planes from Lucia, even if they sent over their active-duty aircraft, they would first have to remove sensitive and classified equipment. The whole process would take at least a month.

That was clearly too little, too late.

So for now, the two battered divisions, short on ammunition, could only watch helplessly as the forces in Assam continuously built up fortifications in the Siliguri Corridor and evacuated the population.

Ville Walmart turned and asked, "When can we expect supplies and reinforcements?"

"The first shipment of ammunition will arrive in five days. As for reinforcements... it will be at least thirteen days," the aide replied, his face a mask of resignation.

"Ville, let’s just wait for reinforcements!" Singer Takar had no intention of dying; he was a noble Kshatriya, after all.

Seeing the dejected expressions on his fellow officers, Ville Walmart sighed inwardly. ’How can we fight a war with morale this low?’ He waved his hand dismissively.

"Delay the advance! But make sure our defensive positions are solid. We can’t let the rebels launch a sneak attack."

Hearing Ville Walmart’s order, the officers collectively relaxed.

If they had been forced to attack in this situation, they would have likely collapsed before the enemy did.

These officers were all scions of high-caste families. They had power, influence, and beautiful wives waiting for them at home; none of them had any intention of throwing their lives away. ’That’s a job for the Dalits,’ they thought.

...

Meanwhile, near Siliguri City.

Inside the Siliguri Underground Base, Mu Liusha, the manager responsible for the 22 bases in the Siliguri Corridor area, quickly received a transcript of the conversation from the enemy’s command post.

"Should we launch a decapitation strike?" asked Guli, commander of the Siliguri Special Warfare Division.

Mu Liusha shook his head. "Wait for their ammunition resupply to arrive, then we’ll take care of them. For now, we need to focus on evacuating non-essential personnel."

Zanba, head of the Internal Affairs Department, said with a smile, "Don’t worry. Using the rail and road networks, we’ve already moved one-tenth of the local non-essential personnel to the rear. We can also relocate some to the Darjeeling Region, Jomongxiong State, and Zuyu Country."

In fact, this "Operation Flash Flood" had not only succeeded in establishing a fully-authorized branch in the Seven States of Assam; while they were at it, they had also established several new fully-authorized regional branches in the Siliguri Corridor and Darjeeling Region of West Meng State, as well as in Jomongxiong State, north of the Darjeeling Region.

Moreover, Tianzhu had long controlled Zuyu, even establishing an overseas air base within its territory.

The Foreign Affairs Division’s infiltration of Zuyu was equally deep. Since they were already opening up the "market" in the Assam Region, they certainly weren’t going to pass up Zuyu.

Thus, during Operation Flash Flood, the Homo Sapiens Company had seized the opportunity to take over the Zuyu Region as well.

The Assam Region, Siliguri Area, Darjeeling Region, Jomongxiong Region, and Zuyu Region were all consolidated and placed under the operational jurisdiction of the Assam Branch.

Combined, these territories covered approximately 320,000 square kilometers with a total population of around 55 million—more than enough to justify a fully-authorized regional branch.

The primary area requiring the relocation of temporary employees was the Siliguri Corridor, which was home to roughly 8 million civilian temporary employees.

The complete militarization of the Siliguri Corridor meant that none of its 22 underground security bases could be used as relocation centers for these employees.

Based on their current size, the 22 underground security bases in the Siliguri Area could accommodate a maximum of 320,000 employees.

The vast majority of this 320,000-person capacity would necessarily be composed of security personnel and military-industrial support staff.

Mu Liusha flipped through a file. "How many employees have your security teams formally enlisted so far?"

Guli replied, "Six full divisions, nine special warfare regiments, and three aviation regiments, totaling approximately 100,000 personnel."

"And how many of those are deployed to the Siliguri Area?" Mu Liusha asked.

"Two full divisions, five special warfare regiments, and one aviation regiment, for a total of about 41,000 personnel."

Mu Liusha reviewed the data for the 22 bases within the operational area. Their employee count had already reached 230,000, all of whom were organized into a semi-militia.

With an additional 41,000 regular security personnel and a clear intelligence advantage, he didn’t believe for a second that he would fail to hold the Siliguri Corridor.

Mu Liusha continued, "We must strengthen our air defenses. Even if we aren’t afraid of being bombed, we can’t let those Ah San get complacent."

Guli nodded. "Hank’s security team is already on it. The magnetic field radar we’ve deployed in the Darjeeling Region has the advantage of high ground, allowing it to lock onto the vast majority of targets."

"I’m not worried about the radar. The question is interception. What about a large-scale, saturation rocket barrage?" Mu Liusha asked grimly.

Guli rubbed his chin. "There’s no good way to intercept a saturation strike. Even the major world powers struggle to defend against them. Our only real option is to use our intelligence to launch a preemptive strike."

Hearing this, Mu Liusha felt a sense of helplessness. ’No wonder headquarters ordered the Assam Branch to adopt a fully subterranean model.’ It seemed this was because of the difficulty in countering saturation strikes.

However, the Homo Sapiens Company was no pushover.

Among all the territories controlled by the company, the only one that didn’t require complete conversion to underground facilities was the special territory of Zuyu. After all, it wasn’t part of Tianzhu—at least, not officially.

Therefore, even if Tianzhu wanted to launch bombing raids, they couldn’t target Zuyu.

This would allow the Homo Sapiens Company to use its branch in Zuyu to build a special logistics base.