Countless ammunition was poured into the dwarf defenders' positions. The 11th Dwarf Army, which was originally breaking out of the encirclement, had no mobility at all. They were fixed in place, and were then covered by the powerful firepower of the Tang army.
Thousands of dwarf soldiers chose to surrender. They had indeed fought to the last moment. At this moment, they had completely run out of ammunition and food.
After retreating all the way here, the ammunition they carried was already running low, and now they were trapped in a tight siege. Soon they ran out of ammunition, and then found helplessly that they were still surrounded.
Hundreds of thousands of troops have no way to return to Ironforge. They can only wait awkwardly in the position where they have just exited the central mountainous area, waiting for the fate of destruction to befall them.
Binghan I's order was for them to fight until the last moment, and now they did fight until the last moment: the weapons and equipment they discarded along the way were paved along the road, and the bodies of their dead comrades were buried in the ice and snow.
No one cares about it.
Now these soldiers lack medical care and medicine, and even have very few things to keep out the cold. They have no weapons, no ammunition, and no air support...
Those dwarf soldiers who had beriberi but couldn't even take off their shoes could either huddle in the snow and wait for death, or they could only walk towards the Tang army's position with their hands raised high.
After persisting for more than ten days, the 12th Army of the Ice Empire could no longer hold on. Within one day, about 20,000 people surrendered to the Tang Army and handed over their weapons.
Subsequently, a large number of surrenders occurred on the front line of the 11th Group Army: about thousands of people laid down their weapons and became prisoners of war of the Tang army together with the supervising team who guarded them.
The battle has reached its current state, and it is obvious that the dwarves can no longer sustain it: even the Military Police Supervisory Team that supervises the troops' operations has seen a large number of surrenders, and it is an impossible task to expect the troops to continue to attack.
The next day, when the Tang army compressed the encirclement, more dwarf troops chose to surrender. They gave up their defense lines and raised their hands to welcome the arrival of the Tang army.
The entire encirclement was in chaos, with soldiers who still had a little will to resist running around. Soldiers who had decided to surrender gathered together like refugees.
From a strategic point of view, the destruction of this force directly caused two serious consequences: the first consequence was that the plan to expect the 11th and 12th Group Armies to come to fill the holes in the direction of Ironforge was completely bankrupt; the second consequence was that
Xie Ke's idea of holding back the Tang Army's northern army was also completely out of the question.
As a result, Ironforge's defense was greatly weakened, and Xie Ke's situation became ten and a hundred times more difficult... In short, the dwarves were in complete chaos from a God's perspective.
But they themselves did not know this fact: due to the existence of strong electromagnetic interference, the dwarf senior officials did not know the news of the collapse of the 11th and 12th Group Armies at all.
In the direction of Ironforge, the remaining prime ministers, Chief of General Staff Larbu and Marshal Balov were still hoping that the 11th and 12th Army could break through and retreat to Ironforge to strengthen their defenses.
They still naively thought that as long as these two troops arrived, they would have hope to continue holding on for another month to two months.
Due to the withdrawal of the Eastern Front Army, the Western Front Army commanded by Marshal Balov was in a very difficult situation at this time. They used half of their original strength to defend the entire Ironforge. Every block and every building were constantly fighting for it.
They paid a heavy price.
The Tang army gave up the occupied ruins in order to reduce casualties, but the dwarves' retaking the lost positions really cost the lives of a large number of soldiers... Comparing the two, the situation on the dwarves' side was quite bad.
Countless soldiers were killed and countless soldiers were injured. The originally well-organized 3rd and 13th Army Groups were now reduced to remnants and defeated generals. The situation of the supplemented Second Line Army was even more miserable.
The reinforcements from Dorn have been withdrawn, and now the remaining troops in the city are dwarves. The sharply reduced defenders have to give up many blocks to shorten their defense line.
But they still have hope, because they feel that the 11th and 12th armies can break through and return to Ironforge. As long as they hold on until that day, they can stabilize their position.
The situation on the other side seemed to be even worse. Of course, Xieko could not have known that the 11th and 12th Group Armies had collapsed. He was not even aware of the fact that his own Eastern Front had collapsed.
Viewed from the sky, the torrent of the Tang army was already approaching Dalkas, and even because the center was advancing so fast, the role of the two wings could not be seen.
The Tang army, which was advancing hand in hand, was not in a state of encircling the Eastern Front Army at this moment. They just crushed it and left countless prisoners behind them.
Countless problems have been thrown to the civil affairs officials who were originally planning to sue General Strauss. The question they now have to consider is: what to do with these damn dwarf prisoners.
From the perspective of their civil affairs officials, these dwarf soldiers from the Eastern Front can be said to be full of evil: they have a very bad reputation among civilians and owe a lot of blood debts. Many of them should be tried and then executed fairly.
People are angry.
This process will gain the support of local civilians and establish the prestige of the civil affairs officials of the Tang Empire among the local people. The local public security will improve immediately, the people will settle down, and be willing to support the various work arrangements of the Tang State.
But there are too many people... The number of prisoners on the Eastern Front is almost 210,000, and this number continues to increase.
If Dalkas is captured, this number may exceed 300,000. After all, Ice Cold I helped Xie Ke find many reinforcements, and many reinforcements are even preparing to go to Ironforge.
It is definitely not an easy task to screen so many people to see if they have committed crimes. The workload is simply too great, and it is simply impossible for a small number of civil affairs officials to complete the work.
Of course, these troubles are the sequelae of the great victory, so the Tang army commanders and civil affairs officials are also feeling pain and happiness. But the dwarf commanders opposite them are different. Now their hearts are just like this.
The weather is equally cold at the moment.
Because more and more dwarf commanders discovered that the Tang army had unknowingly rolled over them and rushed to the next target. And they... had become prisoners inexplicably.
