The Imperial army on the Central Route was exceptionally strong. The forces alone targeting the Clear region numbered nearly 1.9 million. Countless soldiers were scattered across the battlefield, launching wave after wave of assaults. Steel clusters led large groups of warriors in a continuous onslaught against the Zerg defense lines. Their anti-aircraft fire was far stronger than that on the West Line, presenting a significant challenge to the scourges and mutalisks attacking from the sky.
On this battlefield stretching nearly a thousand kilometers, relying solely on the current number of bugs was clearly insufficient.
As the frontline units faced the fierce offensive of the central enemy, the advantages of the massive number of unicycles finally came to the fore.
With 400,000 rockets launched daily, Dawn Empire soldiers everywhere felt the constant tremor of nearby explosions.
In truth, when spread out, the frequency of explosions wasn't that high.
However, the Zerg would occasionally concentrate hundreds or thousands of rounds to launch a focused bombardment on a specific area.
For battalion-level units of a few thousand men, suddenly being hit by thousands of rockets was an experience far from pleasant.
Compared to World War II on Earth, the reliability of long-range weapons for both the Zerg and the Dawn Empire was much higher.
The precision was significantly better; the dispersion range of rockets even dozens of kilometers away could be controlled within 200 meters. This made area-saturation fire highly effective.
After advancing some distance, the Dawn Empire's army finally encountered the main force of the Swarm.
Over 8,000 unicycles had merged with the remaining launchers previously facing these Imperial forces.
It was still a bit low, but much better than at the start.
Although this wave of Zerg lacked enough long-range delivery platforms, they maintained high-frequency firepower coverage 24 hours a day through a massive supply of ammunition.
To increase output, Xia Jin added another 200,000 to the original frequency of 400,000 rocket bugs.
Combined with large-caliber artillery firing 300,000 shell bugs a day, the weight of the ammunition consumed by the Zerg reached over 30,000 tons daily.
It is worth noting that this was purely shells; the Zerg did not consume things like bullets.
Even with such artillery density, it wasn't considered much compared to the Empire.
Even at one unit of standard energy per rocket bug, millions of units were consumed daily, making Xia Jin deeply feel the "money-burning" nature of war.
Of course, standard energy was not difficult for the Zerg to obtain now, and Brain Bug No. 1 was already researching ways to reduce the cost of rocket bugs and shell bugs.
In about two days, the cost of these consumable bugs used as ammunition would be cut in half.
As a result, the number of newly produced shells would skyrocket, allowing them to be equipped on new unicycles and sent to the front along with more conscripts.
Considering that the rocket launch tubes were prone to overheating due to high frequency, the new batch of vehicles included a liquid cooling system and better cooling arrays. This would increase the rocket delivery volume of each launcher by twenty percent.
In short, the Swarm's rear was operating at full capacity. People across the city states and the occupied Clear region were working desperately to contribute to the war effort.
To stimulate the fighting spirit of these millions, Xia Jin even released the battle situation via a real-time map.
Anyone sitting at home could witness the shifts in the front line with their own eyes.
As they watched the Dawn Empire slowly reclaim Gexilu and push toward their own borders, they became filled with anxiety.
Because the Zerg had portrayed the Empire as utterly evil, and because the people's intelligence was decent, many felt a sense of belonging. They worked hard to manufacture weapons to prevent their territory from being occupied.
Many civilians set up weapon production workshops in their homes, helping to produce unicycles and other equipment.
Even children joined in, and academies arranged specialized weapon manufacturing courses, involving everyone in war support activities every day.
The energy generated by this total mobilization of the Zerg's subjects was undoubtedly staggering.
The production speed of weapons grew faster and faster, and some mages did everything they could to help strengthen the industry.
Because the actual ruler of Clear was the former Princess, and because these commoners never dreamed they would one day stand against the Empire, everyone felt a genuine sense of loyalty to the current power.
Even Xia Jin was somewhat puzzled by the high loyalty of these ordinary civilians.
Of course, the desire to protect their homes and country was the most important factor.
Xia Jin's invasion of the Kingdom of Clear was seen as an internal conflict.
But the Empire bringing a massive army was an invasion.
From the perspective of the common people, internal fighting wouldn't shake the nation's foundations, but if conquered by the Empire, everyone would be enslaved by a great power.
Despite both sides exerting their full national strength, the Dawn Empire continued to advance slowly over the following week.
The Zerg provided about 200,000 bugs to the front line daily on average, which was clearly not enough.
However... her bug production was steadily increasing. One day, she even reduced the production of combat bugs to hatch a large number of queens, sending them to various locations to drop creep tumors.
While the Swarm's scale couldn't keep up in the short term (a day or two), after waiting a while, the benefits from the creep would outweigh the combat bugs sacrificed.
Sure enough...
As Xia Jin quietly watched the battlefield, she saw the Swarm transition from clearly losing momentum and being on the verge of being overrun to now having gradually increasing resources, allowing more and more rocket bugs to be deployed.
Unknowingly, the number of new bugs produced daily approached a staggering 300,000.
While maintaining consumption on the front line, another 500,000 fresh troops had gathered in the rear.
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