Chapter 147, Do you know how expensive orbital strikes are?
"Greenskins are born for war. As long as the war continues, the greenskin spores of the same tribe will develop faster and more greenskin aliens will be generated. It's not even just a matter of quantity. Their technology will also grow rapidly in the process."
Martins carefully supplemented Gu Hang's knowledge about the "Cancer of the Universe".
"Fortunately, you didn't lose. If they had won a key battle, their growth would have been even faster. In fact, those guys in Junk Town had already given the greenskins a victory, which was equivalent to stepping on the accelerator for the development of their clan."
"Fortunately, this greenskin clan has not developed for long enough, and the starting point of its development is in the ruins of a city. It is said that waste energy storms often blow here... If it were in a warm forest area with more fertile land, perhaps we would be facing a tide of millions of greenskins."
"Facing this kind of enemy, it is not a wise choice to continue to fight a war of attrition. It takes twenty years for a human soldier to become a qualified warrior from birth; those greenskins can fight as soon as they grow out of the ground."
"If we don't solve the problem quickly, what we'll face next might not be 20,000 green-skinned orcs, but twice as many green-skinned orcs, and ten times as many low-level green-skinned creatures like fart elves. Their technology will even improve. Artillery may become more powerful and shoot farther, and armored trucks will become larger and more ferocious. It wouldn't be surprising if some monsters appeared again. Sometimes, among the green-skinned race, there will be creatures that can fight a Space Marine to a draw with just physical strength."
…
After listening to Martins's account of the greenskins, Gu Hang's face had completely darkened.
Some of the previous plans had to be overturned.
As Martins said, the best way to deal with this kind of enemy is to push him down in one wave, don't fight a war of attrition, and don't expect to reduce the number of enemies. Even if you can't push him down in one wave, you have to suppress his number to a very low level.
Otherwise, there will be endless troubles afterwards.
"I understand what you mean. Thank you for the intelligence." After thanking Martins, Gu Hang made a request, "I will contact the Quintet right away. Brigadier General Ye Lixia will provide us with orbital strike support. Once the orbital strike firepower covers us, we will immediately launch the attack. Let's set the time for three days."
Martins nodded: "Three days, no problem."
"That's settled then. I'll still need your help when the time comes."
…
Three days is the time Gu Hang needs to distribute the equipment to those garrison divisions, consume the grace points, and train them to the T5 level.
This is necessary troop preparation.
At the same time, he also took advantage of this time to have an in-depth communication with Ye Licia in heaven.
When Ye Licia's holographic image appeared in front of him, he saw the blonde female captain elegantly cutting a piece of steak with a glass of red wine at hand.
The corner of Gu Hang's mouth twitched slightly.
These things were the supplies he sent to the Quintet.
The 'Quinte' has its own ability to produce synthetic starch, and also has military logistical supplies that were replenished before it set out to carry out its mission on Angry Owl Star. Even if no logistics are replenished during the two-year mission, it will not starve, but it just can't expect to eat well.
Others have helped a lot, so Gu Hang should also show some appreciation.
When he was very poor before, after he got some money from Ye Licia, Gu Hang would always remember to stock up the return transport spacecraft with some consumer goods and supplies. He would do so even more now.
Of course, the Quintet would not send out a spacecraft specifically to transport logistical supplies. Otherwise, if they only transported some food, that amount would not even cover the cost of one takeoff and landing of the transport spacecraft...
The last time the transport ship came, it was for serious business.
A team of combat sisters from the Holy Lily of Mercy came down from the spaceship. They were the reinforcements called in by Sister Grit. Twenty combat sisters arrived at the Wrathful Owl Star from the headquarters of the Sisterhood on Koroja 3.
Including the two who died earlier, there were a total of twenty-nine of them.
Grit is at odds with the original Angry Owl sect. Some time ago, they completed the investigation in Renaissance City and arrested some cultists who were hiding deeper.
Some time ago, all twenty-nine combat nuns had left Renaissance City and headed north, following the clues they had obtained.
Gu Hang wishes them good luck.
If they can solve the cult problem on Angry Owl Star by themselves, that would be the best thing. And if they need any help, Gu Hang will not be stingy.
To put it bluntly, they are helping themselves.
The spaceship that brought down the twenty combat nuns also brought back something that Brigadier General Ye Licia valued most: a letter of commendation.
The commendation letter was written by Gu Hang himself. The gist of the content was that he, on behalf of the Governor of Angry Owl Star, thanked Brigadier General Ye Licia for her outstanding contribution in confronting and eliminating the evil god believers and projections who did not obey the Emperor.
Of course, if this letter was only written by Gu Hang himself, it would not be of much use.
The planetary governor's commendation letter can indeed be used as a reference for military generals to gain merit after an operation. In other words, if Ye Lishia takes this commendation letter and reports it, the imperial military will recognize it.
But the degree of recognition is not certain.
For a powerful governor or even a forging general in some forging worlds, there is no doubt that a letter is enough to get him promoted; for someone like Gu Hang... not so good, the value of the letter is not enough.
But it would be different if this letter of commendation was accompanied by the signature and wax seal of a Space Marine Chapter Master and a Sister of a Sisterhood.
Gu Hang was not sure how valuable such a letter of commendation was, but at least when he saw Ye Lisia's smiling face at that time, he knew it should be good.
Of course, it was impossible to carry only one letter on the return trip of the transport ship. Although the letter of commendation was the most important, it was not good to leave the cabin empty, so some scarce logistical supplies were transported.
Try to please this rich lady in heaven a little.
That included some red wine, which was seized when the homes of the rich and powerful were raided in Fuxing City. It was said to be a finely brewed product from some place in the Qinggu region.
As for steak, it comes from the barbarian bull beast. After the truck production in Weixing City increased to nearly 200 vehicles per month, the demand for animal power also dropped significantly.
Not only have the wild cattle used by a large number of merchants in the caravans of Fuxing City lost their service value and returned to the livestock farms to breed beef cattle and dairy cows.
And this is how the steak that Ye Licia is eating now came from.
"Madam Commodore, you seem to be in a good mood."
"It's really good." Ye Lixia swallowed the beef slowly, took a sip of red wine, and commented: "However, the quality of your beef is not very good, the meat is too rough, and the taste of the red wine is also a bit inferior."
"You're still picking it up."
"Just a few words of emotion." The waiter took away the tableware, and Ye Lixia continued, "This is the most difficult period of my life. In fact, I still want to thank you for sending these supplies, otherwise the collections I brought would not last more than two years."
“…”
Gu Hang coughed twice, not wanting to talk to Ye Lixia about these corrupt lives anymore, and turned to business: "I hope to get support for an orbital strike."
"What specifications?" Ye Lixia was still slow.
“With all my strength.”
"What?" Ye Lisia was not calm now. "What kind of enemy are you going to encounter on the surface that requires me to launch a full-scale orbital strike?"
"Greenskin."
Gu Hang spoke concisely and to the point, while Ye Lixia frowned deeply.
"Are they still those greenskins? Has something particularly serious happened?"
Ye Lixia asked this because she had paid attention to the greenskin threat on the Wrathful Owl Star before. As the war progressed, relevant intelligence would be compiled and sent to the starship every once in a while.
She knew what was happening on the ground, and that was why she had doubts.
According to the latest situation she had seen, the fighting was quite stalemate, but it was far from a serious incident.
Gu Hang coughed lightly and said, "We can't keep fighting a war of attrition with those greenskins here. If we don't solve the problem thoroughly, after a while, another batch of these greenskins will grow up, and we will have to face a war on a larger scale and with a more difficult enemy. By then, we may not be able to win."
"I understand that, but... do you know how much it costs for the Quintet to fire once at full specifications?"
Gu Hang didn't expect Ye Lisia to ask this question.
He waited in silence for Ye Lixiya to continue speaking. Obviously, this was not really a question to him, but a sentence that asked and answered herself.
Ye Lixia continued: "The last time you asked me to help with the precision strike, it was the least powerful and cheapest strike method on the 'Quinte': the 'Scalpel' ship-borne missile. The price of such a missile is 300 tax coins, and a full-scale bombardment requires hundreds of 'Scalpel' missiles;"
"The next level up is the 'Hot Hammer' macro cannon. This is a small macro cannon. The price of one shell is four thousand tax coins. There are twenty shells in one round."
"The highest level is the 'Wrath of the Loyal Tsune' macro cannon. The price of one shell is 50,000 tax coins. I only have two on my ship."
"Do you know how expensive it is now?"
The more he listened, the uglier Gu Hang's expression became.
He knew it was expensive, but he didn't know it was this expensive.
The so-called "tax coin" is not a currency in the conventional sense. It is a tool used by the imperial tax department to measure the value of materials provided by the planet when collecting taxes on each planet. One tax coin is roughly equivalent to the minimum standard output value of the population of an ordinary world in one year.
A healthy adult is worth five tax coins; a well-trained soldier with a full set of individual equipment is worth ten tax coins.
In the registration records of the Empire, Angry Owl Star paid taxes at the lowest rate of 10 million tax coins for two years. Moreover, the preferential treatment given to Gu Hang meant that he only had to pay a quarter of the tax for the first time, which was 2.5 million tax coins.
According to Ye Licia, the total cost of this round of shelling was 210,000 tax coins.
If he fought fifty rounds, the money from the ammunition alone would be enough for Nuxiaoxing to pay the full amount of imperial tax; if he fought twelve rounds, it would be enough for Gu Hang to pay his first tax; if he fought four rounds, it would be enough to pay the lives of all the soldiers in the nine division-level units under Gu Hang.
He understood what Brigadier General Ye Lisia meant: You can launch the orbital strike, but after the attack, are the fewer soldiers you kill worth the money I pay for the artillery shells?
This is the "courage" of the top navy officers: they calculate the price of shells in terms of human lives.
One round of artillery fire is worth the lives of 20,000 well-trained soldiers. If you can fill the hole with 20,000 lives, don't ask the honorable navy master to bomb you.
But……
Gu Hang suddenly smiled, and he deeply understood one thing in his heart: the navy’s money is not my money, and the dead soldiers are really my soldiers!
So he said, "It still has to be blown up."
Ye Lixia shook her head helplessly: "I knew you would say that. If you insist, then I will help you."
Anyway, the navy’s money is not my money.
Of course, don't go too far.
So Ye Lixia added: "But... you have to do two things. First, determine the target. I've seen your original plan. I can't let the expensive artillery fire aimlessly attack the entire city ruins. That would be too costly. You need to give me an accurate target to improve the efficiency of the attack. This is for your own good. Facing a target of this level, a full-scale attack can only be carried out once at most. You must cherish this opportunity and strive to achieve the best results."
"Also, you need to give me a copy of the post-war statistics. Afterwards, the Military Affairs Department will review these things, and there needs to be an acceptable explanation for the results and costs. If the results are too outrageous, the Military Affairs Department will give you trouble, and you may be asked to pay for the related shells. There are precedents for this kind of thing. And I will also be responsible, so please don't make it difficult for me."
"I understand. Thank you, Ye Lishia."
This time when he thanked him, Gu Hang omitted the honorific title and seemed more intimate.
He knew that Ye Lixia still helped.
Otherwise, if Ye Licia really values herself, is unwilling to take too much responsibility, and insists on doing things according to the rules, this round of orbital strikes will not be approved. I'm afraid it will be just a small gesture and that's it.
Since she had helped, Gu Hang would not deliberately cheat her.
Isn’t it just about finding the target accurately?
Brothers from the Phoenix Regiment, please help us.
Isn't it a common practice for special forces and interstellar warriors to sneak behind enemy lines, mark important strategic targets, and facilitate orbital strikes?
(End of this chapter)
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