Chapter 415: Warp Point Naval Battle
No matter how much the alliance needs to gather its forces and how much it needs to prepare in advance, it cannot be delayed too long.
It has been too long. If the Hippogriff sector is rotten, the Alliance will have to fight those greenskins on their own land.
It would be better to fight on Steel Wing Star.
The departure date was set forty-five standard Terra days after Gu Hang promised Ye Lisia that he would participate in the war.
At this time, Lieutenant General Tillemans and General Yuan Chengchuan were both sweating profusely.
Needless to say, the former is the commander-in-chief of the Joint Defense Force of the Eagle Horse Star Sector and has just been awarded the rank of sector general.
This rank of general is an honorary title, or in other words, the admiral of the planetary defense force, which is different from the admiral of the star army. Although the military rank within the planet is also recognized by the empire, its rank is only valid within the planetary defense force. No one outside the planet recognizes it.
Yuan Chengchuan was originally just the military commander of the Star Region Capital, Hippogriff II. However, at this special moment, in order to unify the military forces of the Star Region and resist the invasion of the Greenskin Orcs, the leader of the Hippogriff Star Region, Ren Wanxia, created the title of "Star Region Admiral" and had all the planets in the entire Star Region grant him the rank of Admiral to facilitate the unification of the defense forces of the entire Star Region.
At the moment, on Steel Wing Star, Tillemans is the commander of the naval forces, and the entire war zone is roughly headed by him; Yuan Chengchuan is his assistant, and is mainly responsible for the overall command of the ground forces composed of the planetary defense force.
The two of them are under a lot of pressure now, especially because of the news coming from the Jinguan Star Region, which comes one after another. There is no good news, but only a lot of bad news, as well as a lot of messages asking for help.
But how to help?
There is no help at all.
At present, the entire Jinguan Star Region is caught in the flames of war. Needless to say, the space region, after the Yunluo Fleet fled to the Jugu Star Region, the Pegasus Fleet retreated to the Eagle Horse, and the Northern Fleet's fate was uncertain, the Jinguan Star Region was essentially abandoned.
Of course, losing the space part does not mean the war is over. The Orc fleet has indeed deployed a large number of troops to carry out ground invasions on the thirteen worlds in the Jinguan Star Region, but there are also planetary defense forces on these planets to resist.
Moreover, since the Jinguan star region has been in the front line of combat with the green-skinned orcs for the past few decades, the economic development situation is certainly not very good due to the war. However, the star region government has been persistent in migrating population, dispatching troops, and conscripting soldiers here. Therefore, the combat effectiveness of the planetary defense forces of various worlds in the Jinguan star region is stronger than that of ordinary places.
It is not easy for the green orcs to conquer every world so quickly.
Even the chances of winning may not be that great.
The number of Irontooth Orc tribes was indeed terrifying, but to fight in thirteen worlds at the same time, the number of troops required was also astronomical. Even if they were distributed to each planet, there might not be enough troops.
Moreover, there might still be human resistance on the surface of the four planets in the Yinguan Star Region. After all, on those four planets, there are four army groups of the Dragon Eagle Legion, the First, Second, Sixth, and Eighth, with a total force of over 200 million. These are all serious star army, and it is not so easy to wipe them out.
Of course, in ground combat, orbital control is critical. If one side completely loses control of the orbit, the threat from overhead is extremely terrifying. The attack of naval guns on the ground is completely uncounterable, powerful, and relatively accurate.
However, it is not completely without means to deal with it.
A large number of excavated fortifications, especially underground fortifications, can effectively prevent heavy artillery bombardment.
If people hide and are hit directly by naval guns, then needless to say, they will be doomed even if they hide at a depth of 20 meters underground; but as long as they are not at the center of the explosion, the fortifications and air-raid shelters will be of great help, and if they are at the edge of the explosion, they will normally be dead on flat ground, but here they may be unharmed.
In addition, the troops should be deployed separately, and the defense positions should not be too dense...
This can effectively reduce the damage caused by orbital bombing.
However, if we adopt such a combat posture, we can basically forget about launching an active attack.
To attack, you need to gather your forces; once you gather your forces, you will be easily discovered; once you are discovered, you will be hit by a cannon from the sky and you will be finished.
But if it's just defense, the pressure will be much less.
Of course, under the cover of orbital firepower, the enemy's offensive can often be considered invincible, but the defending side may be able to drag out the time by gritting their teeth and holding on.
Although defeat may be inevitable in the end, it is common for the battle to drag on for several months, a year or two, or even five or six years.
The most important thing is that this is not a civil war among humans. When fighting against a hostile race like the green-skinned orcs, no matter how low the morale of the soldiers is or how desperate they are, they may flee or avoid fighting, but they will never surrender.
The orcs also didn't accept surrender, they just wanted to fight, kill, kill. Surrendering was also death, the only difference was being massacred or being enslaved and then tortured within a month, it was better to fight for your life, and when you really have to die, bite the other side.
Moreover, the most surprising thing was that the green-skinned orcs hardly used orbital firepower when they were conducting ground attacks. The messages seeking help from all directions mentioned this point. Although the green-skinned orcs came in large numbers and attacked fiercely, catching them off guard and causing heavy losses, they were indeed rarely subjected to orbital bombardment.
Even on the planets in the Jinguan star zone, most of the orbital defense firepower is still intact, and some of the star ports have not been lost.
Why is this?
It is obviously unlikely that the green-skinned orcs would show mercy.
The green-skinned orcs don't know what it means to show mercy.
Where did the huge orc fleet go?
The answer is obvious. Either the Northern Fleet was not completely destroyed. Although they have lost contact, they may still be somewhere, tying up a number of Orc ships. At the same time, another part of the main force of the Orc fleet should be chasing the Yunluo fleet towards the heart of the Dragon Eagle Star Region.
Of course, it is also possible that a considerable number of fleets are heading towards the Eagle Horse sector.
Under such circumstances, can they hold out on Steel Wing Star for forty-five days?
Moreover, the 45 days that Gu Hang mentioned was only the time it took for the main force of the alliance to set out. Even if they set out from the nearest Fachers galaxy, they would have to go through five interstellar tunnel jumps to reach Steel Wing Star, which would take at least half a month.
If we really want to wait for the main force of the alliance to arrive, it might be sixty days later.
However, after a personal communication with Gu Hang, Gu Hang's quite calm attitude made him accept the reality: this is indeed the most critical time for the alliance to gather all its forces, issue a mobilization order, and then set off.
We can't let the alliance come immediately, as that would cause problems in deploying the ships. The army can't just send 100 million people, a series of heavy equipment and even countless artillery shells, bullets, and food supplies with greater load capacity are also needed.
After all, the troops were sent here to fight, not to die.
And Gu Hang is quite sincere.
The first advance fleet has set off.
This fleet is composed of 20 transport ships and a part of the armed merchant ship escort team. They mainly transport various weapons and equipment, artillery shells, food and the like. They can strengthen the reserves of Steel Wing Star through materials, and also make some preparations for the arrival of the subsequent main force.
On these ships, the most important things for the Tianma fleet are the skilled workers who come with the ships and some important ship accessories.
These are all urgently needed by the Pegasus Fleet.
After all, they had been through six years of war. Although they had carried out simple maintenance work in the Jinguan Star Region in the meantime, damage to the ships and some parts were all inevitable after such a long period of fighting.
A group of professional technicians have arrived and can replace some severely worn parts, and the condition of the entire fleet will be significantly improved.
Looking at the technicians, Tillemans even saw some familiar faces.
They were all old technicians from the Feiyixing Shipyard. This made him realize that Gu Hang was indeed sincere, well-planned, and rational in doing the right thing.
But even so, he couldn't suppress his worry.
According to intelligence detection, his previous guess was basically true: the greenskin fleet did not cover their ground forces to attack, but continued to gather strength and continuously spread the flames of war to various parts of the Dragon Eagle star field.
A greenskin fleet has arrived at the Temir galaxy in the Jinguan star region.
There were three imperial planets in this star system. The greenskin fleet launched a wave of indiscriminate bombardment on all three worlds, knocking out some orbital defense system organizations, and releasing a group of greenskin legions before leaving.
Their next target is the Eagle Horse Star Region.
The star tunnel of the Temir galaxy is directly connected to the Steel Wing Star.
This means that the opponent that Tillemans has been waiting for has finally arrived.
When he learned that a greenskin fleet was shuttling into the Steel Wing Star from the Temir Galaxy in the Golden Pass Star Zone, he activated the strategy he had previously conceived. The main force of the Pegasus Fleet rushed to the galaxy's jump point and began to wait for the enemy.
The two sides had an expected collision at the jump point.
The Pegasus fleet was going to intercept here on purpose, and the greenskins could actually have anticipated this. Although these creatures are reckless, belligerent, and impulsive, and look stupid and only know how to work hard, they are actually quite intelligent in combat, and are quite cunning and cruel enemies.
It is very difficult to ambush them easily.
That's why it was an expected battle, short and intense.
Tillemans is experienced. Before the green-skinned garbage ships appeared, he had already roughly predicted at what minute and second they would appear and at what location. He had been accumulating firepower in advance, waiting for the moment when the green-skinned garbage ships appeared to launch the most intense round of artillery fire into the opponent's face.
There were a lot of greenskin ships in the first wave of jumps. They had already anticipated that human ships would intercept them here. The moment they came out, they had already put up a dark green energy shield and were ready to open fire.
However, the human heavy artillery still gave these greenskins who were rushing all the way a wake-up call.
A large number of green-skinned ships suffered devastating blows under concentrated fire because their energy shields could not be fully powered up in time.
Immediately afterwards, the two sides bombarded each other. Because the greenskin fleet had just completed the jump, even though its firepower was prepared at the fastest speed, its strength to fight back was still slightly insufficient.
The key is that the speed of the ships still maintained the level before the jump. There was a speed difference between the two sides, which was also grasped by Tillemans. The greenskin fleet rushed out as soon as it appeared, but the Pegasus fleet passed by at an oblique angle and circled around the greenskin fleet, which made a lot of greenskin firepower miss, and the human fleet took some advantage.
After more than a dozen rounds of bombardment, at least fifteen green ships of various levels were blown into space junk. In contrast, the human fleet was basically unscathed, with only one frigate lost.
This is undoubtedly a victory.
Then, the human fleet withdrew immediately.
Before the war, Tillemans had some fantasies: if this wave of greenskin fleets was small in number, weak in strength, and poorly managed, and the human side could achieve a big enough result at the beginning, they might be able to try to completely annihilate the invading enemy here.
If a decisive battle could be fought, even if the Irontooth Clan still had many ships left, it would at least be able to greatly reduce the pressure and significantly delay the arrival of the greenskin wave.
But unfortunately, fantasy is just fantasy after all.
The number of green-skinned ships emerging from the jump point increased, and soon exceeded three hundred, and it was obvious that there would be more to come.
Although the quality of each ship in the Pegasus fleet is much better than the green-skinned garbage ships, there are barely a hundred of them.
There is still a gap in strength between the two sides.
If they really fight, they may be able to achieve good results in the early stages of the battle by taking advantage of the first move, but they obviously cannot quickly annihilate the enemy. As time goes on and the green ships have adjusted, the advantage will gradually disappear, and the two sides will have to compete with each other in terms of hard power.
By then, the Pegasus Fleet's chance of winning would probably be only 30% at most.
Although what we have before us is definitely the main greenskin fleet, if we can defeat it, it will definitely be a major victory.
But to bet the entire Pegasus fleet on a 30% chance of winning...
Forget it.
Tillemans was less reckless.
After taking advantage of fifteen ships, they quickly ran away and retreated to Steel Wing Star.
There is a complete rail system there, and a large number of anti-rail guns are equipped on the ground. It is a more suitable place for a decisive battle.
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Today I went back to my hometown for Chinese New Year and it was already very late when I got home...
I will try to update more tomorrow!
I owe so much, if I don't start paying it back soon, I might have to pay it back until June...
(End of this chapter)
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