Chapter 678: Sacrifice is the cornerstone of the empire
Does Xi Rui have to be the one to carry out this task?
Actually, not necessarily.
The Alliance also has outstanding generals to choose from. Whether it is the two warbands or Alliance generals like Yan Fangxu and Perbov, they can all play this role.
Just as Gu Hang already had various plans to deal with the remnants of the Northern Front Army, even if Xi Rui and Qin Zhiping were two people with confused minds, it would not hinder Gu Hang's overall plan.
However, if the remnants on the northern front are completely ignored, then Gu Hang will have to leave behind not only the generals, but also a group of troops for a feint attack.
The remaining troops cannot be weak, otherwise the feint attack will fail and instead appear cowardly, or even be pushed back by the Zerg in one wave, which would be a loss.
However, if the troops left behind are too many and too strong, the probability of completing the feint attack mission will greatly increase. However, the military force needed to annihilate that huge reinforcement force is also not small. Gu Hang will bear greater pressure and the tolerance rate of the entire operation will be lower.
There is no choice, so there is naturally nothing we can do.
But isn’t this a choice?
Gu Hang believes that Xi Rui and Qin Zhiping have demonstrated qualities that make him feel at ease to a certain extent.
Gu Hang's original worst plan was that the remnants of the troops on the northern front would riot, which he would suppress. He would then split up the remnants of the northern front legion, leaving some of the troops behind and taking some away with him, splitting them up as much as possible and having the alliance take over.
But if that happened, not only would their side lose a lot of combat effectiveness in the internal strife and suppression, but the northern army would also be basically useless after being split up, with low morale and resentment.
The situation must have been much worse than it is now.
Objectively speaking, Xi Rui and Qin Zhiping's sensible behavior helped him solve a big problem.
As for commanding the remnants of the Northern Front to carry out this cruel mission that is bound to involve heavy casualties, Xi Rui and Qin Zhiping, two former high-ranking officials of the Northern Front Corps, are the best choices.
By mobilizing the combat capabilities of the remnants of the northern army as much as possible, the number of troops that Gu Hang has to leave behind to launch a feint attack can be greatly reduced, making the action of attacking the Zerg reinforcements in the north more certain.
As for the issues that Xi Rui was worried about, Gu Hang naturally also considered them.
As for how many people would die... He thought about this question but did not answer it.
That's what war is.
Sacrifice forged the Empire of Man.
Moreover, Gu Hang also didn't think that Xi Rui would not be able to figure out these things.
He may be hesitant at first, but he will eventually figure it out.
The other question is worth a few more words.
"Just do your best. I believe that the Black Crusade and the Anti-foreign Order are the backbone of our forces. In addition, I will leave some troops, especially a considerable number of land forces, under your command to cooperate with your actions."
"Don't worry about casualties, or what will happen if you can't maintain the offensive, or if you maintain the offensive but are still discovered. As long as you try your best, I believe that your offensive will bring great pressure to the Zerg."
"Even if they eventually discover your presence, the Zerg cannot ignore the pressure you bring. It's nothing more than changing from a feint to a full-force attack, from attracting you to containing you."
"It is impossible for the Zerg to support their southward troops in the first place, so your mission will be considered a success."
At this point, Gu Hang's tone became more serious: "Marshal Xi Rui, I believe you can see that this is a very important task. It is indeed a bit difficult, but it is by no means an impossible, suicidal task. For this operation, my requirement is that the goal must be completed. This is a battle that is a decisive factor in the entire war. It is a death order. Do you understand what I mean?"
Xi Rui felt a chill in his heart.
Of course he knew the seriousness of the situation, nodded seriously, and assured Gu Hang:
"In the name of the Black Crusaders, I will be able to complete the mission!"
…
"Attack, attack! In the name of the Black Crusaders, attack!"
Xi Rui was shouting loudly on the radio, not as calm as usual.
This was eighteen days after his conversation with Gu Hang.
After that conversation, the Union forces moved very quickly and very efficiently.
The troops that should be left behind for Xi Rui were quickly arranged.
Not many naval forces were left behind. After all, the battle against the Zerg reinforcements in the north was mainly a naval battle. The main fleet of the alliance must be taken away. It was good enough to leave behind the remaining warships of the remnants of the northern line and the flagship of the Black Crusaders' Fourth Fleet, the Cross Black Star.
In this situation, it is unwise to use the naval fleet to engage in naval battles with the Zerg fleet between the stars.
It’s not that the Zerg fleet here is very strong, but at least it is much larger than the fleet in Marshal Xi Rui’s hands after the main fleet of the Alliance left.
To put it bluntly, he only had the remaining ships of the remnant troops on the northern front. It would be a dream to rely on these ships to launch a sharp attack that could attract the attention of the Zerg.
If we really fight like that, it's called seeking death, not attacking.
But on the contrary, Xi Rui has enough army at his disposal.
The remaining troops on the northern front numbered 20 to 30 million. Excluding the sailors who were unable to fight, the remaining army units, added together, numbered 10 million.
The Allied Army was left with six army groups, which were not fully staffed, but had a size of over 100 million.
At the same time, Fury and New World Torch each had 200 Space Marines left behind. Add to that 300 from the Black Crusaders and 100 from the Silver Watch... and there would be 800 Space Marines alone.
In addition, there is a small Titan legion recruited from the Aramita Forge World and more than two thousand Holy Lily Battle Sisters.
In general, he has a lot of troops and elite forces.
Fighting a land battle can really put some pressure on the Zerg.
There is no naval battle to play, but there is land battle to play, so the only way to play it is this: choose a planet that is very important to the Void Zerg, then go through the most difficult deployment process, and then use the only and insufficient fleet to provide orbital cover.
Gu Hang agreed to his plan, and at the beginning of the plan, before the main fleet left, he provided some help to Xi Rui. The alliance's giant ships attacked, temporarily driving away the Zerg's biological ships, and helped Xi Rui's men complete the most difficult stage of troop deployment.
A large number of troops finally entered Shan Taoxing safely.
Dantao was the target battlefield they chose.
The reason why this place was chosen is that this planet was originally a populous land in the Queen Star Region, a hive world with a population of 90 billion. And now, this place has become a very huge digestion site for the Zerg.
There were still many people in Dantao who were still alive as infected people. They had no ability or consciousness to resist, but even so, they had not yet been completely digested.
Not to mention being transported away.
In fact, there was no need for that. The Queen of Zerg seemed to use it as a hatchery as well. A large number of Zerg swarms were simply born here, and then sent directly to the front battlefield to replenish the losses nearby.
The Zerg is absolutely unwilling to lose this place.
Before, the Alliance tried to drop an extermination weapon here, but failed. Although the Zerg ships were driven away and a clear area was theoretically cleared, when the Burning Sky torpedo hit, countless flying demon insects swarmed into the stratosphere and destroyed the Burning Sky torpedo before it exploded.
Although those flying demon insects eventually died, they were nothing compared to the insect swarm.
The loss of a Burning Sky Torpedo is quite a loss for the human army.
This time, by targeting Dantao, a place storing a large amount of biomass, there is no need to worry that the insect swarm will not care and will not attract its attention.
But at this stage, the rest depends entirely on the ground troops themselves.
The remaining fleet of the northern front was truly incomplete. After the main fleet of the alliance left, it was unrealistic for the remaining ships to fight desperately.
But they didn't ask for much help for the troops on the ground, and they didn't even dare to hope to completely drive away the Zerg ships and prevent them from providing orbital support to the ground. They just wanted to prevent these Zerg ships from providing support recklessly and without cost.
More battles will still have to be fought by the ground troops themselves.
This fight lasted for half a month.
Everything is going as planned.
The Zerg was indeed unwilling to give up. Not only was the vast biomass within the single peach star being transformed into the Zerg army, but more Zerg biological ships, carrying more Zerg troops, were landing on the ground and engaging in a bloody battle with the human army.
The war situation is definitely getting worse day by day for the human side.
There are already many Zerg swarms in the single peach, and now there are Zerg troops coming in for support from outside, not to mention that as time goes by, there are more and more hatching pools in the single peach. In the huge hive world with a population of 90 billion, there is sufficient biomass that can be converted into various Zerg nest monsters.
However, from the same perspective, Xi Rui felt fortunate: so far, he has completed the task assigned to him by Gu Hang relatively smoothly.
The battle was so difficult that it is conceivable that the Zerg's attention was indeed fully attracted to Dan Tao.
In fact, the effect of all this is a bit too good.
The swarm of insects on Dantao almost overwhelmed the ground troops.
At this point, why maintain the offensive?
Just hold on to it tightly.
But if they want to hold on, they have to attack: the loss of ammunition and personnel of the troops is far beyond expectations. The delivery of new reinforcements and supplies to the ground requires transport ships to be delivered by orbit. Transport ships need a clear, unthreatened space.
The remaining ships of the Northern Front Legion lured the Zerg biological ship away, and the remaining ships escorted the transport ship to approach suddenly. However, on the ground, the biological cannons evolved by the Zerg and a large number of flying demon insects would still pose a great threat to the landing transport ship.
This requires that the ground forces must launch an attack from the ground when the transport spacecraft arrives and destroy the hatching nests and biological cannon nests of the flying demon insects, so that there is a chance to let the transport spacecraft land smoothly.
The ground troops have suffered heavy casualties, equipment losses, and ammunition consumption, and are just waiting for supplies from the sky. But now they have to fight desperately to attack?
There is no other way, we can only fight like this.
Often after huge sacrifices, the replenishment of ammunition, equipment, and personnel can only slightly make up for the losses. The Zerg biological fleet will then come back, forcing human transport ships to flee immediately, otherwise they will be intercepted, which will be a huge loss.
This war lasted for eighteen days.
Up to now, facing the reported losses, Marshal Xi Rui no longer felt heartbroken - because he had become numb.
The total losses in the eighteen days were roughly estimated to have exceeded ten million. On the ground, the main force of the battle was no longer the remnants of the northern front, but the Allied Army.
It was not because Xi Rui was deliberately holding back his strength, but because the remaining troops on the northern front had been beaten even harder. On the sixth day of the fierce ground war, the remaining 10 million ground troops on the northern front had already lost more than 40%. Without the large-scale intervention of the Allied Army, let alone maintaining the offensive, they would have been completely annihilated long ago.
Of his three hundred most loyal Black Crusaders, two hundred and sixty had already left, leaving only a few dozen on board, operating the battle barge "Cross Black Star" and several other strike cruisers. These ships all required the special operation of Space Marines to maximize their performance.
In other words, Xi Rui's Black Crusaders have been fully deployed.
All the Silver Watch have been deployed, and Qin Zhiping himself is on the ground.
What will happen to the remaining troops on the northern front?
Up to now, Xi Rui has completely stopped considering whether he can complete his task of "attracting and restraining".
It has already exceeded expectations.
Now, according to estimates, the number of Zerg in front is more than three times that of when Gu Hang was still there.
This is certainly mission accomplished.
The question now becomes how long can they maintain the pressure on the Zerg?
At the end of the battle, the loss of manpower was secondary, and the loss of equipment was somewhat irreparable. It was becoming increasingly difficult to project power onto the surface of the planet, so what should be done when the troops needed to be withdrawn later?
He soon stopped thinking about these things.
Fighting day by day is nothing more than gritting your teeth and holding on every minute and every second.
On the 19th, the losses increased to 11 million. On the 25th, a major failure in ground support resulted in the death of more than 2 million people on the transport ships. And because of the lack of support, ground battles suffered a series of major defeats. On the 28th, the total losses directly increased to 37 million. It was not until the 32nd day that the collapse of losses was slowed down. But the price was the destruction of the small Titan army recruited from Aramita, which destroyed several key insect nests, allowing support to reach the ground and stop the collapse.
Although the bleeding has been stopped, all the Titans have been killed. What should we do next?
Sure enough, on the 39th day, the ground support failed again.
Seeing the imminent collapse, Xi Rui was prepared to sacrifice more than 200 Space Marines to stop the bleeding. However, on the 40th day, the Zerg fleet suddenly retreated.
Xi Rui's first reaction was to breathe a sigh of relief. The fleet could finally deliver support to the ground, which was much safer. It could even provide some orbital fire support for the ground forces. The immediate pressure was relieved a lot.
However, why did the Zerg fleet retreat?
Of course it is impossible that they fought them off.
The battle on Commander-in-Chief Gu's side should have already begun, right?
Thinking of this, Xi Rui became worried again.
Have you completed your task?
What’s the battle situation like on Commander-in-Chief Gu’s side?
————
This chapter makes up for yesterday.
I really didn’t finish writing yesterday.
I got some infection due to the change of seasons. I have a runny nose and feel dizzy for two days.
Try to finish one more chapter before going to bed at night.
(End of this chapter)
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