The Battle of the Five Armies in the Octares sector raged for over a month, the battles raging against each other in a ferocity rivaling that of the Horus Heresy.
Whenever one faction gained a significant advantage, the other four would unite and attack. On several occasions, Chang Wei used tactics and strategies to achieve brilliant victories, targeting the weakest opponent and pounding them hard. Just when he was about to corner the enemy, he was met with backstabbing from the other races.
Chang Wei was furious! It was like a duel between a man and a woman, about to sprint to the final stage, when the winner was about to be decided. Suddenly, a group of masked men smashed open the door, rushed in, interrupted the exhilarating climax, and forcibly separated the two.
Chang Wei was simply filled with rage, which was stuck in his stomach, with no way to vent it out!
Finally, there was no other way. Continuing to fight here would only lead to meaningless attrition and would not lead to ultimate victory.
So, after backstabbing the Silent King, severely undermining the Bonebreaker, severely beating the Hive Lord, and toying with Abaddon, and taking several huge advantages, Chang Wei led his fleet in a retreat. After all, the strategic goal had been nearly achieved; the original Ork Empire and Tyranids in the Octarius Sector had been nearly completely wiped out!
If that's the case, then we have a long way to go! We'll eventually find you alone and defeat you one by one!
After taking a sip of the coffee Alice had brewed for him, Chang Wei ordered the entire army to deploy a large number of space mines and remote sensing bombs to cover their retreat. Then, they withdrew from the devastated Octarus sector, which had been turned into a deadly place.
In this battle, over 5,000 Minotaur-class battlecruisers and over 1,000 Imperial Navy warships were destroyed, and over 30 million crew members died, of which over 10 million were clone troopers and over 20 million were Imperial Army soldiers conscripted from the Empire.
Furthermore, many ships' ammunition and aircraft stocks have been completely depleted. Even their stockpiles of repair parts and energy storage are nearing their limit. This clearly demonstrates the intensity of the Five Armies War over the past month. If the depletion hadn't been so intense, our casualties would likely have been even greater.
This is also one of the reasons why Chang Wei chose to retreat actively.
Are you kidding? It's not a perpetual motion machine. Even if you've reached the level of an advanced civilization, your supplies of materials and energy will eventually run out. When you're out of ammunition and food, are you going to abandon your men and flee? No way!
You say... can't we resupply on-site? We have industrial production ships. Come on, do you think Chang Wei didn't do it? Do you think the other four factions didn't do it? Almost every planet and decent asteroid has been blown up for mining or eaten by the Tyranids, and stars have been taken away, dismembered, and absorbed.
The entire Octares sector was now like a void in the constellation of Bootes, barren and empty. Aside from the faint glow of distant starlight, it was completely dark. Furthermore, the surrounding area was plagued by various low-speed zones, magnetic storms, dead zones, vacuum zones, and black holes of varying sizes. The fleets of the five factions navigated this dark and dreary landscape, constantly wary of the enemy and cautiously avoiding any potential pitfalls.
Chang Wei also admired himself for leading the fleet to fight against those four shameless dogs in such an extremely harsh environment for more than a month!
Although we fought well and achieved great results, I will not fight again next time.
Conservative estimates suggest that during the Black Forest offensive and the Battle of Five Armies, Chang Wei wiped out 96 trillion Tyranids, 78 trillion Orks, 1.45 million Necrons, and 27 million Chaos Traitors. The Octarus sector was completely devastated, with not a single planet or star remaining.
After reviewing the fleet's damage report, Chang Wei sighed and sat in his command chair for a long moment in silence. While the sacrifice of tens of millions of people was a negligible number for this world, the casualties from any hive destruction were far greater. Yet, Chang Wei chose not to disregard life. Instead, he dispatched a rescue team to search and collect as many of his own crew members' bodies and survivors as possible from the chaotic battlefield.
After the bodies were collected, Chang Wei had them wrapped in the Empire's flags. He also arranged for military chaplains to accompany them and organize a series of farewell ceremonies, bidding them a final farewell and wishing them a happy return to the Golden Throne. Afterwards, the bodies of these heroes would be returned to the human colonies for a unified burial.
Chang Wei's actions moved the Star Army soldiers, accustomed to eating corpse starch, to tears. No one had ever properly buried their dead. Even when corpses were brought back from the battlefield, they were still used for material purposes: ground and pulverized to separate the starch, which was then distributed to their former comrades.
Obviously, Chang Wei's good deeds, while adhering to his own beliefs, also won him great prestige in the hearts of the soldiers! It's just that Chang Wei himself didn't know it...
"All troops, enter the star region coordinates and proceed to the nearest forge world for resupply. You will have one week of vacation! The Emperor will commend your achievements!"
A week's vacation not only relieves the soldiers' stress and fatigue from prolonged combat, but also provides time for the fleet to resupply. Furthermore, the General Staff can use this time to re-formulate the mission objectives and strategic guidelines for the upcoming mission. It's truly a three-pronged approach.
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