Chapter 2003 Marching into the Enemy's Nest
Standard Terra Calendar 967.M41
Maelstrom Area, Lamptan System, Lamptan Planet
The Sixth Theater of the Imperial Expeditionary Force The attack force has occupied the world for more than a month. Commanded by the White Templars Chapter Master Arash, it is a force composed of the Astra Militarum, the Planetary Guard, and fanatical Jihadists.
Yes, Soshyan handed over these religious "non-combatants" to the Sixth War Zone, allowing Arash to make full use of their fanaticism.
This also brought the size of the entire offensive force in the Sixth Theater to 300 million. Although sufficient troops allowed Arash to use human sea tactics to quickly flood the world occupied by the heretics, it also caused serious logistical problems. In addition, those of the state religion The jihadists will burn every stronghold and house they see. Anyone or anything that has anything to do with the Red Pirates will be thrown into the sea of fire. On Lamptan Prime alone, more than 500 million people were burned alive. , so that the entire planet seemed to have turned into a huge crematorium. Burnt corpses of heretics nailed to crosses could be seen everywhere on the land and roads, almost becoming street lamps.
As early as the Badab War, Lamptan was an important rear town for the Star Claw rebels. It was not only an important material and manpower supply point for the rebels, but also a place for Star Claw to store what they harvested in the war. Where the gene-seed warehouse is located, the Salamanders Chapter's strike force launched a surprise attack from Lamptan, fighting together with a company of the Minotaur Chapter, quickly occupying the world and regaining the Starclaw's possessions on the battlefield. Gene seeds, and used it as a stronghold to launch an offensive deep in the rebel territory.
Because the Salamanders attacked relatively lightly, Lamptan Prime was not severely damaged. The local industrial facilities and a small amount of agricultural industry were preserved, and there were not many casualties, including a population of 10 billion. As one of the territories that Huron worked hard to manage, the people here obviously loved the monarch of Badab more than the imperial bureaucrats. As soon as the Hurons re-emerged, a large-scale rebellion broke out in Lamptan, and they soon re-established themselves. Back in the hands of its former master, Huron did not make many changes to the planet. He even strictly prohibited his Chaos Space Marines from entering the planet. He simply allowed it to provide materials and manpower. Even the managers were selected by the locals themselves or Said to have been loyal to Star Claw's family, so much so that many Underhive residents didn't even know their world had rebelled against the Empire.
Until the arrival of the Imperial Army of Justice.
For Arash, burning the heretics is not a big problem, but the key point is that the fanatical jihadi army will also burn the things used by the heretics, and even their residences, which makes the expeditionary army almost only gain It was a piece of scorched earth, and it was difficult to get any effective additional supplies. These people even destroyed the factory. Although Arash had repeatedly issued orders prohibiting the destruction of facilities, this had no effect on religious people.
Because the expeditionary force wasted too much time on Lamptan Prime, the Red Pirates' defenses in other areas of the Lamptan system were also strengthened. The Imperial Navy failed to win a fierce battle for a while, and the two sides were temporarily in a stalemate. What Arash needs now is not military strength, but logistics and naval power.
During the pause, the attacking troops also took a temporary rest on the planet that was almost reduced to scorched earth.
Among them, naturally included Hayes and his comrades.
They were lucky enough to avoid the fiercest battle. They simply attacked a small stronghold and killed about a hundred heretics. They might just be farmers, because that place was said to be a stronghold, but it was actually more like a stronghold. It's a farm.
And those heretics seemed to be just farmers who picked up guns and wanted to protect their property and farmland. As for the old people, women and children inside, although they did not fight, they were still treated as prisoners and handed over to the above. , As for the final fate of this group of people, Hayes couldn't figure it out. They probably just did some hard work.
In fact, this was the first time that Hayes realized that the so-called "heretics" seemed to live the same life as humans in other worlds, and they also needed to eat and sleep.
But no matter what, they at least captured a good place. This place is much better than the nest full of corpse smell and fanatic believers, and they also seized a large amount of food hidden in the cellar. .
Unfortunately, they who had been eating corpse starch for four months were not able to enjoy those fresh fruits and vegetables, because the supplies here were soon requisitioned by their group leader to hold a banquet. Invite his friends.
The banquet was held in the manor owner's mansion.
Hayes was lucky enough to be called to the scene because his regimental commander wanted the officers from other regiments to see the "little lucky star" of their regiment. Of course, everyone was interested in his thirteen hairs He was amazed, and then he was sent to guard the door of the restaurant.
"Come on, come on, let's have a drink!" Listening to the noise coming from the door next to him, Hayes held his chest up high and stood as straight as a javelin, but this was just to hide his hungry and shriveled stomach.
Due to logistical difficulties, the rations of their ordinary soldiers have been reduced by one-third. Now it is difficult to even eat corpse starch. Everyone has begun to capture wild animals. Unfortunately, there are not many wild animals to eat on this planet, but there are some plants that are difficult to eat, so some people have invented a way of eating the plants by mashing them to remove the crude fiber, then mixing them with corpse starch and baking them into cakes, which is euphemistically called - —Loyalty cake.
But Hayes had been here for a long time today without even eating a bite of the loyalty cake. It was only because of his strong willpower that he didn't faint until now.
However, there are still things trying to defeat him.
Accompanied by hurried footsteps, the cooks and waiters wearing white bibs walked up the stairs carrying huge dinner plates, and then passed in front of Hayes one by one. The huge meat pieces full of soup on the dinner plates were grilled. Crispy-skinned poultry, brightly colored soups, verdant vegetables and exquisite baked desserts, everything smells like a bolter in the hands of an Astartes, aimed at Hayes' fragile nerves shooting.
"I'm not hungry! I'm not hungry! Not hungry!"
Hayes kept hypnotizing himself like this in his mind, but his belly was growling even if he tightened his belt as tight as possible. Still a little loose, too.
Taking the opportunity when the last waiter walked in with a dinner plate, Hayes glanced at the crack in the door.
I saw many people in officer uniforms sitting at a large table covered with white tablecloth, eating and drinking, their mouths full of oil.
When he saw a man roughly pulling off a leg from a roasted, golden and crispy bird, the splash of juice seemed to splash on Hayes' tongue instantly, causing him to salivate crazily.
“It’s not easy for everyone to be together alive. For all the good luck, come and have a drink!”
After their leader Arni Morales wiped his mouth , smiled and picked up the goblet, which was filled with light red wine. Seeing this, others also raised their glasses.
These people are all young aristocratic children from Sagan. Although they used to have a mediocre relationship, after joining the army, they became close because of geographical proximity and fellow villagers. This time Arni held a gathering of fellow villagers, and they They immediately rushed from their respective stations.
Also included was Arni’s friend Igli Madden.
(End of this chapter)