Chapter 540: Fighting a tough battle
As the scope of the alliance's attack becomes larger and the area occupied becomes larger, the risks that have been buried before become more and more impossible to ignore.
The resistance and non-cooperation of various planets; the difficulty of supplying behind the stretched front; the tumors growing on the throats of Shangdong and Guangfeng; the glaring Furious Fleet...
Even without looking at this, Gu Hang must admit one thing: the current overall strength of the alliance is still far inferior to the Iron Fury Stone that controls the entire universe.
Humphrey Paul's main force is still involved in the battlefield in multiple directions.
But that doesn't mean their strength is gone.
Whether it is to mobilize troops from the main battlefield, or to mobilize troops from the original garrison forces in multiple star regions to support, it is possible.
Even for a naval fleet that takes a long time to build, the enemy may be able to replenish it at any time.
Within the spider web domain, there are three forging worlds, and they all belong to the Alfonzo sect at the same time. None of these three forging worlds is smaller than Jindi Star.
It stands to reason that the Iron Wrath Stones have already been labeled as traitors to the Empire, and the Adeptus Mechanicus should join forces with the Empire to beat them up.
But, no.
The attitude of the Alfonzo sect was very ambiguous. They issued several condemnations of Humphrey Paul, but the words were indifferent and they were only spoken out under pressure from all parties.
Moreover, they said that they announced that they would stop all cooperation with the Iron Fury Stone, but... now that the entire spider web domain has fallen into the hands of Humphrey Paul, and the information is not flowing smoothly, is the Alfonzo Sect really like this? Cooperation is cut off as they say, but who can say for sure?
No, in fact most analysts believe it's just talk.
The Alfonzo sect had a very close relationship with Humphrey Paul a long time ago. The cooperation between the two parties has a history of hundreds of years.
The close cooperative relationship between them lasted until the official start of the Ironwrath Stone rebellion.
This really makes their attitude seem very untrustworthy.
Let me just say this: If there is a real breakup, will the Iron Fury Stone leave the three forging worlds with strong industrial production capabilities alone?
But the fact is that there is nothing wrong with the Alfonzo sect, and Humphrey Paul has no intention of attacking them. The Iron Fury Stone's military campaign across the Spider Web Domain avoided the Alfonzo Sect's sphere of influence.
Moreover, on various battlefields, the imperial army can always see some new equipment appearing on the battlefield. The combat effectiveness of Iron Fury Stone's army, with the blessing of these equipments, does not look like a local force cut off by the Mechanicus.
Even the Iron Armor Chapter's fleet has a steady stream of new space battleships appearing!
At this point, it's basically done. Not only did the Alfonzo sect not cut off contact with the Iron Fury Stone as they said, but they worked very hard to inject blood to these traitors.
And if this situation is further refined to the southern battlefield currently opened by the alliance, there is no need for Humphrey Paul to mobilize troops from the main battlefield. As long as the next batch of warships from Alfonzo's three forging worlds head south, If it is sent, then the situation where the Raging Flame Fleet is far inferior to the Alliance Fleet in terms of combat effectiveness will suddenly be greatly improved.
Gu Hang believed that this was what the new leader of the Raging Flames Chapter across from him was waiting for.
By then, the alliance's front line will be lengthened, and the opponent's forces will be strengthened to be able to fight. In this situation, it is still very likely that someone will seize the opportunity and cause a big wave.
Have to guard against it.
Because of this, the alliance basically stopped its large-scale offensive after winning two star sectors.
But in fact, what the Alliance wanted to gain in this war has already been achieved.
This war is quite a bit like a political war.
Now, as soon as the war officially begins, many of the problems that plagued the alliance before have been solved. Chairman Zuo Zhaofeng stopped scolding, the inquiries and orders from Holy Terra were gone, and the pressure from the Western Front and the Phoenix Chapter, the mother group of the Phoenix, also dissipated.
In fact, the Eastern Space Region government stopped allocating war funding for more than two years, and now it is coming again.
When the alliance sent troops, there were 5 billion tax coins on the way.
It's not a lot of money, but it's a signal. Zuo Zhaofeng also said it, and there will be more later.
After the Alliance entered the Proud Claw Star Territory, 50 billion war supplies were loaded onto ships and headed for the Alliance.
Praise also came from the side of Holy Terra.
Gallardo and Gu Hang lamented that his life had become easier since the alliance sent troops.
Moreover, there were also messages from other central departments of the empire, saying that Gu Hang had done a good job and hoped that the alliance could continue to work hard and move forward bravely.
All parties expressed their joy at the considerable momentum the alliance had exerted on the southern front within a few months.
And they all hope that the alliance can continue to maintain this momentum.
Fighting two star regions in four months is actually not fast enough. If we were to draw a line from the star map at this rate, we would have to hit six more star sectors before we could penetrate the Proud Claw Star Territory.
Further to the northwest of Proud Claw, there is the Nepeta Star Territory. From the Nepeta Star Territory, we will hit nine more star districts, and then we will enter the Princess Star Territory.
That is the real lair of Iron Fury Stone.
According to the thoughts of the gentlemen above, they wish the alliance's offense would be more intense.
Why do we need to occupy the entire territory of every star sector? Why bother with those stubborn, heavily guarded areas?
Hurry up and find the main force on the opposite side for a decisive battle! Hurry and fight all the way to the Queen's Star Territory! Go and poke Humphrey Paul in the ass!
Countless people urged this, using different words, but the meaning was roughly the same.
But Gu Hang ignored these remarks.
Do they really expect that they can attack Huanglong and defeat the Iron Fury Stone just by relying on the current strength of the alliance?
Stop making trouble.
They just want Gu Hang to fight in the south to make the battle more intense, consume more of the Iron Fury Stone's effective strength, and attract more of the Iron Fury Stone's army to reduce the pressure from other directions.
And what about Gu Hang?
He will not use the wealth he has saved over the years to make wedding clothes for others.
Regardless of whether it was to make a wedding dress or not, he would not spend all his money on a big gamble.
After holding two star sectors and risking a slight stretch of the battle line, Gu Hang stopped.
The results of previous wars have been able to alleviate political pressure.
The main army of the alliance stopped here.
As they stop moving forward, it won't be long before the related pressure will come back again.
But Gu Hang didn't intend to offend them.
Do I really care so much about the stinky money given by the Dongfangzhou Territory government?
Five billion? How many billions will follow?
There are indeed a lot of them in absolute terms, but they are mainly all kinds of ordinary equipment and small ships.
If these 40 to 50 billion were given to one battleship a year, then Gu Hang might consider playing a more aggressive role.
But for now?
Forget it.
Go at your own pace. And what is the rhythm of the alliance?
They turned around and began to digest the twenty worlds they had conquered.
In these twenty worlds, some are poor, but some are rich and developed.
Ignore those poor places, but focus on the rich and developed ones, especially the industrial ones
It is very important to put down the army, quell the resistance on the surface of the planet, and use political means to make the entire planet available for my use.
Once this is done, it means that nutrients can be directly drawn from these twenty worlds and some conventional supply problems can be solved on the spot.
There are several industrial production capabilities in these worlds that are quite good. Let’s not talk about the loss of ammunition and conventional weapons. Even the resources that need to be consumed on the starship, such as some cannonballs and the fuel required by the starship, that is, energy Crystal block.
There is even a planet with a large star port and a small shipyard.
I don’t really expect that this shipyard can produce any new ships for use, but the presence of a shipyard means that the planet’s technical capabilities in the shipbuilding industry are still high-level and well-equipped. The alliance has many advantages in previous battles. Ships that have been damaged during the war can be well maintained here.
At the same time, the Alliance's engineering ships, also escorted by the navy, arrived in the Proud Claw Star Territory in batches.
The accompanying transport ship carried many rail guns, space station parts and even production lines. Even several light and heavy star castles were hauled in.
The long-distance movement deployment of the Star Castle requires the towing of large transport ships.
These star castles are placed at the transition points of the star tunnels in the hubs and in the orbits of key planets.
At the same time, those railguns were assembled and deployed on-site with the help of some local planets that were taken down and had good industrial production capabilities.
Even those production lines that are shipped are to be directly used on the front line to strengthen military production capabilities...
The Alliance has great intentions of digesting these twenty worlds and building fortresses in the four worlds in key areas.
The star fort was dragged over, the orbital gun group was built, and the jump point defense facilities were built...
The attitude of the alliance has been very obvious: to fight hard and fight stupidly.
The twenty worlds were first enclosed, then chewed up and digested, and then the key areas were fortified, so as to be prepared that the enemy might overwhelm them with their troops.
If the opponent does not do this, then wait until the digestion is completed, then fight forward, eat dozens of worlds, digest again, and then fortify...
Gradually erode in the most stable way and at the smallest cost.
For this reason, the alliance began to turn their heads and began to deal with the two 'sarcomas'.
They didn't send the main force there, they still had to guard against the Raging Flame Fleet.
The only ones that went there were the two Holy Grail-class battle cruisers, the 'Koroga' and the 'Flying Wing'.
Their mission is by no means a forceful attack.
no need.
From a distance, just lead the team and fire the bombardment.
If you fight like this, you will definitely not be able to defeat him. The bombardment at ultra-long distance has a worrying hit rate, and is not strong enough to destroy the enemy's star fort in a short period of time. Even if it hits a few shots, the Star Castle can fly around the earth to the back of the planet, then slow down urgently and stay on the orbit on the back. The maintenance engineers can take advantage of this time to repair the damage to the Star Castle.
I don’t know if fighting for dozens or hundreds of years can exhaust and kill the opponent.
But the current behavior of the Alliance fleet is essentially putting pressure on Upper Eastern Star.
It is difficult to defeat the Star Fortress, but if you are not lucky, an ordinary armed space station will be exploded instantly if it is bombarded by an X-class light spear array from a battle patrol.
At the same time, other means are also being used.
When the entire planet is blocked, Alliance ships continue to send broadcasts to Upper Eastern Star; Upper Eastern Star's external astrological communications are also blocked, and there is no way to get in touch with the outside world. That's not just following the alliance. Just say whatever you want?
After more than six months of siege, the Alliance tried to send a diplomatic envoy, which was accepted.
A small boat, carrying a diplomatic envoy, arrived at the star port and had some exchanges with the defenders.
No consensus could be reached.
But this is already a pretty good signal.
Two weeks later, the alliance sent an envoy again.
In the following period, the alliance will send envoys to have some exchanges with the local defenders almost every week.
There was no agreement on big things, but the alliance at least sent in some luxury goods and gifts; the other side also promised to send out some civilians to reduce unnecessary sacrifices and losses in the war.
Even in the later stage, the defenders had put forward some conditions for surrender.
However, the conditions were rather harsh and the alliance did not agree.
We still have to talk about it later, so don’t be in a hurry.
What's more, before the negotiation, the alliance is not without other options.
Although the ships escorting diplomatic envoys are 'small', that is only in relative terms. Even the smallest traveler can carry hundreds of people at a time.
Of course, diplomatic envoys also need protection, which is reasonable.
It is normal for a guard of hundreds of people to come at once. After getting off the ship, the defenders will find a place to guard the ship in the star port and let the leaders of both sides negotiate.
Until now, no particularly major conflicts have broken out between the two sides.
However, what the defenders failed to discover was that there were some special beings among these guards.
On the way back and forth, there are always a few people missing.
After going back and forth like this five or six times, there were about thirty or forty warriors among the special warriors in the alliance, lurking into the star port of Upper East Star.
When the last diplomatic envoy arrived at the starport, the hundred-man escort still followed.
They headed all the way to the interior of the starport, where they had held several meetings in the past.
The defenders on the star port boarded the ship for inspection as usual.
However, when the people who came on board to inspect the ship entered, there was no more noise.
This situation soon caused some uneasiness.
The garrison soldier responsible for contact received no response. He hesitated and didn't know whether to call a few more times or report it quickly.
But soon, he no longer needed to hesitate.
He saw at least three hundred space warriors wearing red armors rushing out from the small travelers!
(End of chapter)