In an interstellar war of such massive scale, whether a single ship survives or dies depends to a large extent not on the ship’s performance but on luck.
You never know what will happen in the next moment. Perhaps you’re weak against a strong enemy, so you use a County-Class ship to take down an enemy City-Class ship, yet in the very next moment a Town-Class ship may appear and take you out. Perhaps you have just exhausted your strength to destroy one enemy ship, and in the next instant two enemy ships may pop up and finish you off.
That was exactly the situation on the current battlefield. Xiao Yu divided the entire battlefield into 26 large sectors labeled from a to z, and each large sector into ten sub-sectors labeled from 1 to 10. In all 260 sectors, each sector had at least one Province-Class ship as the core, accompanied by anywhere from several thousand to tens of thousands of ships, supporting one another and coordinating in battle.
The situation faced by each sub-sector was not the same. In some sub-sectors Xiao Yu’s side held a great advantage, in some they were being pressed hard by the Molian Civilization, and in some they were being tormented by the Molian Civilization’s defense system.
The overall situation of the battlefield depended on these 260 sub-sectors.
“Good. We have gained the advantage in the s7 sector. One enemy Province-Class ship has already been destroyed by us. We can detach forces to support the a8 sector and take out that damned interstellar fortress.” In the operations conference room, a committee member suddenly shouted, his face full of excitement.
[T/N: Wasn’t originally s7 sector but changed it since that part was censored for some reason, so I chose a random letter to replace the censored letter.]
Within the enormous real-time battlefield display, one battlefield detail was enlarged, and all the committee members saw the following scene.
Amid the ceaseless entanglement of tens of thousands of ships, a massive ship bearing a Four-Dimensional shield, leading several hundred ships, seized an opportunity, slipped in through a gap between vessels, and launched a fierce attack on an enemy Province-Class ship.
That Province-Class ship of the Molian Civilization had already sustained some damage, with its combat strength reduced by more than thirty percent. After suffering this fierce assault, it could no longer hold out and finally exploded and broke apart. The destruction of this Province-Class ship changed the situation across the s7 sector. The Molian Civilization’s forces retreated like a receding tide, and Xiao Yu’s fleet rapidly pursued.“This is the Province-Class ship Jiangsu under the China’s fleet. Very good, well done.” Xiao Yu said. “The Jiangsu’s energy reserves are still at seventy percent, sufficient to continue fighting. I have already directed the Jiangsu to go support the a8 sector. Hm? Not good. In the h6 sector, the Province-Class ship Leningrad under the Russia’s fleet has been destroyed. I have already detached the Province-Class ship Saint Petersburg from the z3 sector to go provide support. The h6 sector is a strategic key point and cannot be lost.”
In the real-time battlefield image, the view of the h6 sector was enlarged, and the members of the Military Committee clearly saw the process by which the Province-Class ship Leningrad was destroyed.
In such a vast war, even a Province-Class ship equipped with a Four-Dimensional shield could not claim to have complete self-preservation.
The Province-Class ship Leningrad was the fourth Province-Class ship to be destroyed since the start of this campaign. On the Molian Civilization’s side, only three Province-Class ships had been destroyed. In fact, in terms of overall casualties, Xiao Yu’s side had lost more than the Molian Civilization. This phenomenon arose mainly because of the Molian Civilization’s star system’s defense system. Those ever-emerging interstellar mine battle groups and various battle fortresses caused Xiao Yu great trouble.
Even so, Xiao Yu still did not intend to abandon the offensive. Because Xiao Yu knew that the Molian Civilization’s military strength was also under enormous pressure at this very moment. This could be seen from those Molian Civilization fleets in the void that were becoming increasingly impatient, eager to break out of the interception and come to reinforce.
“Now, let us look at the situation of the interception battles.” Xiao Yu spoke as he enlarged several other battle feeds. “Of our 1,400,000 ships, 1,100,000 remain. Of the Molian Civilization’s 1,100,000 ships, a little over 400,000 remain. More than 300,000 ships have already slipped our interception, bypassed our blockade, and are about to reach Star System Number 5. I have detached forces from the offensive strength at Star System Number 5 to conduct a second interception. But due to insufficient numbers, the second interception can hold out for at most three days. We cannot prevent their final convergence.”
“That does not matter.” a member of the Military Committee said. “We never planned to intercept them completely from the start, only to delay their arrival as much as possible to create an advantage for us. To cope with this situation, I recommend that the 1,100,000 ships assigned to interception also detach a portion of their strength and come to Star System Number 5. Otherwise, in the battle for Star System Number 5, we will be at a disadvantage.”
“The Nation-Class ship United States is still entangled with their Nation-Class ships and cannot disengage. However, I have detached the Province-Class ships Washington, San Francisco, and New York to lead 400,000 ships back to support. On the battlefield of Star System Number 5, our ship count must always remain above the opponent’s. After all, the other side is on the defensive, which is a natural advantage.”
“Master, I would like to know how our logistics transport fleet is doing now?” a committee member asked.
“Overall, still fairly smooth.” Xiao Yu replied. “Their harassment and ambushes have been ongoing, but under the protection of our escort fleets, the material arrival rate still maintains a high proportion of over seventy percent. Although we cannot, like the Molian Civilization with its planetary bases, wantonly use large negative matter cannons and wantonly manufacture expendables, sustaining combat at the current intensity is not a problem.”
“That is good.” The committee member breathed a sigh of relief.
“Mm… everyone, look. The Molian Civilization’s reinforcement fleets have begun a new large-scale breakout. I have assigned 700,000 ships to intercept, but the outlook for this operation is not optimistic. The Molian Civilization has lost patience. Eager to reinforce Star System Number 5, they no longer shy away from frontal clashes. In frontal clashes, we can indeed inflict maximum casualties on them, but it will also make continued interception impossible.” Xiao Yu calmly analyzed the current situation.
“I do not think that matters. Do your best to intercept and inflict casualties. For these last 400,000 ships to break through our interception net, they will have to pay a price of at least 50,000 ships. After they break through the net, in the space pursuit and within the second interception net, we can still inflict at least another 50,000 ships of damage.”
“There is no other way.” As he spoke, Xiao Yu continued directing hundreds of thousands of ships in fierce combat with the Molian Civilization’s fleets.
In the void, under normal circumstances the only illumination would be those dim stars, but now it was filled with innumerable flashes of exploding fire. The fleets of the two sides were locked in fierce engagement. One side sought to break through the interception net as quickly as possible to reinforce the garrison of Star System Number 5, while the other side strove to intercept and build an advantage for its own attacking fleets.
This was an irreconcilable contradiction; the only solution was battle, to see whose strength was greater.
A Province-Class ship was fleeing in a panic without regard for direction when a City-Class ship suddenly cut across its path ahead. With enormous kinetic energy, the two ships collided with a thunderous crash. The City-Class ship exploded, blasting the Province-Class ship more than a hundred kilometers away. Already heavily damaged, it was instantly subjected to overlapping fire from hundreds or even thousands of ships and could only helplessly explode into ash.
A County-Class ship was weaving nimbly, seizing opportunities to destroy several enemy Town-Class ships, but it did not realize that two enemy County-Class ships had already fixed on it. After it destroyed yet another Town-Class ship, the two enemy County-Class ships pounced in an instant, and a torrent of intense fire enveloped it.
Such brutal fights were innumerable across the battlefield. Yet no matter how fierce the situation became, Xiao Yu’s mind remained like a pool of stagnant water, without a ripple.
Xiao Yu was confident that no one could match his grasp of the battlefield situation. With such a deep command of it, ships truly became numbers representing different meanings and different combat strengths. At the destruction of ten thousand ships, Xiao Yu would not even furrow his brow, nor feel the slightest regret, because he knew that the destruction of those ten thousand ships would inevitably bring the enemy at least fifteen thousand ships in losses.
This was the coldest and also the most effective approach, and at the same time the most suitable for execution on the battlefield. Up to now, Xiao Yu had always carried it out well.
Time passed bit by bit. More than half a month had elapsed since the curtain of war rose.
“The Molian Civilization’s reinforcement fleets have broken through our interception net and begun moving toward Star System Number 5. I have assigned forces to intercept them en route, but it likely will not have much effect. Their convergence is now unavoidable. Then this campaign is about to enter the second phase, the full-scale assault.”
“In this phase, we will field 1,900,000 ships against the Molian Civilization’s 1,300,000 ships. One point to note is that in subsequent phases, as the Molian Civilization’s societal focus tilts toward military industry, reinforcements will continue to arrive here. However, in the four star systems already occupied by us, I am also carrying out large-scale construction tasks, ready at any time to support our battle.”
“We still hold advantages in both quantity and quality. In this campaign, the victor will certainly be us, the Divine Ark Civilization.” Xiao Yu said solemnly.