The situation was very bad.

But very good.

This seemingly contradictory mood is what Major General Warken really feels at the moment.

Bad of course bad The First Fleet was completely suppressed by the flood of MS, and the news of the sinking of your own warship kept coming from the communicator, and Hua Ken could see the fireworks of his own warship when it exploded with the naked eye.

[The Federation battleship, USS California, was sunk by our army!!] 】

The news that the Zeon Army had sunk a certain Federation warship kept coming from the public channel, and Walken did not order it to be shut down, because although it sounded a little uncomfortable, it had to be admitted that it was more convenient to listen to the Zeon Army's sinking information than to collect and then give feedback on it, and there was nothing more important for Walken who needed to keep track of the state of the fleet at all times.

"General。。。。。。。 The third line lined up the USS California and confirmed the sinking. Warken's communications officer said tremblingly, sweating profusely, as if he was about to collapse from the constant feedback of battle damage information.

"I can hear you, so you don't have to repeat it again." Walken stared at the front of the bridge, wondering if there was a way to bring the dead back to life, so he replied with a little dissatisfaction.

"This 。。。。。。 With all due respect, it's my job," but despite his nervousness to the point of collapse, the professionalism of Watten's communications officer dutifully said: "It is not certain that the Zeon Army's sinking announcement is necessarily correct, it may be mixed with false information, and there may be a situation like the Missouri that is incapacitated but does not affect the operation。。。。。。 ”

"I know your opinion," Warken said stiffly, "so you don't have to say any more." ”

“。。。。。。 Yes, General. ”

Just then, a new sinking announcement came.

[The First Fleet of the Union Army, the USS Lexington, has been sunk by our army! 】

The Lexington is also 。。。。。。。 In this way, the first line of the battle team has been lost by more than half, Walken frowned, and crossed Lexington's name from the first fleet list in the captain's seat.

Although Warken understood that the Zeon soldiers chanted the names of the ships they had sunk, on the one hand, to boost morale, and on the other hand, to demoralize their own side, he felt a strong sense of disobedience.

This is not a medieval battlefield, and the evil taste of the initiator is about to come out as a result of the act of killing an enemy general and then beheading him for public display.

But it works.

In the end, he gave up thinking about ways to turn the situation around, because in fact he himself knew that now that the two armies were in a melee, the so-called command art had been reduced to a minimum, and now the competition was no longer the level of the senior commanders of the two sides, but the ability of the middle and low-level commanders to adapt to changes, the quality of the soldiers and the adaptability of military equipment to the battlefield.

The first two Huaken are confident that they will never lose to the Zeon Army, although for a long time the low-orbit fleet will be in the hands of the opposition within the Space Army, this does not mean that its level of training will decrease, but the latter 。。。。。。。

Warken has seen with his own eyes the overwhelming superiority of the Zeon MS over the battleship, especially if he annihilates ten or twenty MSs, Zeon will only lose 20 soldiers, but as long as one capital ship is sunk, the Federation will lose hundreds of soldiers.

However, it is not all good news, in fact, a large number of MS of the Zeon Army are caught in a melee with the First Fleet, which is bad news for Walken, but for the Federation Space Force, it is a godsend.

Zeon's MS ship tactics are just a variant of the classic tactical pincer offensive in the era of plane warfare, not considering those trump cards that can be single-plane anti-ship, usually dealing with battleships are based on squads, through the cooperation between squads, multiple bodies against a single battleship swimming, interspersed, and around, and after finding a flaw, launch a fatal blow, which is just a three-dimensional pincer offensive.

Naturally, in order to use this tactic, it is necessary to meet one requirement, that is, there is enough space for maneuver, which is actually the same as in the era of plane warfare, there is no room for movement, and the so-called interspersed encirclement is simply impossible.

And now the MS troops of the Zeon Army are in a dilemma of lack of space, and the assault of hundreds of MSs has made them and dozens of large warships piled up in this small space, which of course makes the main gun firepower that the Federation Army is proud of unable to play, but it also makes the MS of the Zeon side lose the space to maneuver, although because of the advantages of the MS itself over the flexibility of the battleships, and the morale of the Zeon Army, the First Fleet still loses the battleships at a speed visible to the naked eye, But compared to Zeon's cautious wandering around the periphery and eating the Federation ships little by little, their actions at this moment were truly stupid.

Having done such a thing, that guy named Lear Wolfgang Alxstein is either a reckless man with no armed forces but no brains。。。。。。

Either that, or with ulterior motives.

However, Hua Ken felt that the former was the majority, otherwise, he would be a member of the Zeon Army after all, why would he choose such a thankless and completely pitting teammate?

"How's the situation on Lord Reybier's side?" Walken gave up on discussing Lear's IQ, and he asked the intelligence staff.

"His Excellency Rebier's fleet has arrived at its intended position and is adjusting its formation, but there is also a part of the Zeon Army troops approaching the Second Fleet, and engagement is inevitable."

Walken nodded secretly, now that Reybir had arrived at the predetermined position and began to adjust the formation, it meant that the situation was much worse than expected - it was much better to be flowered by the rear of the Zeon army, and in any case, at least it would not fall into a melee like his own fleet.

If you can win, there is still hope for victory.

Your Excellency, there's only so much I can do, and I'll leave the rest to you.

Just when Walken felt that the Federation Army still had hope of victory, Lear, who was driving the thunder light, slowly approached his position.

"Lieutenant, we've found it, the flagship of the First Fleet, the Magellan!"

"Well done!" Lear said loudly, a look of relief even on his face.

Unlike what Walken thought, Lear was certainly not a brainless man, and although he took unwise actions in various senses for a variety of reasons, he would try to make up for it within his ability.

The main reason is bad luck, if he is in the outer edge of the assault cluster and can go around, he will not cause so much trouble, after all, whether it is a hand-to-hand fight, or risking his life to play a game of riding a thousand, it seems to him that it is very stupid.

However, sometimes in life, you have to choose the stupid side instead of making smart choices, which is also a helpless thing.

It is not an objective fact that Lear threw the MS troops who followed him into the meat grinder without any preparation, and could not accurately command every unit in the melee, but the so-called human wisdom is to increase the advantage of himself as much as possible in the face of objective facts that cannot be changed.

Since precise command does not work, cursory command is better than none, and the secret lies in the battle flag that seems to be nothing more than a ceremonial one.

It remained on the bridge of the Missouri ship, and with the retreat of the USS Missouri it reached the heart of the First Fleet.

Lear only gave one order, using the battle flag as the endpoint, the MS with a straight-line distance of less than 20 kilometers to break through in a straight line and participate in the next assault on Rebil's fleet, while the rest of the MS broke away from the entanglement with the First Fleet as soon as possible after the main force led by Lear completed the breakthrough, dragging the remnants of the First Fleet outside, and eating them away little by little.

Soon, Lear was guided by his men to find the Magellan, a famous battleship that was even more famous than Reybier's flagship, the Annac.

She is the first ship of the Magellan class, the flagship of the First Fleet, and the first space warship in the true sense of the word.

Lear still remembers the media propaganda when the ship was just launched for sea trials, and when it completed the lunar orbit cruise and entered the column, he was even just a middle school student at that time, and after the battleship entered the ranks, the whole Zeon atmosphere was like falling into the delusion of being killed, and he always felt that the Federation was about to invade in the next second, and many agreements that could even be said to be humiliating and humiliating in the future were signed shortly after the Magellan entered service, such as the superintendent power of the federal side that the Zeon High Cadet Military Academy did not have, and the new tariff law, the power to conduct spot checks on the transport vessels of Zeon's origin, etc.

Feeling that there is no force and no right to speak, Zeon began to accelerate the construction of the Space Force, MS and the design of new warships began at this time, and Kilian's dictatorship road also originated here, Kilian used the service of the Magellan as an excuse to order the Ministry of Internal Affairs troops to break into the Congress, forcing the Congress to pass the military spending plan, the Zeon Congress has lost its last right to speak, and Zeon has officially embarked on the road of militarism.

It can be said that the Magellan is a nightmare in the hearts of countless SIDE3 people, and it is also a battleship that has changed history in the real sense, just like the service of the Dreadnought in the Western era made the world's warships obsolete in an instant, and then plunged the whole of Europe into an arms race, which indirectly contributed to the war.

If such a battleship is sunk, although it has no substantive significance, it is indeed of great symbolic significance to the officers and men of the Zeon Army.

Such a ship cannot be sunk casually, and it is necessary to prepare for a grander and more dramatic scene.

Thinking of this, Lear suddenly realizes that although he constantly criticizes the Zabi family for being so fond of symbolic things that they are so noisy and putting the cart before the horse, perhaps he has a similar sensibility of his own.

At the end of the day, people who cheer for a military parade have this sensibility, and Lear is the type who sits motionless in front of the TV during National Day.

He smiled wryly, then turned on the public channel.

[Let's fight it out, Lords of the Magellan.] 】

[I hereby declare that I will come alone, and I am the only one you need to face. 】

[As for me, and all of you on the Magellan, without the interference of others, like knights. 】

King versus King. 】

[How, are you willing to accept my challenge?] 】

Although Lear deliberately and arrogantly proclaimed himself king, the Zeon officers and soldiers did not care, and instead let out cheers and whistles on the public channel.

Originally, among Zeon's MS pilots, there were a lot of people who thought they were knights galloping through the universe, and it was this type of person who would be instigated by Lear, and such a dignified duel was very much in line with their sensibilities, and even people who didn't agree with this sensibility were very excited about this kind of personal heroism.

As well as cheering for Lear, they also did their best to cheer for the Union Army, saying something nasty.

Such a sudden invitation really caught Hua Ken off guard, he really didn't expect that on the battlefield of the universe century, someone would actually provoke like a duel in front of the medieval array, which even made him feel a sense of dislocation in time and space, which made him even a little unsure of what to do for a moment.

Originally, no matter what kind of battle situation it was, at least it was still within the scope of Hua Ken's common sense, and he was suppressed by the Zeon Army at the moment, and he was already mentally prepared when he turned around.

But...... How do you respond to the enemy's heads-up requests?

This Hua Ken never thought that whether it was in the textbooks when he was a student or the experience accumulated after years of joining the army, he would not tell him how to deal with it.

So he decided to respond to all changes with the same, no matter what Lear said, to do his own thing in a down-to-earth manner, facing the inquiring eyes of his subordinates, he said coldly: "Don't pay attention, all warships are ready for close defense, ready to cover the flagship at any time." ”

"General, this might be an opportunity." The staff officer next to him said.

Hua Ken immediately understood what he meant by opportunity, but he hesitated for a moment and said, "Forget it, don't take any chances." ”

For a moment, he also thought about the idea of pretending to agree to the request of a heads-up first, and then gathering all the artillery fire to kill him when Lear approached, but his natural steadiness as a general made him veto this idea, and he preferred a military operation that spoke by strength, was down-to-earth and did not show flaws, and even if it could not be defeated, he would not be defeated even if it could not be defeated.

He is this type of general, and in the history of the original book, Hua Ken, as the commander of the Luna II, chose to contain the Trojan horse and avoid the battle than the troops who took the opportunity to annihilate Char, and it was precisely because of his steady character.

It's hard to say whether such a character is good or bad, but most of it is good, although in the history of the original book, he was sunk by Char's infiltration operation to sink a Magellan-class (which is also his current flagship Magellan) because of his avoidance of battle, but in the end, if it were not for his stability, Luna II might not have been able to stand tall in Zeon's attack, and then become the cornerstone of the Federalist's future counteroffensive.

"Then general, I will reply to the Zeon army refusal。。。。。。"

"Don't reply!" Hua Ken interrupted a little angrily: "Leave him alone! ”

"But 。。。。。。!"

"The opponent is doing something stupid, do you want to follow him to embarrass people?"

"Treat it as if you didn't hear it, and ignore it!"

For people you don't want to deal with, the best solution is。。。。。。 Ignore him, it sounds like nonsense, but it's an unexpected reality.

The Federalists did not agree, or even respond to Lear's invitation, but the meaning of their refusal was clear.

Lear nodded secretly, Warken's choice was unexpected, but it was better to say that if Warken really agreed, Lear would be strange, and he might even wonder if Warken was a general of the Universal Century, and there was actually a medieval time-traveler living in it.

For Lear, it makes no essential difference to him whether the Federation agrees or not.

If Walken did agree and do such a stupid thing, it would be better if Lear could have killed Walken and his warship without interference.

If Hua Ken does not agree, it doesn't matter, with a large warship of hundreds of people against the MS, such a huge advantage of the condition will not dare to agree, no matter what Hua Ken actually thinks, the impression of fear of the enemy will not be washed away, he was originally an airborne commander, and did not establish his own prestige in the First Fleet, the First Fleet will obey his orders, but will not unconditionally obey his orders.

As soon as Walken, as the commander of the airborne, lost the trust of his officers and men, or even only became suspicious, the huge fleet was not far from falling apart, and the middle and junior commanders who began to question their commanders began to act according to their own thinking rather than the orders of the flagship, and whatever they did, most of them were inclined to their advantage.

After all, there are not many heroes in this world who are willing to sacrifice themselves for others.

And Walken's death will speed up this process, of course, this does not mean that the First Fleet will collapse after Walken's death, any fleet must have a backup chain of command, which is similar to the concept that even if there are only two people in the world, there must be a commander and a commandee, the Federation Army is not a gangster army, its spare command system is theoretically enough to support it to fight to the last battleship.

But in the end, the low-orbit fleet is not the main fleet controlled by the Rebir faction all year round, although they will also fight to the end for the Federation, but they cannot completely obey Rebier's command like other fleets, and actively cooperate with Rebier's actions, because of this, the existence of Walken as the airborne commander is the key existence for the First Fleet to understand and obey Rebier's orders.

As long as Walken and his command team lose their capabilities, the First Fleet will no longer have the possibility of regrouping, and its remaining options are to fight to the death, or force it out of the battlefield at the cost of some warships while it still has a certain combat strength.

Mid- and lower-level commanders who judge the situation on their own are likely to choose the latter, even if they are replaced by the original backup chain of command of the First Fleet.

Of course, this is all based on the premise that Lear will be able to sink Warken's flagship in the heart of the Federation Army.

To be honest, if there is no assistance from other MSs to help Lear drag the firepower of warships in all directions, Lear really doesn't have this kind of confidence, the Luna titanium alloy armor does have excellent performance, but it is not invincible in the world, but at this moment, the number of Zeon Army MS has completely overwhelmed the number of the Federation Army, which provides an opportunity for Lear's decapitation operation.

[If you don't have the courage to accept the challenge, don't you even have the courage to refuse the challenge?] 】

Lear said with a deliberate sneer.

[What kind of country has what kind of army, what kind of generals and soldiers. 】

The Federals fought without heroism, but Lear sneered so deliberately without regard for the truth.

[I must admit that you have very apt representation of the character of your country. 】

Lear laughed.

[The despicable motherland and the runaway generals, plus you cowards, are a perfect match. 】

[[Hahahahaha!!! 】】

Lear's words drew the ire of the Union soldiers, but it also caused the Zeon officers and men to burst into laughter.

"It's just that he wants us to be shaken, and I don't want to pay attention to him." Walken had to speak again.

But even if you want to escape, you can't escape the fate of doom. 】

[Lieutenant of the Zeon Wehrmacht, Lil Wolfgang Alkerstein.] 】

[Zagu Thunderlight, come to crusade against the enemy generals!] 】

At the moment when these words sounded, a yellow shadow appeared in Hua Ken's vision.

It was Thunderlight.