Chapter 25: The Praying Mantis Catches the Cicada
At this time, there were still a large number of civilians and troops exposed to the ground in Pegasus City, and the fleet shelling from the sky was like the lightning of Thor, erasing all kinds of affairs from the earth.
Most of the people killed in the shelling did not even leave any slag, but simply turned into steam and disappeared into the air. Many of the buildings were burned beyond recognition, making it impossible to imagine what they looked like in the past.
Under this indiscriminate attack of the 7th Fleet, not only did many rebel units be wiped out in one fell swoop, but even the garrison of Pegasus City was almost destroyed by more than half of them, not to mention the dead and wounded civilians.
Milin was lucky enough to survive the first fleet attack, but his mechs were badly damaged and could no longer be used.
Finally crawling out of the mecha cockpit, Mi Lin appeared in front of a devastated ruins, and the once prosperous city was completely gone.
Mirin was surrounded by mechs that were like hills with billowing black shadows, and just before the bombardment, he was leading his men to fight the rebels to the death, but now there were only burning flames around the ruins, and it was like being in a furnace.
"Apply! I, Mirin, swear that I will take revenge and let you taste the pain of being burned by the fire! Mirin let out a heart-rending cry at the red sky.
However, in the next moment, the thick smoke that covered the sky above Mirin's head was once again broken by the red light, and the second round of fleet shelling came!
"Report to the general, the army in Pegasus City has been basically wiped out, and only a small number of scattered troops remain, do you want to continue the shelling?"
Shen Dan waved his hand and said, "No need, what happened to the rebels outside the city?" ”
"The rebels outside the city are evacuating, probably frightened by the shelling just now."
"Hehe, what a rabble." Shen Dan smiled contemptuously: "Order the fleet to go to the major cities in Yueqiu respectively to carry out air strikes against the rebels entrenched in the local area, and report to me at any time if there is a situation." ”
"Yes!" The signal corps said yes and left.
At this time, Shendan's adjutant came over and asked in a low voice, "General, when are we going to send troops down?" ”
Shen Shan didn't answer immediately, but asked, "What about Huang Wei?" Where is he hiding now? ”
"He didn't return to the ground, he went directly to the Wild Moon Star, probably because he felt that he had no face to return to Yueqiu." The adjutant scoffed.
"That's fine, even if he lives, I will report to the higher authorities after the war, and he can't escape the charge of cowardice." Shen Shan said with a smile: "After the air strikes in various places are completed, let the marines immediately occupy Pegasus City." ”
"Understood, I'll let the marines prepare for the landing first." The adjutant replied.
A few hours later, the major cities of Yueqiu were hit by heavy air strikes, and the rebels entrenched in the major cities were severely damaged, and they all withdrew from the cities and hid in the wilderness.
Immediately, the 7th Fleet sent marines to occupy the major cities of Yueqiu, including Pegasus City, and control of Yueqiu was restored to the hands of government forces, but there were still a large number of rebels hiding in various parts of Yueqiu Star.
A few days later, the 7th Fleet detached a portion of its forces and headed for the Arazuki Star, preparing to continue the fight against the rebels there.
The Arazuki Star was the first place to launch a rebellion, and it is said to be the location of the rebel headquarters, so as long as the Arazuki Star is recaptured, this counterinsurgency operation will be completed.
Shen Shan sat on the bridge of the ship, leisurely drinking tea, talking and laughing with his adjutants, as if this trip was as relaxed as going on an outing.
In Shen Dan's opinion, the rebels of the Desolate Moon Star are not worth mentioning at all, and as soon as his fleet arrives, it will immediately disintegrate.
As Shen Shan expected, as soon as his fleet arrived in the Deserted Moon, the rebels there withdrew from the city, giving up all the places they had previously occupied.
Shen Dan said to his subordinates very proudly: "Look, I said a long time ago that these rebels are a rabble, as soon as the real army arrives, they will immediately disperse, and we don't need to exert any effort at all. ”
The subordinates all gave a thumbs up and praised Shendan as a famous general who surrendered without a fight, even if he was not inferior to those famous generals in history.
Touted by everyone, Shen Dan sent his marine troops to occupy several large cities in the Deserted Moon Star, while he sent his subordinates to contact the remnants of the local army and organize these forces to occupy the rest of the land.
So far, Shendan's counterinsurgency operation has gone extremely smoothly, and it only took less than two weeks to pocket the two planets Yueqiu and Huangyue.
The only thing that made Shen Shan a little uneasy was that he had not found out who the leader of the rebels was and the internal situation of the rebel organization, as if these rebels had suddenly emerged from the ground.
However, Shen Shan didn't take this matter too seriously, his task was to counter the rebellion, and the matter of thoroughly investigating the rebel organization was the responsibility of the imperial security department, and he only needed to provide some cooperation.
Shen Dan ordered the people to send the good news back to the imperial capital, and the top officials of the empire were jubilant, praising Shen Dan's outstanding military achievements, and I am afraid that in the future, he will be able to obtain the title of His Majesty the Emperor and become a member of the nobles.
After hearing these news, Shen Shan was very proud, seeing that he was in his forties, and finally waited for such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and his future was bright.
After resting for a few days, Shen Dan led the 7th Fleet to set off again, preparing to pocket the last human colony in the War Horse Galaxy, Akahara, and then this counterinsurgency would be successfully over.
The distance of Akahara is relatively far, and it took the 7th Fleet nearly a week to reach the vicinity of Akabara, and at this time the fleet has been almost half a month away from Yueqiu.
It is impossible for the fleet to move in a stellar system, because it will be affected by the gravitational pull of the stars, and I don't know what the consequences will be, and it may jump directly to a place very far away from the target, which is very risky.
Therefore, in the star system, no matter what kind of ship, it can only honestly carry out conventional navigation. There is no way around it, and the current technology is already remarkable enough to be able to move from galaxy to galaxy, which was unimaginable before.
The Red Plains Star is smaller than Yueqiu and Arazuki, and its natural conditions are not as good as the former, so there are not many colonists here, and there are only three decent cities.
According to Shen Dan's plan, it would be enough to occupy Chiyuan for three or two days at most, and then he would return to Yueqiu and wait for the decision of the imperial higher-ups whether to let him stay in the War Horse Galaxy or let him return to the court.
Unlike the situation of Yueqiu and Arazuki, the rebels in Akahara did not have the ability to occupy the city, and since the rebellion broke out, they have been fighting for the city with the local army, and several cities have been messed up, but neither has been able to overwhelm the other.
Since the rebels in Akahara were all small forces scattered in the city, it was not realistic to use the air strike of the fleet, which would only completely destroy the already underdeveloped city.
Shen Dan's purpose was not to destroy the colony, maybe he would still be the master of these in the future, all he had to do was to drive the rebels out of the city.
Therefore, Shen Dan ordered the people to send ground troops to directly engage the rebels in urban warfare, and drive the rebels into the wilderness as much as possible.
In order to accomplish this goal as soon as possible, a large number of mechs were dropped on the ground, and the marines of the 7th Fleet relied on the superiority of the mechs to quickly defeat the rebels in the city and flee outside the city like a swarm.
"General, the battle in Chiyuan will probably end completely in a day or two, and now most of the rebels have withdrawn, except for some guerrillas who are still resisting in the city." The intelligence officer told Shen Order.
"Got it, then continue as planned, and send some more warplanes to bomb the rebel strongholds in the wilderness, and be sure to destroy them."
"Understood!"
"As long as it will be over in a day or two, it will be over quickly...... Shen Dan always feels a little unfinished after recalling this counterinsurgency war, like a delicacy that has just eaten two bites and is gone.
At this moment, the signal soldier suddenly came to Shen Dan in a panic and said very hesitantly: "Will ...... Checkmate...... I just received a battle report with something strange about it......"
"What's the content? Send it to me to see. Shen Shan said indifferently.
The signal soldier clicked a few times on his portable computer, and a document was transmitted to Shen Order, who clicked on the holographic projection interface and looked at it, and his eyes widened.
"What's going on?" Shen Dan grabbed the armrest of the chair with both hands, and his body trembled slightly.
His adjutant leaned over to take a look, and immediately opened his mouth wide in shock, and then muttered to himself, "How is this possible...... The rebels actually ......"
It turned out that the battle report was sent from Yueqiu, and the content was very simple, just a short paragraph: The rebels launched a counterattack, our army suffered heavy losses, please hurry up for reinforcements.
Shen Shan and the adjutant looked at each other, they couldn't believe what the war report said, and they even doubted that someone would break the information encryption in the army and deliberately send such a false information in order to disrupt the current military operation.
The adjutant said: "How do you look at this information, how do you feel suspicious, the rebels in Yueqiu have suffered such heavy losses, how can they launch a large-scale counterattack, and they don't have a fleet." ”
Shen Shan basically agreed with the adjutant's opinion, but as the commander of the fleet, he could not make hasty conclusions, and it had to be confirmed.
"Contact the fleet left in Yueqiu immediately, I want to listen to their face-to-face report!" Shen Shan ordered.
Ten minutes later, the signal corps finally contacted the fleet stationed in Yueqiu, and Li Quan, the captain of the Fire Eagle and the commander of the detachment, appeared in the holographic projection.
"Colonel Li Quan, what's going on, did you send this battle report?" Shen Shan asked sternly.
In the video, Li Quan looked panicked, and behind him, he saw the fleet officers running around, as if they were dealing with some emergency.
"The general is not good! We are under a massive attack by the rebels, and the fleet has suffered heavy losses, please allow us to temporarily evacuate the airspace of Yueqiu and go to other planets to rest and recuperate! Li Quanhuo shouted in a hurry.
"What! You say it again, what the hell is going on? Shen Shan stood up in a hurry.