Volume 10, Chapter 76, The Ancient Number

"It's coming"

On the Unicorn-class battleship [Taikoo] of the Republic of Feiyang, all the officers and men stared closely at the Xiyo fleet that was gradually entering the range of the main guns, and held their breath.

10,000 kilometers from the front of the Central Theater of Operations, a huge group of more than 20,000 Western warships, like a giant * rolled up by a strong wind, pulled out a terrifying white line in the sky, and the black pressure surged.

"Ready to fight"

"Energy injection, main gun aiming, each in place"

The roar of Captain Liu Qing echoed in every corner of the battleship.

The Swire was part of the 194th Fleet of the 45th Group Fleet of Feiyang.

This is a Unicorn-class battleship built seven years ago and has participated in more than 40 battles to date. Such an age and number of battles can be regarded as a high-ranking veteran qualification even among the Feiyang Space Navy, which is full of warships. The battleships of her time either fought and were on duty day after day at home but never fired a single shot, and gradually grew old; Or they have already turned into meteors in the heat of battle.

And the Swire is still fighting. Since the outbreak of the war, this black [Unicorn] has not only not shown any old state, but has been overpowering in the competition with the improved battleships of [Unicorn II] and even the new generation of [Tomahawk]-class battleships with far superior technical performance to [Unicorns], firmly occupying one of the only two special battleships among the 20 battleships of the 194th Fleet.

This cannot but be said to be a miracle.

The miracle creator is called Liu Qing. The captain of the "Taikoo", the most respected and beloved commander of the 194th Fleet.

Liu Qing is a mixed race of Chakna and Kentai. He is a burly man with a generous red face.

As an officer who has grown up step by step from the grassroots level, Liu Qing took a total of 15 years to become the captain of the [Taikoo], which was listed as a special battleship by the 194th Fleet of the Feiyang Republic. During these 15 years, he served in the 194th Fleet except for two years when he was transferred to the Afflicensta Military Region as an operational staff officer and received further training.

From frigates to destroyers, and from cruisers to battleships, it can be said that this square-faced man, who is 1.9 meters tall and weighs more than 200 pounds, has done all positions in the space navy, and has also served as the captain of almost every old-fashioned new Feiyang warship.

In the eyes of many people, Liu Qing was born to be a captain and a good hand at leading troops to fight

He was experienced, agile and had a natural leadership that impressed officers and soldiers. He was the soul of the battleship [Taikoo], and in more than 40 life-and-death battles, it was the group of brothers who he brought everyone out of the brink of death again and again who followed him from birth to death, and loved and respected him in their hearts. If anyone dares to say a bad word about him behind his back and create a rumor, the officers and soldiers will be able to smash this person into pulp

If it weren't for him, the Swire would have been wiped out long ago.

With an excellent leader, the unity of the officers and men, and the tempering of dozens of battles, the combat effectiveness of the [Taikoo], an ordinary [Unicorn]-class battleship, is second to none in the fleet. Whether it is a drill or a competition, the officers and men of the [Taikoo] who have passed through the ghost gate more than 40 times have never been afraid of anyone.

The scene of them piloting the old-looking [Taikoo] and hitting the new [Tomahawk] all over the ground is not new to the entire 45th Group fleet

Among the 20 battleships of the 194th Fleet, this inconspicuous battleship was the leader. She and her strongest adversary and most trusted companion, the Tomahawk-class battleship Panda, lead the battleship cluster of the 194th Fleet. They are the most powerful firepower support fortress for the driving patrol group charging forward, and the strongest defensive barrier for the space carrier behind them

Although they have already experienced a hundred battles, at this moment, the palms of all the officers and soldiers, including the captain Liu Qing, have already sweated.

Compared with today's battles, the regional conflicts in which the [Swire] participated in the past, the Battle of the Carlston Galaxy, have become the play of kindergarten children.

"Slow down the formation, prepare for a salvo" With the shout of Captain Liu Qing, the thick ionic light flow of the stern thruster of the Taigu battleship suddenly contracted, and the steering thruster in the bow of the ship spewed out blue light like an electric welding gun in the opposite direction. The battleship sailing at high speed quickly reduced its speed from five to one at this moment, and the battleships that had been closely following her around her spread out to both wings at the same time like a dark cloud blown away by the wind.

The enemy in front of them is getting closer and closer, and the hearts of the officers and soldiers are beating faster and faster

The left-wing theater of operations has already taken the lead in the exchange of fire. The Phantom First Group Fleet in the bandit army is traveling at high speed in space more than 10,000 kilometers directly in front of the dark [Debos] star, and is strangling the oncoming Western Fleet.

The brightly lit warships are like glowing tropical fish in the deep sea. Endless artillery fire crisscrossed around them; Countless missiles pulled out a winding tail of smoke and scurried around the ship; The energy shield on the battleship is like a candle in the wind; One explosion after another made the entire airspace as bright as day.

The fighting was unprecedentedly fierce. Although it was only a strangulation between fourteen *-class fleets, the command of Hastings and Sober still dazzled every Filipino Alliance officer and soldier.

No one would have thought that ordinary wolf pack tactics could be so sharp and so changeable in the hands of commanders. No one thought that in this kind of almost chaotic battle group, the lines of the commanders on both sides were still so clear and the control was so strong.

In the starry sky, a Feiyang [Shark]-class cruiser and two [Lion Cub]-class destroyers circled from outside the left wing of the battle group.

The voyage of the three battleships allowed the two Binarte [Acura]-class cruisers to see an opportunity. The slender [Acura] cruiser quickly swung its tail and turned, drawing two parallel arcs in the air, biting the flanks of the three Feiyang battleships.

Just when they had already entered the attack position and were ready to fire, the four Feiyang [Lion Cub]-class destroyers, like sharks in the deep sea, surrounded them violently in an almost perfect four-corner ambush formation.

A trap

As if sensing something was wrong, the two [Acura] cruisers quickly gave up the attack, and the bow of the ship was slightly deflected, passing directly next to the attack position.

Without hesitation, they turned and accelerated like frightened fish, dodging the siege of the four [lion cubs] at the last moment.

Lure the enemy, besiege and kill, escape.

The change in an instant was only the beginning of a series of strangulations in this area.

At the same time that the two West Cruisers had just jumped out of the ambush circle, three identical [Acura]-class cruisers had already swam from the other end of the battle group to the attack position not far from the four [Lion Cubs]. Their firepower is far more powerful than that of destroyers, and it is simply fatal to the four [Lion Cub]-class destroyers.

However, the four [Lion Cubs] who had lost their targets were not flustered at all, they also staggered through the center of the battlefield, and through a double U-shaped coordination, they quickly turned the bow of the ship, and together with the two [Shark II] class cruisers and one [Lion Cub] class destroyer that came up from the side, they formed a local strength advantage over the three [Acura] cruisers, forcing the three Acura to abandon the attack and instead seek to join the other Western Covenant warships.

On the big screen, the two sides are like a school of fish, coming and going in this water.

The whole confrontation took only a few minutes. From the beginning of the two [Acura] cruisers targeting the three battleships of Fei Yang to the end of the evasion of the three [Acura] cruisers, the protagonist changes one after another. The changes are lightning fast and dazzling. Although not a single shot was fired from beginning to end, the hidden killing machine in it was more terrifying and thrilling than the main gun salvo of the battleship cluster

The officers and men of the [Swire] had only one thought in their minds - fortunately there was Hastings

Had it not been for Hastings in command, I am afraid that no commander would have been a match for Sober. Only when you actually play against Sober do you know how terrifying the second-best person on the list of famous players is

Only Hastings can go toe-to-toe with a master like Sober in such a battle, and even overwhelm him

The course of the battle on the left flank was ahead of the central and right flank theaters of operations. After the Phantom First Group Fleet took the lead in meeting the enemy, as more bandit warships plunged into the enemy from the side of [Deimos], the left flank theater was about to enter the [stalemate] stage

At the same time, the central theater where the [Taikoo] is located and the right flank theater guarded by the Ryan fleet are also about to come into contact with the enemy. From the left to the [Volcanic Star] to the right to a Z-shaped asteroid belt in the Twin Star Corner Corridor, countless warships are like giants walking in the same row in the opposite direction, rushing and surging.

The rapid electronic sound of "beep" sounded on the tactical computer of Major General Liu Qing's command seat.

"The main gun is ready, and the salvo countdown is ten, nine, eight"

The sound of the countdown made the atmosphere of the entire battleship tense to the point of frozen. The officers and soldiers, whose palms were already covered with sweat, only felt that their heartbeats were almost out of their throats.

"Fire"

With the order of Captain Liu Qing, a piercing scream swept through the corridors, pipes, ceilings, and walls of the battleship Taikoo, and jumped from the stern to the bow When the scream gradually sank down in the bow, the entire battleship shook violently. The energy main gun in front of the bridge emitted a devastating white light, which converged into the light cluster of the main gun fired by the friendly ship at the same time, and collided with the enemy ship group at a distance of less than 8,000 kilometers.

At the same time, the opponent's battleship main array also erupted with a burst of intense white light at the same time.

"Left rudder 500 ticks, sinking rapidly"

Liu Qing's face flickered in the red light of the alarm on the tactical computer screen, and he roared loudly, the tip of his nose already dripping with sweat.

The 194th Fleet, where the battleship Taikoo was located, was located in the central forward position of the first ship group in the Central Theater. In this group of battleships where the [Taikoo] is located, in addition to the twenty battleships of the 194th fleet, there are another forty battleships of other fleets. A total of sixty battleships formed a salvo formation in the shape of an umbrella.

The Umbrella Array is a variant of the Conical Assault Formation, commonly used in battleship fleets.

Because in space, the main means of attack of battleships was to rely on huge firepower for long-range salvos. Therefore, keeping the bow of each battleship unobstructed between the enemy and the energy cannons fired by each ship at the same time can be concentrated together to exert greater power is the most basic requirement for battleships to attack from a distance.

However, most battleship attack formations that are grouped together in order to maintain concentrated firepower have a fatal flaw, that is, in the event of an enemy attack, there is no extra space between the battleship and the battleship for emergency evasion. Therefore, among the many battleship main formations, the umbrella formation changed from the cone-shaped assault array has become the favorite formation of the battleship main formation of most fleets.

The umbrella array was spread wider than the cone, and the battleships were staggered back and forth, but the bow of the ship remained in a uniform orientation.

When attacking, each ship only needs to slightly adjust the bow according to the distance of the target, and it can maintain the coordination and convergence of firepower like the light focused by a magnifying glass. And when attacked, because they are staggered from each other, there is also plenty of room to dodge.

The main battleship main formation where the [Taikoo] was located was only one of the eight "big umbrellas" in the central theater.

This is a very scary statistic. You must know that in the battles that Liu Qing has experienced, four "umbrellas" are already the limit. The salvo firepower of an "umbrella", if all hit, is enough to wipe out five space carriers or dozens of battleship-level warships below the level in an instant

However, in the oncoming fleet of the Western Covenant, there were a full twelve of the same large umbrellas

Not to mention that the establishment of the *-class fleet of the Western Covenant is originally larger than that of the Filipino alliance, even if the establishment is the same, it is also a terrifying group of more than 700 battleships, and the energy cannon light they fire, as long as it rubs a little, it will be a catastrophe

As the enemy salvo was launched, the battleship's locked alarm began to screech rapidly. The energy monitoring concentration table in front of Liu Qing directly broke through the warning area. The violent energy that filled the universe made every cold hair on Liu Qing's body stand up with a premonition of danger.

The Swire sped towards the airspace below with the sound of cacophony sirens and swirling red light, and the other battleships around it were also taking evasive measures.

One second, two seconds, Liu Qing and the officers and soldiers of the Taikoo all held their breath.

As the enemy's energy cannon burst out of the muzzle and into the universe, the distance became closer and closer, and Skynet finally tracked the trajectory. Three red lock-on frames lock on to the three most threatening energy projectiles. The sound of alarms to evade warnings and anticipate the location of damage is becoming more rapid and piercing.

"Hurry up" Liu Qing muttered in his mouth, his eyes staring at the three red cursors on the tactical computer, getting closer and closer to the battleship.

The first shot, the threat is eliminated

The second shot, the threat is eliminated

The third shot was a huge white light, magnified outside the porthole of the battleship, swallowing everyone's vision. Immediately, the battleship trembled violently after a loud bang, and many officers and men were shaken to the ground.

"The sixth sector on the port side is damaged, the strength of the armor has been reduced by 65 percent, and the second and sixth guns have been damaged," the electronic tone of the battleship's computer hurriedly reported the automatic detection.

Liu Qing, who was desperately holding on to the handrail so that he was not thrown out, didn't have time to rejoice, but he saw outside the porthole, a [Unicorn]-class battleship trying to evade to the left was first broken up by two energy cannons one after another, and then randomly by the third and fourth energy cannons, piercing its bow and the bottom of the central bridge.

No one can put into words what is outside the porthole.

After losing the energy shield, the [Unicorn] battleship's huge body and solid armor were powerless to resist under the meteor-like terrifying light cluster. Two white meteors tore through the starboard hull of a battleship as easily as a piece of paper, then pierced straight through the hull, and then broke through the port hull armor and rushed into space.

A moment later, a violent explosion swept through the battleship. Looking from the position where the Taikoo was located, everyone could even clearly see the desperate officers and soldiers running in the porthole of the battleship, churning the flames of conflict.

Liu Qing gritted his teeth.

The battleship in front of him is called "Spark", which is also a very famous battleship in the 194th fleet, which was once broken alone in the battle of the Carlston Galaxy, and finally returned to the base with a bridge that was almost half collapsed. Be greeted with heroic cheers. When it came down from the repair dock and returned to the array of the 194th Fleet, everyone thought that it was a battleship that would not be destroyed

And now, the [Spark], which had just been repaired, had completely disintegrated with the violent detonation. The broken hull floated past the porthole of the Prime.

The alarm in my ears was ringing rapidly.

The person in charge of damage management who rushed to the damaged area was reporting the situation loudly in the communication channel.

Liu Qing shook his head and stood up straight with red eyes.

Outside the portholes, battleships that had dodged deadly attacks readjusted their bows and maintained their formation. Ahead, thousands of destroyers and cruisers had already crossed the line and galloped against the enemy fleet that was rushing in with great momentum.

"Combat"

Liu Qing drank wildly

When the battleship in the central theater with the [Taikoo] painted on its bow realigned its bow in the light of the explosion of another battleship next to it, and advanced forward with the giant whale-like battleships of Feiyang, the photographer zoomed out the camera.

The entire Twin Stars Corridor has been in full swing.

Left wing, center, right wing.

The fleets of the two sides, like two flocks of crazy bulls, collided fiercely.

There was no crashing sound, no flying dust. Some are just endless cannon lights and explosions, just silently twisted and shattered steel hulls

They knew that the battle had broken out in full force with the end of Hastings and Sober's brief temptation.

The first stage has passed, and the subsequent battles will enter the bloody and tragic second stage.

In the battle of the Space Fleet, the second stage is named [Stalemate]. It's a name that doesn't smell like war. And hidden under this name is another, more figurative name - meat grinder

At this stage, both sides will continue to invest their forces, annihilate the enemy's living forces in the most ferocious way, and accumulate advantages in the battle little by little. to defeat the opponent in the end.

No one knows how long this phase will last. There have been battles in history in which two fleets fought for more than ten days in a stalemate phase, and finally fought until only a few battleships with all ammunition and food were left to retreat.

In that battle, even the combat duty of the battleships was rotated in multiple shifts, and the officers and men who survived were completely deformed. After all, ten days of non-stop high-intensity fighting is enough to make anyone have a mental breakdown

Sophie's gaze left the camera lens and looked towards the podium.

As the battle erupted across the lines and more fleets engaged, Hastings was much busier than ever. And the fat man, sitting beside him, watched intently at every detail of his command, and listened to every command he gave him.

The figures of an old man and a young man flickered in the flickering light of the screen