As the only fleet commander capable of defending the "New Byzantium", the capital of the New Roman Empire, in the short term, Jiang Ziyue's goal is simple and clear, to hold the "New Byzantium", but the means he adopts are not to fight against a strong enemy, but to hide himself in the shadows, so that the enemy cannot figure out his strength and intentions.

Therefore, when the "Zheng He" fleet abandoned the planet "Arthurgard" and withdrew to the heliosphary of the "Himalayas," the main star of "New Byzantium," Jiang Ziyue immediately ordered the fleet to sail close to the blazing "Himalaya" star and patrol its coronal periphery under the extremely dangerous high heat and high radiation solar wind.

In this way, the faint gravitational characteristics of nearly a thousand warships are obscured by the strong gravitational field of the star, and coupled with the influence of the strong solar wind, it is not easy to detect.

In the battle of the "Aegis" star field, the destruction of the three flagships of the Central Fleet made Jiang Ziyue also suspicious of the security of the Senate and the Privy Council itself, so he has not directly communicated with the Senate and the Archons to prevent his campaign attempts from leaking.

At the same time, to cut himself off from the Senate and the consuls in this way was to give him full freedom of action, and not to be bound by the orders of the senate and the consuls for political rather than military reasons.

All unmanned reconnaissance ships and notification ships sent out have been specially encrypted to prevent anyone from revealing their location, including their own people.

When the news of the fall of the planet "Arthurgard" came: the officers and men of the "Zheng He" fleet enthusiastically demanded to fight and recapture, but Jiang Ziyue was still under the pressure of his subordinates and strictly ordered not to act rashly, Jiang Ziyue was full of confidence in his own arrangements, and what he wanted was to let time wear off the sharpness of the "Robb" task force, and then make it retreat without a fight.

Jiang Ziyue and the "Zheng He" fleet did not come to counterattack under the pressure of the Senate, but the unmanned reconnaissance ships sent out could not even find their traces, and the "New Byzantine" side could not find any large-scale imperial fleet.

Although it had occupied the planet "Arthurgard", the "Robb" task force itself was alone: Operation "Turnip" had been withdrawn and lacked backup, so it could not last, and the new Roman Empire did not make any counterattack posture, indicating that it had made the choice to give up its car to protect the commander.

In this way, the military occupation of "Arthurgard" has lost its significance, and Robb and his task force are facing a fork in the road:

One is to continue to occupy the planet "Arthurgard", but as time passes, the fleets of all sides of the empire will return to defense, and in the end they will be forced to retreat, and it is likely to be besieged and annihilated; The second is to retreat back to the country immediately, but it is a pity to give up the planet "Arthurgard" so easily; The last way is to immediately launch an attack on the planet "New Byzantium" and lure Jiang Ziyue into a decisive battle with the "Zheng He" fleet.

In terms of troop strength, the "Robb" task force has a significant advantage over the "Zheng He" fleet, and if a decisive battle is launched, there is still a considerable chance of victory, once the "Zheng He" fleet is destroyed, Robb can go to another city, capture the "New Byzantium" planet, and achieve the previous set goal.

Therefore, the enterprising Robb did not hesitate to choose the third path.

On May 4, 2920 UTC, the "Robb" task force, consisting of 200 battleships and 1,000 cruisers, entered the "Cerberus" system composed of three stars, "Himalayas", "Kilimanjaro" and "Alps", aiming at the "New Byzantium", the imperial eagle's nest.

The memory of the large-scale invasion of the Federation fleet in 2890 is still fresh in the memory, and the panic caused by the officials and citizens of the empire on the planet "New Byzantium" in the face of such a close enemy: can be imagined.

At the moment of crisis, a fleet of nearly 1,000 cruisers burst out of the dazzling light of the stellar Himalayas and attacked the invading Federation fleet.

The plan could never catch up with the change, and Jiang Ziyue and the "Zheng He" fleet, who were originally trying to avoid the war, now had to go all out into the battle and attack the invading Perseus Federation "Robb" task force.

At about thirteen o'clock on May 5, two heroes who had shocked the human world with their tactical innovations in the past interstellar wars led the fleet to face off.

However, the form in which they went to war was unusually conservative.

Half an astronomical unit away: The "Zheng He" fleet arranged a cone-shaped attack formation at a distance of about 20,000 kilometers, and each ship rushed to the "Robb" task force fleet advancing in an irregular spiral manner.

Luo Bo decisively ordered to change the formation, with the flagship battleship "Chiyou" charging at the forefront as the core, and the rear of the entire conical formation quickly opened and moved forward, so that the entire fleet was like an umbrella that quickly opened and reversed, covering the attacking "Zheng He" fleet.

In order to reduce the impact of the "space storm" that the other side may launch, the ships of both sides are very far apart, making the formation appear loose, but the lasers, particle beams, and kinetic energy ammunition are still sent out at a distance of 300,000 kilometers as scheduled.

Thousands of dead lights intertwined, cutting through the silence of the universe and bursting out countless dazzling flashes.

After the first salvo, the "Robb" task force immediately slowed down to one-tenth of the speed of light, but the "Zheng He" fleet still rushed towards the opponent's umbrella array at nearly one-half of the speed of light, which allowed the "Robb" task force, which had the advantage of strength and formation, to give full play to its fire-gathering specialty.

However, the "Zheng He" fleet preemptively launched a second salvo, and the cone array radiated scattered firepower to attack all parts of the Federation umbrella array.

Not to be outdone, the task force "Robb" hastened to launch a second salvo, but? When the firepower was issued, the opponent had already begun to spread out in formation.

On the hologram of the "Chiyou" tactical command center, the cone-shaped formation of the "Zheng He" fleet was like a corn cob that had exploded, and the ships followed the artillery fire that had just been issued, and they rushed straight forward.

"Full speed ahead!" Robb shouted without thinking.

After the order was given, he muttered in a low voice: "This guy is really insidious!" ”

The flagship "Chiyou" immediately activated all the main thrusters, sprayed dazzling light, and accelerated forward, and the other warships followed suit, and the entire umbrella array quickly accelerated forward.

In the blink of an eye, the scattered "Zheng He" fleet and the "Robb" task force fleet staggered, and the Imperial Army cruiser was like a volcano that suddenly erupted, throwing a large amount of directional energy and kinetic energy ammunition at the Federation warships passing by.

Fortunately, Robb ordered the fleet to accelerate in time, making it difficult to aim at the opponent's melee slams, reducing the effectiveness of its attack.

Before the Bundeswehr ships could counterattack, the Imperial cruisers passed through the umbrella formation, each activated the "Akuberi" engine, entered the speed of light, and broke away from the battle.

Short and fast, that is, hit and leave.

This battle can be described as a model of Jiang's high-mobility troops.

After this round of heavy attacks, both sides lost more than 10 cruisers, and in terms of strength alone, if the opponent was dragged into a melee, it would only allow the "Zheng He" fleet, which was weaker in number and firepower, to be exhausted before the opponent, and of course, at that time, the "Robb" task force also lost most of its ships and was unable to maintain a cruising battle behind enemy lines.

Therefore, Jiang Ziyue adopted this tactic of high mobility and short contact, in order to drag the opponent until he was exhausted and then hit hard.

Therefore, the "Zheng He" fleet did not go far, they broke away from the battle at the speed of the "Akuberi" three levels, and only a second later changed the speed of light in the space of one astronomical unit behind the "Robb" task force, and then regrouped, arranged the ship formation, and prepared for another battle.

Knowing that the opponent had no intention of completely retreating, Robb immediately ordered the ship formation to turn and assume a posture of resuming the battle, while new combat orders and deployment plans were communicated to the warships through laser communications.

Very, Jiang Liyue led the "Zheng He" fleet to kill again.

The two sides repeated the battle they had just started, but after firing the first salvo at each other, Task Force Robb did not slow down, but continued to accelerate and break up the umbrella formation.

The warships of both armies fired at each other at the same time as they staggered, and then fired the "Akuberi" engines almost simultaneously, entering the speed of light in opposite directions and leaving the battle.

However, the warships of the "Robb" task force did not immediately assemble after changing to the speed of light, but adjusted their course and re-entered the speed of light, judging by the direction of their flight, and the target was directly aimed at the planet "New Byzantium".

After Jiang Ziyue received the report of the unmanned reconnaissance ship, he immediately led the fleet to pursue it at a higher speed of "Akuberi".

As a result, the two fleets entered and changed to a faster-than-light state one after the other, rapidly approaching the planet "New Byzantium".

The airspace near the planet "New Byzantium" was interrupted by busy commercial voyages, and a large number of civilian ships were forced to suspend or even return to the space station.

And the Senate of the New Roman Empire, which was on the ground, finally learned the location of Jiang Ziyue and the "Zheng He" fleet, and hurriedly sent an unmanned notification ship to convey the order.

Jiang Ziyue didn't have time to pay attention to the instructions of the Senate, he was most worried about the "Robb" task force running in front of him, which might be like a mad wild dog in the heart of the empire.

In other words, another commander may seize this opportunity to go deep into enemy territory and carry out large-scale destruction without hesitation, and reap the best possible military merits.

Like his subordinate Scati? Tiassi suggested to Robo: "Sir, the enemy cannot catch up with us, so why don't we take the opportunity to destroy their facilities around the planet 'New Byzantium'?" ”

"Skati, can we still bombard the planet 'Neo-Byzantine'?" Robb continued her words: "It's a pity that I don't want the bones of innocent civilians, it's my pursuit to surrender without a fight!" ”

Robb did not take the opportunity to carry out any sabotage operations, he had already seized the initiative, and now he was pursuing a complete victory, a victory that could peacefully enter the other center of the Perseus Spiral Arm interstellar human world: the "New Byzantine" planet.

When the "Robo" task force passed over the planet "New Byzantium", Jiang Ziyue ordered to stop the pursuit, and instead placed the "Zheng He" fleet near the planetary synchronous orbit of "New Byzantium".

But? Task Force "Robb" did not run away, but flew straight to the star "Himalayas".

Robb and his Commonwealth Wehrmacht officers and men displayed astonishing calculations and flight control, and the last time they went faster, the ships were just at the outermost periphery of the Himalayan stellar corona: the Robb task force quickly formed and turned to rearrange an umbrella formation.

At this time, Jiang Ziyue realized that the opponent had made careful arrangements.

Backed by the blazing Himalayan star: Task Force Robb is calmly holding its battle formation, with the eerie figure of the giant gas planet Helen about an astronomical unit on one side, and the planet Neo-Byzantium slowly orbiting in the distance, nearly 30 astronomical units away.

If Robb wanted to, he could bombard the surface of the planet "New Byzantium", which could not change its orbit.

And because the star "Himalayas" with strong gravity behind it makes it impossible for the opponent to launch a surprise attack from behind, so in terms of the current situation, the Imperial Army can only attack it from the front or above or below the ecliptic plane of the "Himalaya" star.

Jiang Ziyue did not choose to attack immediately, and the disadvantage of his troops and the advantages and disadvantages of his opponent who could attack the "new Byzantine" planet at any time forced him to adopt a more conservative strategy.

He transferred the fleet to the sunny side of the planet "New Byzantium", calculated the advance amount of enemy artillery according to the planet's rotation speed and the distance between friend and foe, deployed it, and synchronized with the planet's revolution, so as to use his fleet as a meat shield to block the enemy's artillery fire path.

Keeping the planet "New Byzantium" safe is equivalent to protecting the Senate and the Roman people, which Jiang Ziyue is clearer and more resolute than anyone else.

But so far, there was only so much he could do, and now, neither he nor his subordinates had found that there seemed to be no effective solution to the despicable practice of the "Robb" task force to "kidnap" the "Himalaya" planet.

When anxiety and confusion are intertwined, a small spaceship painted with compasses and ruler signs changes to the speed of light and breaks through the sky, this is the scientific research ship "Qin Tianjian" 404 under the Senate and the Roman People's Academy of Sciences, this inconspicuous ship has been shouldering an extremely important task, "Tian Zaidan" imperial scientific research project, that is, monitoring the "Himalaya" star and the restless "Helen" giant planet, and leading twelve other specialized small space stations, a hundred artificial satellites to guard the whole hidden huge danger " Cerberus "three-headed dog system."

Before Jiang Ziyue led his troops back to defend the "New Byzantine" planet: "Qin Tianjian" 404 had been patrolling the outer corona of the star "Himalayas": after the "Zheng He" fleet approached the "Himalayas", it once issued an evasion warning to it, but "Qin Tianjian" 404 did not leave, and continued to patrol the stars in the predetermined orbit until the "Robb" task force of the Immortal Star Federation approached the star, and she did not leave and came to "New Byzantium".

The "Qin Tianjian" 404 is a nearly 100-year-old ship, but now it is under the command of a young female scientist, Dr. Cai Lili, who is also the director and captain of the "Tian Zaidan" project, is another young academician of the Imperial Academy of Sciences with both intelligence and beauty after Chen Weiyin.

When Dr. Cai Lili's hologram appeared on the bridge of the "Siegfried", everyone looked sideways, but the goddess came with a disturbing message:

"Colonel Jiang, the 'Himalaya' star is becoming more and more unstable, and there will be a large explosion near the sunspot region near the equator in the eastern hemisphere within twenty-four hours of the future wind, and it is very likely that there will be a flare of unprecedented scale and a large amount of material will be projected into space!"

Through the simultaneous transmission of computer simulations via instant messaging, participants in the communication can see the possibility of an upcoming solar eruption in the future.

This is bad news for everyone, as a strong solar flare not only directly affects the fleet's safety, but also poses a serious threat to the planet "New Byzantium", which they are desperately defending.

However, the Imperial Commander Jiang Ziyue was surprisingly calm, and he asked, "Dr. Cai, how sure are you about the accuracy of this Great Flare Prediction!"

"Ninety out of nine, Commander Jiang!" Cai's tone sounded proud, but her expression was quite worried, and like other scientists, she was ambivalent about her ability to accurately discern the signs of disaster.

"We have sent a notification ship to the 'New Byzantium' to call the police......"

"Dr. Cai, thank you for your timely report!" Jiang Ziyue interrupted her: "I have a plan to destroy the invading enemy and reduce the damage to our planet from the solar ejection material, but I need your help!" ”

Cai Lili did not respond immediately, she seemed quite hesitant, even hesitant, like many civil scientists in the New Roman Empire, she had always thought that the war was quite far away from her, but now she was faced with the choice of directly participating in the war.

After a long time, she asked rhetorically, "Colonel Jiang, can I refuse your request?"

"This is not a request, Dr. Cai!" Jiang Ziyue replied resolutely: "This is an order, the Roman people are obliged to assist the army under the Senate to resist the invaders during the war!" ”

Faced with Jiang Ziyue's strong request, Cai Lili responded with a little thought: "Okay! Colonel, what do you need me to do? ”

Her tone was quite displeased, and anyone could hear the reluctance.

"Dr. Cai, as I just said, my strategy is to destroy the enemy while reducing the damage of the solar flare to the 'New Byzantine' planet and this system!" Jiang Ziyue repeated his purpose in a calm tone.

This somewhat made Cai Lili's dissatisfied heart a little suddenly.

"Colonel Jiang, then what do you say we should do!"

"I need the detailed data of the solar flare you predicted, and I also want to make a scientific assessment of the next combat deployment of our fleet in line with the recent astronomical environment, and my battle plan is called 'Killing of the Sun'!"

Subsequently, in the process of highly encrypted communication, Cai Lili finally saw the terrifying imagination and creativity of the man in front of her, who was praised as an ancient genius by the imperial propaganda official, and was deeply shocked by his unrestrained battle plan.