Reginald? Admiral Ustinov commanded more than half of the ships of the "Hannibal" detachment of the Reich Central Fleet to fly at full speed in front, and Admiral Xu Hongzhao commanded the Bundeswehr expeditionary fleet to chase behind. [> Both sides maintain the highest reaction force propulsion speed of a human ship, one-half the speed of light.] Therefore, the distance between the two fleets will most likely remain constant by a million kilometers until they run out of energy.

Therefore, the 'female' general Ustinov expected that it would be impossible for the opponent to follow in vain, and that he had to find a way to keep him in a state of immediate dissociation in order to effectively attract the opponent and buy more time.

After a 'fine' calculation, the "black widow" Ustinov issued an order on the battleship "Scipio the Great":

"Slow down, a third of the speed of light! Get ready to steer! ”

The powerful opposite-direction rocket thruster erupted a blazing flame of hydrogen-oxygen combustion. The Imperial Cone rapidly slows down its flight speed.

As a result, the distance between the two sides also quickly decreased.

"Full speed ahead!" Ustinov again gave the order to accelerate.

With the strict computer interconnection control, the commander's orders are directly transmitted to each ship without the need for a herald, and the ship's computer is 'handed over' for execution. Therefore, the huge formation of fifteen hundred ships marched in unison and accelerated.

By the time the speed of the Imperial fleet stabilized at half the speed of light, the Federation forces behind were already catching up, and the distance was less than half a million kilometers.

The opponent's behavior made Xu Hongzhao aware of the risks posed to himself.

After quickly making a decision, Admiral Xu Hongzhao, who was on the battleship "Wu Qi", the general flagship, issued a decisive order: "Stop the pursuit!" Turn to 270 degrees! ”

The Wehrmacht expeditionary fleet, which was several times the enemy, soon turned to the left rear and left at high speed.

By the time the Imperial Army turned around again, the tail flame emitted by the Wehrmacht ship group had turned into a little starlight, and quickly disappeared into the ethereal space.

General Ustinov, realizing that his strategy had failed, hastened to issue a series of instructions:

"Order, spread out the formation, go to the speed of light, and return to the planet 'African'. Send a notification ship to inform the evacuation of the personnel of the 'Zama' space station, abandon the space station, notify the rest of the detachment, and return to the vicinity of the planet to defend. ”

She is well aware that the enemy forces have seized the initiative and may launch an offensive on the planet "Africa" at any time. In the inferior position of our own side, we must concentrate our forces as much as possible on key defenses. If the "Hannibal" fleet were united and fought to the death, even if the reinforcements did not arrive, it would be enough to inflict heavy losses on the enemy.

Xu Hongzhao was not as brave as Ustinov expected. Due to the rush of the expeditionary fleet's previous 10,000 light-years journey, and the strain of men and machinery was too severe, after breaking away from the enemy, he had to let the fleet spread out and enter the speed of light, and meet the logistics supply fleet in a predetermined space farther away. Admiral Xu decided to rest for 24 hours before heading straight to the planet "Africa".

He also knew in his heart that doing so would give the enemy a certain chance. But such an opportunity is only for the planet "African" and the fleet of "Hannibal". The unmanned notification ship flies to the planet "Iserlon" 3,000 light-years away at the speed of Akuberi, which is 5 million times the speed of light, and it takes a little more than five hours in theory, but in practice it takes at least a day. When the Imperial Army sent reinforcements from there, manned warships could only fly up to the speed of Akuberi at a speed of six levels, which consumed ten times as long as unmanned ships.

Therefore, there was plenty of time left for the expeditionary fleet. Since time permits, and since our own side has an absolute superiority in troops, there is naturally no need to rush to attack despite fatigue. Although a twenty-four-hour rest would be enough for the planet "Africa" to mobilize all its ground forces and reserves, and for the "Hannibal" fleet to concentrate on all its ships, it was still at a disadvantage in terms of strength.

At 18 o'clock on November 24, the eastern hemisphere of the planet "Africa" was in the morning, and the sun "Solomon" had just jumped out of the horizon. The alarm of war has spread throughout the planet. All militia and reservists between the ages of 16 and 50 were drafted. As a reserve officer, Lotta? Retired Major Stoldert, piloting an aerospace plane carrying 38 "female" and "sexual" reservists, facing the rising sun, flew into space.

On the "Stone Town" space station in synchronous orbit, they boarded an armed merchant ship "Wildebeest", and then joined the battle sequence of the "Hannibal" fleet to receive Reginald? Commander-in-chief of Admiral Ustinov.

In addition to the original 2,500 battleships, Ustinov was reinforced by nearly a thousand other reserve cruisers and armed merchant ships similar to the "Wildebeest". The number seems to be quite a lot, but the actual combat capabilities are doubtful. The general made up his mind to defend desperately, and transferred all the interstellar marines composed of 200,000 militia and reservists mobilized on the ground to the battleships in space, leaving not a single soldier on the ground. She and the provincial governor Victor? Jones agreed that if the "Han Niba" fleet was defeated in space, the governor would announce the surrender directly to the Bundeswehr in order to avoid the destruction of the planet's people and ecology by force.

Although the unmanned notification ship is controlled by an intelligent computer, it also seems to have some understanding of the current critical situation. The unmanned carrier "Hyacinth" 2008, which flew to the planet "Iserlon" to report the enemy's situation, started the maximum power of the Akuberi engine and rushed to the base camp of the Imperial Army. Along the way, when it changed to the speed of light for routine maintenance, it also constantly emitted a radio full of warning signals, warning civilian ships on nearby routes to take alternate routes to make way for Imperial reinforcements to advance quickly.

It took exactly 24 hours for the Hyacinth 2008 to finally send a report on the enemy situation to the planet Iserlon, and all the fleet commanders stationed nearby, including Jiang Ziyue, were informed. However, the commander of the Central Fleet, who is located in the Ground Border Fleet Command building, Blake? Admiral Karios, however, did not rush to give the order to attack, as expected.

When the planet "Africa" and the fleet of "Hannibal" were under great pressure from a strong enemy, "Alexander", "Charlemagne", "Attila" and "Mao" Zeze, who learned the details of the invasion of the enemy. The four detachments of the east, however, are still surrounding the planet Iserlon, showing no signs of being opened.

Jiang Ziyue was very puzzled by Karios's procrastination attitude, but his direct superior, "'Mao'? Vice Admiral Li Jingxian, commander of the East Fleet, told him in a bland tone:

"Your Excellency the Archon does not want to rush into the army."

"The enemy situation is now clear, and the planet 'African' and the 'Hannibal' detachment are under heavy pressure from the enemy, but we don't buy time to rush to reinforcements, why is that?" Jiang Ziyue looked very eager.

Li Jingxian smiled lightly and said, "I can't answer this question." If Marshal Bogodorff had been in charge of the Central Fleet, we would have fought a bloody battle with the enemy on the planet 'Africa'. However, General Karios is only an agent of the consuls, so you can go directly to the Holy Counsel. ”

Jiang Ziyue only then somewhat understood part of the purpose of Wang Zeren's rush to the planet Iserlon. According to the constitution, the consuls did not have direct command of the Central Fleet, but Blake? Karios obeyed him, and at this time he was completely obedient to his rule. Wang Zeren took advantage of this to successfully achieve his goal of controlling the Central Fleet.

But this is ultimately a maneuver on the part of the consul's own manoeuvre, and it does not conflict with the reaction that should be made in the current war situation. Whoever is in charge of the Central Fleet is in charge, the planet "Africa" is on the verge of collapse, and sending a fleet of reinforcements is an urgent and indisputable matter.

Jiang Ziyue followed Li Jingxian's advice, returned to the ground from space, and broke into General Karios's office.

Imperial Consul Wang Zeren and Central Fleet Commander Karios, as well as Wang Zeren's 'private' assistant Otto? Bateman, sipping oolong tea leisurely. As if they didn't know that the Federation army had invaded the "Solomon" star field, perhaps they didn't pay attention to the enemy's aggression at all.

After saluting, Jiang Ziyue immediately asked: "Your Excellency, please forgive me for my humble courage, the situation of the planet 'African' is dying, and such a delay is only afraid that the war will be delayed, and the Senate and the Roman people will suffer heavy losses." ”

Wang Zeren seemed to expect Jiang Ziyue to come to him, and said with a smile: "Don't worry, Colonel Jiang, General Karios and I, De? General Mazuran thinks that the real time to annihilate the enemy has not yet come, so we will sit back and wait for the changes. ”

"But the enemy is almost twice as large as the 'Hannibal' squadron, and if we do not immediately reinforce it, I am afraid that the situation will only become more unfavorable."

"Yes, we have to grieve the 'Hannibal' detachment and let them withstand the enemy's pressure first. But the army then arrived, and we were soon able to launch an unstoppable counterattack. "Wang Zeren has a 'chest', but the content of his words is very empty. At the end, he emphasized to Jiang Ziyue: "Colonel, what you have to do is to return to your post and be on call at any time, and I will decide whether to reinforce or not." ”

Jiang Ziyue felt unreasonable about his words, and said loudly: "Your Excellency's words are unconvincing. The situation is already very clear, and if no reinforcements are sent, the 'Hannibal' fleet will be in trouble, and the planet 'African' will also fall into the hands of the enemy. ”

"Go back to your post, Colonel Jiang. That's an order! Admiral Karios said solemnly.

As a soldier, Jiang Ziyue had no choice but to obey orders. He raised his right hand in salute, and then left the office with a furious face.

After he was gone, Karios cautiously asked, "Your Excellency, should we explain it to him?" ”

Wang Zeren asked rhetorically: "Do you think the colonel's 'sexual' personality will agree with our plan?" ”

"I don't think so." Karios replied with a shake of his head.

"In fact, with his current position, it doesn't matter if he agrees with it or not." Wang Zeren said coldly.

"Your Excellency, it is better than this. Anyway, Li Jingxian also asked Colonel Jiang to command all the cruisers of the 'Mao' fleet, so he asked him to lead the cruiser fleet to reinforce first. ”

"No need, Blake." Wang Zeren smiled, "His wife and Yue Zheng's family are still on the planet 'African', he must be in a hurry." I think Li Jingxian will mobilize him to disobey my orders. ”

At this time, Bateman, who had not spoken, said: "Your Excellency, I always think that this plan is too risky. ”

"Otto, the higher the risk, the greater the reward. We can't help it, since history has given us such a good opportunity, we can't miss it. ”

Wang Zeren stood up as he spoke, walked to the floor-to-ceiling glass window, and bathed in the brilliant light of the god of war, "Huizilo 'Bo' Chitley". In his field of vision, the "Bodhi Ye" aerospace plane is rapidly taking off, carrying Jiang Ziyue to space.

"General Kalios, send a notification ship and let General Ustinov preserve his strength as much as possible. In addition, send a notification ship to the Senate as planned, and it is time to play the march to "The Holy Dictator of the People". ”

When Jiang Ziyue returned to the "Siegfried", he had already 'spent' his precious two hours in vain. Not only himself, but also the four detachments of the Imperial Central Fleet around the planet "Iserlon" have also been "wavering" for two hours from the notification of "Hyacinth" 2008 to the present. If they had reacted at the beginning, they would probably have flown out of the sun sheath of the star "Huizilo 'Bo' Chitley" by now. But more seriously, they will continue to waste their time.

"What did Your Excellency the Archon say, Colonel Kang?" In the communication system, Li Jingxian asked with concern.

"He said that the time to destroy the enemy is not yet right, and he wants me to stick to my post." Jiang Ziyue replied disappointed and angry.

"I really didn't expect that as a retired general, the recipient of the Sword Oak Leaf Gold Caesar Medal and the Great Gold Double-headed Eagle Emblem, would say such a critical situation so easily."

Li Jing first sighed in a sad tone, but then he said in a rather understanding tone:

"However, I suppose His Excellency the Archon has his own reasons for doing this."

"His own reasons!?" Jiang Ziyue asked aggressively, "If there is no reinforcement in time, the 'Hannibal' detachment will be completely destroyed, the planet 'African' will also fall, the entire Senate and the Roman people will lose their vital granary, and the country's economic foundation will also be shaken." Could this be the reason for the consuls? ”

Li Jingxian smiled slightly and said, "Colonel Jiang, you are too 'excited'. Don't forget, your status today also has a lot to do with the promotion of the consuls. ”

"I am very 'excited' by his support for me, but now that the enemy is present, how can I abandon the righteousness?" Jiang Ziyue is righteous and awe-inspiring.

"Alright, I'll tell you the truth."

Li Jingxian's attitude and tone became very serious and solemn.

"When he arrived, I predicted that the enemy would probably attack the important planets of 'New Byzantium' or 'African,' and he could have deployed us to these places in advance. Even if the enemy is attacking some minor planets, we can calmly go to reinforcements. However, His Excellency the Consul did not do so, he was once one of Marshal Du Yimin's most capable subordinates, and he must not be unaware of the military stakes. But he kept us here for one purpose, one that would be of great importance to him personally. ”

"The purpose? His personal purpose? Jiang Ziyue asked puzzled.

"Yes." Li Jingxian nodded, "You should have heard of the 'dictator's farce' that happened at the regular meeting of the Senate in June last year." ”

"Dictator farce?"

Jiang Ziyue was confused. In fact, the so-called "dictator farce" is nothing more than a rumor circulating in the circles of conservative senators and the children of the high-ranking cadres of the planetary New Worship Chamber. How could an ordinary officer like Jiang Ziyue, who was far away from the center of power, know the content of the Senate meeting, which was regarded as a top secret. He didn't even know that his series of battles in the space attached to the interstellar planet "Yi" in April and May last year had strengthened Wang Zeren's steps toward becoming a dictator.

"Too? Child? Party? The party leader "had no choice but to explain to Jiang Ziyue, who was born as a commoner, that Wang Zeren's nomination of himself as dictator last year was rejected." Then he gave an incendiary 'sex' explanation of Wang Zeren's motive for not moving in the face of the critical situation:

"Now, the invasion of the enemy on the planet 'African' is a golden opportunity for Wang. Once the 'Hannibal' squadron is annihilated and the planet 'African' falls, the entire empire will be in extreme danger. Then, at this time, Wang nominated himself as dictator again, and the other elders may no longer have any reason to veto, and then they can only make the final decision according to his wishes, and he will implement the dictatorship. That is to say, when he learned that the Union forces were going to invade our country, he rushed to Iseron in order to preempt control of the Central Fleet as much as possible, and then to make the war unfavorable to us according to his will, thus paving the way for his personal ambitions. ”

Jiang Ziyue said in shock: "Then in this way, won't our army and our people have to shed blood and sacrifice for his ambition alone?" Didn't he climb to the throne of dictator by stepping on the bones of the people and their soldiers? ”

Li Jingxian saw that his words worked, so he no longer bothered too much, but said indifferently: "As the old saying goes: one will succeed and ten thousand bones will wither." Which commander did not step on the bones to reach the pinnacle of power. ”

Then the conversation changed and asked with concern: "Colonel Jiang, it seems that Mrs. Zun is also on the planet 'African', right?" ”

"Yes. But sir, I am in a hurry to go for reinforcements, not because I am depressed about my children's 'daughter' affection, let alone for personal 'selfishness', but purely out of judgment of the situation. Jiang Ziyue said solemnly, but he still had to admit frankly: "I'm really worried, and Lota is still a reserve officer, and she must have been involved in the 'fierce' battle at this time, and I, a regular soldier, have no reason to sit on the wall and watch from three thousand light years away." ”

Hearing his words, Li Jingxian was silent for a while, and said, "Colonel Jiang, let's not care about that careerist who is consumed by power and 'desire'. You led the cruiser fleet to set off first, and after I went to say hello to Wang, I immediately followed up. What do you think? ”