In the face of Lota Staudett deliberately raising such a question of "private" and "sexual" nature in the public communication channel, Jiang Ziyue was keenly aware of the other party's motives. (Reprinted in this book 1(6)K Literature Network .(1)М)

But he hastened to say, "I will report to Your Excellency the Archon and award you the Golden Order of Caesar." ”

For Jiang Ziyue, who has twice won the Golden Order of Caesar, the highest honor of New Rome, this sentence is equivalent to transforming the other party's original "private" position into official content.

Captain Lota Stoldt, however, did not seem to want to buy it, and ignored his superiors' efforts to avoid embarrassment in front of his subordinates, saying, "I don't want that." ”

As soon as these words came out, the members of both the "Siegfried" and the "Nezha" bridge invariably exclaimed. During the war, I didn't expect Lota to take the opportunity to show her love.

"Alright, Captain Stoldt, let's set out as soon as possible and attack while the enemy is still in chaos. If it is delayed any longer, I am afraid that the fighter plane will be delayed. Jiang Ziyue stopped the other party's signs of taking advice as an emotional condition in time, but he then added: "When we successfully complete the goal of delaying the enemy's battleship group, I will satisfy you." ”

Once again, there was a surprise and suppressed sigh from his subordinates in the public communication channel. Being able to witness the strange love of this bald man and woman in the process of life and death is also a pretty good spice for their subordinates.

"Thank you, sir!" Lota happily responded.

As soon as the conversation ended, Lieutenant Benjamin Alfrec, the navigator of the cruiser "Siegfried", immediately raised his tone of excitement and said: "Sir, your last sentence is so unbelievable that it is not an easy task to satisfy a 'woman', especially a 'female' with a lot of 'fine' strength like Captain Stoldt. ”

"That's enough, Lieutenant Alfryck." First Mate Captain Joseph Dietrich drank in disgust the merry and presumptuous navigator.

"Now is not the time to talk about this, prepare to attack the enemy with all your might." Jiang Ziyue said solemnly, "Send all the unmanned reconnaissance ships to 'figure out' the enemy's situation as soon as possible." We want to show our majesty again! As he spoke, he got busy in his seat, inputting and arranging formations on the sensing image, and deploying the combat arrangements after changing to the speed of light.

"Yes, sir!" The members of the bridge responded in unison, their voices full of confidence and excitement.

Since its departure in April, the officers and men of the "Siegfried" have personally participated in and witnessed their commanders, and time and again they have created combat miracles with unimaginable space storm tactics. Although this new tactic is now regarded by many high-ranking generals on both sides of the 'warring' as a sideline, it is an unprecedented feat in the eyes of such grassroots officers and men.

Not only the members of the flagship have this thought, but the officers and men of the entire cruiser fleet have also developed a sense of respect for their commander Jiang Ziyue. Especially those officers and soldiers who joined the task force in April, Jiang Ziyue is in their hearts a genius who can always fight big with small and win more with less. At least looking at the results of all the fleets under Jiang Ziyue's independent command so far, the officers and men have every reason to worship their commanders.

At the suggestion of Captain Lota Stoldt, Major Jiang Ziyue commanded the cruiser fleet of the New Roman Imperial Army, and after the reconnaissance ship sent back a report on the enemy situation, he quickly dispersed once again and entered the speed of light, pursuing the Federation battleship group that had been blown apart by the space storm they had launched earlier.

The battleship group of the 13th Fleet of the Federation Army, which was hit by the space storm, was still in a deep state of 'chaos' and 'chaos' at this time. The warship's out-of-control state was not restored because of the disappearance of the space 'wave', on the contrary, under the strong inertia, it continued to flip and roll irregularly, and some even collided. The officers and men of the Bundeswehr tried their best, but it was difficult for them to quickly stabilize the posture of the battleship. Nearly 700 huge battleships were scattered in the vast space, like large areas of dead leaves drifting with the 'waves'.

The Imperial cruiser smoothly crossed the space of ten astronomical units at the speed of the third rank of Akuberi, and appeared in front of these battleships that looked like headless flies at a distance of only nearly a thousand kilometers.

"Free 'shooting' shot! Destroy the enemy! "Jiang Ziyue's 'excited' order came from the communication system.

Imperial cruisers were grouped in groups of eighteen to twenty ships, and concentrated on attacking a Federation battleship nearby. In peacetime, a battleship could calmly cope with the siege of a group of cruisers. But now, the out-of-control battleship is like an overdrawn killer whale, besieged by a ferocious shark swarm. In the midst of the dense 'crossfire' firepower, the ten Federation battleships were bathed in dazzling light and continued to roll and move along their original course at extremely high speeds.

The scene of the battlefield was one-sided, only the cruisers of the Imperial Army were unilaterally firing with all their might. But the one-sided picture did not translate into a one-sided situation. The firepower of the Imperial cruiser cluster was not strong enough to quickly annihilate the target, so they had to desperately 'shoot' it.

The strong protection of the Union battleships prevented them from being destroyed by the opponent with a single blow, but the loss of control could not be stopped in time, and the Imperial army could only pour firepower without even launching a counterattack.

After a volley of fire of more than ten or twenty, the Imperial Army completely destroyed the first batch of target ten Federation battleships and turned their guns to the other ten.

Over time, the losses of the Union battleship group gradually increased at a rate of about ten.

Seeing that his new battleships, which numbered far more than 600, were helpless by a group of cruisers with less than 200 ships, Henning Geisler's heart was cut like a knife. The destruction of the ship group in such an orderly manner in the midst of loss of control and 'chaos' is simply receiving the ancient Chinese torture of "Ling Chi".

The general anxiously urged his men on the radio to stabilize the battleship as soon as possible and launch a counterattack. However, the inertia caused by the disorderly and powerful space storm was not something that could be solved by his orders. In desperation, the Federation officers and men could only manipulate the ship's attitude control systems, hoping that good design and manufacturing processes would minimize the effects of natural power.

It was not until more than 50 Federation battleships were damaged under the guns of the Imperial Army cruisers that the battleship "Ushakov" finally took the lead in regaining stability, and immediately turned the bow of the ship and fired thousands of dazzling shots at the Imperial Army. General Geisler's flagship, the "Young Willy", followed closely behind, and also launched a counterattack. Subsequently, more and more battleships regained control and joined the counterattack.

Jiang Ziyue saw that the balance of the situation had begun to tilt in favor of the imperial army, and immediately issued instructions: "Give the order, spread the formation, and retreat." ”

"Sir, let's hold on a little longer. The enemy's fire was not yet very strong. Dietrich pleaded, his tone filled with triumphant excitement. The surprisingly smooth battle just now made him and even the other officers and men excited.

"Retreat. We've had enough, Joseph. Jiang Ziyue said resolutely, "Less than 200 cruisers destroyed more than 50 battleships of the opponent in less than 20 minutes, as if there is no precedent." ”

"yes, we've done miracles." Even Alfrec, who had always been interested only in 'women', cried out 'excitedly'.

Jiang Ziyue was not as optimistic and excited as his subordinates, and he understood very well that the tactics of delaying the enemy were not too successful. The formation of the opponent who is recovering is too loose, and launching a space storm again can achieve sufficient effect. We must now hurry to disengage, otherwise we will be vulnerable to the devastating 'sexual' blows of a powerful adversary.

So he urged, "Then retreat quickly." Now it's too late to return the whole body. ”

Under the urging of the commander, the Imperial Cruiser quickly disbanded its clusters and accelerated into the depths of space in the face of increasingly fierce Federation fire. Then the Akuberi engine was 'excited', entered the speed of light, and broke away from the battlefield.

Ten astronomical units away, in the space close to the interstellar planet "Yi", the great 'scuffle' battle between the Imperial Army's "Cyrus" fleet and the third detachment of the Federation Army's 13th Fleet has reached a white-hot level.

The stalemate battlefield is like a huge 'meat' machine, ruthlessly dragging the soldiers in it into a reamer composed of directional energy, kinetic energy bullet 'medicine', and ceramic alloys, and entering the decomposition of crushing 'sex'.

The news of the heroic death of the commander of the fleet, Admiral Mohammad Ahmat, in the battle of the shipwharf, had spread throughout the fleet, but Vice Admiral Ivan Yefimovich Ignatiev, who took over the command, did not intend to withdraw from the battle. In fact, it is by no means an easy task to quickly and effectively retreat and get out of battle in a situation of complete stalemate with the enemy. The slightest carelessness can turn into a catastrophic 'sexual' rout.

Therefore, although Ignatiev knew that the death of Ahmat had affected his morale and even morale, he could only adopt a conservative strategy and continue to fight with the enemy who was slightly inferior in numbers. He hopes to eventually win a small victory over his enemies by virtue of his advantage.

The death of General Ahmat was a relief to Colonel Gus Whitehead. He received communications from the new flagship battleship "Stalin" and made a direct statement to Ignatiev.

"Sir, I think that if we continue to fight like this, our army can only achieve a crushing victory at the tactical level at best." Gus boldly said, "Since General Ahmat has fulfilled his desire to fight for honor, there is no need for us to make unnecessary sacrifices for a battle that does not change the direction of the campaign. ”

"Colonel, it's easy to mistake your words for cowardice." Ivan Ignatiev said dissatisfied.

"General, I have always been proud of my reason." Gus indirectly responded to the other party's question, and then said in plain language: "The strategy of defending the planet 'Yi' and strategically containing the entire Bundeswehr has completely failed. Now the man who bears the greatest responsibility for the defeat has died honorably, general, and the lowly position thinks that you have absolutely no need to be the second general to fight for honor. ”

"Gus, I admire your talent, but I must warn you to be aware of who you are." Ignatiev said solemnly.

"Yes, sir." Gus replied respectfully, "With all due respect, we must retreat at once, or we will all have to follow General Ahmaiti." Although I have asked Major Jiang Ziyue to lead his cruiser fleet to delay the enemy's battleship group, the disparity between his strength and the enemy's strength is too great to be competent. If they can't stop the enemy's battleship group, we'll be wiped out. We still have a chance to defend most of our ships. ”

Ignatiev fell silent, but soon launched a series of rhetorical questions: "How do you tell me to withdraw?" We have completely 'mixed' with the enemy, and the order to retreat is transmitted, what will the officers and men of the Marine Corps think? What kind of opportunities will we create for the enemy? ”

His words are precisely the difficulty of retreating. For a battleship, it is much easier to retreat, accelerate away from the opponent and spread out of formation into faster than the speed of light. But recovering the Marines is a cumbersome and time-consuming task, and the Marines are still 'melee' with the enemy, and once they return to the warship, they will inevitably create a perfect opportunity for the opponent. So in Ignatiev's view, there is no other way but to bite the bullet and persevere.

Gus disagreed, saying, "Sir, retreating will surely result in losses, but if we don't retreat, I'm afraid we'll all be annihilated." We believe that the preservation of the strength of the fleet is fundamental, and we cannot drag ourselves into the abyss because of the marines. ”

The cold tone, coupled with the content of the words themselves, seemed to quickly freeze Ignatiev's nerves, making him unable to speak for a while. Leaving behind the more than 30,000 interstellar marines who were fighting bloodily to flee for their lives was something he could not have imagined.

Seeing that the commander did not respond in time, Gus added: "Sir, in the current situation, we can only do the lesser of two things. We don't have much leeway. ”

"Less nonsense, Colonel Whitehead!" Ignatiev suddenly roared, "I'm ashamed to have men like you. Even if I die, I will be with my brethren, and I formally dismiss you as commander of the sub-detachment and captain of the 'Gustav II', and allow you to personally withdraw from the battle in a lifeboat. ”

"Sir......" Gus didn't expect his boss to be so unreasonable.

"Coward, get out!" Ignatiev let out a high-profile curse, and then angrily cut off the communication.

Humiliated by his superiors, Gus had no choice but to accept the reality. Fortunately, they were talking in an encrypted command and communication system, and only the two of them and the recording system knew what was going on. Although his proposal seemed rather cruel and ruthless, he always believed that this was the only way to preserve the last strength of the "Cyrus" fleet. It's just that he didn't expect that the new commander, who was originally quite rational, would become so arrogant.

What he did not expect was that Ignatiev would soon send an order to dismiss him from all his duties and ask him to leave the "Gustav II" immediately.

The members of the bridge who did not know the truth asked questions, but Gus said calmly: "General Ignatiev asked me to go to the flagship to assist in the command during the call just now. ”

He stabilized his subordinates with lies, and then 'handed over' the command to the first mate. But instead of fleeing for his life in a lifeboat, he put on a pair of power armor and braved the dense fire to fly to the battleship Tenoch (founder of the Aztec Empire) not far away.

"Tenoch" was the third flagship of the "Cyrus" fleet, and Rear Admiral Li Jingxian was the second deputy commander on it. If Ignatiev and the "Stalin" do not continue to command the operation, he will take over. Gus rushed to the Tenoch, still hoping that his plan would be unleashed.