At the end of the first month of the 9th year of human standard time, although the smoke of the "African" star field battle that occurred at the end of the previous year had gradually faded, the threat of new war was becoming increasingly clear.

The most striking clue is that the government of the new Roman Empire intercepted half of the national dividends of state-owned enterprises distributed to every legal citizen during the year, and converted them directly into war bonds. This behavior not only shows that the financial situation of the empire is deteriorating, but also implies that the emperor is brewing a round of offensive.

Eric who was reappointed as the Minister of Defense of the United Immortals Star Federation after the battle? Feng? Bloomberg, a five-star general, had long believed that his opponent was likely to launch a series of retaliatory campaigns in the near future. New intelligence has confirmed that the Emperor has assembled more than three detachments of troops on the planet Iserron, a military stronghold on its border.

"Now it seems that it is no longer a question whether the emperor will launch an attack. The point is where they will hit? ”

Bloomberg has a clear understanding and judgment of the focus of the emperor's attack.

With the current forces of both sides, it is quite difficult to break into the territory of the opponent, and complete a series of operations to attack and occupy and defend a certain planet. He believes that the emperor will definitely attack the west in a way that focuses on the distant interstellar planet "Yi" beyond the spiral arm. Therefore, he asked for some changes to be made in the earlier deployment, and the Eighth Fleet of Vice President Zhou Jiande, who was deployed on the capital planet "Andromeda", was transferred to the "Yi" star field to assist John? Vice Admiral Landes' Ninth Fleet defends the planet "Yi".

However, in this way, the only formed fleet defending the planet "Andromeda" and the nearby star fields is the Sixth Fleet, which is mainly composed of cruisers. The newly rebuilt Seventh Fleet and the National Guard's Tenth Fleet are stationed on the planet "Aegis" as a reserve to support the planet "Andromeda" or "Yi".

But President Soong Ting-Rong and other generals were worried about General Bloomberg's change of deployment. Send the Eighth Fleet to the "Yi" star field far from the outside of the Immortal Spiral Arm, once the Emperor ** sets the main target of the "Egil" and "Andromeda" planets near the inner side of the Spiral Arm, the security of the Federation Capital will become very vulnerable. It would take at least ten days for the reinforcement fleet arriving from the planet "Aegis" to reach level 6 at the speed of Akube, and about fifteen days to return from the planet "Yi" at the same speed.

As a result of the controversy, Vice Admiral Zhou Jiande led the Eighth Fleet to move to the planet "Aegis". The President and Bloomberg each took a step back, and with the planet "Aegis" as the center, they could quickly reinforce the "Yi" field externally, and rush back to the planets "Andromeda" and "Egil" as soon as possible internally.

The war finally broke out as expected.

It's just that the emperor ** appeared in a place that the Bundeswehr didn't want to see. Under the command of Admiral Dong Zhishan, the "Charlemagne" detachment of the Imperial Central Fleet made a big noise and openly flew into the border space of the 135th parallel, steadily advancing towards the planet "Egil" in the Federation. The Empire's official media, the New Rome News Agency, and the Central Media Group also made a rare appearance of the military operation, claiming that the Central Fleet was retaliating against the Federation's aggression.

However, such a blatant behavior of the opponent made General Bloomberg suspicious, and he insisted that the emperor was only launching a feint, which was a typical attack from the east to the west, and his real intention was to seize the interstellar planet "Yi". It's just that his ideas were not recognized and supported by the president and most of the generals.

President Song Tingrong, who was not very familiar with military strategy, immediately showed a nervous and worried look as soon as he heard that the imperial fleet had entered the border space of the 135th parallel and was rushing towards the planet "Egil". He strongly demanded that Bloomberg bring back the Eighth Fleet sent to the planet "Aegis".

"Regardless of whether the enemy strikes east or not, you have to call Zhou Jiande and his fleet back."

Song Tingrong, the commander-in-chief of the Bundeswehr, who had never been a soldier, told his defense minister unmistakably. In order to make his orders more correct and convincing, he deliberately added to the calm and sophisticated Bloomberg:

"It doesn't have to be that the Eighth Fleet will immediately enter the border space of the 135th line to intercept the enemy forces, but at least their return defense can reassure the soldiers and civilians of the planets 'Egil' and 'Andromeda'."

"At this time, the Eighth Fleet is called, if the enemy launches an attack on the 'Yi' star field, it may be difficult to support the Ninth Fleet with the 'Aegis' Planet' Tenth Fleet alone. The Eighth Fleet will also be exhausted, which will be extremely unfavorable to our army's strategy. Bloomberg said calmly.

"You mean to keep the Eighth Fleet in 'Aegis'? Sit and watch the planet 'Egil' fall to the enemy? Song Tingrong was puzzled and dissatisfied with his thoughts and words.

"Your Excellency, according to intelligence analysis, the enemy's attack on the planet 'Egil' has only one detachment, and it is moving very slowly, and when our border cruiser discovers it, it is still three hundred light-years away from the border space of the 135th parallel, and the faster-than-light flight speed is only 4 levels of the speed of Akuberi, and it often stops to assemble and rest. I can report to you very responsibly that at this rate, even as we speak, it is not yet possible for them to cross the median line of the border space. If they really want to attack the planet 'Egil' or even 'African', with such a small number of troops and such a speed of advancement, it is completely inconsistent with the laws and common sense of war. I believe that the direction of the main attack must be on the planet 'Yi', and it cannot be 'Egil' and 'Andromeda'. ”

Song Tingrong could not listen to this analysis, and his inner fear and anxiety completely overcame his trust in the defense minister.

He asked rhetorically: "Do you think that the emperor ** everything is according to the law and common sense?" Didn't that guy named Jiang Ziyue defeat our fleet of two more battleships and cruisers with dozens of cruisers? Didn't the series of tactics that followed the norm make us suffer as well? ”

Faced with the cross-examination of the layman and the general unity of insight and courage, Bloomberg did not abandon his judgment. But he didn't respond to the other party directly, but patiently explained: "Your Excellency, the battle of the 'African' star field has caused our army to lose its superiority in strength, and now it is overstretched. If the enemy leads him by the nose again, I am afraid that the two planets of 'Egil' and 'Yi' will not be able to be saved. In the current conditions, we can only implement it in accordance with our established strategy. He fights him, and I fight mine, so that our main strategic purpose can be achieved. Even if 'Egil' falls into the hands of an adversary, they will not be able to last. Once we thwart their attempt to capture the interstellar planet 'Yi', we will have enough strength to defend ourselves, and the enemy will inevitably retreat without a fight. ”

"Not only are your ideas very risky, but most of them are based on your own subjective judgment." Song Tingrong unceremoniously commented on Bloomberg's words, "It is really not cost-effective to sacrifice a habitable planet with a large population, beauty and prosperity to keep an interstellar planet that our scientists have studied for more than half a year and can't make a name for themselves." What would our people think of us if they knew we were so stupid to do a loss-making business? So in any case, Admiral Bloomberg, please transfer back to the Eighth Fleet, and never let the planet 'Egil' fall into the clutches of the Senate. ”

This time, Bloomberg felt that it was not good to persist any longer, after all, the president has his own starting point and reason, and the president is still his commander-in-chief, and he still has to obey the command after all. But he still proposed a more secure plan:

"Your Excellency, I will send a notification ship to order the Eighth Fleet to return to the planet 'Egil'. However, I hope you can agree that the Tenth Fleet will immediately set off from the planet 'Aegis' to reinforce the Ninth Fleet in the 'Yi' Star Field. ”

"In this way, isn't there only the Seventh Fleet left on the planet 'Aegis' that still has problems with combat effectiveness? Don't you give the enemy a chance to take advantage of the situation? Song Tingrong was not worried about Bloomberg's approach.

"With the enemy's current strength, it is impossible to capture three planets at the same time, all more than a thousand light-years apart. We don't have to worry too much about them taking a posture of attacking the planet 'Egil' and assaulting 'Yi' and 'Aegis' at the same time. Leaving a Seventh Fleet was more than enough to cope with an attack the size of one of their subfleets. On this issue, Mr. Bloomberg is confident.

Song Tingrong rolled his deep eyes, nodded and said, "Okay." As long as it makes the people of the planets 'Andromeda' and 'Egil' feel safe, all other actions are allowed. ”

He then went on to emphasize to Bloomberg:

"It is a matter of the fortunes of the Federation, and I hope that the five-star general and all the officers and men of the national defense army will work together to fight bravely and must repel the imperial invasion."

"Yes, Your Excellency, you should do everything in your power to preserve the peace and stability of the Federation." Bloomberg swore by it.

The unmanned notification ship that flew up to the seventh level of the Akuberi speed quickly conveyed the order to return to the defense to the Eighth Fleet of the planet "Aegis". However, when Vice Admiral Zhou Jiande led the Eighth Fleet to run wildly along the side of the 135th Parallel Border Space Federation for 10 days and successfully arrived near the planet "Egil", the unmanned reconnaissance ship that came from the border space reported a good or bad news: The Imperial ** Fleet was still patrolling near the middle line.

Zhou Jiande wanted to ask Bloomberg to take the initiative and attack his opponent. However, before the unmanned notification ship was dispatched, two notification ships from the direction of the planet "Aegis" and "Andromeda" respectively changed to the speed of light one after another, and sent two urgent battle reports:

Emperor ** attacked the "Yi" star field, with a strength of about two squadrons.

A large number of pirate ships have appeared near the planet "Midgard", defeated the cruisers of the National Guard, and are looting civilian ships.