It's dark, it's dawn, it's dark again, it's dawn again.

The artillery fire on Vulture Mountain finally stopped, and all the Federation mech fighters who participated in the battle and survived, along with their mechs, gathered at the Federation position under Vulture Mountain.

"Report to the corps commander, the Xinghe Mecha Independent Corps, the first mecha battalion, should be one hundred and fifty-five people, but it is actually fifty-seven."

"Report to the corps commander, the Galaxy Mecha Independent Corps, the second mecha battalion, it should be one hundred and sixty-one, but it is actually fifty-one."

"Report to the corps commander, the Galaxy Mecha Independent Corps, the third mecha battalion, there should be twenty-three people, but there are seventeen people."

"Report to the corps commander, the Galaxy Mecha Independent Corps, the orbital airborne tactical mecha squad, there should be three people, but there are three people."

"Report to the corps commander, the Participating Aquape carrier-based mecha battalion, there should be ninety-six people, but it is actually sixty-one."

Listening to the report ringing in his ears, looking at these mecha in front of him who didn't have time to do a comprehensive repair, Ji Xinghe was in a very bad mood.

Even if they succeeded in annihilating the Empire's nearly 150,000 troops, 832 Imperial mechs, and capturing two Imperial Space Battleships, they won a great victory that was enough to make the entire Federation cheer in the defensive battle in the No. 5 Base Theater Theater.

But those two hundred and forty-nine brave Federation mecha warriors never had a chance to return to the Azure Star, and they didn't even see the final victory of this battle, nor did they hear the whole army report that sounded for them.

They're all young.

Not only was it the sacrifice of the mech warriors, but in the middle of this battle, the Starship Mecha Independent Legion successfully destroyed a large number of the Empire's anti-missile weapon systems, and the Federation's firepower was able to effectively kill Vulture Mountain.

The 7,000 regular troops who set off from Base 5 finally arrived on the battlefield, brought logistical support to the mecha warriors participating in the battle, and began to cooperate with the mecha warriors to launch the final clearance battle against Vulture Mountain under the cover of federal firepower.

At this time, they were still clearing the battlefield and did not report the number of casualties to Ji Xinghe, the corps commander.

Judging from the command sequence, they don't need to report to Ji Xinghe.

But Ji Xinghe had already seen their casualty statistics, 1,394 people were killed and 42 were wounded.

On an alien battlefield, injury is almost equal to death.

These are the reasons why Ji Xinghe was in a low mood after the big victory, after all, he was not a professional soldier.

When Base 5 sent regular troops to participate in the battle, Ji Xinghe, who was resting at the time, had an argument with Tu Yuan, who commanded the battle.

Ji Xinghe believes that the conventional forces should be mainly logistics troops, and as long as the Xinghe Mecha Independent Corps is given enough time, they will be able to complete annihilation.

Tu Yuan believes that conventional forces can reduce the damage rate of Federation mechs, especially in relatively low-value cleanup battles, and some damage is not worth it.

Tu Yuan, who has been led by Ji Xinghe these days, finally went crazy because Ji Xinghe was arguing with him on this point.

"Ji Xinghe, do you think we have 300,000 mecha warriors and only 50,000 active mechas, so mecha warriors are worthless?"

"The investment in training a hundred soldiers is not as great as the investment in training one mecha warrior. Just because we don't have that many mechs now doesn't mean we won't have as many mechs in the future. ”

"Listen to you in this battle, how many mechs do we have left after the battle?"

"You're a mechanic, you can repair mechas, all of us are mechanics, can we all repair mechas?"

"Without mechas, the empire will send a large number of troops to attack Base Five, what will we do?"

"You're going to launch another Ji Xinghe challenge?"

"Ji Xinghe, you are sober, your Ji Xinghe challenge can't determine the real victory, when they are guarding Vulture Mountain, you can't kill them alone, we still have to fill with our lives."

"Your mecha corps has lost one hundred and thirty-six mechas, and all of Ahuizotl's carrier-based mecha have already participated in the battle, if you don't let them go, do you really want all our mecha to be destroyed?"

"As soon as you say this, you look like everyone in the world is drunk and you are sober, you don't want anyone to sacrifice, all of us want to exchange the lives of thousands of soldiers for our own merits?"

"Sixty-six years old, Ji Xinghe, can you stop thinking of yourself as an innocent teenager?"

In the face of Tu Yuan's frenzy, Ji Xinghe was rarely silent.

Maybe it's because Ji Xinghe understands a truth from beginning to end: war, how can there be immortals.

Tu Yuan, who felt that he was a little speechless, perhaps because he felt the strange gazes of the people around him, his tone softened.

"Many, many years ago, there was a war in which a general with 7,000 troops with no food and grass at home and no reinforcements from outside blocked hundreds of thousands of troops for nearly nine months, ensured the peace of millions of people, and fought for the country."

"Therefore, after he died in battle, he was posthumously named the Duke of the Kingdom, Ji Xinghe, do you know, how he fought?"

Ji Xinghe didn't answer because he knew.

Tu Yuan also knew that Ji Xinghe knew that when he saw Ji Xinghe for the first time, Ji Xinghe used the words in the Analects to make him stuck, if it weren't for the reminder of Liu Mian, a staff officer next to him, he, a civilian general at that time, would probably be said to be unqualified.

In fact, the civilian duties of civilian generals are not all cultural-related functions, similar to professional and technical military ranks, and professional and technical ones who can get the rank of general, of course, cannot be professional skills such as art troupes.

Tu Yuan was able to get the rank of general because he mainly studied war-related.

From this point of view, Ji Xinghe, who likes to read books and read books for more than 50 years, may have a higher cultural level than Tu Yuan.

But Tu Yuan was not convinced, what he was dissatisfied with was that Ji Xinghe knew these things and knew these truths, but he had always looked at the federal soldiers in this war with a compassionate attitude.

So he asked when Ji Xinghe was silent.

"I'll tell you how he fought, he killed concubines and slaughtered servants, forced his officers and soldiers to eat meat, and when the commander's servants finished eating, he ate the old and weak women and children in the city, and the city he was defending had 40,000 households before the war, and when the city was broken, there were only 400 living people left."

"Ji Xinghe, you say, is he meritorious, or is he guilty?"

Tu Yuan didn't wait for Ji Xinghe to answer, and continued.

"Some people say that his merits are in the present and his sins are in the future, and some people say that his sins are in the present and his merits are in the future."

"Why is there an argument? Because he protects people, beats people, eats people, and is all people. ”

"What about us?"

"Ji Xinghe, you have actually done a good job, treating the empire as cruel and ruthless as a harsh winter, and treating our people as warm as spring, but you have not done a good enough."

"You can have compassion for everyone, but in this war, your command cannot be merciful."

"If you are merciful, this corps commander, you are not worthy of it."

"If you want to be the same as before, when you lead the team to fight, you always return victorious, and no one around you can die......"

"Ji Xinghe, I will turn your Xinghe Mecha Independent Corps into the previous Xinghe Squad."

"Now, I'm going to order the regular forces to join the battle, Ji Xinghe, do you have any opinions?"

Ji Xinghe didn't say anything, and after a little rest, he ran to Vulture Mountain again.

Until the battle was really over, he never questioned any of Tu Yuan's orders.

At this time, I looked at the one hundred and eighty-nine Federation mecha warriors who were able to be saved because of Tu Yuan's order and because of the sacrifice of more than 1,000 people, as well as the mechs that had been fighting with them for nearly two days.

He knew very well that without the sacrifices of those people, the mecha warriors who could stand in front of him might be less than a hundred.

This war of annihilation, in which there are fewer enemies and more enemies, is impossible to finish now.

So, is the sacrifice of those people worth it?

Ji Xinghe can't count it, and he doesn't want to count it.

Because this is war, a war that is merciless and unjust, a war that cannot be settled.

"Salute."

Ji Xinghe was in the communication channel, and when he made some unruly noises, he had already piloted the mecha to face Vulture Mountain.

Salute.

One hundred and eighty-nine Federation mecha warriors then neatly made the same movements as him, speaking in unison.

"Salute!"

Ji Xinghe maintained this action for three minutes, and what no one saw was that he, who was in the cockpit of the mecha, also made a saluting posture.

What no one could see was that there were many, many mechwarriors, in the cockpit, saluting Vulture Mountain with their mechs.

Because it is the burial ground of their comrades.

"Let's go home."

When Ji Xinghe spoke, he drove the mecha to the direction of Base Five, he didn't take the space battleship, and he didn't have any soldiers.

Even if they are exhausted, they can't afford to waste their limited transportation resources.

A large number of Imperial mechs and other weapons captured in this battle need to be transported to Base Five as soon as possible.

It was not possible to build a temporary base or machine repair area in Vulture Mountain, and the shortage of various equipment, tools and personnel was one of the reasons.

On the other hand, the coordinates of Vulture Mountain are very accurate for the Empire, and when the battle for Vulture Mountain is over, they are highly likely to carry out a firepower-covered long-range strike.

The Federation can prevent it, but it doesn't have to.

The Federation, which won a big victory in this battle, still does not have the ability to compete with the Empire in terms of firepower.

The only ones currently equipped with anti-missile weapon systems on Vulture Mountain are the two mostly intact Imperial Space Warships.

Their restoration will be carried out when it is determined that the Empire will stop shelling.

Whether you can keep it or not depends on luck.

……

Not home, but among the Federation mechs that are going home, the vast majority of mech warriors are already asleep.

In the absence of good communication and hostile situations, their mechs are able to control their running with an autopilot program.

But there are people who can't sleep, and they have to shoulder the task of being vigilant, and they can't sleep.

"Boss."

Ji Xinghe heard Jackson's voice, and he was pulled into a makeshift communication channel.

This communication channel is full of members of the Galaxy team.

Counting the galaxy team of twenty-six people before Ji Xinghe, after joining Jackson, Yu Ren, and Han Li, there were only twenty-three people left.

In the battle of Vulture Mountain, six members of the Starship team died.

Their sacrifices, as well as the sacrifices of a large number of mecha warriors of the Independent Legion of the Galaxy Mecha, were all because of the two Imperial Dukes who failed to leave through the Jump Gate.

Or rather, it's all because of Adakon.

It traded the lives of those two dukes for the lives of at least thirty Federation mechfighters.

Without the support of Han Li and the others, the number of mecha warriors who died would have been even greater.

Ji Xinghe is very strong, but there are too many imperial troops and mecha on Vulture Mountain, and they want to survive in a desperate situation, which turns the Vulture Mountain battlefield into a quagmire.

Even Ji Xinghe would find it difficult to deal with the two imperial dukes who were fighting separately in the first place.

"What General Tu Yuan said...... Jackson hesitated, thinking about Han Li's explanation, he still gritted his teeth and said: "Actually, it's an explanation for you, for the order that he wanted to kill you before." ”

"I know."

Ji Xinghe's response was calm.

This emboldened Jackson even more, and he continued: "Actually, I think he has a point. ”

Small kiosk

Ji Xinghe did not respond.

Su Chuanyun jumped out: "Lao Ji, you really disappointed me, really." ”

The blind man followed up and said: "We'll talk about this battle after a comprehensive review, but what I'm going to say now is, Lao Ji, why don't you let us help you?" ”

Cripple: "I know you think we can't beat the Imperial Duke and the Imperial Marquis, but you don't let us fight, how do you know we can't?" ”

Qin Tong: "I looked at Xingyue's battle recorder data, Lao Ji, you almost died, do you know?" ”

Harris: "Xingyue can no longer fight with the nuclear fuel cell, if those two Duke orangutans hadn't been scared away by you, we would have rushed to Vulture Mountain again...... Lao Ji, this time, you did something wrong, very wrong. ”

Left hand: "Lao Ji, we ......"

"Alright."

Ji Xinghe interrupted the words of his left hand with a loud voice, and also interrupted what the rest of the Xinghe team was about to say.

This made the left hand very aggrieved, and recalled the first time he fought side by side with Ji Xinghe, in the three or six canyons, Ji Xinghe said to him: With me, don't use your brains in the future.

"I know you want to distract me, you don't want me to be sad, sad, and blame......"

Ji Xinghe continued in a calm tone: "But I really don't need to, I'm fine, I'm really fine." Don't forget, I've walked more bridges than you've walked. ”

With so many people sacrificing, how could the rest of the Galaxy Squad be in a good mood?

They didn't actually have the idea of small talk, but they wanted to say something for the sake of Ji Xinghe.

In their opinion, this was the first time that Ji Xinghe had faced the sacrifice of his comrades, and after achieving an incredible victory in battle, he had to face the sacrifice of so many comrades.

In contrast, they who have been fighting in the alien planet for many years are more accustomed to facing the sacrifices of their comrades than Ji Xinghe.

The lame man's leg was not lame when he fought alone. The blind man's eyes were not blind when he was fighting alone, Su Chuanyun and Andre went to Base No. 6 only after they were beaten by the empire, and Han Li was even more ......

And before today, Ji Xinghe seems to have only had the experience of a comrade-in-arms dying in the battle he participated in.

So they are very worried about Ji Xinghe.

At this time, listening to Ji Xinghe's calm tone, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Su Chuanyun was still a little unwilling and said: "We are telling the truth, Lao Ji, your distrust of us, if you continue, sooner or later it will lead to a big mistake." ”

Ji Xinghe asked rhetorically: "Then do you trust me?" ”

"Of course we trust you." Su Chuanyun didn't know what Xingyue had happened before, and said confidently: "But what General Li Yuanba said is that under the duke, they are all ants, you were facing the Duke of the Empire at that time, and it was not the time when Ji Xinghe challenged, in that case, the duke was not an ant, as long as they were ......."

"You are already an ace mecha warrior, and you can communicate directly with General Li Yuanba."

Ji Xinghe interrupted Su Chuanyun's words and said, "You contact him now and ask him what the duke means to me." ”

"Okay, I'll ask."

The bold Su Chuanyun sent a message directly to Li Yuanba without hesitation, he had long wanted to contact Li Yuanba, but there was no suitable opportunity.

The communication channel fell silent and everyone waited.

Li Yuanba didn't know what he was doing, and the speed of replying to the message was very fast, and Su Chuanyun was excited after seeing the reply.

"He replied to me, General Li Yuanba replied to me, and he asked me why I asked like this."

The others urged, "Then you should return to him quickly." ”

"Oh."

A moment later, Su Chuanyun's voice sounded again.

"General Li Yuanba replied to me again, and he only replied with four words...... Native chicken tile dog. ”

The blind man connected the two sentences at the first time, and added his exaggerated embellishments.

"Under the duke, there are ants, and above the duke, there are chickens and dogs."

The Squad's communication channel fell silent once again.

It turned out that their trust in Ji Xinghe was not as good as Li Yuanba, who had never really seen Ji Xinghe.

Ji Xinghe said calmly: "Su Chuanyun, you don't say it because you believe in Li Yuanba." So, you don't actually believe me? ”

Su Chuanyun, who finally felt the crisis, chose to play dead.

But Ji Xinghe didn't let him go, and asked, "Qin Tong, didn't you have time to arrange the thing I asked you to arrange before?" ”

"Yes." Qin Tong only replied with one word, but everyone could hear his gloating tone.

"When you go back, keep going."

"Yes."

Everyone in the Galaxy team was truly relieved, and it was obvious that Ji Xinghe was not affected, but instead gave people a feeling of growing again.

Sixty-six-year-old Ji Xinghe is so strong that it is unscientific, and he is still growing.

That's great.