Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 535

Chapter 533: Pulling and numbness

of battle at Yuehe VII was completely turned.

Previously, over ten million Alliance troops, along with forty million Allied forces, had resisted the onslaught of over seventy million Princess rebels, posed by the threat of orbital fire from above… the battle had been grueling and brutal.

Now, however, they had finally turned the tables.

Numerous active members of the Princess rebels had been decimated in those three days; then, over the following week, their organizational structure was disrupted, leading to a fierce campaign by Alliance ground forces, resulting in heavy losses.

In just ten days, tens of millions of Princess traitors had perished at Yuehe VII.

This loss was nearly equal to the losses sustained by the Princess Legion in its assault on every fortress across the planet over the previous three months.

Given a bit more time, perhaps a year or two, the Alliance might have hoped to launch a massive annihilation campaign at Yuehe VII, wiping out all seventy million Princess rebels.

But that was impossible.

The Fury Legion had already reacted.

They couldn’t accept such heavy losses at Yuehe VII.

Seventy million of the Imperial Legion! Not a defense force! But a legion reorganized from the original Chapter Auxiliary Forces!

Besides the Space Marines, the Iron Rage Stone’s most vital force is the Imperial Legion, its Astra Militarum. The Fury Flame Chapter, marching south, has a total ground force numbering in the hundreds of millions, even billions. However, the Imperial Legion is only a small fraction, a mere two or three hundred million at best.

Throwing away seventy million like that is unacceptable.

Besides, it’s not completely hopeless.

The primary cause of Yuehe VII’s predicament is the attackers’ loss of orbital cover. And all this was caused by a single surprise attack by the Raging Owl.

While astonished by the rare battlefield dominance displayed by the Grail-class battlecruiser, the Fury Flame still possesses two battleship-sized vessels.

News has arrived that they are already en route to Yuehe VII.

In a head-on engagement, the Raging Owl would be unable to withstand even a single one, let alone both simultaneously.

By then, the situation on Yuehe VII.3 could very well return to its previous state.

Even worse could happen.

But the Alliance didn’t intend to abandon this planet.

Having lost Yuehe VII, the other planets behind would be even less well-defended.

The two commanders at the Alliance’s vanguard headquarters believed that Yuehe VII would likely become a focal point for some time to come. Both sides would likely engage in repeated battles over this area. The massive deployment of manpower, including naval power, would turn it into a bloodbath, until one side could no longer bear the cost.

Thus, while the Raging Owl’s raid on Yuehe VII was a morale-boosting display, it wouldn’t significantly alter the overall situation.

However, it did have significance.

The loss of over ten million elite members of the Imperial Legion, plus the destruction of two Moon-class cruisers—that was inherently significant!

The war between the Alliance and Iron Fury Stone was foreseeably poised to expand significantly in the future. Even the current battles, which were merely tests of mutual confidence and clashes of vanguards, now encompassed several star regions and dozens of planets.

At this scale, a war would become more than a matter of gaining or losing a single city or territory, but a comprehensive confrontation of national power. Everyone is both generating and losing manpower, and the depletion of manpower is crucial.

Destroying more enemies now at a relatively low cost will make it easier to face pressure later.

Furthermore, the space created by this current victory allows the Alliance to do a lot.

Over the past ten days, the navy has bombed the surface enemy, the army has eliminated their manpower, and the Alliance’s logistics forces have also been busy.

One large transport ship after another has landed on the surface, carrying scarce supplies, equipment, and personnel to replenish the surface forces.

If the enemy battleships arrive and we lose our orbital advantage, transporting supplies in will be difficult and risky, resulting in significant losses.

Rather than risking transport later, it’s better to transport as much as possible now.

At the same time, some units no longer fit for continued combat should be withdrawn.

The 311th Skeleton Division of the 5th Army Group is one of them.

Xiong Lei’s unit,

despite being subjected to orbital bombardment, survived.

Though he survived, his troops were nearly wiped out.

After the orbital bombardment, only two to five thousand men remained from the three divisions defending the fortress. The remaining hundreds of thousands perished in the hours of ferocious bombardment or were annihilated by the Princess’s rebels who subsequently stormed the fortress.

Xiong Lei, the only survivor, was forced to flee with his remnants. Under constant pursuit, fewer than a thousand men ultimately made it to safety.

This was the only survivors of a skeleton division and two large infantry divisions after a single battle.

Clearly, this was what was called “being completely annihilated.”

At this point, Xiong Lei’s troops weren’t even worth the cost of reinforcements,

and that wasn’t what he needed.

He and the few hundred surviving members of his unit boarded a newly unloaded transport ship and departed Yuehe VII dejectedly.

The war here wasn’t over, but Xiong Lei’s war was.

Remembering those familiar faces, every time he woke up in the dim light of the transport ship, he wondered how much better it would have been if he had died on Yuehe VII with his brothers.

Then, he wouldn’t have to endure the torture he was experiencing now.

The transport carried him to a distant world called Ramiro.

It was a major logistics base. Vast quantities of war supplies and troops were gathered there, ready to be loaded onto ships and sent to where they were needed on the front lines.

Those like Xiong Lei and his companions who were evacuated from the front lines were rare.

After landing on the ground and spending two days in a military hospital, a political commissar in a red cap approached him.

“Colonel Xiong Lei?”

“It’s me,” Xiong Lei’s voice was deeply gloomy.

He looked up, studying the man.

It was a rather youthful face, a vibrant energy untouched by the harshness of a beating, radiating to the point of being blinding.

Two vertical bars and a star symbol represented his rank of major. The red trim on the epaulettes signified his position as political commissar. The

man in the red hat saluted and introduced himself, “I’m Zhan Weidong. I’ve been ordered to assist you in rebuilding the 311th Division of the 5th Army Group!”

“Rebuild?” Xiong Lei’s eyes were a little dazed. “I thought it was going to be disbanded.”

“How could that be?” Zhan Weidong said with a smile. “The 311th Division

is a meritorious unit.” “A meritorious unit that was destroyed, right?”

Zhan Weidong put away his smile and said seriously, “You look a little depressed. I can understand how you feel after losing your unit.”

“You can’t understand shit! A fresh recruit straight out of the military academy…”

Before he could finish his words, Zhan Weidong on the opposite side yelled back even louder, “You look even worse like this!”

“Come on, Colonel Xiong Lei. It’s not just the 311th Division, but the other two divisions as well. The heroes gave their lives in the war, and their will lives on in the living.”

Seeing that Xiong Lei was silent, Zhan Weidong’s tone calmed down a bit.

He talked about the specific work: “In addition to the seven army groups brought by General Yan, the army brothers who came from the rear also have more than 30 million unorganized troops pulled out from the new barracks. In addition, there are 30 million elites selected from the various local defense forces in the Menghe star field. These reserve forces are to be filled in to the troops fighting on the front lines, to replenish troops, and to be used for the reconstruction of empty organizations.”

“I will be your partner.”

“Although you may miss your previous partner more, I believe I can show enough professionalism to satisfy you.”

“I have read your resume, and I think you are worthy of being a hero of the Alliance, and I hope you can show enough professionalism. Otherwise, I can only regretfully report to my superiors and make it clear that you will no longer be suitable to lead the troops. You don’t want the 311th Division to be commanded by someone else in the future, right?”

After a moment of silence, Xiong Lei said: “Are the young generation of political commissars who have just graduated from Zhongsi College as eloquent as you?”

“Maybe I am also the special one.”

“Huh…” Xiong Lei let out a long breath, then asked: “How long do we have?”

“Five months,” Zhan Weidong said. “The soldiers from the Dragon Eagle Star Region have all undergone the Alliance training camp, so their quality isn’t a concern. The recruits from the Menghe Star Region, while somewhat uneven, have been carefully selected from the various planetary defense forces, so their quality is somewhat guaranteed. Our new force will be composed of personnel from both groups, with a 5:5 ratio. We have five months to reorganize and build up combat effectiveness. After five months, headquarters could issue an order for us to return to the battlefield at any time.”

Xiong Lei smiled wryly, “Can we still call it the 311th Division when everyone’s been replaced?”

“That depends on you. I believe that with you here, the spirit of the 311th Division can be carried on.” Zhan Weidong’s face regained its former vibrant smile.

He extended his hand to Xiong Lei.

Xiong Lei gave him a deep look. “I hope your professional skills are as impressive as your eloquence.”

As he spoke, he also extended his hand, firmly shaking hands with his new political commissar.

…

Divisional and brigade-level units like the 311th Division, completely annihilated and devastated, were rebuilt in a similar manner.

Xiong Lei’s situation was actually quite good. After all, as the division commander, the highest military officer in the unit, he had survived the brutal fighting.

Most of the units in need of reconstruction had lost their leaders.

For example, the 077th and 240th Divisions, which had previously fought alongside the 311th Division, had the highest-ranking officer left alive, a major.

This was the case again, with rapid promotions during the war.

The major was awarded a new rank, Lieutenant Colonel, on the front lines. As temporary division commander, he, like Xiong Lei, began to reorganize his 077th Division. The 240th Division, which lacked even a colonel-level officer, had a lieutenant colonel transferred from another unit to serve as its commander and oversee the reconstruction effort.

Their organizational structure remained within the 5th Army Group, and once the reorganization was complete, they would return to the battlefield.

As Zhan Weidong mentioned, these 60 million reserve troops, along with the increasing number expected with the arrival of subsequent armies, will be used in a similar manner to supplement the sparsely manned frontline units, or even to rebuild their units.

The Alliance will use this method to ensure that the strength of the various frontline combat units is not severely reduced.

Only through continuous transfusions can combat effectiveness be maintained.

…

Returning to the battlefront, when the two battleships of Fury Flame arrived at Yuehe VII, the Raging Owl was forced to withdraw.

However, it did not leave the system, instead hovering just outside the planet’s orbit, keeping a vigilant eye on the two larger vessels.

Confident that the battleships could not outrun it, the Raging Owl would even boldly launch attacks.

It would appear, fire a couple of shots, and then flee before the battleships could react.

Alternatively, it would lead a convoy to harass the transport fleets that were subsequently transporting supplies from the jump point to the surface. This forced the Fury’s two large ships to lose track of the enemy’s support, forcing them to divert at least one of them to escort the enemy. Otherwise, without the battleships, the Raging Owl could plunder the Fury’s transport fleet with near-perfect accuracy.

The battlecruiser proved its worth.

Its capabilities were impossible to ignore.

The Fury’s two battleships were stretched thin.

A typical fast cruiser wouldn’t have even bothered the battleships.

But the battlecruiser wasn’t the same. Ignoring it, it would unbridled chaos, even unleashing a single “Heavenly Punishment” from afar. This posed a significant threat to the battleships, which, after all, were equipped with an X-class lance array, not to be underestimated.

Yet, if they tried to intervene, they were powerless. The Grail-class was too fast to hold back.

Under its strain, despite the presence of two enemy battleships in the Yuehe VII system, the orbital threat to the Alliance forces on the ground remained largely the same!

After all, a planet that had just been restocked and even had time to rearrange and reinforce several orbital gun emplacements already possessed considerable defensive capabilities.

Conversely, while the Princess’s rebels on the ground no longer had to worry about bombing, it would take time for their previously dispersed units to regroup, giving the Alliance an opportunity.

Seeing that the battle at Yuehe VII was about to turn into a protracted, mutually destructive meat grinder, they had to seize the opportunity to eliminate some of the enemy’s remaining forces while the chaos was still ongoing.

Killing one more enemy now might save one’s own life later.

But at this moment, the Alliance discovered that these Imperial traitors from the north had actually escaped!

After regaining their organization, a large number of the Princess Rebels moved to an area cleared of orbital guns and evacuated from the surface aboard transport ships.

The entire evacuation operation lasted a month. The vast majority of the Princess Rebels withdrew from the surface and, under the escort of battleships, left Yuehe VII.

They abandoned the system.

(End of this chapter)