Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 688

Chapter 686, Battle of Rheaduches (I)

Gu Hang had anticipated the atmosphere in the conference room, so he was neither sad nor happy.

He tapped his fingers lightly on the table, and his smile faded.

“You are all commanders of various factions. Most of you have rich combat experience and are familiar with the current situation of the war. I will not waste any more words.”

“Suppress the hive fleet, clear the orbit, clear the ground… this is our only way.”

“Don’t be afraid of sacrifice, don’t be afraid of failure.”

“Sacrifice is the cornerstone of building an empire. We can never fail under the watchful eye of the Emperor!”

“Besides, you all know that I’m a pretty good psychic. Even in the shadow of the warp, I can provide some psychic help. I dare not say that I can have an absolute key influence, but at least, I can guarantee that from brain worms to high-level neuroprotozoa, they will not affect our troops.”

“The rest of the things require the lives of the three armies.”

“Everyone, no matter where you come from, where you will go after the war, and what your goals are in the war, victory is the only way to achieve our interests and our glory. Abandon all false thoughts and do everything for victory!”

…

“Everything for victory!” After getting off the spaceship, Colonel Lin Xiaodong issued an order to all his officers.

He was a division commander in the Alliance Army. His division, supposedly comprised of over 40,000 soldiers, comprised of twelve frontline combat regiments, plus varying numbers of support, security, air defense, divisional artillery, armored, and special operations battalions…

Such a division, known in the Alliance Army as a “large division,” possessed comprehensive independent combat capabilities, capable of sustaining a ground war on the surface.

Lin Xiaodong’s division, being the ace division of its group army, naturally shouldered the responsibility of combat during the initial ground offensive.

However, in reality, Lin Xiaodong only had two regiments and a handful of divisional units left, totaling perhaps no more than 5,000 men.

His entire division was fully committed to the war. The remaining troops were, in fact, shot down during the airborne drop.

From the cockpit of a large transport ship, he watched as the ships carrying his troops exploded in mid-air, not far from his own. From the disintegrating ships, countless bodies, even those still alive, rained down from the sky.

Every time he saw a ship explode, Lin Xiaodong’s heart skipped a beat. He feared his own ship would also be destroyed, leaving him dead before his mission was even begun. He was also furious at the countless men who had perished before landing.

Once he finally landed, under his command, all the troops he could still contact immediately sprang into action.

The first to spring into action were the two remaining armored companies. Tanks and armored fighting vehicles, as soon as the transport ship’s hatch opened, rushed out in full combat readiness. Facing the Zerg swarm,

which had been waiting near the impact point, awaiting the arrival of a few ships to slaughter any descending humans, the armored companies charged forward without hesitation.

However, with only eight Lion tanks and a couple dozen armored fighting vehicles, they were dwarfed by the overwhelming Zerg swarm. Even the Lion tanks, however large, were nothing to the Zerg.

The Lions’ main and secondary guns fired relentlessly, not even caring about the lifespan of the barrels—the lifespan of the entire vehicle was uncertain!

The parallel machine guns fired relentlessly.

The oncoming Zerg swarm was mowed down and blasted to pieces in droves. Even high-level Zerg units like the Warrior and Tank were unable to withstand the tank company’s assault. The

armored units’ mission was to charge against the Zerg swarm, crushing and dispersing the massive attack, buying time for the incoming infantry to establish defensive lines and artillery positions.

However, the Zerg swarm still possessed elements that could threaten the armored units.

The greatest threat came from the Zerg’s living artillery. Various living bombs were launched. The Bone-Stinging Worms’ bombardment, similar to human mortars, posed little threat to the Lion tanks, but could still cause significant damage if they struck a Wanderer. And if a few Heavy Artillery Worms, or even higher-level Flame-Releasers, were involved, even the Lion tanks would be unable to withstand a single round from their living artillery.

The Zerg’s artillery attack was unlike any human army’s.

They were the most skilled practitioners of coordinated infantry-artillery tactics, even daring to send infantry charging three to five meters outside the bombardment line.

This was partly because the Zerg were essentially biological weapons, and their execution of orders was cold and absolute. No charging Zerg beast would hesitate out of fear, nor would they mistakenly push too far forward and be bombed.

Of course, nothing was so absolute. In actual operations, many Zerg beasts were still hit by their own artillery.

But they cared nothing.

They truly cared nothing about the chance of accidental damage.

It didn’t matter.

As long as they could inflict sufficient damage on the assaulting human armored forces, that was all that mattered.

And indeed, their goal was indeed achieved.

During the assault, tank after tank was destroyed. Colonel Lin Xiaodong, seated in the command vehicle, monitored the data from their own tanks on the front line. Every so often, one was lost.

The tank company had indeed bought them time.

But…

“How is the artillery position being established?!” he shouted hoarsely.

“Report to the division commander! It may take a few more minutes…”

“In a few minutes, all our tanks will be finished!” He picked up the walkie-talkie beside him, “Guard company, move out! Armored vehicles, drive forward at full speed to support our forward troops!”

“But division commander, if the bugs approach at this time…”

“If the artillery position cannot be established and our defense line cannot hold, then we are all finished! Why do you care about my safety? Follow orders!”

“Yes!”

However, the situation did not improve much.

The guard company had not yet provided support, and the human tank company was already unable to advance.

What to do?

He had no idea.

Is this landing doomed to fail?

What is the situation of the other divisions?

I hope that other brother units can do better and avenge them…

When such thoughts involuntarily appeared in Lin Xiaodong’s mind, he heard the adjutant shouting:

“Division commander! Look! There are reinforcements!”

(End of this chapter)