Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 758

As the saying goes, "If you're not sure you can annihilate the Green Skins, don't force them into a corner." If you split up your Fleet to pursue them regardless of how the Green Skins divide their squads, there's a chance they'll turn around and knock you out if they see their pursuers aren't as formidable.

Securing the current victory is already quite an achievement.

Plus, though half of the Green Skin ships escaped, the loss of combat power is far greater than that proportion.

In the pursuit, since it's already clear that it's impossible to eliminate all the Green Skin ships, the focus naturally shifts to targeting the most valuable ones.

The Green Skins' two heavy cruisers were done for in the previous Fleet showdown. Of the remaining five ships comparable to Human light cruisers, only one managed to escape. The rest were all destroyed!

The substantial loss of the main warships means that although there are still two hundred Green Skin ships in number, they essentially have no fighting capacity. If another Fleet battle were fought, Gu Hang wouldn't even need to lift a finger; the Human Fleet could easily wipe them out.

The battle at Steel Wing Star marked the full-scale invasion of the Eagle Horse Star Sector by the Green Skins. At that time, the total number of Green Skin Ships entering the Eagle Horse Star Sector was around four hundred, with the number of Green Skin legions onboard totaling between 150 to 300 million.

Now, only two hundred ships have made it back. Conservatively estimated, the Green Skins' troop losses would reach around 60 million.

Adding the Green Skin Fleet sent to the surface of Steel Wing Star—effectively abandoned at 35 million—and those still resisting in various parts of the Eagle Horse Star Sector, but ultimately doomed to be wiped out, around 20 million more, it can be concluded that the Iron-Tooth Clan has lost at least a hundred million troops in the Eagle Horse Star Sector.

This is an unquestionable major victory!

Ever since Chieftain Titus emerged with the Iron-Tooth Clan, using decades of accumulated wealth to swarm out from four fallen Star Sectors, the Iron Tooth Orcs had been defeating the Human forces from space to ground. Starting from the Golden Pass Star Sector all the way to Yunluo, their invincible military front could only be pushed back, one retreat after another.

And now, for the first time, the spearhead of the Iron-Tooth Clan has been stopped.

Although it was just a branch Fleet, the significance of this division, consisting of four hundred Green Skin Ships, should not be underestimated.

The loss of two hundred ships, including most of the main warships, and over a hundred million in troop numbers is a blow that cannot be ignored, even for the overarching might of the Iron-Tooth Clan.

It is foreseeable that unless something major changes, the Green Skin invasion disaster in Seven Horse Territory can now be considered mitigated.

However, although the disaster has been averted, the threat remains.

It's uncertain when the enemy might mount another massive resurgence.

And after this defeat, if the Green Skins were to invade on a large scale again, the forces they bring would undoubtedly be greater than before.

By then, will the Alliance still be able to withstand?

That depends on how much the Alliance can bolster its strength in the time to come.

In Gu Hang's view, the essential aspect of the victory at the Steel Wing Star battle was that it bought the Alliance a significant amount of time for development.

While he can't be sure how long this time will last, having time is always good.

Every minute, every second, the Alliance is getting stronger.

...

After the pursuit battle, the main force of the Human Fleet returned to Steel Wing Star.

The battle on the ground is still ongoing.

Many Orcs died in the orbital bombardment, but obviously, not all of them.

In fact, the majority of the Green Skin Orcs survived.

They are barely hanging on. Many of their clusters were scattered and shattered in the previous large-scale orbital bombardment. The loss of a significant amount of heavy equipment means that, although many Green Skins are still alive, they are incapable of mounting any large-scale offensive.

However, barely hanging on doesn't mean the remaining Orcs will be easy to deal with.

On the contrary, according to estimates by the Alliance Army General Staff, if Steel Wing Star is to be completely cleared of the Green Skin Orc threat, it will be a war that lasts five to ten years.

The Orcs, lacking offensive capabilities, switched to a scattered, completely defensive stance. They dug tunnels and mixed spore creatures with local vegetation, forming numerous strongholds.

When these strongholds were discovered, they would be attacked. The human army quickly mobilized heavy artillery to besiege and bombard them, then armored units charged in with infantry to eliminate the living Orcs and eradicate the Green Skin plants.

If a stronghold was particularly well-defended or large in scale, the human forces wouldn't tangle with them for long, opting instead to call for orbital bombardment and then sending in ground forces afterwards.

But the problem was that there were too many of these strongholds.

Tens of millions of Orcs were scattered across millions of square kilometers of land in the northern continent of the planet, with some small strongholds comprising only a few dozen or a hundred Greenskins.

It wasn't difficult to exterminate them, but finding them all, without exception, that was tough.

Orbital bombardment faced a similar issue; it wasn't feasible to bombard every single stronghold as the smaller ones might not even be worth the cost of shells or missiles, lacking the value to be bombarded. Fleet firepower couldn't be wasted this way; even disregarding cost, stockpile and production capacity were insufficient for such extravagance.

In the end, these strongholds had to be hunted down one by one by the land forces, each one methodically tackled.

Even Gu Hang couldn't keep tens of millions from the Alliance Army stationed on Steel Wing Star for a prolonged 'bandit suppression'. Many other planets needed the alliance's military for rescue.

In fact, he planned to withdraw all of the Alliance Army in half a year, leaving only the thirty million from the Dragonhawk Legion and the Rage Bear Legion behind.

He believed that after half a year, even if the Greenskins weren't completely eradicated, any remaining would certainly number less than ten million and be unable to form a cohesive force. The two Star Realm Army Corps would slowly strangle the remnants, hoping to clean Steel Wing Star in three to five years. Moreover, they would serve as the guard force, preparing for a possible future Green Skin invasion.

...

After arranging the land forces' work, Gu Hang immediately convened a navy meeting.

Within the starport on Steel Wing Star, apart from a few duty-bound on their own ships, most of the captains joined this gathering.

This included the seven cruiser captains of the Tianma Fleet; each one an Imperial General, at least holding the rank of Brigadier General, and they all attended.

Smiles beamed on everyone's faces.

In the preceding great victory, the human side had suffered minimal losses. Less than forty warships were destroyed, and the real heartache was from only three destroyers and eleven escort ships—the remaining twenty-six patrolling vessels or armed merchant ships were not of high value.

What reason was there not to be happy?

During the pre-meeting banquet, everyone was in high spirits.

Since they were going to have a meeting later, drinking wasn't appropriate; and considering the war had just ended, the banquet wasn't extravagant.

But regardless, it couldn't dampen the enthusiastic atmosphere of the venue.

However, within those smiles, some were not as pure.

Tilermungs and three cruiser captains were huddled together, discussing something.

Their conversation quickly concluded, as if they had reached some degree of consensus.

The banquet ended and the meeting began.

The first part was unremarkable, with Gu Hang standing alongside Tilermungs in front of many officers, jubilantly announcing the battle results, commemorating fallen comrades, and declaring that all acts of valor and achievements would be recorded. Soldiers would receive their due honors and rewards, and the captains from the Gu Commercial Firm who were conscripted would also receive empire compensation and war bonuses.

The second part was critical.

After most people left the room, remaining were only the seven Tianma Fleet cruiser captains and Gu Hang.

At this point, Tilermungs no longer maintained his smile but seriously brought up the first topic:

"All the ships of the Tianma Fleet are present here, and we need to clarify command authority. Given the current war situation, the Tianma Fleet does not need to remain split into two. Major General Du Shiliang, the squadron you command will now rejoin my fleet, under my command effective immediately."