Chapter 979: Chapter 528_2

But there was no way around it; under political pressure, Gu Hang had to make a decision.

The part mentioned in his written report barely sufficed. Although there would still be a lot of public criticism and urging from various sides, it was somewhat better than before.

However, with benefits on one hand, there would naturally be disadvantages on the other.

Such rhetoric from the Alliance was not something that could be concealed from their good neighbor to the north.

The intelligence capabilities of the Iron Armor Battle Group could not be so lacking as to be unaware of such matters.

A clearly stated timeline indicated the moment when the Alliance would act against the Iron Wrath.

Could Humphrey Paolo tolerate the Alliance rapidly accumulating power like this and then, after thoroughly preparing, launch an attack according to their schedule?

That was clearly impossible.

Even though the main forces of the Iron Wrath were still concentrated on the western front, fiercely pursuing the Phoenix Legion, they have significantly increased their focus on the southern battlefield.

Firstly, Perbov noticed that Iron Wrath had clearly dispatched large forces to the southernmost domain of the Spiderweb Domain, which is the Proudclaw Cosmos. Soon after, a massive army, led by the Fury Flame Battle Group, an old adversary of the Alliance, aggressively charged into the Menghe Star Domain.

The leader was the current Battle Group Leader of the Fury Flame Battle Group, Adler Politos. He was originally the captain of Fury Flame’s third company. After the bloody duel to the death, where the former leader, Erso, died along with many core members in that duel, he was the only company commander who could take over.

The northern part of the Menghe Star Domain originally had a small portion occupied by the rebels. Previously, under orders from the Alliance Headquarters, Perbov led the advance units to hasten the attacks on these occupied regions. Due to insufficient forces and strategic reasons of the Alliance, his actions in the northern Menghe were not aggressive, mainly to show that the Alliance was taking proactive attacks.

Under such circumstances, the fierce assault by the Fury Flame Battle Group caught the Alliance completely off guard.

Perbov was the first to bear the brunt of the attack.

He made a very cautious judgment on the situation, avoiding a decisive battle with the old adversary, the Fury Flame Battle Group, in the northern Menghe Star Domain.

Despite the Alliance’s intelligence analysis department believing that the forces Iron Wrath could muster wouldn’t be significant, and knowing that the Fury Flame Battle Group had at least a thousand people appear on the western front, no matter how much reinforcements Fury Flame could have, they shouldn’t surpass the Iron Armor’s level, right? A few years ago, they lost at least four to five hundred Interstellar Warriors in the Dragonhawk Star Domain war, and some core members, including their former battle group leader, were killed by the Phoenix in that fatal duel.

Under such circumstances, how many forces could they commit to the Alliance’s proactive offense?

But regrettably, Perbov also lacked sufficient forces.

He decided against rashly engaging in this battle.

Having retreated, Perbov diligently defended the complete ring of fortifications established through fortifying several worlds along the northern Menghe Star Domain over the past few years, as he engaged in a plain yet solid defensive warfare against the southward-advancing Fury Flame Battle Group.

Truth be told, when it was learned that the Fury Flame Battle Group was making a clear move south, and Perbov was abandoning previously captured territories to fall back to the defensive line, everyone in the Alliance was quite tense.

There were voices within the Alliance lamenting that they shouldn’t have caved under pressure to explicitly mention their military plans in the statement to the Central Empire.

To a large extent, Iron Wrath might have interpreted this statement as eliminating any room for maneuver between the two sides, extinguishing the last shred of hope, and deciding to strike first.

However, at this point, there’s no point in discussing it further.

The Alliance began deploying more forces and mobilized additional Phoenix Interstellar Warriors to invest into the northern Menghe Star Domain battlefield.

However, the overall strategy remained defensive.

The Alliance General Staff Department gave Perbov very clear instructions: prohibit proactive cross-line attacks, avoid fleet battles, and use the fortressized planets and star fortresses and combat space stations positioned at various Star Realm Tunnel jump nodes to blockade the enemy fleet outside the defensive lines, aiming to drag them into ground warfare’s quagmire.

At critical moments, they could adopt a spatial-for-time strategy, as long as they prevent the enemy from achieving an all-out advance and flat-out push. If the enemy is stuck firmly on the fortressed defensive lines, Perbov would then have achieved a significant accomplishment.

Perbov executed the strategy of dragging the battle into a quagmire with astonishing success. Like a seasoned chess player, he meticulously arranged his pieces, calculating each step with precision. The firepower of the planetary fortresses and the intercept systems of the combat space stations formed a dense net, locking the Fury Flame Battle Group’s fleet firmly on the perimeter.

The ground war also reached a stalemate, with both sides engaging in brutal tug-of-war battles across the rugged terrains of various planets and within fortress-like cities.

Two years might be a mere blink in the context of interstellar warfare, but during this time, Perbov stood like an unyielding rock, indestructible.

His perseverance and wisdom allowed the Alliance’s rear to stabilize, providing precious time for the fleet’s construction and the Army’s preparations.

Now, beyond the Flying Wing Star, the amassed Alliance Fleet was unprecedentedly powerful.

Countless ships stretched across the starry sky, like waves of silver and blue.

The Alliance Army was also ready to be deployed. Organizing in armies and army groups, they boarded warships and transport ships, presently within this star domain.

Although the war horn for the Alliance had yet to sound, the flag of the Alliance was already flying in the vast starry skies.

Only awaiting the final command.

And the only one capable of issuing that order was Gu Hang.

After completing the last stop of the scheduled circuit inspections, Gu Hang returned to Flying Wing Star from Rage Owl Star, bringing with him the newly equipped ‘Alliance National Knights,’ or the Alliance’s Titan Legion, which were just established on the planet where the Alliance first rose.

He held a military meeting at the starport on Flying Wing Star.

Many high officials from the Alliance Government and senior generals from the Alliance Military participated in this military meeting.

In the meeting, Gu Hang didn’t discuss too much about concrete strategies or tactics.

These matters were already deliberated countless times in previous detail-oriented work meetings.

At present, this meeting resembled more of the final mobilization rally before the war.

In this meeting, Gu Hang refrained from verbose speeches.

He briefly discussed how despicable Iron Wrath, as traitors, were, and affirmed the stance to stand with the Empire to fight these Empire traitors to the end.

After conveying this, the subsequent points were of greater importance:

“The Alliance requires development, bringing a better life to the vast populace of the Dragonhawk Star Domain and the Menghe Star Domain.”

“We have amassed great power, and we are also practicing our ideals.”

“We are not so welcoming of war.”

“However, for development, we need a stable external environment.”

“Anyone who denies us such an environment, we will strike hard and teach them a lesson!”

“Win this war to secure a century of peace!”

“Gentlemen, please join me in fighting for the Alliance!”

Under Gu Hang’s vigorous rallying cry, all the generals and high officials present stood up, following their leader, shouting together:

“Fight for the Alliance!”

…

After the meeting adjourned, the high-ranking officials and generals all departed promptly.

They still had a lot of work to do before embarking.