Starting from the Planetary Governor

Chapter 1009: Chapter 544, Whose Side Is Time On?

Gu Hang certainly wasn’t talking nonsense.

If, as he said, the Alliance really did conquer the Proudclaw Star Domain, and even pushed further into the Thistle Muster Star Field, then never mind the battle report; that could be misleading.

But the battle lines don’t lie.

They were indeed the force pushing the battle lines closest to the Princess Star Domain.

On the North Line battlefield, there were the Black Cross Army, the Infinite Warriors, and the Bats; all were well-known battle groups or even newly-formed ones. In addition, there were newly added forces like the Extraplanar Tribunal and the special battle group Silver Watch.

On the West Line, there were the Phoenix, the elite Heretic Tribunal and the massive Battle Nun Battalion, and the famous Star Realm Army – Death Legion.

Both these lines are filled with famous generals and renowned legions, and what was the outcome?

They were still stuck at the edges of several star domains bordering the Spiderweb Domain; not a single one had broken through. In fact, the West Line was even being pushed back at times; they couldn’t establish a foothold within the Spiderweb Domain and were being forced into the western Magrey Cosmic Domain.

No matter if the Southern front is the primary battlefield or not, the question is whether the battle line is closest to the enemy’s core region?

At this level, the Alliance could fully stand straight and face any political criticisms against it.

Talk about me?

Let’s see how those other big shots performed first!

As for capturing three key worlds, whether or not it counts as conquering the Proudclaw Star Domain…

Even if it is considered conquering the Proudclaw Star Domain, whether the Alliance has any strength left to fight further…

We’ll see about that.

We can’t really expect the Alliance alone to handle everything, can we?

If there were no major changes in the North and West Line battles, after capturing the three key worlds and declaring the conquest of Proudclaw, Gu Hang would no longer advance.

He was also wary of provoking Ironfury’s mindset too much.

If, by then, in their fury, they disregarded the West and North Line opponents and concentrated forces southward solely against him, that would be truly disastrous.

In fact, that’s also why Gu Hang intended to at least secure either the Shangdong or Guangfeng stars.

If it came to that scenario, Gu Hang would have no choice but to abandon all results and retreat with his main fleet to defend Shangdong.

With Shangdong’s comprehensive orbital defense system — the Star Fortress had been destroyed, but the Alliance was bringing new ones to replace them — plus the Alliance’s own eight main warships, as long as Ironfury didn’t go all out, he could still hold the line.

…

The second phase of the Alliance’s war lasted several months.

It only ended after solidifying twenty important worlds out of the four star sectors in the occupied zone, making them impregnable fortresses.

During this period, the Fury Fleet repeatedly attempted raids.

But after the Alliance had shrunk its forces to this extent, they could gain no advantage.

Recently, they also quieted down.

Though the Fury Flame Battle Group calmed down, the Alliance had no intention to do the same.

The third phase of Gu Hang’s war plan began execution formally.

The main fleet that the Alliance deployed was a 1+1+3 combination.

One battleship, one carrier, and three battlecruisers.

Additionally, there were three battlecruisers guarding the rear. If Fury Flame made a desperate counterattack into the Alliance’s controlled zone, having three battlecruisers coordinating with the built-up space defense line wouldn’t pose much of a problem, and they could even engage in tactical maneuvers using their mobility.

The main force, on the other hand, had the power to crush Fury Flame directly.

They made a direct assault on Mentus II, a crucial hub world.

As a core hub world, Mentus II had rather superior defensive capabilities.

Not on par with Guangfeng Star since it didn’t have a Void Shield covering the whole planet; but not much worse than Shangdong Star, with a simple, yet firm and useful defense system combining well-rounded ground artillery and orbital Star Fortresses.

In theory, the Fury Fleet could mount a strong defense here, with Mentus II’s complete defensive conditions, against the Alliance Main Fleet.

However, they still abandoned Mentus II and resolved not to engage the Alliance in a direct decisive battle. Since they abandoned Guangfeng Star, which had even more complete defenses, they wouldn’t hold this comparatively lesser Mentus II either.

Politos still hadn’t been forced into a must-fight situation.

In reality, within the Alliance’s high-level military discussions, it was gradually understood that not just for the loss of a single city or territory, but even losing the entire Proudclaw Star Domain might not provoke the Fury Flame Battle Group into a confrontation with them.

Adler Politos could be called cowardly or that after the bloody death struggle years ago, his spine had been broken. However, one must admit, his rather indecisive and sticky combat approach was indeed annoying.

The more practical threat was that Gu Hang felt time was on his side. With battleship technology extracted and the production capacity of Holy Grail-class and Zhuge-class being gradually expanded, along with purchasing Dragonserpent-class battlecruisers from the Mingyang Sect… the Alliance would grow stronger over time.

After all, although the war began, the Alliance’s homeland never ceased its developmental stride. The external war might indeed have some dampening effects on domestic economic growth, especially on the everyday life standards of the populace, inevitably causing a decline due to war and material allocations.

However, if military production capacity was also included, then undoubtedly, the war could strongly stimulate this aspect of production.

The Alliance made efforts to expand its military production capacity, which would grow stronger over time.

But the key point was, Politos didn’t know this, or wasn’t as clear about it.

Just as many of the Alliance’s senior generals believed time was on the Alliance’s side, Politos might have thought the same.

He traded space for time, willing to lose more territories to allow the Alliance’s advance to endure more significant risks, and was also biding his time, waiting for Humphrey Paolo to allocate more warships to him.

It didn’t matter if these ships were allocated from the West or North Line battlefields, or new ships produced by Ironfury’s core shipbuilding industry; his fleet would become stronger subsequently.

In comparison, it was really hard to say who had the correct understanding and couldn’t be sure on whose side time was ultimately standing.

Perhaps, it stood on both sides.

After all, the next batch of battlecruisers, carriers, battleships for the Alliance would generally take six to eight years to build. By then, the number of main warships of the Alliance could nearly double.

However, would the war drag on until then?

The possibility remained relatively high, given such a war involving multiple cosmic domains and various major powers participating, fighting for a dozen years, or even decades, wasn’t rare.

However, what the war situation would evolve into six to eight years from now was anyone’s guess.

Maybe by then, the Alliance might have suffered major defeats? Or perhaps the war situation would have improved to the extent that there’d be no need to increase the number of warships?

As for Politos, perhaps after a few months? One or two years? His fleet might receive reinforcement.

Politos might consider finding a favorable location to engage the Alliance in a significant battle at that time.

Clearly, he wouldn’t do that now.

For the Alliance fleet, however, Mentus II was a world no longer skipped.

The Alliance didn’t treat it like Guangfeng or Shangdong by setting it aside but launched a strong attack on Mentus II.

Against the Star Fortresses surrounding Mentus II, the ’Firebath Nova’ led a very aggressive assault as the main force. Under the cover of Escort Ships, relying on its formidable defensive capabilities, it endured orbital and ground assaults while fiercely pouring its firepower onto the Star Fortresses. It also provided solid cover for the three battlecruisers and ’Eagle Horse’ behind it.

The significant role of the battleship was undoubtedly evident at such moments: they were the most resilient, most reliable space fortresses and the core of offense and defense.

In the initial battle, the Alliance’s result was destroying four space stations and causing some damage to the Star Fortresses.

The price was losing a small ship, but multiple Escort Ships had their shields depleted, retreating to the rear, and most importantly, the shield on the Firebath Nova had also depleted to the brink of overload.

At this point, the Alliance fleet withdrew.

The Alliance certainly wouldn’t trade inefficient losses with cheap space stations and Star Fortresses from the opposition.

That would be highly uneconomical.

A Star Fortress, in weight and firepower, was comparable to a battleship, only slightly weaker; but at a cost perhaps less than a twentieth of a battleship’s.

Exchanging fire here was a fool’s errand.

Mobilizing a battleship meant holding the initiative in deciding whether to engage in battle.

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