Chapter 535, Give me an explanation

Chapter 535, Give Me an Explanation

After the New World Torch stood on the side of Iron Fury Stone, its attitude was still very positive.

In the battle of Tianyuan VI, they turned traitors.

This was not a glorious thing after all. Not only did the Empire scold them for being despicable and shameless, but even within their own camp, there were probably many who complained about it and secretly laughed at it.

No one likes a traitor, even if he or she betrays you from the other side.

Interests are interests, moral stains are moral stains, the two do not conflict.

Even within the New World Torch Regiment, there were some voices. Some warriors could not bear the mental torment and defected in small groups, wanting to return to the Empire.

The end of these people... is quite miserable.

Some were intercepted by Wang Mengsong himself and secretly executed on the spot; some successfully escaped to the imperial side, but were also arrested, detained, and tried by the Inquisition.

The atmosphere within the entire regiment became very bad.

Under such circumstances, Wang Mengsong would not and dared not stop the battle.

He began to actively participate in Iron Rage Stone's various warrior missions in the Spider Web Universe. He led his regiment to one battlefield after another at a very high frequency.

The fatigue of war left the soldiers in the regiment with no time to think about trivial matters; the indisputable results of the battle also suppressed many rumors within their own camp.

Victory can cover up many problems.

The premise is that the momentum of victory cannot be interrupted.

But there's really nothing to worry about.

Over the past four years, the Iron Fury family has been winning, winning, winning. The small setbacks in the middle cannot change the overall winning trend at all.

So what if there is Phoenix in the west and Black Crusaders with Bat Regiment and Infinity Regiment in the north?

What should be blocked firmly will be blocked; what should be pushed back will be pushed back.

Wang Mengsong thought that the situation in the south was the same.

Even though the Fury Flame Regiment had suffered a great loss in the Dragon Eagle Star Region in the south, Wang Mengsong believed that it was mainly because the Fury Flame Regiment did not have enough intelligence on the Phoenix Regiment and rashly stepped into the trap.

He admitted that it was unexpected that the Phoenix had so many experts. However, the overall strength of the Phoenix was there. There were a total of 1,000 people. They were a loyal chapter and had no special permission to exceed the upper limit. They didn't even have a chapter fleet until now. The naval force needed to rely on the so-called alliance, and the army also relied on the army of the alliance.

Although the intelligence also mentioned that the Alliance's army was of a very high level, even if it was considered to be at the same level as the Princess' Army, that was it.

In terms of size, there is a big difference between the two sides.

Now, Iron Fury's business has spread across the entire Spider Web Universe. The power of an entire universe can be used by me. The alliance in the south is just a star field as its foundation. What is there to be afraid of?
With this idea in mind, he was very confident when he received the transfer order to join up with the Fury Regiment and head south to deal with the Alliance.

Almost all of the Fury Flame Fleet came out. Although they suffered huge losses in the Dragon Eagle Star Region four years ago, including many high-level, elite, and backbone personnel, their overall strength was still there. Nearly 3,000 Space Marines and the Fury Flame Fleet were a force that should not be underestimated.

Together with their New World Torch, there are also 1,500 people, and they also have their own fleet and auxiliary forces.

After they joined forces and headed south, even if they weren't unstoppable, it should have been relatively smooth.

But reality gave Wang Mengsong a heavy blow.

In the northern part of the Menghe star field, the alliance's vanguard troops were stationed here, turning the planets surrounding this area into fortresses, posing a great obstacle to their attack.

The alliance has run this place very well and has a very smart and resilient strategy.

Their best strategy of fighting a crucial battle and quickly forcing enemies in an entire star region to become discouraged and lose the will to resist did not work here.

The soldiers of the Alliance are like nails, rooted in those heavily guarded worlds.

If you want to move forward, you can only take them one by one.

Even though in some galaxies, the Alliance's fleets had long been driven away, and the remaining army units had completely lost orbital control and external supplies, they were still able to resist stubbornly on the surface, with terribly stubborn morale.

Why bother?
We are not aliens or Chaos cultists, so what's wrong with surrendering?
But despite this, Wang Mengsong didn't think the situation would change much.

They possess absolute strength. Even if the enemy's will to resist is much more stubborn than imagined, as long as they are willing and dare to invest, they will be the winner in the end.

Therefore, Wang Mengsong has always advocated that the warriors of Fury and New World Torch should be deployed in groups and intensively in the front-line battles. Those hard bones to chew should also be chewed down one by one to ensure that the overall battle situation can be quickly advanced.

However, he was not the commander-in-chief of this southward campaign.

The Chapter Master of the Fury Chapter is Adler Paulitos.

In the command structure, he must obey the orders of Adler Paulitos.

However, obeying orders is one thing, but it does not mean that Wang Mengsong, as a regiment commander, cannot even put forward opinions.

He had many arguments with Adler Paulitos over specific tactical strategies.

However, he failed to sway Paulitos’ decision.

Iron Fury Stone also reformed the military structure under his rule. The original model of the empire, where each force was independent, did not work in the Spider Web Universe. Humphrey Paul established a complete and unified military structure by combining hard and soft means.

No matter how dissatisfied Wang Mengsong was, he had to hold it in.

Then he watched his own legion killing time on these fortress worlds in the northern part of the Menghe star field.

Indeed, as the core and most valuable force, the Space Marines did not have much input, so naturally they did not suffer much loss. Relying on the Princess Legion and even the ordinary defense forces recruited, they all achieved quite good results.

They have clearly suppressed the momentum of the Alliance Vanguard and are pulling out those nails one by one.

Although the speed is slow, the momentum is stable.

If the situation continued like this, Wang Mengsong would have to endure it.

However, when he and Paulitos, with two battleships, drove away the enemy's newly reinforced battlecruiser in Yuehe VII and regained control of the planet's orbit, Paulitos actually ordered the troops to withdraw from Yuehe VII!

What’s more important is that Paulitos didn’t even discuss such an important decision with him!

This is something he absolutely cannot tolerate!
It was for this reason that he rushed to the flagship of the Fury Corps, the battle barge 'Fire of Triumph', with great momentum.

He needs an explanation.

"Why do we have to withdraw?" Wang Mengsong strode into the bridge and began with a blunt question: "We have paid so much for Yuehe VII, with tens of millions of casualties in the past few months and the loss of the navy. We have invested so much, why do we just give up?"

After he finished speaking, he emphasized, "At least fifteen of you from Fury died in there, and I also lost five warriors!"

Adler Paulitos turned his gaze away from the star map and looked at Wang Mengsong:

“Just execute the decision.”

Wang Mengsong also calmed down.

"Are you telling me this as the commander-in-chief of the South?"

"Yes."

"Heh." Wang Mengsong sneered.

The two fell into silence.

Wang Mengsong spoke again: "You are the commander-in-chief, you have the final say, but this is definitely not a reason for you to make mistakes at will! You should not make such a decision without discussing it with me!"

"Discuss? What's the point of discussing with you?" Paulitos asked back, "I have explained my meaning to you countless times, but every time I just quarreled with you."

“That’s because you’re a coward!” Wang Mengsong raised his voice. “Your Fury Flame Regiment had its backbone broken in the Dragon Eagle Star Region four years ago, right? Now you’re as soft as a puddle of mud! If you had listened to me earlier, we would have flattened this quagmire long ago!”

Having been exposed to the most painful moment in the history of the regiment, Adler Paulitos's eyes immediately turned cold.

"And sacrifice countless soldiers in this non-critical area? I'm not like you, who would use the sacrifice of my own people to wash away the guilt of backstabbing an ally."

This sentence broke down Wang Mengsong's defense.

The two of them were picking on each other, the things that the other person least wanted to look back on, and were pulling at each other's chest.

It wasn't just the two of them who were on the verge of a fight, but also the soldiers on both sides.

The Honor Guards of the two Chapter Masters have already drawn their weapons.

Judging from the postures of both sides, it seems that if there is a disagreement, there will be an internal fight on their own ships.

But fortunately, the leaders of both sides still have some rationality.

There was no apology, but Adler Paulitos still gave Wang Mengsong an explanation:
"Our forces are not enough to fight against the main force of the alliance. The strategy of seizing the northern defense line of Menghe has failed. We must now shrink our defense line."

"The failure to seize the northern defense line of Menghe was all due to your previous cowardly strategy!"

"If we sacrifice too much strength in Menghe North, when the main force of the alliance arrives, we will have to spit out everything we have eaten. We can't even hold on to Ao Claw if we want to retreat!"

"If we take it down sooner, we can use Menghe North's defense to hold off the main force of the alliance!"

"We are all on the defensive. Why should we sacrifice so many manpower to defend the broken defense line? We can retreat to Pride Claw and use the defense line we have built for several years. We will have more manpower!"

"Then how long do we have to wait?"

"Hold on until the Regent sends reinforcements."

Both of them spoke very quickly and the atmosphere was still not peaceful. They were still arguing with each other.

But at least they tacitly agreed not to mention each other's dark history, but to talk about the matter at hand.

Having said that, Paulitos finally didn't want to continue to tangle with Wang Mengsong.

He didn't wait for the New World Torch's commander to speak again, and ended the topic forcefully: "That's it, Commander Wang Mengsong, I don't want to explain these strategies to you that have been explained too many times. I am the general manager of the southern front. I have made the decision on this matter. Please follow my orders. Even if you have any opinions, keep them to yourself."

"I will raise objections to the Regent. Just wait for your commander-in-chief to be removed from office!"

"You can do it first."

The 'regent' they mentioned was Humphrey Paul. Two years ago, the commander of the Ironclad Chapter gave himself this title, claiming that he was the one who received orders from the Emperor to fight against the disobedient people on Holy Terra.

This incident also caused even greater waves throughout the empire.

This will obviously bring more external pressure to their uprising group. But since they have already started the uprising, it doesn't matter if there is such an explanation.

At the same time, with this title, it will be easier to integrate forces. In the subsequent wars, it will also be easier to force some planets and groups that lost in the war to join its side.

Humphrey Paul's prestige among the rebel forces in the Spider Web Universe rose to a new level.

Only this 'Regent' has the ability to completely resolve the differences between the two Space Marine Chapter Masters on the southern front.

But now, since Adler Paulitos is the overall person in charge of the southern front, the situation on this battlefield will still be determined by his will.

After the two parted unhappily, Yuehe VII, and even the entire front line, on more than a dozen planets that were in conflict, were carrying out large-scale evacuations in accordance with Paulitos's request.

……

"Run away."

A month later, Gu Hang, who led the alliance's main fleet to arrive at Menghe North, sighed.

"The Governor's reputation is well known to everyone. As soon as you arrived, those traitors ran away like dogs with their tails between their legs!" Pobov laughed, unlike his usual attitude towards his subordinates.

Yan Fangxu coughed lightly and reported the situation directly: "We also tried to pursue, but the effect was not very good. The other side's two battleship-level ships escorted the evacuating ships very closely. To be on the safe side, we did not risk launching a particularly strong pursuit."

"A safe choice." Gu Hang said in approval.

Yan Fangxu continued, "Our troops have already set out, with the goal of retaking the entire northern part of the Menghe Star Region. The enemy has completely evacuated this area, and the remaining resistance is very rare. However, according to detection, the enemy still has one last stronghold in the Menghe Star Region that has not been abandoned."

"That's Shangdong Star. This planet is the key point between Menghe Star Region and Aozhua Star Region. With one jump from here, you can reach Aozhua Star Region - Guangtai Star Region - Guangfeng Star."

"They have set up a very strong defense system on Shangdong Star and Guangfeng Star."

Gu Hang asked: "Now, it's our turn to attack the opponent's defense?"

Yan Fangxu's face was solemn: "I'm afraid so."

(End of this chapter)