Chapter 540, Build a Stronghold and Fight a Tough Battle

As the alliance's offensive scope expands and the occupied area expands, the risks buried before become more and more difficult to ignore.

The resistance and non-cooperation of various planets; the difficulty of supply after the extended battle line; the two tumors growing on the throat of Shangdong and Guangfeng; the Angry Flame Fleet that is eyeing...

Even if you don't look at these, Gu Hang must admit one thing: the overall strength of the alliance is still far inferior to the Iron Fury Stone that controls the entire universe.

Humphrey Paul's main force is still involved in battlefields in multiple directions.

But it does not mean that their strength is gone.

Whether it is to mobilize troops from the main battlefield or to draw troops from the original garrison forces of multiple star fields to support, it is possible.

Even for a naval fleet with a long construction period, the enemy may have reinforcements at any time.

In the Spider Web Universe, there are three forging worlds, and they all belong to the Alfonzo Sect. None of these three forging worlds is smaller than Jindi Star.

Logically speaking, the Iron Fury Stone has been identified as an Imperial traitor, and the Mechanicus should join the Imperial forces in beating them.

However, they did not.

The attitude of the Alfonzo Cult is very ambiguous. They issued several condemnations of Humphrey Paul, but the wording was not harsh and they said it under pressure from all sides.

Moreover, they said that they announced the cessation of all cooperation with the Iron Fury Stone, but... now the entire Spider Web Universe has fallen into the hands of Humphrey Paul, and the news is not smooth. Who can say for sure whether the Alfonzo Cult has really cut off cooperation as they said?

No, in fact, most analysts believe that they are just talking.

The Alfonzo Cult had a very close relationship with Humphrey Paul a long time ago. The cooperation between the two sides has a history of hundreds of years.

The close cooperation between them has been maintained until the Iron Fury Stone officially began its rebellion.

This really makes people feel that their attitude is very unreliable.

Just one thing: if there is a real split, will Iron Rage Stone let go of three forging worlds with strong industrial production capacity?

But the fact is that the Alfonzo sect is fine, and Humphrey Paul has no intention of attacking them. Iron Rage Stone's military operations sweeping the Spider Web Universe have completely excluded the Alfonzo sect's sphere of influence.

Moreover, on various battlefields, the Empire's army can always see some new equipment appearing on the battlefield. With the blessing of these equipment, the combat effectiveness of the army under Iron Rage Stone is not like a local force that has been cut off by the Mechanicus.

Even the fleet of the Iron Armored Legion has a steady stream of new space battleships!

At this point, it has basically been confirmed. Not only did the Alfonzo sect not cut off contact with Iron Rage Stone as they said, but they were working hard to give blood transfusions to these traitors.

If we further refine this situation to the southern battlefield currently opened up by the Alliance, there is no need for Humphrey Paul to withdraw troops from the main battlefield. As long as the next batch of warships from Alfonzo's three forging worlds are sent to the south, the situation that the Fury Fleet is far inferior to the Alliance Fleet in combat effectiveness will be greatly improved at once.

Gu Hang believes that the new commander of the Fury Fleet on the opposite side is waiting for this.

By then, the Alliance's battle line will be extended, and the opponent will be strengthened and capable of fighting. Then this situation is likely to be seized by others and a big wave will be made.

We have to be on guard.

It is for this reason that the Alliance basically stopped its large-scale offensive after taking over two star regions.

But in fact, the Alliance has already obtained what it wanted in this war.

This war is a bit like a political war.

Now, once the war officially begins, all the problems that have troubled the Alliance before have been solved. Chairman Zuo Zhaofeng stopped scolding, and there were no more inquiries and orders from Holy Terra. The pressure from the Phoenix Regiment, the mother group of the Phoenix Bird, from the western front was also dissipated.

Even the war appropriation that the Eastern Space Domain Government had stopped for more than two years came again.

When the Alliance sent troops, there were 5 billion tax coins of supplies on the way.

This money is not much, but it is a signal. Zuo Zhaofeng also said that there will be more later.

After the Alliance entered the Proud Claw Star Region, 50 billion war supplies were loaded and set off to the Alliance.

There were also praises from Holy Terra.

Gallardo and Gu Hang lamented that his life had become better since the Alliance sent troops.

In addition, there were messages from other central departments of the empire, saying that Gu Hang did a good job and hoped that the Alliance could continue to work hard and move forward bravely.

All parties expressed their joy and encouragement that the Alliance had made a great momentum on the southern front within a few months.

And they all hoped that the Alliance could continue to maintain this momentum.

It’s not fast enough to attack two star regions in four months. If we follow this speed and draw a line on the star map, we need to attack six more star regions to break through the Proud Claw Star Region.

And there is another Nepeta Star Region to the northwest of Proud Claw. If we attack nine more star regions from the Nepeta Star Region, we will enter the Princess Star Region.

That is the real nest of Iron Fury Stone.

According to the ideas of the masters above, they wish the alliance’s attack would be more intense.

Why do we have to occupy the entire territory of every star region? Why do we care about those stubborn areas with strict defenses?

Hurry up and find the main force of the opponent for a decisive battle! Hurry up and fight all the way to the Princess Star Region! Hurry up and stab Humphrey Paul's ass!

Countless people urged like this, using different words, but the meaning is roughly the same.

But Gu Hang ignored all these statements.

Do they really expect that they can go straight to Huanglong and defeat Iron Fury Stone with only the current strength of the alliance?

Stop it.

They just want Gu Hang to make the battle more intense in the south, consume more of Iron Fury Stone's manpower, and attract more Iron Fury Stone's army to reduce the pressure from other directions.

And what about Gu Hang?

He will not use the family assets he has accumulated for so many years to make wedding clothes for others.

Regardless of whether it is a wedding dress or not, he will not take all his capital to a wave of gambles.

After holding two star regions and the risk of a slightly extended front line, Gu Hang stopped.

The results of the previous war have been able to ease political pressure.

The main army of the alliance stopped at this point.

As they stop moving forward, it won't be long before the relevant pressures come again.

But Gu Hang doesn't plan to pay attention to them.

Do I really care about the little money given by the Eastern Space Government?

5 billion? Tens of billions later?

The absolute number is indeed quite a lot, but it is mainly various ordinary equipment and small ships.

If these 40 to 50 billion are converted into one battleship per year, then Gu Hang may consider fighting more aggressively.

But is it like this now?

Forget it.

Follow your own pace.

And what is the rhythm of the alliance?

They turned around and began to digest the twenty worlds they had conquered.

These twenty worlds include poor ones, but also rich and developed ones.

Let's not worry about the poor places for now, for the rich and developed ones, especially the industrial ones

It is very important to put down the army, quell the resistance on the surface of the planet, and use political means to make the entire planet available to me.

After that, it means that we can directly draw nutrients from these twenty worlds and solve some conventional supply problems on the spot.

Several of these worlds have good industrial production capacity. Not to mention the loss of ammunition and conventional weapons, even the resources needed for starships, such as some shells and the fuel needed for starships, that is, energy crystals.

There is even a large starport with a small shipyard on one planet.

It is not expected that this shipyard can produce any new ships, but the existence of a shipyard means that the technical ability of this planet in the shipbuilding industry is still high, and it is well-equipped. The alliance has many ships that were damaged in previous battles and can be well maintained here.

At the same time, the alliance's engineering ships also came to the Proud Claw star field in batches under the escort of the navy.

The accompanying transport ships brought many railguns, space station parts and even production lines. Even a few light and heavy star fortresses were towed.

The long-distance movement and deployment of star fortresses needs to be towed by large transport ships.

These star fortresses are placed at the star tunnel jump points of the hub and on the orbits of key planets.

At the same time, those rail guns were also assembled and deployed on the spot with the help of some local planets that were captured and had good industrial production capacity.

Even the production lines that were transported here were to directly strengthen the military production capacity on the front line...

The Alliance seemed to be digesting these twenty worlds well and fortifying the four worlds in the key areas.

Star forts were dragged over, rail gun groups were built, and jump point defense facilities were built...

The Alliance's attitude was very clear: build a strong fortress and fight a stupid battle.

Twenty worlds were first circled, then gnawed down and digested, and then fortified the key areas, and prepared for the enemy's possible army to come.

If the opponent did not do this, then wait until the digestion is completed, then fight forward, eat dozens of worlds, digest them again, and fortify them again...

In the most stable way, at the lowest cost, to gradually erode.

For this reason, the Alliance began to turn its head and began to deal with the two "tumors".

The main force was not sent over, and it still had to guard against the Fury Fleet.

Only the two Holy Grail-class battlecruisers, the Koroja and the Flying Wing, went there.

Their mission was definitely not to attack by force.

There was no need.

Just lead the team to fire from a distance.

It would definitely not be possible to take it down by fighting like this. The hit rate of bombardment at a very long distance is worrying, and the intensity is not enough to destroy the enemy's star fortress in a very short time. Even if it hits a few shots, the star fortress can fly around the earth to the back of the planet, then decelerate urgently and stay in the orbit on the back. The maintenance engineers can take advantage of this time to repair the damage to the star fortress.

I don't know if we can exhaust and kill the opponent after fighting for dozens or hundreds of years.

But the current behavior of the Alliance Fleet is essentially putting pressure on the Upper East Star.

The star fortress is not easy to take down, but if you are a little unlucky, an ordinary armed space station will be instantly blown up by the bombardment of the battlecruiser's X-class light spear array.

At the same time, other means are also being used.

With the entire planet blocked, the Alliance's ships continued to broadcast to the Upper East Star; the star language communication of the Upper East Star was also blocked. With no way to contact the outside world, the Alliance could say whatever it wanted.

After more than six months of siege, the Alliance tried to send diplomatic envoys, and was actually accepted.

A small boat, carrying diplomatic envoys, came to the star port and had some exchanges with the defenders.

No consensus was reached.

But this was already a very good signal.

Two weeks later, the Alliance sent envoys again.

In the following period, the Alliance sent envoys to communicate with the local defenders almost every week.

There was no consensus on major issues, but the Alliance at least sent in some luxury goods and gifts; the other side also promised to send out some civilians to reduce unnecessary sacrifices and losses in the war.

Even in the later stage, the defenders had already put forward some conditions for surrender.

However, the conditions were harsh, and the Alliance did not agree.

There is still room for discussion later, so there is no rush.

Moreover, before the talks, the alliance was not without other options.

The ships escorting the diplomatic envoys were ‘small’, but that was only relative. Even the smallest traveler could carry hundreds of people at a time.

Of course, diplomatic envoys also needed guards, which was reasonable.

It was normal for a hundred-man escort to come at a time, and after getting off the ship, the garrison would find a place in the star port to guard and let the leaders of both sides negotiate.

There had never been any major conflict between the two sides.

However, what the garrison failed to discover was that there were some special people among these guards.

There were always a few people missing on the way to and from.

After five or six trips, about thirty or forty special forces soldiers in the alliance had lurked in the star port of Upper East Star.

When the diplomatic envoys arrived at the star port for the last time, the hundred-man escort team still followed.

They headed all the way to the inside of the star port, where they had held several talks in the past.

The garrison at the star port boarded the ship for inspection as usual.

However, after the inspectors boarded the ship, no more sound came out.

This situation soon caused some anxiety.

The garrison soldier in charge of contacting did not get a response, and hesitated, not knowing whether to call a few more times or report it quickly.

But soon, he did not need to hesitate.

He saw at least three hundred space warriors in red armor rushing out from the small group of travelers!