Starting from the Planetary Governor

Chapter 1246: Chapter 677: Sacrifice is the Foundation of the Empire

Is Marshal Xi Rui the only one who can undertake this mission?

Not necessarily.

The Alliance also has excellent generals available. Whether it’s the two battle groups or commanders like Yan Fangxu and Perbov, they can assume this role.

Just as Gu Hang has had various plans for dealing with the remnants of the Northern Line Army, even if Xi Rui and Qin Zhiping are incompetent, it wouldn’t hinder Gu Hang’s grand strategy.

However, if he didn’t consider the remnants of the North Line at all, Gu Hang would have to leave behind not only generals but also a portion of the troops to serve as a feint.

The troops that are left behind can’t be weak; otherwise, the feint won’t work, and it could even show weakness, allowing the Insect Race to push them back in a counterattack, leading to a loss outweighing the gain.

But if the remaining troops are too numerous and strong, although the probability of completing the feinting mission increases, the number of troops needed to annihilate that massive reinforcement won’t be few, putting more pressure on Gu Hang, with a lowered margin for error in the entire operation.

If there’s no choice, then there’s no way around it.

But isn’t there a choice now?

Gu Hang believes that Xi Rui and Qin Zhiping have exhibited qualities that allow him to trust them to a certain extent.

In Gu Hang’s worst-case scenario, there would be a mutiny among the Northern Line remnants, and he would suppress it, then split the remnants, leaving some forces behind while taking some with him, dispersing them as much as possible and having Alliance personnel take over.

But in that case, there would be significant loss of combat strength during the infighting and suppression, and the split Northern Line Army, with low morale and resentment, would be essentially useless.

The situation would be much worse than it is now.

Objectively speaking, Xi Rui and Qin Zhiping’s sensible behavior did solve a major problem for him.

And for commanding the Northern Line remnants in this brutal and inevitably costly task, Xi Rui and Qin Zhiping, as former high commanders of the Northern Line Army, are the best choices.

By maximizing the combat capacity of the Northern Line remnants, Gu Hang can significantly reduce the number of troops he needs to leave behind for the feint, making the operation against the Insect Race reinforcements more assured.

As for the few issues Xi Rui was concerned about, Gu Hang also gave them some thought.

About how many people would die… he thought about it, but didn’t answer.

War is just like that.

Sacrifices have forged the Human Empire.

Moreover, Gu Hang doesn’t think that Xi Rui wouldn’t understand these things.

He may be cautious at first, but he eventually would come around.

The other issue, however, is worth saying a bit more about.

“Just do your best. I have faith in the Black Cross Army, and the Anti-Extraterrestrial Alliance as the core force, and I will leave some troops, especially a substantial number of ground forces, under your command to coordinate with your actions.”

“Don’t worry about casualties or whether you can maintain the offensive. Even if you maintain the offensive and it is eventually exposed, the pressure your attack brings upon the Insect Swarm cannot be ignored.”

“Even if it gets discovered, the pressure you exert cannot be ignored by the Insect Swarm. It merely would shift from a feint to a full assault, from attraction to containment.”

“The Insect Swarm wouldn’t be able to offer immediate support to its forces moving south, your task will be considered a success.”

When he came to this point, Gu Hang’s tone became a bit serious: “Marshal Xi Rui, I believe you can see that this is a very important task. It is indeed formidable, but it is not a mission that’s impossible or a suicide mission. The requirement for this operation is to achieve the objectives, it is a battle critical to the entire war, it’s an imperative order, do you understand what I mean?”

Xi Rui was solemn.

He certainly understood the seriousness, nodded seriously, and assured Gu Hang:

“In the name of the Black Cross Army, I will surely complete the task!”

…

“Attack, attack! In the name of the Black Cross Army, attack!”

Xi Rui shouted vigorously over the communication, showing none of his usual calmness.

This was already eighteen days after his conversation with Gu Hang.

After that conversation, the Alliance Army moved very quickly, with great efficiency.

The troops that needed to be left with Xi Rui were arranged swiftly.

The Navy forces weren’t left much. After all, the battle against the Insect Swarm reinforcements was primarily a naval battle. The Alliance’s main fleet had to be taken away. Leaving behind the remaining ships of the Northern Line remnants and the flagship ’Cross Black Star’ of the Black Cross Army’s fourth fleet was already quite an achievement.

In such a situation, engaging in naval warfare with the Insect Swarm Fleet among the stars wasn’t wise.

It’s not that the Insect Swarm Fleet here is particularly strong, but at least compared to after the Alliance’s main fleet left, the fleet Xi Rui had was significantly smaller in scale.

Frankly speaking, he just had the leftover ships of the Northern Line remnants. Expecting to mount a sharp offensive that would’ve effectively attracted the Insect Swarm’s attention was a pipe dream with these ships.

If they really attempted that, it would be called sending troops to their deaths rather than launching an attack.

On the other hand, the ground forces at Xi Rui’s disposal were quite enough.

The Northern Line remnants numbered nearly twenty to thirty million. Excluding non-combat seamen, the remainder of the various ground forces totaled in the millions.

The Alliance Army left behind six army groups; they weren’t fully staffed, but still had an over billion-strong force.

Additionally, Furyflame, and New Era Torch, each left two hundred Interstellar Warriors behind. Adding the three hundred from the Black Cross Army and one hundred from Silver Watchtower… the Interstellar Warriors alone counted up to eight hundred.

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