Chapter 3

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Chapter 3: The Strongest Battle Army vs. TF58 Golden Fleet (2)

What is the biggest difference between armies in different eras? Firepower? Armor? Numbers? Or explosive power? None of these. It lies in the speed and efficiency of executing command orders, in other words, the speed of military data transmission and the reaction speed of the army. In the era of melee weapons, it could take weeks or even months from a general issuing orders to the two sides engaging in battle.

In modern times, with the help of railways and highways, partially motorized and fully horse-drawn armies can speed up to a few days to a week. As we enter the information and mechanized era, this speed is often calculated in hours or even minutes. The entire process from issuing commands from headquarters, reviewing orders by front-line commanders, inspecting intelligence, guiding attacks, and destroying the enemy can be condensed into a short span of minutes to hours.

The response speed of troops also means the cycle of issuing military commands, indicating their speed in dealing with unexpected events. Therefore, even if they are armed only with melee weapons, as long as the command data link and transportation systems are in place, modern armies can defeat ancient armies easily, even when their weapons are inferior.

So, when the imperial soldiers relaxed and set up camp, unloading ammunition and supplies from the landing crafts, fortifying defensive lines along the farm walls with sandbags, metal shields, and mines, they never thought they would be attacked by the enemy.

In their understanding, even if the local people quickly assembled their forces, organized supplies, mobilized soldiers, distributed weapons, traveled to the battlefield, set up artillery for attack, and began the assault, this process usually took several days.

Even the empire officers who have never experienced an all-in-one strike on the cold warfront gathered together, reminiscing about previous battles and writing battle reports. These reports would become valuable war experiences for the empire and be used in the next battle.

This is the empire’s proud and excellent military system, enabling them to grow from a corner, defeating tough enemies one by one, and rising steadily. Unbeknownst to them, from now on, their lives have entered a countdown in seconds.

"’Eagle Team,’ you have 1 minute and 20 seconds before entering the warzone."

"Eagle-1, understood!"

"Eagle-2, understood!"

"Open the data link, all target data shared!"

The images and data from the empire’s campsite obtained from unmanned reconnaissance aircraft were integrated by the warning aircraft, outlining attack routes to avoid all possible ground anti-aircraft units for each airstrike formation participating in the attack.

"’Red-tailed Hawk’ entering the warzone, initiating clearance strike on the first sequence target!"

"Good luck!"

The bomb bay opened, four medium-range air-to-ground missiles left the launch rack one by one, guided by the AWACS and drones, headed straight towards designated high-value targets, "Boom!"

"Boom!" Clusters of red and black flowers of death bloomed, the Empire’s just deployed machine gun positions became flying debris in an instant, because there appeared to be no visible missiles or anti-aircraft guns on their position, it seemed like some sort of heavy machine gun position became the first target of the air strike.

After a successful hit, the "Red-tailed Hawk" squadron immediately activated the afterburners, leaving the sound behind, quickly exiting the combat airspace, like a skilled assassin, hitting their target without hesitation and leaving swiftly, this was the operational advice given by the staff before departure, once successful, leave immediately, no one knew what kind of counterattack the aliens might have.

"Red-tailed Hawk, R2B!"

"What’s going on?" Empire officers opened their tents to see the just set-up positions burning fiercely, surrounded by soldiers screaming and rolling in flames, their thick fur now the perfect kindling, spreading the flames further.

The officers quickly blew their whistles, trying to calm the chaos and shooting down the ones on fire running amok before they could ignite more things.

"Eagle Team, enter the battle zone, Red-tailed Hawk did well, Shoot Good!" The F-31s from the US military (prototype: FFR-31 "Fighter Fairy Yukikaze") dispersed and launched air-to-ship missiles straight towards the Empire’s smallest escort ship.

Uncertain of the intentions of these standing cats, the staff devised this plan of overwhelming strikes based on the idea of attacking their own navy, even if the opponent had a sci-fi movie-like protective barrier, an overwhelming strike on their smallest battleship should still cause some damage.

These battleships with excellent radar reflection surfaces were like bright lighthouses in the night, without close-range defense screens, without electronic suppression, without chaff, the missiles appearing abruptly from the void were like a school of fish, hitting one after the other on the outer cruisers.

The thin metal armor was easily pierced by the semi-armor-piercing shell, causing the internal wooden ribs to shatter. Then countless exploding fireballs tore the small guy weighing less than 4000 tons into pieces, lighting up the imperial army with a bewildered and dreamy expression.

Before they could react, more anti-ship missiles and cruise missiles covered the entire fleet with saturation attacks. At this point, no one could expect a few precise surgical strikes to harm the alien fleet. Therefore, pouring all firepower and strength on them in the shortest time possible, then fleeing immediately, was the right course of action.

However, the effects of this attack were beyond imagination. The massive creatures that seemed to darken the sky before were like fragile balloons easily burst with a poke. Even the main battleships and flagships with thick main armor did not suffer fatal damage during the missile barrage, but the flames spreading on the deck and the collapsing debris inside still caused significant damage. The supersonic heavy missiles that arrived later became their death knell.

Before they could report, the second wave of attacks arrived. The overwhelming attack cluster was like a flock of migratory birds, followed by various jointly guided bombs landing on the ground camps, arsenals, and burning defensive positions as if they had eyes. Since it was unclear about the aliens’ defense systems and equipment, this bombing fleet almost indiscriminately dropped all conventional and special ammunition.

"Cough, cough, cough!" Lieutenant Ruier struggled to push away the scrap box pressing down on him, trying hard to open his eyes, which were slightly swollen from the smoke. A few minutes ago, the well-organized imperial position was now a burning hell, with even the dying cries sounding so feeble.

The fleet was burning in the sky, the army was burning on the ground, inhaling the scorching ashes as if the lungs were burning out. In the distance, General Locke was leaning against a half-burnt mount, his eyeballs bulging outwards, bloodshot, like a pair of ugly inferior glass beads.

Ruier grabbed a relatively intact rifle as a cane to support his body.

"Is this… Is this a meteor shower we’re facing?"

The rain of fire pouring from the sky reminded him only of meteors and meteorites, and of course, the barrage of guns firing, but he hadn’t heard any whistling of shells, so it must be meteorites.

The whole army fell apart and turned into burning trash without finding any enemies or even a suspicious figure. Maybe it was just an untimely meteor shower. It’s really…

Ruier sadly smiled and moved to the body of a medic, searching his backpack for a large bottle of herbal wine. He gulped it down, feeling the stimulating effect on his nerves and alcohol lessening the pain of his wounds. But it was just an illusion.

After resting for a while, Ruier took out bandages and a small razor. He shaved the hair around his wound haphazardly and then bandaged it. At that moment, he seemed to hear the rapid sound of crossbows and a rhythmic shaking noise amidst the flames and strong winds. However, in the next second, white flowers bloomed in the sky, silencing all his doubts.

"Boom!"

A flaming giant stood up, laughing maniacally. A milky shockwave swept up debris under its feet, whipping everything in sight with fiery whips. The meticulously calculated cluster bombs covered the entire camp, burning everything, even the air to ashes. All groans and cries were abruptly silenced as mushroom-shaped clouds rose and spread, releasing malice from the world and beyond towards the remnants of the imperial army.

Despite being a lucky one, an absolute "chosen one," Ruier was considered unlucky compared to his colleagues who died quickly. Straddling the edge of impact from the cluster bombs, he ended up with more minor cuts and bruises, remarkably avoiding serious harm.

As he struggled to crawl towards the remaining dregs of herbal wine nearby, a pair of thick leather boots halted in front of him. Rough gloved hands flipped him over, and before Ruier could see the face of this rough person, he was struck on the head hard, instantly knocked unconscious.

Is this victory?

Even though the headquarters saw the scene through the battlefield recorder of the marine recon team, who had arrived to carry out suicidal close-range reconnaissance and damage assessments, the authorities still found the outcome unbelievable. It wasn’t an unbeatable tactic or even a modern combat skill.

This degree of power, even if they were sent to deal with the children from the Third World, it would take them several days and there would still be casualties. Consequently, what was once a mighty alien fleet that made the whole world fearful turned into a pile of garbage.

The alien creatures, resembling animals, lay on the ground as the marine soldiers flipped them over one by one. If there was a chance of saving them, a single shot would put them to rest before they were restrained and tied up tightly with straps and wires.

"With a 100% hit rate, 100% casualty rate, and 100% success rate in airstrikes, there was no interception, electronic deception, luring, air defense preparation, or even reconnaissance screens or radar warnings throughout the entire operation. It truly felt like fighting aliens rather than a small country in Africa. Even if it were a small African nation, nowadays they would have at least a couple of outdated third-generation aircraft, right?"

During this conversation, Chief of Staff Fu Yanlei repeatedly glanced at the Americans opposite him. To address the deficit and crisis, these unscrupulous arms dealers from the US had no qualms. Therefore, it was quite ordinary for even small African countries to possess air defense radars and Patriot missiles.

"Indeed, the enemy’s resistance was close to zero, and it appeared they had no experience in facing beyond visual range and guided missile strikes. Correction, they probably didn’t even have experience in air defense."

"More precisely, they lacked experience in defending against modern airstrikes. Our troops on-site discovered large-caliber anti-aircraft guns and some sort of armor-piercing weapons. If we were hit, even our destroyers would sustain heavy losses. Unfortunately… they used optical targeting devices and mechanically driven rotary mechanisms, perhaps even worse than World War II fighter planes."

"Regardless, a victory is a victory. At the very least, I don’t have to wake up tomorrow morning worrying to see a flying saucer hovering above New York, indiscriminately firing death rays." Commander Halsey said impatiently, "Any progress in interrogating the captives?"

"You’ll have to ask your CIA about that. Didn’t they claim they could make a bear admit it’s a rabbit?"

The Imperial camp, or well, the former camp, now served as a human base. Scientists and engineers, clad in strict biohazard suits, roamed the ruins strewn with corpses. They collected any intact research samples they could find – rifles, bullets, machine guns, shattered containers, rough electronic devices with unknown purposes, and even the burning wreckage of warships. There were even brave souls rushing in with fire extinguishers to salvage any fragments that could still be useful.

Soldiers from the United States and China, after setting up defenses and leaving behind necessary personnel, began searching in all directions along roads and pathways to find potential escaping aliens and hidden alien devices. It was a tedious task, but the beings with only two legs and riding creatures clearly couldn’t outrun the elite human reconnaissance team equipped with all-terrain vehicles, life detectors, heartbeat detectors, and infrared heat sensors.

Every now and then, a dejected individual with a gag in their mouth, tied up like a sausage, was brought into the camp and placed in a prison made from modified containers for captured prisoners.