Chapter 45: Asteroid Belt War II (Part 8).
Chapter 45: Asteroid Belt War II (Part 8).
Solar System Asteroid Belt, Area 016.
When the last Ochs Empire's Warship was destroyed, the battlefield was littered with wreckage and debris.
Something noteworthy was that even at the last moment, the Ochs Empire Fleet did not issue a surrender signal. Regarding this, Lin Fan can only sigh at their tenacity to fight!
From the battle, the main force of the Fourth Fleet lost a total of 3,800 ships in the early hours, and 500 ships in the late attack.
Lin Fan's 101st Mixed Fleet, on the other hand, lost 27 ships in Area 027 when intercepting Doren, and 31 ships when fighting Cody's Fleet.
Finally, the Support Fleet only lost a few ships in Area 027, and 528 ships in the attack on the Cody's fleet.
After calculation, the total damage of the entire Fourth Fleet was 4,886 ships and 3,617 Mechas, though the loss of personnel could not be accurately calculated until the battlefield is cleaned.
As for the Ochs Empire Fleet's loss, it was 30,000 ships, plus the Ninth Prince Doren.
"Lin Fan, well done, but there is a big problem waiting for us behind!"
"I understand, Adam's Support Fleet!"
"En, it's expected to be around 90,000 ships in size. Currently, we have less than 15,000 ships on our side that can maintain combat power. The situation is still not optimistic!"
"Commander, how did they get through the Asteroid Belt without being detected by us, have you figured it out yet?"
"Your father has captured key members of the Scott Family, they have managed to take control of some of our probes within the Asteroid Belt and transmitted false information to us."
"What's the Scott Family's reason for doing this? I don't see any benefit to that."
"This story goes back many years, back when Wood was a Battlecruiser captain in the Second Fleet and was ordered to join the Breakaway Fleet to cover the evacuation of the remaining 2,000 or so ships when the defenses in Proxima collapsed."
"The Battlecruiser he commanded returned to the Solar System via the Star Path seven years ago when everyone thought he had died in Bijin, but of course, he came back with no part of his Battlecruiser intact, barely able to navigate, and with his elaborate storyline of how he fought a vicious battle to escape, there was little doubt."
"But now that I think about it, that time he and his crew should be captured, and then deliberately sent back to do an inside job."
"As for the Scott Family, your father's side has confirmed that they did not know about it, and were also only used by Wood's lust for power. The head of the family was oblivious to all of this."
"So that's it. But now that that's done, we can now see the route of Adam's Support Fleet, right?"
"That's right, look!"
Liang Xingchen sent Lin Fan a Star Map of the Asteroid Belt, it has a distorted red line drawn in the middle.
"Commander, then the best thing we can do is to go deeper into the Asteroid Belt and find a suitable point on this line for an ambush!"
"That's right, this is also my idea, but the key is to choose at which point should be ambush? You know that Adam was already ambushed by me once 7 years ago, so now he will certainly tread much more carefully. It will not be so easy to catch him off guard!"
"Commander, do you remember the move I used during my graduation exam when I simulated a battle with you?"
"You mean?"
"That's right, we can make the strategy much more flexible, we just have to… And then…"
Three minutes later, Liang Xingchen's eyes widened.
He was quite shocked at the strategy that Lin Fan said. If it really worked, it would definitely be the most brilliant strategy used in human history.
"Good, let's go with what you just said. The Support Fleet will remain under your command for now, you take charge of the left flank of the Fleet!"
"Yes!"
Then after the two discussed some details again, they ended the call and began to prepare according to the plan.
An hour later, after cleaning up the battlefield, recovering a large number of escape pods, and collecting the remains that could be saved, the remaining 14,000 ships of the Fourth Fleet that were still in good fighting condition set off towards the depths of the Asteroid Belt.
6.2 AU away, the 90,000 ships of the Ochs Empire Support were marching inside the Asteroid Belt.
At this moment, Adam was in a complicated mood.
Just an hour or so ago, he received a farewell message from Cody, and was told that the Ninth Prince was dead and that the Vanguard Fleet was about to be wiped out.
The brilliant plan that he thought was foolproof had gone unexpectedly wrong, especially the death of Doren, which meant that the entire Third Legion of the Forbidden Guard might have to be buried with him.
The soldiers of the Ochs Empire are very proud, even if you order them to die in battle, they would absolutely have no second thoughts, just like Cody's Vanguard Fleet. They kept fighting till the last person and did not surrender.
On the other hand, if you let them know that all of them are about to be executed by the Emperor, they would just rather die on the battlefield in their own accord.
The only way was to defeat Liang Xingchen's Fourth Fleet and then the entire human race. With such a merit, perhaps he could ask His Majesty for mercy and execute only himself and pardon the rest of the Third Legion of the Forbidden Guards. 𝗳𝐫𝘦e𝘸𝗲𝚋𝓃𝚘v𝘦𝘭.𝑐𝒐m
Therefore Adam did not tell the others about Doren's death. He knew very well that once the news spread out, then not to mention that there will be a following battle, the morale will definitely drop to a freezing point.
The Ochs Empire Fleet continued to follow the established route, while the Federation's Fourth Fleet also entered the depths of the Asteroid Belt. The Asteroid Belt was unusually quiet.
It was not until the third day that the two sides finally met.
"Commander Adam, we have spotted the Human Fleet ahead, numbering about 15,000 ships!"
"Hm?"
Adam rubbed his chin with an incredulous expression on his face!
Cody did say in his last report that he had sunk about 5,000 human Warships, and the remaining Warships should be about 15,000, but the question is what is Liang Xingchen trying to do here?
Use this bit of last strength to confront his 90,000 Warships head-on? He isn't be this kind of person who seeks his own death, right?"
Or did the two sides just happen to run into each other face to face, a completely coincidental encounter?
Over the years, Adam obtained a lot of human intelligence from Wood.
In the Asteroid Belt War I 7 years ago, although Liang Xingchen's ambush caused Adams to lose 80,000 Warships, but the Federation Fleet's losses were definitely not small, and only 12,000 battleships remained in the Fourth Fleet after the war.
And within these 7 years, because the human race had been blockaded inside the Asteroid Belt, their resources were limited and they could not manufacture Warships on a large scale.
So even after 7 years, the Fourth Fleet only managed to restore up to its strength, but not many surplus ships.
No matter from what aspect, the enemy Fleet ahead should be the last of the Human Fleet, it seems that humanity is doomed to extinction.
"Order the Fleet to advance and crush the last human resistance!"
"Yes, Commander Adam!"