Chapter 132: Global Conquest Timeline
Pobov, acting as commander, was stationed in the ‘Listener’ command vehicle, positioned not far from the front lines.
The enemy lacked any real long-range firepower, so he wasn’t particularly worried.
The overall progress of the battle hadn’t deviated from his expectations.
The raiders’ defensive line quickly crumbled under the coordination of infantry and artillery.
Subsequent enemy reinforcements were also repelled by the combined might of infantry and tanks.
Despite the enemy outnumbering his troops by far, at this stage, the battle was no longer about manpower but firepower.
When it came to firepower, these raiders were in no way comparable to his heavy-armored composite battalion, the first of its kind in his forces.
Only two motorized infantry companies dismounted and, with support from artillery and tanks, crushed this group of raiders head-on.
The raiders’ defenses shattered upon contact, and their counterattacks were easily broken.
Victory in this battle was a foregone conclusion.
What remained was to expand on their success.
Pobov hadn’t forgotten his task was not merely to defeat this group of enemies.
He needed to conduct a thorough extermination campaign, eliminating these bandits who threatened trade routes and nearby settlements.
Killing everyone or capturing most of them were both viable options.
If they died, the threat was eliminated; if they survived, those with heinous crimes would be executed, and the rest could be sentenced to five to ten years of labor.
They could be sent to Wasteland Society as miners or to the Mutant Forest to chop wood for building materials or synthetic starch production.
To ensure a decisive outcome, he ordered two more mechanized infantry companies to advance from another direction.
In his composite battalion, these mechanized companies were actually the most formidable units, even more than the tank company.
The captured ‘Challenger’ tanks were domestic products, imported from a western heavy-industrial group called Blackbird.
It was said that Blackbird Heavy Industries was once part of the Alliance, founded during the First Governor’s term with Imperial assistance.
Located even further west than the Western Desert, Blackbird had virtually severed ties with the Alliance since the Second Governor’s era.
Now, beyond occasional trade, Alliance orders meant nothing to them.
Thus, the seventy tanks from the old Alliance Legion had been around for at least a decade.
Compared to the ‘Walker V’ infantry fighting vehicles widely used by the Empire’s Starfleet, the tanks offered little except their main gun.
While the ‘Walker V’ was indeed lightly armored compared to the ‘Challenger’ tank, its thinner armor actually provided better protection due to superior engineering.
In terms of mobility, the ‘Walker V’ excelled, effortlessly tackling steep slopes and muddy ground, unlike the ‘Challenger’ tanks, which required flat terrain.
And in terms of speed, the tank didn’t even come close to the armored vehicle.
Even in firepower, the twin-barrel 40mm autocannon was not as powerful as the 76mm smoothbore tank gun but fired much faster, making it ideal for infantry support.
Once those two mechanized companies launched their assault, the raiders had no chance.
Their defensive positions were reduced to rubble by autocannons and explosive machine guns, and infantry swiftly took over one position after another.
Advancing quickly, they not only broke through Three Pools Town from the rear but also pushed toward the rear of the main battlefield.
Logically, things shouldn’t have gone this smoothly; they’d fought these raiders before, and they’d never been this weak.
When attacked from behind, the raiders should’ve had some response measures, creating at least minor issues for the advancing mechanized companies.
But this time, they didn’t.
The raiders appeared disorganized, as if they had lost command, acting sluggish and confused.
Even Pobov was a bit baffled.
He had no elite special forces conducting decapitation strikes or disrupting communications, so why were they like this?
It didn’t take him long to realize the likely reason.
Perhaps the enemy leader had already fled?
That seemed highly probable.
Expecting a raider leader to fight to the death was unrealistic.
Remembering what Morgan’s group had said earlier—they pretended to surrender only to betray later—it was clear the leader had led his men for personal gain.
Many of the low-level raiders, if given a chance at a stable life, probably wouldn’t choose to fight to the death.
Understanding this, he quickly formed a new plan.
He ordered the camp forward, including the communication vehicles.
Shortly after, loudspeakers began blaring across the battlefield:
“Your leader has fled!”
“Lay down your weapons, surrender, and you won’t be killed!”
The two short sentences were broadcast repeatedly through the loudspeakers to the raiders, accompanied by intense artillery fire.
The sight of dozens of armored vehicles only reinforced the message.
They genuinely couldn’t hold on any longer.
Besides, there was a good chance that statement about the leader fleeing was true.
Several mid-level leaders had noticed they hadn’t received any orders from Chief Terrell for a long time.
Their attempts to communicate back received only static, with the ‘Listener’ blocking their signals.
Messengers they’d sent back hadn’t returned, and no one knew if they were killed on the way, deserted, or simply failed to locate anyone.
Under these circumstances, widespread surrender among the raiders, led by commanders at all levels, became inevitable.
At this point, the battle was practically over.
However, soon after, a piece of news wiped the smile from Pobov’s face.
Frontline intelligence reported that soldiers had seen several dozen green-skinned orcs on the battlefield.
He immediately recalled the raider tribe ‘Prisoners’ that had nearly annihilated them near Wasteland Society.
Back then, he hadn’t yet joined the army and hadn’t witnessed it personally, but he had studied the records and heard about it from Captain Yan Fangxu—who was now a Colonel.
If that level of greenskin orcs had really appeared, especially in such numbers, they were in serious trouble.
These monsters were so resilient that even machine guns and rifles couldn’t inflict real damage.
Back at Wasteland Society, the governor’s personal guards had used powerful electromagnetic rifles to kill one, with the Governor himself lending a hand.
But Pobov’s troops didn’t have access to such powerful individual weapons.
With the firepower at hand, rocket launchers, autocannons on armored vehicles, and explosive weapons would be the only effective means against them.
These creatures possessed incredible destructive power and could tear through flesh with their bare hands, let alone if they wielded any strong firearms.
Pobov immediately ordered his frontline troops to avoid direct confrontation with these enemies, instead relying on nearby ‘Walker’ infantry fighting vehicles for fire support.
If no vehicle was nearby, they were to use fire teams armed with personal rocket launchers to eliminate the orcs.
He also braced himself for significant casualties among his forces.
“Such a perfect victory, ruined by these unexpected complications!”
He cursed inwardly.
With prior intelligence and preparation, this would’ve been manageable.
But encountering these creatures while pursuing victory, expanding gains, and securing surrenders would lead to unavoidable casualties.
Just as he was worrying, a new report from the frontline arrived.
After hearing it, he finally let out a sigh of relief.
It was good news.
Firstly, the orcs appeared unorganized, seemingly turning on all humans nearby, not just Pobov’s troops.
This resulted in most of the casualties being borne by the raiders themselves.
Secondly, these greenskin orcs weren’t nearly as formidable as the ones in Pobov’s records.
They were resilient, yes, but not immune to standard firearms; a good burst of bullets could take them down.
Their lack of intelligence led them to charge recklessly, and their firearms, taken from raiders, were relatively weak.
Within this brief period, several casualty reports came in, with some entire squads being wiped out.
But similarly, numerous greenskin orcs had been taken down.
Especially once the infantry vehicles entered the scene for cleanup, the situation stabilized again.
After over half an hour, the main battlefield had quieted down completely.
All the greenskin orcs were dead, and most of the raiders had surrendered, with only a few scattered individuals fleeing.
‘Hunters’ on motorcycles and some infantry vehicles had been dispatched to pursue them across the plains.
The pursuit might last one to two days, with no more than a hundred raiders likely escaping.
With the battle effectively over, Pobov went to the front lines and examined the bodies of the greenskin orcs.
There were eighty in total, and they had inflicted around twenty-seven casualties on his troops.
Pobov let out a long sigh, feeling the loss of his soldiers but knowing that kindness had no place in command.
In the end, he could only order:
“Burn the corpses of these greenskin monsters, burn them thoroughly.”
……
【Gained a slight upper hand, earned 347 Grace Points】
【Losses: 154, Eliminated: 2772, Captured: 2468】
【1st Windbreaker Brigade (1st Composite Battalion): Losses: 154, Eliminated: 2772】
When the pursuit ended, Gu Hang finally received the delayed battle report from the system.
Before that, Pobov’s report had already arrived
.
The losses, captures, and eliminations mostly matched; Pobov’s figures were close due to detailed battlefield cleanup.
Slight discrepancies with the system report were expected due to missing or obliterated bodies or those buried in ruins.
The Grace Points earnings were decent, but Gu Hang was more focused on the greenskin orcs mentioned in the report.
If these ‘cosmic cancer’ beings took root on Fury Owl Planet, it would be catastrophic.
The greenskins were notorious for inciting interstellar wars.
After first encountering a greenskin-infected human near Wasteland Society, Gu Hang had been vigilant.
Yet back then, with only a few hundred guns and a weak base, he lacked the strength to address the problem.
But now, he knew he couldn’t delay any longer.
Moreover, recent developments suggested these greenskins were growing in number.
Two pieces of intelligence supported this.
First was Pobov’s encounter.
Second was news from Garbage Town.
Gu Hang had established operations in Garbage Town, a vital source of raw materials.
Denison Henry continued importing quality firearms and body armor from Wasteland Society to Garbage Town, selling synthetic starch and steel from Revival City and buying food back to Garbage Town, earning significant profit recently.
While the route was briefly interrupted by war, it resumed soon after.
He even held a New Alliance Commerce Advisor position, handling imports and sales.
Recently, his arms purchases had increased substantially.
Much of the old Alliance Legion’s outdated equipment hadn’t reached Qing Valley as per Osena’s military aid plan, but a lot had gone to Garbage Town.
What was Garbage Town doing with all these firearms and armor?
They were even reinforcing their already durable plastic steel armor plates!
It was to fight the greenskins.
The greenskin numbers in the High Tower Ruins had surged, threatening Garbage Town’s survival.
This situation couldn’t be ignored.
Tomorrow, Denison Henry would come to Revival City, where Gu Hang would personally meet him to decide Garbage Town’s fate.
It was also the largest settlement in the direction Pobov’s camp had just cleared.
Fury Owl Planet had three continents, and the other two, once abundant in psionic gas fields, were left in ruin by an apocalyptic war a century ago, leaving them as lifeless wastelands shrouded in waste-energy storms.
The current continent was divided into six regions.
Centered around Revival City, the area spanned a thousand kilometers east to west, north to south, forming the so-called Central Region under former Alliance government control.
About five million people lived here, with a million in Revival City alone.
East of the Central Region lay the Tower Region, once a hub of metropolitan prosperity, with cities linked by vast road networks.
Now, only sprawling city ruins remained.
Approximately five million people eked out a living among these ruins.
To the south, 500 to 600 kilometers from the Central Region, or a thousand kilometers along the coast, lay the Qing Valley Region, a three-sided peninsula.
It was one of the least war-torn areas, with a pre-war reputation as a food-producing region, home to about fifteen million people.
Six hundred kilometers north of the Central Region lay a cold, mixed area of ruins and fields, the former heavy industrial center, with roughly three hundred thousand people.
Heading west from the Central Region, about 500 kilometers, one entered the Western Desert, a region stretching two thousand kilometers.
Surviving on oases and pre-war underground planting bases, its five million inhabitants produced substantial surplus food for export.
Beyond the Western Desert was the Heavy Industry Region, once a major industrial hub, whose influence extended north into the cold industrial area.
Now, the Blackbird Heavy Industries Group, a major power, had grown distant from the Alliance during the Second Governor’s era.
The Western Desert’s abundant food supply mostly went westward, feeding the Heavy Industry Region.
This was the overall layout of Fury Owl Planet’s main continent.
Gu Hang planned to consolidate control of the Central Region with Revival City as his base, securing its five million inhabitants before expanding east and south, prioritizing Qing Valley’s populous area.
He set a six-month timeline to control the Central Region and another six months to secure Qing Valley and the Tower Region.
This would bring him over twenty million people, control of essential food and industrial raw material bases, and, with the black box technology from Revival City and Guardian City, potentially achieve stable tax contributions within a year.
His tax benefit required only a quarter of the standard first collection.
This was the baseline; historically, the Western Desert, Heavy Industry, and Cold Regions would send taxes, albeit incomplete.
The more they contributed, the less pressure on Gu Hang’s production, leaving more resources in his control.
If he succeeded in the first tax collection, he could then aim to control the entire planet within the next two years, preparing for a complete tax submission in four years.
According to this timeline, his expansion plan had no room for delay. Garbage Town would be his immediate priority.