"You look at the attack positions on the first day, and then the attack positions on the second and third days. The distance is huge, almost from the one-third point of Wheeler Star's latitude line. Most of the area in between is tropical rainforest," Jiang Ye began his analysis.
"The Gante army did not conduct air transport. As soon as their military aircraft take off, our base can scan and shoot them down. The Gante army also did not use railway transport; we have bombed all the main railway lines. The Gante army cannot have a subterranean railway circling the planet. If they did, we wouldn't be sitting here holding a war conference today; we would be sending a diplomatic mission to establish relations with Gante."
"So the problem is, over such a long distance, how did the Gante army transport the captured weapons?" Jiang Ye slammed the table, "You can't figure this out? You have pig brains!"
The officers all had expressions of sudden realization, followed by shame, like students being reprimanded.
Jiang Ye remained silent for a few seconds, maximizing the oppressive atmosphere in the conference room, so the officers would remember for a long time, and also to reflect on why such a simple question eluded them.
Perhaps they were too fatigued from days of commanding battles, losing their ability to think. Perhaps Jiang Ye's military technology was too advanced, making interstellar transport as easy as delivering goods in a small town, causing the officers to subconsciously ignore the concept of distance over time. Or perhaps there were vested interests involved.
"Moreover, according to the battle reports, the Gante army's attacks yesterday and the day before yesterday utilized a large number of weapons issued by us, enough to equip at least ten thousand people. To have such a quantity of weapons, it would require at least three to four days of training for the attacking troops to learn how to use them effectively. In terms of time, the claim of captured weapons also doesn't hold up."
At this point, Jiang Ye could no longer suppress his anger and smashed the teacup in front of him with a fist, "There are two key points in warfare: time and space. Both of these points have obvious flaws, and you can't figure out even one? Are you all raised on pig brains?"
The officers' faces turned ashen.
The officers seated closer to Jiang Ye felt the pressure more intensely, breaking out in a sweat, yet not daring to wipe it away.
"Let's return to the original question," Jiang Ye took a deep breath, regaining his composure. "I am also very annoyed by this question. How could the defending troops sell weapons to the enemy? It's perfectly normal for anyone to ask such a question, but you are officers! The lowest-ranking among you is a Deputy Division Commander! Is this even a question!"
Jiang Ye felt his blood pressure was too unstable today, exploding after just a few words.
He took a few sips of water to dilute the hormones in his blood, speaking rapidly while tapping the table:
"Historically, when armies engage in war, one side selling its weapons and ammunition to the other, and fighting the enemy with weapons supplied by the enemy, such occurrences would fill at least a large dictionary. They are extremely common!"
"The troops we issued weapons to are not our original veteran units, but local Wheeler Star troops recently incorporated. We don't know these people, we don't know what kind of people they are!"
"The battle reports clearly state that some military bases that were attacked found their own internal traitors. Therefore, the defending forces of each base are not monolithic, not one hundred percent loyal, not united in purpose! These people have different dreams in the same bed and harbor ulterior motives!"
"A very small number of defending officers in charge of arms transport, wanting to make money, would naturally sell some of the weapons and ammunition they received for free!"
"The Gante army could deceive them by saying, 'If we buy weapons, we are making friends with you, and we won't attack you; we will attack other bases.' Such deception could easily lead to the wavering of an entire base from top to bottom! Sell them for money and be safe, or don't sell and die – what would a normal person choose?"
"You should have thought of these things within seconds, had a preliminary concept in your minds, a flash of lightning in your brains to figure it out, then written a report to tell me, and also provided me with countermeasures, instead of me having to analyze the situation myself and then stand here lecturing you like a middle school teacher!"
Jiang Ye spoke this string of words like a machine gun, his face flushed red, almost suffocating.
The officers were nervous and ashamed, all sweating profusely, not daring to look directly at Jiang Ye. Their eyes didn't know where to look; looking down at the table was not right, and looking up at Jiang Ye was also not right. They were all frozen.
"After the war stabilizes, you will all return to military school to study theory, to read military history," Jiang Ye calmed himself again, taking a deep breath. "Next, we will discuss specific remedial measures. If the Gante army launches a fierce attack again tonight, I do not wish to see words like 'base lost' or 'tens of thousands killed' appearing in the battle reports."
Fortunately, the atmosphere of the subsequent meeting began to ease. Although the officers hadn't considered the incorporated troops selling weapons to the enemy, they understood how to consolidate defenses and fight battles.
A series of strategies were quickly decided, and orders were issued at the meeting.
Major decisions included:
1. The Jiang Ye Star Fleet will activate weather weapons to immediately create severe storms and heavy rain in the tropical border areas to hinder the Gante army's offensive.
Since the Gante army and the local defending forces no longer had a weapon disparity, higher-tier weapons had to be deployed.
2. Increase the patrol frequency of military aircraft near military bases and allocate more aerospace fighters to directly strike suspicious areas.
There were plenty of aerospace fighters, but they were always in outer space, monitoring global situations, or idle in warships for maintenance. Now was the time to deploy them for battle.
3. Accelerate the production, procurement, and transportation of Paraquat.
Paraquat is not an upgraded pesticide but a biochemical weapon targeting plants. After spraying, it can rapidly kill all types of plants within an area. Based on the battles of the past few days, the tropical rainforest has been an excellent hiding place for the Gante army. With their familiarity with the rainforest, the Gante army moved like ghosts, coming and going like the wind. Only by spraying Paraquat to kill all the tropical rainforests near military bases could the situation of sudden attacks be alleviated.
4. Accelerate the production, procurement, and transportation of mechanical soldiers.
The lives of the defending troops are also lives. Replacing them with mechanical soldiers as soon as possible will ensure that even if a base is lost, the casualty figures will not be too unsightly. Robots are expendable; their loss is of no consequence.
5. If the battle situation continues to worsen in the next day or two, the "Empty Nest" tactic will be implemented.
This tactic was proposed by Che Zhen and was extremely bold and risky.
The so-called "Empty Nest" tactic involves the complete evacuation of the existing garrison from the military base, abandoning the base and leaving it undefended to the Gante army.
Che Zhen explained his strategy in detail, which was agreed upon by the vast majority of officers.
First, if after our army strengthens its defenses in the next day or two, the Gante army can still quickly capture more military bases, then the original design purpose of these military bases will be completely lost. They will transform from iron cages that trap the enemy into iron coffins that trap our own defenders. Since they are military fortresses that have lost their meaning and function, they are no longer worth defending with heavy troops; it is better to cut losses in time.
Second, the Gante army is currently in a state of guerrilla warfare, hiding in the rainforest, appearing and disappearing without a trace, their movements like ghosts, constantly dispersing and regrouping. Fighting guerrillas has been a global problem since ancient times, especially protracted guerrilla warfare, which is almost unsolvable. However, if the Gante army can enter the major military bases, they will move from covert to overt, transitioning from cunning guerrilla warfare to rigid positional defense, making them easier to eliminate.
Therefore, Che Zhen's strategy is essentially advancing by retreating, using withdrawal as an attack, thus reversing the offensive and defensive positions.
Jiang Ye did not consider it for long and immediately approved, "Good! We will proceed as planned! Prepare for large-scale withdrawal of troops from military bases! However, we need to make one change: forget about the next day or two. If we cannot hold tonight, we will begin withdrawing troops tomorrow!"