When receiving the urgent battle report from the fifth theater, Soshyan immediately analyzed Huron's strategy - the opponent had targeted the two theater commanders from the beginning.
In other words, Huron has realized the weakness of the expeditionary force, that is, the number of Space Marines is very small, and all theater commanders are Space Marines, so as long as they focus on attacking the expeditionary force's Asterta power, they can seriously shake the opponent.
The expeditionary force's maneuverability and command record caused the expeditionary force to lose its ability to conduct follow-up attacks.
From this point of view, Soshyan underestimated Huron's strategic vision before. Huron clearly understood that it was impossible to defeat the expeditionary force from the frontal battlefield with the existing strength of the Red Pirates alone. From the recent offensive, it was impossible to defeat the expeditionary force.
It can be seen that without the large-scale ground armor force, the help of the Titan Legion and the Chaos Knight Family, the Red Pirates' ability to attack fortresses is much worse than previously expected. So if they want to win, the only way is to continue to wear away the Empire's strength in naval battles.
It has effective strength, and just destroying the Astra Militarum is not enough, because the number of the Empire's Astra Militarum is not generally large. The most effective battle damage is the Astartes. This is the only one among all the battle sequences of the expeditionary force that cannot be replenished in a short time.
of.
Judging from the attack method, Arash's side should be based on ambush, with a certain amount of luck, while Salamander's side is setting a trap and waiting for Tushan to take the bait. Obviously, the success rate of the latter is higher.
Then Huron will definitely take it as the main direction of attack.
And as time goes by, this possibility is getting higher and higher. On the one hand, Salamanders' character of rescuing them in trouble makes them very easy to take the bait. After all, the whereabouts of Corsaro Khan in the third theater are erratic.
, the first and second theaters are heavily surrounded, the fourth theater is the farthest, and the only available targets are the fifth and sixth theaters.
The second point is the value of Tusugi himself. He is the only founding regiment leader in the entire expeditionary force. Samuel and Corsaro are only company commanders after all. In terms of status and prestige, Tusugi is undoubtedly the second best.
For Soshiyan, the commander-in-chief, and the last Salamanders chapter leader died at the hands of the Red Pirates, if Huron can kill the new Salamanders chapter leader again, this will be a huge blow to the morale of the expeditionary force.
It is extremely huge. Soshyan will not only bear huge pressure from public opinion, but will also be saddled with a heavy debt.
This goal is extremely tempting whether it is strategic or tactical. If Soshyan were Huron, he would definitely use all means to eliminate Tushan.
In other words, Huron must want to die, and Soshyan must not let this happen.
However, this incident also gave him a wake-up call, allowing him to discover some issues that he had ignored before, and it also confirmed what Veronica had asked herself before -
Is it really appropriate for Astartes to serve as theater commanders?
Thinking about it now, Soshyan feels that he may have underestimated the seriousness of this problem, because Astartes commanders are used to commanding operations on the front line or even on the firing line, and there is no problem in a battle group with a thousand men.
Yes, but on a battlefield with tens of millions of troops, this is not appropriate. After all, to put it bluntly, if the battle commander is sacrificed, he can be replaced by the company commander immediately. However, if the battle zone commander is killed, a company commander will also be replaced.
Long to replace?
In terms of command, the Astartes are actually competent. After all, there were some famous Astartes commanders during the Great Crusade. However, the Legion of Astartes has a chain of command that can adapt to large battlefields. This chain of command
It covers the mortal auxiliary forces and the navy, but in the Codex era, because each company often needs to act independently, the chain of command is more of a decentralized state that pursues flexibility. The advantages are self-evident, but the disadvantages are also obvious, and even the chapter leader is killed in battle.
It will be difficult to choose a new replacement immediately.
If the current situation of the Astartes serving as theater commanders is not changed, then their habit of commanding on the front line of the battlefield must also be changed, otherwise they will become too easy to be targeted by the enemy for beheading - it seems a bit ironic to say that the most exciting tactics are beheading.
The Astartes must now beware of the enemy's decapitation tactics.
So he immediately sent instructions, or orders, to all theaters. All theater commanders were not allowed to command on the front lines, and they must not be separated from the protection of the fleet and battle groups.
After issuing this order, he had to face a new problem.
Picture "How to save Shan?
Most opinions are to give up Angstrom's attack plan first, turn all the prepared troops to the fifth theater, and fish out the fir trees first. Everyone also realizes that if the leader of a founding regiment is killed, then
The impact will be extremely bad.
However, Soshyan didn't see it that way.
In the situation room of the Eternal Loyalty, while everyone was still talking about it, Soshiyang on the chair coughed lightly and put down his hands on his chin. Everyone stopped the discussion and looked at him.
"Picture "Captain Sugi cannot afford to make any mistakes."
After saying this, he paused.
"However, accordingly, all Huron's attention must be there now. He expects that we will go to rescue at all costs. If we attack Angstrom with all our strength at this time, the Red Pirates will definitely be caught off guard. Nothing could be worse than now.
What a good opportunity."
As he spoke, he stood up and walked back and forth behind the table twice, and finally made up his mind.
Take a gamble!
"I have sent a message to the Gray Knights. They will go to rescue the Salamanders Chapter Leader. In addition, the Second Company of the Astral Knights will also lead the Charadon fleet there, creating the illusion that we are all turning to rescue."
"this......."
Lysander hesitated for a moment, then whispered:
"Is it enough? According to the intelligence, the Red Pirates have invested at least two main fleets in this offensive, including 3 battleships and 7 large cruisers, with a strength of more than 20,000... Even if most of them are on standby in the fleet
, a conservative estimate is that there are more than 5,000 people involved in ground combat."
"It may not be enough to repel the red pirates, but I think it is enough to rescue the trapped salamanders."
Lysander looked at Soshyan and immediately understood what the other party meant - as long as Tu'shan could be fished out, that planet and even the entire galaxy could be abandoned.
Although this was cruel, he believed in Soshyan's decision. After all, Soshyan was responsible for the victory of the entire expedition. The responsibility he shouldered was huge. After a few seconds of silence, the captain of the Imperial Fist nodded.
"I understand, Supreme Lord Commander."
Soshyan looked at the others and said in a deep voice:
"Then follow this plan. The subsequent voyage route must be kept strictly confidential. Everyone outside this room, including the Space Marines, will get the news that we will go to support the Salamanders."
"yes!"
Of course, it's not all bad news these days. News came from Malakin in the Fourth War Zone not long ago. With the assistance of the Death Watch, they successfully eliminated two larger green-skinned pirate groups. Now there are only
With the other two larger groups of alien pirates, the route situation has been greatly improved, and some imperial merchant ships have also begun to take the route of the pale star. This is also a help to the logistical supplies in several war zones.
In addition, Soshyan asked Sillu Clermont to prepare a complete plan for the military ticket. After reading it, Soshyan felt that there was no problem, so he asked the other party to trial it on a small scale in the Sagan system.
Soon, the Second Company of the Astral Knights led the fleet to the Sylgard system under the banner of Soshyan. Just when everyone thought they were going to rescue the Salamanders, the real main fleet had already moved as quickly as possible.