On the day of the expedition, the army bid farewell to the soldiers who were about to go to the battlefield. This farewell ceremony is formal but secret, because they can't make the opponent aware of the blitz plan.
The weather in Capital Star was bitingly cold, Wu Qiao was wrapped in a coat and also attended the farewell ceremony. This is the first time he has arranged a task for Tan Yan since he took office, and he wants to personally say good luck to the other party.
Sending Tan Yan to the battlefield seemed so natural, like breathing, but when the day came, Wu Qiao realized how difficult it was to make this decision. When he had the right to decide where everyone went, he wished he could keep Tan Yan by his side instead of sending him to fight with his own hands. Thinking that one day, the other party might lose his life because of one of his choices, Wu Qiao felt a little trembling in his heart. He found himself really afraid that he would regret it for the rest of his life.
The procedure of the ceremony was not much different from that of the imperial period. The flag was still raised first, the national anthem and military anthem were played, and then Wu Qiao was invited to deliver a farewell speech. Wu Qiao was indeed very talented in speech, and he awakened the blood of the soldiers again. Several times, when Wu Qiao asked a question, all the soldiers shouted the answer together.
Finally, amidst the sound of music, the families of the soldiers stepped forward to see them off. Most of the senders were wives and children, and some young soldiers were sent by their parents to say goodbye.
All the family members have flowers in their hands—the flowers that the military department ordered to prepare uniformly. In the eyes of the military, it is an honor for soldiers to go to war, and it is a symbol of their glory that their families will wear wreaths for them.
Wu Qiao looked in Tan Yan's direction. Just as Wu Qiao expected, Tan Yan didn't invite his family to the scene—he had been fighting on the battlefield for many years, and he didn't want to mobilize troops for another expedition. The man stood up straight like that, quietly watching other people around him say goodbye to his family.
Wu Qiao bowed his head and thought for a while, then stepped off the stage, reached out to pick up a wreath, and walked towards Tan Yan. In the bunch of flowers, there are a few pansies.
"..." He walked into the queue to see off his family, without saying a word, and put the wreath around Tan Yan's neck.
Tan Yan was stunned for a moment, then smiled: "Wu Qiao, are you sending flowers as my family?"
"Yeah." Wu Qiao also admitted it openly. He also knows that in the eyes of others, this is probably just a hypocrisy presented by a head of state to an expeditionary general who has no one to see him off. .
The corner of Tan Yan's mouth twitched: "Others will think you are very hypocritical."
"Let them go." Wu Qiao straightened the wreath again, flattening every petal, making it look extraordinarily bright and beautiful. Tan Yan's face, matched with his white military uniform, and the colorful flowers on his chest, made Wu Qiao tempted again. While tidying up, he said to Tan Yan, "They will understand in the future."
"after?"
"Yes, in the future they will know that I am indeed your family." Speaking of this, Wu Qiao's throat tightened, his voice changed, and he said, "Tan Yan...after the surrender of the Republic...on the day of the award ceremony, I will If you propose to you at the awarding ceremony, you must agree." Although Wu Qiao didn't really care about face, but... being rejected in front of the whole country is really too embarrassing.
Tan Yan was stunned, as if he didn't expect Wu Qiao to say such a thing. He reached out and touched the wreath around his neck, and said with a smile, "Aren't you always the most serious? On the occasion of awarding honors, it's okay to do that kind of thing?"
Wu Qiao whispered: "Proposing to you is the most serious thing in my life." Wu Qiao felt that the occasion was quite suitable. It was a very serious and formal occasion, but it was also full of joy, and it didn't have to follow the script. Tan Yan has been fighting for the sake of this country, and puts all personal matters behind, so on the day when he retires, it is not a happy thing for everyone who likes him to see his beautiful destination after retiring from the army? Many people saw the proposal, Wu Qiao thought it was very romantic. Since this is the most serious thing in his life, it is natural to have the most serious form, so that everyone in the country can see that he wants to make Tan Yan happy, and he is definitely not just casually... If he is happy, let him be scolded by the whole country. He once saw a survey that said that the more people who witnessed the proposal, the happier they felt.
"But..." Tan Yan said again, "I always thought I was going to propose to you."
"I'll do it." Wu Qiao was very stubborn, and his tone was very firm.
"...Okay." Even this has to be argued, his lover is really... Tan Yan doesn't know how to describe it.
"Tan Yan..." Wu Qiao asked again, "If you win this battle, you can get any reward you want."
"It's not the time of the Empire anymore." The implication is: Do you have the final say? Reward what you say
"Then... I bought it for you myself."
"Okay." Tan Yan said, "It seems that the ring should be kept until the time of winning the battle."
"… Ok."
"Then, give me a copy of that book you made secretly."
"..."
"Don't think I don't know." Tan Yan said again, "You have made all the news, reviews, videos, analysis, and my column articles about me into an e-magazine-like collection...annual magazine , with the year number."
"..." Those things are indeed arranged by year, for example, generals in 2230, generals in 2231, generals in 2232... Like a museum, Wu Qiao can find out everything Tan Yan has done, including Those that even I have already forgotten in the back of my mind.
"Come back and show me."
"Don't," Wu Qiao was scared, "Otherwise, I'll knit a scarf for you when I'm free?" Men and women are stupid as hell, and they all knit in the end.
Tan Yan smiled: "I'll read your 'annuals' first."
"..." Wu Qiao stretched out his hand to flatten the petals again, and said in a low voice, "As long as you win the fight, you can do whatever you want."
"Then it's settled."
As soon as this sentence is finished, the stage of family farewell is over.
On the other side, Yajiu watched the ceremony secretly, feeling envious in her heart, she also found a rope, ran into the yard, tied a few wild flowers to the rope, and ran to the mecha departure troops, " "Aw", and put the garland on Longyuan's iron neck.
Long Yuan: "..."
Ya Jiu said: "I can't accompany you, if Wu Qiao doesn't leave, I can't either..."
"Of course." As a mech, you must always be by the driver's side.
"Then...then...then I'll wait for your return."
"En." Long Yuan pondered for a moment, then suddenly stretched out his claws to pull out a flower from the wreath, and inserted it into a cooling hole on Yajiu's head, "Wait for me to come back."
"Huh..." Ya Jiu touched the little flower on her head, twisted it for a while, covered her head, and ran away.
It felt very happy. Long Yuan gave it a flower, although it just pulled out one of the flowers it gave.
…
After the farewell ceremony, the army set off directly.
Tan Yan's troops would sneak over and, together with neutral soldiers, launch a blitz attack on the Republic. In order to replenish personnel, Wu Qiao and Tan Yan even recruited some mercenaries. The mercenary's mouth is very strict, as long as the money is collected, it will never be leaked. With the support of the merchants and the alliance with neutral countries, one of Wu Qiao's important feelings is that the economic pressure has been relieved a lot.
Everything was ready, and the battle started directly.
The course of the campaign was highly controversial. Everyone has an opinion on why the Republic failed miserably, and everyone finds a different scapegoat for the Republic.
In Wu Qiao's heart, he believed that the biggest factor for his side's victory was the mutual understanding and complete trust between him and Tan Yan. In the study of military history, scholars always tend to study numbers. They describe in detail what kind of attack one side launched, what kind of response the other side made, and how many people were killed and injured in the end, trying to explain all causes and effects. Attributed to tactics or techniques. However, looking at Wu Qiao over the years, he found that the psychology of both parties often played a more decisive role. Other times, there is no reason at all, just the bad luck of the defeated.
In this battle, as soon as it started, the two sides fell into a stalemate.
Moreover, in the first stage, the enemy's right wing has a considerable advantage. But the beginning of a chain of interrelated proximate causes for the Republic's defeat was that the right-wing commanders exaggerated their own victories. This exaggeration made the commander of the Third Fleet of the Republic Universe mistakenly believe that the right wing really won a hearty victory, which directly led to him making a wrong decision. He happily mistook an excellent opportunity on the right flank, and unnecessarily sent three squadrons on the left flank to reinforce the right flank, hoping to open the situation first on the right flank. It is said that he sang the song of his hometown happily that night, completely unaware that his small formation planted the seeds of a serious setback, and the singing that night was the last night of joy before the nightmare.
Tan Yan's corps against the enemy's right flank shrunk inward, circled counterclockwise, and merged with the troops from the neutral countries who came to support them.
Over there, the most advanced battleship of the neutral country was waiting in formation, and the powerful firepower blasted past in an instant. Jing Yan once told the stories of these scientists. They were originally from the Republic, and they were all the top scientists. They once fiercely criticized the behavior of the Republic government for launching a war, and fled to a neutral country in order to escape the flames of war. Later, they repeatedly persuaded the Republic to truce, but the Republic ignored them all. Decades ago, the Republic wanted to use the neutral country, but the neutral country refused to do so. The Republic immediately found an excuse, using the unprovoked death of three Republic citizens in a neutral country as an excuse, and strongly demanded that the Republic’s army enter a neutral country to eliminate extremist organizations and protect the safety of other citizens. Most egregious request ever made. The situation was tense and the war was imminent. Disappointed with the Republic, these scientists collectively applied for neutral nationality, designed advanced warships, and hung the national flag of a neutral country, expressing their determination to uphold justice.
With the help of the new warships, although the number was far inferior to that of their opponents, the coalition forces were not defeated quickly.
The commander of the Third Fleet of the Republic was furious when he found out that his subordinates were talking nonsense, and he never trusted his subordinates on the right wing again.
This kind of suspicion is a taboo for the army. After that, no matter what the Republic's right-wing generals reported, the commander of the Third Fleet had to verify it himself. As a result, the reaction time is greatly slowed down. If the opponent is someone else, it doesn't matter if he is a little slower, but the person of Wuqiao faction is Tan Yan, and if he makes a slight mistake, he will immediately bite him half to death. Just as the Republic was slow again and again, Tan Yan gradually accumulated his advantages, and finally started a large-scale counterattack one day.
On the other side, taking advantage of the enemy's right wing being passive, Tan Yan sent troops to make a strong charge, cutting off the enemy's left and right wings.
Tan Yan then intensified his attack on his left flank.
At the same time, Wu Qiao let people release the news that they had a large number of troops rushing to the front of the front line via neutral country. The evidence is that the transport vehicles that previously transported soldiers appeared again on a large scale. In fact, this time Wuqiao only sent 20,000 reinforcements, but the number was said to be 200,000, and some people speculated that it was 400,000.
The generals on the left, convinced that their rear was under serious threat, began to consider retreating. In the atmosphere of a war, the general's discouragement will inevitably affect the morale of the entire army to fight the enemy. Many people began to return to their hearts like an arrow, and the feeling of giving up spread rapidly. The commander of the Republic Army had considered whether this was groundless, and it was exaggerated to this point through the mouths of some imaginative people, but in the end, in order to ensure that it would not be compromised, he decided to retreat temporarily. He did not expect that the psychological impact of the order to retreat on the soldiers was incalculable.
In order to restore the decline, the commander of the Third Fleet of the Republic tried several tricks, but Tan Yan saw through them one by one. He was like a clown performing juggling, juggling several glass bottles at the same time, but in the end they all shattered on the ground, causing a pile of debris, which was useless except to puncture his own feet. There is already a problem with the military spirit, even if all the bottles are glued together with super glue, those cracks will always exist, and it is impossible to be the same as the new bottle.
The left wing of the republic also began to fail.
Counting from the firing of the first shot, only twelve days later, the battle was over.
During this process, Tan Yan also encountered crises several times, and once even lost in sight. Many people advised Wu Qiao to order Tan Yan to retreat, but Wu Qiao completely believed in Tan Yan's judgment. Once, the commander of the neutral country's army directly contacted Wu Qiao, expressing that Tan Yan insisted on going his own way, and it was impossible for the coalition forces to block the enemy's right wing. However, Wu Qiao's reaction was to suggest that Jing Yan change the command of the neutral country, because this person repeatedly failed. .
In the end, the coalition forces defeated the Third Space Fleet of the Republic, which had seemed indestructible in the past. They recovered the three star fields and took the rock-solid fortifications for their own use. Here is on the border, and it is connected to a very convenient passage, which can drive straight into the mainland of the Republic. Entering its territory to force it to surrender was an important step in Wuqiao's plan.
With this victory, Wu Qiao promoted Tan Yan to the country's marshal.
Tan Yan once held the position of Marshal.
However, after the establishment of the new country, it was difficult for Wu Qiao to retain his position as Marshal. After all, Tan Yan was only left by the empire and had not made any contribution to the new country. It was really impossible for him to receive this honor directly.
Now, everything is different.
Tan Yan became the first marshal of the two dynasties in thousands of years.
Tan Yan's admirers were ecstatic when they heard the news, thinking that their vision had been confirmed again, because Tan Yan really was a very different person, and he could become the only one in thousands of years.
Wu Qiao was also very happy.
"Tan Yan..." he said, "I'm also very happy."
"Oh?"
"This shows that I am also a happy person." Wu Qiao replied, "Because my lover is the only marshal in thousands of years."
Wu Qiao originally thought that such a narcissistic person would be very proud, but unexpectedly, Tan Yan said to Wu Qiao mercilessly: "Isn't that what you sealed?"
"..."
"Fake public affairs for personal gain."
"I do not… "
"Then why do you want to make your lover look like the number one god of war in all ages?"
"Because..." Wu Qiao stared blankly at Tan Yan's eyebrows, "I think... my lover is the number one God of War in all ages."
"..." Hearing this, Tan Yan raised his chin and kissed her without saying a word.
"..." Kissing and kissing, Wu Qiao also wanted to try to take the initiative, but Tan Yan didn't agree. He licked and pressed hard against Wu Qiao, and Wu Qiao soon lost his strength and could only lie there softly, as if he was standing still. Fortunately, Tan Yan hugged him tightly.