The kiss only lasted a few seconds, but Lu Fenghan's heart felt numb and tingling because of the three seconds of touch, as if a series of small electric currents passed through it.
He let go of the camera device in his hand and let it float again. Because the time was too short, no one was suspicious. Only Wei Yin asked curiously: "Maybe the signal was not good just now? I think I saw a black screen for two seconds."
Mei Jie Lin mercilessly mocked him: "Did you drink too little nutrition before boarding the ship and have low blood sugar? Is that why you are seeing black in front of your eyes?"
Wei Yin immediately retorted: "You are weak enough to have low blood sugar!"
The two people started arguing again in the communication channel.
Qi Yan touched her lips, afraid that others would hear what she said, so she pulled Lu Fenghan's sleeve, waited for someone to come over, and whispered to him in a serious tone: "We've kissed twice, no more."
Lu Fenghan thought, we have kissed twice in such a short time
He turned his head, and while the two were close to each other, he gently touched Qi Yan's cheek with his lips.
"Three times."
Qi Yan opened his eyes wide and stared at Lu Fenghan, as if he didn't react.
"Commander, what do you mean three times?" Mei Jielin had sharp ears and interrupted without hesitation, "Did you see me hit the medium-sized ship on the opposite side three times?"
Lu Fenghan sat back down with a smile on his face. He held Qi Yan's hand behind the table and rubbed his knuckles carelessly. Anyone with a discerning eye could tell that he was in a good mood, and his eyes had a lazy look of success.
But he was a typical example of multitasking: "Command the ship to retract its guns, turn, and prepare for warm-up."
Not missing a second of the battle situation.
Mei Jie Lin reminded: "What about me! What should I do?"
Lu Fenghan: "The Chanyuan is in hiding."
Mei Jielin replied happily, "Yes."
Lu Fenghan ordered again: "Destroyer series G117-199 ambush on the left wing, G310-392 ambush on the right wing, medium-sized ships hide."
"yes!"
"Wait for the Fifth Legion to come over. The command ship's first formation will first cut off the vanguard, surround them, and quickly bombard them to neutralize the enemy's combat power in a short period of time. The second formation's medium-sized ships will be the main force, delaying the back half. When the time is up, gradually lead them into the encirclement. This model has been used several times, and you should all know what to do." Lu Fenghan stared at the information sent back and counted down clearly, "5-4-3-2-1, on it."
The moment he finished speaking, the vanguard of the Fifth Legion, which arrived at the battlefield first, was immediately attacked like a rainstorm!
The Fifth Legion's reaction speed was not slow, but the attack was too swift, and their defense system began to crack after a few seconds. Another waveguide/bullet came, hitting accurately, and before they could put up an effective defense, they lost most of their combat power.
Seeing that the time was almost right, the Second Squadron vaguely opened a gap in the encirclement, but was immediately discovered by the rebels. Thinking it was the expeditionary force's negligence, they turned around and squeezed out of the gap. Unexpectedly, they fell into the encirclement again just as they were out of it!
Just one minute later, the vanguard of the Fifth Legion was beaten to pieces like a storm!
Someone in the communication channel said, "Great!"
Mei Jielin laughed loudly: "Follow the command and you can eat meat! The poor days before can be forgotten!"
Lu Fenghan stopped the trend of chatting in time: "The main force of the Fifth Army has entered the scene."
Obviously, the Fifth Legion had known in advance what had happened to the vanguard. As soon as they entered the maximum firing range of both sides, the firepower of both sides immediately entangled with each other.
Various alarms sounded continuously in the communication channel. Outside the porthole, layers of fire lit up one after another.
In the Fifth Legion's main ship, Legion Commander Helena looked at the red alarms that frequently lit up on the virtual screen and became furious: "Vasilev, Hesse, and Esben are all useless! We gave them so much time, not only did they fail to destroy the expeditionary force, but they even let the expeditionary force's artillery fire explode right in front of me!"
Although she was wearing a military uniform, the fabric was obviously thinner and smoother, with a nipped waist and rolled hem. She wore white lace gloves on her hands, and even the epaulettes were embellished with gems. Everything about her was luxurious.
Her adjutant flattered: "They failed to fulfill their guard duties. They are so useless that even a wise man would be disappointed."
Helena sat on the main seat with her long curly hair loose, looking unhappy and arrogant: "I came here so late on purpose just to inspect the spoils they presented. Now, it seems that Vasiliev and his men are about to be defeated by the expeditionary force, and they even want me to save them in person!"
The adjutant immediately said, "It is their honor to be able to ask Miss Helena to rescue us!"
"Well, if it weren't for the wise men, I wouldn't care about their lives." Helena tapped the armrest of the seat with her well-maintained nails. "Forget it, just use the missiles to destroy the starships in front of us, and then go save Vasiliev and the others."
Seeing the enemy's main battleships raise their guns one after another, Lu Fenghan ordered: "The destroyers equipped with particle inverters should be sent to attract firepower and draw out as much of the enemy's ammunition/ammunition inventory as possible. The rest should provide cover and rafting, and don't enter the firepower circle easily, just fly a few circles at the edge."
Metierin was hiding in the shadows, bored out of her mind, and asked, "Commander, do you think Helena will take the bait?"
"meeting."
As it turned out, it really hooked me.
The expeditionary force's destroyer sequence uses particle inverters to immediately jump out of position once the enemy's firepower is drawn out. Often, by the time the rebel missiles explode, the destroyers are already dozens of miles away.
Despite missing every shot, Helena not only did not give up, but became more angry and fired even more intensively.
Mei Jie Lin touched her own princess cut with her fingers and couldn't help but sigh: "Commander, you really can't be said to be rich. The other side is rich and well-off. Is she bombing for fun? Do you think the fire looks good? No matter how much ammunition is in stock, it can't withstand this consumption method!"
When the peace faction was still in power, the expeditionary force's military spending was cut all year round, and almost every financial report submitted to the higher authorities was blocked. This cultivated the good character of thriftiness among the entire army.
Of course, to put it another way, everyone in the expeditionary force, from the commander to the corporal, was extremely stingy and would have liked to have broken one missile into two.
Now, seeing the Fifth Legion's extremely luxurious fighting style, he immediately felt the heartache of a beggar seeing a rich man laying floor tiles with gold.
Lu Fenghan ordered: "Pojun, calculate her ammunition inventory."
Po Jun: "Okay. The ammunition inventory of the main ship where Helena is located is 40%."
Mei Jielin was shocked: "With this kind of fighting style, there is still 40% of inventory left? Don't even mention that she is the illegitimate daughter of the previous wise man. I would believe it if you said she is the current wise man!"
She was curious again, "Pojun, Helena is also a woman, why don't you call her Miss Helena?"
Po Jun was very modest: "Ms. Mei Jielin, I call you that only because I admire your character and deeds."
Mei Jie Lin smiled and said, "Commander, Po Jun is much more talkative than you!"
Lu Fenghan was too lazy to pay attention to her: "The destroyer series will fly two more rounds and get closer. The medium-sized ships will follow and hurt the main ship of the Fifth Legion. Try to make them angry enough to want to retaliate twice."
Mei Jie Lin shook her head and sighed: "Commander, you have such a dark heart!"
On the other side, Vasiliev almost broke the edge of the table. "What on earth is Helena doing? Signalman! Go ask the Crown Princess how much ammunition is in stock! Does she think this is an exercise?"
The signalman quickly responded: "The Crown Princess refused to talk and said that she did not need anyone's command. We just need to wait for their rescue. Commander, this is... the original words."
For a moment Vasilyev didn't know what to say.
On the other side of the communication channel, Hesse touched the gem inlaid on the dagger: "Do you still expect Helena to listen to you? She begged the wise man to let her join the United Legion. Her purpose is clear - wait for us to win, and then she will take the credit. From the beginning to the end, we are just tools in her eyes."
Po Jun accurately calculated the ammunition inventory of the Fifth Legion's main ship. When it was less than 20%, the opponent seemed to realize something and began to restrain their offensive, but it was too late.
Lu Fenghan pronounced clearly: "The destroyers ambushing on the left and right wings, those with odd numbers will be dispatched to clear out the frigate called the Princess on the opposite side."
Two teams of destroyers suddenly appeared and rushed into the battle circle at high speed. After a hail of gunfire and artillery fire, the frigates were scattered.
Mei Jielin curled her lips and said, "There is a reason why the Fifth Legion rarely went to battle before. They went to the battlefield purely to provide supplies for our army."
Lu Fenghan blocked out Mei Jielin's chatter out of habit, looked at the star map with determination, and then ordered: "It's time to close the net."
Vasiliev only paid no attention for a moment, and when he looked again, the Fifth Army had become a pile of scrap metal. With a gloomy face, he asked Hesse: "Aren't you going to save them?"
Hesse asked him to look at the battlefield. "We don't have the chance to show off our skills. Esben of the Ninth Legion has already gone ahead. He is determined to get the attention of the wise men. What better opportunity is there than to save poor Miss Helena from danger?"
Vasiliev's eyebrows moved: "Is that rumor true?"
Hesse didn't say anything, with an expression that said, "Please explain it more clearly."
Vasiliev knew that Hesse didn't want to be criticized, so he took the initiative to say: "Is Helena the wise man's biological sister?"
"To criticize the wise is a serious crime that will result in being thrown into the universe and burned to death by radiation," Hesse said, then changed the subject, "What you said may be the truth."
This ambiguous answer has already revealed the truth.
The fact that Helena was the illegitimate daughter of the previous Wise Man had long been circulated among the top brass and was no secret. If Helena and the current Wise Man were siblings, then it was a foregone conclusion that the current Wise Man and the previous Wise Man were father and son.
Vasiliev groaned: "The father dies and the son inherits?"
Hesse did not want to discuss this topic any further: "Who knows."
On the other side, the Ninth Legion rushed to the Crown Princess' aid. Wei Yin gritted his teeth on the communication channel: "Turning around and running, I wasted a particle cannon! Running so fast, is your house on fire?!"
Mei Jielin immediately responded, rubbing her hands together: "I don't know if his house is on fire, but I know he's going to be on fire soon!"
The Ninth Legion used missiles and high-sensitivity artillery to clear the way, quickly reached the outside of the battle circle, and then cautiously braked immediately. However, the next second, the fleet led by the Chanyuan had not yet revealed its whereabouts, but the artillery fire arrived first, and the missile thrusters rose together. Hundreds of missiles were launched instantly. Under the calculation of the central control system, a huge firepower network was woven with extremely high precision, roaring towards the support of the Ninth Legion!
The huge energy from the missile explosion even caused waves and vortices in the star field, and even the floating metal debris and scattered meteorites were shaken.
Wei Yin couldn't help but clap his hands and laugh: "It really is on fire!"
On the radar detector screen, half of the red dots representing the Ninth Legion's starships went out in an instant. Lu Fenghan kneaded Qi Yan's fingers and said in a scattered voice: "Surround them and they will be rescued. Destroy their reinforcements. I wonder how the rebels feel."
In his role as the "commander-in-chief on the battlefield," Lu Fenghan was different from usual in that he rarely revealed his personal emotions, giving people the impression that he was always calm.
When saying this, Qi Yan clearly felt an indescribable murderous aura and arrogance emanating from Lu Fenghan's pores, sharp and fierce.
He thought to himself that the general was a very vengeful general.
The rebels used this tactic to besiege Mejielin, resulting in many casualties. Even though Long Xiyun arrived in time to rescue the people, the expeditionary force was still in a passive position.
Until now, the tide of war has turned.
He once heard Vincent and Mei Jielin chatting and saying that Lu Fenghan was a jungle animal who particularly liked to enclose land to declare sovereignty, and was protective and arrogant.
Now he felt that Vincent and the others' description was very appropriate.
Pinching Qi Yan's cheek, Lu Fenghan moved closer and asked in a low voice, "What are you looking at me for?"
The voice seemed to tickle Qiyan's ear.
Qi Yan was very frank and spoke the truth: "I am observing the general."
"Are there any results?"
"Well, I saw a side of the general."
He didn't feel much when facing the enemy's bullets just now, but when he heard Qi Yan's words, Lu Fenghan's heart tightened: "So, do you like it?"
Qi Yan's voice dropped again and again: "A general is a general. I like him."
The smile on Lu Fenghan's lips suddenly deepened.
The Crown Princess was trapped in an encirclement. Its guns and gun barrels were still there, but its ammunition reserves had been exhausted. It became a "hostage" for a while, attracting a steady stream of rescuers.
The center of the battlefield shifted accordingly.
Switching from offense to defense, Metierin blasted down an incoming medium-sized ship, and couldn't resist the urge to chat: "Commander, apart from the illegitimate daughter, how dare you bet that if we surround Helena, someone will definitely come to rescue her? How long has the last wise man died?"
"Esben of the Ninth Legion is arrogant and proud. He doesn't even take the Eleventh Legion's Donald and his ilk seriously. However, in this joint battle among the legions, he is willing to let Helena arrive last and serve as the vanguard and the front pawn." Lu Fenghan stopped there.
Mei Jie Lin thought about it and raised the corner of her mouth: "After this war is over, we can set up a simulated battlefield and bring in those new recruits and students from various military academies to take a look at their tactics!"
She jumps around a lot. "Speaking of which, the new recruits we brought in this time performed pretty well. At least their mental quality is good. They didn't show any signs of claustrophobia or get so nervous that they fired at their own people."
Lu Fenghan: "In three days, another batch of new soldiers will be sent over from the Kepler Region."
Mei Jielin had a bad feeling: "Then?"
"Since you mentioned it, I'll leave the training to you."
"Let me train those guys who have never held the joystick of a destroyer and who scream at everything they see—" Metierin swallowed the words that might be considered personal attacks, "New recruits? Commanding, aren't you afraid that they will die before they even go to the battlefield? Command? Command?"
Lu Fenghan blocked her voice again and turned to Wei Yin: "The main ship of the Ninth Legion has been exposed. Let's see if we can attack it."
"yes!"
At this time, Vasiliev and Hesse had already seen through Lu Fenghan's plan.
Vasiliev: "The expeditionary force has greatly increased its combat power, and now they have that strange means of unknown origin. It seems that Esben is going to fail here. Should we save him or not?"
Both of them knew that the person to be "rescued" was only Helena, and the commander of the Ninth Legion, Esben, was naturally not considered.
—We can use the expeditionary force to get rid of an opponent, and the ownerless Ninth Legion may be divided between the two of them. Why not do it
Hesse said without directly stating it: "The rebels are getting stronger and stronger. Helena's entire row of frigates were overturned. Their fighting power should not be underestimated. However, it is not impossible to find a loophole and rescue Helena alone."
Vasiliev had the same idea.
If he allowed Helena to die, he would still not escape the punishment of the wise men during the post-war reckoning.
If Helena is brought back alive, even if we lose the battle, our merits and demerits can be offset.
Across the distance of countless starships, the two reached a temporary cooperation.
Soon, Lu Fenghan discovered that the Tenth Legion and the Twelfth Legion began to gather their combat strength. The two sides were no longer clearly divided, but showed a momentum of cooperation.
"Mejielin, your speculation that Helena is the illegitimate daughter of the current wise man makes sense." Lu Fenghan twisted his fingers, "The Tenth Legion and the Twelfth Legion dare not retreat alone. They are determined to bring Helena with them and dare not let anyone die easily. The 'point' we surrounded is very cost-effective."
As the enemy starships gradually gather together, the entire battle situation changes, and a silent pantomime is about to be staged in the silent universe.
Lu Fenghan tapped the table with his fingers: "Each fleet reports the damage."
Soon, the summarized data came to Lu Fenghan: "The available combat power of the Feilian fleet is 75%, the available combat power of the Chanyuan fleet is 81%, the available combat power of the Jiangling fleet is 80%, the Pingning fleet is 78%, and the Dingyuan fleet is 47%..."
Lu Fenghan quickly went over the data in his mind: "Those who are still holding on should retreat to the edge of the battle circle and save their lives. In the current situation, they don't need to risk their lives for the time being."
Mei Jielin and others agreed, and soon the data on available combat power dropped a little.
The data roughly matched his own estimate, so Lu Fenghan gave the order: "Prepare for battle!"
This round, the rebels’ goal is very clear—to rescue Helena.
Without using any commendable tactics, Vasiliev was extremely straightforward and brutal, and began to try to force a gap in the encirclement by using human lives.
When the cannons ran out of fire, they activated the starship's self-destruction program, turning the starship into an extremely powerful bomb, regardless of the cost.
After narrowly avoiding a self-destructing destroyer, Mei Jielin angrily said, "This style of fighting is really disgusting!"
Long Xiyun took the time to speak: "But it is useful."
Lu Fenghan stared at the development of the battle and suddenly ordered: "Give them a gap, but don't make it too obvious."
In the communication channel, Mei Jielin was the first to speak: "Commander, how are you going to trick us again?"
Lu Fenghan did not answer but asked: "Do you think there will be cooperation between the rebel army commanders?"
"When we were fighting the 11th Legion, the 8th Legion received the distress signal but didn't send out a single starship. Just now when Esben was attacked, Hesse and Vasiliev showed no intention of rescuing him." Metierin touched his chin, "Commander, do you think that once Helena is rescued, the cooperation between the two sides will be like a breadstick from the kitchen, which will break at the slightest fold?"
Her eyes lit up, "There's a show to watch, let's fight!"
Not long after, when two small rebel ships exploded at the same time, a small crack was finally blown into the encirclement of the Crown Princess.
In a hidden place, a destroyer that looked indistinguishable was spit out from the stern of the Crown Princess, and it was heading quickly towards the narrow gap in the encirclement with a clear goal.
He thought he was hiding, but he didn't know that his every move was being monitored.
Outside the encirclement, Hesse and Vasiliev were ready to provide support.
Mei Jielin kept muttering: "Fight! Fight! Don't let us down!"
As time passed, the destroyer Helena was on broke away from the encirclement, with Vasiliev in the front left and Hesse in the rear right, jointly protecting and moving forward.
At this moment, the fleet that Vasilyev was in suddenly accelerated, and the destroyer carrying Helena was also clamped forward by the metal arms extended by two frigates at the same time.
Almost at the same time, the last two medium-sized ships started to self-destruct, and flames burst out. The huge energy caused by the explosion pushed Vasiliev and his party forward a long distance, and instantly pushed Hesse's fleet back.
Pushed into the expeditionary force's battle circle!
While taking advantage of the short reaction time of the enemy ship being pushed over, Metierin fired several laser cannons and was curious: "What will Hesse do?"
Lu Fenghan: "He won't be unprepared."
Just as Vasiliev was about to leave the battle circle and rush to the nearest jump point, a fleet with the flag of the 12th Legion suddenly appeared, intercepted and opened fire directly!
The battle situation suddenly became chaotic.
Qi Yan said from the side: "Vasilev wants to take Helena away and borrow the sword of the expeditionary army to deal with the 12th Legion and Hesse?"
"That's right. There is a serious internal conflict in the rebel army. With Helena, Vasiliev can go back and show his merits. Maybe the newly formed 12th Army will be placed under his command, and his personal strength will expand rapidly.
In addition, the Seventh, Eighth, and Eleventh Corps are now only left with flags, the Fifth and Ninth Corps have just suffered heavy losses, and the Twelfth Corps is also here. In this way, Vasilyev will become the most powerful person in the rebel army, except for the wise man and the commanders of the Third and Sixth Corps. "
Lu Fenghan spoke carefully, and pointed at the two parties that had already exchanged fire, "Unfortunately, Hesse will not be slaughtered. Vasilyev picked the wrong person. Judging from the situation, Hesse had a similar plan at the beginning."
Even after the last enemy ship was blown up, Mei Jie Lin was still in a state of hindsight: "We have won now?"
Not far away, the main ships of the Tenth and Twelfth Legions had been blown into countless metal fragments, slowly floating in the space. The destroyer that Helena was riding on was even more indistinguishable.
Mei Jielin sighed: "The rebels are more ruthless. They fired high-energy particle cannons at each other, and neither side was able to dodge! If I submit this battle report to the Leto Daily, do you think their editor-in-chief will think I am making it up?"
Wei Yin was even more confused than Mei Jie Lin: "... I feel like you are making it up now."
After a few seconds of silence, Mei Jie Lin spoke again: "To be honest, I always feel like I'm dreaming and talking in my sleep."
After the main ship was blown up, the rebels who lost their command immediately became scattered.
They were only trained on how to kill the enemy, lacked combat awareness, and were not allowed to learn command-related knowledge.
Losing is inevitable.
Long Xiyun couldn't bear to listen any more and interrupted the two people's lack of IQ in their conversation: "It's time to clean up the battlefield."
On the command ship, Lu Fenghan unilaterally turned off the sound and picture of the video communication, pinched his eyebrows to relieve the pain in his eyes.
There was a hint of fatigue between his brows.
Thinking back to the kiss by the porthole before, it seemed to have a relieving effect on Lu Fenghan's spirit.
But... too many times.
After hesitating, Qi Yan extended his hand towards Lu Fenghan.
Lu Fenghan held it, and pulled the person into his strong and hot arms, and said in a low and hoarse voice: "What's wrong?"
Qi Yan put her hand into Lu Fenghan's palm, letting him squeeze it, and rested her chin on his shoulder: "I'll lend myself to you to hold for a while."