Chapter 184: Chapter 145, I want this big guy!_2
The significant increase in productivity brought about an income rise of over one hundred and fifty Grace points.
In terms of Revival City, the construction speed of the outer city was fast, and with the recovery of various industries, the rise in management ability, and the elimination of debuffs, the situation in Revival City kept improving. Although two hundred thousand people had moved out, the Grace points provided by Revival City each month did not decrease but instead increased by thirty points.
This monthly income, after accounting for the four hundred points spent on training soldiers, along with the expenses for activating Tadeusz, and the training costs for the Wind-Extinguishing Brigade and the 2nd Division, left Gu Hang with only three hundred Grace points remaining, which then again rose back to eight hundred and ninety.
Gu Hang wouldn’t squander these Grace points carelessly.
The war against the Green Skin Tribe he now faced was the largest scale battle he had encountered since his arrival at Rage Owl Star.
These Green Skins turned out to be much more troublesome than imagined.
Over the course of this month, the soldiers under Gu Hang had suffered a total casualty loss of around four thousand. On a sixty-kilometer frontline, an average of more than one hundred and thirty died each day; the number of Green Skins killed was also around eighty or so.
The combat loss ratio was 1:1.6, slightly unsightly.
The main reason was that, recently, the Green Skins had acquired some new things—artillery and armed pickups.
Both of these put great pressure on the front lines.
The former directly attacked with firepower. Now, the infantry holding the line occasionally suffered attacks from heavy firepower. The artillery of the Green Skins was potent, and a direct hit meant even fortified positions couldn’t withstand it.
And the latter was also troublesome. The armor plates on those armed pickups were rough but indeed quite tough, and they could speed along quickly. Belching clouds of black smoke from their rears, the multiple machine guns on top fired fiercely. Without discussing accuracy, they could carry four or five Green Skins close to the positions.
Usually, a couple of rockets would be enough to damage the vehicle, but not necessarily kill all the Green Skins aboard; just getting troops face-to-face was enough.
Consequently, the face-to-face Green Skins would bring no small number of casualties to the soldiers on the defense line.
But if it were just that, the problem wouldn’t be too big.
The soldiers under the Governor’s command had not retreated a bit on the frontline.
The artillery of the Green Skins was powerful, but clearly, its range was not as far as that of human cannons. After determining the position of the enemy artillery from their trajectory, the 155mm howitzer positions would often fire three or four rounds of artillery barrages toward that area.
After the bombardment, although it was difficult to confirm the results, the Green Skin’s artillery usually fell silent, likely having been swept clean.
As for those newly emerged armed pickups, they could only be dealt with by tubes, by land mines laid by scouts, obstacles, and the like, to block them. They would try to delay their advance as much as possible and then destroy them with fire.
If they managed to transport the Green Skin infantry up front, then it would come down to a melee, but casualties would be high.
The emergence of heavy firepower and ‘armored’ strength in the enemy was very bad news.
Gu Hang himself was already feeling that something was not quite right.
After he inspected the military production line in Weixing City and returned to the Rubbish Town frontline, the five interstellar warriors who had arrived by vehicle two days earlier immediately sought him out, issuing a warning.
Gu Hang had previously extended an invitation to the Phoenix Battle Group, hoping they would help solve the Green Skin problem outside Rubbish Town.
The Green Skins were old adversaries of the interstellar warriors. Throughout the Phoenix’s history, during their century-long penitentiary expedition, they had encountered countless Green Skin opponents.
The ‘Cancer of the Universe’ wasn’t a term thrown around lightly; these enemies truly had a widespread presence throughout the universe. Certain particularly ferocious tribes of Green Skins were capable of sweeping through and destroying several star systems.
The Phoenix responded to the Governor’s call, arriving here from their monastery by truck.
The ten Iron Ox trucks assigned to the Phoenix by Gu Hang had been painted in the Phoenix style, predominately red with white edges and patterns, a stark contrast to the Alliance Army’s common gray and sandy yellow.
Not only did these ten trucks bring five interstellar warriors, but they also brought a hundred fully-armed young soldiers.
The monastery of the Phoenix had previously taken in two hundred teenagers under the age of nineteen for training as reserves. One hundred of the younger ones stayed in the monastery, continuing their training with Priest Rizzo; the hundred that accompanied Commander Matins to Rubbish Town were generally a bit older.
The Phoenix planned to throw them into battle.
These young soldiers had only received a month of training at the Phoenix monastery and didn’t have the external enhancements that Gu Hang possessed. Even with the remarkable ability of the Phoenix to train new recruits, it wouldn’t be enough to turn them into elite soldiers within a month.
Indeed, that was the case, but the Phoenix’s intention wasn’t really to expect these hundred teenagers to make any significant battle achievements.
Essentially, this was a selection process.
They had only one genetic seed in hand, which certainly required selecting the most outstanding, the most likely candidate for successful surgery. Only those who survived on the real battlefield, those who performed the best, could potentially enter the final selection round.
Gu Hang actually had reservations about this.
But as it was something within the battle group’s affairs, he didn’t feel it was his place to meddle, so he let them be.
Turning back to the present.
Commander Matins and his four brothers found him as soon as he landed at the joint military camp outside Rubbish Town.
Facing the five giants that towered over him by half, Gu Hang felt somewhat nervous.
Matins spoke with a serious tone, “This war, we can’t keep fighting it like this.”
“What do you mean?”
“We must launch an attack as soon as possible,” Schneider spoke up first, “The sooner the better, a full-scale offensive, to quickly annihilate all the Green Skins and completely purify this land with fire.”
“Hold on… at least tell me the reason first,” said Gu Hang, “I was planning to have the troops continue to show off for a while. The equipment for two garrison divisions hasn’t yet arrived, the stockpile of shells isn’t sufficient… not to mention, the overall casualty ratio is still within acceptable limits, we estimate there are about twenty thousand Green Skins in the ruins of the high tower. At this rate of casualties, we’ll be able to exterminate those Green Skins at the cost of thirty thousand of our own soldiers.”
Schneider, of course, didn’t mince words with Gu Hang, “Ha, that’s assuming those Green Skins keep running into our defenses until they are all dead. Do you think that’s possible?”
Gu Hang rolled his eyes, “Of course I know that’s not possible, but the casualty ratio has to be better than if we were to attack. According to normal thinking, we should continue to maintain the defensive, let those Green Skins crash against our lines until they can no longer withstand the casualties and are exhausted. Meanwhile, our side’s armaments would be more abundant, and then we could counterattack. Wouldn’t that be better?”
“There’s no chance of that,” Matins said, his tone much more patient than Schneider’s, “Green Skins… are a very tough enemy to deal with; they’re quite unique. You know they grow from the ground, right?”
“I know, but growing from the ground still requires time to mature, right?”
“You’re right, but the Green Skin Tribe is an alien species born for warfare, and the more intense the battle, the faster their tribe grows.”
Gu Hang frowned deeply, “You’re saying… war, death, might actually cause their numbers to grow inversely?”
This was a counterintuitive piece of information.
Before now, Gu Hang truly did not know that the Green Skins had such a characteristic.