Chapter 683: Chapter 388, Go to War
Petes’ public declaration to all the citizens of Fatches caused a huge uproar.
Objectively speaking, he couldn’t possibly take over the power of the United Government. Although he was a member of the family cabinet, his succession rank wasn’t high enough, nor was his reputation and status, to achieve an effect of unquestioned compliance. He couldn’t command the United Government, let alone really make the entire Fatches Defense Army genuinely lay down their weapons.
No matter what he said in the declaration, whether people actually listened to him was a completely different matter.
However, this declaration still caused enormous chaos within the Fatches Regime.
On Fatches No.1, tens of millions of Planetary Defense Forces fell into a bizarre silence.
Indeed, the Defense Army Grand Marshal at the Starport took the Orbital Elevator back to the surface immediately, and declared within the entire military system that Petes was a traitor, but even that couldn’t completely end the chaos.
…
The reason was simple: Petes had said something that resonated with the hearts of the people of Fatches.
We pay our taxes year after year, we worship the statues of The Emperor, we send our most valiant offspring to fight for the Empire in the Star Realm Army, we could proudly call ourselves Imperial citizens from any aspect, having done all that was expected of us.
Why should we be the ones to suffer?
Minnick exploited this sentiment in the past, inciting rebellion, directing the so-called ‘Why should we’ towards fines, towards the targeted malice of the Star Sector Government.
He was indeed successful, and the people of Fatches were truly angry. Being moved up a development grade unexpectedly meant that every person saw an increase in their Imperial Tax by more than 10% of their total income, and that was just the start. Then there was the entire income that would take five years of saving without eating or drinking. Who could withstand that?
However, when the other side of the balance scale clearly displayed the title of ‘Imperial Traitor’ and soon after, the Imperial Army really appeared outside the planetary orbit, how long could that anger last?
The education they had received since childhood, the stories they had heard, which told of the consequences faced by countless traitors, now reflected in the minds of every citizen of Fatches.
Anger is one thing, but to actually fight the Empire in a war?
This was a question that required deep reflection, especially when they would have to put everything they owned on the table.
…
But Gu Hang didn’t give the people of Fatches time to think this problem through clearly.
The coup that took place in the planetary capital had achieved the effect Gu Hang had hoped for.
The information from the ground reached the skies in the first instance, known to Gu Hang, the Commander-in-Chief of the quelling forces.
At this moment, he was on the “Concerto” cruiser, the flagship of the Tianma Fleet. As the Commander-in-Chief, Gu Hang had also set up his command headquarters here.
He did not entirely rely on a coup to solve all the problems.
The current situation was enough.
The Imperial Army began to move under his orders.
The Tianma Fleet was, of course, the first to act.
Two cruisers, twenty-seven destroyers, and over fifty other ships in total began a fierce attack on the planetary defense systems of Fatches No.1.
The firepower from the ground, from various Star Fortresses and Armed Space Stations orbiting, from the Starport… All this firepower added up was not significantly weaker than that of the Tianma Fleet.
Having comparable firepower was only one aspect; the planet’s defense facilities, which don’t require propulsion, were much stronger than a starship in terms of resistance to attack.
The scale of a Starport was much larger than a ship; the Anti-Orbit Cannons on the surface were outright fortified with strong fortresses and an even sturdier earth for cover; not to mention, they were enveloped in energy shields or Void Shields.
Even though the Armed Space Stations were relatively fragile, and some without energy shields could be shattered with just two or three hits, they were inexpensive and plentiful.
This is the power of a planet with a complete Orbital Defense when facing a naval strike.
If you consider Fatches No.1 as a whole, the bombardment with the Tianma Fleet didn’t fall too far behind.
In theory, this should be the case.
However, after the battle began, the situation became slightly different.
The fortified Starport was indeed quite resolute in combat, but those orbiting Armed Space Stations and the ground Anti-Orbital Firepower had some that did not fire.
The Fleet Commander Du Shiliang was genuinely a bit nervous at first. Before the official commencement of hostilities, he was quite worried that his Fleet would have to endure too great a loss when clearing out the planet’s Anti-Orbital Firepower.
But now, it seemed that things were much better than expected.
Among those space stations hesitant to fire, there were even communication requests sent to the navy’s ships, roughly indicating that they had heard the orders from the United Government, assuring their loyalty to the Empire, hence their restraint from firing, and inviting the Imperial Army to take control of these space stations.
At first, Du Shiliang was cautious, only dispatching a very small number of Navy Marine Corps aboard landing ships.
As they approached, they indeed did not suffer attacks from the Armed Space Stations; instead, the stations actively opened the channels to receive the ships. Often, a squad of Marine Corps soldiers could seize control of an Armed Space Station manned by hundreds.
The occurrence of these incidents significantly reduced the intensity of the naval battle faced by the Tianma Fleet.
Although several smaller vessels, such as Escort Ships or patrol grade warships, suffered damage after intensive attacks, forcing them to withdraw from the combat sequence, on the whole, the Tianma Fleet suffered much less than anticipated.
This was also the advantage of a naval fleet in combat against a planet—initiative is with me. Strike when desired, retreat when needed, those ground-based Orbital Cannons, Orbital Fortresses, can’t move anyway, unable to pursue.
A conservative approach to combat, retreating once the energy shield is overloaded, and re-engaging after the overload subsides, secure and a bit lucky to not be instantly destroyed, then the probability of direct combat losses is very low.
The Tianma Fleet thus orbited Fatches No.1, grinding away for approximately four hours.
At this moment, it was already evening on the planet’s surface. Every person on Fatches, by just lifting their heads, could behold those magnificent colors in the sky.
They were more vast and resplendent than a meteor shower to behold.
But no one was happy.
They all knew what those were: each streak of light represented death and destruction.
They could only pray that these spectacles would not actually descend upon their world.