The Plane War Begins from Wandering Earth

Chapter 279 278. The Brewing Storm
Cluster artillery fire roared.

That was the most iconic "pre-battle ceremony" of the Redemption Army.

In the military system of the coalition government, the army's mobile forces have always been responsible only for the front-line advancement of the ground battlefield.

Responsible for killing the enemy's manpower on the battlefield.

The United Government's heavy firepower and strategic strike force have always been the responsibility of the starship forces and the air force forces within the atmosphere.

Influenced by this "tradition", the armed forces of the colonial galaxies do not attach much importance to the development of heavy firepower.

In other words, there is no ability to develop in this direction at all.

In fact, no matter how powerful the individual equipment of each colonial galaxy is, the federal government will not care too much.

For the federal government, which has been conducting interstellar colonization for hundreds of years, the starship force is the absolute core force of the federal government's military.

Therefore, even though the "metal cans" displayed by the Redemption Army on the battlefield had amazing combat power.

The federal government forces were also able to maintain a certain degree of reserve and restraint.

However, it is precisely because of this attitude that the Slade Galaxy and Slade Industries controlled by the United Government are gradually increasing their "bottom line tests" of the federal government.

During the "Battle of Whiskey Post", the most powerful heavy firepower of the Redemption Army was just a "youth version of the Dreadnought" weighing only tens or hundreds of tons.

In order not to arouse suspicion from the federal government, firepower and armor were greatly reduced.

So much so that the United Government soldiers in the Redemption Army once refused to acknowledge that these things were the "Fearless Series" heavy equipment.

With the Redemption Army's stunning success, Slade Industries also gradually began to emerge.

More and more local colonial galaxies are beginning to adopt Slade Industries' "one-stop service".

From planetary garrisons to dispatched expeditionary forces, and even to important military and political figures in various colonial galaxies, and personal bodyguards for celebrities and wealthy businessmen.

Whether it is personnel, weapons and equipment, armored vehicles, etc., all have begun to adopt the more cost-effective "Silide Industrial Manufacturing".

In just three years, the influence of Slide Industries has expanded rapidly at an astonishing speed.

Until it grew into a behemoth that could not be ignored right under the nose of the federal government.

The federal government has considered taking measures to curb the development of Slade Industries.

But in conventional business competition, those monopoly military-industrial tycoons who rely on political connections, chaebol backgrounds, and unclear relationships with the federal government can make a fortune simply by relying on huge official government military orders.

There is no intention or motivation to compete with the rapidly growing Slide Industry in terms of cost and product strength.

Since I can sell a product that costs one dollar for ten dollars, why should I take the risk of failure and go through all the trouble to develop new products and sell a product that costs five dollars for fifteen dollars?

On the contrary, if you can bet heavily on the new interstellar marshal and make a political investment.

Once successful, the huge returns from political investment will far exceed the investment in scientific and technological research and development by ten or a hundred times.

Formal commercial competition methods will not work.

Measures through legal control were also declared invalid after the "Human Cloning Act" incident.

The local colonial galaxies don't care about whether it's illegal or not. They only know that by spending one dollar at Slade Industries, they can get products worth two dollars from the federal monopoly military and industrial tycoons.

As the "Human-Insect War" was in full swing, the federal government had no choice but to acquiesce to the rise of Slade Industries.

Therefore, the product strength of Slide Industries has also increased with the tacit approval of the federal government.

Three years ago, the Redemption Army could only be equipped with the "youth version of the Dreadnought" which had little presence.

Three years later, the "heavy-armored dreadnought mecha" that was claimed to weigh more than 900 tons but could actually weigh more than 2,000 tons when fully loaded with ammunition began to appear frequently in the Redemption Army camp.

The armed forces leaders of the various colonial galaxies were very excited about this non-saleable military machinery, and were also shocked by the speed with which the Redemption Army's military equipment was being updated.

In response to this, Knight Commander Siegel would often simply downplay it and say that war is the driving force behind the development of human technology.

He simply got away with it with one sentence.

As many as forty "heavy-armored dreadnought mechas" with an average weight of more than 2100 tons began firing early.

The "heavy plasma cannon" as the main gun has amazing armor-piercing capabilities.

It is very effective against enemy armored units and fortifications.

The multi-barreled melta cannon is the close combat weapon of these customized dreadnought mechas, and can carry out "mowing operations" on the war bugs that appear around them.

The rest of the weapons, such as the Exorcist missile launcher, the Corus assault cannon, the twin-linked heavy bolter, the heavy flamethrower, etc., will also maximize the firepower output in the three areas of long, medium and short range.

The fully-armored dreadnought mecha can bring an unparalleled sense of security to friendly and allied forces.

They were affectionately called "Land Cruisers" by Allied soldiers.

Dozens of Land Cruisers launched a fierce offensive, achieving remarkable results.

Wait until the vanguard troops of the Redemption Army charge to the edge of the Zerg swarm.

The originally black swarm of insects had suffered heavy casualties under the "ground-cleaning attack" of numerous medium and long-range artillery forces.

The large Zerg forces were divided into isolated war zones on the ground battlefield.

The "bait force" of the colonial galaxy, which had previously shown signs of fatigue and was on the verge of collapse, finally stopped its decline.

They began to cooperate with the vanguard troops of the Redemption Army and started to attack the insect swarm from the front and back.

Without waiting for more reserve forces to arrive from the rear, in order to avoid missing the opportunity, the vanguard of the Redemption Army had already broken into the enemy camp and began a staggering massacre.

In the past three years, the Redemption Army has already undergone "upgrades" under the orders of the United Government.

The original Redemption Army, which had 120,000 soldiers, had only 1,500 or so "knights" who were formal members of the interstellar legion.

After a personnel reduction, only 60,000 of the 120,000 Redemption Army's real main combat forces remained.

But this includes all members of the Iron Knights Star Legion.

And the main elite forces of the elite United Government Army, supported by a large number of US branches.

Following them was the vassal army composed of many elite indigenous troops.

The Redemption Army has strict requirements for the members of the Vanguard Corps, who must at least be at the level of citizen warriors of the United Government who are eligible to receive the [Public Election Blessing].

Only in this way can one have the basic physical fitness to be equipped with "anti-Zerg power armor".

This armor, which looks very similar to ceramic heavy power armor, is an individual armor developed by the United Government specifically to deal with Zerg forces.

Facing the most widespread war bugs of the Arazi Zerg, units such as "Jumpers" and "Rippers" have extremely strong targeted defense capabilities.

In addition, a high degree of maneuverability is retained.

It was almost able to provide the main fighters of the United Government Army with a combat capability comparable to that of the Iron Knights Interstellar Corps Reserve. As many as 60,000 Iron Knights Interstellar Corps knights, trainee knights, and reserve vassal troops rushed into the battlefield rapidly.

Almost at the moment when the medium and long-range heavy firepower output strike ended, a cloud of insect corpses and insect pulp began to rise from the front line of the battle between the "human-insect army".

The Redemption Army, or the United Government Army, has long lost the immaturity and helplessness it had when facing the Zerg troops when it first entered the alien dimension a few years ago.

Various weapons, equipment, and vehicles targeting Zerg forces were developed and invented at a scientific research speed far exceeding that of the military-industrial monopoly tycoons of the Earth Federal Government.

The Redemption Army, which was built as a template for the Starship Troopers Plane Conquest Corps, is not something that the colonial galaxy armed forces in other places can challenge.

Just ten minutes after the battle, it could be clearly seen from the sky above the battlefield that the Vanguard Corps of the Redemption Army had "gnawed" a huge gap in the Zerg horde.

Inspired by the Redemption Army's brave and fearless performance on the battlefield, the expeditionary forces in the war zone, under the roars of their commanders and armed forces leaders, launched a massive and swift counterattack.

War bugs died in large numbers on the battlefield.

Groups of "jumpers" are gathering, flapping their wings and charging towards the ground in "clusters of small metal cans" at high speed.

The miniature rocket launch slots mounted behind the Vanguard Corps soldiers received warning prompts from the "battlefield perception system" integrated into the soldiers' helmets.

Before the cluster of "jumpers" overhead reached the maximum killing range of the micro rockets.

Further to the rear, the support firepower positions composed of elite indigenous troops began to frequently make "buzzing" sounds.

The close-in machine guns mounted on hundreds of "infantry support firepower armored vehicles" began to roar.

One after another, beams of light shot towards the incoming Arazi Zerg air force.

The machine gun shells with extremely strong penetrating power easily tore through the outer biomass carapace of the "jumper" like tearing paper.

Then, it continued to move forward with unabated momentum and broke through the armor of the subsequent "challengers" in the dense charging formation.

Along with trajectory-correcting tracer bullets of various colors, a thick slurry of yellow and green insect juice suddenly poured down like a rainstorm.

The violent aesthetics of human modern technological firepower is most vividly reflected in the flesh and blood of the Zerg.

"Don't stop! Keep charging!"

The elite knights commanding at the front line no longer cared after only glancing at the bloody scene of massacre above their heads.

They roared and continued to give orders to attack.

The expeditionary forces in the war zone used the Redemption Army as a "hammer" to fiercely break through the Zerg army's lines.

Until a large number of uncommon and even rare Zerg "elite garrison" consisting of "Earth Spikes" and "Suicide Bugs" appeared in front of them.

The elite knights leading the charge realized that they might have encountered a "big fish".

Calling in air strikes is not just the preserve of the federal government.

The elite knights called out to the communication device built into their helmets on the encrypted channel.

The next moment, a torrential rain of long-range artillery fire arrived in an instant, wiping out the elite Zerg garrison that tried to block the advance of the Redemption Army.

Immediately afterwards, the three heavily armored dreadnought mechas that were summoned began to advance forward side by side.

Hidden in the shallow gravel layer, the "earthworms" sense the vibrations of the surface above.

After the prey is hooked, it will be hit head-on.

But this time, the "Groundworm", an elite Zerg defense unit, kicked the steel plate.

And it is literal steel plate.

The outer armor of the heavy-duty dreadnought mecha, even the thinnest part, is twenty to thirty centimeters thick.

The outer armor made of tungsten steel alloy can even withstand the bombardment of small tactical nuclear bombs.

The fierce attack launched by the swarm of "earthworms" could not even leave a dent in the outer armor of the Dreadnought.

The "suicide bugs" lurking in the soft sand and gravel, acting as "biological guided mines", are like round truck tires, launching suicide attacks on the Redemption Army.

The expeditionary forces in the war zone have suffered greatly from the attacks of these "suicide bugs".

Wearing stab-proof clothing and armor, you still have a chance to survive the attack of "ground thorn insects".

But in the face of these "suicide bombers" that contain a large amount of compressed biofuel that explodes instantly, mutual destruction is often the outcome they have to accept.

The bombards were not foolish enough to attempt to attack the dreadnoughts, which were protected by tungsten alloy armor.

Instead, they rushed towards the vanguard corps of the Redemption Army in the rear.

But in front of the Vanguard Corps soldiers who were all armed with grenade launchers, dealing with these suicide bombers was even easier than Frisbee shooting.

One explosive bomb can cover the "explosive insects" charging in multiple directions and detonate them in advance.

Even if there is luck, the "suicide insect" with maximum dodge value can cross the "explosive bomb defense line".

The "metal cans" on the Vanguard Legion soldiers can easily ignore the swift attacks of these "suicide bugs" that consume all their vitality.

As the Vanguard Corps broke through the defensive lines of the Zerg's elite garrison, many underground cave passages hidden under hills, cracks in the ground, and reverse-angled rock formations appeared before everyone.

An area on the Zerg home planet of Clandaf that is guarded by elite Zerg garrison troops naturally has its value.

Until a team of elite knights rushed into the underground passage and used a micro nuclear grenade to blow up a plasma worm that did not have time to evacuate.

The Vanguard Corps was finally able to confirm that they had indeed discovered a "big fish".

The federal government troops in the war zone are still frantically calling for support.

In order to avoid missing the opportunity to fight, Knight Commander Siegel dispatched as many as a thousand official knights, led by the servant army, to raid in the form of teams to investigate these numerous underground Zerg tunnels.

The 3D mapping robot accompanying the army soon completed the mapping of the complex Zerg underground tunnels two or three hundred meters deep.

In the wide corridor, the huge plasma worms crawling away attracted attention.

As the knight squad went deeper into the underground tunnel, the losses of the plasma worm strategic force also rose sharply.

In the nearby war zone, the brain worm in charge of commanding the battle let out a sharp whine.

Transmitted through the swarm's biological signal waves, it quickly spread to the surrounding Zerg war zones farther away.

As a strategic force of the Arazi Zerg, plasma worms are one of the few forces that can directly cause devastating damage to the United Government's starship forces in outer space.

The bioelectric signals that came one after another were amplified and spread by countless insect swarms, instantly sweeping across an area of ​​thousands of kilometers in the war zone where the Redemption Army was located.

A brewing storm is gradually forming.

(End of this chapter)