Chapter 368: Execution by Cannon

"My warship is closest to the Blackstone Fortress! I will try to stop this madness by deploying my void shields with all my strength! With my faith, may the Emperor's light shine upon the universe. With my responsibility, justice will surely come to the galaxy. With my words and deeds, Holy Terra will remember the glory of the Imperial Navy. For the Emperor of Humanity! For the Gothic Fleet!"

-- Abridal, the captain of the battlecruiser [Purifying Fire], led his ship to paralyze three Blackstone Fortresses during the 12th Black Crusade, and all the crew members died. He is listed in the Terra Heroes Hall.

In the Empire, people usually think that the Imperial Navy is composed of a group of sissies and rich kids, while some people think they are the fearless gentlemen of the Empire. Obviously, Alanbair is the former, but even so he cannot deny the courage and sacrifice in the Imperial Navy, because salvaging the wreckage of the dead and the broken ships in the void is also their daily life...

In the Battle of Gethsemane during the distant Gothic War, the battle line composed of 2 battleships, 2 battlecruisers, 13 cruisers and more than 20 escort ships has made Captain Leoton Semple sigh "This spectacular scene represents the largest naval force deployed in a single battle since the Horus Heresy in the distant past."

No one knows that this level of battle line will soon become the new normal for the Imperial Navy's major battles, and since then, battles with hundreds of battleships have become frequent at the end of M40. All parts of the Empire are burning, and the entire galaxy has become a battlefield.

According to the standards of the Imperial Navy, only those with the rank of Vice Admiral or Admiral can participate in this battle. The former Captain Bordello is now in charge of the dispatch of Engili Spaceport as a war engine.

There are less than 100 barges left, 70% of which are warships below the level of Sword-class frigates, and the remaining 20% ​​are almost all cruisers. The owner of the only three heavy battleships is the senior admiral of the Imperial Navy in this star zone. Above him are the five major general admirals at the star field level and the only Terra general admiral, who is also the Terra High Lord...

He is naturally dignified and powerful, and has also experienced many battles. In his red-glowing mechanical artificial eyes and blue naval officer uniform with its gorgeous gold edges, or the flashing light of the skeleton gold badge on his chest, this admiral is looking forward to a war that burns himself.

In his long service career, the largest-scale battle he had seen was only a few warships, because most of the conflicts in the Empire could be easily settled with a cruiser, but such a war made him feel boring. Now, this opportunity to go down in history is right in front of him, and he can make great plans...

Even though he is over a hundred years old, the desire for war in his heart has long dissipated a lot, but now when the nightmare of the Empire comes again, as a soldier and an officer, he is still excited, especially when he regards the existence of the Space Marines as an enemy, will he achieve success or be buried here, will he be passed down through the ages, or will he go with the wind?

He clenched his saber and watched the dripping sound on the bird divination instrument. In the intelligence battle where illusion and reality intertwined, the Empire was at a disadvantage in most cases, but the drones provided by Titanium were densely distributed outside the limit of the Imperial Navy like hidden mines. This time, the Empire already had a real 10,000-mile vision!

After the instrument ticked briefly, the admiral looked at the captain. His Emperor-class heavy strategic ship and Mars-class heavy cruiser were ready to go. As the longest-range and smallest group of the Imperial Navy, their long guns and short guns had shooting capabilities beyond human imagination.

Under the correction of the computer servants, clerks, and the thinker array, hundreds of macro cannons and the light spear array were accurately aimed. In the Emperor's gift and the empire's anger, the temperature of tens of thousands of degrees Celsius and the impact force beyond human imagination were fired in an instant.

At the same time, as a fixed firing turret, the Engili Spaceport is not only used as an ordinary port. Its heavy artillery and light spear array are far more capable than ordinary imperial warships. Countless rays and shells came out from all directions of it, but the most important volcanic cannon was still stagnant, and only the outer giant cannon about 0.6 kilometers long fired.

Although many people believe that the Empire's warships are not suitable for long-range combat, even so, those super-large combat firepowers have almost no obstacles in the void. In the Empire's records, there are records of unlucky people who have not yet opened the void shield and have been destroyed by warship shells several light years away. There are also hundreds of thousands of shooting battles of all sizes that are far beyond the human visual range.

At the same time, hundreds of warships are now ready in a defensive salvo posture, waiting for the remaining enemies to enter their shooting range. Those behemoths are lined up in a row, and the barrel of the macro cannon is as large as the Ford-class aircraft carrier in the ancient Terra era, 0.6-0.7 kilometers!

The rest of the frigates and light destroyers with lower firepower chose to move forward in a vertical row, opening up enough penetration depth, that is, T-shaped array, so that when all are forced to move forward, the frigates and light cruisers or destroyers with the strongest close combat power can arrive first to interfere with or disrupt the enemy.

It can also defend, suppress fire, and attack at the same time like a long spear, but the core of such an array is not the Imperial Navy's heavy battleships as usual, but the Engili Spaceport, that is, all the ships of the Imperial Navy are using this big T to defend the Empire's greatest heavy void platform.

Sacrifice, honor, and broken bones, they are already at the door of hell. If this tactic is a spear and a shield, then the spear is a light Cobra-class, Dreadnought-class, Sword-class imperial battleship of various colors, and the shield is a Moon-class, Fire-class Star, Emperor and other heavy barges.

At the same time, the core area represents the core of the empire's combat power on the battlefield, namely the two warships Bordero and Baptism of Fire, which act as flags and stabilize the morale of the military in the dark void.

It can be said that, with the exception of Engili, Bordero and Baptism of Fire, the imperial battleships and the tens of thousands of naval officers and grassroots soldiers on them are weapons that can be abandoned at any time, they are the iron on the spearhead and the long-term force. Wood in the shield.

Now the Engili spaceport in the core area cannot be breached under any circumstances. After the first wave of salvos, the admiral asked the information director. "What was the result of the shelling?"

The audio director sorted through the gibberish of encrypted Tau conversations, as unintelligible as the dialects of many of the Imperium's worlds, but was fluent in Gothic, dozens of Low Gothic languages, and some degree of high psionic runic language. The head of information responded quickly. "Five enemy ships were destroyed, and the void shields of the remaining seven ships were stopped. Our bombardment accuracy rate is extremely high!"

It's not that the empire is not good at beyond-visual-range combat. On the contrary, a race that has been in this universe for tens of thousands of years is very good at killing enemies as quickly as possible. But after getting this data, the admiral couldn't help but smile.

"Emperor's blessing, those aliens are more useful than imagined. When the enemy breaks into the front of our army at sub-light speed, they will lose ten percent of their combat effectiveness!"

He spoke quickly. "Prepare for the second bombardment!" The preparation of the light spear and macro cannon seems easy, but the shooting distance is actually close to tens of millions of kilometers. To describe it in astronomical units, it is from Terra to Mars, which requires a lot of calculations and corrections. , just one of the infinite 0000 after the decimal point fluctuates, which means that the artillery fire brought here by the empire's countless resources is lost in the void.

At the same time, such negligence caused a battleship to break through the defense, and the Imperial Navy had to use all its resources to create loopholes. In the end, tens of thousands of people died in this unnecessary disaster. Therefore, the artillery correction was three or four times slower than the shooting at normal shooting distance. More than doubled...

But the wait was worth it. After another release of firepower, the fierce shooting was already joined by a lot of cruiser gunfire from closer shooting distances.

This attack was even more deadly. With a range of tens of millions of kilometers, and corrected by the data of some drones provided by the Titanium, the empire's full tilt of firepower was amazing enough. The observers passed on the information, and the audio director quickly The good news is that ten barges were completely vaporized.

But at this moment, the enemy also started to counterattack according to the position of the muzzle flame. Several beams of fierce light grazed the outside of the Emperor-class battleship, were intercepted by the void shield, and then trembled and shook violently.

The new recruits were shaken by such abnormal vibrations, but the old admirals were used to it. This was because the shock wave of the cannonball alone was enough to shake the interior of the ship. Even if most of the cannonballs entered the subspace due to the void shield, the aftermath was still enough. Mortals tremble for it. If the loyal machine soul hadn't used her adamantine body to hinder those powers, everything here would have been destroyed.

However, the admiral did not panic. He knew that the enemy would not sit still and wait for death, and he also knew that the Imperial Navy would not be timid due to such an attack. However, he realized that the Imperial Navy would not get any advantage if this continued.

Because the number of enemies is too large, although the enemy's warships are generally lightweight and lack maintenance due to long-term docking in subspace, those numerical advantages will gradually overwhelm them in the long battle.

At this point, he dialed the commander-in-chief's line. After Alan Bayer's voice appeared, the officer calmed down slightly. "Long time no see, Lord Lord, we have come out on top in the war, but I feel that the wheel battle will not give us an advantage, and the enemy's counterattack just now made me realize that they did not collapse with just a few volleys. Pirates and bandits.”

"If the emperor here would also think that sitting still and waiting for death would only lead to death, I think that the volcano cannon can be used during this period!" He was a little excited. After all, the people of the empire who worshiped force had a bit of admiration for such super-normal weapons. For those loyal and powerful machine souls, trust naturally arises.

Alan Bayer replied. "No, the enemy's main ship has not been locked. Secondly, the crystals of the volcano cannon are also resistant to a certain extent. High-intensity war will cause the rare crystals to crack."

"The price of the crystal itself is higher than that of an Imperial battleship. We cannot take the risk of using it to destroy ordinary battleships. Secondly, even if its heat can tear apart the battle line, it must be used first to protect the Engili Spaceport."

The Admiral quickly calmed down and said at the same time. "If we find the enemy's core command ship, can we open fire?"

Commander-in-Chief Alan Bayer replied. "Yes, if you can determine the strategic target, we can immediately start using that powerful weapon, but you must also understand that under the current circumstances, we have more advantages in sticking to the defense."

said the admiral. "But, the Space Marine battle barge is easy to identify, so..."

He performed a military salute, showed it to the Commander-in-Chief on the holographic projection, and then turned off the communication. He had already made up his mind. Rather than rely on the advantage of shooting range to fight slowly, today's Imperial Navy needs more time to clear the enemy's forward deployment. Open a way out before the Ark of Evil Omen comes.

Of course he has ideas, but such ideas will destroy hundreds of thousands of people. But compared to the risks that a protracted war may cause, a crazy attack is nothing. The battlefield advantage of giving up defensive warfare is quite significant for the empire's standard battles. Risky and stupid, but given the circumstances, he needed to adapt.

This is also the reason why this man can become an imperial admiral. In essence, the long war career has not erased his sensitivity and intelligence. On the contrary, it has made such qualities intensified and sharper. And in the war approaching the maelstrom The land has reached such a high position, and there is no benevolent emperor to protect him so that he can spend his days and nights.

He sent away countless enemies of the empire, pirates, aliens, heretics, nightmares from the Maelstrom, rebellions from the edge world, and countless others. Therefore, he was never a person bound by rules. On the contrary, he was the one who created the rules.

He opened the communication channel to the lieutenant generals and rear admirals in his hands, the real middle power of the Imperial Navy and the real owners of the Imperial warships. "Lords of all lightweight battleships, Indomitable-class light cruisers, Sword-class frigates, Firestorm-class frigates, and Cobra-class destroyers..."

"The war has begun. Spears, sharpshooters, and warriors of the empire, attack the enemy's location, lock on their core battleships, navigate the empire's volcano cannons, use torpedoes and macro cannons to destroy the enemy's effective forces, and annihilate the enemies of the empire." He took a long breath, then continued.

"Although the enemy's number far exceeds ours, the fire support will not stop. You should know that in the two salvos just now, we destroyed almost 20 enemy warships. You only need to contain the enemy's shots and avoid the shells. , you can slowly see us tearing apart the enemy's front, the emperor's warriors, chess pieces, currencies... be prepared!"

"What follows is hell, fighting, and a tango dance in the hail of bullets, but I believe you will do well, just like your position on the battle line. Now, I am the senior admiral of the Imperial Navy, the Imperial Navy of the Pangia Sub-sector Leader, allow you to launch a never-ending charge against the enemy, for the sake of the emperor!"