It gets dark, it gets bright, it gets dark again, it gets bright again.

The sound of artillery fire on Vulture Mountain finally stopped, and all the federal mecha warriors who participated in the battle and survived, together with their mechas, gathered at the federal position at the foot of Vulture Mountain.

"Report to the Corps Commander, the Galaxy Mecha Independent Corps, the First Mecha Battalion, should have 155 people, but actually has 57."

"Report to the Corps Commander, the Galaxy Mecha Independent Corps, the Second Mecha Battalion, should have 161 people, but actually has 51."

"Report to the corps commander, the Galaxy Mecha Independent Corps, the Third Mecha Battalion, should have twenty-three people, but actually there are seventeen."

"Reporting to the corps leader, the Galaxy Mecha Independent Corps and the Orbital Airborne Tactical Mecha Team should be composed of three people, but there are actually three."

"Reporting to the corps commander, the mecha battalion of the Shenshuiyuan was supposed to have ninety-six people, but actually there are sixty-one."

Listening to the report ringing in his ears and looking at the mechas in front of him that had not had time to undergo comprehensive repairs, Ji Xinghe felt very bad.

Even if they succeeded in annihilating nearly 150,000 Empire troops, 832 Imperial mechas, and captured two Imperial space battleships, during the defensive battle in the No. 5 base theater, they won a victory that was enough to defeat the entire Federation.

A great victory to cheer for.

But those two hundred and forty-nine brave Federation mecha warriors never had the chance to return to the Blue Star. They didn't even get to see the final victory of the battle, nor did they hear the full cry for them.

Military notification.

They are all young.

Not only were the mecha warriors sacrificed, but in the middle of the battle, the Galaxy Mecha Independent Corps successfully destroyed a large number of the empire's anti-missile weapon systems, and the federal firepower was able to cause effective damage to Vulture Mountain.

The 7,000 conventional troops starting from Base 5 finally arrived on the battlefield, brought logistical support to the mecha warriors participating in the battle, and began to cooperate with the mecha warriors to launch the final attack on Vulture Mountain under the cover of federal firepower.

Clearance battle.

They were still clearing the battlefield at this time and did not report the number of casualties to the regiment commander Ji Xinghe.

From the command sequence point of view, they do not need to report to Ji Xinghe.

But Ji Xinghe has already seen their casualty statistics, 1,394 people died and 42 were injured.

On the battlefield on an alien planet, injury is basically equal to death.

These are all the reasons that made Ji Xinghe feel depressed after the victory. After all, he was not a professional soldier.

When Base 5 sent regular troops to join the battle, Ji Xinghe, who was resting at the time, had an argument with Tu Yuan, who was commanding the battle.

Ji Xinghe believes that conventional troops should be dominated by logistics troops. As long as the Xinghe Mecha Independent Corps is given enough time, they will be able to complete the annihilation.

Tu Yuan believes that conventional troops can reduce the damage rate of federal mechas, especially in relatively low-meaning clearance battles, where some damage is not worth it.

Tu Yuan, who had been led by Ji Xinghe these days, finally got angry because of Ji Xinghe's argument with him on this point.

"Ji Xinghe, do you think that we have 300,000 mecha warriors and only 50,000 active mechas, so the mecha warriors are not valuable?"

"The investment in training a hundred soldiers is not as big as the investment in training one mecha warrior. Just because we don't have that many mechas now doesn't mean we won't have that many mechas in the future."

"This battle is up to you. After the battle is over, how many mechas do we have left?"

"You are a mechanic, and you can repair mechas. We are all mechanics, can we repair mechas?"

"Without mechas, if the empire sends out large-scale troops to attack base five, how can we stop it?"

"Are you going to challenge Ji Xinghe again?"

"Ji Xinghe, please wake up. Your Ji Xinghe challenge will not determine the real outcome. When they are guarding the Vulture Mountain, you can't kill them all by yourself. We still have to risk our lives."

"Your mecha corps has already damaged one hundred and thirty-six mechas. All the ship-based mechas of Shenshuiyuan have already participated in the battle. If you don't let them go, you really want all our mechas to be defeated."

?"

"One general's achievements have led to thousands of bones being withered. When you say this, you act like the whole world is drunk and you are alone. You, Ji Xinghe, don't want anyone to sacrifice. All of us want to exchange the lives of thousands of soldiers for our own generals."

achievement?"

"You are sixty-six years old, Ji Xinghe, can you stop thinking of yourself as an innocent boy?"

Facing Tu Yuan's outburst, Ji Xinghe became silent in a rare moment.

Perhaps it's because Ji Xinghe understood one truth from beginning to end: there is no way in which people will die in war.

Tu Yuan, who felt that he had made a mistake, softened his tone, perhaps because he felt the strange looks from the people around him.

"Many, many years ago, there was a war. A general with 7,000 troops, with no food or reinforcements inside, held off hundreds of thousands of troops for nearly nine months, and protected hundreds of people.

The peace of thousands of people is for the sake of the country."

"Therefore, after he died in the battle, he was posthumously named the Duke of the Country, Ji Xinghe. Do you know how he fought?"

Ji Xinghe didn't answer because he knew.

Tu Yuan also knew that Ji Xinghe knew that when he first met Ji Xinghe, Ji Xinghe used words from the Analects of Confucius to make him stuck. If it weren't for the reminder from Liu Mian, the staff beside him, he, a civilian general at the time, would probably have been criticized.

Unqualified.

In fact, the civilian positions of civilian generals are not all cultural-related functions. They are similar to professional and technical military ranks. Those who can get the rank of generals cannot be professional technicians such as the art troupe.

Tu Yuan was able to obtain the rank of general because his main research was related to war.

From this point of view, Ji Xinghe, who likes reading and has read books for more than 50 years, may have a higher cultural level than Tu Yuan.

But Tu Yuan was dissatisfied. What he was dissatisfied with was that Ji Xinghe clearly knew these things and the truth, but he always looked at the federal soldiers in this war with a compassionate attitude.

So he asked when Ji Xinghe was silent.

"I'll tell you how he fought. He killed his concubines and slaughtered his servants, and forced his officers and soldiers to eat meat. After the commander's servants had eaten, he ate the old and weak women and children in the city. The city he guarded had a household registration of 40,000 before the war. The city was destroyed.

At that time, there were only four hundred people left alive."

"Ji Xinghe, do you think he has merit or is he guilty?"

Tu Yuan didn't wait for Ji Xinghe's reply and continued.

"Some people say that his merits are in the present day, but his sins will be felt forever. Others say that his sins are in the present day, but his merits will be felt in the future."

"Why is there an argument? Because he protects people, beats people, and eats people. They are all people."

"What about us?"

"Ji Xinghe, you have actually done a good job. You have treated the empire as cruelly and ruthlessly as a harsh winter, and you have treated our people as warmly as spring. But what you have done is not good enough."

"Compassion does not control soldiers. You can have compassion for everyone, but in this war, your command cannot be merciful."

"If you are merciful, you are not worthy of being the commander of this corps."

"If you want to be like before, leading the team to always return with a complete victory, no one around you can die..."

"Ji Xinghe, I will turn your independent group of Xinghe mechas into the former Xinghe squad."

"Now, I want to order regular troops to join the battle. Ji Xinghe, do you have any objections?"

Ji Xinghe said nothing. After taking a short rest, he ran towards Vulture Mountain again.

Until the battle was actually over, he never questioned any of Tu Yuan's orders.

At this time, he looked at the 189 federal mecha warriors that had been saved because of Tu Yuan's order and the sacrifices of more than a thousand people, as well as the mechas that had been fighting with them for nearly two days.

He knew very well that without the sacrifices of those people, there might be less than a hundred mecha warriors standing in front of him.

This battle of annihilation with fewer enemies and more enemies is impossible to finish now.

So, are the sacrifices of those people worth it?

Ji Xinghe couldn't do it, and he didn't want to do it either.

Because this is war, a ruthless and senseless war, a war that cannot be settled.

"salute."

When Ji Xinghe made some unruly noises in the communication channel, he was already driving his mecha towards Vulture Mountain.

salute.

One hundred and eighty-nine federal mecha warriors then uniformly made the same movements as him and spoke in unison.

"salute!"

Ji Xinghe kept doing this for three minutes. What no one saw was that he, who was in the cockpit of the mecha, also made a salute gesture.

What no one can see is that there are many, many mecha warriors in the cockpit, saluting toward the Vulture Mountain with their mechas.

Because there is the burial ground of their comrades.

"Let's go home."

When Ji Xinghe spoke out, he drove the mecha in the direction of Base 5. He was not on a space battleship, and neither were his soldiers.

Even though they are extremely exhausted, they cannot waste limited transportation resources.

A large number of imperial mechas and other weapons were captured in this battle, and they all need to be transported to Base Five as soon as possible.

It is impossible to build a temporary base or machine repair area in Vulture Mountain. This is partly due to the shortage of various equipment, tools and personnel.

On the other hand, the reason is that the coordinates of Vulture Mountain are very accurate for the empire. When the battle on Vulture Mountain is over, they will most likely carry out a long-range strike with fire coverage.

The federation can defend it, but it doesn't need to.

The Federation, which had won a great victory in this battle, still did not have the ability to compete with the Empire in terms of firepower.
To be continued...