Chapter 48 Defeat

Even if Zheng Hu's command ability was strong, the fleet of the Xuanwu Federation had a very difficult time resisting when they were outnumbered and the performance of the warships was completely at a disadvantage.

After returning to the territory that Zheng Hu was familiar with, Zheng Hu had been leading the Empire's fleet in circles.

During this period, relying on the Zheng family's original defense line, they fought two small-scale decisive battles with the Empire. If it weren't for the Redemption, the nurse, the Xuanwu Federation's fleet would have collapsed long ago.

Zheng Hu initially only had some understanding of the Redemption's capabilities, but he still didn't believe it without seeing it with his own eyes, so he didn't take the Redemption seriously in the early stages of resistance.

It was not until a small-scale decisive battle that he realized the power of the Redemption.

With the strong support of the Redemption, many severely damaged warships were repaired and returned to the battlefield in a very short time.

Zheng Hu then changed his tactics.

In each subsequent battle, Zheng Hu placed the cruisers with the strongest survivability in the front row to attract enemy firepower.

Under the heavy protection of the other warships, the Redemption provided support to the cruisers in the front row.

This stabilized the morale that was about to collapse.

The high-intensity pursuit battle exhausted Zheng Hu, and his mistakes in command gradually increased with the passage of time.

Zheng Hu's Black Tiger cruiser was almost sunk by the Imperial Fleet several times.

If it weren't for the Redemption's captain Chen Cheng's alertness, who rushed forward in time to resist some attacks for the Black Tiger, Zheng Hu might have been killed long ago.

However, Chen Cheng always remembered Qi Yiming's instructions, and the premise of all actions was to ensure the safety of the Redemption.

"Two and a half days..." Zheng Hu rubbed his cheeks, trying to make his thoughts clearer: "If Qi Yiming doesn't come again, we will be finished..."

At this time, the Federal Fleet was already at the end of its strength.

The Zheng family's original defense lines were also broken one by one by the Imperial Fleet in the pursuit battles in the past few days.

But the Imperial Fleet was not much better.

A full fleet plus half of the fleet, 7 cruisers, 20 destroyers, and 35 frigates were also sunk by Zheng Hu at this time.

However, the main 7 cruisers of the Imperial Fleet did not suffer any damage. Most of those sunk were frigates, and only 3 destroyers were unlucky and sunk by orbital gun fire.

After several battles, the number of fleets on both sides was widened again. The commander of the Imperial Fleet simply divided the fleet into two and continuously compressed Zheng Hu's range of activities from two directions.

At this moment, Zheng Hu commanded the fleet to retreat to the only habitable planet of the Zheng family.

This is the last line of defense that Zheng Hu can rely on. If this line of defense is lost, Zheng Hu will have to face the encirclement and suppression of the Imperial Fleet directly.

"Chen Cheng, remember! If this line of defense is lost, the Redemption must be evacuated immediately and go to join the Xuefeng..." Zheng Hu warned the temporary captain of the Redemption again.

Chen Cheng looked at Zheng Hu, who seemed to have made up his mind to die, and lowered his head silently.

In the battles of the past few days, he had a very good impression of this commander.

In order to ensure that the Redemption was not attacked, he even ordered friendly ships to resist attacks for the Redemption many times.

Chen Cheng knew that Zheng Hu was taking this bad measure for the sake of the overall situation, but this still could not stop his admiration for Zheng Hu.

The battle did not stop because the Xuanwu Federation Fleet suffered heavy losses.

Zheng Hu had just warned Chen Cheng when the Imperial Fleet pressed towards their fleet from two directions.

Before all the orbital guns on the defense line were destroyed, Zheng Hu did not want to take the initiative to attack.

He needed to use this defense line to consume the enemy's combat power to the maximum extent.

The Zheng family had invested a lot of energy on this defense line. Thirteen orbital guns were lined up and anchored in the high orbit of the habitable planet.

Between the orbital guns were some giant buildings used to shield enemy attacks.

Zheng Hu dispersed the fleet between these giant buildings and started a cannon battle with the Imperial Fleet.

The Imperial Fleet fought very resolutely, and with huge casualties, it brought the distance between the fleets of both sides closer to the optimal range of the main guns.

The last line of defense did not disappoint Zheng Hu. Before the thirteen railguns were destroyed, the Imperial Fleet lost seven destroyers and twelve frigates, but the cruisers were too well protected by the Imperial Fleet, and only one cruiser was slightly injured.

After the railguns were destroyed, the giant buildings on the line of defense did not last long in the face of the missile rain fired by the Imperial Fleet, and Zheng Hu soon had to order the fleet to retreat.

Zheng Hu knew that the time had come for the Federation Fleet to fight desperately.

He repeated the old trick and once again arranged the only three cruisers left in the fleet in the front row, and the remaining warships formed a spherical array to protect the Redemption firmly in the center.

"Chen Cheng... remember what I said to you before the war..." Zheng Hu warned Chen Cheng again.

Seeing Chen Cheng nodded, he was relieved to order the fleet to follow his Black Tiger and launch an attack from the enemy's flank.

In fact, the commander of the Imperial Fleet was very shocked. The information he got from the Imperial Military Department was that the newly formed Xuanwu Federation did not have a complete industrial system, so the performance of the warships was much worse.

However, the battles in the past few days refreshed his cognition many times.

The enemy warships that had just been severely damaged would appear on the front line again in a short time after slowly retreating to the main camp.

Unless the main gun of that warship was destroyed, the same thing would always happen again and again.

The commander of the Imperial Fleet really couldn't figure out what was going on with these warships of the Xuanwu Federation. This battle almost made him doubt his life until he found out that the culprit of everything was the Redemption, which was closely protected.

Fortunately, the number of warships of the Xuanwu Federation was not large. After two days of consumption, they were already at the end of their strength. He could successfully swallow this fleet with a little more effort.

The high-spirited commander waved his hand, and the Imperial Fleet pressed forward in a mighty manner.

A few minutes later, the two sides entered into an artillery battle again.

After all, missiles, as consumables, were running out after the chases of the past few days, and it was impossible to organize a decent salvo, so both sides chose to carry cannons and fight each other with bayonets.

This kind of back-and-forth artillery battle is the most challenging for the psychological endurance of the crew.

Obviously, the crew of the Xuanwu Federation has reached its limit.

Before the artillery battle had even started for a few rounds, a cruiser was lost because of a mistake made by the Redemption.

This became the last straw that broke the morale of the fleet.

No matter how Zheng Hu shouted in the fleet channel, it was useless. The captains of each ship turned their bows and left the battle line without caring about the lives of other comrades.

The formation was dispersed and the Redemption was placed under the enemy's guns.

Chen Cheng, who did not have much combat experience, was stunned.

The commander of the Imperial Fleet had long disliked the Redemption. The reason why the Federation battleship was able to repair quickly and return to the battle line was the fault of that weird battleship.

He had tried to find opportunities to destroy the battleship in one fell swoop, but the Federation Fleet blocked his shooting range at all costs.

This time, such a good opportunity must not be missed.

The commander of the Imperial Fleet seized the opportunity and immediately ordered the entire fleet to aim at the Redemption and launch a salvo...

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