Chapter 39 Apple and the Heir

In the universe, a maroon-red planet floats quietly.

Half of the planet emits a cold white light, while the other half is hidden in the dark void. Countless large and small gravels and dust floating and rolling together form a white belt, drifting silently along their respective trajectories. From a distance, it looks like a slow but unstoppable mudslide.

Suddenly, a shadow moved, swallowing up several rolling pumice stones.

A moment later, the majestic head of a warship broke through the dark void of the universe and emerged under the illumination of the starlight. Behind it, hundreds of warships were staggered in front or behind, forming a huge spindle-shaped ship array, like black lead clouds covering the sky and the sun, covering the entire planet.

A fleet passed. Before the planets could light up in the light of the stars, another fleet followed one after another.

For three hours after this, the planet could only watch countless warships fly over it, and any shadows passed through its body.

It was a celestial body completely different from it. They sailed freely in the void, with cold, tough and proud appearance. The head of the ship was raised high, and the long ionic wake of the tail propeller emitted blue light that seemed to be still in the void, graceful and calm.

In front of the floor-to-ceiling window of the flagship [Hedfield] space carrier bridge, Admiral McKinley took his eyes off the distant maroon planet, looked at the Skynet screen, and said to Hastings: "Marson, we have passed the fifth section and are about to enter the Golden Ring Snake Corridor."

Hastings, who had been resting, said aloud and asked: "Has the reconnaissance ship in front of him sent back the news from the Mikami Yuren fleet?"

"Not yet." McKinley said: "In recent days, General Qian Berlin and General Li Hongwu have strengthened the harassment of the Sankan Youren fleet and tried several times to lure it out of the Golden Ring Snake Corridor. However, Yuren Sankan Youren is very alert. His fleet only sticks to the strategic points and will never take the initiative to attack. The defense line has contracted quite closely. Therefore, our reconnaissance ship has not yet found traces of the enemy fleet."

"I want to delay time for Sober to go south." Hastings' old face was full of fatigue.

He pinched his eyebrows and opened his eyes: "Order the fleet to shrink into a spherical defense array at the entrance of the Golden Ring Snake Corridor."

"Yes." McKinley replied, and immediately issued an order to the staff officer beside him.

Turning back, the old man in front of him was quietly looking at the Skynet screen. On his face were the deep wrinkles carved by the blade of time. Although the eyelids of his eyes were a little loose, those eyes were still deep and clear, and there was no turbidity of ordinary old people.

"McKinley." Hastings said slowly: "I remember first met you, I was in the Space Navy Officer Training Class in the Mama Military Region."

"That's you," McKinley smiled and said, "I was already your student as early as the military academy. Although I only heard one class of you at that time, for our students of that class, the gains from that class are enough to benefit us for the rest of our lives."

Hastings laughed and nodded, "To be honest, that's been more than 20 years ago. At that time, General Feiyang Five Tigers was still a young man with high spirits. I heard that many girls didn't know your troops number and garrison, so they simply wrote to the Ministry of Defense for a courtship."

"Teacher, should I be proud of this?" McKinley couldn't help laughing. He was nearly fifty years old, and when he heard the teacher mention the years, he couldn't help but feel like he was going back. It seemed that the days when he was young and proud were just yesterday.

"Don't be proud in front of me." A naughty smile appeared on the corner of Hastings' mouth: "When my leg was not injured, I received more love letters than you combined!"

"I don't compare with you, this is unfair." McKinley shook his head: "Among the Five Tigers of Feiyang, I received second love letters, which is more than Qian Berlin."

"Isn't it the first?" Hastings asked in surprise.

"No," McKinley's smile slowly faded away, and after a long time, he said sadly: "The most handsome, talented, and attractive girl at that time was Li Fo."

He recalled: "Li Fo was already a sensible person at that time. He was young, talented, handsome and rich. Coupled with his natural cold temperament, many girls were fascinated by it. But he looked down on anyone and his mind was full of military affairs. The more he did this, the more girls admired him."

Speaking of this, McKinley suddenly laughed and said self-deprecatingly: "Sometimes I keep thinking that Li Fo can rank first among the Five Tigers of Feiyang, probably because he has more admirers!"

"Hahaha..." Hastings couldn't help laughing at his disciple who was nearly fifty years old and was still competitive. There was a hint of blood on his pale face. He pointed at McKinley with his fingers, shook his head while laughing, "You, I didn't expect you to have such thoughts."

"Haha," McKinley lifted his military cap and tidied his hair, "But now I'm not jealous of him."

"Oh?" Hastings asked, "Why?"

"The Yangtze River pushes the old waves, there are always people who are more jealous than Li Fo." McKinley looked at Hastings and sighed: "For example, your prospective grandson-in-law."

"Are you jealous of him?" Hastings suddenly groaned, with a bad expression.

Of course McKinley knew what the old man was depressed and quickly explained: "I'm not jealous of his love luck. Although the woman around the fat man..."

Before he finished speaking, McKinley's words were glared at by Hastings, swallowed them back into his stomach, and turned his words: "In the past, I always thought Li Fo was like a snow peak, cold and insurmountable. But I didn't expect that your prospective grandson-in-law was even better than him."

As if thinking of the fat man’s appearance, McKinley laughed as he said: “The first time when the fat man saw Li Fo, he scolded Li Fo so much. That was the first time I saw Li Fo so embarrassed. General Fei Yang was actually taught a lesson by a fat man’s son.”

"If at that time, I just thought that Tian Xingjian was not afraid of the powerful and took down the Humphrey fleet, which was due to luck, then later, I was truly impressed by this guy's military talent."

McKinley said with emotion: "From a destroyer stranded in the free world to this bandit army now, he has done something I dare not even think about. As far as I know, after the battle of the Newton Galaxy, the bandit army has been labeled as a special-level unit by military headquarters in various countries. No matter who they fight, everyone is looking forward to and waiting for the miracle to happen from the bottom of their hearts."

"Just like the current Metis Galaxy Battle?" Hastings said: "I'm afraid, including you, you will have the same expectation in your heart."

"Yes," McKinley admitted frankly: "Sauber's fleet, which was far ten times the bandit army, moved south in large numbers. Even if his vanguard Banning's troops were two to three times the bandit army's strength. If no miracle happened, it would be hard for us to believe that this battle could support us until we reach the southeast."

"Marson, General!"

While he was speaking, an intelligence officer on duty quickly walked to McKinley and Hastings, stood attentively and saluted: "My reconnaissance ship sent a signal back, and had contacted the troops of Mikami Yuren. Its headquarters had a total of 35 A-class fleets. Its current lineup of oblique sweeping wings at the end of the Golden Ring Snake Corridor, defending the central obstacle area."

"Episode sweeping wing formation?" Hastings and McKinley both looked at each other in surprise and quickly retrieved the information on the tactical computer.

Judging from the information sent back by the reconnaissance ship, Yuto Mikami really arranged an oblique sweeping wing lineup.

Thousands of warships, hidden behind the obstacle zones in the end of the corridor, were arranged along the gravitational reefs that must be avoided carefully. The bow of each warship is aimed at the obstacle zones that the fleet must pass through.

"Why don't Sanshang Yuren use herringbone formation?" McKinley asked in confusion.

The Filipino alliance forces sent troops southward, and they needed to pass the Chakner Long March galaxy, pass the Resk jump point, enter the southeastern channel, then enter the Salega Longbow Galaxy from the southeast main channel, enter Lere Bermuda, and then arrive at the Lere Central Galaxy through Bermuda. On the way, you need to pass eleven galaxies, with more than one hundred sections.

On the way to the south of the Filipino coalition, the only place where Sijo can block the attack is the only Reske galaxy with troops in the Filipino. The most suitable place for blocking before entering the Reske jump point is the Golden Ring Snake Corridor currently guarded by Yuren Sankan.

As a famous general of Jie Peng, Yuren Mikami has extremely high military attainments, is very wise and good at planning, and also commands the Sujie Combined Fleet, including the three super fleets of Jie Peng. The total force in the Reske Galaxy has more than 80 A-class fleets.

Therefore, when he flew a shot and suddenly turned to the Golden Ring Snake Corridor in the battle with Qian Berlin, every Fei League general understood that this famous general, Jie Peng, had already seen the key to the Southeast war situation at a glance and occupied the most important position first.

This keen and terrifying sense of smell made many Allied generals have doubts about the strategy of moving south. Most of the previous disputes within the Allied forces came from this!

In everyone's opinion, even though most of the fleets of Sanshang Youren were still trapped by Qian Bolin and Li Hongwu on Leifeng Star and Canglang Star, they could not escape from it. Only more than 30 of them occupied the Golden Ring Snake Corridor. However, these fleets, combined with the strength of Sanshang Youren, were enough to hold the Allies' pace of going south for at least a week!

Originally, the Allied troops were insufficient, and the preparation time for the southward journey was far behind that of the Western Johor. If they were dragged down on the road, they might have been broken halfway through the Lele Central Passage.

Therefore, from preparation to departure, the Fei Alliance generals have been analyzing the Sankan Youren.

But no one expected that Yuren Sankan actually arranged an oblique swept wing lineup in the Golden Ring Snake Corridor, which was able to defend the central obstacle zone, but its attack power and unit firepower were far less efficient than that of the herringbone formation.

Now, the first batch of Fei League's fleets went south, with more than 60. If you make up your mind to make a breakthrough, you will suffer a little casualties, but you can break through the opponent's interception in one go. In this war, the two sides fought for the time that the herringbone formation could win more!

McKinley turned his eyes to Hastings in confusion. The old man in the wheelchair was focusing on the reconnaissance information on the tactical computer.

After a long time, Hastings turned his head and looked at McKinley: "Didn't you always worry about whether we can arrive at Lerei Federation in time? Don't worry now."

"Why did Yuren Mikami adopt this formation?" McKinley said incredibly.

Hastings said: "Although the slanted sweeping wing formation is not as good as the human formation with the two wings in terms of attack power, we cannot squeeze our formation when we make a breakthrough in the middle, forcing us out of the obstacle zone. However, this formation can ensure that there is enough blow to us, while the large army can quickly evacuate through the transition channel under the cover of the broken rear troops."

Withdrawal? McKinley was confused. If the central channel of Lerei was taken down by the Fei Alliance, what's the use of Sanshang Youren to preserve his strength at this moment?

"In this war, each of us circled around an apple tree with the only apple, guarding against the enemy and allies, and constantly calculating." The old man raised his head and looked out the huge porthole on the front of the bridge, and the Fiery Red Nebula that was getting closer and closer: "It is obvious that Yuto Mikami understands Sober's thoughts better than you!"

McKinley lowered his head and was silent. Although he and the Allied generals have repeatedly analyzed the situation of the battle in recent times, no one can truly understand Sober's thoughts. What everyone sees is the surface. It is just something that the Fei Alliance has obtained currently.

This is the gap. Just like a person with good eyesight, he can see far away. A patient with a thousand-degree myopia can only see in front of him. This gap cannot be compensated by hard work. This is a person's talent, a natural barrier that is more insurmountable than mountains and abyss.

The battle situation in the whole world is like a chessboard, which exists in the old man's mind. No one can know what he saw, and no one knows the steps he will take to make the next move.

This is why no one can replace him.

Dozens of member states of the Fei League were struggling in the war. Everyone, including himself, turned their expectant eyes to him, hoping that he could lead the Fei League to achieve the final victory. However, his body was weakening day by day. If he left before playing the last move, perhaps the entire Fei League would never find anyone who could sit opposite the Sober table like him.

Finally, who will lead this alliance and lead this coalition that is full of various thoughts and has completely different attitudes to war, either rebellious or selfish, and no one will accept it except Hastings?

You can't do it yourself, and you can't do it if you know others!

After Li Fo led his army to split, the only possibility was the fat man who repeatedly created miracles.

But can he always create miracles when he is young?

Does the bandit army, which still appears weak, still have a chance to grow and grow in front of Sober, who is already in the fortress of the army?

In the Southeast Battle, who is the ultimate winner?

Who can finally pick that apple?!

In a daze, Hastings' voice came from his ears. This was the first order issued by the Philistine Alliance God in the past thirty years, personally led the army to fight in the war.

His voice was weak and firm.

"The sixth, seventh, and eighth group fleets, the pyramid formation, presses the right wing of the obstacle area. The central cluster, with the sixth, seventh and eighth group fleets as the core, the long snake formation, and moves clockwise."
Chapter completed!