novelhk Page 62
Page 62
If Zhou Qing had appeared in the Human Empire during the Great Expedition, what great achievements couldn't the Human Empire have accomplished?
Chapter 90 Careful Planning, Bringing Over the Boat and Oxen
The human empire's support fleet set sail from Holy Terra.
The total warship configuration consisted of one Imperial-class battleship and six strike cruisers from the Human Empire, two combat barges, and four transport ships, one cruiser, and four destroyers from Zhou Qing's side.
Because this fleet included the human empire's naval fleet, they could not travel at speeds hundreds of thousands of times faster than light and could only move slowly through the warp.
But that doesn't matter.
After all, Woles was relatively close, and it was all such a coincidence that Zhou Qing arrived in Woles with the human empire's expeditionary fleet.
The Chaos fleet transporting the Black Stone Obelisk also arrived just then, and the two fleets collided head-on.
Upon seeing the Chaos Fleet, Chapter Master Karja of the Ultramarines Chapter mentally compared the combat strength of both fleets.
Upon discovering that the two fleets were roughly the same size, he quickly walked up to Zhou Qing and volunteered to fight.
"War Master, please allow me to lead the Ultra Warriors in a boarding operation against the enemy. I guarantee I can wipe out all the heretics and traitors on the enemy warships!"
Zhou Qing stood before the observation window on the bridge, gazing at the fleet shrouded in chaotic energy in the distance. The distorted fluctuations of the Black Stone Obelisk made the entire subspace of the star field unstable, as if the very fabric of reality itself was trembling.
In addition, and more importantly, he had already received a report from his own cruiser.
The enemy warships' combat data had been transmitted to Zhou Qing in detail, and Zhou Qing now knew exactly which warship was transporting the desecrated black stone obelisk.
He slowly turned around, looked at the warband leader Karga, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.
"Calga, your courage is commendable, but this time—we'll try a different approach."
"It's pointless to just jump onto other people's warships and fight boarding battles. I'll teach you how to fight."
Zhou Qing reassured the leader of the Ultra Warriors Legion and then prepared to convey the actual naval combat plan to him.
"The Particle Light Spear main cannon is charging up to smash that flagship on the other side, the biggest one."
Zhou Qing issued the order even when the two fleets were still far apart and had only just discovered each other.
This time, Zhou Qing used a subspace route to appear directly on this planet, giving the other side a chance to discover his warship.
Otherwise, in a conventional battle, Zhou Qing would have wiped out this fleet from several light-years away.
The particle lance of the Wanli-class cruiser began to gather energy, and two minutes later, a thick beam of energy shot towards the flagship of the Chaos Fleet.
The Imperial Navy soldiers watched in shock as their warships launched an attack.
Before the Imperial Navy had even entered the effective combat zone and opened fire, Zhou Qing had already ordered his cruisers to fire.
At this moment of great attention, the Chaos Flagship was instantly blasted into a cloud of fireworks by the attack of this luminous spear, drifting everywhere in the universe.
The Void Shield equipped on this flagship lasted only a few seconds before being completely destroyed.
The entire warship has now become dust in space.
This scene left not only Calga dumbfounded, but also the rest of the Imperial Navy.
This was no different from a crushing battle; they had never seen naval warfare before, but for Zhou Qing, it was all commonplace.
In its early 50 years, the Human Federation did indeed fight evenly matched battles with ordinary enemy nations.
However, after another 100 years, the Federation of Humanity never encountered a battle of this magnitude again. The Federation's warships were an overwhelming force against any enemy.
Even after the Human Federation completed its ascension and reached a new universe, few enemy nations were able to engage in a major war with the Federation's fleet.
Therefore, this scene felt so comfortable and familiar to Zhou Qing at this moment.
But it's a different story for the Imperial Navy. Naval battles in the Empire never last a month or two; they never end so quickly.
Not only were the Imperial Navy still in shock, but even the Chaos fleet was still in shock. The two sides had barely encountered each other when their flagship was destroyed.
What are all these things?!
The chaotic fleet was plunged into unprecedented confusion at this moment; they no longer knew how to carry out their naval battle.
The enemy's fighting strength far exceeded their expectations.
Their lead battleship had already been destroyed by the human empire, and the remaining warships were like lambs to the slaughter, utterly meaningless.
After all, their main goal in coming here was to place the Black Stone Obelisk on this planet and block the warp travel routes of the human empire.
Now that the Black Stone Obelisk has been destroyed, what is its significance?
These chaotic warships felt the shock they received today was a culmination of everything from their past and present lives.
Who would understand such an outrageous thing?
Logically speaking, even if they were destroyed by the warships of the human empire, the wreckage of the warships should still exist.
They should at least have been able to continue the battle plan and salvage the Black Stone Obelisk, instead of being completely wiped out like this, with not even a speck of dust left.
However, while they are currently confused, the Imperial Fleet is not, because their commander is Zhou Qing.
"The entire offensive is pressing in! Annihilate this entire Chaos fleet!"
"Next, implement your battle plan: board them and seize their warships."
The first shot that destroyed the enemy's battleship was intended to completely cut off their operational objectives, ensuring they would never have another chance to achieve them.
The current task is to seize the enemy's warships, since the human empire lacks warships and cannot simply wipe them all out using traditional naval warfare tactics.
For the time being, Zhou Qing needs these warships, even though in his eyes they are just flying bricks with no combat capability whatsoever.
He also needs these warships.
Even if they were just bricks and had no combat capability, they were still qualified to be used as transport ships to transport ordinary imperial troops for combat.
All troops, charge! Seize the ships!
At Zhou Qing's command, the entire Imperial fleet pounced on the chaotic Chaos Fleet like hungry wolves. The main gun array of the Emperor-class battleship "Iron Justice" began to charge.
They understood their Sun Lord's plan, so this time their target was directly the enemy's engine matrix.
Destroy the enemy warships' engines, then tow those warships back.
"Remember!" Zhou Qing's voice rang out across the entire fleet channel, "Only target the engines and weapon systems, don't blow the ship to smithereens!"
“Tow these ships back. We have a way to remove their chaotic contamination, and they will become qualified Imperial warships that can play a role in the Empire’s upcoming expeditions!”
Zhou Qing's words immediately calmed the minds of the Imperial Navy soldiers. They trusted this Sun Lord just as much as they trusted the 2,800 million Space Marines he had brought with him.
And not to mention the 2,800 million Space Marines, they each have 100 million Space Marines with them right now.
Chapter 91 Guilliman, almost completely buried under Interior Ministry documents
The Emperor-class battleship's main gun array unleashed devastating beams of light, precisely piercing through the propulsion array of a Chaos cruiser.
The warship was suddenly like a duck with its neck being choked, spinning futilely in space.
"Great!" Zhou Qing snapped his fingers. "Mechanical Priest, prepare the tugboat cables!"
"It is my honor to receive your praise, sir, for you acted immediately according to your instructions."
The mechanical priest was incredibly excited by Zhou Ping'an's praise. Who was this man? This was a top-tier scientist! He possessed so much technology; he was practically the embodiment of Omnissiah on earth.
The four transport ships opened their bellies, shooting out dozens of traction beams that shimmered with force field light, which entangled the powerless enemy ships like lassos.
These warships, corrupted by chaos for centuries, were now like rabbits with their ears being pulled, utterly powerless to resist.
The Space Marines, aboard their Thunderhawk gunships, headed directly towards the Chaos ships.
After getting close, they used their hot melters to pry open the armor of their warship and charged in.
The rest is self-evident; with a full million star warriors executing the boarding maneuver, everything was already predetermined.
The battle ended completely after only 4 hours, with Zhou Qing's army easily capturing Chaos's warship fleet.
The battle in space has ended, and nothing actually happened on Woles, the planet that should have been the main battleground.
Zhou Qing looked at the planet right under his nose and, after a moment's thought, made his decision.
"I will leave 10 warbands here to garrison this planet, and then I will mobilize more troops to support this planet and turn it into a fortress world."
The rest of you, come back to Holy Terra with me now. There's still much to do; don't waste time here.
"Understood," Calgary obeyed the order. Since Zhou Qing had already said that 10 battle groups would be left here to garrison, then he must not have told them that.
Soon, a total of 10 small transport ships were dispatched from the transport fleet, carrying 33,000 people from 10 warbands to the planet below.
The remaining Imperial Navy personnel were stunned, watching this scene where tens of thousands of Space Marines were deployed at a time, which felt very unreal to them.
It always feels like a dream come true, like returning to the Great Crusade. Otherwise, how could there be so many Space Marines?
However, this feeling only lasted for a short while and then disappeared. The fleet began to return and re-enter the warp, and Abaddon's plan was thwarted.
When Zhou Qing returned to Terra, a full 10 days had passed, and Guilliman was arguing with the High Lords.
Although Guilliman, with the help of Zhou Qing's massive military force, directly purged these high lords, the administrative efficiency of the Imperial Ministry of the Interior still remained low.
Guilliman felt somewhat relieved by the inefficiency of the Ministry of the Interior, but he only realized one thing after he himself became the Regent of the Empire.
The inefficiency of the Empire's Ministry of the Interior may not be all bad.
The Ministry of the Interior is indeed slow, but this slowness is only noticeable to someone like Zhou Qing, who has a superhuman brain.
However, for someone like Guilliman, who possesses a superhuman brain but not a brain with even greater superpowers like Zhou Qing's, the administrative efficiency of the Ministry of the Interior is just right for him.
The number of documents he needs to approve every day is at least not enough to overwhelm him like a sea.
However, despite this, maintaining discipline still faces a significant challenge.
That is, the documents he filtered out in the past few days were all from more than ten years ago.
The efficiency of a single step should be just right for him, but the real-time processing efficiency made him feel a little worried.
This won't do. The empire has already been split in two due to the unfolding of the Great Rift.
The Ministry of the Interior is still processing documents from more than 10 or even 20 years ago. How can such administrative efficiency keep up with the current situation of the empire?
Guilliman was extremely distressed by this situation.
When Zhou Qing returned to Terra, the Guilliman he saw was a Guilliman who was overwhelmed by the massive amount of Interior Ministry documents.
Even with the Primarch's genetic material, which possesses a superhuman brain far surpassing that of ordinary people, he still felt quite fatigued when processing the internal documents of such a vast country as the Empire.