Starting from the Planetary Governor

Chapter 1262: Chapter 687, The Surviving Marshal, Reiaductus Battle (3)

Before the main human forces commence the official attack and execute large-scale air-drop operations, those who first teleported to the ground through Gu Hang’s spiritual energy were few, numbering only over four hundred.

Aside from Qin Zhiping, the rest were mostly Interstellar Warriors.

Such precious teleportation slots were naturally reserved for the strongest combatants.

Gu Hang wouldn’t pin all his hopes on how many of the Northern Front remnants still survived. The elite warriors teleported to the ground have the secondary task of seeking out the Northern Front remnants; what matters more is to first understand the situation in the expected airdrop zones, aiming to destroy some anti-air defenses before the air-drop begins. Even if due to insufficient manpower it cannot be achieved, they must coordinate with the landing ground forces to address these anti-air defenses as soon as the air-drop starts.

However, the condition of the Northern Front remnants on the surface was better than expected.

Contacting the remnants wasn’t easy.

In the absence of supplies and orbital cover, they couldn’t gather large troops, nor occupy stable surface bases… otherwise, whether it be ground assaults from the Insect Swarm or threats from Insect Race ships in orbit, they would pose devastating threats to the ground forces.

This forced the Northern Front remnants to hide. They must conserve their limited supplies as much as possible, avoid unnecessary battles, and if a battle occurs, they must give their all to eliminate the visible enemy, then swiftly relocate to prevent the Insect Swarm from tracking them along the last location of the missing troops.

After hiding, the bugs became hard to find them, yet Qin Zhiping also found it difficult to locate them.

However, since he requested Gu Hang to let him be the first wave on the ground, he naturally had some ideas on how to find those hidden Northern Front remnants.

He brought along a communication device.

During spiritual energy teleportation, portable equipment couldn’t be large. Otherwise, a simple Star Language Tower would be a better choice.

But having this communication device suffices.

The channel and password were set to a highly encrypted channel for Northern Line Army use, then set to a more generalized channel. The former aimed to contact potentially surviving high-ranking remnants from the Northern Line Army, while the latter sought to expand the search scope as much as possible.

Following this, one hundred Phoenix warriors and one hundred Blood Shark warriors began preparations for subsequent large-scale air-dropping operations. As for Qin Zhiping, under the protection of two hundred Interstellar Warriors, he started vast movements to various regions in search of potential Northern Front remnants.

The warriors protecting him mostly hailed from Xi Rui’s Black Cross Army, while others belonged to the Silver Vigil’s warriors. A few were elite warriors drawn from various other Battle Groups.

There’s a sensible reason for the Black Cross Army sending so many warriors here. After all, if the Northern Front remnants indeed existed, the majority would come from the Black Cross Army warriors. During the first Reiaductus campaign a year and a half ago, the largest landing force was the Black Cross Army. They descended about fifteen hundred warriors.

Both channels used by Qin Zhiping yielded results.

A substantial number of Northern Front remnants survived. During the first campaign, they deployed tens of millions of warriors. Though the majority perished, less than one in ten survived, amounting to several hundred thousand people.

Of course, these forces were extremely scattered. They were mostly in mountainous areas, in tunnels, in the bottom layer ruins of Nest Capital. Their conditions were dire, with a shortage of equipment, food, ammunition…

Undoubtedly, this was chronic attrition.

Yet chronic attrition is better than sudden death.

As long as they’re alive, perhaps they can hold out until there’s a shift in the situation.

Like now.

Some remnant forces were thus contacted by Qin Zhiping.

With this beginning, the subsequent processes became much easier. Although these struggling troops dared not show their faces, they maintained plenty of contacts amongst themselves. Contacting one allowed the extension to reach many more.

Nonetheless, Qin Zhiping couldn’t save them.

Survival depended on self-rescue.

He shared the coordinates for the Empire’s allied forces’ upcoming large-scale air-drop location, happening a few days later, with these units.

To self-rescue, they must act immediately, taking all possible men and equipment, disregarding any ammunition expenditure, and strive to advance towards that region.

If too far from the air-drop zone, spanning thousands of kilometers, they’re beyond saving; unless they can somehow traverse a thousand miles to reach the air-drop region.

But most within a thousand kilometers, or already present in this region, began to activate.

When selecting the air-drop zone, the allied forces largely retained the initial zone chosen during the first campaign by the Northern Line Army. Partly because it’s indeed suitable, but also considering the remnants’ most probable presence in this area.

After receiving Qin Zhiping’s message, these remnants indeed began to mobilize.

Remaining inactive meant death.

Furthermore, this was a coordinated command signed by Xi Rui, Gu Hang, and Salius. Northern Line, Southern Line, and West Line commanders gathered altogether.

Moreover, Qin Zhiping utilized high-security level communications, achieving an especially large breakthrough: he contacted Leroux!

The Second Fleet Marshal of the Black Cross Army and the true commander of the North Line actually survived!

During the first campaign, Leroux’s flagship exploded amidst naval combat, and afterward, he vanished, leaving Xi Rui to assume command duties.

In reality, however, during the ship’s explosion, Leroux, along with some trusted aides, boarded a rescue vessel and made their way to the surface of Reiaductus amidst the naval chaos.

This wasn’t an ideal choice; he would have preferred boarding other vessels if possible.

But was there really a choice?

Luckily, the anti-air defenses on Reiaductus’ surface had relaxed during that time. Without these two conditions, Leroux might very well have perished while descending to the surface.

Throughout the past year and a half, Leroux wasn’t inactive.

On his own, he couldn’t change the tide of the war at Reiaductus but achieved some positive outcomes.

For instance, he contacted various armies, uniting numerous remnants to establish a unified command structure under these dire circumstances, preventing the remnants from becoming scattered.

Notably, large numbers of Interstellar Warriors were contacted. Though not all necessarily by his side, there were at least around five hundred warriors; additionally, more than five hundred warriors available for immediate contact and task assignment.

This was yet another significant positive news.