More than ten minutes had passed in the chase and escape, and the Oakes Empire fleet had finally fled beyond the 101st Task Force Fleet's firing range.
It had to be said that the Oakes Empire's warships performed far better than the Federation's. If not for the Asteroid Belt, they truly would have had no way to fight them. The enemy's ship speeds alone surpassed humanity's by a wide margin.
After shaking off the pursuit, Rex finally let out a sigh of relief.
"Report the losses!"
"Commander, we lost a total of ninety-eight warships: three battleships, five battlecruisers, twelve carriers, eight cruisers, twenty-eight destroyers, and forty-two frigates!"
"All twelve carriers are gone?"
"Yes."
Rex could not shake the feeling that something was wrong. Under normal circumstances, it was impossible for carriers to suffer a one hundred percent loss rate.
In an ambush, the enemy would definitely target other warships first. After all, at long range, carriers had no offensive power.
Rex's reasoning was entirely correct. This was not naval warfare from the planetary era; fighter craft had combat ranges even greater than anti-ship missiles.
Yet what Rex could not understand was what the enemy's purpose had been in doing this.
Twenty minutes later.
"Commander, the rear of the enemy fleet will enter our firing range in two minutes!"
"Good. We've finally got our teeth into them. This time, it's your turn to run while I chase!"
Rex said viciously as he looked at the tactical display.
However, before Rex could celebrate for long, an unexpected change occurred as the fleet passed through a cluster of asteroids.
One minute earlier, aboard the 101st Task Force Fleet flagship.
"Report: the enemy will reach the nuclear bomb burial site in one minute."
"Very good. Set the nuclear bombs to detonate in one minute and begin drilling into the asteroids."
"Understood!"
Drill Bombs were rather bizarre weapons. Rumor had it that they could even be used to destroy planets.
They came with their own power source and a massive drill, capable of boring all the way to a planet's core before detonating.
However, humanity had never actually used them so far. The entire 101st Task Force Fleet only had a few dozen, yet Lin Fan had used every single one this time.
Upon receiving the order, the Drill Bombs that had previously been installed by the mecha units began drilling into the asteroids one after another.
One minute later, the Oakes Empire fleet arrived right between those several dozen asteroids.
At that moment, the pre-timed Drill Bombs detonated inside the asteroids one after another.
Dozens of blinding flashes erupted, and dozens of asteroids were blasted into countless fragments of varying sizes.
The Oakes fleet was immediately in trouble. The route ahead was littered with asteroid debris, making normal navigation impossible.
Seeing this, Rex could only order the fleet to decelerate and stop at once. Even so, dozens of ships still collided with asteroid fragments and suffered damage during the slowdown.
Then something happened that drove Rex completely into despair.
"Deploy all mecha units and wipe out the enemy fleet!"
"Yes!"
The order was immediately relayed to the ambushing mecha forces. All nine thousand units burst out from the dense asteroid cluster and charged toward the Oakes fleet's warships.
In the chaotic environment filled with debris, the fleet could not move, but that did not mean the mechas could not. With their small size and high mobility, the mechas swiftly charged into the warship formation.
What awaited Rex after that was a massacre.
Watching the warships around him being destroyed one after another by the mechas, Rex closed his eyes. He already understood that he had no chance at all.
Such ingenious tactics, such a chain of killing moves laid out step by step... Could the enemy be Liang Xingchen?
Rex could not help thinking so.
"Take the Ninth Prince to an escape pod, immediately!"
Rex looked at the terrified Duolun and waved his hand, ordering the guards on the bridge to take him to an escape pod.
He could die here. As for the Ninth Prince, although he was an incompetent fool who only knew how to theorize on paper, he was still royalty. He absolutely could not die here.
After saluting Rex, two guards hauled Duolun away at once.
Ten minutes later, when the final Oakes Empire warship had been destroyed, the battle came to an end.
"Adjutant, report our results!"
"Yes. In this battle, we destroyed two hundred and eight Oakes Empire warships. We suffered no warship losses. The mecha forces lost five hundred and twenty-eight units, of which two hundred and eighteen successfully ejected. The rest..."
Lin Fan naturally understood what had happened to the rest.
It had to be said that in this era, mechas were the natural enemy of warships once they got close, but that advantage was built on numbers.
Generally speaking, trading twenty mechas for one warship after closing in was already considered quite good.
But in terms of value, one warship cost as much as several hundred mechas, and each warship carried at least several hundred people.
Therefore, trading twenty mechas for one warship was an unbelievably profitable deal. That was why so many people said that once a swarm of mechas broke into a warship formation, it was the end of the warships.
"Clean up the battlefield immediately. Rescue every surviving pilot. Search the last known locations of the mechas that failed to eject as well. Try to find their bodies and bring them home!"
"Yes, I'll arrange it immediately."
"Once that's done, send the battle report to Mars Base!"
"Understood!"
An hour later, Liang Xue reported to Lin Fan that the battlefield had been cleared. Of the two hundred and eighteen pilots who had successfully ejected, one hundred and eighty-five had ultimately been rescued, while the remains of one hundred and forty-eight others had been recovered.
In other words, the final casualty tally was five hundred and twenty-eight mechas lost and three hundred and forty-three pilots lost.
"Commander, while clearing the battlefield, we also discovered an Oakes Empire escape pod. It has been captured by the mecha forces. There was only one person inside. He claims to be the Ninth Prince of the Oakes Empire and demands that we treat him with courtesy."
"Courtesy, my ass. Lock him up as a prisoner of war and hand him over to the commander when we return!"
"Yes!"
"If there's nothing else, have the fleet set off. We're returning to Mars!"
"Yes!"
After the final results were compiled, Liang Xue completed the detailed battle report during the return journey and sent it to Mars Base.
At that moment, Liang Xingchen was feeling somewhat anxious in his office.
By now, the battle should have more or less ended. He wondered how it had gone. Was Lin Fan merely an armchair strategist, or a born commander? This battle would tell.
"Knock, knock... Knock. Report!"
"Come in!"
"Commander, the 101st Task Force Fleet has sent back its battle report!"
"Hm? Bring it to me, quickly."
The adjutant immediately handed over a document. Liang Xingchen took it and began reading it carefully.
"Haha, that boy Lin Fan truly didn't disappoint either of us. He didn't lose a single warship, wiped out two hundred and eight enemy vessels at the cost of just over five hundred mechas, and even captured the Ninth Prince of the Oakes Empire!"
"Yes, Commander. When I first saw this report, I could hardly believe it."
"Have you forgotten how he made me suffer such a huge defeat at the Interstellar Military Academy? That boy is no simple man!"
The adjutant recalled accompanying Liang Xingchen to the Interstellar Military Academy before and suddenly understood. There truly had not been anyone else in the Federation military who could make the commander suffer such a massive loss in a simulated battle.
Looking at it that way, these results actually seemed perfectly reasonable.
"But Commander, how should we deal with that Ninth Prince?"
"That is not something we need to worry about. The President will certainly make the fullest possible use of His Highness the prince, hehe!"
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