A Mortal's Strategy for Victory

"The enemy has established a beachhead."

"A large number of armored forces are gathering at the landing point."

The detection devices, adjusted for planetary internal scans, released detection waves.

Dense icons appeared on the scan panel.

The information presented on the panel told Lu Jin: the enemy had chosen a plain far from all fortresses and underground barracks as their landing point.

The Space Marines had likely retreated, reassigned to more critical locations.

Only the Inquisitor, who held a grudge against the Fierce Angels, and his lackeys, the Mercy Emissaries, remained to fight Manros.

However, their armed forces still held an overwhelming advantage over the Fierce Angels.

Armored units, led by tanks piloted by Space Marines like the Predators, were assembling.

There was even a super-large ground combat command platform called a "Command Vehicle."

"Knight Mechs" could also be seen in the icons.

Unlike war vehicles like tanks, Knights were bipedal vehicles. Their two arms carried various weapons, making them agile, swift, and fiercely armed.

"Lord of Retribution."

The command center's gates opened.

An old man in a black officer's uniform entered the command center, accompanied by a group of male and female officers.

Lu Jin had met him a couple of days prior.

This man was the former Marshal of the resistance. However, the resistance had no leader before; it was only when everyone began to resist that various factions chose this man to command them.

"I don't know what you think, but I feel the situation has actually improved," Lu Jin said to the Marshal, pointing at the scan panel.

The old man nodded and walked over with the people behind him. "I believe that after the virus bomb destroyed our home, we actually gained an advantage in the war."

He then explained his new strategy, devised based on the new situation.

In short.

Take the initiative, letting the mortal armored forces and the Mercy Emissaries engage in an armored battle on the plains, rather than defending the underground barracks to the death.

At first hearing, it sounded as absurd as mortal infantry charging at Space Marines.

But there was a historical precedent.

Ten thousand years ago, during the Legion era, the Iron Warriors rebelled and attempted to conquer an Imperial world named Taran.

The Iron Warriors first bombarded Taran with virus bombs, then engaged in armored warfare with the locals.

The result was that a Legion with tens of thousands of Space Marines lost to the people of Taran.

Although it was the Iron Warriors' allies who abandoned them, forcing them to retreat, in a manner of speaking, the people of Taran could say, "We defeated a Space Marine Legion!"

"My idea is also to fight an armored battle," Lu Jin stated his agreement after hearing the strategy. "Because although the gap between Space Marines and mortals is huge, the gap between tanks and tanks is not that large."

"We have sufficient armored forces and air support," the Marshal said.

It was not surprising that the Manros resistance had armored and air force personnel.

Before Lu Jin's image circulated in Manros, the local resistance forces had already been fighting the ruling class for thousands of years. They were not the stereotypical rebels with broken weapons who only knew how to charge blindly.

Instead, they were professional soldiers with a precise organizational structure, division of labor, and logistical support.

Their existence was possible because the ruling class lacked direct control over the under-hive and the lower-hive, and their agents wavered between the resistance and their masters.

A representative incident was... when the former governor imposed martial law, and the planetary defense forces directly entered the under-hive and lower-hive but still couldn't control the hive cities, because the planetary defense forces themselves already contained a large number of resistance members.

Whether it was directly establishing armed resistance or infiltrating various arms factories and military organizations for soft resistance, the locals had mastered all sorts of resistance methods.

The two advantages that hive worlds inevitably possessed—industrial capacity and a massive population—were not absent in the Manros hive world. As for why this hive world relied on external military industrial products for input and then exported modified industrial products through its artisans... where did the original production lines and the produced goods go? This was a question worthy of the former governor's consideration.

In Lu Jin's view, even without him, the local resistance could have overthrown the former governor.

He had merely become a symbol that could better consolidate consensus.

"You will command the operation," Lu Jin decided after deliberation. "I will personally participate in the battle."

The Marshal immediately shook his head. "This is likely..."

Lu Jin patted the other man's shoulders twice and walked out of the command center.

After the gates closed again.

An officer spoke, "Some people think we need to seriously consider Manros's role in this war. Because if we continue to pay tithes and exist as an Imperial subordinate world, we wouldn't have to..."

"What I'm telling you is that we can rely on paying tithes to gain Imperial amnesty."

The Marshal walked to the strategic map, his back to everyone.

"But after a real calculation, we found that if we paid tithes, we wouldn't even be able to export industrial goods for food."

"Even if this war hadn't come, even if we had eliminated those slave owners without the Fierce Angels' help."

"We would still become rebels."

The statement silenced all the officers.

In truth, before the war was about to begin, the people of Manros were filled with anxiety. Some felt there was no need to follow the Fierce Angels to the bitter end.

This was human nature.

But after the Marshal spoke this secret, no one would think that way anymore.

Because before the Lord of Retribution wanted to establish a new order, using the Imperium's recognition, which we obtained through tithes, was a means to stabilize people's hearts.

Only the Marshal himself, who was elected as the leader of the resistance, and a very small number of people knew the truth and had already made their choices. In their original plan, they were supposed to face the Imperium's suppression alone. However, the sudden war has now brought benefits, which is that many Space Marines from the Maelstrom, including the Fierce Angels, will face the suppression together with the locals.

Who will face the Imperium with whom is hard to say.

The armored forces gathered through the underground tunnels connecting the various underground barracks.

The underground tunnels were once used by the occupying forces of the World Eaters to transport supplies, but now they were used to deploy troops.

The only hive city of Manros had its upper levels destroyed by the starfire ignited by virus bombs, and only the deep underground lower levels were absolutely safe.

Lu Jin, leaving the command center, arrived at the entrance of the passage leading from the lower levels to the surface.

A large number of armored forces had already gathered here.

The long passage was adjacent to the resistance's stronghold.

The resistance once had a plan to bomb the spires with a large number of warplanes. Although it could not be executed after the arrival of the Mercy Emissaries chapter, the hangars built for the plan were now useful.

Lu Jin saw pilots and ground crew wearing heavy protective suits, passing through an entrance isolated by an energy film, and entering the hangar.

After the pilots boarded the warplanes, the warplanes taxied out after the hangar gates opened, took off vertically, and flew outside through the giant pipes that expelled exhaust gases from the hive city.

Lu Jin looked around again.

The assembled armored soldiers drove nameless tanks, forming ranks.

The armored soldiers first came out of the tanks to rest.

They were all holding rifles and other weapons in their hands.

Unlike the crude rifles that the resistance had distributed to the civilians some time ago, the rifles in their hands appeared very exquisite.

However, in the upcoming battle, these rifles would not even serve as a means of self-defense.

More and more tank units were coming from the tunnels, all gathered from other underground barracks.

A gunship flew over the armored forces in the tunnel and landed in front of Lu Jin.

The hatch opened, revealing fifteen veterans of the Fierce Angels and twenty-two new recruits.

"Why is there only one gunship?" Lu Jin boarded the aircraft and asked inside.

Xenos walked out of the cockpit. "We captured quite a few vehicles when we fought the Botulism Gang, but the key is that no one else can pilot them but me!"

Lu Jin thought so too and turned to look at the new recruits.

The veterans were all wearing Terminator armor sent by Huron, while the new recruits, despite having Terminator armor, couldn't use it properly. Because Terminator armor has a learning curve, they wore the Power Armor of the veterans.

These people were still youths some time ago, but now they had become super-human warriors with heights generally over two meters twenty.

When they met the Chapter Master's gaze, they immediately saluted, placing their hands on their chests.

"We don't have time to train you slowly," Lu Jin said to Kao. "One veteran leads one new recruit, and you take the rest of the new recruits."

Kao, standing at the edge of the cabin, nodded.

Within two hours, the people of Manros assembled two thousand main battle tanks and drove out in formation after the passage to the surface was opened.

Xenos piloted the gunship, flying at an ultra-low altitude of less than ten meters above the ground.

Lu Jin stood by the window and saw that among the armored forces, besides the main tanks with only one main cannon and one heavy machine gun, there were also twelve super-heavy tanks called Brutal Blades.

These tanks were undoubtedly piloted by elite armored soldiers, and their paint had been completely stripped.

"Those are tanks that could only be seen during the Great Crusade ten thousand years ago," Xenos said from the cockpit, staring at the ground forces outside the left window while piloting. "If no one else could pilot the gunship, I would have liked to get a Brutal Blade to drive."

"Isn't anyone curious where the locals got these ancient tanks?" Kao said.

"This was once a garrison of the World Eaters legion. Isn't the Red Butcher on Chapter Master brother's person something the locals found? What's so strange about a few tanks?"

"Could it be that even the World Eaters' war equipment managers were given the Butcher's Nail?"

After two days of travel, the armored forces encountered the armored forces of the Mercy Emissaries chapter.

On the gray plains, ashes floated in the air.

The visibility was less than two meters.

Xenos piloted the gunship relying on experience and terrain radar.

At this time, the gunship was located behind the ground forces.

On the radar screen, the armored forces of both sides lined up on the vast plain, advancing towards each other.

The enemy's tanks numbered less than seven hundred, and they weren't all tanks used by Space Marine Chapters. For example, there were some Predators, as well as tanks used by the mortal Astra Militarum.

Perhaps, like those Knight Mechs, they were brought in by an Inquisitor using their connections.

The rumbling sound entered the cockpit.

Over a hundred fighter jets roared overhead.

Lu Jin immediately leaned towards the cockpit window to watch.

He saw the hundred-plus fighter jets dive into the smoke and ash. After a brief minute, they became "fireworks" outlining the enemy Knight Mechs and Command Vehicles.

"During our journey, the Manros have been sending aerial units to bomb the enemy, but the results haven't been great."

"These Manros pilots are attacking with the intention of mutual destruction."

Xenos recalled the messages sent to the gunship over the past two days.

"Command Vehicle," Lu Jin entered the cockpit and pointed at the large square on the radar. "Once the ground forces engage, find a way to take us to the Command Vehicle. Then, I'll lead the battle-brothers inside."

Xenos considered this.

The Command Vehicle would undoubtedly contain the enemy ground forces' command personnel. That Inquisitor, who had a blood feud with the Fierce Angels, might even be inside the Command Vehicle.

But the problem was, the Command Vehicle, a massive vehicle with a Void Shield, was akin to a large building. He didn't know how many enemies were inside. Rushing in all at once would likely not end well.

"We might die in there..."

"Not us, just me."

Xenos whipped his head around.

"Once I go in, you find a way to circle outside or do something else. Wait until I tell you to come in before you do."

Lu Jin spoke while staring out the cockpit window.

Another wave of fighter jets roared past above the gunship.

Ahead, amidst the ash and smoke, lights flickered, illuminating the lines of those enormous vehicles.