There was a saying for this, wasn't there? Oh, right. When the Heavenly Soldiers threw away their dignity and started playing dirty, there was no need for puppet troops anymore.
Because the Imperial Army had retreated so decisively, Yu Lian's fleet, which had committed its full strength, had only managed to score some early victories before it could do nothing but watch the Royal Fleet return to the "north" of the Farshore Nebula.
But to the ordinary soldiers, the invincible Imperial Fleet had once again been thwarted by Yu Lian's fleet. The troops were all jubilant, and the psychological pressure created by the "fog of war" had vanished without a trace.
As the commander, however, Yu Lian couldn't feel happy at all.
He said to Rozes, "They realized their plan had failed and immediately withdrew from the battlefield. They wouldn't get bogged down, lose their heads, or chase after credit. I'd bet that if we kept pursuing them, they'd lead us all the way into range of the Imperial main force's guns."
"Being able to disperse and regroup at will is indeed a superior tactic. But your response was timely, and we did at least gain a slight tactical advantage." Rozes could only offer that much comfort.
It was true that even counting the earlier losses among the reconnaissance fleet, the Commonwealth had come out ahead. But Yu Lian felt that, given the scale of the Galactic Empire, even a minor loss counted as a victory. Even if the Imperial forces had merely added a little fatigue to his fleet's capital ships and soldiers, that still amounted to a gradual accumulation of gains.
At the same time, Yu Lian couldn't simply let the enemy obscure the battlefield and allow the oppressive fear of the unknown to destroy his troops' morale.