Defending the newly built Fortress No. 2 were troops from the Tiger Guards Division of Earth's Marine Corps, alongside warriors from the Lumina Battle Group. They had turned the fortress into a meat grinder.
The fortress's ground-force commander was Major General Zuo Wanhu, who was forty-two that year. He was a typical hard-hitting general: burly, powerfully muscled, and strong as an ox. He had once commanded the Tiger Guards Division's Second Brigade.
After distinguishing himself in battle aboard the Fuxi, he had earned a second star. But instead of being reassigned to Earth, he had been appointed deputy commander of fortress defenses in the Sade Theater.
He was a true brawler of a general. Though he was a pure-blooded human with no psionic abilities, he could charge into battle in his armor, swinging two heavy carbon-crystal battle axes, and unleash an aura of invincibility that could make even psionics tremble.
"Brigadier General Zuo, if there's any ordinary person who can suppress a psionic in a head-on fight, it's got to be you! Your name sounds like you could beat the demons and monsters of the world to a pulp with your fists and plain old iron." Yu Lian had once praised General Zuo like this.
It was a joke, but it had genuinely delighted General Zuo. Still, he wasn't about to charge into close combat with the Starrealm Knights.
In truth, as a traditional East Asian, he was well-educated and had even read a few books on the Spring and Autumn period. He was tall and ruggedly featured, but when he wasn't fighting, he even had a touch of scholarly refinement about him.
Generally speaking, generals like him were probably the sort who excelled at both civil and military affairs.
So when the Imperial soldiers who had landed first reached