Carving Up the Confederacy
Earlier on August 5, 2493, Augustus convened a military conference at the former Governor's Palace of Krusas. Attendees included commanders of various legions and the General Staff under the Revolutionary Army, with more than 30 people present.
Admiral Horace Warfield was the last to arrive. Just two hours earlier, he had been aboard Galaxy Jumper bound for the Krusas Central Spaceport. He was also the highest-ranking commander present and the only admiral.
Only Jim Raynor was absent; he was leading a Revolutionary Army in a new battle against the Zerg on Char.
Around 120,000 Revolutionary Army soldiers are still fighting the Swarm led by the Cerebrate Daggoth in the infernal world filled with volcanoes and white ash. Although they have received direct support from the Daelaam high executive Tassadar and Grand Consul Fenix, they must also be wary of their treacherous ally, Tosh, known as the Zerg Blade Prince, who may betray them.
As commander of the Char Legion, Jim Raynor has lived up to Augustus's expectations. He has captured the Char's outer space defense platform through a decisive landing operation and is now setting up an operational base on the Mirror Plains on Char's surface.
At the meeting, Augustus first informed the Revolutionary Army generals present that Tarsonis had fallen and then explained his position.
This means that the Revolutionary Army must be prepared for a full-scale war with the United Earth Directorate. Once the war begins, the Revolutionary Army will concentrate its forces to attack rather than disperse its forces across various planets for defense.
Although Augustus had reached a verbal peace agreement with the commander of the United Earth Directorate Expeditionary Fleet through a long-distance communication, it was a treaty that could be torn up at any time. As long as neither DuGalle nor Augustus announced the treaty to the outside world, it was as if it did not exist.
Even though everyone knows this, it doesn't have much binding force.
Given the impending war with the UED, Augustus instructed his commanders to devise a detailed battle plan assuming they were already engaged in combat with the United Earth Directorate Expeditionary Fleet, in order to ensure the Revolutionary Army's victory in the upcoming war.
In reality, the Revolutionary Army has been conducting exercises to wage war against the UED, with officers in the General Staff spending their days in tactical sand table simulations in order to gain the upper hand in the possible Total War.
Throughout the morning, Augustus listened attentively to the commanders' opinions, and he himself said very little.
In the past, Augustus's generals and commanders had never been completely in agreement, but on this day there were few disagreements. Augustus had told them that the Revolutionary Army was not afraid to fight the UED and would not back down.
However, endless debates and constant revisions were inevitable when it came to the details. More than a dozen preliminary operational plans were proposed by the generals, which immediately sparked even wider debates at the meeting.
As always, Edmond Duke championed a strong offensive strategy, emphasizing that the Alpha Squadron would be at the forefront of the war against Earth. He vowed to restore the glory of the Terrans and reclaim their sacred homeworld, Tarsonis!
However, the tactics proposed by General Duke on a whim were not very useful. His tactics were only suitable for the Alpha Squadron, which was good at carrying out assault missions. The general principle was to ignore everything else and just do it.
Horace Warfield largely supported Duke's operational plan, believing that the initiative should be taken rather than holding onto planets already under control. He stressed that seizing the initiative was paramount, and that strategic advantage should be gained by depleting the UED Expeditionary Fleet's manpower. The war against the UED must be won through constant movement.
The fall of Tarsonis proved that even the most impregnable defenses are not foolproof.
The United Earth Directorate Expeditionary Fleet consisted of well-equipped elite soldiers. Gerard DuGalle was skilled in offensive operations, but they were, after all, an expeditionary force far from home, and their equipment and supplies could only be obtained from occupied territories, making it difficult to sustain.
If the UED chooses to go to war with Augustus's Revolutionary Army immediately after occupying Tarsonis, then based on the past experience of the Terran Confederacy in fighting the Revolutionary Army, even if they are able to defeat the main force of the Revolutionary Army Fleets, they will still have to deal with the latter's ubiquitous guerrilla forces.
Moreover, although the Terran Confederacy suffered heavy losses, with its largest power institution, the Confederate Congress, and the Military Command being destroyed along with their once invincible Fleets, a considerable portion of the Confederacy world remained untouched by the war, and the surviving Confederacy Fleets and armed forces should not be underestimated.
The remaining forces of the Terran Confederacy currently lack only a unified commander; however, if the Confederacy naval Fleets scattered across various sectors and star systems in the Koprulu Sector are brought together, they will still constitute a formidable force.
Moreover, the Revolutionary Army's strength has increased nearly tenfold in the past three months, with newly built battlecruisers greatly supplementing the Fleets's size. To date, Augustus has an army of 4.4 million men and more than 50 battlecruisers.
The recruits come from volunteers in 48 Terran Confederacy territories, with Antiga Prime providing nearly half of the recruits. The population of refugees and Korhal residing in Umojan has reached a staggering 80 million, and may exceed 100 million by the end of this year.
The Antiga government and immigration department were also overwhelmed by the situation, as the invasion of Earthlings once again triggered a massive influx of refugees and immigrants.
Although this was still far from enough to compare with the Confederacy garrison in Tarsonis, Warfield believed that the UED must have suffered considerable losses in capturing Tarsonis.
Warfield's main disagreement with Duke was that his battle plan was obviously much more detailed and cautious. He did not want to immediately engage in battle with the main force of the United Earth Directorate Expeditionary Fleet and gamble the Revolutionary Army's accumulated resources over many years on this.
He advocated continuing to divide the remaining Confederacy worlds with the UED and occupying some important core planets far from Tarsonis. At the same time, the Revolutionary Army should intensify its efforts to absorb the remnants of the Terran Fleets and unite with the naval squadrons that have not yet arrived in Tarsonis or are on missions in other Confederacy territories, so as to prevent the UED from recklessly breaking off relations.
Augustus largely agreed with Warfield's idea, believing that the current UED was far from having the ability to crush the various forces in Koprulu —that would have to wait until DuGalle mastered the technology of the Psi Disrupter and successfully completed the United Earth Directorate's Project Black Flag, which aimed to control the Zerg Overmind.
When Augustus asked if this move might directly trigger a war, Warfield believed that even so, it had to be done, because they had to weaken the United Earth Directorate Expeditionary Fleet's war potential as much as possible, and in short, they could not allow the UED to comfortably take over all of the Confederacy's core worlds.
The core world of the Confederacy is the main industrial and technological center, while the Edge World mainly serve as raw material suppliers and food producers.
Currently, the Revolutionary Army controls nearly two-fifths of the Edge World, while the core worlds control far fewer. In terms of economic strength and industrial base, the core worlds are undoubtedly much more powerful. Generally speaking, the further a colony is from Tarsonis, the shorter its history and the lower its level of development; only a very few Edge World have managed to catch up.
Warfield's idea was that the UED should not be allowed to control all the core worlds, even if it meant creating conflict with them. It was clear to everyone that the UED could never coexist with the rebel organization of the Terran Confederacy.
The reason the United Earth Directorate Expeditionary Fleet did not attack Confederacy and the rebels simultaneously was simply because they did not have the resources to do so at the moment.
"The likelihood of Earthlings directly waging war against us is not high at present." After Warfield temporarily ended his dry-tongued speech, Arcturus Mengsk, the deputy chief of staff of the Revolutionary Army, offered his opinion.
Arcturus is responsible for the political affairs of the Revolutionary Army planet and also holds a nominal position in the Revolutionary Army General Staff, but this is not an empty title.
"According to intelligence, after capturing Tarsonis, the United Earth Directorate Expeditionary Fleet occupied the seven core worlds closest to Tarsonis in less than a week." Arcturus was wearing a chief of staff uniform, with a pistol and sword clipped to his trousers with wide red stripes.
"I believe this precisely illustrates that the United Earth Directorate Expeditionary Fleet is actually stretched thin; they simply dare not disperse their limited troops across multiple planets." He paused for a moment before continuing, "The occupation of these seven core worlds also has its clear objectives. Those planets possess industrial centers and the largest and most important interstellar ports, and the UED will undoubtedly transform those into a massive Fleets in a very short time."
"UED's DuGalle won't be in such a hurry to conquer all the Confederacy worlds, but he can't stop there either," said Jack Haller, commander of Nova Squadron.
"I fear their next target is Antiga Prime."
"If they make a move, we will attack Tarsonis," said Armored Forces Commander-in-Chief William Wozowski.
"We must be wary of the UED's electromagnetic interference weapons and Hybrid units; it was these two things that defeated the Confederacy garrison in Tarsonis," said Londerstein, the current commander of the Revolutionary Army's Korhal Legion.
"The most urgent task is to develop countermeasures; otherwise, our warships will become pathetically blind and deaf when facing the United Earth Directorate Expeditionary Fleet."
"The Umojan will do everything in their power to help us with this," Augustus said. "Ever since the Earthlings reappeared in our sight, the Umojan Council has been in an uproar. They believe that after the fall of the Terran Confederacy, the United Earth Directorate Expeditionary Fleet's next target will definitely be the Umojan Republic."
"Therefore, they are willing to help us upgrade our network and communication equipment as soon as possible to reduce the impact of electromagnetic interference fields on our warships."
The United States reacted quite strongly to Earthlings, but at the same time they also harbored the idea of stealing advanced technology from Earth. The Umojan ' obsession with technology is well known.
As for the Hybrid, Augustus noticed that everyone's eyes were on him at this moment.
"The Daelaam will send troops to help us fight the Hybrid."
Augustus had already contacted the Daelaam of Shakuras and discussed the Hybrid issue with their leader, Raszagal. The Protoss, of course, would not stand idly by; they deeply abhorred these monsters that fused Protoss and Zerg genes, considering it a desecration of the Protoss race.
However, the Protoss did not consider Earth a threat, nor would they fully intervene in humanity's civil war. Therefore, they would not send an excessively large Fleets to support Earth, but would only help Augustus deal with the Hybrid.
The Daelaam have just survived the great war on Aiur and are currently recuperating, unwilling to launch a large-scale war.
However, that was already quite gratifying for Augustus.
"With the Protoss helping us, the Hybrid are not an invincible enemy." Arcturus breathed a sigh of relief. He had previously worried that the Protoss would ignore this, after all, who could understand what a race so different from humans was thinking?
"Fighting Earthlings should be quite interesting. I heard they only like tap dancing with canes." At this moment, Mira Han, the commander of the Deadman's Port Legion, was dozing off on the conference table. The conference room was full of tense Revolutionary Army generals of all levels, but Mira looked listless.
Mira barely listened to a word of the meeting. She had always been an eccentric, her shiny pinkish-purple hair always so unruly.
Mira is intelligent and adept at intrigue, but ultimately her style is to fight to the bitter end; as the residents of the Deadman's Port would say, she's all about getting things done.
Meetings attended by Mira were either lively or dull, depending on whether Augustus was present.
Fortunately, Raynor wasn't here today, otherwise it would have definitely turned into a brawl between him and Duke within fifteen minutes at most, with Mira adding fuel to the fire.
"What's wrong, Mira? If you're really too tired, I can approve that you go back to the barracks to sleep now." Augustus's forehead darkened. "But I need to know why you're like this?"
"Ah~ it was all Xiao Ma's fault last night. He was so passionate and wouldn't let me rest at all." Mira suddenly blushed and hugged her shoulders, shaking them incessantly.
"Oh, that poor Taradorn kid." Duke gave a disdainful look. General Edmond Duke had transcended the base pleasures of human romance; his mind was filled with violence and glory.
"He's still a child." Contrary to Haller's intimidating appearance, he's actually a big fan of shipping couples.
"?" Arcturus said doubtfully, "Matt Horner spent the whole night at the General Staff yesterday, there's no way he could have gone to the other side of the Krusas military camp."
Just a few days ago, Augustus had promoted Matt Horner Matt Horner from first mate on a Revolutionary Army warship to the Revolutionary Army General Staff, intending to groom him into a future naval commander.
Rather than saying Matt Horner couldn't see Mira often because of work, it's more accurate to say that his intense desire to work overtime gave him the opportunity to avoid Mira. It must be said, Mira wasn't Matt Horner's type.
"You can't say things like that." Augustus waved his hand, signaling the surrounding generals to skip the topic. "You're probably still half asleep, Mira. You don't need to attend this meeting."
"But you can't use this time to harass Matt Horner Matt Horner."
However, thanks to Mira, the atmosphere of the meeting suddenly became cheerful, and the tension vanished.
After driving Mira away, Augustus waved his hand and said to the Revolutionary Army generals, "I think General Warfield's plan is feasible. Since the UED has not yet taken action against the other core worlds, let's take control of them first."
"We could go to war with the UED at any time, so being merciful to the enemy is being cruel to ourselves," he said.
"Let's continue our research and discussion on the Warfield Plan."