At this very moment, it was not only the two North-Expedition fleet-groups over on the Owl Dragon Legion's side.
Even over on Qin Ming's side, locked in battle with Chu Changhe, the T2 Tibetan Mastiff-class Medium Interstellar Destroyers' power systems went dead too.
"Report — every T2 Tibetan Mastiff-class Medium Interstellar Destroyer on our side is wholly paralyzed!" a subordinate reported in haste.
"How can this be? Weren't the T2 Tibetan Mastiffs all fine before — how have they suddenly gone wrong now!" Qin Ming was astonished beyond measure.
"Can they be restored to normal running?" Qin Longcheng asked.
The subordinate shook his head and answered: "We've already sent engineers to find out the problem. The word so far is that, at the fastest… at the very fastest, it will take at least 20 hours to repair the power systems. For that whole stretch, none of the functions on the T2 Tibetan Mastiff-class Medium Interstellar Destroyers can be started up — not even the most basic low-speed flight!"
Qin Ming's body swayed a little; his face black, he demanded: "Then… then how many T2 Tibetan Mastiffs do we have…"
"There are 35,000 in service at present… all of them! Every one of them has hit this trouble!" the subordinate said.
"Your Highness, this is no coincidence. I think this may well be a conspiracy. And a conspiracy that Zhao Chen of the Owl Dragon Legion prepared with great care, just for us. Think of it — a Northern Goose Group springs up out of nowhere, and it can bring out a great many rather fine interstellar-warship technologies besides. This… isn't this very like the way the Owl Dragon Legion appeared!" Qin Longcheng said gravely.
Northern Goose Group…
Owl Dragon Legion…
Qin Ming abruptly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, his body swaying several times; had his subordinate not stepped up to steady him, he'd likely have crumpled straight to the floor.
"Zhao Chen… Zhao Chen… I will surely kill you!" Qin Ming's eyes were bloodshot, fury searing his heart.
At Qin Longcheng's prompting, the likeliest possibility was that Zhao Chen had laid this trap in advance — all for precisely this moment.
The Princes' faction had, at most, just under 400,000 interstellar warships; and now, in one stroke, 35,000 T2 interstellar destroyers had lost the ability to fight.
This was, beyond doubt, a slab of flesh and blood carved from the Princes' faction!
And that was only one problem.
Another problem was about to come to the fore.
No need to say "about to" — at this moment, in fact, it had already appeared.
Those T2 Tibetan Mastiff interstellar destroyers were, the great majority of them, at the forward positions of the battlefield; and now these T2 Tibetan Mastiffs were paralyzed, unable to attack, hanging suspended in place.
This not only weakened the Princes' faction's firepower, but became an obstacle besides, blocking the flight- and attack-routes of the Princes' faction's friendly warships!
It greatly hampered the fighting of the Princes' faction's other interstellar warships.
"Calm yourself, Your Highness; now is no time for a towering rage. What we should be thinking of is how to resolve this situation before us!" Qin Longcheng reminded him.
"Marshal Qin, whatever it takes, I will grind that accursed Zhao Chen's bones to ash and scatter them to the winds!" Qin Ming said savagely; he had been dealt so wretched a blow.
However fine Qin Ming's frame of mind, at such a moment he could scarcely be calm.
"Relay my command — arrange for other models of interstellar destroyer to fill those combat positions, and at the same time find a way to drag the runaway T2 Tibetan Mastiffs clear of the battlefield. If… if they truly hamper the coming fighting, they may be destroyed outright!" Qin Longcheng handed down the command decisively.
To destroy one's own interstellar warships.
Qin Ming's heart gave a pang — these were all interstellar warships bought with his own hard silver.
Northern Goose Group…
Li Yaqi!
"A fine Li Yaqi… so this filthy wench had long since been carrying on with Zhao Chen. When I've taken the throne, I'll be sure to strike the Northern Goose Group from the rolls of the Starlight Empire!" Qin Ming muttered in fury.
For now.
Though Qin Longcheng had made his dispositions at the first moment.
There was still no assuring against any impact or loss at all.
Chu Changhe, as an old general seasoned in battle, and with Zhao Chen's earlier warning besides.
He'd made ready long since.
The very moment he discovered the enemy's T2 Tibetan Mastiff interstellar destroyers had gone wrong, he deployed several fleets in a hard assault, and at a stroke seized the advantage across many local fronts!
And on the other side, the two North-Expedition fleet-groups were in a worse plight still.
They'd been set to charge and assault the Owl Dragon Legion, but the runaway of a great mass of T2 Tibetan Mastiffs threw their charge-formation into disorder outright.
For the Owl Dragon Legion, this was a battle-opening!
The Owl Dragon Legion's near 2,000 interstellar warships formed small echelons one after another, launching charges at the enemy fleets.
Numerous though the enemy fleet-groups were — tens of times their own number.
For the Owl Dragon Legion's interstellar warships, a situation of this sort was one they'd long grown used to.
The T3 Triceratops-class Interstellar Heavy-Assault Escorts, relying on their short-distance dash function, kept close behind the T3 Imperial-class Heavy Interstellar Battleships, forming a hard-assault tactical squad.
The T3 Triceratops took charge of assaulting the T2-grade interstellar warships and the weaker T3-grade ones.
The T3 Imperial-class Heavy Interstellar Battleship took charge of decapitating the enemy's high-quality units — the T3-grade interstellar destroyers, T3 interstellar battlecruisers, and the like.
Beyond that, the T3 Blizzard-class Light Interstellar Battlecruisers and the T3 Wind-Eagle-class Medium Interstellar Cruisers formed pierce-and-cut tactical squads, whose main task was to carve the enemy fleet-groups apart, severing the enemy fleets' formations and their capacity to support one another.
So that the friendly fleets following behind could annihilate, one by one, those enemy fleets that had been carved off!
And now was the moment for the T3 Wolverine-class Heavy Interstellar Armored Destroyers to take the stage.
Against those enemy fleets carved off sheet by sheet, the T3 Wolverine-class Heavy Interstellar Armored Destroyers set to attacking with wild glee, for all the world like packs of mad dogs.
There was even the lovely spectacle of dozens of T3 Wolverine-class Heavy Interstellar Armored Destroyers chasing an enemy T3 Dragon-Croc-class Medium Interstellar Battleship on the run.
"Report — 10,000 interstellar warships at our fleet-group's forward positions are caught in a melee; requesting support!"
Both fleet-group marshals received this plea for aid.
They saw the situation on the interstellar holo-table too.
"Marshal Cao, the Imperial Princess Fleet-Group's ring of encirclement is already 50% complete…" Marshal Lei Dachuan looked at Cao Jianye with some hesitation.
One could see that this newly minted marshal, who'd blustered without cease before, had by now conceived thoughts of retreat.
"We cannot retreat! In this situation, if we choose to fall back— —then even if we pull back, the two fleet-groups will suffer the enemy's pursuit and annihilation; and by then, how many interstellar warships could we truly draw back? And have you thought of it — we, who've failed to complete our combat task, we, who've lost over half our interstellar warships. How… would His Highness deal with us!" Cao Jianye's eye-sockets were shot with blood; one could see his mood, too, was a tangle now.
"Then… what of us?" Marshal Lei Dachuan's heart sank; he understood Cao Jianye's meaning.
They were unlike the other veteran marshals — they'd been lifted up by His Highness.
They could have won merit and made their names in this campaign, and become His Highness's right and left arms in time to come.
Yet now, of all things, they'd landed in such a mess; their marshals' caps were, nine times in ten, to be taken from them.
Cao Jianye said through gritted teeth: "There is no choice but to fight to the death! Only if the Owl Dragon falls can we live!"