196: Chapter 196 Cangyu System

The border between the Third Ring and the Second Ring of the Canglan Empire.

"Currently, all legions are concentrated at the borders of each district." Su Fan and the Great Elder stood before a 3D projection, pointing at marked locations as he spoke solemnly. "There's no need to stay in the Third Ring anymore; let's enter the Second Ring directly!"

"Mm, there really is no need to stay in the Third Ring; there's no threat. In fact, we won't need to stay in the Second Ring for long either, because the entire military force of the Canglan Empire is now concentrated in the core region," the Great Elder said with a smile.

"We'll head to the Second Ring first. If the situation is as reported, we'll make a straight run for the core region." Su Fan nodded.

"As for resources, there's no rush to plunder them for now. We don't even have time to transport back the resources we've scavenged during this period. Entering Xia Country's territory takes over half a month per trip; one round trip would take over a month."

Su Fan felt as if his pockets were about to burst. Although the time spent had been very short—only two weeks—

The resources scavenged by twelve thousand ships simultaneously were already comparable to the resources gathered over the past hundred years!

Only now did he realize the prosperity of the Third Ring; the Fourth Ring and Fifth Ring weren't even worthy of comparison!

However, with no time to transport the massive amounts of resources back, they could only find some barren planets to temporarily unload and hide the cargo, planning to return and transport it away after the battle was over.

"Pass down my order: enter the Second Ring region immediately!" At Su Fan's command, twelve thousand ships from eight directions of the Canglan Empire's Second Ring activated their Warp Drives simultaneously, jumping into the Second Ring region.

As the Xia Country fleet entered the Second Ring, 100 Canglan Empire ships from the core region also arrived at the Second Ring, heading towards the southern area of the Third Ring.

"We must be careful in this operation. The enemy's detection and attack ranges are longer than ours, which means we could face a sneak attack at any moment!" Henry, who had the face of a steady middle-aged man, was currently briefing his adjutant.

"General, hearing you say that makes me feel like there's a pair of eyes watching me from behind." The adjutant looked around warily.

"In that case, let's split up. With only a hundred ships, we're just fodder if we actually encounter the enemy," Henry said after some thought.

"Form groups of two ships each, with each group separated by one light-year."

"This way, even if the enemy's detection range is longer than ours, we'll only lose a few ships, and the others will have time to escape."

Hearing this, the adjutant's eyes lit up, and he quickly gave a thumbs-up in praise.

Su Fan was naturally unaware that 100 Canglan Empire ships were also in the Second Ring; at this moment, he was dazzled by the vast amount of rare materials!

"This... this entire planet is made of dark energy crystals?"

"What kind of cosmic rarity is this? Another entire planet full of it?"

"What? These are the resources of your Canglan Empire?"

"My apologies, they belong to us now!"

Su Fan and his group arrived at a fief belonging to someone named Duke Fu'an. As a duke, he possessed a fief spanning five star systems.

In his fief, Su Fan discovered a colossal amount of rare materials!

Wasn't a duke afraid of such a hoard of materials becoming a liability?

When persuasion proved ineffective, Su Fan was forced to wield the executioner's blade, and all resources naturally fell to Xia Country.

Of course, they couldn't take so many resources with them; these were entire planets' worth of rare resources!

In the end, Su Fan could only painfully abandon them for now, planning to return for them after the war!

...

The Milky Way was vast; a chance encounter was extremely difficult.

The 100 Canglan Empire ships did not encounter the Xia Country ships.

The Xia Country fleet continued to plunder the Second Ring region for three days. After discovering that the Canglan Empire truly had no resistance in the Second Ring, they stopped plundering and organized their formation to head toward the Canglan Empire's core region.

A week later, they reached the boundary between the Second Ring and the core region. At this point, splitting their forces would make them vulnerable to being picked off one by one.

At Su Fan's command, all ship formations gathered toward the southern area of the Second Ring.

After a period of assembly, the twelve thousand ships successfully rendezvoused at the junction of the Second Ring's southern area and the core region.

"Do we attack directly?" Xia Feifei asked during the tactical discussion meeting.

"My suggestion is a steady advance. It will take at least a year for the Canglan Empire's reinforcing army to reach the core region from the northeastern border of the Black Dragon Empire. Only a month has passed so far."

Su Fan smiled as he traced the reinforcement route on the 3D projection star map.

"Therefore, our time is relatively ample."

The Great Elder nodded. "A steady advance is an appropriate method."

"The twelve thousand ships will form an array and jump in three batches."

"Four thousand ships per batch."

"Each batch will be separated by one light-year, so all three batches can assist and protect each other."

"This tactic is good. What do you all think?" Su Fan asked the others.

"Good!"

"Seconded!"

"Agreed!"

"Alright, let's execute it then. Perhaps before the Canglan Empire's reinforcements arrive, we'll have already wiped out the Canglan Empire," Su Fan said with a smile.

"Actually, if we really are on the verge of destroying the Canglan Empire, we could besiege the stronghold to strike at the reinforcements," the Great Elder said with a laugh.

"Haha!" Everyone laughed.

Amidst the laughter, the twelve thousand ships were divided into three fleets.

The first fleet jumped forward 8 light-years, then the second fleet jumped forward 9 light-years, and finally, the third fleet jumped forward 10 light-years.

Next, the first fleet jumped forward 3 light-years, the second fleet jumped forward 3 light-years, and the third fleet jumped forward another 3 light-years.

Repeating this process, the Xia Country ships advanced steadily toward the core region of the Canglan Empire.

Half a day later, the ships officially entered the Canglan Empire's core region.

Just as the Xia Country ships entered the core region, Emperor Cangyang received the news immediately.

"Reporting to the Emperor, the enemy fleet has entered the empire's core region. Our Cangyu Star System defense system has detected the number of enemy ships: twelve thousand in total," an intelligence official reported solemnly at the Canglan Imperial Star.

"No need to worry. Wait for them to go a bit deeper, then activate the cangyu system to wipe them out!" Emperor Cangyang's voice was freezing cold.

"Yes! Your Majesty!"

Just as the Xia Country fleet entered the Canglan Empire's core region, the Red Queen's alarm sounded.

"Warning: large amounts of high-energy fluctuation weapons detected on surrounding planets."

Hearing this, Su Fan immediately ordered all ships to halt temporarily.

"Is this the Canglan Empire's cangyu system?" A cold smile appeared at the corner of Su Fan's mouth.

"Starting from the outermost edge, any planet that shows high-energy weapons—blow them all up!"

"We're in no rush to enter for now. We'll start from the outermost perimeter, circling around to pick off these weapons one by one."

Su Fan had obtained a lot of information from the Canglan Empire officials in the Third and Second Rings.

The Canglan Empire's cangyu system was one of the most important pieces of information.

...