134: Chapter 134 All beings are equal before the molten metal gun

The atmosphere in the Governor's Palace war room was incredibly heavy.

The holographic star map covered the entire wall, filled with dense red markers that looked like a giant net cast around Alpha Hive City.

Yuri introduced the situation with a bitter face: "The old nobility of Sijar Hive City, in alliance with seven other hive cities from the Mutual Defense Pact, have completed their final assembly."

"Information brought back at great risk by my smuggling informants from the Sijar Starport indicates that the main enemy force has already weighed anchor from the Sijar main starport, and their vanguard has already set out."

"Who is the commander? What is their strength?" Fu Haoran asked, staring at the holographic map.

"Colonel Callun Cole, nicknamed the 'Sijar Hammer'," Yuri swallowed hard and spoke rapidly. "Former Chief Commander of the Mutual Defense Pact's armored forces. He's been fighting for over a decade and has never tasted defeat."

"Last year, he suppressed three rebellious mines, taking the entire territory with zero casualties. He specializes in armored cluster blitzkriegs and double envelopments, never giving his opponents a chance to breathe."

"His claim to fame was commanding fifty leman russ tanks to forcefully crush a rebel armored force three times his size. The entire process took only four hours, and he hung the rebel leader's head on a tank barrel for public display."

Yuri paused and added, "Cole also sent word that he intends to take all surrounding open-pit mines within a week and breach Alpha Hive City within three weeks, hanging your head—the 'Underhive Governor'—on the starport's spire."

Tychus stubbed out his cigarette, his tone unusually serious. "This fellow is quite arrogant. Just how much hardware do they have?"

"At least three hundred Leman Russ Executioners, brand-new standard mass-produced models."

Yuri's introduction caused everyone to gasp.

Father Kallun added, "The main gun penetration of this model is twice ours, and its frontal armor thickness is superior. They can blast through our frontal armor with a single shot from two thousand meters away."

"In addition, they have two hundred chimera armored personnel carriers and no fewer than two hundred thousand regular troops," Yuri delivered more bad news.

"Furthermore, there are three cruisers and twelve frigates in low-orbit."

Tychus asked awkwardly, "How many armored units do we have?"

"Only forty-two leman russ main battle tanks, half of which are repaired battlefield salvage with aging fire control systems and insufficient main gun penetration," Wade introduced with a grave expression.

The atmosphere in the meeting room grew even heavier.

A seven-fold difference in armor numbers, a generational gap in equipment inferiority, and total orbital control held by the opponent.

No matter how you looked at it, this battle seemed like a dead end.

"What is their core objective?" Fu Haoran asked.

"The open-pit Promethium Mines and Promethium refineries on the border." Yuri stepped forward and brought up the energy data.

"Speaking of which, it's my fault for being greedy. Recently, surrounding planets have been purchasing Promethium from us on a large scale at prices 30% above the market rate. I sold 80% of our reserves to them in one go."

"Once the Promethium Mines are cut off, with our current reserves, we can only maintain the operation of the entire Hive City and the Void Shields for about three months."

"Power rationing has already begun in the Underhive, half of the refinery production lines have stopped, and even soldier training must be energy-controlled. If the Promethium supply is cut, the Void Shields will drop to critical levels within six months. The cruisers in orbit would only need one shot to blast through the Hive City's top-level defenses."

Fu Haoran had to admit the opponent played this hand beautifully; for a bit of pocket change, they had caused him to cut off his own arm.

Fu Haoran didn't push all the responsibility onto Yuri; Yuri was just a merchant and hadn't realized the importance of strategic resource reserves.

Moreover, he himself had agreed to the transaction at the time.

Back then, he was only focused on rapidly expanding industrial production lines and exchanging for Space Marine ship parts and transformation surgery materials, forgetting the bottom line of energy security.

Now, it was as if he had delivered his own neck into the opponent's hands.

Once the Promethium Mines were occupied and the supply cut, the Hive City's power system and factory production lines would completely stall, and the Void Shields would fail entirely. At that time, a single volley of Macro Cannon fire from the cruisers in orbit could turn Alpha Hive City's surface defenses into ruins.

"We absolutely cannot let them cut the energy supply line," Fu Haoran issued the core requirement.

"Then we can only fight a delaying action." Wade took a deep breath and looked up, his eyes filled with determination. "For now, we can only send out suicide squads equipped with melta bombs and anti-armor mines to set up ambushes in the Red Sand Hills, delaying their armored columns as much as possible."

This was the most standard answer and the most 'correct' solution in the Warhammer World.

After all, no sacrifice was unacceptable.

"No, that's using soldiers' lives to fill the line; the casualties would be too high." Fu Haoran rejected it without a second thought.

Everyone was stunned.

Lucifelle's emerald eyes swept over Fu Haoran as she gave a cold laugh: "The sentimentality of lower life forms will only drag down the entire war effort."

"Exchanging the minimum cost for the maximum victory is the rational choice. Soldiers' lives are meant to be consumed."

"Soldiers are not consumables," Fu Haoran's attitude was exceptionally firm. "They risk their lives following me to survive and so their families can have a better life, not to clutch a bomb and perish together with a tank."

"Soldiers are not consumables," Fu Haoran's attitude was exceptionally firm. "They risk their lives following me to survive and so their families can have a better life, not to clutch a bomb and perish together with a tank."

"Thinking of using human lives to fill the gaps and using soldiers' flesh and blood to block the enemy's iron torrent whenever difficulties arise is the incompetence of a commander!"

Wade opened his mouth and said heavily, "Governor, I know you care for the brothers, but we only have 42 tanks against their 300. If we don't use suicide squads to buy time, they will push to the city gates in three days. By then, it won't be tens of thousands dying, but hundreds of thousands!"

"Every defense of a Hive City is built on piles of flesh and blood. Lucifelle is right; sacrifice is inevitable."

Fu Haoran didn't speak, his gaze fixed intently on the holographic star map, his fingertip tracing the area of the Red Sand Hills on the border.

This region was crisscrossed with ravines and rolling dunes; the dust was heavy and visibility was limited, much like the Gobi deserts of the Middle East.

leman russ tanks have a large turning radius and cannot deploy at all in narrow ravines; their main gun's long-range penetration advantage would be completely nullified here.

Fu Haoran's fingertip paused in a ravine of the hills, and an extremely bold idea instantly flashed through his mind.

A tactic never used by anyone in the Warhammer World, yet one that could perfectly counter an iron torrent.

Inferior strength, utilizing terrain and high mobility, winning with the weak against the strong to counter-kill an iron torrent.

Fu Haoran suddenly turned and walked out of the meeting room, heading straight for the Mechanicus workshop. The group behind him looked at each other and hurriedly followed.

...

Father Kallun, who was teaching apprentices, saw Fu Haoran rushing in with his people and went to meet them.

Fu Haoran didn't waste words; he directly pulled a data slate from his breast and handed it to Father Kallun.

"Father Kallun, I need this weapon manufactured in a short amount of time."

Father Kallun confusedly picked up the data slate, opened the full set of design blueprints inside, and his pupils suddenly contracted.

"By the Omnissiah, this is a Multi-Melta... a full set of standard design blueprints?!"

The Father's fingers flew across the blueprints as he muttered incessantly, "A complete Fusion Core design, Melta Nozzle calibration parameters, and vehicle-mounted modification plans... Governor, where did you get this?!"

"Dug it up."

Callun was already accustomed to Fu Haoran's half-hearted excuses.

In any case, these technologies would eventually be given to him, so there was no need to dwell on such small details.

"I want the extreme 'Tank Killer' variant, specifically for anti-armor. I need you to mount them on pickup trucks," Fu Haoran got straight to the point. "You know the power of this thing better than I do."

Father Kallun had to admit this plan had extremely high feasibility.

Melta weapons have many nicknames: fusion guns, melters, and some even call them cookers.

When fired, they can confine a miniature nuclear explosion within the barrel and then blast out a stream of ultra-high-temperature thermal energy. At close range, almost no material can withstand it; armor, concrete, and even a Space Marine's power armor can be easily pierced by it.

Before a melta weapon, all living beings are equal.

Even the main weapons of some Titans are melta cannons.

More importantly, melta weapons are much more reliable than Plasma Weapons; they won't overheat and injure the user, and when fired, there is almost no noise except for the explosive sound of the target vaporizing. Infiltration units love using these weapons to take out sentries and destroy enemy tanks.

But Callun realized a critical problem: "My Lord, the range of this weapon is short!"

"Even for a vehicle-mounted version, the effective range is only slightly better than a standard rifle. It's far inferior to the range of a leman russ main gun."

"A more fatal issue is that melta weapons have a slow rate of fire and small ammo capacity. While they are indeed excellent against single targets, they must be paired with mobility and require cover, otherwise, they are just sitting ducks."

"I know all this." Fu Haoran nodded, his tone calm. "All are equal before the melta; as long as it hits, it can melt through a leman russ's armor."

He pointed to the vehicle-mounted modification plan on the blueprint: "I want to mount these on DYB Pickup Trucks, using the high mobility of the pickups to compensate for the short range."

Father Kallun was still not optimistic: "My Lord, if I may be so bold, this is a very risky tactic. The success rate is less than 31%."

"That is not for you to worry about; I will find a way to solve it." Fu Haoran interrupted Callun's well-intentioned warning. "I need three hundred Multi-Meltas. They must all be built and mounted on pickups within one week."

Father Kallun's brain stalled for a second, then he said sharply, "No! Absolutely not! Governor, without a complete STC Template, even if our workshop works three shifts, we can only build twenty at most in a week."

"I'm not asking one workshop to build them all." Fu Haoran threw out his plan. "The core of a Multi-Melta consists only of the Fusion Core and the Melta Nozzle. For these two core components, have your workshop produce the Fusion Cores with full effort, and leave the rest to me."

Father Kallun was stunned; he probably guessed Fu Haoran's idea and reminded him with a grave face: "My Lord, this... this does not conform to Mechanicus dogma! The production of holy weapons must follow the sacred specifications of the STC. Simplifying the process and lowering standards is a desecration of the Omnissiah!"

He patted Father Kallun's shoulder and spoke with a firm tone: "It doesn't matter if they break; we will just build more."

"As long as we can blast through the enemy's tanks in this battle, if the people survive, we can build more guns anytime once they're gone."

Father Kallun stood in place, his mind racing, wanting to argue.

On one side was the sanctity of dogma, on the other was the life and death of the Hive City. He knew very well that dogma could not save them from the current crisis.

Callun closed his eyes, the light of his mechanical eye flickering out for a moment.

When he opened them again, his voice was devoid of emotion: "By the Omnissiah... please forgive my desecration. Governor, I will complete my mission."

Fu Haoran didn't waste any more words; he knew Father Kallun would compromise.

And right now, he had to return to 2K to complete a massive explosion of production capacity.

At the same time, in the command post of Sijar Hive City, Colonel Cole stood before a massive sand table, his fingertip pointing at the location of Alpha Hive City.

"In three days, a full-scale offensive." His voice was calm, carrying an unquestionable confidence. "Let those Underhive dwellers see what a real armored torrent looks like."

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