Chapter 137 136: Retreat, Retreat
After realizing the enemy had committed the vast majority of their forces to the battlefield, the massive stockpile of supplies finally had a destination. These supplies had been amassed through continuous production, piling up in warehouses until they were bursting at the seams. Fleets of Unmanned Warships of various models; immense quantities of chemical fuel, along with the nuclear fuels uranium and plutonium; enormous amounts of Electromagnetic Cannon Projectiles, components, satellites, Interstellar Mines, and so on—all were finally unleashed.
Using a space elevator that stretched for over ten thousand kilometers as an exit point, these materials poured into the vast expanse of space at an unimaginable speed, like a flood unleashed by a collapsing dam.
Countless enormous warehouses were emptied in an instant.
But that didn't matter.
In addition to these finished war supplies, Li Qingsong had also stockpiled more than enough raw materials.
These raw materials—metals like gold, silver, copper, and iron, as well as chemical resources and fuels—were piled so high they filled several of the planet's massive canyons.
Besides these pre-stocked raw materials, Li Qingsong's various mines, biological resource factories, and other facilities throughout the Uranus System were also operating at full capacity.
A mountain-like, ocean-like torrent of raw materials flooded into the various factories. With over one hundred million Clones working at their utmost, a huge volume of finished products was churned out, refilling the emptied warehouses in a short amount of time.
Heavy-duty trains then transported these supplies to the space elevator base to be deployed to the interstellar battlefield, while the factories continued to produce even more.
Deployment and production had essentially reached an equilibrium.
But that wasn't all.
In addition to unmanned weapons, Li Qingsong was even producing Manned Warships on-site.
The production cycles for Earth-class and Venus-class Warships were too long, so manufacturing them on-site wouldn't be fast enough; they had to be requisitioned from other planets.
So, he would only produce Mercury-class Warships!
In the starship assembly plant, one after another, Mercury-class Warships—each approximately 16 meters in diameter and 300 tons in mass—were produced.
For every Mercury-class Warship that rolled off the line, eight Clones would immediately step forward. Without needing any prior training or education, they instantly became qualified and outstanding space-faring soldiers, piloting the warships at high speed into the starry sky to join the war.
On average, 500 Manned Warships were added to the interstellar battlefield each day. This meant that for pilots alone, about 8,000 Clones were supplemented from the planet into space daily.
Beyond these frontline soldiers, on the logistics front, the Clones responsible for maintenance, repair, deployment, and support suffered over 100,000 casualties per day and also needed to be replaced from the planet.
But this total consumption of roughly 110,000 Clones was just a small fraction of Li Qingsong's total clone population at that moment.
The largest source of losses came from the Clones in the various ground-based factories, who died accidentally from stray fire.
Ground-based anti-air defenses intercepted at least 99.99% of all attacks from space. However, the tiny fraction of weapons that got through—such as Electromagnetic Cannon Projectiles and Missiles—still caused heavy casualties among the Clones.
Furthermore, most casualties were indirect.
For example, a factory might be hit, leading to an explosion or a fire that killed Clones, or Clones might die in accidents while rushing to repair damaged factories.
The number of casualties among this group of Clones reached over 900,000 per day!
In total, this amounted to an average of over one million Clone casualties every day!
Such enormous casualties would be unbearable for any other civilization.
But for Li Qingsong, it didn't matter.
In the hibernation bases built beneath the surfaces of Uranus's major moons, Clones were being awakened from cryosleep at every moment. They would then file out of the bases and proceed along different routes to various terminals, much like a Water Tower distributing tap water. They were sent to replenish the factories, the battlefields, the ground-based anti-air defenses, the mines...
However many were lost, that many were replaced, without a moment's delay.
Under these circumstances, Li Qingsong's reinforcement of his unmanned combat forces on the interstellar battlefield truly reached its peak.
There were as many as 50 large factories dedicated solely to producing Interstellar Mines. Each factory had 1,000 assembly lines, adding up to a daily output of several billion mines!
The same was true for Unmanned Warships, armed satellites, Cannon Platforms, Missiles, and all the rest.
On the interstellar battlefield, the Blutuk Civilization's fleet did indeed have the upper hand. They were indeed annihilating his unmanned forces with extreme efficiency, and there was nothing he could do to stop them.
'Then I won't even try to stop them!'
'No matter how few your casualties are, you still have them, and every warship you lose is one you can't replace. But my supply is endless!'
'Why do you think I didn't deploy all these unmanned weapons from the start?'
'If I had shown my hand from the beginning, you never would have committed so many of your Warships to this battlefield!'
'You thought this was my weakness, but it was the trap I laid!'
'Now that you're here, don't even think about leaving!'
Amidst the near-frenzied production and resupply, the war in the vast sea of stars grew ever more brutal.
General Harir's expression grew increasingly grim.
He vaguely sensed that something was wrong.
'The situation isn't supposed to be developing like this.'
'We clearly have the upper hand on the battlefield, so why do I feel increasingly constrained?'
The feeling was like that of a large, powerful insect caught in a spider's web. The web itself was fragile and could be easily broken, but for every strand it tore free, ten more would entangle it, the struggle only causing it to become more and more ensnared...
He issued a reconnaissance order. A moment later, the relevant data, compiled by his staff, was presented before him.
To his horror, he saw that the enemy was replenishing their Interstellar Mines at a rate of several billion per day!
Tens of thousands of assorted Unmanned Warships!
Over a thousand of those strange Nuclear Missiles!
Hundreds of thousands of armed satellites!
A drop of cold sweat slowly seeped out from between his fine, silvery scales.
'The enemy's logistical and supply capabilities are actually this powerful...'
'If that's the case, how can we possibly achieve our objective of annihilating the enemy's unmanned forces?'
'Since we can't achieve it, then...'
"Retreat! I order an immediate retreat! The Second, Third, and Ninth Fleets will cover our rear. All other fleets, withdraw!"
"What?!"
The numerous staff officers stared at their commander in utter shock.
'An emergency retreat? Now? But we have a clear advantage!'
'Besides, the battle is so intense. A forced retreat will surely result in heavy losses for us.'
"Commander, you..."
"I said, organize the retreat immediately! Any later and it might be too late... I will explain myself to the Supreme Leader afterward!"
...
The fierce, brutal battle finally came to a temporary close. Watching the Blutuk Fleet accelerate away from the battlefield at full power, Li Qingsong felt a slight twinge of regret.
"Their commander is surprisingly decisive. That was outside my expectations. However..."
Looking at the compiled battle statistics, Li Qingsong's spirits began to rise again.
"Annihilating twenty thousand of the enemy's Warships in the first battle... not bad at all!"