In the documentary he had watched previously, although it generally explained how the Pluto Fleet infiltrated and demolished the Stargate, certain key nodes had been intentionally blurred.
New anti-air weapons and new technologies, such as the Titan's Grip on the Zhen Yue, were kept strictly confidential.
Consequently, the Pluto Fleet had instead been shrouded in a veil of mystery from the Empire's perspective.
Some superstitious individuals had even mythologized the Pluto Fleet!
They claimed they were demons from the far shore of the River Styx, and some went as far as calling them the Plutos!
Returning to the conference room, Reinhardt's eyes widened upon hearing this, and concerns immediately surfaced in his mind.
He knew that while sealing off the warp points could completely eliminate the possibility of the Federation Fleet bypassing other star systems to warp directly into the Bushman Star System, it would equally bring trouble to the Imperial Fleet.
Once the warp points were disabled, fleets within the star system would lose their ability to maneuver quickly, and subsequent support and deployment would be severely hindered.
Should a sudden situation arise on the battlefield, it would be impossible to adjust deployments in time.
He was just about to speak up and point out these drawbacks when Raphael interrupted him.
Raphael's gaze was sharp, his tone brimming with absolute certainty.
"Once the Federation Fleet is lured here and forced to grind against the three thousand fortresses of the Bushman Star System, their casualties will inevitably be magnified infinitely.
When their forces are exhausted and their morale collapses, we will concentrate all our fleets for a counterattack. At that point, recovering Tyrol and the other four star systems will be effortless.
It wouldn't even be impossible to push back into the Federation's Ten Stone Starfield!"
These words struck the core of the issue, instantly suppressing Reinhardt's urge to object.
He frowned and fell silent, repeatedly weighing the pros and cons in his mind.
This plan carried both risk and reward; if it succeeded, it would be a grand victory. But if a single flaw appeared, the consequences would be unthinkable.
Compared to Reinhardt's cautious deliberation, the other Marshals in the conference room didn't think nearly as much.
The prospect of a grand victory painted by Raphael had already set their hearts racing.
The thought of successfully recovering Tyrol and the other four star systems, and perhaps taking the opportunity to push into the Federation's Ten Stone Starfield to seize more resources and territory, filled them with uncontrollable excitement. They began to chime in one after another.
"Good! Let's go with Raphael's plan!" one Marshal shouted, slamming the table.
"Let the Bushman Star System become a meat grinder for the Federation Fleet. Let that kid Qin Bei Wang pay a price in blood!" another Marshal laughed.
"Three thousand fortress cannons supporting each other will form an airtight fire net. Even if the Federation Fleet possesses heaven-defying abilities, they will be broken here. They're in for a nightmare!"
Someone else looked at the fortress layout on the star chart and said thoughtfully, "Why don't we call this plan the Bushman Line? I didn't expect to see tactics from the ancient era in the Interstellar Era. Isn't this just like the trench fortresses of antiquity?"
He paused, frowning as he recalled for a moment, then added, "I believe there was a famous defensive line back then... called the Maginot, I think? It also relied on sturdy fortresses for defense..."
As these words were spoken, the noisy conference room fell silent for a brief moment, but it was quickly drowned out by excited discussions again.
No one wanted to dwell on the fate of ancient defensive lines; everyone was immersed in the vision of an impending victory, their eyes seeing only the profits within reach.
Sitting to the side, Reinhardt watched the exuberant crowd, his frown deepening.
The unease in his heart did not diminish in the slightest.
The more perfect a plan seemed, the easier it was for a fatal flaw to be hidden within.
For the remainder of the meeting, the group stopped arguing over strategic direction and instead focused on the minutiae of the plan: the assembly times for the various family fleets, the construction division of the Bushman Star System fortresses, the allocation of spatial anchoring devices, and the methods for spreading false news about the Stargate.
Every item was discussed in meticulous detail.
Three hours after the meeting ended, in a secret chamber within the capital, the Goldstein System.
Belmont Est sat alone in a dark chair. Only a single cold overhead light illuminated the room, stretching his shadow long across the floor.
He slowly raised his hand and lightly pressed the communication ring on his wrist.
The ring glowed with a faint blue light.
He spoke slowly into the communicator.
"The crowd at High Command has agreed to deploy troops. We are proceeding according to Raphael's plan. I believe it won't be long before we recover the four star systems, including Tyrol, and perhaps even push back into the Federation's Ten Stone Starfield..."
He paused, adding a few details regarding the force deployment of the various families, before ending the call and slowly turning off the communication ring.
His hand dropped, and Est leaned back in his chair.
He looked up at the ceiling of the secret chamber as if a weight had been lifted. The gentleness he had shown during the meeting vanished from his eyes, replaced by an irrepressible anticipation.
"Perhaps the Federation producing a Qin Bei Wang is actually a stroke of luck for our Est family," Est murmured to himself, his tone carrying a hint of imperceptible calculation.
He knew better than anyone that the great families of the Empire were never truly of one mind.
When expanding territories, they could huddle together for the sake of common interests. But once they entered the stage of maintaining their holdings, every one of them harbored ulterior motives, each calculating for their own house.
The meeting just now was the perfect example. The Bourbon and Alvarez families were eyeing the resources of the Opal Star Sector. The smaller families simply followed the wind, hoping for a slice of the pie.
As for the Est family, they had gone to great lengths during the meeting to persuade the various families to provide troop support. On the surface, it was for the benefit of the Empire and to help the Reinhardt family out of their predicament.
In reality, they were not acting out of kindness.
What they wanted was never simply the recovery of lost land.
Instead, they intended to use this war to weaken the strength of top-tier families like the Reinhardts and Bourbons.
Only through investment is there loss.
While the Supreme Command of the Ferry Empire was secretly plotting the Bushman Line and calculating their counterattack, the Federation on the other side was still immersed in the joy of the great victory in the Bushman Star System.
On the Mengliang Grasslands of the Capital Star, the scene was one of utter leisure.
Qin Bei Wang, dressed in light casual wear, rode atop a snow-white steed, galloping wildly against the grassland wind.
The horse's hooves trampled the green grass, kicking up sprays of grass clippings and dust.
The sharpness of the battlefield had faded from Qin Bei Wang's features, replaced by a rare sense of relaxation.
Not far behind him, a long-haired beauty followed on horseback.
She wore black riding pants and a white shirt, topped with a slim-fitting black equestrian jacket. Her long black hair flew backward in the wind, looking sharp and spirited.
With a slight flick of her wrist, she lightly whipped the rump of her black horse.
The black horse, feeling the sting, let out a long neigh. It instantly accelerated, its four hooves flying as it charged forward.
Upon reaching a small mound, the black horse leaped.
It cleared the mound steadily and instantly overtook Qin Bei Wang's white horse, leaving him behind.
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