Chapter 302: This is What You Call Deceiving the Heavens to Cross the Sea_1

Jiang Yu also warned the remaining four fleets, "The moment you disobeyed orders, you ceased to be qualified soldiers.

"Now, there are only two paths before you. One is to return and surrender, facing thirty years of labor, but your lives will not be in peril.

"The second path is to flee the Solar System. However, you have spent nearly six years traveling back and forth within the Solar System. I estimate that your fuel is nearly depleted, and the chances of a successful escape are not great.

"Don't think about defecting to other forces, no one can protect you! If I find out that you have joined other forces, there will only be a dead end waiting for you!"

Two days later, two of the fleets indicated their willingness to surrender and reported their locations to facilitate the disarmament by the Solar System's fleets.

However, there was no news from the other two fleets until a few days later when telescopes observed them adjusting their course and speeding past Jupiter, heading towards the outer periphery of the Solar System.

To conserve fuel, they had merely changed their course, describing a large obtuse angle within the Solar System without turning back.

Two months later, it was observed that these two fleets each underwent a "dark battle," where only one spaceship from each fleet left the Solar System, while the rest of the ships in the fleets were dismantled into scrap in space.

The ships that escaped were the flagship "Q-07" of the second fleet and the ordinary battleship "P-325" of the eighth fleet.

Upon this news, the PDC and Fleet International feared that fleets that had undergone "dark battles" would join forces, but Jiang Yu assured them that the two warships that had just left were unaware of the existence of Starship Earth and "Bronze Age."

They didn't even know of each other's existence and thought that they were the only ones to have defected from the entire Solar System and initiated a "dark battle," so there was no need to worry about them joining forces.

The politicians first breathed a sigh of relief, then started to blame Jiang Yu for not handling the incident properly, implying at the same time they were not planning to pay the remainder of their fee.

As a result, Jiang Yu began to seriously reorganize the more than forty warships at his disposal into new fleets, preparing to pursue them.

Everyone had no choice but to pay up and urged Jiang Yu not to act rashly, suggesting that they could negotiate the pursuit further.

You Ze, representing the Solar System State, engaged in negotiations with the PDC and Fleet International that lasted for more than three months, finally reaching an agreement.

First, a "No.1 Command Center" was established by the three powers, with a core military staff from all three forces, directly responsible for all matters related to the flee

Next, "No.1 Command Center" issued its first order: the Solar System State was to dispatch two fleets, each consisting of two warships and one supply ship. The two fleets were to pursue "Q-07" and "P-325" respectively, with No.5 Droplet and No.6 Droplet accompanying each fleet for escort.

Sophon served as the real-time communication tool between the two fleets and "No.1 Command Center." Both fleets were under the command of the "No.1 Command Center" until they achieved their objectives.

In addition, "No.1 Command Center" had already made contact with the lone escapee "Bronze Age," with both parties enhancing communication. The situation of the ship seemed precarious, and it was likely to be tricked into returning.

Moreover, staff from "No.1 Command Center" utilizing space telescopes observed deceleration phenomena in all three ships of Starship Earth. It was clear that they were still in a questioning phase and could be temporarily ignored.

Lastly, there was the matter of the six fleets of the Solar System State that had not yet returned, showing no signs of deceleration—they needed to be pursued immediately!

But with what to pursue? Currently, the Solar System only had more than forty interstellar warships in the hands of the Solar System State, while there were a full thirty warships among the deserters.

Even if all the warships were dispatched, it was not certain that the Solar System could win against them!

Upon receiving You Ze's report, Jiang Yu, without hesitation, said, "Then we must massively produce interstellar warships. When the number of warships reaches sixty, we will form fleets of ten warships each to pursue."

You Ze reminded him, "But the current public opinion is that we should never build interstellar warships again, and many people even suggest dismantling our existing forty-plus interstellar warships."

Jiang Yu spread his hands and laughed, "Then let these staunch anti-escape advocates go after the deserters! We could consider having them chase in spacesuits by running, to see if they can catch up!"

You Ze followed with a laugh, "I'll discuss your idea at tomorrow's meeting with them and also notify them that the Solar System State will resume the capability to manufacture interstellar warships next month!"

Although The Waterdrop had destroyed the interstellar warship-related industrial systems a few years ago, Jiang Yu had early on evacuated all the staff from the starship factories and had been keeping them employed without changing their professions.

Once the production line for manufacturing starships was restored, they could immediately start production.

Jiang Yu nodded, "Go ahead, the 'No.1 Command Center's pursuit operation must rely on us; on this matter, we have absolute initiative."

You Ze left Jiang Yu's office, and as he walked, he reflected on the series of actions Jiang Yu had taken over the past few years regarding the pursuit of the "deserting" warships.

You Ze didn't believe there was no scheming on Jiang Yu's part.

Especially after the seventh returning starship fleet had warned the four fleets that hadn't yet returned to Jupiter.

Jiang Yu's speech then seemed like he was urging the remaining four fleets to leave.

Others didn't notice, but You Ze did. If sixty more warships were dispatched for the pursuit, the runaway starship fleets wouldn't be weakened; instead, their strength would have increased.

The key now was that they were well-prepared, and the officers and soldiers on the warships had become people who obeyed Jiang Yu completely.

You Ze even speculated that this was the Wallfacer using the chase after the runaway fleets to carry out an interstellar migration operation!

But these thoughts could only be considered in his mind since there could still be Sophons around.

Jiang Yu didn't pay much attention to the pursuit of the deserting fleets; since that conversation with Bog at the Desert North Farm a few years ago, the progress of the operation had been entirely within his expectation.

It wasn't that Jiang Yu was so prescient, but rather he had always controlled the key factors of the operation, so the situation was developing in the direction he had anticipated.

Over the recent years, Jiang Yu had been busy demilitarizing the Governing Council, and successive military control had been lifted from four cities.

Additionally, the Solar System State had built a large military fortress, and using the pretext of not repeating past mistakes, Jiang Yu had sent all the warships and soldiers to the fortress.

The tragic state of Jupiter City remained vivid in memory; to build a naval port and a city together was an unforgivable crime, and the clearing of the ruins of Jupiter City in Jupiter Orbit had not yet been completed to this day.

At the same time, the forty-plus warships of the Solar System State needed forty to fifty thousand soldiers to replace the original crew's duties, plus another ten thousand personnel for logistics.

Jiang Yu transferred a large number of military personnel who had been deployed in the Governing Council back to the military under the guise of promotions.

In this way, after two or three years, the transformation from a military government to a civilian-led government was complete.

Then, Jiang Yu began to cede power, ultimately retaining only military command and personnel authority over senior officials while delegating other powers to Tao Yue.