369 Chapter: Victory!_1

After realizing the disadvantage, Jiang Yu let out a sigh of relief.

Before this war began, Jiang Yu and others in the high echelons of the Solar System State knew that humanity and the Trisolarans had a clear gap.

But no one knew how big the gap was.

Now, everyone was aware that, though there was a gap, it was not a generational one. The victories achieved by the Second and Fourth Legions were truly befitting of the efforts of the more than five hundred million people over the past sixty years.

As long as there was no generational gap, careful battle could result in potential harm to the enemy.

As Jiang Yu's thoughts drifted, Number Three arrived at his cabin, "Sophon has released a new statement!"

Having said this, he handed over a portable computer and started playing Sophon's new speech.

The gist of the new speech was that when the Trisolarans' Second Fleet reached the Solar System, they would destroy all cities of the Solar System State and kill all people of the Solar System!

After watching the speech, Jiang Yu laughed, "Sophon is desperate, it seems we're not far from victory."

Number Three was still somewhat incredulous, "Have we really won?"

Jiang Yu pushed the report in his hand towards Number Three, and in the weightlessness, the report drifted into Number Three's hands.

Jiang Yu said, "Take a look, the intelligence from 171266 is nearly accurate. The social structure of the Trisolarans generally inhibits their creativity compared to Earthlings.

"According to the current war and analyses by scholars, our technological gap with the Trisolarans might be around half a century; however, in weaponry, our gap is only about forty to fifty years.

"You should know that this means although the war will still be one-sided, our weapons can now inflict damage on them!

"The era when they could wipe out all human armed forces with a single 'Waterdrop' is gone for good. Their expectations to annihilate us with vanguard squads or to bog down our plans have also gone down the drain.

"As long as we hold back their Second Fleet, the invasion of the Trisolarans will be kept outside our national borders!"

Number Three glanced at the report, "You always seem to work some miracles."

Jiang Yu shook his head, "It's not me, it's all of us who have done it!"

As Jiang Yu anticipated, news of victory came from the Kuiper Belt the following day: the Second and Fourth Legions had annihilated the Trisolaran vanguard squadron comprising sixty-seven enemy warships.

From the start to finish of this war, except for that round of surprise attacks by the sixteen warships, the two sides had never met face to face. The enemy fleet was completely annihilated while still more than twenty astronomical units away.

Since both sides used matter-annihilation weapons, any hit enemy warships left nothing behind, thus obviating the need for cleanup after the battle.

This victory bolstered the resolve of the people of the Solar System State even more; now, hundreds of various classes of warships were completed daily from the production lines of each industrial city.

After the victory, Wu Xinghai immediately suggested producing more Monster Cannons, for only this type of weapon could bring substantial damage to the enemy.

Ordinary spaceships could only serve to attract fire and disrupt the enemy's formation.

This victory gave tremendous confidence to the war headquarters on Pluto. At the same time, they changed their previously conservative tactics and launched a massive array of gravitational mines in the direction of the Trisolaran Second Fleet, preparing to arrange a vast field of gravitational mines.

Of course, such arrangements couldn't escape Sophon's surveillance. If the Second Fleet bypassed the minefield, their battle formation would inevitably become dispersed, which was to the advantage of the Solar System United Military.

If they were unwilling to detour, the gravitational minefield would definitely cause them huge trouble, which was also to the advantage of the Solar System United Military.

This was the benefit of fighting on one's home turf.

In addition, the Fifth Legion discovered that the Trisolarans' signal jammers were highly mobile and hard to destroy.

Therefore, the war headquarters reassembled the Fifth Legion and newly reorganized the Seventh Corps to reinforce the Second and Fourth Legions.

When the Second and Fourth Legions returned to the Kuiper Belt and had a brief rest, all four legions would set out together, ready to confront the Trisolaran Second Fleet.

Jiang Yu was very happy to learn of the victory and steered out of the Kuiper Belt to meet the victorious return of the Second and Fourth Legions.

The two sides met three hundred astronomical units away from the battlefield, and Jiang Yu looked out the porthole at the returning legions.

The tail light of these spaceships' nuclear engines seemed even more vivid, and even the somewhat comical "big heads" looked more solemn than usual.

However, Jiang Yu quickly realized that there were too few warships returning.

He asked Wu Xinghai, who had just connected through video communication, "How many warships are there in this echelon?"

"Two thousand three hundred fifty-five!" Wu Xinghai, looking exhausted, as if he hadn't slept for days.

Jiang Yu hurriedly asked, "Are there any more behind?"

"Yes! Some warships had to operate their nuclear engines in overload for a long time to avoid enemy attacks, which caused some problems, so they're moving slower."

Jiang Yu breathed a slight sigh of relief and waited silently for the slightly slower second echelon.

The second echelon hardly had any formation to speak of, scattered about, with some nuclear engines casting a deep red light, others a purplish-red, not looking quite right.

After a while, Jiang Yu asked again, "Could the third echelon be in even worse shape?"

"There's nothing more to come," said Wu Xinghai with some grief.

"Nothing more?"

"Nothing more."

After a long silence, Jiang Yu finally asked the question he had been unwilling to face, "How many warships returned in total?"

Wu Xinghai seemed to come to his senses before reporting, "Three thousand five hundred twenty-one, including the Commander-in-chief, Ai Qi, and over half a million officers and soldiers were sacrificed."

Jiang Yu's heart tightened. "They, they were all brave!"

No wonder there was a need to replenish these two legions by dismantling the Seventh Corps; it turned out that both legions were almost beaten to nothing.

This was a pyrrhic victory; the losses far exceeded Jiang Yu's expectations.

A long time ago, Jiang Yu had realized that he might be a good soldier, even a competent politician, but he would never be a competent general.

With such heavy losses, continuing the fight would bring him immense psychological pressure.

Yet the reports from the war headquarters only spoke of the Solar System State's powerful productive capacity and mobilization capabilities, which had essentially made up for the losses of the war.

Jiang Yu had discussed many times with Rediaz, and both agreed that waging a war of attrition against the Trisolarans was an excellent strategy.

Because the Three-Body Star System had scarce resources and had traveled from afar, replenishing warships and soldiers was difficult.

In theory, as long as one could withstand the opponent's initial onslaught, they would eventually be worn down to the point of retreat.

Rediaz had even made preparations to conscript labor forcefully from the PDC and Fleet International if necessary.

At that time, Jiang Yu was also set on gritting his teeth and grinding it out with the opponent, but when push came to shove, Jiang Yu came to admire the stress resilience of Rediaz and the generals.

It was only after all the slow-moving ships had passed in front of him that Jiang Yu came back to himself and said to Number Three, "Make sure all the compensation is issued according to the previously agreed standards, don't let the heroes' hearts grow cold."

Number Three reported, "The Governing Council has already established a special post-war task force."

Jiang Yu slowly nodded, "They should be remembered by all of humanity forever!"