Starting from the Planetary Governor

Perbov, as the commander, rode in the 'Listener' command vehicle, not far from the frontline.

The enemy didn't possess much in the way of long-range firepower, so he wasn't too worried.

The overall progress of the battle had not surprised him. The lines formed by the marauders, under the coordination of infantry and artillery, were quickly broken. The troops that were deployed later also suffered a heavy blow under the cooperation of the infantry and tanks.

Despite the enemy outnumbering his men by far, the battle at this stage was not about manpower, it was about firepower.

Compared to firepower, these marauders stood no chance against his newly formed Composite Camp. Merely two dismounted mechanized infantry platoons, with the support of the artillery support platoon and the tank platoon, had routed the marauders head-on.

The defensive line pierced with a poke, the counterattack shattered with a touch; such was the true portrayal of these marauders.

The battle was won, with no suspense remaining.

What was left to do was to expand the victory.

Of course, Perbov hadn't forgotten that his mission was not just to defeat this group of enemy forces. He needed to fight an exemplary annihilation battle and utterly eradicate these bandits that threatened the trade routes and surrounding settlements.

Killing everyone or capturing the vast majority were both options.

If they were dead, there would be no more thieves; for those who didn't die, picking out some who had committed heinous crimes and executing them, then sentencing the rest to five or ten years of hard labor, to be sent to work as miners in the Abandoned Cave Society or to chop trees in the alien forest to make building materials or raw materials for synthetic starch, were all possible options.

And to truly expand the victory, the two mechanized infantry platoons that were cruising in another direction had also received orders and began their assaults.

Truth be told, the most formidable forces within his Composite Camp were these two mechanized infantry platoons, not the tank platoon.

The 'Challenger' Tanks that were captured were merely domestic products, imported from a heavy industrial conglomerate named Blackbird, located to the west. Blackbird Heavy Industries was reportedly once part of the Alliance, a heavy industrial center established during the era of the first governor with the help of the empire, situated a bit further west than the Western Desert.

However, during the time of the second governor, they had essentially become detached from the Alliance, and now apart from trade, there was little interaction, with the Alliance's orders being as good as farts in the wind.

As a result, the seventy tanks among the Old Alliance Legion were relics from a very long time ago, probably all having a service life of at least a decade.

Compared to the 'Strider V' armored infantry fighting vehicles, which were widely equipped among the Star Realm Army's main forces, except for the tank cannon, they were utterly useless.

In terms of armor, it's true the armored vehicles had thinner skin and filling compared to the 'Challenger' Tanks, and their armor plates were much thinner, but they managed to maintain better defensive capabilities despite the thinness. How does one even argue with that?

As for mobility, with exceptional off-road performance, whether 'Strider V' was climbing hills or traversing muddy fields, everything was manageable; it was just a matter of speed. The 'Challenger' Tanks, on the other hand, had to move on flat terrain, or they could get bogged down at any moment in difficult ground.

And when it came to speed, the tanks were no match for the armored vehicles.

Even if we talked about firepower, indeed, the 40mm twin-barreled autocannon was not as fierce as the 76mm smoothbore gun, but its much faster rate of fire made it a superior support weapon for infantry.

Once those two mechanized infantry platoons launched their attacks, the marauders were even less able to make a splash.

The defenses they had set up were blown to pieces by the autocannon and grenade machine guns, and the dismounted infantry squads that followed swiftly captured one position after another.

They advanced quickly, and after poking through the rear end of Sanchi Town, they cut towards the back of the main battlefield.

Logically speaking, things should not have gone so smoothly. Having fought a few battles with these marauders, they shouldn't have become so incapable. When their rear was attacked, they should have taken some countermeasures; though the outcome was already determined, at the very least, they should have caused some trouble for the two assaulting mechanized infantry platoons to look credible.

But that didn't happen.

The marauders seemed to have lost command, appearing rigid, ossified, and chaotic.

Perbov was somewhat baffled.

I don't have any elite special forces or anything to carry out beheading operations, nor to cut off command communications. Why have these people become like this?

But soon, he figured out the key.

Could it be that the enemy chieftain has already fled?

It was very likely indeed!

Expecting the leaders of these marauders to fight to the death was hardly realistic.

Moreover, connecting it to what Morgan's people had previously suggested—that they pretended to surrender but then rebelled largely because their leader coerced the group with his own selfish desires—the lower-level marauders would not resist if given a chance for a stable life, would they?

Having realized this, he had an idea.

He ordered the camp headquarters to move forward, including the several communication vehicles.

Soon after, the loudspeakers of the army started to blare:

"Your leader has fled!"

"Lay down your weapons, surrender and you will not be killed!"

Two short sentences kept transmitting through the loudspeakers to the ears of the resting marauders, interspersed with intense artillery fire, and what they saw before their eyes were dozens of steel behemoths...