Great Power Heavy Industry: Rise

Chapter 450 Competition in Military Production

Martinez's fiasco in the air battle caused a shock throughout the empire, the emperor was furious, and a large number of high-level generals of the imperial army were punished.

The Imperial Army put away its contempt for the Federal Army, quickly adjusted its strategy, changed the overall attack to a key breakthrough, and changed the main goal of occupying and destroying the Federation's asteroid military base to destroying the Federal Army's vital forces.

They learned the lessons of Martinez's air battles, and began to vigorously develop miniature space warships, using them as the main assault force on the battlefield, and quickly developed and put them into the battlefield.

The changes in the war situation have made the situation of the federal army, which was already at a disadvantage, even more difficult.

2042 12 Month 25 Day.

The Federal Army and the Imperial Army fought again in the space of the asteroid Glaucus in 1870.

Because Glaucus will move to a position of only 1 million kilometers away from Ceres in one month.

In order to prevent the Imperial Army from using the heavy artillery on this asteroid to attack the Federation fleet over Ceres, the Federal Army decided to destroy the military base occupied by the Imperial Army on this asteroid in advance.

While a squadron of the [-]nd EFF Space Fleet was attacking the Glaucus asteroid, a squadron of the Imperial Army came to support it.

The main force of the Second Federal Space Fleet, which is on standby on Ceres, is ready to annihilate a fleet of the Imperial Army again.

Unexpectedly, this is the bait of the Imperial Army!
When the space fleet of the federal army and the small fleet of the imperial army fell into a fierce battle, the main force of the imperial army appeared.

Compared with the federal army, the number and tonnage of the space warships of the imperial army are not too great, but they carry 10,000+ mech troops, far exceeding the number of the federal army.

The commander of the Second Space Fleet of the Federal Army immediately ordered to fight and retreat.

In order to cover the retreat of the main force, the Taotang Qinglong aircraft carrier led 32 space frigates to enter the enemy group. In the end, all of them blew up, and more than 1 officers and soldiers died.

But the main force of the Federal Army was able to withdraw completely to Ceres.

The defeat of the Glaucus air battle greatly reduced the counterattack capability of the Federal Army's space fleet, and the expansion of the Imperial Army in the asteroid belt accelerated.

As of June 2043, more than half of the asteroid bases have fallen into the hands of the Imperial Army, and the scope of activities of the Federal Army's space fleet has been gradually reduced.

Beginning in May 2043, a new batch of main battleships of the Federal Army and the Imperial Army were completed and put into the battlefield, and the battle in the asteroid belt further expanded.

The Federal Army rebuilt the First Space Fleet, and newly formed the Third Space Fleet, which is a full-scale space fleet with one Kunpeng-class space battleship and three Yinglong-class space cruisers as the main battleships.

And it is equipped with a large number of locust-class assault ships and equipped with a large number of mech troops. A fleet is full of 25 officers and soldiers.

However, contrary to the expectations of the Supreme Command of the Federal Army, the Empire's military manufacturing capabilities showed a strength not inferior to that of the Federation.

Although the performance of the warships, mechas, and artillery produced by the imperial military factory is still far behind that of the federal military enterprises dominated by Red Star Corporation.

But they excel in high output. The Federation can manufacture one and a half main battleships.

The industrial potential of Jupiter and Saturn can be compared with that of the Earth, Mars, the Moon, and Ceres. This is something that confuses the high-level Federation.

Zhong Cheng specially organized federal industrial experts and economic experts to conduct research and analysis.

Jupiter and Saturn have more than 170 natural satellites, and there are nine satellites with a diameter of more than 1000 kilometers that are larger than Ceres.

Among them, Ganymede and Titan have a diameter of more than 5000 kilometers, only slightly smaller than Mars, and much larger than Mercury.

Io and Callisto are slightly smaller than Mercury, much larger than the moon, and Europa is about the same size as the moon.

These natural satellites are all rocky planets, each with rich mineral resources, forming a perfect mutual assistance, and the overall resources are stronger than that of the Federation.

If they force the people to produce again, using extremely inhuman intensive production methods, it is entirely possible to explode such an amazing manufacturing capacity, and there is still a lot of room for improvement.

On the contrary, in order to ensure the quality of products and the physical and mental health of workers, the federation has adopted automated production, using a large number of intelligent robots and intelligent production equipment.

The cost of an advanced automated production line is equivalent to hundreds of manual production lines, but the output is not hundreds of times, and the construction cycle and maintenance time are much higher than manual production lines.

In the past year, the Red Star Company has tried its best to double its military production capacity before the war. Of course, it cannot keep up with the manufacturing speed of the imperial military enterprises.

Moreover, Zhong Cheng discovered from the captured imperial warships that the serial numbers on every component and every assembly showed that they were products under the same manufacturing system.

In other words, the empire's military enterprises have been integrated into a super military factory, which has surpassed the Red Star Heavy Industry Group in scale.

Thinking of this, Zhong Cheng admitted with a wry smile that his two old friends had finally realized their wish of surpassing Red Star Company in output value, but they were sweatshops.

Faced with this situation, high-level federal officials discussed countermeasures. Under the strong demands of Lu Yao and others, Zhong Cheng had to make concessions and agreed to resume the construction of artificial production lines that had long been eliminated, starting with Red Star Company.

The Federation began to mobilize the people to join military enterprises, live the legendary "996" work model, and make sacrifices for the country.

However, all these measures to remedy the situation will not be effective in a few months, and the disadvantage of the Federation Army on the battlefield of the asteroid belt is still expanding.

Beginning in the second half of 2043, the Empire once again launched a full-scale offensive against the asteroid base controlled by the Federation by virtue of its superiority in military strength.

The two sides fought dozens of large and small battles, and the federal army lost more than they won. By the second half of 2044, it had been compressed into a 3 million-kilometer airspace centered on Ceres.

In two of the large-scale battles, the Qinglong aircraft carriers Qianhuang and Gaoxin fell into the sand and died in the starry sky.

The Chonghua Qinglong aircraft carrier was also severely damaged and flew back to the starship base in Yinghuo City on Mars for overhaul.

However, over the past year or so, the Federation's military production has exploded, rapidly expanding the size of the Federation Army's fleet at an average rate of one large space warship entering the battlefield every month.

The second space fleet of the federal army was rebuilt, and the fourth, fifth, and sixth fleets were successively formed. A large number of warships gathered in the airspace of Ceres, forming an advantage on the local battlefield.

Due to the relative motion of the asteroids, every asteroid that passes near Ceres sparks a fierce battle.

Backed by Ceres, the Federal Space Fleet was able to quickly receive reinforcements and supplies. Coupled with the determination of the officers and soldiers to fight to the death, they were evenly divided with the Imperial Army in the battle in the airspace of Ceres.

Although the Imperial Army completed the strategic siege of Ceres, it was unable to completely block Ceres.

Both sides are constantly increasing troops to Ceres, and the airspace of Ceres has become a huge meat grinder!
(End of this chapter)