After seeing off Veronica, Soshyan returned to his post and devoted himself to preparations for the decisive battle.
He responded systematically to Huron's plan.
First of all, it is to increase the defense force on the Destruction Moon. This place will need to face the miraculous space hulk that Occam said. Since there are not many weapons deployed on the planet and time does not allow, so we can only As a temporary airport for fighter planes, the Red Pirates will definitely launch a large-scale gang-hopping operation. Due to the large size of the planet, a comprehensive defense is definitely impossible. Fortunately, Soshiyan has asked the Mechanicus to dig underground on the planet. Complex passages are created, and in order to limit the combat of Chaos Space Marines, all passages are made to specifications slightly smaller than that of an adult.
In other words, the defenders there will all be mortals!
Their mission is to use a complex network of tunnels to stop the enemy's Chaos Space Marine offensive with flesh and blood.
This is also the result of Soshyan's long consideration and collective discussion with all the chapter leaders who participated in the war. The main reason is only one -
There are few soldiers, or rather few Astartes.
After the arrival of the White Templars, except for the Red Hunters who continued to perform patrol missions in the Bloody Skeleton System and the Raven System, all chapters participating in the Maelstrom Expedition arrived in the Kara System, including the Astral Knights themselves, including the Penance Ranger, Ranger, Nova Warrior, Imperial Fists, Sons of Dorne, Iron Knight, Black Templars, Crimson Fist, Celestial Lions Chapter, White Scars, Reaver, Destroyer, Berserker, Mantis Warrior, Storm Lord, Lament The Weeper, Flesh Tearer, Crimson Blade, Blood Sword, Star Dragon, Salamander, Dark Angel, Devotee, Disciple of Caliban, Star Phantom, and Minotaur Chapter, a total of 27 Chapters!
In the history of the empire, since the Apostasy Rebellion, only the Abyss Expedition of the Cursed Founding Army had more than twenty war groups participating. This gathering of 27 war groups at the same time can be said to be the largest in the empire in the past five thousand years. Stat party.
Although most of the Chapters are part companies, and a considerable number of Chapters suffered serious losses in previous battles, even so, the number of Space Marines gathered in and around the Kara system still reached 6,112!
Six thousand Astartes would have been enough to sweep through any opponent in any previous battle, and there was very little power that could block this blow.
But what they have to face is the second largest Chaos Group after the Black Legion, and a Chaos Giant who is almost forced into a desperate situation. The opponent's desperate struggle must not be underestimated.
Therefore, the power they have, especially the power of the Astartes, is extremely valuable. It is obviously not cost-effective to invest in the tug-of-war of the Destruction Moon. Almost all chapter leaders agree to let mortals cooperate with the Skitarii to defend the Destruction Moon. plan.
To this end, Soshyan also specially selected the troops that have performed well since the expedition from the many Astra Militarum troops participating in the battle. Among them are the legions from Cadian, the legions from Mordian, as well as Krieg, Ka Tachan, Talan and other legions from a series of well-known fortress worlds have all created brilliant achievements, or endured to the last moment in hellish battlefields.
Of course, in addition to these well-known legions, Soshyan also mobilized some locally recruited legions, and they all performed very well. There were even some that were created from cannon fodder regiment specifications, but achieved unique results that many elite regiments have not achieved. Infantry regiment.
The total number of all the troops is 3.5 million, and they are accompanied by more than one million skitarii, armed servitors and combat robots. What they have to face, according to estimates, may be 3000-5000 Chaos Stars. Warriors and millions of servants of Chaos who follow them, twisted daemon engines.
The pressure on the defenders may be great, but due to time constraints, the Mechanicus cannot continue to dig more underground space to accommodate more troops. They can only let these troops grit their teeth, carry forward their style, and dare to fight tough battles.
To this end, Soshyan also specially convened the regiment commanders of these troops and held a mobilization meeting.
On the one hand, he explained to these officers the hardships and difficulties of this battle, but everyone was high-spirited and stated that they would fight the enemy to the end and never take a step back.
On the other hand, he also announced that all troops participating in the defense can receive luxurious ordnance supplements. In short, in addition to large armor and heavy artillery, they can directly apply for any equipment they want, regardless of category. Whether it's plasma, melt, armor-piercing rockets, or even automatic turrets, as long as they apply, logistics will send them to them immediately. Of course, there is a certain limit on the quantity.
Afterwards, he also met with a group of outstanding young commanders, including Arni Morales, the son of old Morales. Originally, his troops were supposed to perform suppression and security operations in the Bloody Skeleton Galaxy, but However, he completed the combat mission ahead of schedule and was later transferred here.
To be honest, his cannon fodder regiment was a bit eye-catching among this bunch of elite troops, but because of this, Soshyan couldn't help but have some interest in this troop.
When seeing Arni, Soshyan also remembered another thing. He had been considering personnel appointments and land arrangements in the recovery area for some time. In his plan, there were many planets and vacant land as post-war homeland. The resettlement places for recruited soldiers, of course, refer to those soldiers who are unwilling to return to their hometowns, as well as the new colonies for civilians who have lost their homes or are impoverished due to the war. In order to ensure that this plan can be implemented in the future, Soshiyan must Arranging managers personally will inevitably involve personnel appointment issues.
Logically speaking, the appointment and dismissal of the planetary governor should not be intervened by him as an expedition commander, but the empire's huge laws and rules are like a sieve, full of loopholes and loopholes.
As the leader of the war zone, Soshyan happens to have the power to temporarily appoint planet managers, and the source of this power can be traced back to an authorization agreement between the Sun Lord and the High Lords Council during the Macarius expedition. Although in principle This authorization agreement is only for the Sun Lord alone, but what the empire values is that as long as there are precedents to follow, the latter can also imitate. After all, in the empire's huge and bloated bureaucratic structure, the power of convention and tradition can most of the time override above the express terms.
But how to appoint and who to appoint is another question. Those worlds that are not critical or have been destroyed are easy to talk about, but some key worlds are more involved. It is not that whoever he wants can sit down. After all, if there is no background, he will inevitably be overthrown by others using various means after he leaves.
The most critical and conspicuous position among them is naturally the Governor of the Badab System.
(End of chapter)
