The command center of the space city was in chaos after the general offensive began.
Many officers bustled in and out, Cen Yemeng continuously issued orders, and the shouts of intelligence officers reporting on the battle situation were incessant. Occasionally, red holographic projection interfaces would pop up, displaying major variables and intelligence errors on the front lines.
"The outermost defense line of Milu City has been breached!"
"Enemy armored forces in Gelan Town have been covered by airstrikes!"
"Iron Slag No. 14 urgently reports that the first-line attack on Cewudun City is blocked, and the troops are requesting a transfer to the third-line assault!"
"All defense lines of Pingkougen City have been breached, and the eastern and western forces have joined up! Remaining enemies are being cleared!"
Jiang Ye did not participate in the entire general offensive. He simply sat quietly in a corner of the command center, watching the large screen.
The screen was densely packed with bright spots. Green represented mechanical soldiers, and orange represented air force, so numerous they almost filled the screen, like a glass window covered in water droplets after a heavy rain, illuminated by lights. There were also some small gray-white dots, indicating the general locations of discovered enemy forces.
As time passed, one could see the orange dots flying erratically, "consuming" the displayed enemy gray dots, while the green dots moved intermittently, steadily advancing inward from all directions.
The trajectory of the green dots was very rapid and orderly. Often, a cluster of green dots would concentrate in front, quickly piercing through the target defense line. The gray dots were usually scattered and were torn apart before they could gather to resist. The green dots were trailed by long tails, including supply and firepower support units, which were responsible for supporting the offensive and consolidating positions.
It looked somewhat like needles piercing the skin, slow but powerful.
Countless needle-like offensives were unfolding in the remaining cities of the refugee planet. Tens of thousands of mechanical soldiers were now advancing unimpeded, rushing through streets filled with thick smoke and flying bullets, firing ammunition ferociously.
As the battle progressed smoothly, some green needles that had penetrated the urban areas would subtly bend their heads and connect with adjacent needles, forming pincer movements to encircle enemy forces on the flanks.
The gray dots trapped within the encirclements began to panic, repeatedly crashing against the green barriers, attempting to break out.
But they often failed. During the collisions, the gray dots dwindled, while the green barriers continuously contracted.
When the encirclement tightened to a small area, nearby orange air force dots would converge, like vultures sensing blood, launching airstrikes against the gray dots on the ground. In a short time, the gray dots within the encirclement would be rapidly wiped out.
Unlike the needle-like offensives in the cities, the green dots in the suburbs swept across the entire wasteland like a comb. Many orange air force dots followed above, conducting airstrikes as reported by the mechanical soldiers, proving extremely efficient. A piece of wasteland only needed to be combed through two or three times to ensure thorough clearance.
The remaining areas of the refugee planet were divided into hundreds of chessboard-like combat zones, with troops deployed to each zone to eliminate enemy soldiers one grid at a time.
Jiang Ye watched for a long time. The situations in various regions were similar. The offensive of our army was overwhelming, and the enemy, like ice cubes baked in the summer sun, resisted with all their might but still melted away helplessly.
Jiang Ye suddenly had an illusion: the gray enemy dots were like weak, insignificant bacteria, while the green and orange dots were highly aggressive antibiotics or medical disinfectants.
However, the disappearance of each gray dot represented countless bloody corpses. Shattered body parts, exploded heads, and human figures burned to charcoal. It looked like an electronic game on the screen, but the reality was a living hell filled with screams and the rain of blood.
Above Jiang Ye's head was an air conditioning vent, blowing cool air with a faint lavender scent, while the areas displayed on the screen were currently swept by fiery winds, filled with the stench of blood and burning.
Jiang Ye's thoughts drifted for a while. The high command of the Galactic Empire controlled trillions of planets. In their eyes, was the destruction of each planet like the rupture of a bacterium?
The general offensive lasted only 36 hours before the Galactic Empire declared complete victory.
All cities, wilderness, and oceans of the refugee planet were captured.
Over six million civilians in the war zones had been evacuated, but there were still sporadic pockets of resistance in the ruins. Mechanical soldier units were repeatedly sweeping the battlefield, eliminating remnants.
The number of casualties on the battlefield was staggering. A week later, the Galactic Empire military released the statistical data for the general offensive campaign on the refugee planet:
Refugee Planet Royalists:
Killed: 258,030, Captured: 132,050, Missing: 88,000.
Refugee Planet Surrenderists:
Killed: 87,000, Captured: 9,200, Missing: 2,010.
Galactic Empire Allied Forces (Jiang Ye Star and Birong Star Troops):
Human Soldiers Killed: 183, Captured: 0, Missing: 2.
Mechanical Soldiers Killed: 43,072, Captured: 22, Missing: 877.
During the civil war phase before the general offensive and throughout the entire general offensive campaign, the number of local civilian deaths was enormous. The Galactic Empire military had not yet released the data, but it mentioned one point: the vast majority of civilian deaths were due to the royalists' biochemical weapon poisoning, indiscriminate artillery shelling, and starvation and illness caused by the seizure of food and medicine by royalist soldiers during the siege. Additionally, as many as tens of thousands of civilians were forcibly conscripted by royalist soldiers to build fortifications, leading to casualties among the laborers during airstrikes.
The objectives of the general offensive were mostly achieved, with the only exception being that Naomura Rintaro was not found.
According to the recollections of captured royalist generals, he had still seen Naomura at the beginning of the general offensive. At that time, Naomura was in a dazed state, "reporting the situation to him, he seemed not to hear, his eyes were unfocused, and his complexion was very poor."
Currently, mechanical soldiers were collecting samples from corpses in the ruins for DNA comparison in an attempt to locate Naomura's remains.
The Birong Star Air Force and the Jiang Ye Star Air Force issued a joint statement stating that no aircraft from the refugee planet had left the atmosphere during the general offensive, thus ruling out the possibility of Naomura escaping by spaceship.
Cen Yemeng also publicly characterized the whereabouts of Naomura, suggesting the following possibilities:
Annihilated in military strikes, surviving with altered physical features, secretly buried somewhere, or still hiding somewhere.
The search for Naomura was ongoing, but the war on the refugee planet was over.
The soldiers who charged into battle and the displaced refugees could finally breathe a sigh of relief, but for the occupying forces, the various tasks after the war were overwhelming.
Jiang Ye had already prepared a list of post-war tasks, and Cen Yemeng had also prepared a list. The couple combined their lists, removing duplicates, to create a comprehensive list of all necessary work:
First, the battlefield needed to be cleared, especially the vast number of unexploded ordnance and landmines, which required immediate sweeping. Otherwise, the refugee planet would face endless troubles.
Second, compensation for the casualties, assessment of merits for participants, and promotions and transfers within the army. These were matters related to troop cohesion and loyalty and could not be handled carelessly.
Third, the trial of major war criminals on the refugee planet. All malicious war criminals who followed Naomura Rintaro would be executed, and soldiers who committed atrocities against civilians during the war would also be executed or severely punished. Royalist soldiers with lesser crimes would undergo ideological education and labor reform.
Fourth, disaster relief and reconstruction of major cities on the refugee planet, and the living conditions of refugees.
Fifth, to expedite the reception of military aid and construct the first batch of transportation hubs on the refugee planet for the transit of all types of spacecraft entering and exiting the Milky Way.
Sixth, the disposition of the refugee planet's population.
Among these, the sixth item was of paramount importance.
There were too many people on the refugee planet who looked identical. With so many copy-pasted individuals, to avoid chaos, they could only be managed uniformly in the manner of Naomura Rintaro. However, such management violated human nature and Galactic Empire law, so it could not be continued.
After discussing with Li Nannan, Jiang Ye and his wife came up with two methods.