Emperor's Bane

Chapter 955: Fighting a tough battle

There's an old saying in Terra that goes something like this.

War is a continuation of politics.

It is not an independent thing, but is included in and dependent on the category of politics. War is nothing more than the continuation of politics through unconventional means of violence, but it is not pure violence: even a total war that is completely out of control will have a clear and rational internal purpose.

The purpose of this war may be to defend one's existing interests, to plunder desired interests, or to force the enemy to abandon their ambitions for one's own interests by demonstrating strength or defeating the enemy. But whatever the purpose of the war, as long as the purpose is achieved, even the most brutal war will have a reason to end, rather than continuing indefinitely.

Because the purpose of war is to defeat the enemy.

Instead of: kill all the enemies.

In other words, throughout history, there has never been a war whose fundamental purpose was killing.

Perhaps the purpose of a battle or campaign is to eliminate the enemy's manpower, or to drain the lifeblood of a desperate opponent. A commander may plan a meat grinder involving millions of people: but such pure slaughter will at most be limited to the level of a campaign, and will not rise to the level of a war between groups.

Killing is merely a means of war; killing can never and should never be the goal of war.

Any novice war commander understands this simple truth: or rather, anyone who doesn't understand this is not worthy of taking his place and holding the lives of countless soldiers in his hands.

Even the most notorious butchers and executioners in human history genuinely believed that the brutal battles they instigated were helping their homeland walk the sacred path to victory: only that this path would be exceptionally muddy and arduous.

War is for victory, not for killing.

Morgan certainly understood such a simple principle.

On the contrary, even by the high standards of a Primarch, the Queen of Avalon was exceptionally skilled in the complex art of war: the Primarch of the Dawnbreakers may not have been the best commander among the Imperial children, but she certainly held a top position.

As the leader of the Legion, Morgan participated in and commanded some of the most significant battles of the Great Crusade: although neither she nor the Dawnbreakers were known for their military prowess, the most senior generals of the Empire, such as Johnson, Horus, or Perturabo, would not be so arrogant as to overlook the Lord of Avalon's command abilities.

Not to mention, the Spider Queen excels in a unique yet important area: the experience of commanding multiple Astartes legions in joint operations, in which she even surpasses Horus.

After all, although the War General had commanded joint operations of several legions more than once, Horus rarely enjoyed absolute command: rather than commanding several Astartes legions at the same time, Horus was coordinating several brothers who fought alongside him and then arranging the positions of each legion through these brothers.

The reasons for this are complex. One reason is that Horus has always been concerned about his reputation and did not want to leave a bad impression of interfering too much in other legions: although the Wolf God actually often did so intentionally or unintentionally, his reputation for interfering in other legions was far less than that of Guilliman. It can also be seen that Horus has been downplaying this matter.

On the other hand, most of the Primarchs who are willing to cooperate with Horus in the long term are independent-minded and will not relinquish command no matter how much they trust the Wolf God: this applies to both the Khan and the Mortarion.

As for the Astartes legions, which didn't cooperate much with Horus to begin with, they didn't have much confidence to boss these brother units around before Horus officially acquired the title of Warmaster.

Once he truly became a war commander, each legion would have its own fiefdom, and the opportunities for joint operations would naturally be fewer.

Thus, by a twist of fate, Horus, renowned for commanding the combined operations of various legions, was less experienced than the relatively unknown Spider Queen.

Perhaps it was luck, or for some other reason, but on several occasions when the Spider Queen commanded joint operations, most of her brothers-in-arms were willing to relinquish command and quietly listen to the Lord of Avalon's orders.

This involved the trust between Johnson and Conrad.

There is also Guilliman's adherence to rules.

But more importantly, when the situation developed to the point where Morgan needed to command the various legions to fight together, the enemies they faced were often so powerful that the participating legions had no confidence to fight independently, and even the battle lines themselves were very likely to be in chaos. The Lord of Avalon could only divide and deploy them one company at a time.

Conversely, these painful experiences have made Morgan highly experienced in situations where the situation is chaotic, with the companies of various legions intertwined and arranged like trying to find order in a tangled mess of yarn: and now the Comoros battlefield is beginning to show signs of stabilizing in that chaotic state.

It wasn't that the Web Path Legion, carefully selected by the Emperor and Morgan, was overtaken by Comorian stragglers just a few dozen hours after the start of the war; rather, it was because the city's transportation system itself was so bizarre that it defied all common sense.

Morgan watched as a company of World Eaters, which had been marching normally, suddenly deviated from its course by at least several hundred kilometers.

The sight of the company commander helplessly circling the map was strangely adorable.

Fortunately, Morgan was already very familiar with this situation.

It's not difficult to operate.

Although the ever-changing routes of the Dark City made the distribution of the Imperial army unpredictable, the Spider Queen had to keep a close eye on the map and occasionally take matters into her own hands.

For example, you could use psionic energy to teleport that incredibly powerful, remote company directly to its location.
Or they could unleash a psionic blade to wipe out a group of Dark Eldar who were launching an attack, since the Astartes responsible for the garrison wouldn't arrive for another three minutes: this was already the best possible outcome of distributing all kinds of Stormbirds and flying vehicles to each company.

Overall, however, these minor skirmishes occupied only a small part of Morgan's mind. He still had time to think about deeper issues, such as constantly monitoring the movements in the core area of ​​Comoros, or considering the true purpose of the Battle of Comoros.

Didn't we already decide that a long time ago?
The Lord of Mankind showed a very obvious impatience with this question, but he still explained to his daughter in as calm a tone as possible.

Our strategic objective is simple.
The purpose is to obtain enough materials from the Dark Eldar to support the construction of the network.
+The foundation of the Dark City of Comoros is an ancient technology that even the Dark Eldar themselves have long forgotten. It not only allowed this unprecedentedly vast city to successfully establish itself in the Webpath region for a long time, but also enabled it to autonomously extend and continuously expand Comoros's foundation—precisely what our Webpath needs most.+
Although the technology has been lost, we can bring back as many raw materials as possible to form the strongest outer wall of the human net: these materials will not only increase the net's strength by several levels, but will also allow the net to expand automatically over the years, thus saving us from continuing to spend huge sums of money on this project.
Therefore, our objective in this expedition to Comoros is not to destroy the city or wipe them out.
Although the Eldar have declined to an extreme state after the Great Fall, their previous foundations were so vast that even in their current state, their relative strength remains among the top in the galaxy: to completely eliminate the Eldar, we would have to mobilize the entire human empire.
Therefore, the Netway Legion and this Comoros War have only one objective.

+ Designate a large enough piece of land.
+ Stay here long enough.
+Wait for me and the Mechanicus forces to dig through the Comoros's foundations and take away enough raw materials.+
Then we left.
This is the purpose of this war.
In order to accomplish this goal, the Lord of Humanity has made ample preparations.

At least, he prepared enough supplies.

Thinking of this, the Lord of Avalon couldn't help but turn around and look in the direction of the tunnel boring machine.

Morgan knew that the enormous machine, as massive as a star, was maintaining a jump route from the Human Web to the Comoros: a constant stream of supplies and building materials were being transported from the Human Web's warehouses. These vast amounts of resources came from the Terra government's fifty-year-long plunder of the entire galaxy, and their sheer quantity surprised even the Spider Queen, who had long managed the Far Eastern frontier.

Morgan had no doubt that with such a vast amount of material resources as a backing, given enough time, these Mechanicus cultists could even complete the complete urbanization of the entire Upper Comoros.

This urbanization and fortification formed the tactical foundation of the imperial army in the Comoros.

As early as when they first discussed the selection of the Web Path Legion and the progress of the Comoros War, the Spider Queen and her Gene Father finalized this battle plan.

This plan has two supporting arguments.

Firstly, there was the empire's inexhaustible resources.

Secondly, there are the Emperor and Morgan, two absolute powerhouses that the Dark Eldar cannot bypass.

These two points were the two most decisive advantages of the Imperial Army throughout the Comoros War, so all military deployments revolved around these two points in order to bypass those areas where the Empire did not have an advantage, such as where it was relatively at a disadvantage in terms of troop strength.

After all, it's difficult for mortal troops to deploy in a hellish place like the Comoros. Losing too many Astartes troops would fundamentally impact warfare in the real universe. While the Mechanicus's forces are indeed large, a significant portion must engage in higher-priority excavation work, leaving a limited number of troops truly available for combat. This is why urbanization is necessary.

The Emperor and Morgan's general plan is as follows.

First, the Spider Queen needs to clear an absolutely safe landing zone for the Imperial army.

Morgan did this perfectly.

The psionic annihilation covering 380,000 kilometers not only opened up a sufficiently safe landing zone for the Imperial army, but also had an invisible, intangible effect: it successfully deterred the inherently cowardly Dark Eldar, preventing them from launching a large-scale counterattack at the very beginning of the war, which also successfully bought time for the Imperial army.

Having secured these two points, the Imperial Army began its actual military deployment.

This refers to fortress-pushing tactics and selective, flexible defense.

Undoubtedly, both of these tactics have a long history. Flexible defense was proposed and used as early as the first world war claimed by mankind, while fortification advance, also known as building hard fortifications, is an intangible cultural heritage that has been proven effective many times since the era of cold weapons.

However, on the other hand, in such a total war that is purely a contest of the material resources and will of both sides, complex tactics often have the opposite effect.

Therefore, the plans for the Emperor and Primarch are quite simple.

The forces, mainly composed of Astartes and the Imperial Guard, will advance rapidly after Morgan creates 380,000 kilometers of no man's land. Before the Eldar launch a major counterattack, they will seize the most important transportation arteries and hold their ground there, in order to expand the Imperial army's controlled territory as much as possible.

Meanwhile, the Mechanicus's army of protectors and giant environmental terraforming machines will centered around the tunnel boring machines, demolishing the complex original architectural structure of Comoros and building various sturdy fortresses on the site. The purpose of this is twofold: first, to strengthen the Imperial army's defensive capabilities, and second, to destroy the Eldar's home-field advantage.

The fortresses are mainly divided into three types: the outermost reconnaissance fortresses are almost outside the no-man's land set up by Morgan. These small bunkers only maintain a minimum garrison and are even completely self-sufficient. Their only function is to monitor the movements of the Dark Eldar army by relying on the radar, oracoustic instruments, and optical or acoustic detection instruments inside. After all, the Spider Queen's soul detection cannot be without any omissions.

These fortresses can be abandoned if necessary.

Behind the reconnaissance fortress, about 70,000 to 80,000 kilometers away from the edge of the extinction zone, the Mechanicus devoted the vast majority of its resources to building a firepower fortress, until a firepower network at least 50,000 kilometers wide was formed. There would be countless heavy firepower and missile silos, sealing off every possible route that could threaten the tunnel boring machine. Not even a feather could pass through the high sky.

Meanwhile, these fortified strongholds often appeared to be equipped with rudimentary teleportation devices to ensure the Imperial army could move at high speeds.

As for the third type of fortress, it is more like a city wall than a fortress. Its purpose is to block the wide, unprotected main roads and gain a defensive advantage for the Imperial army in large-scale firefights. Of course, there are also trap areas such as large-scale minefields designed to kill the enemy. In any case, most of the Dark Eldar lack the quality of a regular army.

After the construction of these fortresses is completed, the Imperial army, which was originally scattered on the outskirts, will slowly retreat from the main battlefield that Comoros is familiar with, and gradually move back to the Imperial home ground established by the Mechanicus: except for some particularly important transportation points that need to be heavily guarded, and each road will also be equipped with necessary patrol teams, most of the Imperial Guard and Astartes will be concentrated.

They were divided into hundreds of battle groups, relying on the defenses of the fortress network, serving as a mobile force capable of high-speed movement to maintain the Empire's Great Wall: their role was to quickly arrive and contain the forces of the Dark Eldar when they breached the fortresses, and then work with the fortress's strong garrison to eliminate the invaders.

The hordes of Comorian thugs could be dealt with by Astartes warriors alone, while the more elite forces would require the Imperial Guard. When the Dark Eldar launched a full-scale offensive, two Primarchs, both equipped with Morgan's psionic teleportation devices, could be deployed immediately.

However, if the situation becomes so dire that even the Primarch cannot suppress it, then the Spider Queen will set aside extra time to personally eliminate these unstable factors on the strategic map.

It is almost impossible for any Dark Eldar to break through the Mechanicus's firepower and the Imperial army's layers of resistance. Even if an Xenomorph were that powerful, it would ultimately face the all-out attack of the Human Lord: this was the Imperial army's tactic in the Battle of Comoros.

The ultimate goal of this tactic is to use this fortified division and flexible defense strategy to force the Dark Eldar to acknowledge the Empire's occupation of the land beneath their feet, thus allowing the Mechanicus behind them to continue their excavation work in peace. If the outcome of just one district is not enough to satisfy the Emperor and the Web Dao, the Imperial army will repeat the process. Then, they will advance on the next district.

They will use endless fortresses and blades to seize another district from the mouth of the Comoros.

This is also Morgan's biggest concern.

Because the Emperor never made it clear to her how many districts they were going to take from Comoros.

The Dark Eldar might back down in the face of the Empire and the Emperor's overwhelming power, willingly abandoning a district.

But if the same thing happens so many times, then these Comorian natives will have to question the empire's true purpose.

If the Lord of Humanity desires to destroy the entire Comoros, then even the cowardly Dark Eldar are not without the possibility of mutual destruction.

Although it's not high, we still have to be careful.

This is also what Morgan is worried about.

The Empire's army has an absolute advantage when facing a region or force in the Comoros.

But a united, dark city?

Well, who knows what secret weapons these guys who inherited the legacy of the Eldar Empire might pull out?
Are you worried about this kind of thing?
Upon hearing Morgan's concerns, the Emperor hesitated briefly before smiling.

What's so funny about that, Father?

Morgan frowned at this.

I'm laughing; you haven't figured out one thing yet.
【What is it? 】

Morgan.
The emperor seemed to have put down his work.

Have you ever considered what our biggest advantage is in this war?
【...You and me?】

This is indeed a significant advantage.
But it's not the biggest yet.
+Then let me tell you, Morgan.

Our greatest advantage is that we are fighting against a group of Dark Eldar.
This is our greatest advantage.
Trust me.
I know them better than you think.
+And it is precisely because of this understanding that I have the courage to launch this all-out war.
【…】

I would like to hear the details, Father.

As he spoke, Morgan's gaze also swept over the unusual area at the edge of the map.

Another attack from the Dark Eldar?

Well: Hopefully their hobby won't attract that annoying suitor.

The Lord of Avalon already has this concern.

(End of this chapter)