"...Four days ago, my unit completed the established combat plan and annihilated more than 80,000 rebel forces, of which over 9,000 were killed and more than 70,000 were captured,"
"Our military casualties numbered 415, including 164 killed in action."
"Currently, our Central Group Army is continuing to advance southwest as planned, with the goal of completely disarming 77 known survivor settlements in that direction and liberating two million people in the Central Province. This goal is optimistically estimated to be achievable within one month."
"Please rest assured, Governor, we will complete the mission!"
Gu Hang glanced at the report sent back by Commander Yan and then set it aside.
He wasn't surprised by the outcome, so it didn't stir anything within him.
At most, he had compared it with the war report interface generated by the system.
From this war, Gu Hang had earned 774 points of grace, quite a good sum, recouping the cost of training those seventy political commissars.
However, the numbers of kills and captures submitted by Yan Fangxu were slightly different from those in the system's war report, but the difference was minor.
This discrepancy was normal statistical error.
The numbers tallied by the system came from metaphysics, an external aid; the report submitted by Yan Fangxu was after manually counting the numbers.
Captives were easy enough, just count the heads; but kills were much harder to confirm, especially since most of the enemy casualties actually died from artillery fire. How could one confirm how many people made up a pile of mangled flesh when the bunkers were demolished and their occupants buried, or when bodies were blown to pieces?
In any case, the so-called Central Group Army, which had been incorporated into this operation, totaled around 38,000 people, seemingly facing an enemy 2.5 times its number. But in reality, there was a huge gap between the two sides in terms of training, experience, and equipment.
This was a battle they couldn't lose unless Yan Fangxu was incredibly stupid. Such a performance was quite normal.
As things stood, Commander Yan was certainly not stupid, but rather had done quite well.
After the annihilation of those more than 80,000 people, the rebel forces in the Central Province were like grasshoppers after autumn, unable to bounce back for long.
When it boils down to it, they were nothing more than disparate settlements, with populations ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand, or at most a few hundred thousand, with weak productivity and dire poverty, barely managing to survive.
It was only the special conditions of the wasteland that allowed each household to have some weapons, so that when threatened, they could raise a "large army" to resist.
But after this wave of resistance had been crushed, with their so-called alliance army's characteristics, it was impossible for them to form a second troop.
They claimed to be against the alliance, but in reality, they were the loose alliance; the alliance, said to be an alliance, had rapidly been transformed into a highly centralized polity under Gu Hang's rule.
The mobilization capabilities of the two could hardly be compared.
Moreover, losing 80,000 young and able-bodied men among the rebel forces, which totaled a population of two million in Central Province, was akin to losing 4% of their total population. How could a hastily formed coalition withstand such a blow?
Previously, the Alliance had hardly exerted itself, and more than 10,000 men were enough to hold back these 80,000; now, with a little more effort, those 80,000 were gone in four days.
Even capturing 80,000 pigs might take this long.
Wouldn't the leaders and people of those settlements be shaken?
They must be scared to death.
Gu Hang judged that, from now on, Yan Fangxu's actions would hardly be obstructed. It was likely that under each city's walls, white flags would be raised in surrender.
Even if those fellows wanted to keep resisting, their civilians probably wouldn't agree; and even if the civilians did agree, it would be extremely difficult for them to muster tens of thousands of guns again.
However, although the subsequent actions should go smoothly, and the whole war was not difficult, Gu Hang still decided that, unless something unexpected happened, he would promote Yan Fangxu to the rank of brigadier after he returned from this battle.
A commander of a group army in the Alliance was just a colonel, which was quite unsatisfactory.
In less than half a year, Yan Fangxu had risen from a minor naval captain to the rank of brigadier, the same rank as Captain Yelisia, who had dispatched him to the border.
This significance, tsk tsk.
One wonders what Yelisia would think when she saw it.
Although there's a big difference between them. A proper First-Class Imperial Navy brigadier is far from being a brigadier in a minor planetary Defense Army. But... while the significance may not be great, the rank of the Planetary Defense Force is still recognized by the Empire, and Yelisia would have to pinch her nose and call him brigadier.
Bringing his thoughts back to the war, there was another matter that required Gu Hang's attention: they had captured 70,000 prisoners.
These prisoners were currently being transported over.
To accommodate these people, the construction team in Revival City would build a large prisoner-of-war camp near the new recruit training base.
These prisoners of war could not be treated in the same way as previously captured marauders.
Most of them were not marauders and had not committed serious crimes. Being part of the rebel forces was something done by the leaders of each settlement. Whether they volunteered or were mobilized, or even conscripted, in the end, they were mostly poor commoners, civilians.
As enemies, there were no pleasantries; but now, as prisoners, there was no need to be too harsh.