Doomsday: I Build a Space Fleet

Chapter 206 Artillery Clears the Way, Rapid Advance

"Doomsday: I Build a Space Fleet" is presented by Qingkong Xingchen and exclusively published by Cola Novels!

After confirming that the airborne command post had sufficient battery power to complete the remaining search mission, Lorraine moved it above the coal mine.

Then, Lorraine looked at Ouyang Nian.

"Production of the construction machinery is proceeding normally, and the first set of sampling equipment is expected to be completed in 1 hour and 15 minutes."

"However, these devices are all quite large, and the weight of each piece of construction machinery exceeds the lifting capacity of existing helicopters."

"The roads in the city haven't been cleared yet. We need to build an airport near these mines and use medium-sized transport aircraft to transport the equipment there."

Upon hearing this, Platinum turned around and added a transportation method.

"It can also be transported by train; there is a small station near these mines for transporting minerals."

"The nearest station is located 5 kilometers east of Airport No. 2."

"This station isn't very large, but it has four high-specification tracks that can support trains traveling at speeds of up to 300 kilometers per hour."

As Bai Jin spoke, he brought up an image and projected it onto the control panel in front of them.

A total of 4 trains, comprising 56 carriages, are stopped at this station.

"Why do these car fronts look so old?"

Lorraine was somewhat puzzled, and then took control of a Rainbow 1 drone parked at Airport No. 2 to conduct reconnaissance.

After a close reconnaissance, Lorraine finally understood why these trains looked so old.

These are four weather-tested gas turbine locomotives, with two fuel storage tanks attached to the rear of the locomotive.

Another reason is that the four trains were covered with a thick layer of mud.

However, after comparing them, Lorraine discovered that these four motorcycles were not the heavy motorcycles described in the intelligence system.

However, Lorraine and his team still need to solve many problems before these locomotives can be put into service.

The first problem facing Lorraine and his team was how to clear this section of the city road.

To be honest, the zombie density outside the city center isn't actually that high, but it's not easy to clear them out.

All residential areas were divided into blocks, each block consisting of two- or three-story buildings with small courtyards, some of which even had their own swimming pools.

Most importantly, the buildings that urgently need to be cleared now are all reinforced concrete structures, making it impossible to use construction machinery to demolish them and increase the speed of the combat group's advance.

The only saving grace is that the grade of the reinforced concrete in these small buildings is not very high.

In order to increase the advance speed of the unmanned combat swarm, Lorraine didn't care too much and chose to directly bombard the building complex between Airport No. 2 and the train station with artillery.

Without further ado, Lorraine first conducted experiments using shells of different calibers.

After some comparison, a solution that was not the most efficient but would not affect the road structure was found: to use 76mm naval guns or 60mm mortars to target and destroy the buildings.

While the lethality of 130mm naval guns and 203mm heavy artillery is commendable, they inevitably damage urban infrastructure.

Without hesitation, Lorraine quickly adjusted the production plan of the military factory, replacing all wheeled armored vehicles with tracked armored vehicles that could be equipped with obstacle-breaking shovels.

To avoid accidentally harming the survivors living there, after adjusting the production plan, Lorraine dispatched several Rainbow 1 drones equipped with generators to inform them of the impending bombing of the neighborhood.

On the morning of the second day, after Lorraine confirmed several times that there were no survivors in the area, he put the newly produced tracked vehicles into place.

All the newly produced tracked combat vehicles were gathered between the two main roads connecting the airport and the train station, and dozens of small rotorcraft equipped with generators were also in place.

The front row consists of tracked infantry fighting vehicles equipped with obstacle breaching shovels, whose main weapons are a 30mm electromagnetic cannon and a 12.7mm electromagnetic machine gun.

The second row consists entirely of tracked infantry fighting vehicles without the addition of obstacle-breaking shovels.

The third rank was the focus of this operation, consisting of nearly 3 twin-mounted 60mm tracked self-propelled mortars.

The gaps between each tracked vehicle are filled by two assault robots and five sentry robots. They are responsible for clearing zombies that are too close to the armored vehicle and in the blind spot, as well as removing some stubborn obstacles.

At Lorraine's command, a barrage of artillery fire resounded across the land. Zombies near the two main roads slammed against the rotten wooden fences, roaring madly as they charged toward the tracked infantry fighting vehicles at the forefront.

"Buzzing"

Amidst the sounds of motors turning and capacitors charging, the not-so-large horde of zombies was torn to shreds.

As the assault robots walk on the wreckage pushed aside by the tracked infantry fighting vehicles, they will stop from time to time, raise their electromagnetic rifles, and attack the faint signs of life detected by the detectors.

Two hundred meters behind the armored forces, a team of engineering machines is on standby. With the assistance of engineering robots, they will clear away all the building debris in the area and set up interception and defense facilities around the two main roads.

The armored forces are advancing at high speed and cleared the 3-kilometer-long and 1.5-kilometer-wide living area in just one and a half hours.

Now all that's blocking their way is an industrial zone.

After a moment's hesitation, Lorraine did not order the armored forces to advance, but instead sent out sentinel robots to scout the situation within the factory areas.

Ten minutes later, various intelligence reports were transmitted back to the flagship. Looking at the information displayed, Lorraine felt a headache coming on.

These devices are not advanced; most of them are products from 5 to 10 years before the apocalypse. They are not well preserved, but they are still usable.

After a moment's thought, Lorraine decided to reject one of the factory areas with the oldest equipment.

The artillery fire that had just stopped roared up again, but this time the zombies attracted by the sound could only ram into the iron fence surrounding the factory area again and again, but they could not break through the fence and cause negligible obstruction to the advance of the armored forces.

In 10 minutes, a factory area more than 200 meters wide and 1 kilometer long was blasted into pieces. Lorraine divided the infantry into three teams, each responsible for clearing the wreckage in front of them and the factory area on both sides.

The moment the road was cleared, several armored repair vehicles and tracked infantry fighting vehicles departed from Airport No. 2 and drove straight toward the distant train station.

Upon arriving at the train station, the armored repair vehicles, working in pairs and with the assistance of humanoid engineering robots, began inspecting the four locomotives.

Fifteen minutes later, two heavy transport vehicles that had set off from the front line arrived late, each carrying four track maintenance robots.