Chapter 343: Joint Offensive‑Defensive Battle

"You've come, so get ready; our training will start right away." Qin Ge said to the Grand Fleet members who had walked up to his side.

At that moment, Li Chenming gave Qin Ge a look and said, "Commander, who are these?"

He was clearly asking about the shipgirls of the Eight Major Factions, because he had seen them earlier in the tactics class at the Grand Lecture Hall.

He could clearly tell these shipgirls were not Qin Ge's, since he had seen all of Qin Ge's shipgirls before, and they were now standing on Qin Ge's other side, clearly distinct from those shipgirls.

"They're just here to observe our training, so don't worry about it." Qin Ge said with a smile, not wanting to dwell on this issue because he didn't want to put too much pressure on his Grand Fleet members right now.

Seeing Qin Ge brush it off with a sentence, Li Chenming no longer wanted to pursue it, so he nodded to indicate he understood.

Then Qin Ge immediately said to the Grand Fleet members, "Today we're conducting an offensive-defensive drill; my shipgirls will join your respective formations, ensuring equal strength as we begin the contest between the attacking and defending sides."

You can command your own shipgirls, having them keep pace with my shipgirls. This is also a training of our Grand Fleet's cohesion, so once you're ready, hand your shipgirls over to my two leading shipgirls.

They are respectively the attacking side formed by Bisimai and Ou Gen Qin Wang et al., and the defending side formed by Weineituo and Guanghui et al.

Do you all understand?"

"Understood!" Li Chenming and the others nodded in agreement. They had trained on this item before, so they already had a certain familiarity.

But the newcomers Wu Hao and Zhang Shaocheng lacked that foundation; they were now blank-faced, somewhat confused, unsure what they should do.

"Commander, could you tell us what to do? We haven't trained with you before, so we're a bit lost." Wu Hao hurriedly said.

Qin Ge smiled and said, "This training is simply applying what I taught in class to actual combat; unlike a single fleet doing enemy‑response drills, we are now conducting a Grand Fleet enemy‑response drill, meaning we aim to improve each person's coordination."

So my requirement for you now is simply to keep pace with my fleet's shipgirls, because in future major battles I won't always be the one commanding; we must cultivate your own observational awareness.

Being able to control the battlefield's information and make the correct judgment is the basic skill I hope each of you masters; moreover, you must be good at cooperating, since after all you won't always maintain smooth communications on the battlefield—if you encounter a communications breakdown, you must take responsibility as commanders.

"Understood." Wu Hao nodded.

"Also, since this is your first time training with the Grand Fleet, I allow you to make mistakes, but any errors must be recorded and corrected promptly; they will not be allowed again on the second day of training." Qin Ge said sternly to the few.

"Yes, Commander!" The newly joined fleet members all said.

Qin Ge nodded with a smile, then turned to Bisimai and Weineituo and said, "Next, you two will pick your teammates, trying to achieve balance between offense and defense."

"Yes." The two fleet flagship shipgirls immediately understood Qin Ge's meaning, promptly agreed, and immediately began selecting teammates.

Whether out of tacit understanding or agreement, their selection order alternated—you pick one, I pick one—and they did not first choose Qin Ge's shipgirls, but instead first chose the shipgirls of other Grand Fleet members.

After selecting the fleet members, each side took their positions, and Bisimai and Weineituo simultaneously turned their gaze toward Qin Ge.

Qin Ge nodded, "Then let's begin the training."

"Yes."

Bisimai and Weineituo nodded, then led their respective teams down the pier onto the sea surface. Immediately afterward, each glided toward their designated area.

As the exercise officially began, the offensive‑defensive seesaw commenced. Li Chenming and the others intently held binoculars and handheld communication devices, observing the current situation and ready to issue orders to their shipgirls at any moment.

As for Qin Ge, he appeared relatively relaxed, because the tactics needed for offense and defense he had already taught his shipgirls; this drill was merely a continuation of that earlier offensive‑defensive battle, except with a few new variables added.

This is also a test for them, since their teammates are not all thoroughly familiar people, so how they allocate their forces and which tactics they adopt is likewise a test.

After all, on the battlefield you won't have only your own people; you might also encounter scattered members of other Grand Fleets, or free shipgirls. Therefore, those who have never trained together will inevitably introduce certain variables into overall coordination, and this drill is meant to eliminate those variables.

That is why, considering this, Qin Ge chose Bisimai and Weineituo as the two faction leaders, rather than anyone else.

As for the Envoy shipgirls of the Eight Major Factions nearby, they were also watching this drill battle; although in their view these commanders would show some fairly obvious command mistakes, they were still far better than the second‑year students or recent graduates from their own factions' academies.

Several shipgirls involuntarily nodded, obviously approving Qin Ge's teaching and training methods.

On the sea surface, the offensive and defensive formations continued; as the training time progressed, the chance of Grand Fleet members making mistakes became ever smaller.

Qin Ge watched as they gradually grasped the intent of his training, and he couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. Although their command and tactical application were still a bit immature, at least they could now keep up with his pace.

After further polishing, they would be able to shoulder great responsibility; thereafter he hopes that the commanders sent out by his Star Sea Grand Fleet will be capable of leading a force, not merely being excellent commanders.

This is his dream, and also the future of his Star Sea Grand Fleet. Since he now stands on the stage of the Nine Major Factions, what will happen afterward no one can say; all he can do is train them all well.

When a full‑scale war eventually breaks out, they can become aiding strength for Donghuang.

When the sea‑surface battle ended, it was already afternoon. Because they had been paying attention to the battlefield situation for a long time, Li Chenming and the others were already somewhat fatigued.

And Qin Ge, not being an impatient person, therefore concluded today's training, while the shipgirls of the other Eight Major Factions also successively left the training ground……