Chapter 84: Triangle Tactic

After the preparatory bell rang, Qin Ge picked up his textbook and walked toward the podium of the Grand Lecture Hall, while the Prince of Wales brought Qin Ge's three shipgirls and they sat together in the specially reserved front-row seats.

As soon as he entered the Grand Lecture Hall, Qin Ge saw that the three commanders seated in the front held the rank of senior colonel.

Seeing this, Qin Ge's mouth curled up. Thinking back to when he was at the Haijun Zhihui Xueyuan on Earth, he too had sat below and listened just as attentively.

But now he uses his own knowledge to tell such officers what tactics are.

This truly is fate's arrangement!

"Class begins!"

As Qin Ge's voice sounded, everyone stood up.

"Sit down!"

After seeing everyone sit down, Qin Ge placed his textbook on the table.

"In the last lesson we discussed what defensive tactics are and what the concept of defensive tactics is; today I will explain tactics from another angle, and then talk about another tactic within tactics—offensive tactics."

After Qin Ge finished speaking, he glanced at the commanders and shipgirls below, then continued.

"After the previous lesson ended, someone asked me whether tactics, being dull, have a better way to learn?"

So I brought this question to this lesson; indeed, understanding the principle of tactics is a tedious process, but actually it's very simple to explain.

For example, I am holding a watermelon in my hand; this watermelon represents the enemy, and we and our shipgirls are the knife that cuts the watermelon.

Place the watermelon here, hold the knife, and cut along its lines 1, 2, 3—this action is called breakthrough. Cutting the watermelon into several pieces is called division. Picking up one piece is called encirclement. Eating that piece is called annihilation.

Isn't that simple to hear? And that is what is called tactics: breakthrough, division, encirclement, annihilation.

As Qin Ge's vivid analogy proceeded, some students below who found tactics troublesome suddenly had an epiphany. Especially the fleet commanders seated in the front row and the officers returning from the front line also nodded involuntarily.

"The previous lesson also covered the defensive system; everyone understands that completely removing the enemy's defensive system is difficult, but if we can find an attack point within that defensive system, we can launch an attack to form a breakthrough."

And the key point of breakthrough lies in the two words 'virtual and real'. Distinguishing what is the enemy's weak point is a basic quality of a fleet commander, not exactly brilliant. The brilliant approach is to be skilled at creating the enemy's virtual and real situations, i. e., being good at maneuvering the enemy.

As long as the enemy is maneuvered, the previously immovable defensive system will reveal its flaws and weak points, allowing us to find the weak point and attack.

And division, after a breakthrough, means splitting the enemy's defensive system into two or more smaller parts. The key to doing this is to create a posture, i. e., to produce an arrowhead inserted into the enemy's defensive system after forming a breakthrough.

And encirclement, after dividing the enemy forces, means choosing one part to encircle; the important point is to isolate that portion of the divided enemy forces, or all of them.

As for annihilation, that is easy to explain. Once the enemy is completely surrounded, our final step is annihilation, seizing victory in the war.

We can clearly see that breakthrough creates the conditions for division, division creates the conditions for encirclement, and encirclement creates the conditions for final annihilation.

So next, I will explain a breakthrough tactic, or breakthrough method, to provide favorable support for our offensive breakthrough actions.

As Qin Ge lectured, many people picked up their notebooks and began to record notes.

Especially those commanders in front, starting from the earlier watermelon-cutting example, Qin Ge's talk continually gave them a fresh feeling, letting them realize that this is what war really is.

Especially when Qin Ge said he would next discuss the breakthrough tactic, everyone stared at the stage without blinking.

"The tactic I am about to discuss can be used for either defensive or offensive systems; it is called the Triangle Tactic."

Qin Ge said while drawing a triangle on the blackboard behind him.

"You all know that among all shapes, the triangle is the most stable, so when applied to tactics, whether defensive or offensive, it can achieve mutual support."

Therefore the Triangle Tactic is an offense-defense integrated tactic; one can advance to attack and retreat to defend; this is where the tactic's characteristics are most evident.

Take the impending Siren Tide we are about to face as an example: when the Siren Tide arrives, it is not a full-scale frontal assault; instead, it splits into several large Siren fleets to launch strikes at various points of our cities.

At this time we can use the Triangle Tactic for both defense and offense.

Qin Ge said, then pointed at the blackboard and drew a circle directly below the triangle.

"Assume this circle is the Siren's large fleet; to break through our Triangle Tactic defense system, it must divide its forces to attack point A or point B."

Because of the battle area and sea conditions, the enemy's attack between points A and B is at a disadvantage, but our fleets at point C can indeed move freely.

Then our fleet at point C goes to support point A, making the combined strength of A and C greater than the invading Siren fleet, quickly annihilating them, and then proceeds to support point B.

So at this time, the strengths of points A and B may differ; the point to be supported must be the weaker side. Meanwhile, the point that is solely defending must be guaranteed to have strong firepower, ensuring it does not fall before the other two points annihilate the enemy.

And if the enemy concentrates all its forces to attack either point A or point B, then the remaining two points can fire full force from the flank of the Siren fleet, continuously shooting at the Siren forces and thus annihilating them.

And if the enemy concentrates all its forces to attack our point C, then points A and B will strike the enemy with even greater force, and the enemy will be equivalent to having burrowed into our encirclement—'close the door and beat the dog,' you all know that, right?

As Qin Ge lectured, he continually drew the corresponding formations on the blackboard and marked the attack arrows. This intuitive feeling let everyone clearly understand the intention of this tactic, how to construct later counteroffensive strategies, and so on…