Empire Conquest
Chapter 102 - 98 Encirclement and Interception

Chapter 102: Chapter 98 Encirclement and Interception

Recovering dozens of ship-borne aircraft was not an easy task.

From 6:30 a.m., and nearly by eight, the last "Typhoon" had just landed on the flight deck, and it almost collided with the aircraft parked at the forward end of the flight deck.

This was an unavoidable issue; during the recovery of aircraft, the elevators at the forward end of the flight deck had to be used. Due to the insufficient speed of transport, many aircraft that could not be delivered to the hangar in time had to be parked at the forward end of the flight deck. Not just the Imperial Navy’s carriers, but all carriers have this problem. Otherwise, the Saiyi Navy and the Bulan Navy would not have come up with the idea of adding several layers of decks.

Inside the Command Bridge, a dozen or so staff officers had already taken their places, and Li Mingbo was with the communications officer.

When Bai Zhizhan entered, Li Mingbo nodded at him and, after giving a few orders to the communications officer, came over.

"We’ve just received word: the two legislative houses have passed the declaration of war submitted by the Grand Secretary in an emergency session, and not a single member opposed it."

"That was to be expected."

"Half an hour to go, want to say a few words first?"

Bai Zhizhan glared at Li Mingbo, feeling that his old buddy was becoming more and more mischievous.

Of course, maintaining such an optimistic and cheerful state of mind at times like these was an extremely valuable quality, and he definitely should not dampen his spirits.

"Has there been any news from the Southern Fleet?" Bai Zhizhan did not want to joke around, and so he changed the subject.

"Still the same as this afternoon, no new battle reports."

Bai Zhizhan sighed bitterly and rubbed his forehead vigorously.

"I’ll go make you a cup of coffee."

"Don’t add sugar."

Li Mingbo nodded in agreement, well aware that Bai Zhizhan was feeling very irritable.

Actually, Bai Zhizhan couldn’t be blamed.

Around four o’clock in the afternoon, the Southern Fleet Headquarter had sent a telegram: the Special Mixed Group was under attack, the "Ling River" had been sunk, and the "Heng River" was in imminent peril.

In addition, they had lost more than two hundred ship-borne aircraft in the battle!

Although according to the reports, they had sunk three Saiyi carriers and shot down over a hundred enemy aircraft, the massive losses were still shocking.

After this battle, could the Special Mixed Group continue to fight?

According to the telegram, the Special Mixed Group had already been reorganized, and Liu Xiangzhen had transferred to the "Longjiang," continuing to command the Fleet in battle.

In the evening, the Southern Fleet Headquarter sent another telegram.

Based on the latest reconnaissance reports, the battle results had been revised: only two Saiyi carriers had been sunk, and two more were heading towards the Nanzhu Islands at full speed. Since they were now beyond the operational radius of the ship-borne aircraft and the Special Mixed Group had hardly any remaining aircraft capable of striking, no third wave of attack had been launched. The key was that there was now reason to believe that the Saiyi Navy’s fifth Air Corps was in East Ocean.

Additionally, it had been confirmed that among the fleeing carriers, one was the heavily damaged "Jiahe."

As for the other, it was highly likely to be the "Feilong," as according to previous combat reports, the carrier with the island structure on the port side that was sunk was the "Chicheng."

This suggested that the Mobile Fleet might only have one carrier that was combat-capable.

The crucial point was that the Mobile Fleet, too, had hardly any remaining aircraft.

Unless the Newland Federation assisted covertly by opening the airspace of Nanzhu Country and providing transit airports, the Saiyi Navy could replete its carriers in the Nanzhu Sea with combat aircraft for the Mobile Fleet.

These were minor issues for now, no need to worry about them yet.

Although the fifth Air Corps was intact, the fact that it had not been integrated into the Mobile Fleet already proved that the corps had not yet formed a fighting force.

At most, those two carriers could serve as transit platforms for the ship-borne aircraft.

In addition, it was quite possible that the Mobile Fleet had turned south after nightfall, after breaking contact, bypassing Nanzhu Country and returning to East Ocean through a strait on the southern side.

An adventurous move north?

Even if Takano were a true madman, unless his head had been jammed by a door, he would never willingly come over to court death!

To the north, there was only the Two-car Strait to enter East Ocean, which lies south of Zu Island with a maximum width of less than three hundred kilometers. If the Saiyi Fleet took that route, there would be no need to deploy the Aviation Mixed Fleet, as the fighter aircraft stationed on Zu Island would be sufficient.

A breakout at night?

In one night, over ten hours, battleships traveling at full speed could only cover about five hundred kilometers, clearly within the striking range of bombers.

Of course, they could also choose to navigate close to the territorial waters of Nanzhu Country.

However, that area would definitely be under intense surveillance.

The key point was that there were only a few navigable channels inside the Two-car Strait, which a few submarines could blockade, and lurking submarines posed a lethal threat to large battleships.

From this perspective, the first round of exchanges after the war had hereby come to an end.

The telegraph sent subsequently by the Navy Headquarter turned the full stop marking the end of this great sea and air battle into a comma, or perhaps a semi-colon.

Just that afternoon, two small carrier vessels of the Third Air Corps, which were docked at the Long Sorrow Military Port in the western part of Saiyi, set sail accompanied by more than a dozen warships.

The crucial point was that both carriers set out "fully loaded."

More precisely, their flight decks were filled with ship-borne aircraft, leaving only enough deck length for the nimble fighters to take off.

Although it wasn’t specified which types of ship-borne aircraft the two light fleet carriers were carrying, it was clear that the Saiyi Navy had no intention of giving up just yet.

To continue fighting or to rendezvous with the Mobile Fleet?

The latter was clearly more likely.

In addition, the Navy Headquarter explicitly ordered the complete annihilation of the Saiyi Fleet that had entered the Flame Sea and strove to obliterate the Saiyi Navy’s Air Corps.

Although the order left some room for flexibility, not being definitively worded, the fact that it was included in the telecommand indicated that this was the primary goal.

The task of Bai Zhizhan was to keep close watch over the Two-car Strait!

To put it simply, if the Saiyi Fleet slipped through the Two-car Strait, Bai Zhizhan would have to bear full responsibility.

Of course, this was predicated on the Newland Federation not formally entering the war.

If the Newland Federation declared war or participated in actual combat actions, the circumstances would clearly be different.

However, Bai Zhizhan was not worried about the Newland Navy because in the West East Ocean, the strongest forces the Newland Navy could deploy were two heavy cruisers. As for the carrier fleet with its massive threat, they were all deployed on the opposite shore of East Ocean and the military ports on the central islands of East Ocean.

Another key point was that after regrouping, the Special Mixed Group would chase after the Saiyi Fleet fleeing towards Nanzhu Country with the First Aviation Mixed Fleet as its main force.

What was this for?

That’s right, it was to drive the Saiyi Fleet this way!

The reason was that the "Jiahe" had suffered severe damage, and the Saiyi Fleet’s speed might not be up to par, thus if the Special Mixed Group swiftly headed south, they might be able to catch up with the Saiyi Fleet. With this concern, Takano might not opt for a southward evasion and could take the risk of breaking through from the north.

The Flame Sea was only so big, where else could they hide?

The crucial point was that the Saiyi Navy had already dispatched the Third Air Corps for reinforcements.

Taking all these factors into account, the probability of engaging the Saiyi Fleet near the Two-car Strait once again wasn’t small.

However, what troubled Bai Zhizhan was not these matters.

In the list of missing pilots from the Special Mixed Group, the names of Zhu Huasheng and Shen Pu stood out prominently, and moreover, they were at the very top of the list!