Empire Conquest
Chapter 110 - 106: As If by Divine Assistance

Chapter 110: Chapter 106: As If by Divine Assistance

After Kuroshima left, Takano stood up and walked over to the porthole.

Although he highly valued Major Tanimoto, Takano thought differently from Kuroshima; he never considered Tanimoto as his successor, or even considered the issue of succession.

A successor for the Permanent Fleet Commander?

If said out loud, it would certainly be laughed at.

This isn’t an imperial throne, what’s there to inherit?

In fact, Takano never felt that being the Permanent Fleet Commander was an attractive posting.

Having sat in this position for a few years, Takano’s responsibilities could essentially be boiled down to two things. Firstly, cleaning up after his predecessor and acting as a new leader. Secondly, dealing with politicians who, perhaps due to their oddball ideas not thoroughly considered, liked to meddle, ensuring the Fleet was free from external interference.

Of course, no one dared to deny Takano’s status.

In the Saiyi Navy, he was already second to none, and everyone knew he was the only competitor for the position of Military Commander, the next Navy Commander-in-chief. If he were willing to go into politics, he might sit on the Prime Minister’s throne within ten years.

Now, Takano wouldn’t take the feelings of a subordinate seriously.

After complaining about the gloomy weather, Takano didn’t share his most pressing worry.

Saiyi Navy, or more precisely, including him, why had so many officers and soldiers thought about using the ship-borne air force to launch a surprise attack on Chengjiang Port, and why did they all believe it would definitely be successful? Don’t forget, until today, Takano was still an out-and-out advocate of battleships and large-caliber artillery. Three years ago, after withdrawing from the "Huacheng Treaty," Takano had pushed the Saiyi Navy to start building the Super Battleship.

Directly put, where did the confidence of the Saiyi Navy in aircraft carriers and ship-borne air force come from?

Right, it was the archenemy!

To explain, we must trace back two years.

During that year’s naval exercises, the Liangxia Navy concealed a live-fire confrontation, and Saiyi’s intelligence service got wind of the inside information.

What confrontation?

The First Aviation Mixed Fleet’s two carriers launched their ship-borne air force in two waves, suddenly attacking Chengjiang Port, which acted as the enemy’s military port. The aim was to test the ship-borne air force’s combat effectiveness by striking battleships in the port and facilities such as docks, warehouses, and fuel depots.

The key point was, this was a fully simulated real-world combat exercise.

The attacking ship-borne aircraft used genuine air torpedoes but without warheads, and instead used dye packs. The bombs used were twenty-five kilogram class air bombs, only one-tenth of the actual combat munition size, and the bomb bodies were wrapped with ten centimeters thick rubber. To observe the exercise process more clearly, a tube marking the trail was attached to the tail of the torpedo, and the bombs were equipped with smoke generators.

As for the results of the exercise, they were incredibly shocking.

Just two rounds of air attacks by over a hundred planes managed to send dozens of warships, including many main battle ships, to the bottom of the sea in the port.

Of course, they were judged to be sunk by the umpire team.

This exercise proved the formidable striking capability of the ship-borne aircraft!

After obtaining the intelligence, Takano could hardly believe it.

To verify the authenticity of the intelligence, at the beginning of the following year, the Saiyi Navy also conducted a similar secret exercise, and the results naturally need no further explanation.

We must admit, it was the Liangxia Navy’s exercise that opened a window.

Of course, in their own organized exercise, the Saiyi Navy made more discoveries.

For example, air torpedoes posed a significant threat to battleships, especially when set at the right depth. A warhead of about two hundred kilograms on an air torpedo could cause damage equivalent to a five hundred kilogram bomb to a large battleship, and the damage caused by torpedoes was often difficult to repair.

The key point was that many Treaty Type battleships had poor underwater defenses, some even having no underwater protection at all.

Moreover, faced with threats from the air, including the Main Battle Ships, there was a need to enhance horizontal protection by at least increasing the thickness of the horizontal armor.

Based on this discovery, the Saiyi Navy equipped carriers with armored decks.

One must not forget that carriers were most susceptible to enemy Dive Bombers’ strikes—often the first targets of such attacks.

Of course, not all discoveries were correct.

A typical example was that after this exercise, the Saiyi Navy developed a theory of "the uselessness of High-altitude Guns," believing that the most effective way to deal with air raids was to enhance the mobility of the battleships to dodge bombs and torpedoes, and that High-altitude Guns could at best only interfere with the enemy planes dropping bombs.

Influenced by this view, the Saiyi Navy never fully strengthened the carriers’ anti-air fire power and consistently undervalued large-caliber High-altitude Guns.

Regardless, it was the Liangxia Navy that brought naval warfare into the aviation era!

Moreover, at least 15 to 20 years ago, the Liangxia Navy had shifted its focus to the apparently prospectless Air Force.

Interestingly, among the four major naval powers, the last to build carriers was the Liangxia Empire.

That is to say, 15 years ago, the higher echelons of the Liangxia Empire, at least those who controlled the fate of the Navy, had realized the immense value of carriers and Air Forces.

Perhaps it was at that time that the Liangxia Empire’s Commander began planning this war of Revenge!

The exercise two years ago, including the insider information obtained by the Saiyi intelligence agency, was very likely a deliberate act by the Liangxia Navy.

Was the Liangxia Empire’s Commander already secretly preparing for the next war nearly twenty years ago, just after the last great war had ended?

That is indeed too miraculous, too absurd!

However, looking at the history of the rise of the Liangxia Empire, especially those decisive wars, which one wasn’t like this?

The war of founding the nation was only planned in two years and was concluded in one fell swoop at Nanjiang Port.

The war with the Luosha Empire took ten years of planning and preparation before the complete victory at the Atai Battle and the subsequent Treaty under the city siege.

Every war that followed, the Liangxia Empire was always well-prepared and achieved complete victory.

For decades, the development of the Liangxia Empire was as if divinely assisted.

For this reason, some Westerners have expressed deep emotion, even saying "If God had a nationality, it would surely be Liangxia."

There was just one exception, the last great war.

But now, can we really call it an exception?

In the last great war, the Liangxia Empire almost emerged unscathed, losing only some trivial overseas interests. It was actually the Ter Empire, the Luosha Empire, and the Tiaoman Empire, and the centuries-old world order centered on the West that truly collapsed. The direct outcome of the war was the Western world turning into a complete disarray, with both the East and West becoming leaderless territories.

Isn’t this an ideal battleground?

From this perspective, can we say that the Liangxia Empire was defeated?

Perhaps it merely traded the so-called defeat for a more advantageous strategic position!

With the disintegration of the Ter Empire, the strategic buffer that was freed up could allow the Liangxia Empire to influence many things and become a stepping stone to dominating the world.

If indeed so, those leaders steering the Empire must be superhuman.

Now, what Takano needs to consider is a more immediate issue.

Should he follow the Military Command Department’s telegraphic order to sail back to the Two-car Strait as originally planned, or should he employ the tactic of "the Commander being abroad"?

What’s more, those two fellows on the flagship of the Special Mixed Fleet, what are they thinking!?

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