Empire Conquest
Chapter 111 - 107: Closing the Door to Beat the Dog

Chapter 111: Chapter 107: Closing the Door to Beat the Dog

Takano was restless, and Bai Zhizhan wasn’t faring much better.

Although he had deliberately acted unruffled when he received the order, instructing his officers and soldiers to conserve their strength, after returning to the commander’s cabin, Bai Zhizhan managed to sleep for less than two hours before a foreboding nightmare woke him, after which he couldn’t fall back asleep.

What made him ironically smile was that, after fully waking up, he couldn’t remember the content of the nightmare no matter how hard he tried.

If he could remember, perhaps he could have found an expert to interpret the dream.

He hung on until midnight, estimating it was about time for a late-night snack, before Bai Zhizhan went to the officers’ mess located at the bottom of the ship’s island where he ordered a bowl of small glutinous rice balls.

This mess was mainly open to the pilots, it wasn’t large, and it was usually not very crowded.

Actually, the main reason was because it was separated by what amounted to three decks worth of the hangar, and from inside the ship’s body, it required climbing several decks to get there, which was inconvenient for going back and forth.

After eating his fill, and having a cup of coffee, Bai Zhizhan then went to the command bridge located at the forefront of the ship’s island.

The "Imperial Capital" class was the first type of fleet carrier for the Navy, strictly designed and built in accordance with the limitations of the Huacheng Treaty and the Luntai Treaty.

The reason was simple; after the treaties became ineffective, the Navy immediately initiated modifications to the four "Longjiang" class carriers, installing many things that had been omitted previously to reduce tonnage. The armor alone increased by about six thousand tons, and the standard displacement shot up to over thirty-five thousand tons. As a result, by the standards of the post-treaty era, all four "Longjiang" class carriers were classified as large carriers.

Compared to the "Longjiang" class, the most noticeable feature of the "Imperial Capital" class was that the ship’s island was closer to the bow and its size had been significantly reduced.

Actually, this was mostly thanks to the reduction in the size of the funnels.

In order to solve the problem of insufficient space inside the ship’s island, the layout of the cabins was adjusted and optimized during the design stage. An additional suspended layer was added below the ship’s island, moving some of the cabins that did not need to remain inside the ship’s island to this new space and freeing up a larger area for the bridges.

It was precisely because of this that the command bridge of the "Imperial Capital" class was much more spacious than that of the "Longjiang" class.

When Bai Zhizhan arrived, there were only a few staff officers on duty. Li Mingbo was snoozing in the Chief of Staff’s seat with a stack of telegrams in front of him.

"Comman..."

Bai Zhizhan stopped the officer who was about to greet him and told him to stay quiet and not to wake up Li Mingbo.

The officer tactfully understood that Li Mingbo must have been exhausted to have fallen asleep sitting up.

Bai Zhizhan tiptoed over and gently picked up the neatly stacked telegrams.

They were all received after he had gone to rest, and most of them had already been replied to. They were not any pressing matters, otherwise Li Mingbo wouldn’t have dared take unilateral action.

Almost all the telegrams were from the Navy headquarters, the Southern Fleet, and the Domestic Fleet.

The Navy headquarters had confirmed a previous conjecture: the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom would definitely not surrender and a decisive battle would surely take place tomorrow.

Upon this, Bai Zhizhan didn’t feel surprised.

It would be truly odd if the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom were to submit so easily!

Let’s not forget that ever since the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom had its door forcibly opened by the heavy artillery of the Navy fleet led by the war god Chen Bingxun, both the Saiyi government and its people considered defeating the Liangxia Empire to be a symbol of their revival. In some sense, it was because of this reason that the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom betrayed the Empire with a backstab during the later stages of the last war.

Now that they had finally turned the tables and become the masters, would they willingly surrender?

According to those extreme-minded Saiyi people, even if it meant mutual destruction, they would absolutely refuse to submit to the dominance of the Liangxia Empire once more.

The Domestic Fleet, or precisely the messages from Mast Harbor, indicated that the Main Force Squad of the Domestic Fleet had set sail. Following the temporarily modified plan, which was Bai Zhizhan’s requirement, they set off with two Fast Battleships that were not yet commissioned, now speeding toward the Watcher Strait.

Accompanying the Main Force Squad was the "Sea Dragon" carrier.

Thankfully, all four main battleships of the Domestic Fleet were not fast runners, and the "Sea Dragon" was able to keep up.

Because it was not equipped with catapults and the flight deck was not long enough, the "Sea Dragon" only carried twenty fighters, providing merely aerial defense coverage for the Main Force Squad.

That being said, even under the best conditions, the Domestic Fleet wouldn’t arrive at Watcher Strait until the early hours of the day after tomorrow.

By then, the flowers would have all wilted!

Of course, the Domestic Fleet was in charge of a feint, serving as a decoy rather than the deciding factor in the outcome of the war, at most providing support to the Special Mixed Fleet after the decisive battle.

If the decisive battle went well, the Domestic Fleet would be responsible for controlling the Watcher Strait to prevent the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom from sending more ground troops to the North and South Sado Islands.

To be honest, those two Fast Battleships were the only assets of any real value.

Ten days ago, as per the adjustments made by Bai Zhizhan, these two Fast Battleships would enter East Ocean directly from the north of Foot Island, escorted by four Light Cruisers. They would sail south along the east coast of Foot Island, striving to reach the southeastern part of Foot Island by tomorrow afternoon, three hundred kilometers north of the Third Aviation Mixed Fleet.

What for?

Without any mishaps, these two Fast Battleships could rendezvous with the Third Aviation Mixed Fleet by the early hours of the day after tomorrow at the earliest!

However, if it came to that point, the Third Aviation Mixed Fleet, once it entered the East Ocean, would have to head north to evade, certainly needing the two Fast Battleships for cover.

In other words, whether they would survive to return to the mainland of the Empire depended on the effectiveness of the Fast Battleships’ protection.

Of course, Bai Zhizhan believed that it wouldn’t come to that.

After all, those two Fast Battleships had not yet been commissioned, and even though the officers and soldiers had completed training, it was no guarantee that the Battleships wouldn’t encounter problems in combat.

Once on the battlefield, performance was unpredictable.

The news from the Southern Fleet was related to the First Aviation Mixed Fleet.

After dark, the First Aviation Mixed Group had already turned around, no longer continuing southward, but headed for Two-car Strait instead.

Heading south?

That was just a feint.

Don’t forget, Lion Spring City, the strategic gateway to entering the Fan Flame Ocean held by the Bulan Kingdom, along with several colonies stolen by the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom, are still there.

Besides, even if Takano fled south, Liu Xiangzhen couldn’t catch up.

The current situation was such that if Takano also turned around after the official declaration of war by the Liangxia Empire, hoping to break through the chaos from Two-car Strait, then he would certainly be to the east of Liu Xiangzhen, that is, in front of him, so Liu Xiangzhen’s current change in course would perfectly block Takano’s escape route.

Don’t forget, Bai Zhizhan is guarding ahead!

In fact, this was the most crucial part of the entire battle plan.

For this, Bai Zhizhan had coined a very fitting name: "Close the Door, Hit the Dog."

Takano not going to Two-car Strait?

That was exactly what they hoped for!

As long as he took a detour, he wouldn’t think of returning to East Ocean in time, let alone prevent the Liangxia Navy from seizing the Sado Islands and the Watcher Strait. By that time, the Imperial Army would also give the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom a surprise at Ice Storm Peninsula. Following consecutive military defeats, there would be no need for the Imperial Navy to take action, as the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom’s officials, enraged by their defeat, would likely tear Takano to pieces for squandering the chance to fight. Who knows, perhaps when the time comes for the Saiyi Navy to fight desperately against the Liangxia Navy, those bloodthirsty officials might use Takano as a banner.

As long as Takano went to Two-car Strait, he would be trapped, hopeless of escape!