Empire Conquest
Chapter 118 - 114: Doubting the Heavens

Chapter 118: Chapter 114: Doubting the Heavens

Mobile Fleet, "Jiahe."

As the first Zero Fighter roared off the flight deck, Colonel Kitamura arrived outside the Command Bridge.

It was precisely seven-thirty.

"Commander."

Lan Yun turned his head, but Kitamura closed his mouth and shook his head solemnly, indicating that no more telegrams had been received from the reconnaissance aircraft.

As expected, the "Jiahe" squadron’s 97 ship attack that was sent out for reconnaissance had been shot down.

However, this was not necessarily a bad thing.

The 97 ship attack had sent a telegram around six-fifty, reporting that at about four hundred kilometers northeast of the fleet, it had spotted the Liangxia Navy’s fleet with at least one carrier visually confirmed. The reconnaissance report was only sent twice, while regulations required it to be sent at least three times.

Clearly, the reconnaissance aircraft must have been shot down by a fighter.

If it were a high-altitude gun, the reconnaissance aircraft would have reported being under attack in the telegram. Moreover, since the reconnaissance aircraft could spot surface warships from dozens of kilometers away, there was generally no need for it to get close enough to be within range of high-altitude guns.

This indirectly proved the reconnaissance aircraft’s discovery.

There was a Liangxia Navy carrier.

As expected, it was the Third Aviation Mixed Fleet!

Regrettably, by the time the reconnaissance report was received, the ship-borne aircraft sent by the Fifth Air Corps had already arrived, and were successively landing on the two carriers.

These ship-borne aircraft had flown directly over Nanzhu Country, covering more than a thousand kilometers in about three hours.

The remaining fuel was only enough to hover above the Mobile Fleet for half an hour, so they had to land quickly with no delays allowed.

Of course, without these ship-borne aircraft, the Mobile Fleet couldn’t launch an attack.

It was not until seven-fifteen that all the ship-borne aircraft were received.

Because the flight deck holes on "Jiahe" were merely sealed with thick wooden planks, which weren’t very sturdy and might not withstand the heavy 97 ship attacks, especially the impact force on landing, hence, twenty Zero Fighters and thirty-three 99 ship bombers landed on "Jiahe," while all forty-two 97 ship attacks, along with twelve Zero Fighters and ten 99 ship bombers, were arranged on "Feilong."

This arrangement had another reason; the ammunition storeroom for air torpedoes on "Jiahe" had been flooded with seawater.

Though these torpedoes could still be used after treatment, there were no related facilities on the carrier, and such high-risk maintenance had to be returned to the factory.

Of course, this also brought a benefit.

Without the 97 ship attacks, just refueling and arming the Zero Fighters and 99 ship bombers was certainly much easier, and the maintenance burden was also much lighter. The reason was simple: the most troublesome part during fueling and arming was hanging the air torpedoes on ship attacks, requiring seven ground crew members to work together to complete.

For the ground crew on "Jiahe," who were nearly too exhausted to stand, this was undoubtedly the best news.

But now, time was most precious.

As arranged by Colonel Kitamura, each carrier would send half of its ship-borne aircraft to attack the Third Aviation Mixed Fleet, and then decide whether to launch a second wave based on the situation.

In this way, "Jiahe" only needed to deploy ten Zero Fighters and eighteen 99 ship bombers.

The key was that the Zero Fighters could be prepared in the middle of the flight deck and then take off from the front, not interfering with the 99 ship bombers being prepared at the back of the flight deck.

"Feilong" had taken forty-two 97 ship attacks and needed to deploy twenty ship attacks and ten Zero Fighters, requiring more time to complete preparation before departure. According to the latest message, "Feilong" would dispatch the first Zero Fighter twenty minutes later, at seven-fifty.

If they couldn’t keep up, they would have to fly independently.

Actually, this was also a standard attack tactic.

In past training and exercises, no one emphasized that the ship-borne aircraft from two carriers had to take off and launch attacks together.

Kitamura was the Combat Staff Advisor of the first Air Corps and also served as the Combat Staff Advisor of the Mobile Fleet. If Tanimoto hadn’t upstaged him, yesterday, he would have commanded the battle.

Perhaps his abilities didn’t match Tanimoto’s, but they weren’t far behind.

The key point now was that Lan Yun could only rely on him.

There was an issue that Lan Yun had never understood, and he had asked Kitamura right from the start, but the response from the Combat Staff Advisor was not quite satisfactory.

The reconnaissance aircraft discovered the location of the third Aviation Mixed Fleet in the waters near the southern end of Zu Island Strait, less than two hundred kilometers from the Liangxia Empire’s mainland and a full five hundred kilometers from the southernmost point of Two-car Strait, which was already beyond the operational radius of ship-borne aircraft, even the reconnaissance aircraft could not fly that far.

Was this position not too far back?

Kitamura’s explanation, or rather his inference, was that the third Aviation Mixed Fleet had just joined the force and hadn’t formed a full combat capability, and so it might not dare to move south to blockade the Two-car Strait; perhaps it was just making a show outside the Zu Island Strait to perform a feint, buying time for the Special Mixed Fleet chasing behind.

Another key factor was that Liu Xiangbin, the Acting Commander of the third Aviation Mixed Fleet, was an absolute fool.

Among the Navy’s two great War Generals, known as Left Azure Dragon and Right White Tiger and nicknamed Gate Gods, Bai Zhizhan and Liu Xiangzhen respectively commanded the first and second Aviation Mixed Fleets and were now undoubtedly stretched thin.

Additionally, the reconnaissance aircraft mentioned in the telegram that the carrier was sailing south and judging from the length of the wake, its speed could not be less than twenty knots.

Besides a carrier, what other large battleship could sustain a speed of twenty knots?

Of course, the Fast Battleship could, but they always accompanied carriers.

All these could support Kitamura’s speculation.

Lan Yun didn’t ask further, he was the Commander of the Mobile Fleet, but that was all.

In fact, Lan Yun knew that Kitamura, more than anyone, wanted to seize this opportunity to prove himself!

Liking to show off wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

If there wasn’t even a desire to perform, that would be the real problem.

Even if Kitamura was incompetent, he was still dutiful and loyal to Lan Yun, one of the few he could truly consider confidantes.

While Lan Yun pondered these thoughts, Kitamura had already returned to the Command Bridge.

A few minutes later, the tenth Zero Fighter took off, and ground crew began dragging fully fueled and bomb-laden Type 99 ship bombs to their respective launch points.

The flight deck was somewhat chaotic, primarily because many spilled oils hadn’t been cleaned up promptly.

This was unavoidable, as the ground crew had been busy for almost twenty hours and had hardly rested, with many soldiers nearing collapse.

"Whoo’s "

When the shrill air raid alarm blared out, not just others, even Lan Yun didn’t react immediately.

But that was just for a few seconds.

"Over there!"

Kitamura rushed out, bringing an additional pair of binoculars. After handing the binoculars to Lan Yun, he pointed toward the cloud layer in the northwest direction.

The cloud layer was over ten kilometers away, at an altitude of less than one thousand meters.

Crucially, beneath the cloud layer, an aircraft that had been hit and was on fire was plummeting, and behind it was another fighter continuing to fire and strafe.

The aircraft shot down was a reconnaissance plane!

Lan Yun didn’t ask more and turned to look back at Kitamura.

"The telegram has been sent."

With that said by Kitamura, Lan Yun closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh, his hands holding the binoculars tensed until the veins bulged.

Why had their luck turned so sour?

Could it be that even Amaterasu, worshiped ardently by Emperor Xia, was a citizen of the Liangxia Empire!?

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