Empire Conquest
Chapter 122 - 118 Heaven Helps the Empire

Chapter 122: Chapter 118 Heaven Helps the Empire

Over the northern waters of the Flame Sea.

As he made another turn, Genda glanced at his watch—it was exactly 9:15 AM. He had been piloting the Type 97 ship attack aircraft in circles for two rotations.

"Colonel, we have at most fifteen minutes of fuel left."

"Have the other squadrons found anything?"

"No." The navigator’s response was crisp and to the point.

Had it not been for Genda’s insistence, they would have turned back ten minutes ago.

Genda let out a sigh and said, "It seems the reconnaissance aircraft got it wrong. Call the nearby squadrons, let’s get on with it, no more wasting time."

Following Genda’s orders, about sixty kilometers to the south, the first to strike were twelve Type 99 ship bombers.

Attack?

Yes, indeed!

But the target was not the Third Aviation Mixed Fleet or a carrier fleet; it was a fleet oiler capable of speeds over twenty knots.

And escorting the oiler was a destroyer.

At 8:50 AM, twenty-five minutes earlier, Genda had taken the lead and discovered the fleet oiler along with the destroyer.

From high above, it did resemble a carrier at first glance.

However, on closer inspection, it was evident that this was a fleet oiler unique to the Liangxia Navy, capable of maintaining a speed of twenty-four knots to keep up with the Aviation Mixed Fleet, ready to refuel the carriers at a moment’s notice, serving as the nursing mother to the Aviation Mixed Fleet.

Globally, only the Liangxia Navy built fast-moving replenishment oilers specifically for their carriers!

Just yesterday, inside Chengjiang Port, four such fleet oilers were present, and they were all bombed and sunk.

Without a doubt, this one belonged to the Third Aviation Mixed Fleet.

Since fleet oilers always operated with the Aviation Mixed Fleet and were typically behind them in dangerous waters, it was reasonable to believe that the Third Aviation Mixed Fleet was nearby but had immediately changed course to evade detection after the reconnaissance aircraft spotted them.

Genda didn’t dare delay and immediately instructed the other fighters to search separately.

Sadly, after nearly half an hour of effort, and expanding the search radius to eighty kilometers, some Zero Fighters had even flown one hundred kilometers to the east and west, yet they still failed to locate the Third Aviation Mixed Fleet—or even a single battleship—only a few small fishing boats operating nearby.

To save time, all fighters were running on full power.

In those twenty-five minutes, they had burned enough fuel to fly for an hour at cruising speed!

In fact, this was also the fuel reserved for the attack.

Genda was perplexed, or rather, he couldn’t make sense of it.

If the reconnaissance aircraft got it wrong, how could one explain the presence of the fleet oiler?

A fleet oiler was no ordinary oiler; its power system was so sophisticated, and its cost so exorbitant, it was nearly equivalent to half a carrier. Like its cost, the maintenance and operating expenses of a fleet oiler were also extremely high—not everyone who could afford one could also afford to operate it.

Even the wealthy Liangxia Navy treated their fleet oilers like precious treasures.

Key question—what reason would there be to let a fleet oiler operate alone!?

Could it be that the Commander of the Third Aviation Mixed Fleet had the foresight to anticipate that the Mobile Fleet would send reconnaissance aircraft here and mistake the fleet oiler for a carrier, or conclude that the Special Mixed Fleet was nearby upon discovering the fleet oiler and then call upon the Mobile Fleet to attack?

If that so-called ’rich second generation’ Liu Xiangbin were truly that formidable, the Liangxia Navy would have been invincible long ago!

Of course, there is no time to think about that now.

With limited fuel, they wouldn’t make it back without returning soon.

Naturally, they couldn’t let go of the fleet oiler valued at half a carrier.

By the time Genda arrived in his plane, the Type 99 ship bombers that struck first had already sunk the destroyer, and dozens of bombers and ship attack aircraft were lined up, ready to drop their bombs.

It was somewhat wasteful, but there was no choice.

No one at the time of sortie had thought about carrying torpedoes and bombs on the return flight, so the fuel saved for returning did not include the extra consumption due to heavy loading.

Therefore, the fuel for the return flight accounted for, at most, only one third of the total fuel.

Without dropping the torpedoes and bombs, they couldn’t fly back!

Moreover, ship attack and ship bomb aircraft could not land on carriers with the heavy and extremely dangerous torpedoes and bombs, so even if they could carry ordnance back, it had to be jettisoned before landing.

Genda didn’t line up.

No one dared to blame him, after all, he was a legend of the Mobile Fleet and the Wing Captain.

Besides, Genda cutting in line was also for the sake of time.

After dropping the torpedo, Genda didn’t even care whether it hit or not. During the climb, he ordered the navigator to immediately report to the Fleet.

At this time, on the flagship of the Special Mixed Group.

They had been waiting for a full half hour. The radar on the "North River" was still picking up the same fighters that had taken off earlier, with no enemy aircraft in sight.

Let alone Liu Xiangzhen, even Zhuang Bisheng and others were extremely puzzled.

Since the aircraft that had set off earlier were all fighters, and the two carriers only needed to maintain a speed of over twenty-five knots without having to sail into the wind, they had been continuing eastward. Theoretically, enemy aircraft coming from the east would have arrived earlier and not have been delayed until after nine-thirty.

Had the Mobile Fleet’s attack aircraft group gotten lost!?

Obviously, that was impossible.

So what on earth had happened?

Doubt was one thing, but Liu Xiangzhen had no intention of continuing to waste time. Just past nine o’clock, he personally gave orders to Li Hengjia. If they weren’t attacked, they were to launch the ship-borne aircraft at nine-thirty. To be safe, the fighters were to take off first. If they were attacked, then they were to counterattack after withstanding the assault. To save time in this scenario, the torpedo bombers had to take off first.

But, they didn’t need to wait that long.

When the communications officer ran over, it was almost nine twenty-five.

"Commander!"

Zhuang Bisheng, more agitated, snatched the telegram from the communications officer’s hand.

Liu Xiangzhen simply nodded at the communications officer without saying much.

It was a telegram from Zu Island, related to the Third Aviation Mixed Fleet. At just past seven in the morning, the fleet oiler, which was still sailing southward, was spotted by a Saiyi Navy reconnaissance aircraft. However, that reconnaissance aircraft was soon shot down by arriving fighters, which came from Zu Island, belonging to the Navy Air Force Reserve Team, as arranged the day before to protect the Third Aviation Mixed Fleet.

As to why the fleet oiler didn’t change its course—that was because the long-wave station at Zudong Port malfunctioned and failed to timely send out the command, which was the order Bai Zhizhan had sent by seaplane in the early hours of the morning. Therefore, the fleet oiler did not receive the command and continued sailing south according to the original plan.

"Do you think that it might have..."

Liu Xiangzhen gestured with his hand to silence Zhuang Bisheng.

Clearly, Liu Xiangzhen had also thought of it, but he just couldn’t bring himself to believe it.

Could it be that the Mobile Fleet’s reconnaissance aircraft had mistaken the fleet oiler for a carrier and then sent out a telegram, causing the Mobile Fleet to send out the aircraft group to attack that fleet oiler?

If that was indeed the case, hadn’t they just wasted half an hour for nothing?

But who could guarantee that the dozens of Type 97 ship attackers and Type 99 ship bombers were flying north, not west?

Just then, the communications officer who had started to bring the telegram ran over again, this time very hurriedly, his expression anxious.

"Commander, we’ve just received..."

The ink on the telegram was not yet dry, and the handwriting was very sloppy, definitely a sign of hasty transcription.

Upon receiving the telegram and glancing at it, Zhuang Bisheng was stunned.

Liu Xiangzhen didn’t ask any questions and snatched the telegram.

First, he was stunned, then he burst into laughter.

"This is truly... truly heaven helping the Empire, heaven helping the Empire!"