Empire Conquest
Chapter 123 - 119 Trouble Caused by Being Talkative

Chapter 123: Chapter 119 Trouble Caused by Being Talkative

Zu Island Southeast, "Imperial Capital" carrier.

Amidst a massive roaring sound, a "Typhoon" fighter shaked as it flew in, crashing onto the flight deck with almost colliding speed. It surged several dozen meters forward before gradually coming to a stop, dragged by the arresting cable. Several ground crew members at the edge of the deck immediately rushed over.

The one who climbed out of the cockpit was actually a general.

Yes, it was Li Yunxiang.

Judging from the way he began the landing, he probably hadn’t flown a fighter for a long time.

After coming to the Third Aviation Mixed Fleet, he went to the "Peijing" to understand the situation of the grassroots units and prepare for the battle that was about to begin.

Li Yunxiang had absolutely no confidence in the Third Shipborne Air Force Wing.

The reason was singular: the person who had served as the acting commander of the Third Aviation Mixed Fleet was Liu Xiangbin, who was the wasteful older cousin of Liu Xiangzhen.

Even though the interim commander of the Third Shipborne Air Force Wing, Colonel Du Kang, was Li Yunxiang’s old friend from the Land Air Force, had participated in the last great war, and had more than a dozen combat achievements, his favorite thing was not to soar in the blue sky in a fighter, but the drink that dissolved worries.

Perhaps, addiction to alcohol really could be hereditary.

Otherwise, why would his father have given him such a name?

This guy was capable, but if no one kept an eye on him, he would probably have lost himself long ago. More than twenty years ago, because of his alcohol abuse, he was demoted from captain to lieutenant. If it wasn’t for the frontline’s desperate need for pilots and his act of saving a squadron leader during battle, he would probably have been sent to military prison long ago.

What worried Li Yunxiang the most was that after a few cups, he feared neither heaven nor his father.

When a drunkard and a wastrel came together, even God might not know what could happen.

This was exactly why Li Yunxiang volunteered to be stationed on the "Peijing".

After all, they were both old men from the Land Air Force, and since Li Yunxiang had helped Du Kang before, even if that guy was an ingrate, he had to behave humbly in front of Li Yunxiang.

Pressed for time, Li Yunxiang immediately flew over in a fighter upon receiving the message.

He did not wear a flight suit, so there was no need for him to change clothes in the pilots’ rest room; after getting down from the fighter, he directly went to the command bridge at the front of the island structure.

Inside, Bai Zhizhan was drinking coffee, and Li Mingbo was with several staff officers.

"Why haven’t you given the order yet?" Li Yunxiang burst in without much thought, directly addressing Bai Zhizhan with his words.

In the entire fleet, only Li Yunxiang dared to speak to Bai Zhizhan with such an attitude.

Even in the past, when Commander was Gui Boyong, he would never shout at Bai Zhizhan; in fact, he was polite to everyone.

Fortunately, Bai Zhizhan never took it to heart.

That was just Li Yunxiang’s nature, and other pilots from the Land Air Force were not much better, seemingly all Army officers had fiery tempers.

Using an old Navy saying: all of them had their brains burned out by bad liquor.

"Old Li, why did you come over?" Li Mingbo appeared shocked, yet his flickering gaze betrayed him as he greeted.

Li Yunxiang glared at him and walked straight toward Bai Zhizhan, who was standing by the porthole.

Surely, it must have been Li Mingbo who tipped him off, which is why Li Yunxiang had hurried over to demand answers; otherwise, he wouldn’t be so furious.

Secretly sighing, Bai Zhizhan cast another glance at his watch before turning around.

Now, it was half-past nine.

"Li, would you like something to drink?" Li Mingbo, being very tactful, quickly found himself an excuse and slipped away, taking a few inexperienced young staff advisors with him.

Wasn’t it better to leave than to wait and get caught in the crossfire?

About two hours earlier, the Imperial Capital had received a telegram from the Southern Fleet Headquarter. The Special Mixed Group’s reconnaissance aircraft had located the Mobile Fleet and discovered the Mobile Fleet had deployed dozens of ship-borne aircraft. The telegram from the Southern Fleet Headquarter was actually a warning to Bai Zhizhan.

At that time, Bai Zhizhan made a bold judgment, thinking the Mobile Fleet had mistaken their target.

The reason was simple, as prior to this, a telegram from the Fleet tanker had been received, indicating that the Mobile Fleet’s reconnaissance aircraft appeared in the northern waters of Flame Sea. Even though it was not the Aviation Mixed Fleet’s fighter that shot down the ’97 ship attack plane but one stationed at Zu Island, there was reason to believe that the Mobile Fleet’s focus was likely to guard against the north-facing third Aviation Mixed Fleet and not pay much attention to the Special Mixed Group trailing behind.

However, no one believed Bai Zhizhan’s judgment.

Would the Mobile Fleet use precious ship-borne aircraft to attack a tanker of little value?

If Lan Yun really did that and the Mobile Fleet was wiped out, then it was deserved!

Li Mingbo had advised Bai Zhizhan, but unfortunately, Bai Zhizhan wouldn’t listen.

At the time, the Mobile Fleet was about four hundred and fifty kilometers southwest of the third Aviation Mixed Fleet. Although it was beyond the operational radius of the ship-borne aircraft, they could employ shuttle bombing tactics, allowing the Plane Group to land on the carrier of the Special Mixed Group after completing their mission.

Moreover, after completing their strike mission, the Special Mixed Group’s Plane Group could head to the third Aviation Mixed Fleet.

The Air Combat Staff Advisor aboard the Imperial Capital made this suggestion, but Bai Zhizhan rejected it—or rather, he didn’t take it in at all.

To do this, they would first have to break radio silence and contact the Special Mixed Group using the long-wave radio.

Besides, the shuttle bombing tactic requires extremely high skills from the pilots. If the navigation error was too large and they drifted off course, the consequences would be unimaginable.

To put it more seriously, if the navigator got confused, all the dispatched ship-borne aircraft would have to "take a bath" in the sea.

Furthermore, as the third Shipborne Air Force Wing was newly established, even if there were many veteran pilots, almost all the navigators were novices!

Losing dozens or hundreds of planes was one thing, but how much time would it take to search and rescue the pilots that went down into the water?

The previous day’s battle was successful in rescuing most of the pilots, mainly because the forced landing area was predetermined and the combat zone was very clear, which effectively controlled the search range. Moreover, the Southern Fleet had been prepared, with many rescue speedboats leaving port the day before.

Without these conditions now, proceeding in this way would be sending pilots to their death!

Until now, Bai Zhizhan had not given the order.

One can’t just do nothing.

For this reason, Li Mingbo had the Communications Advisor send a message to summon Li Yunxiang.

What Li Mingbo didn’t expect was that right after the Communications Advisor sent the message, they received the latest battle report. The tanker assigned to the third Aviation Mixed Fleet was attacked by dozens of enemy aircraft; the escort destroyer sank first, followed by the tanker.

This confirmed Bai Zhizhan’s bold speculation!

Before Li Yunxiang came in, Li Mingbo was already regretting it. If he had known earlier, he wouldn’t have had the Communications Advisor send the message, as his worries were essentially questioning Bai Zhizhan.

Questioning a direct superior?

This is the military!

To put it seriously, just based on this one incident, Bai Zhizhan could strip Li Mingbo of his military uniform, and he wouldn’t be able to rely on military benefits for the rest of his life.

But now, Li Yunxiang had returned to the flagship, and anything said was useless.

He hoped the two could speak calmly and not escalate the situation, as the first to suffer would definitely be the overtalkative one.