Empire Conquest
Chapter 124 - 120 Betting

Chapter 124: Chapter 120 Betting

"Brother Li, after all these years, you’re still so impatient."

"You..."

Li Yunxiang was obviously still fuming, probably feeling that Bai Zhizhan’s indecision had delayed the prime opportunity and thereby missed the chance to make a mark.

"It’s exactly nine thirty."

"We’ve already been held up for two hours." Li Yunxiang’s tone softened slightly.

Being angry was one thing, but Li Yunxiang was very clear that Commander Bai Zhizhan was in charge, and until Bai Zhizhan gave an order, nothing could be done.

Yelling loudly, or even speaking rudely, one could be said to be loud-mouthed or uneducated.

But to disobey orders or to act without authorization was to violate military law and discipline, serious enough to cost you your head!

Bai Zhizhan smiled and said, "If I’m not mistaken, Liu Xiangzhen has already made arrangements, and perhaps the Attack Aircraft Group has already taken off. Since he definitely won’t be able to catch up with the Main Battle Corps commanded by Takano before sunset, he will spare no effort to attack the Mobile Fleet."

"And what good will that do?"

"With his personality, he will definitely launch two rounds of attacks. Even if we start preparing now, it will take us an hour to dispatch our Plane Group, and then another two hours to fly there, arriving around twelve-thirty. Do you think there will be any enemy ships left worth bombing by then?"

Li Yunxiang didn’t speak but still looked sullen.

"Besides, perhaps one round of attack will be enough."

"The Special Mixed Group now has only two carriers, and many of the pilots are rookies. At most, seventy planes can be deployed at one time, and it would be good to have fifty bombers and torpedo bombers, after accounting for the escorts. With this number of fighters, it’s uncertain whether they can annihilate the Mobile Fleet after breaching the anti-aircraft defenses."

"Destroying those two carriers should be no problem."

"Definitely impossible." Li Yunxiang said this with such finality that one could say he was full of confidence.

Don’t forget, it was he who had personally brought up the Empire’s shipborne air force, and he knew their combat capability better than anyone.

"How about we make a bet?"

"A bet on what?"

"If the Special Mixed Group sinks both carriers in the first round of the attack, I’ll treat all the staff at headquarters to a big meal, otherwise, you’ll be the one treating."

"You’re on, who’s afraid of who?"

Bai Zhizhan smiled again, already sidetracking the discussion, and Li Yunxiang’s anger had subsided somewhat.

Making a bet was secondary; the key was not to offend this Buddha.

In a moment, when engaging the Saiyi Fleet, he would still be relying on Li Yunxiang to deploy the troops.

However, Bai Zhizhan’s assessment of the situation was still too optimistic, at least he hadn’t expected Liu Xiangzhen to delay launching the attack.

At this time, aboard the flagship "Longjiang" of the Special Mixed Group.

After climbing into the cockpit, Zhu Huasheng caught the clipboard passed by the ground crew, with a scaled-down map on it, marking several navigational test points.

Afterward, the navigator and machine gunner took their seats one after another.

Yesterday, Zhu Huasheng had only been lightly injured, while the navigator behind him had been severely injured and was still in the hospital, potentially bedridden for months. Like Shen Pu and other pilots who were rescued after the battle, Zhu Huasheng had flown back to the Special Mixed Group. Since the squadron leaders of both wings of the Second Shipborne Air Force Wing were either killed in action or severely injured, Zhu Huasheng and Shen Pu still held the position of squadron leaders.

By drawing lots, Zhu Huasheng was in charge of the first round of attacks, and Shen Pu the second.

But, there was an excessive delay.

A full two hours!

If the Mobile Fleet turned to evade, they could have traveled a hundred kilometers at full speed in two hours. Moreover, it would take the Attack Aircraft Group more than an hour to catch up to the Mobile Fleet, so the search radius would exceed one hundred fifty kilometers. This meant that if any mishap occurred during the attack operation and time was delayed, even by just a few minutes, the Plane Group would not be able to fly back to the Fleet to land after completing their mission.

To ensure thorough advance reconnaissance, meticulous arrangements had to be made.

After the navigator was seated, Zhu Huasheng passed over the chart board and commenced the pre-flight checks.

Per the plan, the commanders were to take off first—specifically, eight squadron and flight leaders would head out to blaze the trail.

Each of the eight "Flying Fish" was responsible for searching a sector.

To be precise, they would fly out 300 kilometers to where the Mobile Fleet was reported and then line up from north to south at intervals of 20 to 30 kilometers apart, continuing eastward to ensure no ship encountered along the way was overlooked.

Indeed, there wasn’t much to worry about, after all, it was a fleet with over a dozen battleships.

In addition, the Mobile Fleet was certain to have enhanced air defense, with fighters patrolling nearby, so there was a possibility of running into defense fighters before getting close.

However, the challenges and risks of advance reconnaissance were significant and required elite pilots.

Fortunately, with the merging of two Shipborne Air Force Wings, there were several more commanders at the flight leader level, ensuring a sufficient number of pilots.

According to the arrangement, each "Flying Fish" squadron was led by a deputy flight leader.

The reason was simple: the deputy leaders’ planes were equipped with long-range radios, allowing them to maintain contact with the lead flight commanders ahead and, thereby, grasp the situation on the battlefield.

Because the sortie was with a large formation, torpedo bombers had to lead the way, so they needed to take off first while the fighters stayed behind until last.

When Zhu Huasheng started the engine, Li Hengjia came running over.

He climbed directly onto the wing and handed Zhu Huasheng a sealed waterproof plastic bag.

"Take this with you and report back promptly after completing the mission. I wish you a triumphant return!" To ensure Zhu Huasheng could hear him over the noise, Li Hengjia shouted this next to his ear.

Zhu Huasheng simply nodded without saying much, mainly because the engine noise was too loud and he was busy checking the hydraulic system for the control surfaces.

Thankfully, Li Hengjia wasn’t one to linger.

He was the commander of the second Shipborne Air Force Wing, and Zhu Huasheng was the squadron leader of the first Shipborne Air Force Wing; the two had a rather mediocre relationship.

After Li Hengjia left, Zhu Huasheng handed the plastic bag to his navigator.

Inside was a set of telegram cards made from easily soluble special paper, with some simple codes written on them to simplify the signaling process.

Moreover, they assured confidentiality.

Put simply, in the event of an emergency, these codes could be sent in the clear on public channels without fear of enemy interception.

Zhu Huasheng thought it was superfluous, but admitted it wasn’t bad to have.

Soon, the ground crew rushed over.

After Zhu Huasheng gave the signal that everything was ready, the ground crew pushed his fighter onto the left catapult position.

After glancing at Shen Pu standing on the edge of the island superstructure, and saluting Liu Xiangzhen in the bridge, Zhu Huasheng then closed the cockpit canopy.

No matter what lay hundreds of kilometers away, this fleet battle had to come to an end eventually!

At this moment, aboard "Jiahe," the flagship of the Mobile Fleet.

Chaos reigned on the command bridge.

Although Lan Yun stood by the porthole, Kitamura and several senior staff officers still argued heatedly, as if they bore insurmountable grudges.

It wasn’t about grudges, but rather their complete divergence in understanding and conjecture of the current battle situation.

Lan Yun did not make a sound nor take a stand, which inflated the confidence of those senior staff, leading them to believe that Lan Yun had lost trust in Kitamura.

In reality, Kitamura had only himself to blame.