Empire Conquest
Chapter 131 - 127: Capable of Independent Action

Chapter 131: Chapter 127: Capable of Independent Action

On the "Imperial Capital."

While the Communication Advisor hurried over, Bai Zhizhan was patiently explaining his tactical intentions to Two Li, making sure they knew how to assign tasks next.

At the beginning of the meal, the message brought by the radio officer was a battle report forwarded from the Navy headquarter.

In the midday battle, the Special Mixed Group’s Attack Aircraft Group had already sunk the "Jiahe" and "Feilong," with plans to launch further attacks. According to Liu Xiangzhen’s intentions, he would do his utmost to annihilate the Mobile Fleet, aiming to strike two more times with Fast Battleships as the primary target.

The premise was that they could find the fleeing Saiyi battleships in time, especially those four Fast Battleships.

Moreover, in the midday battle, the Special Mixed Fleet lost only a few ship-borne aircraft.

Li Yunxiang didn’t shirk responsibility; he immediately declared that upon their return, he would treat all the officers and soldiers of the Fleet Headquarter to a grand meal at the best restaurant in the Imperial Capital.

Taking this opportunity, Bai Zhizhan also detailed his tactical intentions.

In his view, there was simply no Mobile Fleet, or rather, annihilating the Mobile Fleet was not a concern at all.

In Bai Zhizhan’s words, with the "Civilized Beast" holding the fort on that side, who would worry about a cooked duck flying away?

Don’t assume Liu Xiangzhen is always taciturn and polite in front of everyone; once he’s on the battlefield, his ferocity is something even Bai Zhizhan admits he can’t compare with. In last year’s Fleet exercise, to capture a favorable position, he had the Special Mixed Fleet’s numerous Battleships sprint at thirty-two knots for a day and a night. After the exercise, two carriers had boiler and steam turbine failures, forcing them to return to the shipyard for major repairs ahead of schedule.

Once he set his sights on something, Lan Yun had no chance of escaping.

Of course, Bai Zhizhan was prepared as well.

If the Special Mixed Group had not launched an attack in the morning, the third Aviation Mixed Fleet would turn south at noon, then by evening, they would be able to attack the Mobile Fleet that was about to enter the Two-car Strait.

However, this also meant that the third Air Fleet could possibly come under simultaneous attack.

Yes, that’s the Fifth Air Corps commanded by Major General Sawa.

Since the Mobile Fleet added dozens of ship-borne aircraft, and especially with the severe losses of the ship attack and ship bomb aircraft yesterday, there was every reason to believe that the Fifth Air Corps was in the Nanzhu Sea.

But where exactly in the Nanzhu Sea?

Don’t forget, the Nanzhu Sea is the second-largest sea in the West East Ocean, second only to the Flame Sea in area, with a north-to-south span of over two thousand kilometers.

Here, Bai Zhizhan made a bold conjecture.

By yesterday afternoon, at the latest last night, the Fifth Air Corps had already turned north.

The reason is simple: to receive the breaking-through Mobile Fleet and Main Battle Corps to the east of the Two-car Strait, shortening the distance to the Watcher Strait.

The key was to provide mutual cover with the third Air Corps.

Despite the Saiyi Navy’s ship-borne aircraft, whether the Zero Fighter or the 99 ship bomb and 97 ship attack, being famous for their long range, flying over a thousand kilometers across the vast ocean without the ability to use radio navigation equipment was no simple task. A deviation of hundreds of kilometers was quite possible.

The key question was, what could they accomplish by staying in the southern waters of the Nanzhu Sea?

This was precisely why Bai Zhizhan decided to make an overnight entry into the East Ocean, standing by to the southeast of Zu Island.

As long as the Fifth Air Corps moved north, they would definitely enter the strike range of the third Aviation Mixed Fleet today, at the latest by the afternoon.

Alas, it wasn’t that simple.

In other words, if it had been that easy, Bai Zhizhan would have dispatched Reconnaissance Aircraft in the morning.

According to the intelligence received last night, the Saiyi Navy’s third Air Corps had already left port, heading south from Long Sorrow Port. Therefore, by this afternoon, they would reach east of the Watcher Strait. If coordinating with the Fifth Air Corps, meaning sending the attacking ship-borne aircraft to land with the Fifth Air Corps, then the third Air Corps could launch an attack in the afternoon, sending ship-borne aircraft to deal with Bai Zhizhan.

Furthermore, the fifth Air Corps would also be able to attack the third Aviation Mixed Fleet.

Despite Bai Zhizhan’s audacity, he wouldn’t engage two air corps located in two different directions at the same time, especially with only two fleet carriers at his disposal.

Even ignoring the quality and capability of the pilots, the fact that the third Shipborne Air Force Wing had managed to annihilate a Saiyi Navy air corps was already impressive. If he were to launch attacks on both air corps simultaneously, it’s highly likely he would gain an advantage over neither.

The key issue was that the third Aviation Mixed Fleet was now standing alone.

One could also say it was standing guard at a strategic point.

For this reason, Bai Zhizhan had sent out a seaplane to Zu Island in the wee hours, to have the Zudong Port dispatch maritime patrol aircraft.

There were twelve in total, but with one malfunctioning, only eleven patrol aircraft were deployed. It was slightly fewer, but with their vast range, performing a spiral search repeatedly, the chances of finding the fifth Air Corps during the day were not small; perhaps half a day would suffice.

Actually, this was Bai Zhizhan’s wishful thinking.

By locating the fifth Air Corps with maritime patrol aircraft, or at least identifying their approximate area of operation, he could then launch two full-power attacks. If he could annihilate the fifth Air Corps, that would be perfect. Even if he couldn’t completely wipe them out, he could drag it out until tomorrow and strike again.

The key was to maintain concealment throughout the process.

Once the fifth Air Corps was dealt with, he would then pounce on the third Air Corps, aiming to eliminate the Saiyi Navy’s last strength by the light of the next day.

The Main Battle Corps?

To be honest, Bai Zhizhan did not really regard the two "Damen" class ships as significant.

Once the Saiyi Navy’s carriers were destroyed, the shipborne air force could pick off battleships at its leisure across the vast ocean, maintaining a distance through speed.

As for those four old battleships built during the last great war, Bai Zhizhan considered them even less.

If anything, the four "Jingang" class ships upgraded to be Fast Battleships had some worth, and needed to be dealt with promptly.

Obviously, Liu Xiangzhen thought the same, which is why he continued to pursue the Mobile Fleet that afternoon.

In terms of combat power, the first and second Air Corps that made up the Mobile Fleet were the backbone of the Saiyi Navy, the absolute main force.

"Commander!"

After handing over the message to Bai Zhizhan, the Communication Advisor stepped back two paces.

After quickly reading through it, Bai Zhizhan passed the message to Li Yunxiang beside him.

It was also from the Navy headquarter, indicating that the listening station had intercepted signals from the "Damen" long-wave radio station and pinpointed its rough location using triangulation. Bai Zhizhan’s earlier guess was confirmed; the "Damen" was in the northern part of the Flame Sea and might have already entered the Two-car Strait. If they sailed at full speed, the Main Battle Corps would definitely pass through the Two-car Strait before dawn the next day.

The crux of the matter was, if they wanted to annihilate the Main Battle Fleet, they needed to act this afternoon.

By daylight the next day, once the Main Battle Corps passed through the Two-car Strait, they only needed to turn southward to avoid the northern third Aviation Mixed Fleet.

"Attack?" Li Yunxiang asked as he handed the message to Li Mingbo.

Bai Zhizhan did not make a sound; the temptation indeed was quite big.

It wasn’t the two battleships but the Permanent Fleet Commander!

According to Saiyi Navy propaganda, Takano’s worth was equivalent to half of a Permanent Fleet, and even the leaders of the Newland Navy praised him to no end.

So, he was considered the foremost Navy man of the time.

Just let him slip away?