Empire Conquest
Chapter 140 - 136: Perilous Situations

In fact, by just after six o’clock, when the second Attack Aircraft Group flew over the area where the Fifth Air Corps was located, the battle could have been declared over.

Before that, two "Xianghe" class had already disappeared from the surface of the sea.

Because the striking distance was reduced by several tens of kilometers and the return distance was even shorter, after arriving the second Attack Aircraft Group dispersed to search the entire sea area.

They found no carriers, only spots covered with fuel and many lifeboats along with officers and soldiers in the water.

At last, the group focused on bombing two Heavy Cruisers.

After repeated attacks, both "Ligen" and "Chikuma" were sunk.

In addition, three Light Cruisers were also sunk incidentally.

The actual combat proved that, the so-called "strongest Anti-Air Cruiser," the "Ligen" class, was also vulnerable in front of groups of Bombers and Torpedo Bombers.

This also reflected from one aspect that the body of the Heavy Cruiser was too small and not an ideal platform for air defense.

By then, the battle that lasted for a whole day, or rather the entire day, was declared over.

Trouble was also about to ensue.

When the lead plane of the second Attack Aircraft Group sent back the battle report, the first Attack Aircraft Group had already returned above the fleet, with dozens of Fighters gradually landing.

At this time, the sun had already set below the sea level.

If this had been the First Aviation Mixed Fleet, there wouldn’t have been a problem, as the pilots of the First Shipborne Air Force Wing had practiced night landings. But fatally, this was the Third Shipborne Air Force Wing, where more than half of the pilots were rookies and many had only landed on a carrier a few times.

Even for the experienced pilots, landing a ship-borne aircraft on a carrier at night, relying solely on the guidance lights waved by the landing signal officers, was absolutely thrilling. It’s not uncommon for pilots with slightly less courage to wet their pants in the moment of landing.

Moreover, most of the ship-borne aircraft, especially the Torpedo Bombers and Bombers, were running low on fuel and needed to land on the carrier quickly.

Since there were not many anti-air Fighters encountered, the escort Fighters still had enough fuel.

Now, these rookie pilots were landing fuel-depleted Fighters in the dimly lit twilight.

That was definitely fraught with danger!

The ground crew had already cleared the flight deck, and the Captain had also assembled several damage control teams from the resting officers and soldiers to handle firefighting and rescue.

Additionally, the order of landing was adjusted.

The Commander landed first, followed by the experienced pilots, and the rookies last.

This was a necessary measure, because after a failed landing, it took a few minutes to clear the flight deck, and the following planes might not be able to wait that long.

The first ten or so landings went smoothly.

There were a few minor mistakes, but they were all caught by the safety nets and did not cause any major accidents or affect the subsequent landings of the Fighters.

At six fifty, the thirteenth to land, a "Wasp" piloted by a rookie, had an accident.

Probably too nervous, the pilot did not throttle back before landing as instructed, and also had the misfortune of catching the seventh arresting wire.

Out of a total of fourteen wires, the middle several, being the easiest to catch, were the most worn.

As a result, this "Wasp" broke the arresting wire and crashed into the safety net, then collided with another "Wasp" that had not been moved in time from the front end of the deck.

The flight deck immediately became chaotic, but fortunately, there was no fire after the collision.

The flight deck of the "Imperial Capital" was therefore "paralyzed" for more than ten minutes.

Fortunately, the accident had alerted the pilots that followed.

Although there were a few more bumps afterward, they were all minor and were dealt with promptly, not affecting the fighter jets’ landing.

By 7:15, the last "Typhoon" had landed on the "Imperial Capital."

The situation on the "Peijing" was worse, with one "Flying Fish" and one "Wasp" failing to hook the arresting wire and crashing directly into the barrier net. Due to the excessive delay, the last "Wasp," after running out of fuel, was forced to make an emergency landing on the sea.

By 7:30, the last "Typhoon" had landed on the "Peijing."

Of course, this was merely the first round.

After eight, the second attack aircraft group would return to the fleet’s airspace.

To save time, or rather, because there was no time to spare, both carriers organized personnel to bring meals to the flight deck, allowing the ground crew to dine there, with the task of clearing the flight deck left to the fleet personnel.

This was necessary work.

During the landing of the ship-borne aircraft, a single small screw could cause a major disaster.

Initially on the "Peijing," the "Wasp" had blown its left tire after landing and, after hitting the barrier net, collided with and destroyed a bomber parked in front. It was only found during the post-accident inspection that it was a screw, which had fallen from another fighter, that had caused the tire to burst.

Taking this opportunity, Bai Zhizhan, Li Yunxiang, Li Mingbo, and other main officers of the headquarters took turns to have dinner.

Although retrieving the fighter jets was primarily a task for the carrier personnel, by regulation, the officers of the fleet headquarters on the flagship were respected.

Even if not involved, they should pay close attention.

By just after eight, the fighters from the second group of aircraft had flown back first.

Fighters are faster and, flying back at night, since they don’t have to worry about encountering enemy fighters, they don’t need to cover the bombers and torpedo bombers.

At this time, Bai Zhizhan had gone to the officers’ activity center.

As per his instructions, the staff had organized the battle report and related materials by chronological order, fleet, and location of the engagement among other categories.

Additionally, a large-sized sea chart had been spread out on the assembled tables.

Several staff officers were conducting map exercises, marking the day’s engagements and various related elements on the sea chart with flags.

This way, the commander could see the overall situation at a glance.

For a commander who understood map exercises or had been a staff officer, seeing the marked symbols on the map could evoke a feeling of being on the battlefield.

In fact, this was also a tradition of the Imperial Navy.

Li Yunxiang, Li Mingbo, and others had not arrived yet, but there was no rush, as there was an entire night ahead.

Moreover, Bai Zhizhan needed some time to organize his thoughts.

Annihilating the Fifth Air Corps in one fell swoop, achieving the victories of sinking two carriers, two heavy cruisers, and three light cruisers, and damaging several enemy ships was, frankly, still unbelievable to Bai Zhizhan—it mainly seemed that this significant victory had come too easily!

Liu Xiangzhen had fought for two days before sinking four carriers, and the Special Mixed Group had suffered heavy losses.

Bai Zhizhan had led the weakest Aviation Mixed Fleet and had lost only about a dozen fighters to sink two carriers, half of them when landing.

Was it that Providence had finally taken pity?

Or was there another reason?

Clearly not believing in the former, and uneasy about not understanding this issue, Bai Zhizhan was probably not going to rest easy.

"Commander!"

Perhaps due to being lost in thought, Bai Zhizhan felt that Zhou Yongtao had suddenly appeared before him.