Empire Conquest
Chapter 142 - 138 Defeated General

Chapter 142: Chapter 138 Defeated General

"Luck, there’s just no way to explain it!"

After the praise and encouragement, Bai Zhizhan asked Zhou Yongtao to take He Weigu and the others to the officers’ mess for a rest and reminded him to have the medics treat the injured pilot’s wounds.

Because of the language barrier, even if He Weigu and his group guessed that Major General might be Sawa, they still didn’t know why he fell into the sea or how he was left behind.

Fortunately, Bai Zhizhan spoke Saiyi, and even though he wasn’t fluent, it was sufficient for normal communication.

After making two cups of coffee, Bai Zhizhan then went to the cabin where Sawa was detained.

It was a storage room used for broken equipment, now furnished with a table and two chairs, with two Imperial Guard soldiers, one inside and one outside.

After Bai Zhizhan entered, the guard soldier inside wisely stepped out, closing the cabin door behind him.

"Don’t you act civilized in front of me; I’m not buying it!"

Bai Zhizhan had just put down the coffee cups and not yet sat down when Sawa spoke up, his words in Liangxia Language though with a distinct foreign accent.

"I’m surprised you, General Sawa, can speak the language of our country; that’s good."

Sawa’s facial muscles twitched a few times, as he probably realized that his initial display of courage had inadvertently revealed a hint of cowardice.

"The pilots said the general was in the sea," Bai Zhizhan spoke while pushing a cup of coffee toward Sawa. "After soaking in the icy seawater for hours, I imagine the general must be hungry. This freshly brewed coffee not only wakes you up but also warms you up."

"You..."

"Authentic Blue Mountain coffee, and if it’s not enough, I can have someone bring more over. You can drink as much as you want. Honestly, I relied solely on coffee to get through the battle with the general."

Sawa clenched his teeth, his expression filled with indignant resentment, as if he had just endured an insult.

Bai Zhizhan didn’t say much but merely pointed at the steaming hot cup of coffee.

"A man can be killed, but not humiliated. I have lost to you, do with me what you will."

"Your knowledge of your own country’s culture isn’t bad," commented Bai Zhizhan.

"You..."

Sawa nearly jumped to his feet; what he had quoted was from the Liangxia Empire, so Bai Zhizhan’s reference to ’knowledge of your own country’s culture’ naturally pertained to Liangxia’s culture.

Moreover, the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom didn’t have a concept of "national studies."

It might be close to the year 2600 in the Imperial Era of the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom, but when it comes to history, most of it is tied to Liangxia!

If you remove Liangxia, or to be precise, the parts related to Liangxia, the history of the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom is a blank, and there is even less to speak of in terms of culture.

"You don’t need to worry, general. I won’t make things difficult for you. I am here just to tell you to treat this place like your home, to let go of all reservations. Even if the mountains crumble and the seas roar, the general’s war is over. What awaits the general is a fair trial!"

"You..."

As Bai Zhizhan stood up, Sawa too suddenly stood.

However, Bai Zhizhan didn’t give him a second glance.

This guy was a typical Saiyi military man, like a stone slab in a toilet—reeking and stubborn, there was no hope for cooperation.

Of course, Bai Zhizhan’s purpose in speaking to him was to stabilize him, to keep him from despair and self-harm.

Insult Sawa?

Clearly, Bai Zhizhan was not that petty, even though Sawa had publicly humiliated him two years prior.

Regardless, Sawa was the first officer of the Saiyi Navy to be captured by the Liangxia Navy in this war, and equally, the first Saiyi Navy General to be taken prisoner.

Actually, on Sawa’s form, one could see the shadows of many other Saiyi Navy Generals.

Because of the lack of confidence due to inadequate strength, driven by an extremely strong sense of self-esteem, it eventually evolved into an all-encompassing arrogance.

In the final analysis, it is a display of a lack of confidence.

What is there to be proud of for a defeated commander!?

Sawa’s arrogant demeanor seemed as if the person defeated and captured wasn’t him, but Bai Zhizhan!

If the generals are like this, how could the Saiyi Navy ever be unbeatable!?

Including Bai Zhizhan, the first lesson that all officers of the Imperial Navy learned after entering the academy was to bravely face their own shortcomings and acknowledge the strength of the enemy.

The motto left by War God Chen Bingxun was, "Overcome narrow self-esteem to forge a brilliant victory."

Moreover, another opponent of the Imperial Navy, the Newland Navy, was fundamentally different from the Saiyi Navy.

It was still three years ago, during that joint exercise, when several Newland Navy Generals took the initiative to approach Bai Zhizhan, and apart from not asking for his autograph on their clothing, they treated him like a star, giving him very high regard and truly made him feel like a guest of honor.

Of course, Bai Zhizhan didn’t get carried away with pride.

The enthusiasm and politeness of the Newland Navy Generals, their attempts to get close to him, were actually attempts to extract information about the Liangxia Navy’s carrier development.

But, doesn’t this attitude precisely illustrate the point?

In layman’s terms, self-esteem does not come from an arrogant attitude, but from strong capabilities.

Shortly after Bai Zhizhan returned to the Officers’ Club, Li Mingbo and Zhou Yongtao hurried over, bringing with them an unsorted interrogation record.

Sawa was arrogant, but his adjutant was not.

According to Li Mingbo, by simply agreeing to consider exempting him from war crimes, the Saiyi Navy officer, who was Sawa’s adjutant, confessed everything he knew.

They were thrown from the "Xianghe"!

After the hit, the Xianghe experienced a massive explosion, and the fire that started within the ship quickly got out of control. Sawa locked himself in the Command Bridge, wanting to share the flagship’s fate. At that moment, the adjutant forcefully opened the hatch in an attempt to save the Commander—strictly speaking, to save himself. According to Saiyi naval law, if the commanding officer dies but the adjutant survives alone, he would face the charge of desertion in the face of the enemy.

As a result, the adjutant dragged Sawa to the hatch just as the explosion occurred, and both were thrown out by the blast wave.

Subsequently, to be precise, within minutes, the Xianghe sank.

Because the Captain had not given the order to abandon ship, there were almost no survivors from the Xianghe.

Additionally, the battle had not ended, and enemy planes were still in the sky. Presumably fearing an attack, the approaching Light Cruiser turned away several kilometers out.

During this time, other battleships continued to move northward.

No one expected Sawa to be alive; they probably all assumed he had perished with the Xianghe.

Before the explosion, or rather, after receiving the fatal blow, Sawa’s last order was for the Captain of the Ruihe to continue directing the battle.

Moreover, the Saiyi Navy had a tradition where Captains would share their fate with their ships.

As for the Fleet Commander, he was even more expected to live and die with the flagship.

It was because of this that the Fifth Air Corps left no battleships behind to search for the Xianghe’s officers and men who had gone overboard.

Given the situation at the time, even if any battleships had stayed behind, they would have gone to search for and rescue survivors from the Ruihe and the other sunken battleships.

Had it not been for He Weigu piloting the "Fat Swan," which happened to be flying nearby, and had not the adjutant cleverly used a mirror and the last rays of the setting sun to catch the co-pilot’s attention, they would still be adrift at sea, and whether they could be rescued would be another matter.

Even if there had been a rescue, it would have been several days later.

As for what had happened before that, that’s even more telling.