Empire Conquest
Chapter 143 - 139: The Courage of a Calf

Chapter 143: Chapter 139: The Courage of a Calf

"... That’s roughly the situation."

After finishing, Li Mingbo waited two seconds before sitting down to start devouring the meal in front of him.

No one picked up the conversation. The senior staff seated around the table all looked at Bai Zhizhan, their expressions indicating they had no intention of offering their ideas before the commander spoke.

This was the Third Aviation Mixed Fleet, not the First Aviation Mixed Fleet that Bai Zhizhan had personally brought up.

Having a Zhou Yongtao was already quite impressive. Expecting all staff to be as bold in expressing their opinions as Zhou was obviously unrealistic.

In keeping with a habit cultivated over a decade, Bai Zhizhan assembled the personnel during dinner time.

Instead of going to the dining hall, the gathering was at the officer’s activity center. The so-called dinner was actually a late-night snack consisting mainly of small bites. Around seven o’clock, Bai Zhizhan had Li Mingbo make arrangements for the Fleet Headquarter’s staff to take turns having dinner, to avoid clashing with the pilots later.

Some snacks and light bites were prepared mainly because several senior staff had been busy until now without having the chance to eat dinner.

Taking this opportunity, Li Mingbo provided a brief explanation.

Since Sawa had determined that the Third Aviation Mixed Fleet had moved north through Zu Island Strait back to Xu Sea yesterday evening to join with the Domestic Fleet that departed last night, they were preparing to head to Watcher Strait, resulting in an assignment shift of the Zero Fighters, originally tasked with air defense, to the Second Main Battle Corps after noon.

This led to two impacts.

First, the remaining Zero Fighters counted only a little over twenty, with two-thirds of them aboard carriers undergoing maintenance and inspections, rendering them unable to take off for combat.

Second, the swap-over time for air defense fighters was pushed back from before four o’ clock to after, with only the pilots being changed. The returning Zero Fighters would refuel and then be flown by different pilots to take off. As a result, those few Zero Fighters had to remain on the carriers for nearly an hour.

Precisely because of this, when the first Attack Aircraft Group arrived, there wasn’t a single air defense fighter in the skies above the Fifth Air Corps.

To be exact, the last few air defense fighters were on their way back, intercepted by advance escort fighters.

Although in the minutes that followed, a few Fighters from each of the two carriers were scrambled, these Zero Fighters, not slated for any mission, were not loaded with ammunition.

Had the attacking planes been from the Special Mixed Group, these unarmed Zero Fighters might have been somewhat useful.

In the past two days of combat, the Special Mixed Group pilots had not gained any advantage over the Zero Fighters and had been, it could be said, terrified by them.

Unfortunately, the Third Aviation Mixed Fleet pilots had not encountered Zero Fighters before and were unaware of their fearsomeness. Thus, none of the approaching Bombers dropped their bombs, and none of the torpedo bombers released their torpedoes—they charged like fearless calves who had never seen a tiger.

According to some pilots’ recollections, they mistook the Zero Fighters for older model aircraft. In hindsight, they all felt a chill at their mistake.

Within minutes, the two carriers of the Fifth Air Corps were successively dealt heavy blows.

Since the damaged carriers sank after the great explosions, and the other Battleships continued to sail northward at full speed, Sawa’s adjutant only knew that the flagship had sunk after the attack had ended.

As for the "Ruihe", he knew it had also been seriously damaged but was unclear whether it had sunk.

Li Mingbo did not emphasize the capture of Sawa.

After all, Sawa was the prisoner of a few patrol aircraft pilots, who were under the control of the Zu Island Defense Forces and had nothing to do with the Third Aviation Mixed Fleet.

"Beyond that, I won’t go into details, but I’ll mention one thing. This afternoon, General Liu Xiangzhen’s Special Mixed Group sank two additional carriers from the Mobile Fleet, and they’re currently pursuing the Mobile Fleet’s retreating forces. Although we’ve achieved a considerable victory, we are still far from true victory. There is sure to be a significant battle tomorrow, and I hope everyone will press on so that we can raise our glasses in celebration after we have annihilated the Permanent Fleet!"

Bai Zhizhan’s speech lacked vigor, or perhaps, his emotions weren’t heightened.

"If there are no important matters, everyone can return to their duties," Li Mingbo, noticing Bai Zhizhan was preoccupied, declared the meeting adjourned after Bai finished speaking.

In truth, this couldn’t really be considered a meeting.

The strategy meeting didn’t necessarily have to take place in a conference room or another formal setting; still, arranging for someone to record the proceedings was essential.

Several high-ranking staff officers all knew what was appropriate. Although they had only been working with Bai Zhizhan for about ten days, officers and soldiers alike held him in the highest regard. Now, having achieved a significant victory with minimal losses, their admiration knew no bounds.

Soon, only Li Mingbo, Li Yunxiang, and Zhou Yongtao remained in the room.

Of course, Bai Zhizhan was there too.

Even though Zhou Yongtao was still a Lieutenant and a staff officer, after his remarkable performance during the day, he had become the golden boy in front of Bai Zhizhan.

"It seems you’ve already guessed," Bai Zhizhan said.

There was no response.

Li Mingbo and the others could tell that Bai Zhizhan was preoccupied with something, but as to what precisely it was, Li Mingbo couldn’t guess; Li Yunxiang wouldn’t stoop to speculation, and Zhou Yongtao dared not speak without certainty.

"Do you know what I’m worried about?" Bai Zhizhan said, looking over at Zhou Yongtao as he spoke.

Zhou Yongtao was visibly stunned, clearly not expecting Bai Zhizhan to throw the question directly at him and require an answer.

After being nudged by Li Mingbo, Zhou Yongtao shivered slightly.

"The west?" Zhou Yongtao clearly lacked confidence.

Seeing Zhou Yongtao in such a state worried Li Mingbo a great deal.

"If the intelligence we received this afternoon is correct, as long as we maintain a speed of over eighteen knots, we will not encounter the First Main Battle Corps at night, so the threat from the west..."

Li Mingbo stopped speaking when Bai Zhizhan gestured for him to do so.

Clearly, the "west" Zhou Yongtao mentioned was not referring to the First Main Battle Corps of the Saiyi Navy.

Those two "Damen"-class battleships could at most reach twenty-five knots, so as long as they maintained a good speed, there would be no encounter.

So, what was Zhou Yongtao referring to by "the west"?

"You’re right. That’s precisely what I’m most worried about," Bai Zhizhan sighed before continuing, "If the Special Mixed Group gives up the pursuit, then tomorrow we will have to face two main battle corps and an air corps alone. Even if we could win, the difficulty would be immense."

"How could the Special Mixed Group possibly give up the chase..."

Li Mingbo’s voice trailed off as he spoke, clearly lacking conviction.

In fact, Li Mingbo had already realized something before he even fell silent.

What Bai Zhizhan was talking about wasn’t the Special Mixed Group, but Liu Xiangzhen!

After two days of hard battles, the Special Mixed Group had destroyed four carriers of the Mobile Fleet, with considerable losses to themselves. If they didn’t find the four Fast Battleships before dark, Liu Xiangzhen might decide to preserve their strength by ceasing the pursuit at night and returning to base.

Of course, this was also to avoid encountering the enemy in the dark.

Let’s not forget, he is now the Commander of the Special Mixed Group.

Even though Bai Zhizhan was nominally the Acting Commander of the First Aviation Mixed Fleet, with the Second Aviation Mixed Fleet all but non-existent, the Navy Headquarter would definitely make adjustments.

To avoid exacerbating conflicts, they would retain the Special Mixed Group under Liu Xiangzhen’s continued command.

For the time being, Bai Zhizhan could forget about reclaiming the First Aviation Mixed Fleet.

Given this, Liu Xiangzhen might not commit fully to pursuing the First Main Battle Corps.

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