Empire Conquest
Chapter 149 - 145: Ultra Long-Range Bombardment

Chapter 149: Chapter 145: Ultra Long-Range Bombardment

"Woo woo—woo..."

The sudden sound of the alarm shocked everyone including Takano.

Submarine attack!?

The alarm, alternating between long and short bursts, signaled a gun battle!

From where was the gunfire coming!?

It wasn’t just Tanimoto and Kuroshima who were confused, even Takano was baffled.

The Special Mixed Fleet, engaged with the Mobile Fleet, was still over three hundred kilometers away in the west even at full speed. From other directions, the only ones capable of shelling the First Main Battle Corps at night were undoubtedly the Domestic Fleet currently in Xu Sea.

Could it be that the submarine made a mistake, and the two Fast Battleships didn’t head north but were instead heading south!?

Even if they were heading south, it was impossible to travel several hundred kilometers in just a few hours, from the northeast of Zu Island to Two-car Strait.

Kuroshima was the first to snap out of it and immediately returned to his post to grab the telephone receiver.

As he was asking the Captain about the situation, Tanimoto had already grabbed a pair of binoculars.

However, with the night sky covered in dark clouds and the sea a dark mass, holding a binoculars was futile.

Soon, the situation became clear.

Enemy ships were directly ahead of the fleet, the lookout observed four ships opening fire, and based on the distribution of flashes from the gun muzzles, all four ships had three triple-barreled Main Gun turrets.

This feature matched the Main Gun arrangement of the Liangxia Navy’s newly built Fast Battleships.

More importantly, the lookout, based on the size of the Fast Battleships and the distance between the forward and aft Main Gun turrets, estimated their distance to be over twenty-eight kilometers.

This distance was not just far but extremely far, almost the maximum firing range of the 400 mm Naval Guns!

Shooting from such a distance, not to mention whether it was a waste of shells, how could the gunners on the enemy ships see the "Damen"!?

Even if they could see it, they couldn’t possibly aim!

Furthermore, the "Damen" was definitely adhering to strict lighting regulations while sailing, emitting no light that could be detected by the enemy from afar.

The lights inside the Command Bridge were very dim, barely enough to clearly see the sea chart.

Do Liangxia Navy’s lookouts have the eyes of an owl?

With this thought in mind, Takano suddenly recalled something quite humorous.

Last year, after the Fleet’s exercises had concluded, several newspapers in the Liangxia Empire reported extensively on the fleet’s nighttime battle training, emphasizing that to enhance nighttime combat capabilities, the Navy provided special nutritional meals to lookouts and observers to boost their night vision. The result was that the firing distance of Liangxia Navy’s ships during nighttime battles had increased by nearly fifty percent.

These reports attracted serious attention from the Saiyi Navy.

Due to their fleet’s smaller size and weaker combat capabilities, the Saiyi Navy always prioritized nighttime battles and even considered them a secret technique for sure victory.

If the Liangxia Navy’s nighttime combat capabilities were significantly enhanced, did the Saiyi Navy still stand a chance?

Therefore, the Saiyi Navy spent considerable effort and sacrificed several intelligence personnel to uncover the secret behind the Liangxia Navy’s enhanced night combat capabilities.

A type of carrot from the Southwest region of the Liangxia Empire, along with refined fish liver oil.

Simply put, the soil where these carrots were grown was quite special, rich in a component that helped improve night vision, which the carrots could absorb, resulting in particularly nutritious produce. Since this type of soil wasn’t present elsewhere, only carrots from this region had these miraculous effects.

Subsequently, the Saiyi Navy spent a fortune importing tens of thousands of tons of carrots and dozens of tons of fish liver oil from the Liangxia Empire.

The results, needless to say, were obvious.

That year, the Southwest region of the Liangxia Empire had a bumper harvest of carrots, and several farmers concocted the clever idea of using the Navy in advertisements, having newspapers publish the story.

Anyway, in the following months, the soldiers of the Saiyi Navy almost all turned into red-eyed rabbits.

Probably not wanting to lose face, after reassigning the officers responsible for intelligence to a remote island to man a lighthouse, the matter was never mentioned again.

As for needing to eat carrots with every meal, which household doesn’t have a few acres of carrot fields?

It seems now that the Liangxia Navy had indeed found a way to enhance their night battle capabilities.

Just as Takano was thinking about this, the whistling of shells flying through the air came from outside, followed seconds later by a dull explosion.

"What? I understand!"

After hanging up the phone, Kuroshima strode over. "The lookout reported, judging by the power of the explosions, that they were from four heavy cruisers."

Takano’s eyebrows twitched rapidly.

Kuroshima didn’t delay further, continuing, "According to proportional estimates, the distance is around twenty kilometers."

"Are you sure they’re heavy cruisers?" Tanimoto asked, clearly finding it hard to believe.

What kind of heavy cruiser could challenge a battleship?

If a battleship were compared to a lion, then a heavy cruiser could at best be compared to a hyena. Even when hyenas gather in groups, they can only flee when encountering a lion.

Kuroshima glanced at Tanimoto before telling Takano, "Judging from the sound made when the shells flew, they are indeed Liangxia Navy’s 200mm naval guns."

Tanimoto seemed about to say something else but restrained himself.

It was simple, Kuroshima had taken part in the last war and had experience in combatting Liangxia battleships, while Tanimoto was a newcomer who emerged after the war.

Not to mention, Tanimoto had no idea what noise a 200mm shell made as it soared through the air.

At that moment, a call came from the navigation bridge.

The lookout had remeasured the distance according to the size of the heavy cruisers, confirming it was indeed twenty kilometers.

"Commander?"

"Maintain course and speed, there’s no need to waste main gun shells until the distance closes to ten kilometers, just respond with the forward secondary guns."

Kuroshima didn’t elaborate further and immediately relayed the orders to the captain through the phone.

The "Damen" had retained its 140mm caliber casemate guns even after being refurbished three years ago, making its secondary fire more powerful than treaty type and post-treaty type fast battleships, which only had five-inch or 130mm dual-purpose guns, especially effective against cruisers.

However, there weren’t many secondary guns that could fire forward.

Fortunately, there was no immediate cause for concern.

200mm shells couldn’t penetrate the "Damen’s" thick armor; even if one were lucky enough to hit the command bridge, it would merely scratch an itch.

Moreover, at such a distance, the shelling had no accuracy to speak of.

While the lookout could see the enemy ships, aiming at them on a moonless, starless night where one couldn’t see one’s own hand was another matter entirely.

According to tradition, at night battle distances exceeding ten kilometers equated to wasting shells.

Indeed, this was exactly why the Saiyi Navy placed particular importance on night battles.

Within ten kilometers, which was the line-of-sight range of battleship’s main guns, no main armor belt of any battleship could withstand a new-model armor-piercing bullet.

Yes, this was a mutually instant-kill combat distance!

Under the "one shot to the soul" scenario, protection and speed were almost irrelevant; it came down to will, the crew’s willingness to face death.

Of course, luck was also crucial.

Furthermore, within ten kilometers, destroyers and light cruisers capable of employing heavy torpedoes would have their chance to engage.

As destroyers and light cruisers joined, the scales of fortune would tip.

In any case, the four heavy cruisers at a distance of twenty kilometers were simply not a concern.

Actually, what Takano was now considering had nothing to do with those four noisily engaging heavy cruisers.

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