Empire Conquest
Chapter 152 - 148: The First Reconnaissance Report

Chapter 152: Chapter 148: The First Reconnaissance Report

Ground personnel began bustling about, moving the "Flying Fish" reconnaissance aircraft to the front of the flight deck when Li Yunxiang arrived at the command bridge.

It was almost six o’clock, and the sky had begun to brighten dimly.

Like Bai Zhizhan, he had only slept for a few hours.

"To tell you the truth, even if I don’t want to admit it, I have to. After just two days I cannot hold up anymore. Back when I was young, I could go seven days and seven nights without sleep and still be fine!"

"Was it that you slept for seven days and nights straight in a solitary cell?"

Li Yunxiang rolled his eyes, quite unhappy with Bai Zhizhan’s tendency to bring up sore subjects face to face.

"Have you had breakfast yet?" Bai Zhizhan asked with a smile, deciding not to dig deeper into Li Yunxiang’s past.

There was another version where Li Yunxiang, after getting drunk, had misspoken about his honeymoon, turning "seven times in one night" into "once in seven nights," and he was ridiculed for many years because of that.

"Don’t worry, let’s talk after the reconnaissance plane has taken off."

"You go have breakfast first, I’ll keep watch," Bai Zhizhan sighed. Li Yunxiang already had a weak stomach, an ailment from his youth. Back in the Southwest Front, as soon as the battle started, there was no stopping, and old soldiers like Li Yunxiang were full of ailments.

Li Yunxiang remained silent, appearing deeply troubled.

He had been restless all night.

Bai Zhizhan had dispatched all the cruisers, leaving only a few destroyers, hardly even qualified to fill the numbers. More critically, the fleet had turned northeast in the middle of the previous night to close the distance with the enemy fleet, hoping to initiate an attack during the day.

This meant that the Aviation Mixed Fleet was not only deeply encroaching into enemy territory, but it also had no way back!

The previous night, Li Yunxiang had asked Li Mingbo.

After traveling at high speed for more than a day, the two Imperial Capital-class carriers had already burned away twenty percent of their fuel, and the accompanying destroyers had consumed over a third. Normally, the destroyers would meet with a fleet tanker for refueling. At this rate, within three days at the latest, the two carriers’ fuel consumption would surpass the alert level, which is half.

If there was no encounter with the enemy fleet, it would not be a significant problem.

If they just reduced their speed or took a detour, they could still return to the Imperial homeland.

However, if they encountered the enemy fleet and were pursued, the two carriers might very well burn through all their fuel before receiving assistance.

Don’t forget, the four Fast Battleships of the Mobile Fleet hadn’t even left the Flame Sea yet!

As for the fleet tanker that hadn’t been sunk, having failed to rendezvous with the fleet, it had already headed back home the previous afternoon and was set to return to Cizhou Port today.

In Li Yunxiang’s view, Bai Zhizhan’s current actions were actually a desperate gamble.

If all were as Bai Zhizhan predicted, that would be one thing.

If there was an error, even just a slight oversight, such as if the Main Battle Corps had not gone to Watcher Strait but instead headed toward the Saiyi Honshu’s military port, or toward Liuhuang Island off the north of the North Ma Islands, the consequences would be unimaginable. Why? Because the position of the Aviation Mixed Fleet was exactly along the route where the Main Battle Corps might be heading back to homeland or to Liuhuang Island, potentially staying there for an entire day.

By the time night fell, if they encountered the Main Battle Corps, they likely wouldn’t even have a chance to escape.

Of course, no matter how worried he was, he would have to wait until evening.

While Li Yunxiang was thinking about all this, the "Imperial Capital" had begun to turn.

As all the reconnaissance aircraft had taken off overloaded, the carrier needed to navigate at full speed into the wind.

After the carrier adjusted its course, the first "Flying Fish" was launched.

In just over ten minutes, the other seven scouting planes had all ascended.

"Imperial Capital" didn’t slow down, merely returning to its original course. Next were the fighters assigned to air defense tasks.

This was a routine mission, not requiring Li Yunxiang’s attention.

"Report!"

The communication officer suddenly walked over, shouting loudly, startling Li Yunxiang into shivering. By the time he recovered, Bai Zhizhan had already caught the telegram sent by the communication officer.

After a quick glance, Bai Zhizhan handed the telegram to Li Yunxiang.

A set of coordinates, a string of code, and a line of numbers.

Clear and concise, easy to understand at a glance.

The general meaning was: at 6:35 AM, a seaplane dispatched by the Domestic Fleet spotted the main battleship of the Saiyi Navy in the southeast of the Watcher Strait, visually identified as a previous "Yishi" class according to the Treaty Type; it was speculated that the second Main Battle Corps had reached the Watcher Strait.

The timing matched perfectly; there was nothing surprising.

"After breakfast, gather the pilots and lay out the plan in advance. As soon as we receive the report from the reconnaissance aircraft, deploy immediately!"

Li Yunxiang nodded in agreement, even though Bai Zhizhan hadn’t instructed him to do so, he would have arranged it that way.

"Report!"

Before Bai Zhizhan could turn around, the communication officer ran over again, holding a telegram whose ink was still not dry.

It also came from the Domestic Fleet, but not in code; the content of the telegram was one sentence.

The seaplane was intercepted by 96 fighters.

In addition, "96 fighters" was in bold font.

After handing the telegram to Li Yunxiang, Bai Zhizhan walked over to the nautical chart table and began drawing on the map with a compass and ruler.

By the time Li Yunxiang had finished reading the telegram and walked over, Bai Zhizhan had already circled an area on the sea chart.

Upon closer inspection, Li Yunxiang furrowed his brows.

This sea area, with the Watcher Strait as the center and a radius of three hundred kilometers, was covered by seaplanes from the Domestic Fleet and reconnaissance aircraft from the third Aviation Mixed Fleet. In theory, the third Air Corps would definitely be found in this area this morning.

The maximum operational radius of the 96 fighters was three hundred kilometers; if they needed to patrol above the fleet, it was less than three hundred kilometers.

Usually, during patrol missions, the flying radius was controlled within two-thirds of the operational radius to achieve more air time.

Looking at it this way, the third Air Corps was definitely inside the sea area Bai Zhizhan had circled.

Li Yunxiang glanced at his watch, which now showed 6:50 AM.

Within an hour, the reconnaissance aircraft would send back reports. Even if they started now, it would still take nearly an hour to complete the preparations.

"Go make the arrangements."

After Li Yunxiang left, Bai Zhizhan let out a long sigh, then called over a staff officer, instructing him to get some food from the officer’s mess and to take it to the air combat center later. Things were about to get busy, and Li Yunxiang probably wouldn’t get a chance to stop before the first attack aircraft group took off.

According to his character, he would likely stay busy until noon before he would even think about eating.

Though the tasks now being handled by Li Yunxiang could be done by his subordinates, at his level, what mattered more was the influential presence he commanded in the battle.

It was like ancient battles, where veteran generals held the rear while young officers charged ahead.

Of course, the situation was very favorable now.

It was the 96 fighters!

Previous intelligence was not wrong; the Saiyi Navy had only received about one hundred and eighty Zero Fighters and had used all of them, leaving the third Air Corps with the outdated 96 fighters.

The "Typhoon" couldn’t outmatch the Zero Fighters, but it was almost a sure bet against the much slower 96 fighters.

Perhaps, like yesterday, later today would be an easy and pleasant annihilation battle.

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