Empire Conquest
Chapter 153 - 149: Nothing Gained

Chapter 153: Chapter 149: Nothing Gained

In just half an hour, Li Yunxiang finished the pre-battle briefing and then had the pilots go to prepare.

Thankfully, he had made preparations the night before, and several squadron leaders were very proactive, having arranged the crews for the attack missions before going to sleep.

Moreover, the so-called pre-battle briefing was mainly to remind the pilots of issues they needed to pay attention to.

Tactics?

Before taking down two small carrier fleet of the Third Air Corps, they absolutely couldn’t waste ammunition on other battleships.

Furthermore, after the escort fighters had swept the enemy fleet’s airspace of anti-aircraft fighters, they needed to kill their way back to cover the torpedo bombers and bombers.

What really needed attention was identifying the targets.

These were two small carrier fleets, very different from the ones they attacked yesterday, and they might not be immediately recognizable from an aerial view.

Fortunately, Li Yunxiang had been well-prepared.

Last night, he had the staff photocopy dozens of three-view drawings of the Saiyi Navy’s small carrier fleet, distributing them to the captains of the crews during the briefing.

Then came the lengthy wait.

By seven-thirty, Li Yunxiang was getting a bit impatient.

However, still no reconnaissance aircraft had sent a message; the radio channel was also eerily silent, and even those seaplanes dispatched by the Domestic Fleet had not sent out any reports.

At that time, Bai Zhizhan was still persuading Li Yunxiang to be patient.

By eight o’clock, even Bai Zhizhan couldn’t stand it anymore.

Unless there was a surprise, all those reconnaissance planes mobilized by the Third Aviation Mixed Fleet had already flown past the reconnaissance area and were now on their way to Zu Island.

Still, not a single reconnaissance plane had sent a message!

The Third Air Corps not to the east of Watcher Strait?

How could this be?

There were no nearby airports that could accommodate the launching and landing of fighters, and the range of the Type 96 shipborne fighters was not enough to fly here from the Saiyi Domestic airports.

Were there oversights?

The possibility wasn’t very high.

The pilots of the reconnaissance planes were veterans; whether they faced interception or accident, they would send telegrams to the flagship immediately.

Li Yunxiang had personally seen to the arrangements and had repeatedly issued reminders before departure.

What exactly was the problem?

Almost hitting eight-thirty, Li Yunxiang went to the Aviation Operation Center and made adjustments to the deployment, ordering a group of pilots who had originally been arranged to perform escort missions to immediately take off in their fighters, replacing the air-defense fighters whose fuel was about to run out, and having the returning air-defense fighters prepare for escort.

No matter what, Fleet air defense absolutely couldn’t be neglected.

For over an hour, Bai Zhizhan had been standing in front of the window near the Command Bridge, staring intently outside, as if he could see the enemy fleet hundreds of kilometers away.

Of course, others weren’t so relaxed.

Li Mingbo, who hadn’t slept until lunchtime, came back before eight o’clock, and Zhou Yongtao had been called to the Fleet Headquarter to be responsible for aviation operations.

"Report!"

Not waiting for Bai Zhizhan to turn around, Li Mingbo intercepted the telegram from the hands of the communication officer.

"From Zu Island," Li Mingbo sighed, handed the telegram to Bai Zhizhan, and then continued, "sixteen reconnaissance aircraft have arrived; three were intercepted by enemy fighters near the Secondary Main Battle Corps, damaged, but the crew members are all unhurt."

"Is that all?" Zhou Yongtao asked while standing beside the Nautical Chart Table, only looking up when Li Mingbo was speaking.

"That’s all, no other news."

By this time, Bai Zhizhan had also finished reading the telegram.

After handing the telegram to Li Mingbo, he rubbed his forehead vigorously again.

The reconnaissance aircraft encountered interception near the Second Main Battle Corps, which was not surprising, because the Saiyi fighter pilots certainly wouldn’t let the torpedo attack aircraft get away.

Besides, isn’t sending over the fighters meant to provide the Second Main Battle Corps with air defense cover?

Even if the Type 96 carrier fighter’s performance is poor, chasing away torpedo bombers was still hardly a challenge.

But the question was, where exactly was the Third Air Corps?

Before nine o’clock, the telegraph officer delivered a telegram from the Domestic Fleet.

The seaplanes dispatched by the four heavy cruisers had completed their search missions; apart from two that were shot down southeast of Watcher Strait, near the Second Main Battle Corps, all fourteen had returned without any sighting of the enemy fleet, let alone the Saiyi carriers.

In fact, these fourteen seaplanes hadn’t even encountered enemy aircraft.

The first round of reconnaissance was over, and they had come up empty!

Li Yunxiang, Li Mingbo, and even the usually composed Bai Zhizhan were all starting to panic.

There had to be a second round of reconnaissance right away.

However, the problem was quite striking.

There weren’t enough "recon aircraft" available!

Typically, a shipborne air force battalion would have one reconnaissance squad, generally comprising four "Flying Fish." However, it would be the "Flying Fish" equipped with long-range radios that could perform reconnaissance. The issue was that only the leader’s aircraft was fitted with a long-range radio, and in total, there were only about a dozen.

Since an Aviation Mixed Fleet usually contains at least two carriers, there would be more than twenty "recon aircraft" to handle most scenarios.

Additionally, the carriers had spare on-board long-range radios, although not enough to equip all torpedo bombers.

When Bai Zhizhan proposed a second round of reconnaissance, Li Yunxiang made it clear that even if they used all the spare long-range radios, only eight "Flying Fish" would be able to carry out the reconnaissance mission; and since two must be reserved for command, that left only six available recon aircraft.

This was obviously too few.

For this reason, Li Yunxiang suggested arranging for several elite crew members from the "Wasp" to perform reconnaissance missions to fill the shortfall caused by the insufficient "Flying Fish."

However, they had to significantly narrow down the search area.

In Li Yunxiang’s words, even with sixteen recon aircraft put together, without the help of the Domestic Fleet, they would need to narrow the search area to be confident enough to find the enemy fleet. Otherwise, recon aircraft might be too scattered and miss the opportunity to spot the enemy fleet once again.

Should the recon aircraft return to the fleet?

If they continued with the previous tactical maneuvers, after this reconnaissance mission, the remaining ship-borne aircraft would only be able to launch one more attack.

Could they be confident in annihilating the Third Air Corps’ two small fleet carriers in one attack?

And what about after taking out those two small carriers?

With both the First and Second Main Battle Corps present, the Third Aviation Mixed Fleet would be powerless without its shipborne air force against the two main corps.

One had to think even further ahead.

After seizing control of the sea, what would assist the Domestic Fleet in taking control of the North and South Sado Islands?

The Saiyi Navy’s transport fleet hadn’t stopped moving, transporting tens of thousands of soldiers to the North and South Sado Islands, preparing to land somewhere. If they were too far from Watcher Strait, out of reach of the Domestic Fleet, it would have to rely on the Third Aviation Mixed Fleet, or, more accurately, the shipborne air force.

No matter how good Bai Zhizhan’s mental toughness was, he probably wouldn’t dare to race around East Ocean with two carriers lacking ship-borne aircraft.

To put it more vividly, what’s the difference from running naked?

Of course, the key was finding the Third Air Corps; otherwise, all discussions would be in vain.

Li Yunxiang raised these issues, yet he didn’t offer any solutions, such as how to plan the recon aircraft flight routes, that is, search areas.

The decision-making authority was in Bai Zhizhan’s hands, and only Bai Zhizhan had the right to make such a significant decision.

From another perspective, this was actually a test for Bai Zhizhan.

After conducting fleet exercises for over a dozen years and confronting Liu Xiangzhen so many times, all these efforts should now be put to use.

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