Empire Conquest -
Chapter 181 - 177: Primary and Secondary Differences
Chapter 181: Chapter 177: Primary and Secondary Differences
Wei Jun led the cruiser squadron back into the fight, and Bai Zhizhan could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
At 7:35 a.m., the four "Wuzhou" class heavy cruisers from the southwest opened fire first, launching the first volley at enemy ships 25 kilometers away.
This engagement distance exceeded the operational range of the optical rangefinder.
As for accuracy, naturally, there wasn’t much to hope for.
Radar?
The "Wuzhou" and "Changzhou", equipped with air search radar, even if capable of detecting surface targets, couldn’t be used for directing artillery fire.
The previous day at dawn, in the east of the Two-car Strait, the fight with the First Main Battle Corps had proven this point.
With air search radar detecting surface targets, the error exceeded 1000 meters; using it to guide a gun battle was indeed a challenge.
Nevertheless, the four "Wuzhou" class cruisers firing upon the enemy was sufficient.
Despite the large deviation, those shells would fall near the four Saiyi heavy cruisers, allowing the lookouts to make accurate judgments.
In fact, after the four "Wuzhou" class cruisers had fired, the four pursuing Saiyi warships no longer fired upon the "Imperial Capital" and "Peijing".
However, a new problem emerged.
Before that, around seven o’clock, reconnaissance aircraft had sent back reports claiming to have spotted the Saiyi Navy’s transport fleet in the previously estimated sea area, heading towards Nagiu Port, expected to arrive after ten o’clock, requesting the immediate launch of ship-borne aircraft for an attack.
According to the plan, these reconnaissance aircraft had not returned to base but lingered near the transport fleet.
Shortly thereafter, roughly ten minutes later, another reconnaissance aircraft sent a message, about 400 kilometers north of the Third Aviation Mixed Fleet, detecting a group of bomb planes composed of dozens of Type 96 land attackers heading towards the Third Aviation Mixed Fleet.
Based on the timing, they would arrive around 8:30 a.m.
Fortunately, they were all twin-engine bombers and no escorting fighters were spotted by the reconnaissance plane; it also wasn’t intercepted during its tailing flight.
The reconnaissance aircraft did not report the exact size of the plane group, simply referring to the presence of "dozens" of enemy aircraft.
Bai Zhizhan immediately issued an order for the eight "Typhoon" fighters that had urgently taken off before daylight to head north to intercept the approaching bomber group.
However, eight fighters were definitely not enough.
These weren’t ship-borne aircraft, but genuine bombers.
Although by the Empire’s standards, the Type 96 land attackers with a maximum take-off weight of eight tons and a bomb load of only 800 kilograms were considered medium bombers at most, they were equipped with one 20 millimeter machine gun and three 7.7 millimeter machine guns, giving them substantial self-defense firepower.
Without fighter cover, bombers would usually fly in tight formations to provide mutual defense.
The thought of dozens of bombers, carrying dozens or even hundreds of bombs, flying over was hair-raising, not just for others, but for Bai Zhizhan too.
That was why, after the cruiser squadron had come into the fray, Bai Zhizhan’s first order was to scramble the fighters urgently.
There was nearly an hour left to get all the fighters in the air.
But what then?
Should they stick to the original plan and launch an assault on the transport fleet with ship-borne aircraft, or deal with the four heavy cruisers that had been doggedly pursuing the two carriers for over an hour?
Both Li Yunxiang and Li Mingbo believed that they should take out the four heavy cruisers first.
Even Zhou Yongtao felt that the four heavy cruisers were of greater value, not just because they were warships, but also because they were the last four large warships of the Saiyi Navy in the West East Ocean. Even if the four "High Bear" from the Fourth Cruiser Corps had not been finished off, it would be difficult for them to return to the battle any time soon.
In Zhou Yongtao’s words, after taking out these four heavy cruisers, all that the Saiyi Navy could send out to fight would be mere boats of a few thousand tons.
That was an exaggeration, of course, as a few thousand tons were still considered warships, with only those below five hundred tons being called "boats".
From a long-term perspective, this was greatly beneficial for the upcoming second phase of military operations.
Transport fleet?
After the Navy was decimated, what basis did the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom have to occupy and control Nagiu Port?
Not to mention just a light infantry unit, even a heavy infantry unit, would be sitting ducks on an isolated island overseas without sea transportation.
Moreover, Zhou Yongtao felt the transport fleet might not even head to Nagiu Port.
Without the support of a fleet, what could they possibly achieve?
Fundamentally, all three of them did not take the transport fleet seriously; even if it were a troop transport, at best, it could be considered a military auxiliary ship.
What does that mean?
When calculating war merits, civilian ships were categorized as third-class targets, military auxiliary ships as second-class, and warships as first-class.
To be fair, such matters were closely related to the vested interests of the entire fleet’s officers and crew, and even Bai Zhizhan would definitely think thrice before acting.
Climbing up from the grassroots, Bai Zhizhan was very sensitive to merits.
At his current level, merits may not seem as important, and he might be able to afford being principled, but it wasn’t so simple for the officers and soldiers following him.
Don’t forget, Zhou Yongtao was still just a Lieutenant.
Even with Bai Zhizhan’s appreciation and esteem, he still needed to enrich his personal record with war merits, which were a hard condition for promotion.
This was true not only for Zhou Rongtao, but even more so for other officers and soldiers.
Seeking a bit of personal merit without affecting the overall situation was not akin to abusing public power for private gain.
In fact, before the last great war, the Imperial Navy didn’t even prohibit officers and soldiers from acquiring spoils of war on the battlefield and had clear regulations regarding ownership of spoils. Encouraging the collection of spoils through proper channels was meant to inspire the fighting spirit and morale of the officers and soldiers.
Ensuring that all officers and soldiers had opportunities for promotion bore a similar significance to allowing the acquisition of spoils.
This time, however, Bai Zhizhan did not give in.
After contacting Wei Jun and confirming that all four heavy cruisers were intact and confident in intercepting the four enemy ships, and that four light cruisers were already maneuvering behind the enemy ships, Bai Zhizhan didn’t delay further, instructing Li Yunxiang to proceed as originally planned and dispatch the attack aircraft group to set off after shaking off the enemy ships.
Yes, it was an attack on the transport fleet.
Afterwards, Bai Zhizhan contacted the destroyer squadron, instructing the six destroyers to follow Wei Jun’s command and assist the cruiser squadron in annihilating the four enemy ships.
To reassure Li Yunxiang and the others, Bai Zhizhan promised to make arrangements when conditions were ripe.
Simply put, after striking the transport fleet and the ship-borne aircraft had returned, if the four heavy cruisers were still afloat, he would arrange for the aircraft to drop bombs.
At this point, Bai Zhizhan adopted Li Mingbo’s suggestion and sent a telegram to Zhu Huasheng and Shen Pu at the Lotus Military Port Air Station.
Depart immediately and fly to rendezvous with the third Aviation Mixed Fleet.
Given the situation at the time, even if Li Mingbo hadn’t mentioned it, Bai Zhizhan would have made such arrangements.
Don’t forget, the second main battle corps still hadn’t been destroyed, and the fourth cruiser corps that had been following the first main battle corps was still operational. Even without considering an interception of the second main battle corps, one should consider the possibility of encountering and engaging the fourth cruiser corps.
By the time Bai Zhizhan had made these arrangements, it was nearly eight o’clock.
Outside on the flight deck, aviation service personnel were busy preparing, making over a dozen fighter jets loaded with ammunition and fuel ready to take off.
Launch an attack?
It was still very early.
If they were to have the remaining fighters take off now, managing to finish by eight-thirty and preparing for the torpedo bombers and bombers set to execute the attack mission would be quite an accomplishment.
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