Empire Conquest
Chapter 228 - 224: Going Home to Drink Porridge

Chapter 228: Chapter 224: Going Home to Drink Porridge

On the morning of January 15th, to the east of Watcher Strait and about five hundred kilometers south of Nagiu Port,

the sky was still pitch dark although dawn was approaching.

The Heng River had turned to face into the wind for its voyage but had not accelerated. Several destroyers had already dispersed, maintaining a distance of several kilometers from the carrier.

Inside the command bridge, Bai Zhizhan asked about the situation for the third time and received the same response as before.

The plane group was flying towards them.

Bai Zhizhan was a bit anxious, but it was not without reason.

Serious threats had been identified, necessitating a reduction in speed and extending the transit time through the Xu Sea by half a day.

It was not until before dawn that the last batch of engineers and workers from the shipyard were transferred to the cruise ship. However, repair work was still not completed. Continuing deeper into the East Ocean always posed the risk of encountering Saiyi Navy submarines, and without surplus destroyers to escort the cruise ship back, engineers and workers had to evacuate early, leaving the remaining repair work to the fleet’s officers and soldiers.

Fortunately, the repair plan had been determined in advance, and the engineers had personally trained a group of officers and soldiers.

As a result, the reception of the ship-borne aircraft had been delayed by a day.

Last night, after confirming that the repair work could be completed by early morning, Bai Zhizhan had dispatched a destroyer at full speed to the north and then sent a telegram to Nagiu Port, instructing the shipborne air force troops that had arrived there to take off at dawn and rendezvous with the carrier.

Bai Zhizhan judged that the telegram sent by the destroyer would not attract the attention of the Saiyi Navy. After all, since control of the North and South Sado Islands, Empire Navy destroyers had been active near Watcher Strait, searching for Saiyi submarines attempting to slip into the Xu Sea, and these destroyers would certainly send telegrams from time to time. But no one could guarantee this, especially since it was a large ocean-going destroyer from the Domestic Fleet.

The ones patrolling the area before were all small-sized, near-shore anti-submarine destroyers, many of which were relics from the last great battle.

Of course, even if the Saiyi Navy took notice, there was no immediate danger.

Bai Zhizhan’s concern was related to several battle reports received last night.

Yesterday, the day before the Laba Festival, more precisely in the evening, the Saiyi troops defending Buju collapsed completely after enduring three days of uninterrupted shelling and bombing, not to mention continuing to fight. With no reinforcements in sight, Commander Admiral Niuman of the defenders issued an order of surrender and then personally went out of the city to hand over his command sword to the Imperial Guard Army’s Frontline Commander who had come to accept the surrender.

It was not Lian Xusheng who went to accept the surrender, but Li Qing.

Rumor had it that exactly when the Saiyi Army surrendered, Lian Xusheng happened not to be at the front lines but had gone back to the headquarters to report the situation to General Situ Jingde. Not wanting to delay further as tens of thousands of restless Saiyi officers and soldiers awaited disarmament—not all Saiyi military personnel were willing to surrender—Li Qing stayed at the front lines and, after consulting over the phone with Lian Xusheng, accepted Admiral Niuman’s surrender as acting commander.

Clearly, this was an insult to the Saiyi Army.

Why?

Li Qing was just a Major Staff Advisor, and the person surrendering was an admiral; the gap was too big.

Indeed, at the frontline headquarters at the time, there were several high-ranking officers, such as the Chief of Staff of the Armored Division, not to mention the colonels and lieutenant colonels.

As for the real reason, Bai Zhizhan knew it well in his heart.

It was obvious that this was meant to give Li Qing the credit. Perhaps Lian Xusheng was at the front lines at the time of the Saiyi Army’s surrender, he just did not show himself.

Regardless, the battle on the Ice Storm Peninsula thus came to an end.

And Lian Xusheng fulfilled the slogan of "going home to drink porridge."

Although it was just a slogan, even if victorious, there was no way to send frontline officers and soldiers home; at most, all officers and soldiers would get to enjoy a bowl of hot Eight-Treasure Porridge. But for all the soldiers fighting bloodily on the front lines, and for the civilians eagerly waiting behind, a casually made slogan coming true could have unparalleled appeal and morale-boosting effects, making the confidence of the Empire’s military and citizens even more steadfast.

However, for the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom, this was a disaster.

Just one day before the surrender, the Saiyi Navy dispatched several destroyers, braving the risk of being bombed, to transport thousands of officers and soldiers to Buju overnight. Although this force was a mere drop in the bucket, it could boost morale, making the frontline soldiers believe that the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom would staunchly defend Busan.

Who would have thought that just a day later, hundreds of thousands of officers and soldiers would surrender!

If it was only the loss of Busan, that would be one thing, after all, that was merely the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom’s foothold on the Ice Storm Peninsula, or rather, a springboard for advancing into the Giant Continent. But what was lethal was that the main force of the Saiyi Army, about 300,000 regular troops, were all trapped in Buju.

There were not many regular troops left in the Saiyi homeland!

The Saiyi Imperial Kingdom is a typical island country, similar to the Bulan Kingdom. In peacetime, the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom did not retain a standing Army on its homeland.

To speak of it, the scale of the Saiyi Army was not very large to begin with.

After the last major war ended, the Saiyi Army cut 80 percent of its forces, retaining those primarily to control the overseas territories captured during the war.

Among these, the most critical was the Lower High Kingdom at the southern end of the Ice Storm Peninsula.

As a result, the Saiyi Army placed about two-thirds of their forces there, including all the elite troops.

At the outbreak of the major war, there were as many as 600,000 Saiyi troops deployed in the Lower High Kingdom; after several battles, only 300,000 ultimately retreated to Buju.

This could be understood, though.

Initially, why did they fight the bloody battle on the Ice Storm Peninsula and sacrifice millions of officers and soldiers?

With the ambitions of the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom, it was clear they wanted to assimilate the Lower High Kingdom through prolonged military occupation, turning this puppet state into a part of their own, thereby gaining a foothold on the eastern edge of the Giant Continent to facilitate further advances into the mainland when the time was ripe.

During the Golden Decade, the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom constantly encouraged its citizens to immigrate to the Lower High Kingdom.

For instance, they offered lands requisitioned during the war to immigrants, granted tax benefits, and even conducted nationwide propaganda, portraying immigration to the Lower High Kingdom and cultivating its land as a deed beneficial to both country and people, a matter of great significance to the everlasting prosperity of the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom.

According to incomplete statistics, at least three million Saiyi people migrated to the Lower High Kingdom in the past twenty years, and many intermarried with the locals.

Furthermore, the total population of the Lower High Kingdom was less than twenty million.

That is to say, the immigrants from the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom made up over 10 percent of the Lower High Kingdom’s total population!

They stationed heavy troops on the Ice Storm Peninsula to safeguard the hard-won interests and to protect those Saiyi compatriots who heeded the call to immigrate.

With Buju’s fall, 300,000 officers and soldiers, and 3 million immigrants were all forsaken.

After the Army’s primary force was wiped out, how was the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom supposed to carry on?

Even if the Army didn’t require a century, recruiting and training new soldiers also needed time; it wasn’t a matter of just gathering a bunch of able-bodied men and immediately sending them to the battlefield.

If that were the case, they would be merely sent to be cannon fodder.

The impact was obvious, after the Army’s collapse, the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom could only pin their hopes on the Navy, doing everything possible to maintain naval supremacy.

If Buju had only been taken, there would be no major problem.

Yet just yesterday, two events occurred that had a huge impact, and both were delivered to Bai Zhizhan’s hands in the form of battle reports.