Empire Conquest
Chapter 239 - 235 The Decisive Battle Time

Chapter 239: Chapter 235 The Decisive Battle Time

Zhou Yongtao simply lacked experience.

He racked his brain thinking about how the Permanent Fleet could assault the Special Mixed Group, yet overlooked the essential question: what was the purpose of the Permanent Fleet heading their way?

To face death?

If Lan Yun had grown tired of living and wanted to commit seppuku or take poison, why bring an entire fleet and tens of thousands of officers and soldiers to die with him?

To annihilate the Special Mixed Group, which possessed four carriers, four Fast Battleships, and eight Heavy Cruisers among many other warships?

If that were possible, the disastrous defeat at Flame Sea would not have occurred.

To return and defend their homeland?

If they lost the Offshore Island and were strategically blockaded, even the well-organized Permanent Fleet before the outbreak of war could not defend Saiyi’s national gate.

Thus, Lan Yun had only one goal: to help defend Liuhuang Island.

Even knowing it was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot, they must fight to death.

If they could heavily damage Liangxia’s Navy at Liuhuang Island, even if ultimately defeated in a bloody battle of attrition, the significance would be immense.

If such was the case for the small Liuhuang Island, what about Saiyi’s mainland?

Clearly, as long as Liangxia’s Navy tasted bitterness at Liuhuang Island, such as losing a few carriers and suffering heavy casualties in ground combat, they would undoubtedly have reservations about attacking Saiyi’s mainland and might hesitate, thus missing their opportunity.

This was the goal Saiyi’s Navy hoped to achieve in the battle for Liuhuang Island!

If successful, even if it cost the lives of tens of thousands of officers and soldiers from the Permanent Fleet, it would not be shunned.

Then, did the Permanent Fleet really need to engage the Special Mixed Group desperately?

From a tactical perspective, after the landing battle began, wouldn’t it be better to head directly to the landing site and open fire on those defenseless Landing Ships?

In Bai Zhizhan’s view, this was precisely why the Permanent Fleet had delayed their departure from Tuk Fortress until now.

If the target was the Special Mixed Group, then a few days earlier, when the Special Mixed Group was supporting the Army’s advance to Buju and covering the Marine Corps’ attack on Jeju Island at Xu Sea, Lan Yun should have taken action and brought the Permanent Fleet to engage the Special Mixed Group closer to home.

In that way, they could also have received cover from the shore-based air force.

The Volcanic Islands were thousands of kilometers from Saiyi’s mainland, beyond the operational radius of shore-based fighters; they couldn’t hope for air defense cover.

As the target was to strike the landing sites, both the location and object of engagement were determined; only the timing of engagement remained uncertain.

That was the problem.

How long would the battle at Liuhuang Island last?

Not only Zhou Yongtao but even Bai Zhizhan couldn’t make a definite judgment, and perhaps not even Liu Xiangzhen and the commanders of the Marine Corps would dare to conclude hastily.

The key issue was that no one knew how long the defenders on Liuhuang Island could hold out or how capable they were.

Additionally, the Imperial Marine Corps’ combat effectiveness wasn’t very strong, inferior to the Army, let alone compared to the armored divisions of the Imperial Guard.

It was just a small island, not suitable for armored forces to fully operate.

According to Navy headquarters’ plan, the 7th Marine Division was assigned to attack Liuhuang Island, with only a reinforced Marine Brigade as the leading unit. The first shipment of heavy equipment included only about a dozen tanks, all of which were light tanks decommissioned by the Army.

It was a lightly equipped force primarily composed of infantry.

Based on previous war experiences, capturing Liuhuang Island might take about ten days to half a month, and in the later stages, it might even be necessary to deploy the Reserve Team to finish the job.

The operational plan had already mentioned that the anticipated shortest duration of the battle was half a month, which could be extended to a month.

If necessary, other units from the 7th Marine Division could be deployed, and reinforcements could even be drawn from the 5th Marine Division to serve as the Reserve Team.

There was no specific combat time determined.

Nor was it possible to specify one.

This kind of landing operation had never been conducted before, so there was no experience to speak of; everything had to be figured out from scratch.

If landing on Jeju Island was a warm-up, then assaulting Liuhuang Island was training to familiarize the Marine Corps with landing operations supported by the Navy Air Force. As for the exercises conducted before the outbreak of the major battle, even though they provided some tactical insights, they could not replace real combat.

During the exercises, the Marine Corps soldiers never actually made an amphibious landing under heavy gunfire.

Furthermore, in years of Fleet exercises, landing exercises were just a formality, never treated as the main event. Even when live ammunition was required, it was only after the bombardment that the Marine Corps went ashore and then mockingly swept the area before declaring the beachhead secured.

After discussing, Bai Zhizhan and Zhou Yongtao concluded that the Permanent Fleet would head directly to Liuhuang Island without much delay en route.

Here, there was a very important reason.

Why could the Sixth Bureau receive the news of Li Zhong’s death so quickly?

Bai Zhizhan knew this Saiyi Army general casually; about ten years ago, Li Zhong had debated armored combat with Lian Xusheng while Bai Zhizhan was present. In Bai’s view, Li Zhong was one of the few versatile generals in the Saiyi Army.

At least in terms of "paper strategies," Li Zhong was no less capable than Lian Xusheng.

In that era, there were hardly any tanks, just like the Navy’s end-of-war "Nine Days of Thunder" war games, it was all theoretical.

What if the intelligence of Li Zhong’s death had been deliberately leaked by the Saiyi Navy?

Obviously, it was a clear trap, aimed to ensnare perhaps the Special Mixed Group, specifically to induce them to initiate the landing operation sooner!

Wasn’t that the case now?

Upon assessing that the garrison on Liuhuang Island was leaderless, Liu Xiangzhen would likely see it as an opportunity and thus decide to initiate the landing operation ahead of schedule.

What if Li Zhong wasn’t dead?

Of course, that was not important, the key was not the combat actions on the island.

No matter how incompetent the garrison on Liuhuang Island was, they were still heavily armed soldiers. In the past few months, Li Zhong had definitely strengthened the defense deployments, fortified defensive works, stocked up a large amount of ammunition and supplies, and even constructed air-raid shelters and underground tunnels to cope with bombings and bombardments.

In essence, once the Marine Corps landed, they were very likely to face a tough battle.

Thus, they might not be able to secure the beachhead in time, or even unload equipment and supplies as planned, forcing the Landing Fleet to remain at the landing site.

Even if everything proceeded smoothly, it would take several days to unload equipment and supplies once the Landing Fleet arrived.

If Lan Yun led the Permanent Fleet to attack at that moment, it would spell disaster for the Landing Ships at the landing site and the Marines gathered on the beach. If things went poorly, the operation to land on Liuhuang Island might well be doomed to failure!

From another perspective, since it was unclear how long the fighting on Liuhuang Island would last, why not choose the time of the decisive battle oneself?

Could Liu Xiangzhen think of these things?

"Actually, we don’t really need to worry."

After Bai Zhizhan raised the issue, it ended up startling Zhou Yongtao, or rather, stumping him.

"Commander, with the current situation..."

"The biggest problem is that we don’t know how capable the garrison on Liuhuang Island is, or how long the battle will last. We don’t know, but does Lan Yun?"

"You mean..." Zhou Yongtao suddenly realized.

"He doesn’t know either, so mustn’t he hurry on his way?"

"Not just hurry, but he must also take the shortest route."

"That’s quite a problem, isn’t it?"

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