Empire Conquest
Chapter 247 - 243: The Awaited Telegram

Chapter 247: Chapter 243: The Awaited Telegram

Unlike Tanimoto, Lan Yun had gone back to the Commander’s cabin to sleep after dark, only getting out of bed before dawn and then returning to the Command Bridge.

Thereafter, except for going to the toilet, he remained on the Command Bridge, even having his breakfast and lunch brought to him by his staff.

Last evening, upon receiving the second telegram from Tanimoto, Lan Yun was truly frightened.

If the "Heng River" was commanded by Bai Zhizhan and had already entered the West East Ocean, there was a high probability it would appear near the North Ma Islands.

This meant that the Attack Aircraft Group could arrive at any moment!

Lan Yun dared not delay; upon receiving the telegram, he ordered to sail east at full speed to avoid potential bombing.

Refueling?

Definitely no time for that.

To maintain secrecy, Lan Yun also ordered the entire fleet to enter a state of radio silence, not even sending out messages to contact the four oil tankers following behind.

There was no need to make contact, though.

The four oil tankers flying the flag of the Newland Federation were merely requisitioned by the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom, and according to the calculations provided by the Nautical Advisor, even if they took the longest route, the remaining fuel would still be sufficient to return to the homeland after completing the rush to land at Liuhuang Island.

If necessary, they could even return at cruising speed to Tuk Fortress.

Moreover, when necessary, they could go to Guan Island.

Such focus on range, or rather, fuel, was due to the issue on the "Wudao".

In the battle to cover the "Canglong", the "Wudao" was hit by a near-miss bomb, and no abnormalities were detected at the time. It wasn’t until they had returned to Tuk Fortress that it was discovered the external plates of the number three and five fuel tanks on the left side had been severely deformed, and the fuel pipes were also damaged. Since there were no fuel pipes of the same size available, and there was a lack of necessary parts like valves, repairs could not be conducted at Tuk Fortress.

All that could be done was to seal off those two fuel tanks.

As a result, the "Wudao" had its carrying fuel capacity reduced by about eight hundred tons.

To ensure balance, it was preferable not to use the fuel from the number four and six fuel tanks on the right side.

Even at a cruising speed of 18 knots, the "Wudao" could only manage 6000 nautical miles; if it were to sail at full speed, the range would drastically shrink to about 2500 nautical miles, which meant, according to basic resupply regulations, it had to refuel after travelling 1000 nautical miles at full speed.

The refueling conducted on the night of the 17th was because of the "Wudao"; otherwise, it would definitely have waited until the night of the 18th.

Last night, after ordering full-speed travel eastward, Lan Yun sent out a seaplane to carry his orders to Colonel Fujinao who led two destroyers responsible for covering the four oil tankers, instructing the oil tankers to continue sailing north and wait in the waters north of the Volcanic Islands.

Why?

If the "Wudao" ran low on fuel, they could conduct another refueling there.

Those were four Newland oil tankers, still flying the flag of Newland; the Liangxia Navy, bold as they may be, would not dare to attack the oil tankers of the Newland Federation.

In the last war, frequent attacks on civilian ships by the Consortium Group prompted the Newland Federation to join the Alliance Group.

At least, the sinking of the "Lucy" cruise ship in the North Sunset Ocean by a Tiaoman Empire submarine without warning was a major factor in Newland Federation’s decision to join the war.

Unless the Liangxia Empire was already prepared to go to war with the Newland Federation, they would think twice before acting.

Besides, it was just four oil tankers.

What difference did it make whether they were sunk or not?

Having made these arrangements, Lan Yun went to sleep, and slept soundly until the break of day.

It was only during the daytime that he began to feel tense again.

The battle on Liuhuang Island lasted all night. The landing Marine Corps had gained full control of the beachhead positions and had crushed the counterattack launched by the defending forces during the night. After dawn, the Marines began to push inland, while the heavily damaged defending forces could no longer hold the front line.

The firepower of the Liangxia battleships was simply too fierce.

In just one night, at least eight large battleships reached the landing zone, provided artillery cover for the landing forces, and inflicted heavy casualties on the counterattacking defenders.

By morning, these behemoths once again played a crucial role.

According to the report from the garrison headquarter, there was at least one battleship at the landing zone. The reason being many strongholds capable of withstanding 200mm shells had been destroyed by the huge bombs fired from the sea. Although that battleship was not observed, it was certain it was a battleship.

Only the main guns of a battleship could outdo the 200mm naval guns of a heavy cruiser.

Besides, it was a fast battleship.

Previous intelligence had proven that four "Longxing" class battleships had bombarded Long Sorrow and then returned near Jeju Island, and they were likely near Buju now.

These four battleships, no matter what, could not appear on the side of Liuhuang Island.

If they were fast battleships, then there would certainly be more than one, but several.

Perhaps the Liangxia Navy had already received intelligence that the Permanent Fleet had left Tuk Fortress, so they dispatched fast battleships to the landing zone.

The primary task of these battleships was actually to cover the Landing Fleet.

Since the Permanent Fleet had not yet arrived, they also provided artillery support to the Landing Forces when they ran into trouble.

So, was there still a need to assault the landing zone?

Even with some heavy armor-piercing bullets produced by the Newland Federation, the combat capability of the "Jingang" class was at best equivalent to the "Lu River" class, certainly not comparable to the "North River" class, let alone the cutting-edge "Xu Sea" class. If there were four fast battleships at the landing zone, for the Permanent Fleet to go there would be tantamount to suicide.

Especially for the two "Xu Sea" class.

There was enough intelligence to show that in the battle at Watcher Strait, two "Xu Sea" class battleships cleanly and unscathed took out two "Damen" class.

And that was during the night battle, which the Saiyi Navy prided themselves on!

Until they were sunk, neither of the two "Damen" had managed to launch a threatening counterattack.

Lan Yun was a bit overwhelmed, or rather unsettled.

If it were up to him, he would have the Permanent Fleet turn back, or continue eastward, making a large detour before returning to the Saiyi homeland.

Unfortunately, it was not for him to decide.

Throughout the morning, there was no command from the Military Command Department; the operation to assault Liuhuang Island’s landing zone was not canceled and still had to proceed as planned.

The plan was: the Permanent Fleet must arrive at the landing zone between sunset on the 19th and dawn on the 20th, in those more than ten hours, with the primary task being to shell and destroy the landing and transport ships in the landing zone, and the secondary task to bombard the enemy forces that had already landed on Liuhuang Island.

Because of the eastward avoidance and then not turning northwest, it was impossible to arrive on the night of the 19th in any case; the earliest they could make it would be around 4 a.m. on the 20th.

If everything went smoothly, in the two-plus hours before daylight, taking out the Landing Fleet shouldn’t be a big problem.

After lunch, Lan Yun only went to the restroom and then returned to the Command Bridge.

Although Lan Yun did not say, the headquarter’s staff all knew he was waiting for the telegraph from the Military Command Department, announcing the end of the "Heavenly Wind" operation.

Unfortunately, what arrived was not this telegram.

When the telegraph operator hurried over, Lan Yun immediately turned and went up to meet him, snatching the telegram before the operator could even speak.

It was not a command, but a battle report sent by Colonel Fujinao from the "Qiuyun" Destroyer.

Right at the start, the northbound oil tanker, along with the two Destroyers providing cover, were bombed, and the enemy planes came from the north.

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