Empire Conquest
Chapter 249 - 245: Open and Secret Struggles

Chapter 249: Chapter 245: Open and Secret Struggles

At this time, aboard the Heng Jiang.

"Commander!"

When the communications officer brought the telegram, Zhou Yongtao snatched it right away.

This style was very much like Li Mingbo.

"The attack has started." Zhou Yongtao only spoke when Bai Zhizhan looked over. "Shen Pu has sent word back; they have found the Permanent Fleet."

After speaking, Zhou Yongtao then passed the telegram along.

Bai Zhizhan shook his head and did not take the telegram.

It was so clearly stated that it made no difference whether he looked at it or not.

"Remind me when we get back."

"Don’t worry, I won’t forget." Zhou Yongtao immediately agreed, even using the Yuzhou dialect he had just learned.

Unfortunately, Bai Zhizhan’s mind wasn’t on that and clearly didn’t notice.

What Bai Zhizhan meant was that upon returning, he specifically wanted to write a report emphasizing the ship-borne aircraft’s range, insisting the combat radius at full load must reach at least 600 kilometers.

The short-legged problem of the Flying Fish and the Wasp was too pronounced.

Even the Xiaotian fighter’s range wasn’t enough, especially when carrying bombs on bombing missions; its combat radius was comparable to that of the Typhoon.

Interestingly, the Xiaotian’s use of internal space wasn’t very thorough; there were several places where fuel tanks could be fitted to increase fuel capacity by several hundred kilograms. They hadn’t been used yet, mainly because the engine power was inadequate, and to ensure flight performance, takeoff weight had to be controlled by reducing fuel.

The short combat radius of ship-borne aircraft resulted directly in fleet commanders being overly cautious when initiating strike actions.

And possibly missing opportunities.

In any case, increasing the ship-borne aircraft’s range was definitely correct.

In this regard, one really had to learn from the Saiyi Navy.

Additionally, Bai Zhizhan actually bore a great deal of responsibility.

Before the war, Bai Zhizhan always believed that the ship-borne aircraft’s combat radius just needed to be sufficient, and there was no need to sacrifice other aspects of performance for a greater range.

His reasoning was: If the duration of an entire attack mission, from deployment to return, was too long, it would actually affect the combat efficiency of the ship-borne aircraft.

Furthermore, attack actions were determined by reconnaissance results. The search range for reconnaissance aircraft is directly proportional to the square of the flight radius, so if the flight radius doubled, the search area needed to be increased by three times, which means tripling the reconnaissance aircraft, and fleets definitely wouldn’t carry too many reconnaissance planes.

In summary, the combat radius of ship-borne aircraft isn’t necessarily better the larger it is.

Theoretically, this is certainly correct.

The Saiyi Navy’s Zero Fighter is actually a classic counterexample.

In pursuit of range and emphasizing maneuverability, the Zero Fighter lagged far behind contemporary ship-borne fighters in terms of protection and firepower.

However, Bai Zhizhan had overlooked a key issue.

The combat radius of ship-borne aircraft obviously shouldn’t be just sufficient; it needed to have a certain redundancy to cope with potential unexpected situations.

Besides, the appropriate combat radius for ship-borne aircraft was actually determined by speed, especially cruising flight speed, which dictates the time required to complete an attack mission and similarly determines the efficiency of reconnaissance aircraft in executing search tasks.

As the flight speed of ship-borne aircraft increased, their combat radius would naturally extend.

Fortunately, the Imperial Navy was already changing its thinking, and the Xiaotian fighter was a typical example. After switching engines in subsequent batches, its range would extend to over 2000 kilometers, with a corresponding combat radius of over 700 kilometers, even reaching 500 kilometers during strike missions.

During the first half of last night, a "White Swan" patrol aircraft had spotted several oilers but decided not to approach for reconnaissance, fearing detection.

Soon after, another "White Swan" came across a few Saiyi battleships sailing eastward.

Based on this, Bai Zhizhan concluded that the Permanent Fleet was indeed evading to the east, and only the Newland oilers continued on their northbound route along the original course.

At the time, this was merely Bai Zhizhan’s speculation, not a discovery.

After daybreak, the "White Swans" masquerading as 97 large boats set off again, focusing their search on the eastern routes away from the North Ma Islands.

Soon after, an eastbound "White Swan" once again spotted the four oilers heading north.

Unexpectedly, the telegram sent by that "White Swan" was intercepted by the "Longjiang". Additionally, last night, Liu Xiangzhen had already received a telegram from the Navy headquarters stating that the First Special Mixed Fleet, commanded by Bai Zhizhan, was also searching for Lan Yun’s Permanent Fleet in the West East Ocean.

Who knew what Liu Xiangzhen was thinking when he decided to launch an attack with his ship-borne aircraft at noon.

Since they were quite far away and the "Flying Fish," which had the task of level bombing during the landing operation, were the main force for dropping bombs, Liu Xiangzhen only arranged for four squadrons of "Wasps" to attack the oilers and escort destroyers, all taking off from the "Imperial Capital" and "Peijing," primarily carrying 100 kg bombs intended for small battleships and civilian ships, to extend their combat radius.

When he received the news, Bai Zhizhan was immediately troubled.

He also immediately realized that Liu Xiangzhen’s arrangement was a warning to him not to compete for glory.

In the deployment, it was clear that Liu Xiangzhen was ready to confront the Permanent Fleet, such as sending four Fast Battleships to the landing site.

These four Fast Battleships were not hiding; they had been supporting the Landing Forces all along.

The Saiyi Navy was definitely aware of the four Fast Battleships at the landing site.

Therefore, without finding the Special Mixed Group, it was very possible for the Saiyi Navy to target those four Fast Battleships, sending Lan Yun to engage in a decisive battle.

At least, that was Liu Xiangzhen’s judgment.

If that was indeed the case, was there still a need for Bai Zhizhan to play the role of Cheng Yaojin?

Sending out the "Wasp" Plane Group to attack the oilers more than 500 kilometers away amounted to setting a trap for Bai Zhizhan, making him abandon the idea of attacking the Permanent Fleet.

After losing the chance for a surprise attack, relying solely on one carrier and a few dozen ship-borne fighters, even Bai Zhizhan, known as the Navy War God, would find it difficult to achieve much.

However, it would take two hours for the "Wasp" plane group to reach the oilers after taking off.

It was during these two hours, specifically just past one o’clock in the afternoon, that Lieutenant He Weigu, known for his good luck, once again demonstrated his bravery. His "White Swan" discovered the Permanent Fleet or, to be more precise, several heavy cruisers, allowing him to roughly estimate the area of the Permanent Fleet.

About 350 kilometers northeast of the First Special Mixed Fleet.

It was evident that the Permanent Fleet had been sailing north at full speed throughout the night because the First Special Mixed Fleet also sailed northward at a speed nearing 30 knots last night.

The distance had not significantly shortened, indicating that the Permanent Fleet also had a speed of around 30 knots.

More accurately, the speed of the First Special Mixed Fleet was slightly faster, thus shortening the distance by a few dozen kilometers.

Now, both sides had left the North Ma Islands.

As expected, the Permanent Fleet would likely turn west after dark and reach the landing site by the morning of the 20th to bombard the Landing Fleet stationed there.

Bai Zhizhan had no intention of allowing Lan Yun to die heroically for their country, nor had he thought about Liu Xiangzhen seeking revenge or settling personal scores.

This was war, with national grievances at stake, not personal vendettas.

Besides, Liu Xiangzhen hadn’t held back, so why should Bai Zhizhan observe the formalities?

He also had to consider the thousands of officers and soldiers of the First Special Mixed Fleet.

Having raced through the Cold Wind on the West East Ocean for so long, they couldn’t possibly come back empty-handed.