Empire Conquest
Chapter 255 - 251: Destined Return

Chapter 255: Chapter 251: Destined Return

February 6, Navy Headquarters.

"General Bai, aren’t you going home yet?"

"I’ll stay a while longer, you guys go ahead."

"Alright, then we’re leaving first. Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year!"

After the staff officer had left, Bai Zhizhan brewed himself another cup of coffee.

At this time, in the office of the Fleet Operations, there was only Bai Zhizhan left, the room empty and exceptionally quiet.

Loneliness would be a more accurate description.

Indeed, today was New Year’s Eve.

Bai Zhizhan had nowhere to go, or rather, he hadn’t decided where to freeload for the New Year’s Eve dinner.

Since his return to the Imperial Capital, Bai Zhizhan had been continuously busy. On one hand, there indeed were many important matters that needed attention, such as drafting the reform plan for the Navy’s command system on behalf of Liu Changxun. On the other hand, he was purposefully avoiding old friends who came to propose marriage alliances, especially Li Yunxiang and his wife, which meant he certainly didn’t need to stay in a hotel, and for several days in a row, he had used overtime as an excuse to spend the night in the office.

Li Yunxiang had called several times, inviting Bai Zhizhan to celebrate the New Year at his home, or at least to come for the New Year’s Eve dinner, but Bai Zhizhan had declined each time, using the excuse that he had too much work.

In fact, this was true.

The Navy’s command system reform was already on the agenda, and with the endorsement of Grand Secretary Xue Yuanzheng, no one dared to openly oppose it. To tell the truth, Liu Changxun was actually using the directive of the Grand Secretary to shut up the Liu and He families, getting them to accept, or at least not to oppose the reform.

However, the specifics had to be handled by someone else.

Interestingly, Liu Changxun first approached Liu Xiangzhen to lead the effort. As expected, Liu Xiangzhen declined, citing a lack of ability.

A lack of ability?

That was a joke!

Liu Xiangzhen simply didn’t want to offend anyone, especially the officers from the Southern Fleet and the backers behind them, the generals from the Liu Family faction.

Liu Changxun certainly knew this.

He had been sent to an overseas territory thousands of miles away from the mainland in the first place because he had offended the elders of his family, missing his chance to make a name for himself at the beginning of the great war.

That was why, after Liu Xiangzhen outright refused, Liu Changxun directly handed the task to Bai Zhizhan.

Bai Zhizhan didn’t refuse, nor could he refuse.

Previously, he had dodged once, and Liu Changxun had not pursued it, but this time there was no reason he could find to refuse.

Liu Changxun made it very clear, if Bai Zhizhan acted like a turtle shrinking its head into its shell, he would have to take the field himself, then there would be no room for maneuver when conflicts with traditional forces arose. Conversely, if Bai Zhizhan was the one pushing forward, he could still step in to mediate after conflicts emerged.

The significance of the command system reform didn’t need further explanation.

Actually, it involved the history of the Empire’s Navy.

In Chen Bingxun’s era, the Empire’s Navy only needed a headquarters, and that was sufficient.

However, after Chen Bingxun, as there hadn’t been another commander as great as he was, and because the Empire’s expansion had reached its peak, the next step was governance, which meant consolidating gains. Therefore, after the efforts of two Grand Secretaries, the Ministry of Navy was established.

Compared to the Navy Headquarters, the Ministry of Navy was actually a civilian agency, meaning it was led by civil servants.

The establishment of the Ministry of Navy was meant to control the Navy.

The concurrent existence of the Ministry of Navy and the Navy Headquarters had continued for decades. In many cases, it was the Ministry of Navy that played the leading role, with the Navy Headquarters relegated to an executive apparatus.

It was not until the last war that this dual-structure was completely broken.

Zhou Kuande was the first Navy Marshal in history to hold the dual positions of Minister of Navy and Navy Commander, and also the last. Because before the end of the war, the then Grand Secretary Tang Dezhu used wartime powers to temporarily dissolve the Ministry of Navy, and since then, no one had proposed its reinstatement.

The problem, however, was that the Ministry of Navy did not completely disappear but rather integrated into the Navy headquarters.

It was during those decades that the functions of the Navy headquarters gradually became more civilian in nature, and the command authority originally belonging to the Navy headquarters ended up being delegated to the two major regional fleets. The initial intention of this arrangement was to prevent the power to command fleet operations from falling into the hands of civilian officials.

Literate men leading armies, not to mention winning battles, it was a stroke of luck to avoid defeat.

Also during this period, two major families were born within the Imperial Navy, the Liu Family and the He Family.

More precisely, it was the original prominent figures in the Navy, Liu Zhentang and He Hongyi, the founders of the Liu and He Families, who took this opportunity to raise the flag in opposition to the civilian bureaucracy, regained the voice within the Navy that had been lost after Chen Bingxun’s era with the support of countless navy soldiers, becoming the two main pillars of the Navy, and evolved into the behemoths of today over the course of two generations.

Speaking of which, this was also the greatest contribution of the Liu and He Families.

Had these two families not stepped forward, the Imperial Navy might well have been eroded by bureaucrats in the decades following Marshal Chen Bingxun’s time.

However, this does not mean that it is a natural right for the two big families to control the Navy.

Looking back, both Liu Zhentang and He Hongyi were subordinates of Chen Bingxun, and Chen Bingxun was a Navy Marshal personally promoted by Emperor Shiwu.

From this perspective, everything about the Liu and He Families was thanks to Emperor Shiwu.

Reclaiming the dispersed command authority would not be so easy.

Even now, for the Navy headquarters to move fleets, they need to ask the Grand Secretary for a transfer order, or rather, only the Grand Secretary has the authority to issue orders.

According to the regulations at the time of the split, the Domestic Fleet and the Southern Fleet were quasi-ministerial-level units, only half a level below the Navy headquarters, with the Navy Commander having no right to interfere with the two fleets.

In peacetime, this wasn’t too much of a problem.

But in wartime, it was a serious issue.

You couldn’t possibly seek authorization from the Grand Secretary each time a fleet needed to be moved!

But that was not the most serious issue.

Because the Navy headquarters lacked the right to schedule the fleets, or rather the scheduling was entirely in the hands of the two major fleets, it was difficult for the Navy headquarters not to consider the feelings of the two major fleets when making plans. This resulted in looking in all directions and being overly cautious, often turning operational plans into compromised outcomes.

This was the number one reason for the Imperial Navy’s steady decline after Chen Bingxun!

To put it more vividly: in Chen Bingxun’s era, the Imperial Navy was a clenched fist, but post-his time, it became a spread-open palm.

In the last great war, despite a great start, the Imperial Navy almost lost everything, which was a consequence of this issue.

As far as Bai Zhizhan saw it, if the Navy headquarters had been able to implement orders effectively during Zhou Kuande’s time, perhaps there wouldn’t have been a second global conflict.

Do we have to suffer another defeat?

If defeated again, that would truly mean losing everything.

Not wanting to face defeat again, it was essential to complete the command system reform as soon as possible.

Previously, Bai Zhizhan had always wondered.

Zhu Shijian had been the Navy Commander for twenty years, so why hadn’t he carried out this reform before retiring?

It was not until the war broke out that Bai Zhizhan understood.

There were three reasons: one was the need for wartime privileges, two was that reform could not be achieved overnight, and three was that reform itself was also an opportunity to establish authority.

In other words: It would be the successor, precisely the one taking over from Zhu Shijian, to advance and complete this reform.

Liu Changxun, huh?

Definitely not.

He was not young, and he had not achieved any commendable military exploits to win the wholehearted support of the Navy soldiers.

Liu Xiangzhen had refused this hot potato, leaving Bai Zhizhan as the only one qualified to pick it up.

One could say, it was destiny!

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